These are the words from the book of Daniel - a prophet, most of whose life was spent in Babylon, where he was taken from Judea along with other noble people by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC One of the most amazing prophecies of the book of Daniel concerns the timing of his coming into the world long ago the promised Savior, or Messiah. Even at the dawn of human history, the Lord announced that from the seed of the Virgin would be born the One who would crush the head of the serpent (Satan), although he himself would suffer humanly from him. From subsequent prophecies it became known that the Messiah would be a distant descendant of Judas, one of the 12 sons of the Old Testament righteous man Jacob, and that He would be born in a noble family - the family of King David.
For Daniel, the archangel Gabriel calls the exact time when all this will happen:
With the weeks, everything is simple: a week is seven years, on such seven-year periods the festive cycle of ancient Israel was based. Seventy weeks is 490 years. And even from what time to start counting, it is more or less clear - from the moment the decree on the restoration of Jerusalem comes out. Nehemiah received such a command from his king Artaxerxes in the seventh year of his reign - this is 458-453 BC (depending on the chronology that we accept). So, the time when the iniquities of the Israelites will be blotted out is the 30s of A. e., that is, just the time of the crucifixion of Christ!
But further the archangel specifies that Christ will be put to death after seven and sixty-two weeks, that is, 483 years from the indicated "starting point". This is approximately 25-30 AD. e., that is, an earlier time than we are used to thinking … It is incomprehensible and the turn will be put to death, Christ, and will not be.
And it is completely unclear what further words mean about tithing, which will confirm the covenant for many, and what kind of abomination of desolation will be established on the wing of the sanctuary in half a week.
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How to explain it
In fact, the time of Christ's putting to death in this prophecy is indicated simply with amazing accuracy. We are accustomed to consider the year 33 as the time of the crucifixion only because we proceed from the generally accepted chronology "from the birth of Christ." But it is reliably known that the Roman monk Dionysius the Small, who at the beginning of the 6th century undertook to link the events of the Savior's earthly life with the earthly calendar, made a mistake in calculations. The real Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ did not take place at the beginning of what we today call "our era", but around 5 or 6 BC. e. - in any case, even during the lifetime of the Jewish king Herod, who died in 4 BC. e.
If we take into account this error in the calculations and recall the Gospel indications that Christ was baptized around the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (who became co-ruler with Augustus in 13 year), and that after Baptism Christ preached for three and a half years, then it turns out that He was crucified was about 30 A. D. e. By the way, it was in the year 30 that the 15th day of the month of Nisan - the day on which the Jews ate Passover and on which Christ was crucified - fell on Friday …
Christ will be put to death, and will not be - this is how the Synodal Bible translation conveys a Hebrew phrase, which would be more accurately expressed as follows: "… and it will not be for him." “To him” is the Jewish people, which for the most part rejected the Messiah, explains Alexander Pavlovich Lopukhin, professor at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy: this people did not recognize Christ as their Savior and are no longer His people.
Well, and half of the week, during which the sacrifice and the offering will end, is, obviously, the time of the Savior's earthly ministry, three and a half years after His Baptism in Jordan. Since Christ made Himself a Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, all other sacrifices are already meaningless.
As for the expression the abomination of desolation, it is interpreted in different ways, but most of the holy fathers are inclined to think that this is a prophecy about the introduction of a pagan idol into the Jerusalem temple. The Bible in general often calls pagan "shrines" "an abomination". And in 130, when the Roman Empire was ruled by Hadrian, the Romans actually installed a pagan temple of Jupiter Capitoline on the site of the destroyed by that time Jerusalem temple, and the name “Jerusalem was replaced by Aelia Capitolina for almost 200 years. "Aelius" was an integral part of the name of the emperor himself, and "Capitolina" indicated the pagan deity to whom the city was henceforth dedicated. In a word, it is quite possible to say that desolation and pagan abomination reigned on the wing of the former sanctuary (from the destroyed temple, as you know, there was only one wall).
Why is this prophecy important?
This is the clearest and most accurate of the predictions about the time of the coming of the Messiah into the world and about His crucifixion.
Where else can you find the words of prophecy
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Shortly before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus Christ warns the disciples about the imminent end of the world and refers to the prophecy of Daniel: So, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken through the prophet Daniel, standing in a holy place - the reader understands - then those who are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains … (Matt 24: 15-16).
Author: TSUKANOV Igor
The editors would like to thank the Associate Professor of the Department of Biblical Studies of the Orthodox St. Tikhon University for the Humanities, Candidate of Theology Mikhail Anatolyevich Skobelev for help in preparing the material
