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Perfectly Quiet: The Intertestamental Period Part 7
Episode 121 – Perfectly Quiet – The Intertestamental Period 7
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script: (Bible quotes from the God’s Word Translation)
Gabriel [said] "Seventy sets of seven time periods have been assigned for your people and your holy city. ... from the time the command is given to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed prince comes .... Jerusalem will be restored and rebuilt with a city square and a moat during the troubles of those times. But after the sixty-two sets of seven time periods, the Anointed One will be cut off and have nothing.
Daniel, Chapter 9, verses 21 through 26, God’s Word Translation
********
VK: Hello. I’m Victoria K. Welcome to another episode of Anchored by Truth. Today we are continuing our look at “The Intertestamental Period” - the 400-plus year period between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. I’m in the studio today with RD Fierro, author and Founder Crystal Sea Books. RD, today we’re going into our 7th episode in this series. Last time we talked about how the formation of the Pharisees and the Sadducees during the intertestamental period influenced the religious environment which Jesus confronted during His earthly ministry. Today we want to talk at some length about why we have called this series on the intertestamental period Perfectly Quiet. But before we get to that, RD, how about doing a brief refresher on why we’re so interested in helping listeners understand more about the Sadducees and Pharisees?
RD: Greetings to all the Anchored by Truth listeners. We really appreciate you taking some time to be with us for this episode. We know that you are with us because you have a genuine desire to understand scripture more thoroughly. We also know that it might seem a little odd to focus as much attention as we have on a time period when no new books of the Bible were being added to the canon. But the truth is that having some familiarity with the intertestamental period is essential to a thorough understanding of both the Old and New Testament such as how the Sadducees and Pharisees developed and became instrumental in the story that would unfold in the four Gospels. Neither the Sadducees nor the Pharisees were mentioned at all in the Old Testament yet during in the Gospels the two parties had become so influential that they comprised the Jewish ruling council that was called the Sanhedrin.
VK: But, of course, the trial itself was illegal according to Jewish law and the trial did not conform to Jewish law. So, it’s probably not fair to really call it a trial. But whatever label you want to put on it, the Sanhedrin was the group that held it. And the Sanhedrin was comprised of Sadducees and Pharisees which were two of the most important religious and political bodies of the day. Many scholars believe that at the time of Jesus’ trial there were more Sadducees on the Sanhedrin and many scholars believer that the high priest at the time was a Sadducee.
RD: Right. So, we talked about the differences between the Sadducees and Pharisees and the possibilities for the factors during the intertestamental period that gave rise to their formation and influence. The main point we emphasized was that the fact that the Greek Empire and its successor empires had controlled Palestine for almost 200 years during the intertestamental period. And even after the Jews revolted and obtained their independence in 142 B.C. the Greek influence didn’t vanish. The leaders of the revolt founded the Hasmonean Dynasty that ruled Israel for several decades and the Hasmoneans seemed to have perpetuated the incorporation of Greek ideas and culture into the nation. So, even though the Hasmoneans were Jews, they were Jews who were comfortable with the Greek culture and ways of life.
VK: And the Sadducees seemed to have been comfortable with the continued Greek influence, or Hellenization, but the Pharisees weren’t. The Pharisees were committed to retaining or returning to the traditional Jewish ways of life and religious practices. So, this would partially explain why the Sadducees were so threatened by Jesus. Jesus was the promised Messiah who had been predicted to come. Jesus was the very embodiment of the Jews’ hopes and aspirations.
RD: Yes. And, of course, the Sadducees would have been even angrier at Jesus after he so decisively refuted their contention that there was no such thing as the resurrection. I think that the Sadducees held that opinion because Greek philosophy had a very low opinion of the “body” as opposed to the “spirit” and the Sadducees had readily embraced Greek ideas and thought. So, knowing that the Greeks controlled Palestine during the intertestamental period is very helpful in understanding the situation confronting Jesus. So, studying the intertestamental period gives us insight into the background of the New Testament. But studying the intertestamental period also helps us get a much clearer understanding of key portions of the Old Testament and today we want to talk about another very important implication of this.
VK: Which is what?
RD: The length of the intertestamental period. We’ve spent a lot of time during our series talking about what went on during the intertestamental period – such as the changes in empires that controlled Palestine.
VK: So, just to set the stage. In our Bibles the last book of the Old Testament is Malachi which most scholars believe was written sometime between 430 B.C. and 458 B.C. The Persian Empire was in control of Palestine at that time and remained in control until around 332 B.C. when Alexander the Great entered Jerusalem having conquered the Persians. Alexander died in 323 B.C. and about 20 years later his empire was split among four of his generals including Ptolemy and Seleucus. A successor of Ptolemy or Seleucus controlled Palestine until 142 B.C. when the Jews regained their independence. The Romans took control of Palestine in 63 B.C. when the Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem.
RD: Right. So, we’ve talked a lot about the changes in empires during the intertestamental period. We’ve talked about which foreign power controlled Palestine and we’ve talked about the impact those changes had – one of which was to actively spread their language and culture in the territories they controlled. During the lifetimes of Jesus and the Apostles Greek was the international language of commerce and trade. The most common version of the Old Testament in circulation among the dispersed Jews was the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. Even though the Romans were in control politically and militarily Greek influences were everywhere.
VK: The Greek language was so pervasive Roman youth were taught it. In fact, one of the most famous Roman statesmen and philosophers, Cicero said, "The Greek language is spoken in almost all nations; the Latin is confined to our comparatively narrow borders." And one of the most famous of the Roman historians, Tacitus, lamented that, "An infant born now is committed to a Greek nurse." So, despite the fact that the Roman Empire had displaced the Greek Empire the Greek influence continued to be felt both in and out of Palestine.
RD: Correct. But, the Greek language was being used to communicate in a Roman empire and the Romans controlled trade, commerce, politics, and travel. One upside of Roman control was that Romans ensured that their roads and seaways were safe to it was easy to move around within the Roman Empire. So, we’ve talked about the changes in empires and how those changes affected Palestine. But up to this point we haven’t talked about why the intertestamental period lasted as long as it did.
VK: Which was a period of over 400 years. You know that does seem to be a very long time during which God did not make any new revelations.
RD: To our contemporary minds which are so used to instant responses from phones and computers 400 to 450 years is an eternity. But hundreds of years are of no consequence to an eternal God.
VK: Which the Apostle Peter made plain in 2 Peter 3:8 and 9 where he wrote, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
RD: Exactly. God was being “quiet” insofar as new special revelations were concerned, but God was never inactive. During the intertestamental period God’s prophetic and redemptive time clocks were continuing to tick away. So, let’s make sure we have our time frames firmly established because today’s discussion is all about time. And establishing the beginning and ending points of the prophecy Daniel recorded in chapter 9 is crucial. So, first of all let’s note that Daniel received his vision around 539 B.C. At the time Daniel received the prophecy we heard in our first scripture Daniel himself had been in captivity close to 70 years. In all probability, he was part of the first group of Jews to be deported when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem around 605 B.C. At that time the Babylonians didn’t destroy Jerusalem. They just installed a vassal king and collected taxes.
VK: Ultimately, though, after continued rebellions the Babylonians did completely destroy the city. Then, the remaining population, except for a very few of the poorest people, either went into exile or were scattered. At the time Daniel received the vision he recorded in chapter 9 Jerusalem had been a heap of rubble for decades. So, when the angel Gabriel told Daniel that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt would have been as astonishing as it was welcome. In the ancient world conquerors didn’t go around rebuilding cities and nations they had destroyed.
RD: But, of course, Jerusalem had a special role to play in God’s plan of redemption so God was going to be sure that it was rebuilt. It didn’t matter how pagan emperors might ordinarily behave. Kings and empires are all going to do whatever God tells them to. So, when the Medo-Persian confederation conquered Babylon the Persian emperor, Cyrus, gave the first of four decrees that ultimately would result in Jerusalem’s complete restoration. Cyrus’s initial decree was given in 538 B.C. That decree allowed the Jews to return to their homeland but primarily concerned the rebuilding of the temple. That decree really did not say anything about rebuilding the city. Over the next not-quite 100 years three more decrees from Persian emperors concerning Jerusalem followed. The final of the four decrees came in 444 B.C. from the Persian emperor Artaxerxes.
VK: Well, how can we be sure which of those four decrees started the prophetic time clock ticking and exactly what time period we are concerned with?
RD: To answer your question we’re going to rely heavily on chapter 6 of Dr. Harold Hoehner’s book, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ. I would highly recommend that book for anyone who is serious about developing their faith. So, let’s take the second part of your question first. Commentators are pretty much universally agreed that when the angel Gabriel, who delivered the prophecy to Daniel, referred to “Seventy sets of seven time periods” he was referring to 70 seven-year periods. Some translations refer to 70 “weeks” but for a variety of reasons, which Dr. Hoehner covers thoroughly, most commentators agree the prophecy concerns a total period 490 years or 70 seven-year periods.
VK: But the 490 year time period was not one continuous period of 490 years. The total period is broken into 3 smaller periods: a 49-year period (7 times 7), a 434-year period (62 times 7), and one final seven-year period for a total of 70 seven year periods. And it was to be after the end of first two of those periods that the Anointed One, or Messiah, will be cut off. Before that happens, two of the three prophesied periods will have elapsed. The 49 year period and the 434 year period will have ended. That’s a total of 483 years. In other words, 483 years were prophesied to elapse between the decree issued to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and the cutting off of the Messiah? So, to evaluate the prophecy’s accuracy we need to know which of those four Persian decrees started that 483 year time clock ticking.
RD: Right. As Dr. Hoehner discusses in his book, only one of those decrees, the last of the four, really meets the criteria given in Daniel chapter 9. That was the decree which is discussed in Nehemiah, chapter 2, verses 1 through 8. The first three decrees either had to do with rebuilding the temple or the ratification of the first decree when local opposition arose to rebuilding the temple and some surrounding locals tried to get it stopped. Only the Nehemiah decree talked about rebuilding the city’s walls which would have been an essential part to having a safe city which is implied in the prophecy’s discussion of the city square and moat. The “city square” implies a broad open place that is protected within the city and the moat would be a supplement to the defensive fortification a wall provides. According to Dr. Hoehner’s calculations Artaxerxes issued his decree, based on our calendar, on either March 4th or 5th of 444 B.C.
VK: So that takes care of the start of the time clock and how long the clock would run, right?
RD: Well, not quite. Remember that the ancient Jews did not use the Gregorian calendar which is the one we use. The Gregorian and Julian calendar both use a 365 day period for a year based on the solar cycle – the earth’s period of revolution around the sun. Now, of course, every 4th year in the Gregorian calendar is a so-called “leap year” to account for the fact that the solar cycle is actually slightly longer than 365 days. The ancient Hebrews used a calendar for a year that consisted of twelve even periods of 30-days. So, our current solar calendar year is not identical to the ancient Jewish calendar’s year.
VK: In other words the ancient Jews year was 360 days long and not 365 days like ours. So, to make our calculation correctly we have to convert the years to days. So, 483 years times the 360 days the ancient Jews used for their calendar comes out to 173,880 days. So according to the prophecy 173,880 days would elapse between issuing the decree to restore Jerusalem and the Messiah being “cut off.” Are we just about ready to check Daniel’s accuracy?
RD: Just about – one more detail. Today we actually know that the solar year is actually slightly longer than 365 and a quarter days. The solar year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45.975 seconds.
VK: And 45.975 seconds? Yeah. Don’t want to forget those.
RD: No you don’t because God didn’t. If we didn’t make an adjustment for those extra hours and seconds when you translate the Hebrew calendar days into the Gregorian calendar you would be off by 3 days. But the bottom line is that when you add those 173,880 days to March 5th of 444 B.C. and translate that result to our Gregorian calendar you come out to March 30th of 33 A.D. That is the day that we call Palm Sunday – the day Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem that we read about in scripture. Palm Sunday occurred just before Jesus’s crucifixion. Naturally, being crucified is a pretty dramatic way of being “cut off” and “having nothing.” A great many New Testament commentators agree that it was on Palm Sunday when Jesus’s role as the Messiah, the Anointed One became most visible during his pre-resurrection lifetime. On Palm Sunday Jesus visibly fulfilled a number of Old Testament prophecies including Zachariah 9:9 which prophesied that the Messiah would come to his people riding on the foal of a donkey.
VK: This is starting to be another one of those moments that, when you think about it very much, gives you a headache. Let’s review for just a second. Sometime around 539 B.C. the angel Gabriel visited Daniel who was still in exile and far outside his homeland. Gabriel told Daniel that at some point in the future a decree would be issued that would allow the Jews to rebuild their city including the walls that would permit it to have a safe city square and interior. Gabriel told Daniel that 483 of their years later, after the issuance of that decree, the Jewish Messiah would appear to the people only to be “cut off and have nothing.”
RD: Exactamundo, as I sometimes say to Jerry.
VK: And we now know from history that all that unfolded exactly as Gabriel told Daniel that it would. Almost 100 years after Gabriel visited Daniel the Persian emperor Artaxerxes issued a decree that is recorded in Nehemiah chapter 2 and for which secular history provides confirmation. Then another 173,880 days later – which is 476 or so of our years - the prophecy was fulfilled on the exact day that was foretold. And this prophetic fulfillment accounts for the fact that the solar year actually contains not only 365 days we typically think about but also an additional 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45.975 seconds. That’s not amazing. That’s mind boggling in the most literal meaning of the term.
RD: That’s God. He is mind boggling – literally. So, this explains why the intertestamental period lasted as long as it did. Chronologically speaking, the book of Nehemiah, which contains the information we need to date the start of the prophetic time clock may be the last book of the Old Testament. It is certainly one of the last 3. But with the completion of the book of Nehemiah the world had all the information from the Jewish scriptures, our Old Testament, needed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah when He came. We even had the beginning of an exact time schedule. So, all that awaited was for the time to elapse to bring God’s plan of redemption to fruition.
VK: So, what you’re saying is that God paused in His special revelation once He had given the world all the information it would need to know the Messiah when He came. So, just as God did with the 7 days of creation, God completed His work and then rested. That’s kind of an amazing thought. God treats time the way we treat distance. God measured out 173,880 days along the plane of history for a specific part of His plan of redemption. Then, God sent Gabriel to Daniel to tell Daniel about what He was planning. About 100 years later God put the plan into motion. And 173,880 days after that God completed His plan to reveal His Messiah at a specific point in earth’s history. Only an all-knowing, all-powerful God could do that.
RD: But there’s one more thought I want to cover that is almost even more amazing than the prophetic precision we’ve just been talking about.
VK: Not sure we can take much more. What we’ve already learned is a lot. You’ve already given us enough to meditate about for days.
RD: Well, I think one more aspect of this prophecy needs to be emphasized. Clearly, only an omniscient and omnipotent God could give such a prophecy to one of His people and then orchestrate the events to bring it about. So the prophecy and its fulfillment alone illustrate that the Bible has a supernatural origin. But think about this. When Daniel heard about the prophecy, his world didn’t even know that the earth revolved around the sun much less know its orbital period. But God did and so do we. That means we can see the amazing accuracy of God’s activity within history that Daniel couldn’t. For that matter, from our vantage point within redemptive history, we have evidence of God’s existence, power, and faithfulness that even Jesus’s disciples didn’t possess.
VK: Oh. I think I see where you’re going with this. Sometimes, Christians in our era will say to themselves how much stronger their faith would be if they had only seen Jesus turn the water into wine or feed 5,000 people with only a few loaves and fish. But, in an oddly ironic way, we have evidence to support our faith that even the people who lived alongside Daniel or Jesus didn’t possess.
RD: Precisely. The Bible is so commonplace in our society that sometimes we miss the amazing attributes it possesses. Jesus’s audiences had access to the Old Testament so they could verify His claims about being the Messiah from the prophecies contained in it. But on Palm Sunday – the day He actually entered Jerusalem as the foretold Messiah – there probably wasn’t anyone in the crowd, including his own disciples, who had the same degree of information we have about the amazing display of prophetic perfection that was occurring right before their very eyes. But we have that – if we will take the time to get to know the Bible and to do a little bit of investigation about the astounding evidence that the Bible contains that it is the very word of God. The Bible not only tells about God and Jesus but properly studied, used, and understood it helps provide confirmation for its claims and our faith. In other words, contrary to some modern believers’ contentions, we have evidence that supports our faith that can be just as compelling as those who witnessed the water turning to wine or the loaves and fishes being multiplied. In an odd way we may have better evidence.
VK: I see what you’re saying. Even if you had been standing next to Jesus and saw the water being poured into the barrel and then saw the lid being lifted and the wine drawn out – that would have been a single experience. It would have been a powerful experience, to be sure, but over time memories fade. Many of the witnesses to Jesus’s miracles might have had only that single experience with him. With the passage of time even the power of their experience might start to dim. But we have the Bible with us all the time and we can go to it daily or even multiple times a day. And every time we do we can have our faith reinforced not only by the comforting passages – like the fact that God will never leave us or forsake us. But by the fact that the Bible displays in every book the fact that God has given us evidence and reason to support and sustain our belief in Him. Sounds like a great time for a prayer. How about if today we pray a prayer of adoration for the Holy Spirit who is the one who attests, in our hearts, that Jesus came to bring us salvation.
---- PRAYER OF ADORATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”
(Bible Quotes from the God’s Word Translation)
Daniel, Chapter 7, verses 2 through 7, God’s Word Translation
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/1293/the-arrival-of-the-king
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Episode 121 – Perfectly Quiet – The Intertestamental Period 7
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script: (Bible quotes from the God’s Word Translation)
Gabriel [said] "Seventy sets of seven time periods have been assigned for your people and your holy city. ... from the time the command is given to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed prince comes .... Jerusalem will be restored and rebuilt with a city square and a moat during the troubles of those times. But after the sixty-two sets of seven time periods, the Anointed One will be cut off and have nothing.
Daniel, Chapter 9, verses 21 through 26, God’s Word Translation
********
VK: Hello. I’m Victoria K. Welcome to another episode of Anchored by Truth. Today we are continuing our look at “The Intertestamental Period” - the 400-plus year period between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. I’m in the studio today with RD Fierro, author and Founder Crystal Sea Books. RD, today we’re going into our 7th episode in this series. Last time we talked about how the formation of the Pharisees and the Sadducees during the intertestamental period influenced the religious environment which Jesus confronted during His earthly ministry. Today we want to talk at some length about why we have called this series on the intertestamental period Perfectly Quiet. But before we get to that, RD, how about doing a brief refresher on why we’re so interested in helping listeners understand more about the Sadducees and Pharisees?
RD: Greetings to all the Anchored by Truth listeners. We really appreciate you taking some time to be with us for this episode. We know that you are with us because you have a genuine desire to understand scripture more thoroughly. We also know that it might seem a little odd to focus as much attention as we have on a time period when no new books of the Bible were being added to the canon. But the truth is that having some familiarity with the intertestamental period is essential to a thorough understanding of both the Old and New Testament such as how the Sadducees and Pharisees developed and became instrumental in the story that would unfold in the four Gospels. Neither the Sadducees nor the Pharisees were mentioned at all in the Old Testament yet during in the Gospels the two parties had become so influential that they comprised the Jewish ruling council that was called the Sanhedrin.
VK: But, of course, the trial itself was illegal according to Jewish law and the trial did not conform to Jewish law. So, it’s probably not fair to really call it a trial. But whatever label you want to put on it, the Sanhedrin was the group that held it. And the Sanhedrin was comprised of Sadducees and Pharisees which were two of the most important religious and political bodies of the day. Many scholars believe that at the time of Jesus’ trial there were more Sadducees on the Sanhedrin and many scholars believer that the high priest at the time was a Sadducee.
RD: Right. So, we talked about the differences between the Sadducees and Pharisees and the possibilities for the factors during the intertestamental period that gave rise to their formation and influence. The main point we emphasized was that the fact that the Greek Empire and its successor empires had controlled Palestine for almost 200 years during the intertestamental period. And even after the Jews revolted and obtained their independence in 142 B.C. the Greek influence didn’t vanish. The leaders of the revolt founded the Hasmonean Dynasty that ruled Israel for several decades and the Hasmoneans seemed to have perpetuated the incorporation of Greek ideas and culture into the nation. So, even though the Hasmoneans were Jews, they were Jews who were comfortable with the Greek culture and ways of life.
VK: And the Sadducees seemed to have been comfortable with the continued Greek influence, or Hellenization, but the Pharisees weren’t. The Pharisees were committed to retaining or returning to the traditional Jewish ways of life and religious practices. So, this would partially explain why the Sadducees were so threatened by Jesus. Jesus was the promised Messiah who had been predicted to come. Jesus was the very embodiment of the Jews’ hopes and aspirations.
RD: Yes. And, of course, the Sadducees would have been even angrier at Jesus after he so decisively refuted their contention that there was no such thing as the resurrection. I think that the Sadducees held that opinion because Greek philosophy had a very low opinion of the “body” as opposed to the “spirit” and the Sadducees had readily embraced Greek ideas and thought. So, knowing that the Greeks controlled Palestine during the intertestamental period is very helpful in understanding the situation confronting Jesus. So, studying the intertestamental period gives us insight into the background of the New Testament. But studying the intertestamental period also helps us get a much clearer understanding of key portions of the Old Testament and today we want to talk about another very important implication of this.
VK: Which is what?
RD: The length of the intertestamental period. We’ve spent a lot of time during our series talking about what went on during the intertestamental period – such as the changes in empires that controlled Palestine.
VK: So, just to set the stage. In our Bibles the last book of the Old Testament is Malachi which most scholars believe was written sometime between 430 B.C. and 458 B.C. The Persian Empire was in control of Palestine at that time and remained in control until around 332 B.C. when Alexander the Great entered Jerusalem having conquered the Persians. Alexander died in 323 B.C. and about 20 years later his empire was split among four of his generals including Ptolemy and Seleucus. A successor of Ptolemy or Seleucus controlled Palestine until 142 B.C. when the Jews regained their independence. The Romans took control of Palestine in 63 B.C. when the Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem.
RD: Right. So, we’ve talked a lot about the changes in empires during the intertestamental period. We’ve talked about which foreign power controlled Palestine and we’ve talked about the impact those changes had – one of which was to actively spread their language and culture in the territories they controlled. During the lifetimes of Jesus and the Apostles Greek was the international language of commerce and trade. The most common version of the Old Testament in circulation among the dispersed Jews was the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. Even though the Romans were in control politically and militarily Greek influences were everywhere.
VK: The Greek language was so pervasive Roman youth were taught it. In fact, one of the most famous Roman statesmen and philosophers, Cicero said, "The Greek language is spoken in almost all nations; the Latin is confined to our comparatively narrow borders." And one of the most famous of the Roman historians, Tacitus, lamented that, "An infant born now is committed to a Greek nurse." So, despite the fact that the Roman Empire had displaced the Greek Empire the Greek influence continued to be felt both in and out of Palestine.
RD: Correct. But, the Greek language was being used to communicate in a Roman empire and the Romans controlled trade, commerce, politics, and travel. One upside of Roman control was that Romans ensured that their roads and seaways were safe to it was easy to move around within the Roman Empire. So, we’ve talked about the changes in empires and how those changes affected Palestine. But up to this point we haven’t talked about why the intertestamental period lasted as long as it did.
VK: Which was a period of over 400 years. You know that does seem to be a very long time during which God did not make any new revelations.
RD: To our contemporary minds which are so used to instant responses from phones and computers 400 to 450 years is an eternity. But hundreds of years are of no consequence to an eternal God.
VK: Which the Apostle Peter made plain in 2 Peter 3:8 and 9 where he wrote, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
RD: Exactly. God was being “quiet” insofar as new special revelations were concerned, but God was never inactive. During the intertestamental period God’s prophetic and redemptive time clocks were continuing to tick away. So, let’s make sure we have our time frames firmly established because today’s discussion is all about time. And establishing the beginning and ending points of the prophecy Daniel recorded in chapter 9 is crucial. So, first of all let’s note that Daniel received his vision around 539 B.C. At the time Daniel received the prophecy we heard in our first scripture Daniel himself had been in captivity close to 70 years. In all probability, he was part of the first group of Jews to be deported when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem around 605 B.C. At that time the Babylonians didn’t destroy Jerusalem. They just installed a vassal king and collected taxes.
VK: Ultimately, though, after continued rebellions the Babylonians did completely destroy the city. Then, the remaining population, except for a very few of the poorest people, either went into exile or were scattered. At the time Daniel received the vision he recorded in chapter 9 Jerusalem had been a heap of rubble for decades. So, when the angel Gabriel told Daniel that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt would have been as astonishing as it was welcome. In the ancient world conquerors didn’t go around rebuilding cities and nations they had destroyed.
RD: But, of course, Jerusalem had a special role to play in God’s plan of redemption so God was going to be sure that it was rebuilt. It didn’t matter how pagan emperors might ordinarily behave. Kings and empires are all going to do whatever God tells them to. So, when the Medo-Persian confederation conquered Babylon the Persian emperor, Cyrus, gave the first of four decrees that ultimately would result in Jerusalem’s complete restoration. Cyrus’s initial decree was given in 538 B.C. That decree allowed the Jews to return to their homeland but primarily concerned the rebuilding of the temple. That decree really did not say anything about rebuilding the city. Over the next not-quite 100 years three more decrees from Persian emperors concerning Jerusalem followed. The final of the four decrees came in 444 B.C. from the Persian emperor Artaxerxes.
VK: Well, how can we be sure which of those four decrees started the prophetic time clock ticking and exactly what time period we are concerned with?
RD: To answer your question we’re going to rely heavily on chapter 6 of Dr. Harold Hoehner’s book, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ. I would highly recommend that book for anyone who is serious about developing their faith. So, let’s take the second part of your question first. Commentators are pretty much universally agreed that when the angel Gabriel, who delivered the prophecy to Daniel, referred to “Seventy sets of seven time periods” he was referring to 70 seven-year periods. Some translations refer to 70 “weeks” but for a variety of reasons, which Dr. Hoehner covers thoroughly, most commentators agree the prophecy concerns a total period 490 years or 70 seven-year periods.
VK: But the 490 year time period was not one continuous period of 490 years. The total period is broken into 3 smaller periods: a 49-year period (7 times 7), a 434-year period (62 times 7), and one final seven-year period for a total of 70 seven year periods. And it was to be after the end of first two of those periods that the Anointed One, or Messiah, will be cut off. Before that happens, two of the three prophesied periods will have elapsed. The 49 year period and the 434 year period will have ended. That’s a total of 483 years. In other words, 483 years were prophesied to elapse between the decree issued to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and the cutting off of the Messiah? So, to evaluate the prophecy’s accuracy we need to know which of those four Persian decrees started that 483 year time clock ticking.
RD: Right. As Dr. Hoehner discusses in his book, only one of those decrees, the last of the four, really meets the criteria given in Daniel chapter 9. That was the decree which is discussed in Nehemiah, chapter 2, verses 1 through 8. The first three decrees either had to do with rebuilding the temple or the ratification of the first decree when local opposition arose to rebuilding the temple and some surrounding locals tried to get it stopped. Only the Nehemiah decree talked about rebuilding the city’s walls which would have been an essential part to having a safe city which is implied in the prophecy’s discussion of the city square and moat. The “city square” implies a broad open place that is protected within the city and the moat would be a supplement to the defensive fortification a wall provides. According to Dr. Hoehner’s calculations Artaxerxes issued his decree, based on our calendar, on either March 4th or 5th of 444 B.C.
VK: So that takes care of the start of the time clock and how long the clock would run, right?
RD: Well, not quite. Remember that the ancient Jews did not use the Gregorian calendar which is the one we use. The Gregorian and Julian calendar both use a 365 day period for a year based on the solar cycle – the earth’s period of revolution around the sun. Now, of course, every 4th year in the Gregorian calendar is a so-called “leap year” to account for the fact that the solar cycle is actually slightly longer than 365 days. The ancient Hebrews used a calendar for a year that consisted of twelve even periods of 30-days. So, our current solar calendar year is not identical to the ancient Jewish calendar’s year.
VK: In other words the ancient Jews year was 360 days long and not 365 days like ours. So, to make our calculation correctly we have to convert the years to days. So, 483 years times the 360 days the ancient Jews used for their calendar comes out to 173,880 days. So according to the prophecy 173,880 days would elapse between issuing the decree to restore Jerusalem and the Messiah being “cut off.” Are we just about ready to check Daniel’s accuracy?
RD: Just about – one more detail. Today we actually know that the solar year is actually slightly longer than 365 and a quarter days. The solar year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45.975 seconds.
VK: And 45.975 seconds? Yeah. Don’t want to forget those.
RD: No you don’t because God didn’t. If we didn’t make an adjustment for those extra hours and seconds when you translate the Hebrew calendar days into the Gregorian calendar you would be off by 3 days. But the bottom line is that when you add those 173,880 days to March 5th of 444 B.C. and translate that result to our Gregorian calendar you come out to March 30th of 33 A.D. That is the day that we call Palm Sunday – the day Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem that we read about in scripture. Palm Sunday occurred just before Jesus’s crucifixion. Naturally, being crucified is a pretty dramatic way of being “cut off” and “having nothing.” A great many New Testament commentators agree that it was on Palm Sunday when Jesus’s role as the Messiah, the Anointed One became most visible during his pre-resurrection lifetime. On Palm Sunday Jesus visibly fulfilled a number of Old Testament prophecies including Zachariah 9:9 which prophesied that the Messiah would come to his people riding on the foal of a donkey.
VK: This is starting to be another one of those moments that, when you think about it very much, gives you a headache. Let’s review for just a second. Sometime around 539 B.C. the angel Gabriel visited Daniel who was still in exile and far outside his homeland. Gabriel told Daniel that at some point in the future a decree would be issued that would allow the Jews to rebuild their city including the walls that would permit it to have a safe city square and interior. Gabriel told Daniel that 483 of their years later, after the issuance of that decree, the Jewish Messiah would appear to the people only to be “cut off and have nothing.”
RD: Exactamundo, as I sometimes say to Jerry.
VK: And we now know from history that all that unfolded exactly as Gabriel told Daniel that it would. Almost 100 years after Gabriel visited Daniel the Persian emperor Artaxerxes issued a decree that is recorded in Nehemiah chapter 2 and for which secular history provides confirmation. Then another 173,880 days later – which is 476 or so of our years - the prophecy was fulfilled on the exact day that was foretold. And this prophetic fulfillment accounts for the fact that the solar year actually contains not only 365 days we typically think about but also an additional 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45.975 seconds. That’s not amazing. That’s mind boggling in the most literal meaning of the term.
RD: That’s God. He is mind boggling – literally. So, this explains why the intertestamental period lasted as long as it did. Chronologically speaking, the book of Nehemiah, which contains the information we need to date the start of the prophetic time clock may be the last book of the Old Testament. It is certainly one of the last 3. But with the completion of the book of Nehemiah the world had all the information from the Jewish scriptures, our Old Testament, needed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah when He came. We even had the beginning of an exact time schedule. So, all that awaited was for the time to elapse to bring God’s plan of redemption to fruition.
VK: So, what you’re saying is that God paused in His special revelation once He had given the world all the information it would need to know the Messiah when He came. So, just as God did with the 7 days of creation, God completed His work and then rested. That’s kind of an amazing thought. God treats time the way we treat distance. God measured out 173,880 days along the plane of history for a specific part of His plan of redemption. Then, God sent Gabriel to Daniel to tell Daniel about what He was planning. About 100 years later God put the plan into motion. And 173,880 days after that God completed His plan to reveal His Messiah at a specific point in earth’s history. Only an all-knowing, all-powerful God could do that.
RD: But there’s one more thought I want to cover that is almost even more amazing than the prophetic precision we’ve just been talking about.
VK: Not sure we can take much more. What we’ve already learned is a lot. You’ve already given us enough to meditate about for days.
RD: Well, I think one more aspect of this prophecy needs to be emphasized. Clearly, only an omniscient and omnipotent God could give such a prophecy to one of His people and then orchestrate the events to bring it about. So the prophecy and its fulfillment alone illustrate that the Bible has a supernatural origin. But think about this. When Daniel heard about the prophecy, his world didn’t even know that the earth revolved around the sun much less know its orbital period. But God did and so do we. That means we can see the amazing accuracy of God’s activity within history that Daniel couldn’t. For that matter, from our vantage point within redemptive history, we have evidence of God’s existence, power, and faithfulness that even Jesus’s disciples didn’t possess.
VK: Oh. I think I see where you’re going with this. Sometimes, Christians in our era will say to themselves how much stronger their faith would be if they had only seen Jesus turn the water into wine or feed 5,000 people with only a few loaves and fish. But, in an oddly ironic way, we have evidence to support our faith that even the people who lived alongside Daniel or Jesus didn’t possess.
RD: Precisely. The Bible is so commonplace in our society that sometimes we miss the amazing attributes it possesses. Jesus’s audiences had access to the Old Testament so they could verify His claims about being the Messiah from the prophecies contained in it. But on Palm Sunday – the day He actually entered Jerusalem as the foretold Messiah – there probably wasn’t anyone in the crowd, including his own disciples, who had the same degree of information we have about the amazing display of prophetic perfection that was occurring right before their very eyes. But we have that – if we will take the time to get to know the Bible and to do a little bit of investigation about the astounding evidence that the Bible contains that it is the very word of God. The Bible not only tells about God and Jesus but properly studied, used, and understood it helps provide confirmation for its claims and our faith. In other words, contrary to some modern believers’ contentions, we have evidence that supports our faith that can be just as compelling as those who witnessed the water turning to wine or the loaves and fishes being multiplied. In an odd way we may have better evidence.
VK: I see what you’re saying. Even if you had been standing next to Jesus and saw the water being poured into the barrel and then saw the lid being lifted and the wine drawn out – that would have been a single experience. It would have been a powerful experience, to be sure, but over time memories fade. Many of the witnesses to Jesus’s miracles might have had only that single experience with him. With the passage of time even the power of their experience might start to dim. But we have the Bible with us all the time and we can go to it daily or even multiple times a day. And every time we do we can have our faith reinforced not only by the comforting passages – like the fact that God will never leave us or forsake us. But by the fact that the Bible displays in every book the fact that God has given us evidence and reason to support and sustain our belief in Him. Sounds like a great time for a prayer. How about if today we pray a prayer of adoration for the Holy Spirit who is the one who attests, in our hearts, that Jesus came to bring us salvation.
---- PRAYER OF ADORATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”
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(Bible Quotes from the God’s Word Translation)
Daniel, Chapter 7, verses 2 through 7, God’s Word Translation
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/1293/the-arrival-of-the-king