Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

Two  comments:

9:24   Kodesh Kodashim - refers to "Holy of Holies", which commonly 
refers to the Temple.  And the end of the 70 sevens does not herald 
everlasting peace, since the Temple is destroyed after the 70 sevens, 
as in verse 26 - desolation until the end of the War (of Gog and 
Magog, in Messianic times)



Yes, the starting point is from the time of the first Destruction, 
and it could definitely be G-d's decree.

HH: The timing goes forward from an identifiable decree that Israelites
can isolate. Otherwise they could not count forward. There has to be a
clear, well-known starting point. The text tells us what it is, and it
is not the destruction of Jerusalem but a decree concerning the
rebuilding of Jerusalem.




Dear Shoshanna,

> Gabriel is breaking down the 70 septets (490 years).


HH: And the 70 sevens go until the end of the age: making an end of sin,
bringing in of everlasting righteousness and completing vision and prophecy:

Dan. 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.


> Rashi explains verse 24 as follows:  70 years of exile that have
> passed from the Destruction of the first Temple until this vision,
> plus the entire 420 year period of the second Temple:



HH: The whole prophecy looks forward, not backward. It starts at the
going forth of the word to return and rebuild Jerusalem. Thus it starts
at the end of the captivity, not the beginning.


> re your question, note it does not say "from the time that Cyrus said
> to return and rebuild Jerusalem".



HH: No, it does not mention Cyrus, but it is obviously talking about the
return of the Israelites to their native land and the rebuilding of
Jerusalem.


>  And it doesn't say Dibbur - word.
> It says Davar - thing.



HH: "Davar" also means "word" or "decree."



>   G-d can be the one who has decreed the
> thing, from the moment that the first Temple was destroyed, that
> Cyrus would become king 53 years later, and rebuild the Temple.



HH: The timing goes forward from an identifiable decree that Israelites
can isolate. Otherwise they could not count forward. There has to be a
clear, well-known starting point. The text tells us what it is, and it
is not the destruction of Jerusalem but a decree concerning the
rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard

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