The Time of Messiah’s Birth Revealed
By
James Scott Trimm
The Talmud states:
The Targum of the Prophets was
composed by Jonathon ben Uzziel under the guidance of Haggai, Zechariah and
Malachi… and a Bat Kol (voice from heaven) came forth and exclaimed, “Who is
this that has revealed My secrets to mankind?”… He further sought to reveal by
a Targum the inner meaning of the Ketuvim, but a bat kol went forth and said,
“Enough!”. What was the reason?– Because the date of the Messiah is foretold in
it.
(Babylonian Talmud; b.Megillah 3a)
Now the only prophetic book of the Ketuvim is Daniel and this is also a book of the Ketuvim for which no Targum was ever made.
Josephus wrote of the Book of Daniel:
We believe that Daniel conversed
with God; for he did not only prophecy of future events, as did the other
prophets, but also determined the time of their accomplishment.
(Josephus; Antiquities 10:11:7)
Now the Qumran community found just this information (the time of the Messiah) in the Book of Daniel:
The visitation is the Day of Salvation that He has decreed through Isaiah the prophet concerning all the captives, inasmuch as Scripture says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion “Your ELOHIM reigns”.” (Isaiah 52;7)
This scriptures interpretation : “the mountains” are the prophets, they who were sent to proclaim God`s truth and to prophesy to all Israel. “The messengers” is the Anointed of the spirit, of whom Daniel spoke; “After the sixty-two weeks, a Messiah shall be cut off” (Daniel 9;26, from 11Q13)
So now we have learned that there is good reason to believe that the time of Messiah is found in Daniel 9:24-27.
1: In the first year of Darius the
son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm
of the Chaldeans;
2: In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of
the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he
would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Daniel has been doing some Tanak study. He has been reading Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10. He has read about the seventy year exile.
The reason for a seventy year
captivity had been that YHWH was punishing us for having forsaken the Torah. He
punished us with the curses of Deuteronomy 28-29 and Leviticus 26 as the Torah
had warned us. The key issue here was that of the violation of the Sabbath of
the Land (Exodus 21:2; 23:11; Leviticus.
25:2, 20; 26:2, 34; Deuteronomy 15:1)
According to the Torah, if we as a people did not keep the sabbath of the land every seven years we would be cursed (Leviticus 26:34)
3: And I set my face unto the Lord
God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and
ashes:
4: And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord,
the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love
him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5: We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and
have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy
name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the
land.
7: O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces,
as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and
unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries
whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have
trespassed against thee.
8: O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and
to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9: To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have
rebelled against him;
10: Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws,
which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11: Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they
might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath
that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned
against him.
12: And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our
judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole
heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13: As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet
made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our
iniquities, and understand thy truth.
14: Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for
the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed
not his voice.
15: And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land
of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we
have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger
and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because
for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people
are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17: Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his
supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate,
for the Lord’s sake.
18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our
desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present
our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great
mercies.
19: O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine
own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
Daniel is very concerned. It has been seventy years and he wants to go home! He is a very old man by now. But he has worried because he knows his Torah. He knows that the Torah warns that if Israel still does not repent after the curse is inacted that Israel will have the punishment multiplied by seven (Lev. 26:18) Daniel is hoping that YHWH will not be enacting the next level punishment. For that would mean 70 * 7 or another 490 years!
20: And whiles I was speaking, and
praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting
my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21: Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen
in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about
the time of the evening oblation.
22: And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come
forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23: At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am
come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the
matter, and consider the vision.
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 learns that there will indeed be at least another 490 years of curses for Israel. The “weeks” here are not seven DAYS but seven YEARS. In fact the Hebrew word here actually just means “seven [somethings]”
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.
7 “weeks” here would be 49 years (a Jubilee cycle) plus theeescore and two weeks (3*20+2=62) is 69 “weeks” or 483 years.
But remember we are not counting years here but actual sabbath year cycles which are specific seven year blocks. In other words this is actually a count of how many sabbath year cycle blocks fall between these two points.
Our starting point is “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” which is Ezra 7:11-16 and gives us a start date of 457 BCE. Between that date and the Messiah 69 sabbath year cycle blocks would fall.
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.
Messiah is cut off after ther 62 “weeks” which follow the 7 weeks. This elaboration allows us to see that the division of these two blocks (the 7 weeks and the 62 weeks) was to show that after the 7 weeks “the street shall be built again, and the wall” but the Messiah would not come until after the 62 week block following that.
The Messiah would be “cut off” at that time. This is an idiom meaning that he would be executed. He would not be executed for himself, but for others. Then the people of a prince destroy Jerusalem after that time.
27: And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Remember there were 490 years or 70 “weeks” but we have so far covered only 483 (or 69 “weeks”).
This is because the big test of our trust in YHWH is the Sabbath of the land. This is where Israel SHOWS our trust in YHWH by trusting him to provide. The curse would not end until we reinstitute the sabbath of the land (2 Chronicles 36:21).
So YHWH in his infinite mercy would send the Messiah seven years BEFORE the 490 years would end to call us to repent and return to Torah in time to reinstitute the sabbath of the land BEFORE the 490 years are over.
The curse will not end until we as a people repent and show that by reinstituting the sabbath of the land. When we do that we will finally kick off the last seven years of the curse we have lived with all of this time.
There is so much to learn from this chapter. Including the nature of the Kingdom offer and the layout of the last seven years. But most importantly is the time that the Messiah would come and be “cut off”.
Now if our start point is 457 BCE and 69 “weeks” must fall between this point and the death of Messiah, then Messiah would have to be executed sometime in a window from 26 C.E. to 40 C.E. (depending on how the sabbath year cycles fall).
So if Yeshua was NOT the Messiah that would be “cut off, but not for himself” during that window… then who was?
Messaih would be executed in a window of time somewhere between 26 and 44 C.E.. And he would arive in accordance to the completion of a series of sabbath-year-cycles and jubilee cycles. Now these cycles indicate “the year of release”. So lets look for more clues about this Messiah who is cut off at such a time.
Lets look at Isaiah 60:22-61:2.
“A little one shall become a
thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I YHWH will hasten it in its time.”
(Isaiah 60:22)
“A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation:” is the Kingdom represented by a stone in Daniel 2:34-35, 45 which “became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 3:35).
“I YHWH will hasten it in its time.” refers to the “Kingdom offer”.
“The Spirit of Adonai YHWH is upon
me; because YHWH has anointed me to proclaim good tidings to the meek; he has
sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound. To proclaim the acceptable
year of YHWH, and the day of vengeance of our ELOHIM, to comfrort all who
mourn.”
(Isaiah 61:1-2)
Here we have an anointed one, a “Messiah” who comes in accordance with the jubilee and seven year cycles to proclaim liberty to captives. It is also significant as we will soon find that he makes this proclamation to “Zion” (Isaiah 61:3). This Messiah comes to REDEEM.
Lets see if Isaiah speaks any more about this figure who makes a proclamation of redemption to Zion. In Isaiah 52:7 we also read about a figure who also proclaims good tidings to Zion. This proclamation appears in Isaiah 53 and also involves one who comes to redeem (Isaiah 53:4-5, 11-12) and is cut off, but not for himself (53:8; 53:4-5, 11-12) just like the figure in Daniel. The figure must be the Messiah of Daniel 9 and Isaiah 61.
I wonder how this Messiah dies? Perhaps the prophets give me some clue. Zechariah writes:
“…they shall look upon me whom they
have pierced…”
(Zechariah 12:10)
According to both the Talmud (b.Sukkot 52a) and the Targum, this “pierced one” is the Messiah. Now Zechariah 12:10 takes place at the coming of Messiah as king, but they notice that he was the same one whom they had “pierced” or “thrust through”. Lets read on and see if Zechariah gives us any clues as to who this is and just how he was pierced. As we read further Zechariah 12:10-14 speaks of the people mourning over having pierced this guy. Zechariah 13:1-4 takes place at the intiation of the Messianic age. The Messiah is judging idolaters and false prophets. No wonder they are now mourning over this pierced one! Then in verses 5-6 we get a detailed scene of one of these judgements:
“And he shall say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a husbandman; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’ And he
shall say to him [Messiah], ‘What are these wounds in your hands?’ Then he [the Messiah] shall answer: ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’ “ Zechariah 13:5-6
Zechariah 13:6 points us back to 12:10 regarding how they mourn when they see he is the pierced one.
So now we have a Messiah who would be “cut off” sometime between 26 and 44 C.E. not for himself but to redeem others. This execution would involve having his hands pierced.
Now lets look at Zechariah 13:2. Notice that this guy will “cut off the names of the idols out of the land” (13:2). Sounds like the same guy about whom Micah 5:13 says “Your graven images also will I cut off”. This guy is born in Beit-Lechem (Bethlehem) according to Micah 5:2 (and the Targum to Micah 5:2 says this is Messiah).
This passage points us to various other prophecies about this figure which also tell us that he is born in Beit-Lechem, and executed by having his hands pierced.
Who could this be?
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