Before 500BC, the prophet Daniel prophesied that an Anointed One of the Jews would be cut off during the month when Passover occurred in 33AD.

Daniel 9:25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself… (NKJV)

The Prophet Daniel was a wise man in the Babylonian court (Daniel 2:6) circa 550BC. From 1000BC to 300BC the Babylonians used the MUL.APIN calendar. The MUL.APIN was the most universal calendar system of its time. It was used in the Assyrian and Babylonian empires and was known throughout the Middle East, Greece, Iran and India. The MUL.APIN utilized a theoretical year of 360 days with 12 months of 30 days each. The MUL.APIN contains extensive detailed calendar calculations that list the day of the year for the rising and setting of over 60 stars. Since the MUL.APIN uses a theoretical 360 day calendar, the date of a stellar rising can’t happen on the same date each year. However every seven years all the days of the months occur on the same day of the week that they occurred on seven years prior. For example, every “week” of years if the first day of the first month occurs on a Monday then seven years later it will occur on a Monday again in a 360 day calendar. So just like a seven day week where a new week starts on the same day of the week as the previous week, the same is true for a week of years where the first day of the year starts on the same day of the week that the previous week of years started.

Since a 360 day calculation for a year results in a deviation from a true year, the tabulations in the MUL.APIN had to be adjusted to give a correct result. Every seven years the MUL.APIN calendar could be adjusted easily to the correct time of the year by adding one month and one week (similar to adding 1 leap day every four years in the Gregorian calendar). Thus a “week” of years results in an easily calculated deviation for the MUL.APIN versus a true year. The text in Daniel 9:25-26 indicates that Daniel is grouping time in seven year periods or “weeks” which is consistent with the easiest adjustment period for the MUL.APIN.

There are four decrees mentioned in the Bible that could be associated with the start of the 69 weeks in the prophecy in Daniel – Nehemiah 2:1-8 (Artaxerxes), Ezra 1:1-4 (Cyrus), Ezra 6:12-13 (Darius), Ezra 7:11-16 (Artaxerxes). Of these four decrees, the decrees in Ezra concern the temple and the decree in Nehemiah concerns rebuilding Jerusalem. Since Daniel 9:25-26 specifically addresses rebuilding Jerusalem, then only the decree in Nehemiah is an exact match. Furthermore, only the decree in Nehemiah 2:1-8 is associated with a date – the Hebrew month of Nisan in 444BC*. Therefore the 69 weeks in Daniel 9:25-26 began during the Hebrew month of Nisan in 444BC. The Month of Nisan occurs in both the Babylonian and Assyrian calendars as the first month of the year and the first day of that month was their New Year. In Nehemiah 2:1 we are told that Nehemiah had not been sad before in the king’s presence. So what would cause him to be sad? Perhaps it was the New Year and Nehemiah was thinking about what had happened to Jerusalem. The New Year is often a time when people reflect on what has occurred in the past. In this case, let’s use Nisan 1, 444BC as the starting point for the 69 weeks of Daniel 9:25-26. Note that Passover occurs in the Hebrew month of Nisan.

If we use the 360 day years of the MUL.APIN calendar for 69 weeks of years, the result is a 476 year time period using the modern Gregorian Calendar calculations. The 69 weeks in Daniel are completed in the Hebrew month** when Passover occurs -Nisan, 33AD. Remember there is no year zero so the year count moves from 1BC to 1AD without a 0AD.

The word translated as Messiah in Daniel 9:25-26 can be translated as anointed one. However the word for cut off (karet ~ כרת) has strong implications of being removed permanently or executed. The only “anointed one” of the Jews who was cut off during the time period in question was Jesus. In fact, the only anointed one of the Jews who was cut off at any time close to this time period was Jesus.

Given the precision of the prophecy in Daniel 9:25-26 some of the Jews should’ve been looking for the Anointed One at the time of Jesus. Luke 3:15 indicates the people were in expectation (possibly due to the prophecy in Daniel 9:25-26). In Luke 2:22-39, Simeon is depicted as waiting for the Lord’s Christ (Anointed),“25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” The phrasing in this passage of Luke is consistent with an expectation based on the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel 9:25-26. Simeon possibly realized that the anointed one in Daniel 9:25-26 was already born. Simeon possibly also realized that Simeon would die before the Anointed One became an adult. So, after over 400 years of the Jews waiting for the Anointed One, Simeon realized that he and the Anointed One were possibly both alive at the same time. But, Simeon also realized that he might not be able to find the Anointed One before Simeon died of old age. Simeon did get to see the Anointed One prophesied in Daniel 9:25-26, but he was only able to see him when the Anointed One was an infant and Simeon was an old man. Simeon’s statement in Luke 2:34-35 is consistent with a knowledge that the Anointed One would be cut off in fulfillment of Daniel 9:26. After over 400 years, at least Simeon was waiting for the Anointed One prophesied in Daniel 9:25-26. Many people believed in Jesus as the Christ (Anointed) after he was resurrected. Simeon believed in Him when He was only an infant…

Luke 2:28 he took him into his arms and blessed God, and said: 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” 33 And his father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against 35 ([and] a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

J. Clontz –Editor of The Comprehensive New Testament

* Artaxerxes reign began in 465BC. The twentieth year of his reign started in 445BC and ended sometime in 444BC. Nisan 1, 444BC which was the first day of 444BC in Persia would’ve definitively been during the twentieth year of Artaxerxes reign.

**While the Israelites were exiled in Babylon they adopted the Babylonian names of the months into their calendar. This sheds some light on whether an Israelite such as Daniel would use the Babylonian calendar system– the entire nation of Israel adopted major portions of the Babylonian calendar system.