While Daniel "was speaking in prayer" (Da 9:21) Gabriel visited him saying, "'I have now come forth to give you the skill to understand . . . therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision'" (:22-23). He began saying, "'Seventy weeks are determined'" (:24). He then repeated, "'Know therefore and understand'" (:25). In modern times we know that there are fifty-two weeks in a year, so seventy weeks would be one year and eighteen weeks. God defines a week explaining, "'In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth . . . and rested on the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day'" (Ex 20:11). A week is, of course, seven days. God told Moses, "'You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath'" (Lev 23:16). At seven days/week this would be "'seven complete sabbaths'" (:15). In Old Testament language a sabbath would be considered a religious week. The term sabbath can also be used symbolically. God said, "'You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years . . . namely, forty-nine years'" (25:8). Here sabbath means "seven" but the increment is a year as opposed to a day. Laban told Jacob, "'Complete the week of this one . . . which you shall serve with me for another seven years'" (Ge 29:27). Therefore when Gabriel said "seventy weeks" he meant 490 years. We are to know and understand this.
Daniel was studying Jeremiah's prophecies and read, "For thus says the Lord, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place'" (Jer 29:10). Isaiah had prophesied, "It is I who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.' And he declares of Jerusalem, 'She will be built,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid'" (Isa 44:28). To bring this to pass "the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent out a proclamation . . . [saying that God] 'has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem'" (Ezra 1:1-2). Gabriel instructed Daniel that, "'From the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks'" (Da 9:25). Cyrus had "put it in writing" (Ezra 1:1). Zerubbabel said, "'We ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us'" (4:3).
Which decree was Gabriel referring to? When Daniel was in exile in Babylon, King Belshazzar was overthrown. Daniel had prophesied this saying, "'Your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians'" (Da 5:28). After Belshazzar was killed "Darius the Mede received the kingdom" (:31) in 539 B.C. They followed the "'law of the Medes and Persians'" (6:12). "Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian" (:28). However, the Persians under Cyrus the Great overthrew the Medes, conquering Lydia and Babylonia to fulfill Daniel's prophecy. The Edict of Cyrus in 538 B.C. allowed the Jews to return to their homeland. This is confirmed by the leaders testifying, "'In the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God'" (Ezra 5:13). Later this was contested but they searched the archives for the original decree and "a scroll was found" (6:2). Then Darius issued decrees (:8,:11) and said, "'I, Darius, have issued this decree, let it be carried out with all diligence!'" (:12) "They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" (:14). The temple was dedicated in 516 B.C. However, Gabriel had referred to the "'decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem'" (Da 9:25). The first phase of "'seven weeks'" (:25) or forty-nine years would cover that project.
The temple was completed in "the sixth year of the reign of King Darius" (Ezra 6:15). "After these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, there went up" (7:1) to Jerusalem. "This is the copy of the decree which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest" (:11). The king stated that, "'I have issued a decree'" (:13) and repeated, "And I, even I King Artaxerxes, issue a decree'" (:21). Consequently a second phase of the return from exile began in 457 B.C. They were even given the authority to "'appoint magistrates and judges that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the River'" (:25).
Gabriel instructed Daniel to "'give heed to the message and gain understanding from the vision'" (Da 9:23). He said, "'Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place'" (:24). Furthermore, "'there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again'" (:25). Sixty-nine weeks are equivalent to 483 years. Counting from the decree of 457 B.C. one arrives at 26 A.D. Scriptural years are 360 days and an extra five days for each year and leap years must be taken into account. Also, scripture tends to round off any part of a day or year to a whole number. Finally, an adjustment to errors in our present calendar of four years must be made which would establish that Christ was born in 4 B.C. Therefore the passage of 483 years would take the passage of time to when Christ began his ministry at thirty years of age. However, Gabriel stated that "'after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off'" (:26). Accordingly, some count the expiration of 69 weeks (483 years) to the year of crucifixion. This would cover "'to make an end of sin, [and] to make atonement for iniquity'" (:24). Therefore, a "seventieth week" remains to be fulfilled which scholars usually associate with the Second Coming.