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[Sue Me]

I’ve tried a bunch of different interpretations of Daniel’s 70 week prophecy and none of them seem to add up for me.

How do you get to 33 AD as the year Jesus died?

[jimwalton]

You're confused because most people are. There are four major (and other minor) interpretations of the prophecy. So since we're not even sure what it's prophesying, it's tough to nail down the calculations.

1. The period of Antiochus (2nd c. BC)
2. The coming of Nehemiah (taking 70 years in the past), and then Jesus (490 yrs to the future)
3. The coming of Jesus, his death, and the destruction of Jerusalem
4. The coming of Jesus, and then the End Times

Most scholars believe the 70 sevens are periods of seven years, or 490 yrs., though there are some who take it to be 70 years, not 490.
The other problem is when do the "490" years begin. The text specifies "from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (9.25). There are 6 possibilities:

1. The decree from Artaxerxes to restore and rebuild Jerusalem was issued in 445 BC. (Neh. 2.1-8) Some place it by our calendar at March 14, 445 BC. Still others at 466 BC.
2. The decree of Cyrus in 538 bc. (Isa. 44-45)
3. The decree that put an end to the Babylonian captivity.
4. The year of the revelation given to Daniel.
5. The decree of Artaxerxes given to Ezra in 458 BC.
6. The prophetic oracle of Jeremiah. The NIV translates this as “decree,” but in its note indicates that it is a “word”—and this usually refers to a prophetic oracle, not a royal decree. In fact the same combination of verb and noun (word going out) has just been used in v. 23. The "going forth" of this word would then be dated to sometime between 597 and 594.

With all that up for grabs, interpreting the prophecy with confidence gets pretty shaky.

The next problem is to what, exactly, is identified by the "coming" of the Anointed One? If it's Jesus, is it his birth, his baptism, or his triumphal entry? Some even think it's referring to the high priest, Joshua, in Zech. 4.14.

And so it goes with trying to interpret what the "destruction" refers to (9.26); who is the "He" at the beginning of v. 27 (3 choices); what is the "covenant" of v. 27, etc.

It's simply impossible to nail down, though people take very strong stances on it. The text is quite specific, but we can't really identify any of the particulars. Many will tell you they have identified them—and that's true: they've identified in their own mind to their own comfort to fit their template. It depends which perspective you take as to how you do the math. Certainty is elusive.

I can roll through the math with you on any given theory, but I'm not sure what the value in that is.

> How do you get to 33 AD as the year Jesus died?

By current estimations (and assuming certain things about calendars, there are two years around that era where the Passover fell on a Thursday night to Friday night (as in the Gospels' crucifixion narratives). Those years would be 30 and 33. The traditional view is 33. The majority view is that Jesus was born in about 4 BC and crucified in AD 30. I happen to think he was born in 7 BC and crucified in AD 26. The fact that they were not using a standard calendar, and certainly not our current calendar, makes it tough to pin down.