Daniel's 69 Weeks Prophecy Fulfilled to the Exact Year
Daniel 9:24: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy."
Daniel 9:25: "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."
Daniel 9:26: "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."
This is the most precise Messianic prophecy in all of Scripture, giving the EXACT timeframe for the Messiah's death.
7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks total
69 weeks × 7 days = 483 days
Using the day-for-year principle (Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6):
483 prophetic years
Prophetic year = 360 days (Genesis 7-8 flood account)
Solar year = 365.25 days
483 × (360 ÷ 365.25) = 476.38 solar years
Artaxerxes' decree in his 20th year (Nehemiah 2:1-8)
Month of Nisan (March/April) 444 BC
444 BC + 476 years = 33 AD
Note: There is no year zero in historical dating. The calendar goes directly from 1 BC to 1 AD, so we account for this in the calculation.
RESULT: Spring of 33 AD
Nehemiah 2:1: "And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king."
Nehemiah 2:5-8: "And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it... And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my Elohim upon me."
There were four Persian decrees regarding Jerusalem:
Daniel specified "to restore and to build Jerusalem" - the CITY, not just the temple. Only the 444 BC decree explicitly authorized rebuilding the city's infrastructure and defenses.
Persian records confirm Artaxerxes I (Longimanus) reigned from 465-424 BC. His 20th year was indeed 445/444 BC. The month of Nisan places this in spring 444 BC by our calendar.
Source: Persian Royal Archives, Persepolis Administrative Archives
Matthew 27:50-51: "Yahusha, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the spirit. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent."
Luke 23:44-45: "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst."
Tacitus (Annals 15.44): "Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus."
Tiberius reigned 14-37 AD. Pilate was procurator 26-36 AD.
Josephus (Antiquities 18.3.3): "Now there was about this time Jesus... Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross."
Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a): "On the eve of Passover they hanged Yeshu."
The Darkness: Multiple historians record unusual darkness:
The Passover: Astronomical calculations confirm Nisan 14 (Passover) fell on Friday in 33 AD, matching Gospel accounts.
Isaiah 53:5: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
Psalm 22:16-18: "They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."
Written 1000 years before crucifixion was invented!
Zechariah 11:12-13: "So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And YHWH said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them."
Fulfilled exactly: Judas' 30 pieces of silver used to buy potter's field (Matthew 27:3-10)
Zechariah 12:10: "And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son."
Daniel spoke of 70 weeks total, but only 69 weeks until Messiah is "cut off." This creates a gap before the final week.
Luke 21:24: "And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."
If the final generation is 1947-2027, and the last "week" is 7 years, then 2020 may have begun the 70th week. The prophecy continues to unfold.
This prophecy proves:
Luke 24:44: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me."