70. Gabriel’s Statement to Daniel : By Grace

GABRIEL’S SEVENTY WEEKS OF YEARS

In order to gain a new insight concerning the time and purpose of these seventy weeks, we have dared to attempt a new translation of Gabriel’s statement and have been surprised to find that in at least two places the information given in Gesenius, the authorative Hebrew/Chaldee Lexicon, has lead to a new interpretation.

1. When and by whom do these weeks begin and end?

Gabriel revealed six conditions which were to be determined upon Daniel’s people and upon his holy city during this period of Seventy Weeks, i.e. 490 years:

To finish [restrain] transgression
To put an end to sin
To atone for wickedness,
To bring in everlasting righteousness
To seal up vision and prophesy
To anoint the most holy.

This will be the result of God’s work upon Jerusalem and the House of Judah, the Jews, at the end of the 490 years. This is the necessary preparation for His intervention at the Second Advent, when He will be personally present to rule Israel and the world.

This work of God is based upon the commission of The Lord Jesus Christ which He announced at the beginning of His ministry [Luke 4:16-21]. It took place in the synagogue of His home town Nazareth, on the occasion of Israel’s 30th Jubilee in 27ad when Jesus Christ was 30 years old.

The Spirit of The Lord is upon me
Because He has anointed me
To preach good news to the poor
He has commissioned me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
And recovery of sight for the blind
To release the oppressed
To proclaim the year of The lord’s favour.

This fundamental work of The Christ enables God to fulfil the work ‘determined upon Daniel’s people and his holy city’. It defines the date upon which the work of the 490 years began…….27ad

2. When does the command concerning Jerusalem go forth ?

Know therefore and understand that from the issuing of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem to Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and weeks sixty and two. Again it shall; be built with plaza and ditch even in affliction of the times. [words are not in original Hebrew]

And here is the Hebrew/Chaldee original:

byvhl rbd axm-$/m ?lKctw udtw
?dygn jyvm-du @slvWry tonblw
synvW @syVv @syubvw ?hubv @syubv
syTuh ?qoxbW J^Wrjw bojr htnbnw bWvT

Now look at the literal meaning of these Chaldee/Hebrew words:

1 udtw and, to know, to perceive Strong: 3045
2 lKctw [root lKc]] and to act wisely, to be intelligent, to understand
3 [axm-$/m The ‘maqqeph’ or hyphen joining these two words means that they
must be understood as one word . $/m means ‘out of’ as the Greek word ek.It
almost invariably does NOT relate to a time, but to a place, In this case:from
whence it goes forth, or ‘by’ the issuing Axm [4161] has the Literal Meaning
‘that from which there is a going forth’ such as the giving of a commission
THUS ‘by the commission’
4 rbd simply ‘the word’ used of the expression of God, even as ’logos’ in the
Greek of the New Testament. Truth, not dependant upon the speaker..
5 ]Byvhl to restore Strong: 7725
6 Tonblw and to build Strong: 3389
7 slvWry Jerusalem Strong: 1129
8 jyvm-du Again the maqqeph unites the meaning of these two words. Du can
also mean ’even’. As in:
1. 'Behold, even the moon---and it is not bright' [Job 25:5]
2. 'Is still the seed in the barn? Even the vine........ have not
brought forth' [Hag 2:19]
9 Jyvm is literally ‘anointed one’, not necessarily The Messiah. Many have been
anointed and we must bear in mind that at this time there will have been many
resurrections. THUS: ‘even an anointed one’ Gesenius tells us ‘a title of
honour given to the kings of Israel as being consecrated to God’, so probably
King David.
10 dygn The definite article is not present, just ‘prince’. This word is never used of
The Messiah even though we are familiar with the statement: ‘Prince of
Peace’ in Isaiah ch.9.
11 syubv literally...a hebdomad of years...a week of years Followed by hubv
the number ‘seven’. The Hebrew does not precede with the words ‘shall be’
THUS: forty-nine years.

The first sentence ends at this point. The next sentence begins with the Hebrew prefix w [and] even as the following verses 26 and 27

1 synvW @syVv @syubvw Again the hebdomad with the numbers ‘sixty and[w] two’
. THUS: Four hundred and thirty-four years
2 bWvT a second time. The first is found in Isaiah 44:28, 2Chron 36:22
3 htnbnw 3rd pers .sing. fem. of tnb THUS: to build, to erect [1129]
4 bojr noun fem. Sing also prop name: bjr to be or become wide, street or
open space. [7339]
5 J^Wrjw Kal part. Pass. Adj. or subst. masc dec.3a J^rj to cut, to cut into.
Sharpened. Something decided or concluded [2742]
6 qoxbW noun masc. sing.; qox distress [6695]
7 ]syTuh a fit or proper time, an opportune time. [6256]

This is the literal meaning of the Hebrew/Chaldee words which are related as follows

Know and understand by the commission the word to restore and to build Jerusalem, even an anointed prince, forty-nine years.

And four-hundred and thirty four years a second time it will be erected to become wide open spaces decided in distress an opportune time.

With this as a base, we now need to add sensible and appropriate English words to complete the sense of the sentence. In the KJV these would be added by the translators acting as interpreters. These translators added the English words: ‘shall be’ before the Hebrew ‘forty-nine years’. This future tense is not in the meaning of the Chaldee. The very distinct break between the 49 years and the 434 years gives us reason to insert the English word ‘after’ in this position. The Word [out of the source] takes place after the 49 years..

IMPORTANT NOTE: The KJV uses the English word ‘from’ applying it to ‘the going forth’, assuming a point of time. This is an error of translation. Because of this ‘shall be’ is added in English erroneously implying an act in the future. It is however ‘the anointed one’, the source, from whom is ‘The Word’.

To clarify our translation the English word ‘that’ has been added, as in the KJV, after ‘understand’. Also, although not absolutely necessary, following the word Jerusalem, the word ‘by’ will clarify the meaning. For a similar reason the word ‘at’ has been inserted after the word ‘distress’.
Know and understand [that] by the commission, the word to restore and to build Jerusalem [by] even an anointed prince [after] forty-nine years.
And four-hundred and thirty four years a second time it will be erected to become wide open spaces decided in distress [at] an opportune time

To paraphrase these passages:

Gabriel tells Daniel to be intelligent in understanding that The Word to restore and to build Jerusalem will be commissioned by the anointed prince after 49 years. During the following 434 years, for a second time, Jerusalem will be erected with spatial areas, at an opportune but distressful time.

It should be understood that non of the six points of that which is ‘to be determined upon his people and his holy city could be implemented without the work of The Messiah during His first advent. The Messiah’s work did not end at His ascension. It continued with His disciples as Mark tells us: ’The Lord working with them.’ [16:20] This is the purpose of the first 49 years of the 70 weeks of years. This work lays a preparatory ground for the introduction of the re-enlightenment of the resurrected twelve tribes of Israel into their land after the Word from the source, the anointed one.