JudaismDraft · awaiting advisor review
Does Daniel 9 point to the time of the Messiah?
In short
Many Christians read Daniel 9:24–27 as dating the coming and death of the Messiah to before the second temple fell in AD 70. Jewish interpreters, and many critical scholars, read its “anointed ones” as other figures, such as Cyrus or the high priest Onias III. The text is cryptic, so for Christians it is a serious pointer rather than a proof.
The Objection
The Hebrew says “an anointed one”, not “the Messiah”, and kings, priests and even Cyrus are called anointed (Isaiah 45:1). The traditional Hebrew punctuation separates the seven weeks from the sixty-two. Christian timetables must pick a convenient start date, a special year-length and an unstated gap to land on Jesus. And verse 24 promises an end of sin and everlasting righteousness, which the world has not seen.
Put as its strongest advocates would put it.
The Christian Case
- Scripture
Daniel, praying over Jeremiah’s seventy years, is told of seventy “sevens”, usually taken as 490 years. These lead to atonement for iniquity and “everlasting righteousness”. After sixty-two sevens an anointed one is “cut off”, and the city and sanctuary are then destroyed.
- Historical evidence
Readers have long disagreed. 1 Maccabees 1:54 uses Daniel’s phrase “abomination of desolation” of Antiochus IV’s altar in 167 BC. Josephus thought Daniel foresaw Rome’s desolation of Judea. Rabbinic chronology (Seder Olam) runs the 490 years from the first temple’s fall to the second’s. Christian writers such as Tertullian and Julius Africanus linked them to Jesus.
- Scripture
Jesus spoke of “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet” as still to come, linking Daniel to Jerusalem’s coming destruction. Christians note the order in verse 26: the anointed one is cut off, then the city falls. This matches Jesus’ death around AD 30–33 and Rome’s destruction of the temple in AD 70.
- Philosophical argument
An argument, not a proof: the passage places an anointed figure and atonement before the sanctuary is destroyed. If Israel’s hope is tied to the second temple (Haggai 2:7–9; Malachi 3:1), a Messiah should appear before AD 70. Christians argue Jesus best fits. Jewish readers reply that these texts need not mean this, and that verse 24’s promises remain unfulfilled.
- Christians differ
Christians differ on the start date: Cyrus (538 BC), Artaxerxes’ decree to Ezra (458/457 BC, giving 483 years to about AD 27) or to Nehemiah (445/444 BC). Dispensationalists place a gap before a future seventieth week. Others see that week fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry and death. Some accept the Maccabean reading but see Jesus fulfilling its hope.
Where the Evidence Is Weaker
The Hebrew has “an anointed one” without “the”. The Masoretic accents put a pause after the seven weeks, placing an anointed figure after 49 years. Every timetable depends on a chosen start date and year-length, and the dispensational gap is not stated in the text. Many scholars date Daniel to the 160s BC and read it of Antiochus IV. Christians can argue for a strong fit, not a mathematical proof.
Arguments to Avoid
- Presenting a day-precise calculation, such as Robert Anderson’s 360-day years to Palm Sunday, as settled fact.
- Claiming the Talmud’s warning against calculating the end (Sanhedrin 97b) was invented to hide Daniel 9’s witness to Jesus, which is speculation.
- Insisting the Hebrew word in verse 25 must mean “the Messiah” as a title.
- Suggesting Jewish readers reject the Christian reading out of bad faith rather than serious reasons.
Read for Yourself
Daniel 9:1–27
1In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; 2In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: 4And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; 5We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: 6Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. 8O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. 9To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; 10Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. 12And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. 13As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. 14Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. 15And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. 16O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. 17Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. 18O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. 19O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. 20And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; 21Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. 22And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. 23At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. 24Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Jeremiah 29:10–14
10For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
Matthew 24:1–21
1And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Related Finds
Arch of Titus
c. AD 81 · Found: Roman Forum, Rome (never buried)
In place, Rome
A triumphal arch celebrating Rome’s capture of Jerusalem in AD 70.
What it shows
Soldiers carry the temple’s menorah and treasures: the temple’s destruction that Jesus foretold.
What it doesn’t show
It records the destruction, not the prophecy.
Further Reading
- Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary · Joyce G. Baldwin (1978)Evangelical, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries.
- Daniel: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel · John J. Collins (1993)Leading critical commentary (Hermeneia) reading the passage of Antiochus IV.
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s apologetics advisors. Labels show the kind of support each point has: Scripture is what the Bible says; historical evidence and philosophical arguments can be checked by anyone; “Christians differ” marks questions on which faithful Christians disagree.
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