How to calculate the dates associated with the 70 weeks.
Sir Robert Anderson brings to our attention that the day the command
was given to rebuild the temple was March 14, 445 BC* and the date that Jesus
rode into Jerusalem was April 6, 32 AD. Let us see how these two dates fit into
the calculating of the seventy weeks.
* Some have come up with 444BC as the year
that the command was given, but they insert a year 0 BC. This then does not
affect the calculations.
Two rules to keep in mind when working with Jewish
dates and times.
1. – The Jewish people used lunar years and figured them as 360
days each.
Though this is not an exact lunar year, it is how
the Jews figured.
2.
-
The Jews reckoned any part of a day month or year was a whole.
So they figured inclusively, in other words they
included both the first and last.
Daniel’s prophecy is a Jewish prophecy and the years
were lunar years
7 weeks of years = 49 years
62 weeks of years = 434 years
Total 69
weeks of years = 483 Lunar years
To change our years from lunar Jewish
years to solar Gregorian years
483 years x 360 days
= 173,880 days
173,880 days / 365.25 = 476.057494866530000
Gregorian years OR
476 years 21.0000000000825
days
Add 2
Days year 0 and year 400 are not leap years
Add
1 Day Jewish reckoning is
inclusive – 1st & last
476 years 24 days With adjustments -
Gregorian
____________________________________________________________
-445 If we
subtract the year the command was given 445BC
31 years 24
days We come up with 31
years and 24 days or 31AD and 24 Days
+1 Add 1
year to change from BC to AD **
32 years 24
days Brings us to 32 AD
and 24 days after March 14.
Including March 14 in our figuring 24 days take us to April 6, the very
day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem.
** To figure the actual date, you must add 1 when you pass from BC
to AD.
Example: To figure the date of the year 5
years after 3 BC (5 years - 3BC = 2AD + 1 = 3AD)
Year 0
1 2 /\ 3
4 5
/ 3BC
/ 2BC / 1BC 1AD
\ 2AD \ 3AD \
/ - - - - - BC - - - - - /\ -
- - - - AD - - - - - - \
The 70 weeks
| P
a s t | P r e s e n t | F u t u r e
|
445 BC 32
AD 2000(+?) AD 2000(+?) +7 AD
| 7 weeks | 42
weeks | Daniel |
1 week |
| - - - - | - - - - - - - - | 9:26 | - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
|49 years | 434 years | fits here
| 7 years |
| | | |
| 483 years | | |