Jesus & The Perfect Fulfillment Of Daniel 9

Evangelicals and other zealous Christians are fond of advertising that Jesus fulfilled all sorts of prophecies from the Old Testament. Often, these claims of fulfillment are proclaimed to be absolute "facts" and are undeniable to anyone that hasn't been corrupted by the "Devil".
Such claims about fulfillment are also drummed into the brains of believers by preachers, pastors, and Sunday school teachers.
Many Christian churches have entire classrooms set up to indoctrinate the masses about these "facts" concerning Jesus.
Once properly instructed, these people can then serve as useful carriers of the "truth" out into the world.
This is an effective way to spread a belief and also "grow the church".
The more members that a church can garner means more money and influence in the community for both the church group as a whole and its leaders. This theme can then be extrapolated to involve entire countries and eventually the world.
This is called the Great Commission, as ordered by Jesus in Matt 28:19-20.
Believers are supposed to expand the kingdom and aid in the goal of dominating all other competing beliefs.
This is the prime directive of Christianity, to make everyone conform to what they believe.

A favorite method used to convince people that Jesus must have been "the Messiah" is to preach about how perfectly Jesus fulfilled Daniel 9. Christians love the Book of Daniel because it serves as a launching pad for the Book of Revelation, which is where Jesus returns and sets up his benevolent dictatorship, which is administered by his faithful followers.
The Book of Revelation is where the really big payoff for believing in Jesus is actually manifested.
Many churches advertise seminars, complete with expert guest speakers, who will explain what the spooky Book of Revelation really means to nervous common folk that are living in uncertain times.
This is a gold mine of potential riches because it can scare people enough to coerce them to join a church and tithe their money, to buy Christian books, to follow selected doctrines, and to vote for certain politicians. The idea is to tap into this gold mine and extract the bounty while creating the impression that the clergy is doing a tremendous service for the common folk.
The church can take people's money and receive their blubbering thanks at the same time.
The immensely popular and profitable "Left Behind" series of books and movies is a wonderful testimony to the effectiveness of Bible induced fear on a population.
This doctrine of fear can generate a wellspring of cash and riches for the authors and their church friends.
Nobody wants to be left behind, better believe in Jesus right away!

The Book of Daniel is useful because Christians can use it to "prove" Jesus was the Messiah and to also "prove" that the fear-based Book of Revelation is just as valid.
The Book of Daniel also contains dire warnings of an impending apocalypse, tribulations, and then a mass resurrection of the dead(Dan 12:2), that the Book of Revelation expounds on in detail. The New Testament excels in inspiring fear, and fear is a useful tool to control people. An apprehensive, fear driven society is more willing to be led by an authority figure.
This is especially true if the authority figure promises a glorious reward in an afterlife.

The use of Daniel 9 to prove that Jesus was the expected King Messiah is of particular interest.

Christian teaching:
Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of Dan 9:24-27 and it proves Jesus was the Messiah.

Commentary:
The alleged fulfillment of Daniel 9 by "Jesus" is an excellent example of pseudo fulfillment by Christians.
But even Christianized Bible translations of Daniel 9 can't reconcile the problems associated with Jesus being the supposed fulfillment of Dan 9.
Jewish translations of Dan 9 do not substantiate the Christian claims about prophecy fulfillment and this commentary focuses on showing that the bombastic Christian assertions about Jesus being the only possible fulfillment of Dan 9 rely primarily on wishful thinking combined with arrogance. Other fulfillment scenarios, that don't include Jesus, are just as valid as the several versions that Christians came up with.
However, it should be noted that there isn't any fulfillment scenario, either Jewish or Christian that can completely reconcile the prophecy.
In my opinion, the prophecy was never realized in its entirety nor is it completely clear who the cast of characters is.
This commentary is provided to illustrate that, contrary to the claims of zealous Christians, Jesus isn't the only person that could have fulfilled it. There are numerous possibilities that can be posited to explain what Dan 9:24-27 is supposed to mean.

This prophecy was given by the angel Gabriel to Daniel.
The JPS 1917 Tanach will be used to illustrate the key Hebrew scriptures, rather than Christianized translations.
Dan 9:24-27(JPS Tanach)
9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sin, and to forgive iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal vision and prophet, and to anoint the most holy place.

Seventy continuous weeks, with each week representing 7 years rather than 7 days, is the timeline for the events. That's a total of 490 years, 70 x 7 = 490.
(The "weeks of years" concept can be found in Lev 25:8.)
During this time period, prophecy would be brought to a close, the Second Temple would be built, and after many tribulations and troubles a golden age was supposed to arrive and conclude the timeline.
The Temple and the city were rebuilt, but the golden age never happened.
As seen in the next verses, segments of the 70 "week" timeline have event markers placed in them.

9:25 Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto one anointed, a prince, shall be seven weeks; and for threescore and two weeks, it shall be built again, with broad place and moat, but in troublous times.

The city of Jerusalem and Temple were previously destroyed and the Israelites were carried off to Babylon in exile.
God had decreed punishment and desolation (Jer 25:1-12) for various violations, including (Lev 25:1-7, 18-22), (also see 2 Chron 36:21).
God also promised to restore the exiled people to their land and rebuild the city. God put out word of his intentions to the prophet Jeremiah, which were passed on to the exiles in a letter:
Jer 29:10(JPS Tanach)
For thus saith the Lord: After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will remember you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

The word came from God that the city would be rebuilt.
Jer 30:18(JPS Tanach)
Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will turn the captivity of Jacob's(Israel) tents, and have compassion on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be builded upon her own mound, and the palace shall be inhabited upon its wonted place.
(also see Jer 31:38.)

If God revealed his word of restoration to Jeremiah fairly soon after the city and Temple were destroyed, then the starting point for the prophecy would be around the time of the destruction of the Temple and city.
The time frame between the word going out and the arrival of an anointed prince would be 49 years, which is 7 weeks(each week containing 7 years), 7 x 7 = 49.
The rebuilding process would be associated with an anointed one that was also a prince.
Babylon was conquered and then ruled by the Persians, and Cyrus was a king that reigned after the conquest.
This prince would fulfill the word of God that was given in Jer 29:10, 30:18, and 31:38.
The word messiah means anointed(masciach), which could apply to a king or a priest.
A messiah or anointed one doesn't have to be Jewish. Such a case is found with King Cyrus of Persia.
Isa 45:1-3,13 (JPS Tanach)
Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and that the gates may not be shut:
I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron;
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I am the Lord, who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.
I have roused him up in victory, and I make level all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let Mine exiles go free, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.

King Cyrus of Persia would serve as a tool for God to use to rebuild both Jerusalem and the Temple.
All subsequent orders pertaining to reconstruction of Jerusalem and the Temple stemmed off of the decree by Cyrus.
Isa 44:28(JPS Tanach)
That saith of Cyrus: 'He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure'; even saying of Jerusalem: 'She shall be built'; and to the temple: 'My foundation shall be laid.'

The proclamation for the rebuilding project by Cyrus is also chronicled in Ezra:
Ezra 1:1-3(JPS Tanach)
NOW IN the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying:
'Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whosoever there is among you of all His people--his God be with him--let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, He is the God who is in Jerusalem.

Cyrus, in his first year as ruler, would issue a proclamation for the return to the city and for the rebuilding to begin.
This would put in action the words of God as revealed to Jeremiah.
The Temple(and later Jerusalem) would be rebuilt and exist within the time frame of the next 434 years(threescore and two weeks = 62), 62 x 7 = 434.
Keep in mind that the anointed person mentioned in Dan 9:25 is designated as a prince or ruler (which Cyrus was and which Jesus was not).

9:26 And after the threescore and two weeks shall an anointed one be cut off, and be no more; and the people of a prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; but his end shall be with a flood; and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

The key points here are that after 434 more years, an anointed one would be cut off and the people(army) of a prince(conqueror) would destroy the rebuilt city and the Temple.
This second anointed one isn't the same person as the one mentioned in Dan 9:25 unless they lived to be hundreds of years old. This second anointed one, unlike the first anointed person mentioned in Dan 9:25, is not designated as a prince and could be a priest or a king, there's simply no way to know for sure who this is. Jewish theologians have several possible candidates for this position, including some high priests and a king.

9:27 And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and upon the wing of detestable things shall be that which causeth appalment; and that until the extermination wholly determined be poured out upon that which causeth appalment.

The conqueror would make a deal with many of the invaded Israelites for 7 years(1 week = 7 years).
It's fairly reasonable to speculate that this means the conqueror would make a deal that would last 7 years with the local people that would involve them being able to keep some of their rituals and customs.
However, rather than keeping the deal for the full 7 years, the conqueror would break his word and for half of the "week" or 3 ½ years, sacrifices will cease, and abominations would occur.
The complete timeline is 70 weeks, segmented as follows: 7 weeks + 62 weeks + 1 week = 70 weeks.
The total elapsed time is 490 years, each week represents 7 years and 70 x 7 = 490.
At the very end of the 490 years, or immediately after, a golden era was supposed to have appeared(Dan 9:25).
As mentioned earlier, this golden age has never occurred.

[Note that in the above Jewish rendition of Dan 9:25-26 there is no capitalization of the words "anointed" as is found in so many Christian Bible translations of this passage. Nor is there an insertion of the word "the" in front of the word anointed.
The KJV serves as an example of how many Christian Bibles modify the Hebrew scriptures.
Dan 9:25(KJV)
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.

Note the insertion of the term "the Messiah" which replaces the words "one anointed".
Note also the removal of both the important semicolon after words seven weeks(replaced by a comma), and the removal of the word "for" in the phrase "and [for] threescore and two weeks".

Here's Dan 9:25 from the Hebrew Bible again:
Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto one anointed, a prince, shall be seven weeks; and for threescore and two weeks, it shall be built again, with broad place and moat, but in troublous times.

The removal of the punctuation semicolon and the word "for" serves the purpose of creating an impression that "the messiah" would come at the end of 69 weeks rather than a messiah coming at the end of 7 weeks.
It tries to create the impression that only one messiah is involved in the timeline and that he enters the picture at the end of the 69th week and is "cut off".
This is exactly what Christians want because they can then insert Jesus as this messiah or anointed one.
Jesus is advertised to be the only actor that this script was written for and two messiahs would spoil the show.
However, the scripture doesn't say the first messiah would come after 69 weeks, and it uses a specific segmentation of the timeline in order to distinguish that there are 7 weeks associated with an anointed prince, followed by a period of 62 weeks, when another anointed one is "cut off"(see Dan 9:26).
Dan 9:26 also exhibits this segmentation of the 62 week period by stating , "after the threescore and two weeks". ]

The goal of Christians is to jam Jesus into all of this and then claim he is the only possible person that could fulfill the events and description of the anointed one(s) in Dan 9:24-27.
However, even if Jesus can be rammed into the first 69 weeks of the 70 week prophecy, he still fails to fulfill the timeline of predicted events. (69 weeks represents 483 years and the 70th week adds 7 more years to equal 490 years total.)
According to Dan 9:25-26, at the end of 69 total weeks(7 weeks + 62 weeks), an anointed one is cut off and the city and sanctuary are destroyed. The two events are supposed to happen at about the same time.
Nobody knows the exact year that Jesus died, but the most popular speculations put forth by Christians place the date in a range from 28 A.D to 33 A.D.
The city of Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.
That's at least 37 years too late to fulfill the prophecy.
Even if the destruction of the city and Temple are moved into the 70th week of the prophecy, the actual destruction of Jerusalem and Temple occurred too late for Jesus to be the anointed one that was cut off.
Adding one more week(which represents 7 years) to a crucifixion date of 33 A.D. yields a date of 40 A.D., which means the actual destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was still 30 years too late.
(Expressed in terms of weeks, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was at least 5 weeks too late).
(30 years divided by 7 years per week = 5 weeks).

This particular problem, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple being at least 30 years too late, is fatal to the Christian assertion of perfect fulfillment of Dan 9:24-27 through Jesus.
It simply wrecks the alleged perfection.
In the New Testament, Jesus claimed that he would return within the lifetime of his followers(Matt 16:27-28), and if he actually had returned within 7 years of his death, the prophecy fulfillment might have had a chance for success.
However, Jesus has never returned and the last week, along with the messianic era, is left dangling in the wind.
To get around this, Christians will try to move the 70th week of the prophecy into the future by claiming that God "stopped the clock" after the 69th week and that the 70th week will happen prior to the second coming of Jesus.
They then insert the "tribulation" and an anti-christ into this coming 70th week, which will occur when God starts the clock again. This clock stoppage is now over 1,900 years and still counting.
Christians that do this have turned the 70 consecutive weeks of Dan 9:24-27 into a 69 week prophecy.
Instead of the scriptural timeline:
7 weeks + 62 weeks + 1 week = 70 weeks
The revised prophectic timeline becomes:
7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks, followed by a …long, long , PAUSE.…then add 1 more week = 70 weeks.
Unfortunately, Dan 9:24-27 says nothing about stopping the clock for thousands of years to accommodate Jesus or Christian theologians.

Professional Christian writers and apologists have made careers out of "proving" that Jesus is the theme of Dan 9 and that only he could have fulfilled it. There are a plethora of Christian web sites that present "airtight proof" that only Jesus could have been the fulfillment of Dan 9.
In fact, there are so many Christian scenarios that claim to prove this assertion about Dan 9 and Jesus, that they often refute each other by disagreeing on the details of how the fulfillment works.
This is often the nature of Holy Spirit inspired apologetics.

Christian assertion:
Jesus came to die on the exact same day foretold of the Messiah in Daniel 9.
Jesus also fulfilled the prophecy of His being revealed as King of the Jews to the public to the exact day that Dan 9:24-26 predicts.

Commentary:
Claims like this, specifically the part about "exact" day fulfillment, should cause suspicion, because it represents the type of claim that would come from a shyster, a liar for Jesus.
The year that Jesus was born isn't known.
The year that Jesus died isn't known, much less the exact day of his death.
These dates can only be crudely approximated, and the only information available is the New Testament.
Even the birth narratives, which are only found in Matthew and Luke, differ in information concerning events that could be used to establish a time period for the birth.
Daniel 9 doesn't establish any particular day as being the date of death for a messiah.
There are two messiahs involved in Dan 9:25-26, and neither one of them are identified with any prediction exhibiting "exact day" precision.
Christians manufacture the amazing "exact day fulfillment" by using a series of layered assumptions that they apply to the Dan 9:24-27 scripture.

Christian assertion:
The Jewish Passover sacrifice and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ coincide exactly.

Commentary:
No, they do not coincide exactly.
Jesus was supposed to be a sin sacrifice.
Passover lamb sacrifices are not sin sacrifices, they commemorate an event.
A sin sacrifice during Passover is a goat, not a lamb(Num 28:22).
Jesus was supposed to be the Lamb of God, not the Goat of God.
Nor do the New Testament dates for the sacrifice of Jesus agree with each other.
The Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke indicate that Jesus was arrested after the Passover meal was eaten.
The Gospel of John depicts Jesus being arrested prior to the Passover meal.

Christian position:
The exact day of the fulfillment in Dan 9 through Jesus is calculated below:
The starting point for the prophecy of Dan 9:24-27 is found in Neh 2 and was given by king Artaxerxes(465-425 B.C.) in the 20th year of his reign.
The prophecy is expressed in 69 weeks, each week being 7 years long.
The prophet Daniel wrote that 483(69 x 7) years from the starting date, the Messiah would be revealed to God's people and then killed.
Exactly 483 years later, to the very day, Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, and revealed Himself as the Messiah. This day is known as Palm Sunday.
Jesus was killed four days later which was April 10, 32 A.D., perfectly fulfilling Dan 9:26.
This is factual history, and only a fool would fail to recognize this proof that Jesus is the Messiah.

Commentary:
The starting point used in this calculation isn't mandatory nor is it proven to be correct.
There are several other starting points in the timeline that can be used which can be just as valid, considering the rather ambiguous nature of the text in Dan 9:25.
In other words, this so-called "proof" consists of shooting an arrow into a blank target, then drawing a small circle around the embedded arrow and then proclaiming that the archer has scored an amazing bulls eye hit on the target.
Once one sets a death date for Jesus, one can then work backwards and find a starting date that will provide a total of 483 years needed to accommodate the prophecy.
Tweaking the number of days in a year is also used in order to fine tune the fulfillment.
The proclamation(Ezra 1:1-3) from King Cyrus of Persia, who was an anointed prince(a messiah), gets completely bypassed in this particular Christian scenario.
And Cyrus was defined by God as his anointed(Isa 45:1) and actually was a prince. Jesus was never a prince or king.
This particular Christian scenario also seems to deny the Christian teaching about Friday being the day of the week that Jesus was crucified because it says that Jesus was killed four days after Palm Sunday.
If so, that would make his day of death Thursday.
However, the Catholic Encyclopedia indicates Friday(Mark 15:42) as the day of the week that Jesus was crucified, and the Christian observance of Good Friday is official recognition of that.
(There are probably at least half a dozen popular Christian scenario calculations like this, which are used to validate Jesus as the perfect fulfillment of Dan 9, and they often differ on the starting point, the ending point, the length of a year, and the date of death for Jesus. As a result, they often end up refuting each other when the underlying assumptions and details are examined. Yet, they all claim to be the correct proof of fulfillment.)
There are two messiahs involved in Dan 9:25-26, not one.
Christianity won't accept this because it ruins the applicability of Jesus to the prophecy.
Dan 9:25-26 doesn't say anything about the second messiah mentioned in the passage being revealed to the public as the King of the Jews, it simply states he was "cut off". Nor is this second messiah identified as a king, it could also be a high priest.

The absurd nature of the Christian claim that Jesus fulfilled Dan 9 to the exact day can be illustrated by examining some of the underlying assumptions used to produce the claim.
One way to do this is to validate the year of death for Jesus, which the Christian scenario says is the year 32 A.D.
Here is some of the "exact" and allegedly accurate historical information that the New Testament provides which can be used to estimate the year when Jesus died:
* The Gospel of Matthew states that Jesus was born during the reign of king Herod.(Matt 2:1)
The Catholic Encyclopedia states that Herod the Great died in 4 B.C.
If one assumes that Herod died fairly soon after issuing the infant death decree for boys up to 2 years old, and assuming Jesus was only about a year old at that time, then Jesus might have been born around 5 B.C.
Jesus could just as easily have been born in 6 B.C., and there's no way to know for sure.
* The Gospel of Luke states that Jesus was "about" 30 years of age when he began his ministry.(Luke 3:23)
* The Gospel of John indicates that the personal ministry of Jesus lasted about 3 years.
(Three Passovers where observed by Jesus…John 2:13, 6:4, 11:55 = 3 year ministry.)
That would make Jesus about 33 years old when he died.
Applying a 33 year life span to a birth date of 5 B.C. produces a year of death at around 29 A.D.
(There is no year 0 in the timeline, as it goes directly from 1 B.C. to 1 A.D.)
If Jesus was born around 6 B.C., then the date of death becomes 28 A.D.
The Christian perfect fulfillment of Dan 9 by Jesus insists that Jesus died on April 10, 32 A.D.
It should be noted that the date of Herod's death is sometimes said to be 1 A.D. rather than 4 B.C., which would push the date of death out to around 34 A.D. Other sources say that Herod died in 1 B.C., which would place the date of death for Jesus at around 33 A.D.
One can fine tune a date of death for Jesus that specifically occurs in 32 A.D. by making various assumptions about Herod's date of death, along with how long Jesus was alive before Herod died, and by tweaking the ministry of Jesus to last less than 3 years or more than 3 years, depending on how you want the numbers to work out.
As just about anyone can see, the year that Jesus died can't be established with any degree of exactness, and certainly not to the degree needed to claim a perfect "exact day" fulfillment of Dan 9 by Jesus.
Common Christian claims concerning the year Jesus died tend to fall in the range of 28 A.D to 34 A.D.
The fact that Holy Spirit filled believers can't even agree on the year their Lord Jesus died illuminates how ridiculous it is to claim a perfect, exact day fulfillment of anything that involves Jesus and Dan 9.

Also of note is that the Gospel of Luke doesn't provide much support for the scenario provided by Matthew concerning the birth date of Jesus. Luke never even mentions Herod, and links the birth date of Jesus to a census when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. The important infant death decree is never mentioned by Luke and can't be validated as having ever been given by Herod, as it's only reported in Matthew. The birth narratives in Matthew and Luke do not reinforce each other.

Many Christians loudly boast that out of all the various Biblical "proofs" for Jesus being the expected messiah, this allegedly perfect, "to the exact day" fulfillment of Daniel 9 by Jesus is the most astounding, important, and irrefutable proof of them all.
Jesus was supposed to have opened the minds of the apostles so that they would understand how perfectly he fulfilled the Hebrew scriptures(Luke 24:45).
However, it's interesting that none of the Gospel writers say anything about Daniel 9 being fulfilled by Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, nor do any other New Testament writers say anything about Jesus fulfilling Daniel 9.
In John 20:30 it says that the miraculous events recorded in the Gospel of John were recorded in writing for the purpose of providing convincing proof that Jesus was the expected messiah. Yet, John doesn't even mention that Daniel 9 was fulfilled by Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
If the Gospel writers wanted to provide convincing evidence that Jesus was the expected messiah, and if Daniel 9 is really the ultimate proof of Jesus, as many Christians claim it is, then it should be expected that at least one of the Gospel writers would have claimed the fulfillment of it by Jesus.
In particular, the author of the Gospel of Matthew had no problem pointing out fulfillment of Old Testament scripture by Jesus to the point where he even claimed Jesus fulfilled scriptures that weren't even prophecies in the first place(Matt 2:14-15).
That demonstrates quite an appetite to advertise and point out Old Testament fulfillment.
Yet, the author of Matthew says nothing about the donkey ride by Jesus being the fulfillment of Daniel 9.

Other noteworthy items include the following:
The date and nature of the authorship regarding the Book of Daniel is the subject of some dispute.
The Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible is classified in the Writings section and is not in the section classified as Prophets.
The Hebrew Bible has three sections…Law, Prophets, and Writings.
Of special interest is that the Hebrew Bible has the Book of Ezra immediately following the Book of Daniel. The Christian Bible "Old Testament" lists Ezra many books prior to Daniel, which serves to separate and disguise the continuity of the theme.
The first chapter in the Book of Ezra identifies Cyrus as the anointed one that put forth a decree to restore the Temple and the city. In order to break the association between the anointed prince in Dan 9:25 and the identification of Cyrus as an anointed prince that rebuilds the Temple in Ezra 1, the books are widely separated in the Christian "Old Testament".
If Cyrus was perceived as being a likely candidate for the identity of the anointed prince in Dan 9:25, it would invalidate the Christian assertion that the anointed prince was Jesus.

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