Many scholars, who believe the Bible’s contents are the word of God, believe that the Seventy Weeks Prophecy begins with the decree of the king of Persia, whether Cyrus of Ezra 1 or Xerxes of Ezra 7. However, I don’t believe their conclusion is correct. To understand what I mean, we need to consider closely what the scriptures tell us. Notice, the text in Ezra 1 mentions nothing about the decree itself, except to say it permitted the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. Consider that Ezra 1:1 says the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to build him a house, but this was in order to fulfill the words of the prophet, Jeremiah; it says nothing about the Seventy Weeks Prophecy. We have two things in place here. First, Cyrus decreed to free the Jews in order to fulfill what the Lord commanded “him” to do. Secondly, this was done so that the prophecy of Jeremiah might be fulfilled in order that the word of God might be honored with regard to the Jews.
In the context of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy, the first seven weeks of the angel’s prophecy would mean nothing, unless work on the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem was begun and completed during those seven weeks of years (49 years). The point is: the decree means nothing, unless the Jews actually begin to carry out the command. The Seventy Weeks Prophecy was given during the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede over the former Babylonian Empire (Daniel 9:1). If the prophecy was given at that time, when or what date would it become effective?
Notice that the word in Daniel is: “from the going forth (H4161) of the command to restore and build Jerusalem…” (Daniel 9:25). The word means: an egress or exit, dawn or rising (of the sun), a gate or fountain, a budding, etc.[1] It is not the command or decree, itself, to which the angel pointed, but to the budding of the command, the rising or springing forth of the command. In other words, the angel pointed to the beginning of the rebuilding process, or the work of the Jews that carried out the Lord’s will. The obedience of the gentile king was important only to allow the Jews to obey the command of God. Both the obedience of the king and that of the Jews are important, but the Seventy Weeks Prophecy begins, not at the word of a gentile king, but when the Jews acted upon the command of God.
Consider what the Septuagint says: “from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem…” (Daniel 9:25). In other words, the compilers of the Septuagint understood the going forth (G1841; exodus) of the command (G3056), vis-à-vis the word or decree to include the response of the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem. The Jews’ exodus from Egypt didn’t merely point to the date they left Egypt, but it included the process of leaving Egypt to the time they entered the Promised land. Notice that in Exodus 19:1 mention is made of the third month of the exodus, and, when the text speaks of the death of Aaron, it mentions the time as the fortieth year of the exodus (Numbers 33:38). The event of the exodus of the Jews out of Egypt took about forty years to fulfill. The word didn’t point to a single day, much less the command of Pharoah to leave Egypt. It was the fulfillment of the event that defines the word. In the context of the angel’s prophecy in Daniel 9, the going forth of Cyrus’ command (the exodus of the word or decree) to rebuild Jerusalem didn’t occur with the proclamation of the decree, but it included the carrying out of the decree. The prophecy would begin, when the work was begun by the Jews to obey God and not before!
[1] From “Strongs Greek and Hebrew Dictionary.”
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