Book of Daniel

The Book of Daniel

IN 598 BC, the powerful Babylonian King, Nabukudurruusur, known as Nebuchadnezzar by the Israelites, came to Jerusalem to put down the Rebellion of King Jehoiakim. According to the Jerusalem Chronicle (ABC 5), Jerusalem fell in Addaru (March) 597. By 586 Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and thousands of captives of the most educated and royal lineage of Jerusalem, Daniel being one, was carried off to Babylon.

The book of Daniel was written during the time of the Babylonian and Medes/Persian Empire of which Cyrus the Persian had occupied the throne and reigned for thirty years. Before Cyrus took the throne Daniel was made one of three dignitaries set over 120 princes who presided over the entire Medes Kingdom.

“Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.” Daniel 1:18-20

Now King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and desired to know what it had meant however the King could not tell anyone the dream that he had dreamed.

“So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.” Then the astrologers answered the king,“May the king live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble.” Daniel 2:2-5

What a predicament to be in. So the king decreed that all the wise men of Babylon be put to death. Daniel upon hearing the decree went and prayed to God with his friends for the interpretation to spare the wise men. At night while Daniel slept the dream was made known to him.

“During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said:

Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

Daniel 2:19-23

So Daniel is ushered in before the King and makes known the dream and the interpretation.

“The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.” Daniel 2:47-49

And so the legend of Daniel the prophet began…

 

Before we continue I would not have you ignorant and lay claim that God has granted me specific insight into His prophecies, I make no such claim. I am merely a man who chooses to study history and ancient scripture accorded as the word of God. If anyone chooses to do the same he/she will indelibly come to the same conclusion as rendered over the centuries by many a master of study.

Only those who choose to be ignorant of the facts of history, particularly those who wage war against ancient texts to prove their own infinitesimal thought processes for justification of a devoid spiritual life, will surely find themselves lacking not only the abundant knowledge available to every human, but the acute joy of the mysteries of this life. To the 70 weeks…

“In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;” Daniel 9:1

“And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, ‘O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two (69) weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.

And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Daniel 9:20-27

When one reads this scripture for the first time, whether your religion is Judaism, Islam, or Christian – monotheism, the first thing we do, having never read of angelic beings before, is question the existence of such. Forgive me for not including the various religions of the world, but merely those who generally read biblical passage as compared to other texts.

Throughout the book of Daniel we will find this same archangel Gabriel, who stands before God Almighty, manifest to Daniel concerning future events. There are many writings about the angel Gabriel throughout history within Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. This is where the secular world disagree with the texts of the Bible and list opposition for accepting said documents.

I do find it curious that the majority of the anti-Bible, anti-Daniel clan have no problem accepting the Egyptian Book of the Dead, or other ancient God fantasy, but tear apart the book of Daniel, as the above scripture determines the flow of history as we know it.

The 70 weeks of Daniel as believed by the majority of Christian’s concerning eschatology, or end time theory, is not the capitulation of Biblical prophecy as described in the book of Revelation, or the end of society as we know it. In fact, Daniel 9:24-27 refers to the following:

שָׁבוּעַ – shabuwa

This shabuwa is 7620 in Strong’s concordance and the definition is the following:

1) seven, period of seven (days or years), heptad, week

a) period of seven days, a week

1) Feast of Weeks

b) heptad, seven (of years)

This Shabuwa occurs 20 times in 17 verses in the Tanakh.

First of all there are seven things to occur in this prophecy, which is for Israel, and the holy city Jerusalem. These events affect the whole world for Armageddon is the end result, but not as you have been taught over the last hundred years:

1. To finish the transgression
2. To make an end of sin (transgression)
3. To make reconciliation for iniquity
4. To bring in everlasting righteousness
5. To seal up vision
6. To seal up prophecy
7. To anoint the Most Holy

The 7 points here are not copied form someone’s theory, but a literal summary of Gabriel’s 70 weeks as told to Daniel.

A simple search on the web and you will find a mass amount of data relating to Daniel’s 70 weeks, including the mainstream theory and boundless scatter brain ideology. Search engines in 2005 yield 12,700,000 results on the term “70 weeks”. Today there are 1.2 billion results! And yet what do Christians believe?

What we find the majority of Christians and non-Christian alike believing is half-baked philosophies that not only contradict the scriptures of the Bible, but also make a mockery of Christianity as a whole. Many movie and series such as, “The Rapture,” and “The Leftovers,” (HBO Series) have been made depicting quasi secular cultish beliefs – in short, nonsense.

The 69 Weeks

 

NOW, the prophecy states that when the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem there will be sixty-nine weeks of years until Messiah the Prince is revealed.

Sixty-nine weeks of years, 69 x 7 = 483 years.

King Cyrus of Anšan (600 – 529 BC), ruler of the Persian and Medes Empire made a decree to rebuild the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) in Jerusalem around 539 BC and allowed Jews to return home from Babylon.

“In the first year of King Cyrus, [he] made a decree: Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let the house, the place where they offer sacrifices, be built, and let its foundations be strongly laid, its height and its breadth each 60 cubits,” Ezra 6:3

It took about 95 years after Cyrus decree to rebuild the Temple for the command to be given to rebuild the city. King Artaxerxes I (465-423 BC) granted his cup bearer Nehemiah to go and rebuild Jerusalem accompanied by the King’s captains with letters to the governors around 445-444 BC. Nehemiah left Babylon to restore the city. The opposition was great, but nonetheless the city was rebuilt. This rebuilding started about 140 yrs after Nebuzaradan of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem.

“And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.”

“Furthermore I said to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.’ And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.” Nehemiah 2:1,7-8

If you lived in 444 BC and went 483 yrs into the future converting a 360 day year with the Gregorian Calendar you would arrive at AD 33. Yeshua was crucified and fulfilled anastasis in AD 33!

Jesus is the only man in history at that time to claim to be the Son of God as prophetically sent. Just some of the things recorded that Jesus has performed:

• raise the dead
• cast out demons
• give sight to the blind
• heal lepers
• revive the limbs of the lame and crippled
• miraculous feeding of throngs of people in the thousands
• walking on water
• hearing God’s voice communicate with Jesus
• speaking with Moses in Spirit form
• stop storms and heavy winds
• astronomical and seismic events for His birth and  crucifixion

Moreover, there are countless extant writing about Jesus, as well as secular Jewish historians from the time he was alive. Anyone can chalk this up to fantasy stories and yet there are over two billion followers of Christianity today – a third of the planet. The easy answer is to say, “That just shows you how gullible people are,” or do these Christians know something you don’t.

Jesus didn’t just claim to be the Messiah without backing up the benefits of believing in Him as such. God provided proof in many forms to mankind that Jesus is His word manifested in the flesh to both those who believe and secular alike. For those who believe receive the Holy Spirit or Ruach HaKodesh.

From the point of simple math from Daniel’s prophecy given some five hundred years before Yeshua’ birth proves He is HaMashiach (the anointed Messiah) as He claimed Himself to be. One can expect a higher criticism of the book of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah for it carries the joy and doom of all society within it’s pages.

Now the dates and decrees above have been contested for many years until archaelogical evidence proved otherwise. To name a few: Cyrus Cylinder, Antiquities of the Jews IX, Nabonidus Chronicles, and Jerusalem Chronicle prove without a doubt accuracy as to the book of Ezra and Nehemiah in Tanakh and the time frame.

From a modern Judaism perspective, which reject Yeshua as Messiah, naturally historical date manipulation occurs to eradicate any mathematical proof of Jesus being the Messiah. We see in many Jewish historical writings and on many websites giving false dates of when the decrees were given to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem.

Chabad.org lists the date of the Babylonian destruction of the Temple in 425 BC, which historically is proven absolutely false by experts in the field of archaeology through many a university the world over. This could be chalked up as scribal errors, but curious to note there is persistent arguing over the authenticity of ANY material witness which point to Jesus as the Messiah as indisputable proof.

Which makes sense. If your lineage was part of the process that crucified your Messiah, rather than repent for the misdeed, many have taken the path of absolute denialism. I have seen many an interview of Rabbi who have come to believe in Yeshua as the Messiah realize they had been blinded by false propaganda and teaching since their youth by those raised to be staunch anti-christian Talmudists. In Judaism you are not allowed to have a New Testament of the Bible in your home as this would undoubtedly result in knowing the truth for many Jews.

Anyone of any intelligence can get on the internet, do a little research, and come to the same conclusion historically, that Jesus of Nazareth, Yeshua in Hebrew, is the Messiah.

You also see a similar brain washed answer when it comes to why Orthodox Jews do not believe in Yeshua as Messiah, namely that “it’s idolatry.” The answers are never based on a personal opinion or research, but rather what someone is told by someone else as more authoritative. You are not allowed to think for yourself, but obey what a higher persona tells you is truth. You are then required to “believe” what is told to you as truth.

According to an article written in Psychology Today by former FBI Agent Joe Navarro, there are certain criteria we should ask when people want us to believe them.^[22] Below are some excerpts,

• Who is making the statement and are they known to you?
• How important is the matter of discussion? Does it affect you, your family, your finances, or your security?
• How often is that term repeated? If it is repeated more than three times in a conversation, sales pitch, or in a gathering, you should question their intent. Are they trying to pull one over on you?
• Is the term “believe me” being used to cause you to look the other way, not ask questions, or avoid further scrutiny? I had a spy tell me that he would never commit espionage, because “I love America too much, believe me.” His name was George Trofimoff, and he was convicted of espionage by a jury in Tampa, Florida.

Clearly, fear of financial and reputational loss to those in Judaism converting to believing in Jesus as Messiah is a real, pivotal, threat of reality for Jews. Any Jew who believes in Jesus as an Orthodox Jew will be kareth, or “cut off” financially and physically. Your family will be ostracized, you will be looked at as a traitor, no longer welcome at the Synagogue, and will in essence be a leper to your community. Similar in cults, this type of reality causes one to live in utter denial, lack the will to pursue knowledge outside their own sect, or commune, and live with ears closed to any reality other than what is fed to them by their peers.

Now of course not all Judaistic branches follow the main trend of denialism. You will find soft belief of Jesus as Messiah within Judaism by those who merge traditional Talmudic era belief with knowledge of Messiah. I have a synagogue in my area where the Rabbi believes that Jesus is the Messiah, but does not celebrate this fact during Torah service in the event he “offends” non believing Jews.

It comes down to the individual performing diligent study of history WITHOUT prejudice and input from traditional blind folds, or threat of expulsion from your fraternity. As with all communes in life – YOU MUST DECIDE YOUR FATE.

Never let a Rabbi, Catholic Priest, Imam determine YOUR life with YHWH. The choice is yours and yours alone and I hope all of you find the salvation that only HaMashiach Yeshua can provide. Jesus is the Messiah, the door of life for anyone who knocks – the door will open amen.

For a further in depth reading of comparison you can download a pdf containing extensive data..