Andrews University Seminary Student Journal, Vol. 4, Nos. 1-2, 19-30.
Copyright © 2018 David J. Hamstra
THE SEVENTY-WEEKS PROPHECY OF DANIEL 9:24-27
AND FIRST-CENTURY AD JEWISH MESSIANIC
EXPECTATION
DAVID J. HAMSTRA
ThD Student in Theological and Historical Studies
hamstrad@andrews.edu
Abstract
For Christians who mterpret the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24-27 by correlating
the coming of the messiah with the arrival of Jesus Christ, the question of whether
Jesus could have been identified as the predicted messiah at the time of fulfillment
1s theologically significant given biblical claims of prophetic mtelligibility. There 1s a
consensus among scholars affirming the view that mterpretation of the seventy-
weeks prophecy led to a climate of messianic expectation among certain sectors of
first-century Jewish society. This position 1s supported by the explicit connection
of the seventy weeks to the anticipated arrival of a messiah mn Melchizedek
(11Q13). Josephus provides an independent line of circumstantial evidence that
dates this expectation to the first century. This warrants the theological conclusion
that the prophecy was, in principle, mtelligible to those among whom it was
fulfilled.
Keywords: Adventism, messianism, sabbatical chronology, Second Temple
literature.
Introduction
In Seventh-day Adventism, Daniel 9:24-27 is interpreted as a messianic time-
prophecy via chronological calculations that correlate the coming of the Anointed
One 1n the sixty-ninth week to the baptism of Jesus Christ. From time to time,
Adventist scholars have taken an mterest in identifying similar, or parallel,
interpretations in the reception of this prophetic passage.! This establishes that
For Adventist commentary on the reception history of the seventy weeks, see LeRoy
Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers: The Historical Development of Prophetic
Interpretation, vol. 1, Early Church Exposition, Subsequent Deflections, and Medieval Revival
(Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1950), 193; William R. Shea, Sekcted Studies on
Prophetic Interpretation, Rev. ed., Daniel and Revelation Committee Sertes 1 (Silver Spring,
MD: Biblical Research Institute, 1992), 105-110; and Jacques B. Doukhan, Ox the Way 10
Emmaus: Five Major Prophecies Explained (Clarksville, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers,
2012), 182-183.
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