9. The seventy prophetic weeks
THE RECKONING OF TIME
sixth week is that of the Jubilee year, the year of remission, which is encompassed in seven weeks of years, that is, in 49 years.83 When these were completed ^ that is, at the beginning of the 50th year ^ trumpets rang out loud and clear, and everyone recovered their former possessions according to the Law.84
9. THE SEVENTY PROPHETIC WEEKS
The seventh kind of week is that employed by the Prophet Daniel, comprising (after the manner of the Law) seven years in each week, but abbreviating these years by a new calculation; that is, /305/ he ¢xed each [year] at twelve lunar months, and did not include in the second or third years (as tradition decrees) the embolismic months which normally accumulate from the eleven days of the epact of every year. Rather, he counted a whole year whenever the sum of 12 [lunar months] was reached.85 He did this, not because he begrudged the knowledge of the truth to those who sought it, but in order to exercise the inquirers' intelligence, as is the manner of prophecy. At any rate, he preferred to hide his pearls away from his sons, so that they might seek them out with fruitful e¡ort, rather than have them scattered abroad to be trodden underfoot by swine in contemptuous disdain.86
Now in order to explain this more clearly, let us look at the precise words of the angel to the Prophet. He says: Seventy weeks are diminished upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to ¢nish the transgression, and to make an end of sins and to wipe out iniquity and bring in everlasting righteousness, and to ful¢l the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.87 There is no question but that these words refer to the Incarnation of Christ, who took away the sins of the world,88 ful¢lled the Law and the Prophets89 and was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows,90
83 Isidore, DNR 6.4 (195.31^32).
84 Isidore, Etym. 5.27.3 or DNR 6.4 (33^34); cf. Leviticus 25.8^31.
85 Daniel's ''year'', in short, is twelve ordinary lunar months, or 354 days. Normally, one or two such ordinary years are followed by an embolismic year of 13 lunar months. This 13th month is formed by cumulating the 11 days by which the lunar year falls short of the solar year, over a period of three years: see Introduction, section 3.
86 Cf. Matthew 7.6.
87 Daniel 9.24.
88 John 1.29.
89 Matthew 5.17.
90 Psalm 45.7 (44.8).
TRANSLATION
and that the seventy weeks /306/ multiplied by seven years work out to 490 years. But note that he claims that these weeks are not simply
''observed'' or ''calculated'' but ''diminished''; that is, he covertly impresses upon the reader that he should understand that the years indicated are shorter than usual.91 Know therefore and understand that from the rebuilding of Jerusalem unto the Christ, the Prince, shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; in a brief space of time the street and the wall shall be built again.92 From Ezra's account we know that Nehemiah, when he was cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes, in the twentieth year of his reign, in the month of Nisan, obtained [the king's] permission to restore the walls of Jerusalem. The Temple had been constructed long before this by permission of Cyrus.93 As it is said, he completed this work in a very short space of time; so hard-pressed was he by the neighbouring peoples, that it is written that each builder, girt about the loins with a sword, fought with one hand and repaired the wall with the other.94
Calculate therefore seventy ''weeks'' from this time until Christ the Prince, that is, /307/ 490 years of twelve lunar months, which make 475 solar years. Now the Persians ruled 116 years from the aforementioned twentieth year of King Artaxerxes until the death of Darius [son of Ascanius]. After that the Macedonians ruled 300 years until the downfall of Cleopatra. Then the Romans held the monarchy 59 years until the seventeenth year of Tiberius Caesar. Together these make, as we said,
475 years, and contain 25 nineteen-year cycles: 19 times 25 is 475.
Because seven embolismic [months] accrue in each [nineteen-year] cycle, multiply 25 by 7 and it makes 175, which are the embolismic months in 475 years. If you wish to know how many lunar years these make, divide 175 by 12: 12 times 14 is 168, and therefore it makes 14 years with seven months remaining.95 Add these to the abovementioned
475, and together they make 489. Add the seven extra months, and the part of the 18th year of the Emperor Tiberius in which the Lord su¡ered, and you will ¢nd that from the prescribed time up to His Passion there are seven ''diminished weeks'', that is, 490 lunar years.
At the time of His baptism, when He was anointed as the Most Holy 91 Augustine, Ep. 199.7.19^20 (259^261).
92 Daniel 9.25.
93 Cf. Nehemiah 1.11^2.1. Cf. ch. 66, s.a. 3468 and 3529.
94 Cf. ibid. 4.17^18.
95 Cf. ch. 45, below.
THE RECKONING OF TIME
One, the Holy Spirit /308/ descending upon Him like a dove,96 not only were the 7 and 62 weeks completed, but a part of the seventieth week had begun. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut o¡, and there will be none among the people to refuse him.97 Christ was killed, not immediately after the 62 ''weeks'', but at the end of the seventieth ''week''. Therefore, as far as I can see, [the angel] separated this week from the others because there was more to be related concerning it. For in it Christ was cruci¢ed, and refused by the faithless people, not only during His Passion, but in fact continuously, from the time when he began to be preached by John.
Now what follows ^ And the people that shall come with the prince shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be devastation and after the end of the war a devastation shall be determined98 ^ does not pertain to the seventy weeks, for it was predicted that these weeks would extend up until the time of Christ. But Scripture, having foretold His coming and His Passion, shows what would happen afterwards to the people who refused to receive Him. It calls Titus ''the prince who shall come'', who in the fortieth year of the Lord's Passion, together with the Roman people, so destroyed the city and sanctuary that there did not remain one stone standing upon another.99
After this foretaste by anticipation, [the angel] goes back to explain what will happen in the week he left out. And he shall con¢rm the covenant with many for one week100 ^ that is, in that ¢nal week when either
John the Baptist or the Lord or the Apostles by their preaching shall convert many to the faith. And in the midst of the week the sacri¢ce and the oblations shall cease.101 The middle of this week was the ¢fteenth year of Tiberius Caesar when, commencing with the baptism of Christ,
/309/ puri¢cation by sacri¢ces gradually began to be disdained by the faithful. Likewise what follows ^ and in the temple shall be the abomination of desolation and the desolation shall continue until the consummation and the end102 ^ refers to the time following this, and the truth of 96 Matthew 3.16, Mark 1.10, Luke 3.22, John 1.32.
97 Daniel 9.26.
98 Ibid.
99 Cf. Mark 13.2; Luke 21.6; Matthew 24.2.
100 Daniel 9.27.
101 Ibid.
102 Daniel 9.27.