Page 275 - Daniel

years, and then a period of sixty-two sevens, or 434 years. There is no
clear indication as to why the two periods are distinguished, except that
Gabriel added that Jerusalem “shall be built again with squares and
moat, but in a troubled time.” In making a hard division between these
two time periods it seems the ESV translators have departed from their

philosophy of producing an “essentially literal” translation. A better
literal rendering would be “Know and understand. From the going forth
of a word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Leader,
[will be] seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.” The two time periods are
connected and precede the coming of the Messiah or anointed one.

The first forty-nine-year period (“seven weeks”) does not fit Young’s
explanation, since the period between the decrees of Cyrus (538 B.C.) and

of Darius (520 B.C.) obviously was not forty-nine years. The best
explanation seems to be that beginning with Nehemiah’s decree and the
building of the wall, it took a whole generation to clear out all the debris
in Jerusalem and restore it as a thriving city. This might well be the

fulfillment of the forty-nine years, since Nehemiah said the city’s streets
were so filled with debris that they were impassible in places. That this
was accomplished in “a troubled time” is fully documented by the book
of Nehemiah itself. Although the precise fulfillment is not a major item
and only the barest of details are given, the important point seems to be
the question of when the sixty-nine sevens (“seven weeks … and sixty-
two weeks”) actually end. If the prophecy begins in 444 B.C., the date of

Nehemiah’s decree, what is the end point?

Anderson has made a detailed study of a possible chronology for this
period, beginning with the assumed date of 445 B.C. when the decree to
Nehemiah was issued and culminating in A.D. 32 on the very day of
Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem shortly before His crucifixion.
Anderson specifies that the seventy sevens began on the first of Nisan

(March 14) 445 B.C. and ended on the tenth of Nisan (April 6), A.D. 32.
The complicated computation is based upon prophetic years of 360 days
totaling 173,880 days. This would be exactly 483 years according to
biblical chronology. 56

That Sir Robert Anderson is right in building upon a 360-day year
seems to be attested by the Scriptures (see accompanying chart and the