Christians make a LOT out of this passage believing that they have found the "Holy Grail" of apologetics. Some clever Christians have managed to reference incorrect dates to this passage so it sounds like it certainly refers to the date of Jesus' death. Let's start out by saying that there is no mention of Virgin Birth, Son of God, Prophet, Miracle Worker, Executed by Gentiles, Propitiatory Sacrifice for Sins or Resurrection in this prophecy. Other than the supposed time of death of this king - what possible similarity is there in this prophecy and Jesus' life.
| Complete Jewish Bible: Daniel 9:25 Know, therefore, and discern that seven weeks [of years] will elapse between the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Yerushalayim until an anointed prince comes. It will remain built for sixty-two weeks [of years], with open spaces and moats; but these will be troubled times. 26 Then, after the sixty-two weeks, Mashiach will be cut off and have nothing. The people of a prince yet to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary, but his end will come with a flood, and desolations are decreed until the war is over. |
Mashiach means "anointed one" as in an anointed prince of Israel (Jesus was never a prince). Princes of Israel were anointed by a prophet with holy oils kept at the temple. A good website detailing the "anointing" ritual and how Jesus was never properly anointed is right here: messiahtruth/anointed.html
Now let's look at the timing:
First off there is an etnachta or semi-colon between seven weeks and sixty-two weeks which indicates two different periods. The first king would come seven weeks from now whereas the second king would come sixty-two weeks from now. Christians add the two together yet Jews never have.
Anyway, let's say sixty-nine weeks of years from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the second prince is cut-off. When is the proclamation to rebuild Jerusalem? Cyrus is charged with the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Isaiah 45:13; see also Ezra 1:1-8, 6:1-5) and he issues this decree in 537 BC which means that the second king would be cut off in either 103 BC or 54 BC depending on whether you add the weeks together or not. Why don't Christians accept this as the correct year? Because it doesn't match up with Jesus' ministry. As an example: Here's an entertaining Christian website:
Bible Explained
According to this Christian, Cyrus' proclamation cannot be the prophetic beginning. Why? "No, measuring from here, we come to 48/47 BC. It does not measure to the time of Jesus." I guess we interpret prophecy by whomever claims to fulfill it.
So, from the proclamation to the death of the second anointed king we arrive at WAY before the time of Jesus who was never an anointed king anyway. Prophecy debunked.
Now how do Christians come up with other dates? Let's look at THIS.
This website gives us four options to start the prophecy.
539 BC - Cyrus' proclamation
520 BC - Darius permits Jews to rebuild Temple
457 BC - Artaxerxes allows Ezra Authority to lead the nation.
445 BC - Artraxerxes gives Nehemiah permission to rebuild the walls.
Let's do some math using sixty-two or sixty-nine weeks - this will indicate when the second prince will be "cut off":
539 BC = 105 BC or 56 BC
520 BC = 86 BC or 37 BC
457 BC = 23 BC or 26 AD
445 BC = 11 BC or 38 AD
Obviously Christians like the last date best (when calculated with the mistaken sixty-nine weeks) even though it is probably the least likely candidate. Still, this misses Christ's death by a generous amount. Christians sometimes try to fudge this date by saying that prophetic years are 360 days long but this is akin to Von Dannikin using "pyramid inches" to prove his claims and is thoroughly unsupportable.
1) The dates are wrong.
2) Jesus was never an anointed King
Of my ten part Messianic Prophecy Challenge - this fulfills only one part and is therefore too generic to apply to Jesus.