Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 65:3 (Sep 2022)
Article: The Theological Problem Presented By The Exactness Of Daniel’s 70 Weeks
Author: Rodger C. Young

JETS 65:3 (September 2022) p. 473

The Theological Problem Presented By The Exactness Of Daniel’s 70 Weeks

Rodger C. Young*

^* Rodger C. Young resides at 1115 Basswood Lane, St. Louis, MO 63132. He may be contacted at [email protected]. Acknowledgments: My thanks to Steven Rudd, pastor in Hamilton, Ontario, who suggested in the fall of 2019 that we look more closely at the dates associated with the interpretation that we both held for Daniel’s 70 weeks. This resulted in the calculation that is explained in Section IV. After this was done, one of our friends and correspondents, Paul Tanner of Rochester, NY (not the J. Paul Tanner cited below), informed us that Derek Walker, a pastor in Oxford, England, had done the same calculation and had posted it on his website, https://www.oxfordbiblechurch.co.uk/. Pastor Walker’s work was especially useful in showing the errors in the calculations of Anderson and Hoehner, as explained in Section II.

Abstract: After critiquing various interpretations by conservative scholars for the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9:24–27, the present article argues that associating the starting date with Ezra’s departure for Jerusalem, having authorization from Artaxerxes I to rebuild the city wall, is the correct understanding of the prophecy. This view, which J. Barton Payne classifies as the traditional view, was espoused by Isaac Newton, E. B. Pusey, Adam Clarke, and other interpreters, who noted that it is 490 years (70 weeks) to AD 33 from Ezra’s authorization and departure for Jerusalem. The present study applies the tables of Parker and Dubberstein to locate the Gregorian (i.e., astronomically correct) month and day of Ezra’s departure in 458 BC and the month and day of the resurrection in AD 33. When this is done, the traditional interpretation of Daniel’s 70 weeks makes the prophecy exact not just to the year, but to the year, month, and day. The theological implication of this exactness is discussed.

Key words: Book of Daniel, 70 weeks, biblical prophecy, prophecy fulfillment, Parker and Dubberstein, Robert Anderson, Harold Hoehner, divine omniscience

A sure way to lose friends and diminish one’s influence among colleagues who formerly held one in esteem is to publish yet another dissertation on Daniel’s 70 weeks. This will particularly be true if a claim is made that the 70 weeks, or 490 years, of Daniel 9:24 work out exactly to the day. Because of the failure of previous such attempts, J. Paul Tanner writes, “While others have tried to calculate the sixty-nine ‘weeks’ to the very day, it is better to exercise caution and not be overly speculative about this calculation for several reason...