Daniel’s 70 Weeks, is this the Holy Grail of prophecy?

The Holy Grail and the greatest mystery of Bible prophecy

What do I mean by the term “Holy Grail?”

1. The term ‘Holy Grail originated as a medieval legend. The object of focus was the cup that Jesus used while he drank during the Last Supper. Another legend suggested that Joseph of Arimathea captured some of Christ’s blood at the Cross in the same “Holy Grail.” Eternal life was the prize for whoever found and drank from the cup. Centuries passed, and the legends became passions. Searches for the cup were undertaken by medieval knights and treasure seekers. From the thirteenth century onward, the legends grew and endured.
2. a thing that is being earnestly pursued or sought after.

The Best of Bible Prophecy

The Holy Grail and all of its magical stories and legends are, for the most part, mythical. But at the core of the stories is the hunt for a treasure of great worth. In the field of Bible prophecy, the meaning of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks prophecy is very much like a Holy Grail. Experts have searched diligently to unlock the clues to its meaning. In that search, they have focused on several key questions.

1. What is the starting date that begins the prophecy?
2. Who was the king who issued the famous decree?
3. Which calendar should we use?
4. Is there a gap in the prophecy?
5. Is the prophecy complete, or does one final week remain?

There are many other questions that have stumped the experts, but there is one thing we know for certain. Nobody has all the answers — that’s for certain. 🙂

What’s remarkable is that so many true experts in the field have studied this prophecy. And many of those expert scholars have come away with varied opinions and answers to the same questions.

I want to lay some groundwork before I get into some of my thoughts on this famous passage. As I just noted, the experts acknowledge the difficulties in determining the exact meaning of some aspects of the prophecy. The experts have agreed that they disagree. So, when you hear someone telling you that they know exactly what Daniel’s prophecy means, give them a slant-eyed look and smile. Because you know, he or she is probably just blowing a little smoke.

Here’s what some experts say

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(24) Seventy weeks.—Great difficulty is experienced in discovering what sort of weeks is intended.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. The 70 years foretold by Jeremiah are to be understood as 70 weeks of years (i.e. 490 years); at the end of that period sin will be done away with, and the redemption of Israel will be complete.

Benson Commentary

Daniel 9:24. Seventy weeks, &c. — Weeks not of days, but of years, or, seventy times seven years, that is, four hundred and ninety years, each day being accounted a year according to the prophetic way of reckoning, (see note on Daniel 7:25,) a way often used in Scripture, especially in reckoning the years of jubilee, which correspond with these numbers in Daniel: see Leviticus 25:8.

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Seventy weeks are determined – Here commences the celebrated prophecy of the seventy weeks – a portion of Scripture Which has excited as much attention, and led to as great a variety of interpretation, as perhaps any other.

Of this passage, Professor Stuart (“Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy,” p. 104) remarks, “It would require a volume of considerable magnitude even to give a history of the ever-varying and contradictory opinions of critics respecting this “locus vexatissimus; “and perhaps a still larger one to establish an exegesis which would stand.

I am of the opinion, that no interpretation as yet published will stand the test of thorough grammatical-historical criticism; and that a candid, searching, and thorough “critique” here is still a “desideratum.” May some expositor, fully adequate to the task, speedily appear!” After these remarks of this eminent Biblical scholar, it is with no great confidence of success that I enter the exposition of the passage.

The first and last commentators that I quoted from made a special note of the difficulty in finding a clear answer to many of the questions. But still, we must do our best to find answers to the Holy Grail of Bible prophecy. We will continue that pursuit. As Daniel explained, clarity will come as we draw nearer to the end of the age.

Daniel’s Holy Grail prophecy

Daniel was a captured slave who served in the courts of Babylon. From that humble beginning, he became one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all Jewish prophets. In the Book of Daniel, we find some fantastic prophecies. But none of them stand out like the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. In this article, I begin to take a close look at one of the most researched prophecies in the Bible.

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks

Daniel 9:24

Seventy 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.

As you can see, there are six key aspects to the first part of this “Holy Grail” prophecy. If we can determine what, when, if, or how these things were fulfilled, we may find ourselves closer to a better understanding of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks.

In the next article in the series, I will break this verse down further and explore this amazing prediction.

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