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Seventy! Seventy!

 

We begin with a famous passage in Daniy’el 9

Daniy’el (Daniel) 9:24
Seventy weeks are determined for the people and the holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holies.

However . . . the first two words of this passage have always posed a quandary.  Let’s take a look at the Ivriyt (Hebrew):

Dan 9:24 שׁבעים שׁבעיםנחתךעלעמךועלעירקדשׁךלכלאהפשׁעולחתםחטאותולכפרעוןולהביאצדקעלמיםולחתםחזוןונביאולמשׁחקדשׁקדשׁים׃

The Seventy Weeks

Dan 9:24 שׁבעים (Sheviym - seventy) שׁבעים (sheviym - seventy); or weeks, weeks, or seventy weeks.

When you consider the word seven (sheva H7651), then look at the Feast of Sevens (Sheva’oth).

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 23:15-16
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Shabbath, from the day that ye brought את eth-the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Shabbathoth shall be complete: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Shabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto YAHUAH.

Sheva = 7; Sheva’oth (feminine plural) = sevens;
Sheva = 7; Sheviym (masculine plural) = 70;

Sheviym! Sheviym! N’chatak al am’ach v’al iyr . . .

Now let’s take apart this verse using this understanding:

Seventy! Seventy! are determined: for the people and the holy city, [to do the following]:

  • finish the transgression,
  • make an end of sins,
  • make atonement for iniquity,
  • bring everlasting righteousness,
  • seal up the vision and the prophet, and
  • anoint the Holy of Holies.

Did they do it?

How could the people and the holy city finish the transgression?  Ezra tells us that this was the transgression:

Divrei Hayamiym Sheniy (2 Chronicles) 36:20-21
And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babel; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21 To fulfil the Word of YAHUAH by the mouth of Yirmeyahu, until the land had enjoyed את eth-her Shabbathoth: for as long as she lay desolate she kept Shabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

Therefore, the reestablishment of the sabbatical year (shemitah) would be required.  Has this been done?  Answer: no.

Have the people and the holy city made an end of sin?

Have they made atonement for iniquity?

Ezra v’Nechemyahu (Nehemiah) 10: 32-35
Also, we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a sheqel for the service of the house of our ELOHIYM; 33 For the showbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the Shabbathoth, of the New Moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Yashar’el, and for all the work of the house of our ELOHIYM. 34 And we cast the lots among the priests, the Leviyiym, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our ELOHIYM, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of YAHUAH ELOHAYNU, as it is written in the Torah: 35 And to bring את eth-the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of YAHUAH:

Is it possible that if these things had been accomplished, that everlasting righteousness would be brought, that the vision and the prophet predicting the coming of the abomination of desolation would be sealed up, and the Holy of Holies would be anointed?

I don’t know; but it is a certainty that none of these things have been accomplished in the time allotted: Seventy! Seventy!
There are seventy ____ allotted twice under this prophecy.  Is it seventy weeks? Maybe.

Take a look at Daniy’el (Daniel) 9:25:

Da 9:25 וְתֵדַע וְתַשְׂכֵּל מִן־מֹצָא דָבָר לְהָשִׁיב וְלִבְנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם עַד־מָשִׁיחַ נָגִיד שָׁבֻעִים שִׁבְעָה וְשָׁבֻעִים שִׁשִּׁים וּשְׁנַיִם תָּשׁוּב וְנִבְנְתָה רְחוֹב וְחָרוּץ וּבְצוֹק הָעִתִּים׃

We can see here two sets of number given.  The first (on the right) is sheviym sheva (interpreted as seven weeks, but could be interpreted as seven seventies, or 490), and the second on the left as v’sheviym shiyshiym v’sheniym (seventy sixty and twos or 4,340; however, it could also be seventy times two (140) and sixty times two (120)). Either way, we end up with a new understanding.

We saw in the interpretation given by Ezra above that the exile of the Kingdom of Yahud was 70 years.  Let’s call this the first seventy. 

Now, a second seventy has arrived for the second time in all human history for the people and the holy city.  It began on May 14, 1948 (on the feast of Sheva’oth – the feast of sevens), the nation of Israel declared its independence.  This anniversary approaches again, this time for the seventieth time.

First, we have the Gregorian date:      May 14, 2018.
The Jewish calendar sets it as:           May 18, 2018.
The Yom Qodesh sets it as:                May 27, 2018.

Seventy will then be completed for the second time. 

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