(Part 4 of 6)
According to the angel of God, once the decree to rebuild Jerusalem went forth, God’s people would know for certain that the Messiah would be in Israel in 483 years. This is a fascinating prophecy that opens up scripture and indisputably points to Jesus Christ as the Messiah. God told His people the exact year and even the day in which He would present Himself as their king. The Bible warns, “to whom much is given, much is required”, so because they refused Him knowing that the time was at hand, God held Israel accountable. Look at Luke 19
41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,
42 saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
43 "For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,
44 "and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
In pain and a broken heart, Jesus wept over the city and proclaimed their accountability for killing the prophets and their Messiah. With tears Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the leveling of the temple. Why was Jerusalem destroyed? “Because you did not know the time of your visitation”. The Pharisees knew the prophecy. The religious leaders boasted about their knowledge of scripture. Even though they knew the time was now, they did not want a Messiah that undermined their customized religion and challenged their power. They hated Jesus out of pure envy (Mark 15).
Let’s take a moment to examine this prophecy’s timetable. The understood time between the decree and Messiah was 69 weeks of 7 years or 483 years, based on a biblical year (which was 360 days). The total number of days is 173,880. Just as Daniel was the watchman who knew exactly when the bondage of Israel would end (70 years), the scholars of each generation counted down the days when the Messiah would arrive. There are many examples that showed without a doubt that Israel knew that it was time for the Messiah. Three times in Matthew and Mark, the Herodians were mentioned. Who were the Herodians? They were people who understood that the time of Messiah was here and they looked for that leader. Herod was in power and they identified him as the Messiah. They called themselves Herodians identifying themselves as followers of Herod. Herod was a cruel murderer and any student of scripture could easily know that he did not fit the description of the Messiah. Nevertheless, when Herod became king, they assumed that he must be the Messiah the ruler spoken of in Daniel.
The wise men from the east knew. Look at Matthew 2:
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
2 saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."
Unless they were watching, they would not have known to be looking for the Messiah, King of the Jews. We are not given the information as to how they knew, we only know that they watched for a sign, and this star on this date in history was assumed to be the sign they were watching for. It is very likely that they were aware or even students of the scripture provided in Daniel’s prophecy. They could have been of Jewish decent, or they could have been believers following scripture from the time of Daniel when Babylon fell. We can only speculate. However, we know that they are a testimony against those who refuse to recognize the visitation of the Lord.
The faithful in Israel were watchmen who recognized Christ’s coming. Look at Luke 2
25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law,
28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:
29 "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation
31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel."
Even as an old man, Simeon knew that the time was at hand and God promised him that he would see Christ before he died. In Luke 2:36, a prophetess named Anna also was watching and rejoiced over the visitation of Christ. Jesus’ arrival was no surprise and was not intended to be a surprise. God pointed to a specific point in time so that there would be no way to miss His coming unless they willingly rejected Him.
Exact Date of the Prophecy
There are two schools of thought concerning the fulfillment date of Daniel’s prophecy. Both sides recognize the accuracy of the fulfillment of this prophecy. The real question is whether the 483 years was fulfilled when Jesus presented Himself as King on the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, or whether it was fulfilled at Jesus’ baptism when He began His 3 ½ year ministry.
Regardless of which viewpoint is correct, the fulfillment was just as prophesied in the book of Daniel. One side of the argument is that the triumphant entry was the key point to this fulfillment. Jesus never allowed Himself to called king or be presented as a king until that day. Everything concerning God’s visitation to His people points to Christ presenting Himself as king. Zechariah 9 foretells the triumphant entry into Jerusalem:
9 " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.
Jesus prevented being proclaimed as king until the time of this entry. Each time the people became excited about Jesus’ miracles and wished to make Him king, He prevented them. Once He hid. Another time He offended them by proclaiming His death through being lifted up on the cross. When He said, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you can have no life in you”, many of His followers turned their backs on Him. Even His disciples had a hard time with this. It was not until after the cross that they could understand He was referring to His sacrifice and our need for His redemption. Each time the people became zealous to make Him king, He resisted. However, on the triumphant entry, He not only allowed Himself to be proclaimed king, but He orchestrated this event and presented Himself as Messiah the King. Luke 19 makes it clear that Zechariah’s prophecy was at hand:
35 Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.
36 And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.
37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,
38 saying: " ’Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."
40 But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."
When confronted by Pilot during His ‘mock trial’, Jesus testified that He was the King of Israel. Luke 23:
3 Then Pilate asked Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?" He answered him and said, "It is as you say."
When a criminal was crucified, the accusation against him was inscribed on a sign and placed above their head on the cross as part of their shame. When Jesus was crucified, the only charge against Him was that He was the king of the Jews. Look at Matthew 27:
37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
As Jesus wept over the city immediately after His triumphant entry, He mourned that they did not recognize their visitation and would be judged for rejecting their King. The judgment against Jerusalem pointed to this one event. This event carries such significance; therefore it is valid to claim that this was the date of the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. They should have recognized the visitation because God invited them to rejoice and prosper in peace, He gave them the date of His entry, and He presented Himself as King. In spite of all this, they rejected Him and cheered for Him to be crucified.
Dating Methods
At this point, I would like to take some time to examine the reason that there are two different ending points that cause disagreements. In the book, ‘The Coming Prince’ by Sir Robert Anderson, the following calculation is presented. Keep in mind that a biblical year at the time of the prophecy was only 360 days. The Julian calendar was introduced shortly afterward which is 365 days and BC dates are calculated on a Julian calendar year. Artaxerxes presented the final proclamation on 14th of Nisan during the 20th year of his reign. This is equivalent to April 6th, 444 BC. Since there is not a 0 BC, there are a total of 476 years between these two dates. There are also 24 days between March 14th and April 6th. There are 173,740 days from the decree to the triumphant entries if you use a straight 365 day calendar. There are also 116 days that need to be added for leap years. If you add these together (173,740+24+116), the total is 173,880 which is the exact number of days prophesied in Daniel. Some early church fathers believed this as well. In 190 AD, one of the early church fathers named Julius Africanus said:
It is by calculating from Artaxerxes, therefore, up to the time of Christ that the seventy weeks are made up, according to the numeration of the Jews. For from Nehemiah, who was dispatched by Artaxerxes to build Jerusalem in the 115th year of the Persian empire, and the 4th year of the 83rd Olympiad, and the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes himself.
Julius Africanus believed that the last command in the 20th year of Artaxerxes was the beginning of the 70 weeks. He also presented a mathematical equation to calculate the number of days from this date to Christ.
Keep in mind that this leaves the 70th week to be fulfilled which is the primary cause for dispute. The Bible says in Daniel that 69 weeks (or 483 biblical years) is the time from the decree until Messiah the King is presented. If Jesus’ baptism into His ministry is the focus of this prophecy, then another 3 ½ years will be included by the time Jesus is crucified leaving 3 ½ years remaining. If the triumphant entry is the date, then 7 years (or one week) remain to be fulfilled.
The Disputed Timetable
The timeline used by Sir Robert Anderson is based on a historic writing by Ptolemy’s Canon. Ptolemy was an astronomer, mathematician, and geographer who was born in the 1st century. Ptolemy’s history was challenged by Martin Anstey in 1913. Critics of Ptolemy claim that he was a pagan astrologer and therefore he is not a reliable source. To bolster his argument, one writer who sides with Martin Anstey’s timetable said, “Are you going to believe a pagan astrologer in the 1st century or a Christian writer in the 20th century?” There is a vast difference between astronomy and astrology. Astronomy is a scientific field and astrology is occultism. In reality, we know almost nothing about Ptolemy’s personal life. There is no evidence that he was a pagan or an astrologer, nor is there evidence that he was a Christian. He lived in Alexandria which was very Christianized, but that does not prove his character one way or the other. There is plenty of information about his work. He was the first to project a sphere onto a plane. This enabled him to represent the globe of the earth on a flat sheet of paper. He did not believe the world was flat and he was a very credible scientist.
He calculated the time of the Persian Empire and its kings based on the known position of planets and stars in ancient writings and the positions of the planets and the stars in his day. By using mathematical calculations and other known reference points given in historical documents he proposed a timetable. He used these to calculate time to come up with a plausible date for the reign of kings. One critic argues that he never claimed having an accurate dating for historical events. This is a little misleading because he also never claimed that his accuracy was questionable. No true scientist presents calculations as infallible, however, it would also seem odd that he would take such time and care as to calculate the positions of the stars and present dates without believing that he was accurate. Considering that he was a well respected astronomer and mathematician, I can find no reason to discredit him simple because he did not claim to be exact. Dating ancient history is always an educated guess. Anyone who claims that they can date an ancient site exactly is less trustworthy than someone who acknowledges that science is a reasonable conjecture, but not an infallible fact. This does not mean that Ptolemy can’t be wrong, but it does mean that blanket statements are unreliable. Ptolemy’s calculations present 207 years for Persian kings beginning at Cyrus.
Beginning in 538 BC, Cyrus Reigned 9 years
Beginning in 529 BC, Cambyses Reigned 8 years
Beginning in 521 BC, Darius I. Hystaspes Reigned 36 years
Beginning in 485 BC, Xerxes Reigned 21 years
Beginning in 464 BC, Artaxerxes I. Longimanus Reigned 41 years
Beginning in 423 BC, Darius II. Nothus Reigned 19 years
Beginning in 404 BC, Artaxerxes II. Mnemon Reigned 46 years
Beginning in 358 BC, Artaxerxes III. Ochus Reigned 21 years
Beginning in 377 BC, Arogus or Arses Reigned 2 years
Beginning in 335 BC, Darius III. Codomannus Reigned 4 years
Ending in 331 BC when Alexander the Great Reigned
Total: 207 years.
In 1913, Martin Anstey recalculated the dates based on archeological evidence and what he believed to be more reliable historical documents that Ptolemy possessed. He was not a mathematician. He primarily used archeological dating provided by others to place times and dates. His calculations present a different timeline for the Persian kings and placed the fulfillment of this prophecy to end at Jesus’ baptism instead of the Triumphant Entry. His calculations agree with Ptolemy after the Persian kings. I find two problems with Anstey’s writings that are strictly my opinions and observations. First, he puts his faith in archaeological dating. Archaeology provides general timelines and never claims to be exact in dating. It is not uncommon for groups of archeologists to date the same site hundreds of years apart.
The dating of Jericho is a good example. The destruction of Jericho was first dated hundreds of years before Israel entered the land. Archaeologist were looking for a specific style of pottery common during the time Israel would have invaded. They did not find it, therefore it was dated earlier. Later, another group of Archaeologists found this very pottery during a new dig on Jericho’s site. Now Jericho is dated at the same time as Israel’s invasion. It only takes one find to rewrite history in Archaeology. It provides good information about the culture of the day and a general timeframe, but it is not an accurate dating method and doesn’t claim to be.
The second issue I have with Martin Anstey’s dating is that He set out to prove a religious point of view. When someone approaches research with the end result in mind, it is impossible to be objective. Anstey’s goal was to show that Daniel’s 70 weeks was fulfilled. He rejected Ptolemy’s work and searched for evidence to prove that Messiah’s fulfillment happened earlier than the Pre-tribulation doctrine teaches. Ptolemy did not set out to prove a timeline. He was a historian and his only motive was to date history. It was later that scholars realized that Ptolemy’s history validated the prophecy of scripture. Of course, this does not prove that Ptolemy is right nor does it prove that Anstey was wrong. However, when I weigh the evidence, I believe it points toward Ptolemy.
Regardless of which starting date is correct, the prophecy in Daniel was fulfilled to the exact day and we know beyond a doubt that Daniel was written 500 years earlier and is a matter of verifiable, historical fact that it was translated into Greek nearly 300 years before Christ. The only real issue is the final week of the prophecy.
