Bible conundrum: Cyrus's Decree and Daniel's 70 Weeks

[Warrior89]

Maybe you all can help me with a Bible conundrum. The 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9 kicks off with a "decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." Even if the math doesn't work out, how could this NOT be the Cyrus decree in 539 bc?

Because Isaiah says:

"It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he will carry out all My desire.’
And he says of JERUSALEM, ‘SHE WILL BE BUILT,’
And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” Isaiah 44:28

And also:

"I have stirred him in righteousness,
And I will make all his ways smooth.
He will BUILD MY CITY and let My exiles go free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies." -Isaiah 45:13

I suppose we can solve this problem by saying the "weeks" are Sabbath year cycles, which wouldn't have started until Ezra got to Jerusalem in 458 BC, reinstituting Jewish law in Jerusalem and Judea?

Thoughts??

 

[RandyPNW]

Maybe you all can help me with a Bible conundrum. The 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9 kicks off with a "decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." Even if the math doesn't work out, how could this NOT be the Cyrus decree in 539 bc?

Because Isaiah says:

"It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he will carry out all My desire.’
And he says of JERUSALEM, ‘SHE WILL BE BUILT,’
And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” Isaiah 44:28

And also:

"I have stirred him in righteousness,
And I will make all his ways smooth.
He will BUILD MY CITY and let My exiles go free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies." -Isaiah 45:13

I suppose we can solve this problem by saying the "weeks" are Sabbath year cycles, which wouldn't have started until Ezra got to Jerusalem in 458 BC, reinstituting Jewish law in Jerusalem and Judea?

Thoughts??

Yes, I've been dealing with this for a while now. Cyrus was called to initiate the process of National Restoration for the Jewish People after 538 BC. when the 70 years of Jewish Punishment had been completed. Cyrus' decree planned this, but it required further decrees to complete this original decree.

In 457 BC Artaxerxes decreed a program of continuation. The temple had been built, but the worship required further repair or establishment. As well, the city needed walls and buildings for housing and government. All this began in 457 BC and continued with even more guidance.

In a nutshell, Cyrus began the process, and the temple was early built in the process. But the perfection of the temple worship was future, along with the actual building of the city and the establishment of city government, including housing. Daniel was given understanding that this process would take 7 "Weeks," or 49 years.

 

[HTacianas]

Maybe you all can help me with a Bible conundrum. The 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9 kicks off with a "decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." Even if the math doesn't work out, how could this NOT be the Cyrus decree in 539 bc?

Because Isaiah says:

"It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he will carry out all My desire.’
And he says of JERUSALEM, ‘SHE WILL BE BUILT,’
And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” Isaiah 44:28

And also:

"I have stirred him in righteousness,
And I will make all his ways smooth.
He will BUILD MY CITY and let My exiles go free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies." -Isaiah 45:13

I suppose we can solve this problem by saying the "weeks" are Sabbath year cycles, which wouldn't have started until Ezra got to Jerusalem in 458 BC, reinstituting Jewish law in Jerusalem and Judea?

Thoughts??

There is a Wikipedia article on the Book of Daniel that will help you a lot. You can see it here:

Book of Daniel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Beginning especially at the Historical background section and reading through it you'll find that the Book of Daniel has near nothing to do with Christianity. That's why none of the math adds up. Thousands of people have tried to twist and turn it to make it work, but it never does. As far as Christianity is concerned, there is only one reference to Daniel that has any meaning. It's found at Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14. Both say the same thing:

Mat 24:15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),

Notice the parenthetical statement "whoever reads, let him understand". Let him understand what exactly? In looking to the history of the Book of Daniel and the history of Christianity, the meaning is let him understand that it will happen again. Just as the temple was defiled by Antiochus, the temple will be defiled again. And it was. It was defiled by the Romans in 70 AD.

 

[eleos1954]

Maybe you all can help me with a Bible conundrum. The 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9 kicks off with a "decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." Even if the math doesn't work out, how could this NOT be the Cyrus decree in 539 bc?

Because Isaiah says:

"It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he will carry out all My desire.’
And he says of JERUSALEM, ‘SHE WILL BE BUILT,’
And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” Isaiah 44:28

And also:

"I have stirred him in righteousness,
And I will make all his ways smooth.
He will BUILD MY CITY and let My exiles go free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies." -Isaiah 45:13

I suppose we can solve this problem by saying the "weeks" are Sabbath year cycles, which wouldn't have started until Ezra got to Jerusalem in 458 BC, reinstituting Jewish law in Jerusalem and Judea?

Thoughts??

The math does work ... if the starting point is correct.

It is Artaxerxes' decree that marks the beginning of these prophetic periods, we must now establish that the year in which he issued his decree actually was 457 B.C.

 

[Logicalpaladin]

Maybe you all can help me with a Bible conundrum. The 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9 kicks off with a "decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." Even if the math doesn't work out, how could this NOT be the Cyrus decree in 539 bc?

Because Isaiah says:

"It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he will carry out all My desire.’
And he says of JERUSALEM, ‘SHE WILL BE BUILT,’
And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” Isaiah 44:28

And also:

"I have stirred him in righteousness,
And I will make all his ways smooth.
He will BUILD MY CITY and let My exiles go free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies." -Isaiah 45:13

I suppose we can solve this problem by saying the "weeks" are Sabbath year cycles, which wouldn't have started until Ezra got to Jerusalem in 458 BC, reinstituting Jewish law in Jerusalem and Judea?

Thoughts??

I believe the prophecy is to the coming of the ruler and the Messiah. First it gives us the timing.
25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuildJerusalem until the Anointed One,[f] the ruler,comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’

Then it gives us the outcome of each of the comings.

First the Messiah
26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.[g]

Then the ruler
The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’[h] In the middle of the ‘seven’[i] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple[j] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

Jesus was born 62 sevens after the Code of Nehemiah was put in place in 433/434 BC. It’s at the end of the book of Nehemiah. 62 sevens equals the intertestimental period.

You don’t hear it discussed much but the prophecy follows the Jewish calendar starting at Passover. The day after Passover, the counting of the Omer begins. 49 days or seven sevens later, we come to Pentecost. It’s the fiftieth day and is not part of the counting of the Omer. Neither is Passover. Then, starting the day after Pentecost, it’s 62 days until Tisha Ba’av. So the seven sevens and the 62 are running in that sequence every year. But the events they described are centuries apart. It’s also interesting that the 62 sevens are aligned with the Messiah. Tisha Ba’av is the day that both the first and second temples were destroyed. Jesus said “destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days”.

Saying that the seven sevens and the 62 sevens are just 69 sevens that run consecutively might be right but that’s not the way the deeper example that this prophecy is built on is structured. It’s two separate events separated by a long time but which run together on our calendars.

 

[Marilyn C]

Maybe you all can help me with a Bible conundrum. The 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9 kicks off with a "decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." Even if the math doesn't work out, how could this NOT be the Cyrus decree in 539 bc?

Because Isaiah says:

"It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he will carry out all My desire.’
And he says of JERUSALEM, ‘SHE WILL BE BUILT,’
And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” Isaiah 44:28

And also:

"I have stirred him in righteousness,
And I will make all his ways smooth.
He will BUILD MY CITY and let My exiles go free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies." -Isaiah 45:13

I suppose we can solve this problem by saying the "weeks" are Sabbath year cycles, which wouldn't have started until Ezra got to Jerusalem in 458 BC, reinstituting Jewish law in Jerusalem and Judea?

Thoughts??