Day of His Appearing – Part Two

Day of His Appearing – Part Two

by Shawn Henry Potter and Lois Carol Potter
renatuspress@gmail.com

In our discussion entitled Day of His Appearing – Part One, we noted that the messianic prophecy recorded in Gen 49:10 said the scepter would remain among the descendants of Judah until the appearance of the Messiah. We also noted that descendants of Judah, serving as kings and high priests, ruled Judea until the Idumean Herod the Great ascended the throne in 36 BC.[1] See Day of His Appearing – Part One and Scepter of Judah. In this discussion, we consider the messianic prophecy recorded in Dan 9:25.

Background

In 522 BC, the Judean exile Daniel, living in Babylon, received the messianic prophecy recorded in Dan 9:25. What major events preceded this prophecy?

In 587 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar the Great of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and exiled King Zedekiah and other Judeans. Forty-eight years later, in 539 BC, King Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon; and seventeen years after this conquest – sixty-five years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Judean exile – in 522 BC, King Darius the Great ascended the throne of Persia.[2]

Belshazzar’s Feast (before Cyrus the Great defeated Babylon)

In the first year of the reign of Darius, in 522 BC, Daniel understood that God had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah that the people of Judea would be held in captivity for seventy years.[3] In response, Daniel confessed his sins and the sins of the people of Judea, and asked God to have mercy on the people of Judea and the holy city of Jerusalem.[4]

At that moment, the angel Gabriel brought a message from God to Daniel, affirming that Judea’s captivity would last for seventy years, and then foretelling the coming of the Messiah. The King James Version of Dan 9:25 reads:

Know 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.

Since various English translations differ in the way that they render the original text, we examined this verse as found in three early manuscripts – Codex Leningradensis, Codex Amiatinus, and Codex Vaticanus.

Codex Leningradensis (Hebrew Masoretic Text)

Codex Leningradensis (AD 1008), the earliest and best-preserved complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible (folio 445, verso, column 1, line 23 to column 2, line 2) reads:[5]

‎ותֵדַ֙ע וְתַשְׂכֵּ֜ל מִן־מֹצָ֣א דָבָ֗ר לְהָשִׁיב֙ וְלִבְנ֤וֹת יְרֽוּשָׁ֙לִַם֙ עַד־מָשִׁ֣יחַ נָגִ֔יד שָׁבֻעִ֖ים שִׁבְעָ֑ה וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים שִׁשִּׁ֣ים וּשְׁנַ֗יִם תָּשׁוּב֙ וְנִבְנְתָה֙ רְח֣וֹב וְחָר֔וּץ וּבְצ֖וֹק הָעִתִּֽים׃

An English translation reads:

Know and understand that from the going forth of a word to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince shall be seven sevens and threescore and two sevens; it shall be restored and built, broad and wide, in distressing times.

Codex Amiatinus (Latin Vulgate Text)

Codex Amiatinus (c. AD 700), the earliest and best-preserved complete manuscript of the Latin Vulgate (folio 645, verso, column 1, lines 17-26) reads:[6]

Scito ergo, et planta aurem et animadverte: ab exitu sermonis, ut iterum aedificetur Jerusalem, usque ad christum ducem, hebdomades septem, et hebdomades sexaginta duae erunt: et rursum aedificabitur platea, et muri in angustia temporum.

An English translation reads:

Know therefore, and incline your ear, and consider: from the going forth of the word, that Jerusalem shall be built again, until Christ the Prince, there shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the wall in the strait of times.

Codex Vaticanus (Greek Septuagint Text)

Codex Vaticanus (c. AD 350), one of the four earliest and best-preserved complete manuscripts of the Bible (folio 1227, column 2, line 37-column 3, line 6) reads:[7]

καὶ γνώσῃ καὶ συνήσεις ἀπὸ ἐξόδου λόγου τοῦ ἀποκριθῆναι, καὶ τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἕως Χριστοῦ ἡγουμένου ἑβδομάδες ἑπτά, καὶ ἑβδομάδες ἑξήκοντα δύο· καὶ ἐπιστρέψει, καὶ οἰκοδομηθήσεται πλατεῖα, καὶ τεῖχος, καὶ ἐκκενωθήσονται οἱ καιροί.

An English translation reads:

And you shall know and understand from the going forth of the word to answer and to build Jerusalem, until Christ the Prince, seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: and he shall return, and the street shall be built, and the wall, and the times shall be fulfilled.

Each of these early manuscripts preserve the same idea – the Messiah will appear seven sevens (weeks), and threescore and two sevens (weeks), after the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. So, what do these numbers mean, and when was the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem?

Daniel in the Lion’s Den

Witness of the Early Church Fathers

We wondered if the writings of the early Church Fathers would help us understand this messianic prophecy. Our research uncovered the following comments regarding Dan 9:25.

• • St. Eusebius (c. AD 260-339), Bishop of Caesarea Maritima, wrote: “These things have been recorded by us in order to show that another prophecy has been fulfilled in the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ. For the Scripture, in the Book of Daniel, having expressly mentioned a certain number of weeks until the coming of Christ, of which we have treated in other books, most clearly prophesies, that after the completion of those weeks the unction among the Jews should totally perish. And this, it has been clearly shown, was fulfilled at the time of the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. This has been necessarily premised by us as a proof of the correctness of the time.”[8]

• • St. Cyril (c. 313-386 AD), Bishop of Jerusalem, wrote: “But we seek still more clearly the proof of the time of His coming. For man being hard to persuade, unless he gets the very years for a clear calculation, does not believe what is stated. What then is the season, and what the manner of the time? It is when, on the failure of the kings descended from Judah, Herod a foreigner succeeds to the kingdom? The Angel, therefore, who converses with Daniel says, and do thou now mark the words, And you shall know and understand: From the going forth of the word for making answer, and for the building of Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince are seven weeks and three score and two weeks. Now three score and nine weeks of years contain four hundred and eighty-three years. He said, therefore, that after the building of Jerusalem, four hundred and eighty-three years having passed, and the rulers having failed, then comes a certain king of another race, in whose time the Christ is to be born.”[9]

• • St. John Chysostom (c. AD 347-407), Bishop of Constantinople, wrote: “[Jesus Christ] … of whom the prophet Daniel had proclaimed beforehand, that He should come after those many weeks. And if anyone, counting the years spoken of to Daniel by the angel in a number of weeks, would trace down the time from the building of the city to His birth, by reckoning he will perceive the one to agree with the other.”[10]

• • St. Augustine (AD 354-430), Bishop of Hippo, wrote: “The same Saviour is spoken of in Daniel, where the Son of man appears before the Ancient of days, and receives a kingdom without end, that all nations may serve Him. In the passage quoted from Daniel by the Lord Himself, ‘When you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let him that reads understand,’ the number of weeks points not only to Christ, but to the very time of His advent.”[11]

These early Church Fathers understood that Jesus alone fulfilled this messianic prophecy. St. Cyril further noted that the phrase “seven sevens (weeks), and threescore and two sevens (weeks)” means four-hundred and eighty-three years. This is helpful. Then, St. Cyril went on to explain one way of understanding the prophetic formula. He said:

• • the starting point was the completion of the temple during the sixth year of the reign of Darius in 516 BC (the first year of the 66th Olympiad),[12]

• • the duration was 483 years, and

• • the ending point was the accession of the Idumean Herod the Great to the throne of Judea in 33 BC [sic.], the fourth year of the 186th Olympiad, which was 480 years after 516 BC, explaining that the remaining three years may be accounted for in the intervals between the Olympiads, and noting that the prophecy in Dan 9:25 also fulfilled the prophecy in Gen 49:10. See Day of His Appearing – Part One and Scepter of Judah.

All these early Church Fathers said the prophecy in Dan 9:25 was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus; but we wondered if they intended to express a broader meaning – that the incarnation and life of Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecy. From St. Cyril’s words, we see that this was his meaning, because his formula points to the accession of Herod the Great, in whose reign Jesus was born.

St. Cyril concluded by noting: “Of the times, therefore, you have for the present this proof, although there are also other different interpretations concerning the aforesaid weeks of years in Daniel.” St. Cyril’s qualification of his proposed solution and the silence of other early Church Fathers regarding the prophetic formula suggest the message: “It is enough to know that the prophecy points to the lifetime of Jesus and no other. This is what is important.”

We agree. Yet, we also suspect that God revealed this prophecy with the intention that we should try to understand it and thereby grow stronger in our faith. So, recognizing that this prophecy may exceed our understanding, we examined the work of others. In the end, we became persuaded, in large measure, by the analysis of Harold Hoehner (1935-2009), former Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, as presented in his book entitled Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ.[13] The following discussion is a summary of his conclusions, with minor refinements based on our own thoughts.[14]

Jesus Wept over Jerusalem

Defining the Ending Point

Hoehner persuasively argues that the ending point of this messianic prophecy was the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem on 30 Mar AD 33, which was Julian date 1,733,199, as well as 10 Nisan 3797 on the Hebrew calendar.[15] On Mount Sinai, God instructed Moses and all the people of Israel to select the Passover lamb on 10 Nisan.[16] This year-by-year selection of the Passover lamb on 10 Nisan foreshadowed the appearance of the Messiah on 10 Nisan in AD 33 as foretold in Dan 9:25.

Defining the Duration

The Church Fathers understood the phrase “seven sevens and threescore and two sevens” in the Hebrew text of Dan 9:25 to mean four hundred and eighty-three years.[17] Furthermore, Hoehner illustrated from Scripture that prophetic years contain 360 days.[18] So, the duration of the prophetic formula in Dan 9:25 is 483 times 360 or 173,880 days.[19]

Defining the Starting Point

To find the starting point of this prophetic formula, we subtracted the duration (173,880 days) from the ending point (30 Mar AD 33, or Julian date 1,733,199). Julian date 1,733,199 minus 173,880 days equals Julian date 1,559,319, which was 8 Mar 444 BC, or 4 Nisan 3317. Hoehner explained that the text of Nehemiah recorded that Artaxerxes issued a decree to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem during the month of Nisan in 444 BC.[20] Since Nehemiah did not specify a day in the month of Nisan, Hoehner assumed that Artaxerxes issued the decree on the first day of the month. However, by first defining the ending point, then the duration, and finally the starting point, we deduce that the starting point – the date that Artaxerxes issued his decree – was 8 Mar 444 BC, or 4 Nisan 3317.

Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus in AD 33

Conclusion

Whether the starting point for calculating the messianic prophecy of Dan 9:25 was the decree by Darius in 516 BC as proposed by St. Cyril or the decree by Artaxerxes in 444 BC as proposed by Hoehner, God enabled the Judean exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city walls during a brief window of time that, when considered together with the duration of the prophetic formula, points to the lifetime of Jesus.

No one other than Jesus could fulfill this messianic prophecy. God foretold the day of the appearance of the Messiah because he wanted his chosen people – and people everywhere and in every generation – to recognize, embrace, and follow Jesus Christ – the Savior of the world.

“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” (Ps 25:4-5)

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[1] W. E. Filmer, “The Chronology of the Reign of Herod the Great” in Journal of Theological Studies, New Series, Vol. 17, No. 2, (October 1966), 283-298.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/23958200

See also Gerard Gertoux, Herod the Great and Jesus: Chronological, Historical, and Archaeological Evidence (Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com, 2016),  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1329698169/

[2] Gerard Gertoux, Absolute Chronology of the Ancient World from 1533 BCE to 140 CE (Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com, 2016),  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1365215288/

See also Gerard Gertoux, Absolute Mesopotamian Chronology from Gilgamesh (2447-2401) to Darius II (424-405) (Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com, 2023),  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1471774120/

[3] Jer 25:8-11.

[4] Dan 9:1-19.

[5] Codex Leningradensis, folio 445, verso, column 1, line 23 to column 2, line 2,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Codex_Leningradensis&filefrom=Leningrad+Codex+Folio+400b.jpg#mw-category-media

[6] Codex Amiatinus, folio 645, verso, column 1, lines 17-26,  https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_20150/?sp=1289&st=image

[7] Codex Vaticanus, folio 1227, column 2, line 37-column 3, line 6,  https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.gr.1209

[8] St. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea Maritima, Church History, Chapter 6, paragraph 11.  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250101.htm

[9] St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, Lecture 12, paragraph 19.  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310112.htm

St. Cyril explained that the prophecies in Gen 49:10 and Dan 9:25 both point to the reign of King Herod the Great as the time of the Messiah’s appearing. Gen 49:10 says the Messiah will appear when a descendant of Judah no longer holds the scepter of Judah; and Dan 9:25 identified the very year that Herod ascended to the throne. That is to say, according to St. Cyril’s calculations, Darius signed a decree (reinstating an earlier decree by Cyrus the Great) in about 521 BC; and 483 years later, in about 38 BC, the Idumean Herod the Great became king of Judea.

[10] St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew, Homily 4, paragraph 4,  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200104.htm

[11] St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Contra Faustum, Book XII, paragraph 44,  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/140612.htm

[12] Ezra 6:15. “And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.”

[13] Harold Walter Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1977).  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TFE8ME/

[14] We do not convert prophetic 360-day years to Gregorian 365.24-day years as proposed by Hoehner.

[15] Colin Humphreys, “The Jewish Calendar, A Lunar Eclipse and the Date of Christ’s Crucifixion,” in Tindale Bulletin, November 1992.

Note: Online Hebrew calendars produce errors when calculating dates before AD 1752. So, we rely here on Hoehner’s assessment of the Hebrew calendar date.

Note: We calculate Julian dates with the United States Government Astronomical Applications Department Julian Date Converter,  https://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/JulianDate

[16] Ex 12:1-3.

[17] St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, Lecture 12, paragraph 19. “Now three score and nine weeks of years contain four hundred and eighty-three years.”  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310112.htm

[18] Gen 7:24 and Gen 8:3 state that five months contain 150 days, so each month contains 30 days, and a year contains 360 days.

See also Rev 11:2-3 and Rev 12:6 which state that forty-two months contain 1,260 days, so each month contains 30 days, and a year contains 360 days.

[19] Note: Hoehner converts this number of prophetic year days to Gregorian year days. We do not.

[20] Neh 2:1-8.

[21] John 12:1-11.

[22] John 12:12-36.

[23] Mark 11:11.

[24] Mark 11:15-19.

[25] John 13.

[26] John 18-19.

See also Colin Humphreys, “The Jewish Calendar, A Lunar Eclipse and the Date of Christ’s Crucifixion,” in Tindale Bulletin, November 1992.

[27] Matt 27:62-68.

[28] John 20.

[29] Luke 24-44-53.

See also Acts 1:3-12.

See also 1 Cor 15:6.