Seventy
'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish
transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring
in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to
anoint the most holy.
//Today's topic stems from N. T. Wright's new book, How God Became King. Daniel
actually says "Seventy weeks" in his prophecy, but most people (such as
the NIV translation quoted above) recognize this to mean seventy times
seven (490) years. That's how long it will take, according to Daniel, before the Messiah arrives and sets things right.
Today's
readers may recognize seven as a sort of special number, but it meant
far more to Bible readers in Daniel's day. The seventh day is the
Sabbath. The seventh year is a sabbatical year. Every seven-times-seven
years is declared a jubilee; slaves are freed, land sold off by the
family is restored to its original owner, everything returns to the way
it belongs.
Daniel's
promise sounds very much like a jubilee of jubilees! Wait four hundred
ninety years, says Daniel, and God will set things right once and for
all!
Now,
let's carry this topic a little further than Wright does. If we count
490 years from the date the Jews returned from exile and began
rebuilding the temple according to the decree of Artaxerxes (457 BCE) we
arrive at the year 33 CE ... the year many believe Jesus died. Pretty
amazing, huh?
We'll look at this from another angle tomorrow, and see if it's really as amazing as it appears.
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