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    The Watchtower, December 1, 1946

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    The Watchtower—1946

    SEeWATCHTOWEK

    Pthit.tshed Semimonthly By

    WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street - . Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.SA.

    Officers

    N. H. Knobs. President W. E. Van Ambuboh, Secretary

    "And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - Isaiah 54:13.

    THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES

    THAT JEHOVAH Is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and Is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to his creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of his creation and his active agent In creating all other things; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the Issue of His universal sovereignty:

    THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon It; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and willfully disobeyed God's law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;

    THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men: that God raised up Christ Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;

    THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION Is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus is the Chief Officer thereof and Is the rightful King of the new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion’s children, members of Jehovah's organization, and are His witnesses whose duty and privilege it Is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed in the Bible;

    THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan’s uninterrupted rule, ended A.D. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate His name and establish the “new earth”;

    THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah’s kingdom under Christ, which has begun; that His next great act is to destroy Satan's organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth ; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth" with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.

    ITS MISSION

    HI3 journal Is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah's witnesses and all people of good-wilL It arranges systematic Bible study for its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid In such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction In the Scriptures.

    It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for Its utterances. It Is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but Invites careful and critical examination of Its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not Indulge In controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.

    Yearlt SuBscsiraoK Price

    United states, 51.00; all other countries. $1.50, American currency; Great Britain, Australasia, and South Africa, 63. American remittances should be made by Postal Note cr by Postal or Express Money Order or by Bank Draft Outside of the United States remittances should be made direct to the respective branch offices. Remittances from countries other than those mentioned may be made to the Brooklyn office, but by International Postal Money Order only.

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    Please address the Society in every case.

    Translations of this journal appear in several languages.

    ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of Infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The 'Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting it We are glad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year is required by the postal regulations.

    Notice to Subscribers: Acknowledgment of a new or a renewal subscription will be sent only when requested. Change of address, when requested, msv be expected to appear on address label within one month Old and new addresses must be given. A renewal blank (carrying notice of expiration! will be sent with the journal one month before the subscription expires.

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    “NATIONS’ GLADNESS” TESTIMONY PERIOD

    “Nations’ Gladness” Testimony Period coincides with the last month of this calendar year, the yeartext for which is, “Be glad, ye nations, with his people.” (Rom. 15:10, Rotherham) A new booklet was specially prepared to be ready for delivering the testimony in this month of December, namely, “The Prince of Peace”, and an edition of five million copies is being run off. This anticipates a wide and intensive distribution. That many others may conveniently be provided with copies to join in the distribution, the Kingdom publishers will specialize during December on placing the booklet from house to house, offering seven copies on a contribution of twenty-five cents, three copies ten cents, and one copy five cents. Its message deserves the widest reading, and the call for distributors is urgent. If you see your opportunity to take part with others in this house-to-house distribution, write us now for needed information and references. That the general report of all activity during the “Nations’ Gladness” Testimony Period may be compiled here, we remind you to turn in your report of field work during December.

    “WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

    Week of January 5: “The Seventieth Week,” fl 1-22 inclusive, The Watchtower December 1, 1946.

    Week of January 12: “The Seventieth Week,”

    fl 23-44 inclusive, The Watchtower December 1, 1946.

    1947 YEARBOOK OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

    The first postwar year of action by the Lord’s kingdom publishers in more than fifty lands is reported on in the 1947 Yearbook of Jehovah’s witnesses. This report was prepared by the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. It discloses the growing magnitude of Jehovah’s visible organization and of the “strange work” he is accomplishing through it. Supplementing this interesting report is the president’s comment on the yeartext for 1947, together with a daily Bible text for the year’s 365 days and a comment thereon as taken from this past year’s issues of The Watchtower. The limited printing obliges us to post the contribution rate for this 1947 Yearbook at 50c a copy, mailed postpaid to you. All group units should combine the orders of their members and forward same here through the appointed servant, to bring about economies of time and expense at this end.

    ATTENTION, ALL “WATCHTOWER” READERS!

    During December the Watchtower Society is releasing for general distribution its new publication, the 64-page booklet entitled “The Prince of Peace”. During December the thoughts and professions (if only outwardly) of all nations of Christendom turn to sentiments of peace and good-will, but always the people are left without real knowledge of how ever-enduring peace is to come to all men of good-will on this earth. The booklet “The Prince of Peace” contains a distinctly different, and most up-to-{Conthmed on page 368)

    ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH'S KINGDOM

    Vol. LXVII December 1, 1946 No. 23

    “SEVENTY WEEKS”

    “Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.”—Dan. 9:24, Am. Stan. Ver.

    TEHOVAH has put in his own power the times and I seasons connected with his work. Once fixed by J him, no creature in heaven or on earth can change them or prevent their being marked by the events that he assigns to these times and seasons. Till he is pleased to reveal the times and seasons for such events, the rule applies: “It is not for you to know times and dates which the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7, An American Translation) Among the times and seasons that he fixed and foretold, together with the epoch-making events that should mark them, were the “seventy weeks” mentioned in the prophetic book of Daniel. Particular interest attaches to the seventieth and last week thereof, because many think that this particular week is yet to be fulfilled. According to their view, the rapid current of world affairs today indicates that its fulfillment is near with events that will startle the world. Whether we agree with the futurity of the seventieth week or not, the events of the total period of “seventy weeks” are of such importance to all who hunger for a happy life under better world conditions that it is well to study the “seventy weeks” at this season of the year.

    2 The poignant sufferings of the Jewish people, especially during the decade of Nazi-Fascist-religious attempts at world control, were so outrageous as to shock most humane persons. Therefore the outworking of the “seventy weeks” should command the attention of such suffering Jewish people. Why? Because the sure relief of the Jews and of all suffering humankind lies in the Messiah, and the prophecy of the “seventy weeks” has to do with the Messiah the Prince. He is the long-foretold “Seed of Abraham” in whom all the families and nations of the earth are promised to be blessed.

    ’ Since the “seventy weeks” had a definitely marked beginning more than two thousand years ago, enough time has certainly passed for those weeks to run their course and to have their peculiar events ■fulfilled. Jew and Gentile alike, we all are forced to this conclusion: Either the Messiah the Prince came within that period of weeks, or else the prophecy failed to materialize on time and God’s appointed time failed. Jews must decide one way or the other, which means they must also decide whether Daniel was a true prophet of theirs or not. Furthermore, during the nineteen centuries of time since the seventy weeks or their equivalent ran out, the Jews have experienced affliction and persecution at the hands of the world such as they had never in all their previous history known. Is sacred prophecy silent as to all this unparalleled suffering of Daniel’s people and the reason for it? or was this worst of Jewish sufferings foretold and the reason behind it honestly explained? The honest mind can hardly think that divine prophecy would concern itself with lesser hardships upon the Jews and would be blind and speechless as to the greatest of tribulation upon Daniel’s people.

    4 All Christendom should be interested, too. Why? Because at this season of each year she celebrates what she considers is the time of the Messiah’s coming, and the question is asked: Is she right in thus celebrating? That is to say, Has she a Bible basis for then holding such celebration? Thus far in this twentieth century two world wars have made her celebration anthem, “Peace on earth, good will to men,” sound hollow. Why? And why is a tribulation worse than any of these world wars fast approaching which will make a mockery of the religious ideas that Christendom has woven into her “Christmas” celebration? All the foregoing questions as to Jewry and Christendom are very practical and insist on bold answers. It is with hope of reaching answers that are true to the Bible and to hard facts that we can approach the inspired prophecy of the seventy weeks. The more so as we note that it is not man’s prophecy although contained in the book of Daniel. It was given Daniel by the lips of a high-ranking angel, Gabriel, who tells us that he stands in the presence of Jehovah God. (Dan. 9:21; Luke 1:19)

    Our examination will require going into some detail, but our interest in and search for truth will keep it from becoming wearisome.

    HOW AND WHY GIVEN

    5 The circumstances under which it was given will go far toward helping us to understand the prophecy, particularly as to when its fulfillment begins and ends. The circumstances were these: The time was the “'first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans”. (Dan. 9:1, Am. Stan. Ver.) That means that the great empire built by King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon, had fallen, just as foretold in the handwriting on the wall of King Belshazzar’s feasting room.

    ’ The kingdom over the wide domain of the Chaldean rulers was taken from them and distributed to the Medes and Persians as conquerors. The sixty-two-year-old Darius the Mede was the king of the Medes, and his younger nephew, Cyrus the Persian, was the king of the Persians. Both these kings came from the east against Babylon according to the appointed time of Jehovah God. (Dan. 5: 24-31) The well-established date for their overthrow of Babylon in the days of King Belshazzar is 539 B.C. Let us remember, here, that the ancient pagan year did not begin on January 1, but several months ahead of that date. Hence the ancient pagan year began on one side ahead of our so-called January 1 and ended on the other side after January 1. This may account for it why some historians date Babylon’s fall to Darius and Cyrus as 538 B.C. Hence the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede at the captured city of Babylon began in 539 B.C. and ran into 538 B.C. It was in this first year of Darius that the angel Gabriel gave the marvelous prophecy to Daniel.

    7 Why was Daniel selected as the prophet by whom to transmit to us the prophecy? It was because he was “greatly beloved” or very precious to God. We can well conceive it to be so in the case of this prophet who was willing for King Darius to cast him into the lions’ den rather than yield to a religious law of the Medes and Persians requiring that Daniel cease from worshiping Jehovah God in prayer. Daniel the Jew, while high in governmental ranks under King Darius, was nevertheless a captive, an exile far from his native capital city of Jerusalem, in Judah. But Jerusalem did not exist at that time. King Nebuchadnezzar had utterly destroyed it in 607 B.C., and this was the sixtyeighth year that Jerusalem and the land of Judah had lain in destruction, desolate without man or tamed beast. Daniel had now come into possession of the book of the prophecies of Jeremiah, and, says he: “I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.” (Dan. 9:2, Am. Stan. Ver.) That gave Daniel hope of the restoration of the Jews from Babylon to their homeland of Judah and Jerusalem, within just two years.

    8 However, Daniel knew, according to God’s word by Moses at Leviticus 26:31-46 and by Solomon at 1 Kings 8:46-54, that the Jews had to show themselves to be in a proper heart-condition before God in order to receive such a merciful deliverance by Him. They should show faith in him as their Deliverer who keeps his word and should humble themselves before him with repentance over the sins which brought upon them such grievous exile and slavery. They should turn away from religion to the clean-hearted worship of him as the true and living God. Regardless of what other Jews did at that time, Daniel started to follow out the course written for their guidance in the Holy Scriptures. He reports on himself, saying: “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto Jehovah my God, and made confession”; and then he tells us what he prayed to God. He called attention to the fact that the temple built by Solomon was a desolate ruin, and that Jerusalem, the “city which is called by thy name”, and also the land of Judah over which it once ruled, lay all in desolation, to the astonishment of all nations. So he prayed for mercy, believing that the desolateness without man or beast would cease two years thence, or in 537 B.C.—Dan. 9: 3-19, Am. Stan. Ver.

    ’ Doubtless, Daniel felt more confident of such relief at that time because Darius’ nephew was on hand, namely, Cyrus, and concerning him the prophecy at Isaiah 44: 28 and 45:1-3 said: “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut: I will go before thee, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that it is I, Jehovah, who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) So, doubtless, Daniel linked Cyrus with the prophecy at Jeremiah 25:11,12 and 29:10 concerning a divine visitation friendly to Jehovah’s people after seventy years of desolation. Daniel did not then know that inside of two years Cyrus would be sole ruler of Babylon, and of Medo-Persia.

    10 Just how long Daniel continued in his prayers and supplications for Zion, the holy mountain of his God, we are not told. But about the time ordinarily that the evening sacrifice used to be offered at the temple on Zion the angelic person Gabriel, being dispatched speedily by Jehovah God, appeared to Daniel to answer his prayers. To quote Rotherham’s emphasized translation from the Hebrew, Gabriel said to Daniel: “Mark then the word, and have understanding in the revelation: Seventy weeks have been divided concerning thy people and concerning thy holy city—to put an end to the transgression, and fill up the measure of sin, and put a propitiatory-covering over iniquity, and bring in the righteousness of ages, and affix a seal to vision and prophecy, and anoint the holy of holies.” (Dan. 9:23,24, Roth.) According to this summing up of the results of the course of the seventy weeks, the results must be good. So this increases our interest in knowing the full significance of those good results.

    11 In this connection the angel Gabriel does not mention days. Hence the weeks are not to be viewed as weeks of days, totaling 490 days or about a year and a third. The weeks are made up of seven years each, and for this reason the very modern translators render it: “Seventy weeks of years are destined for your people,” etc. (An American Trans.) “Seventy weeks of years are fixed for your people and for your sacred city,” etc. (Moffatt) Those translations agree with the facts. Hence the seventy weeks multiply up to 490 years, beginning at a certain time-point next to be announced.

    12 Please note that these seventy weeks apply to Daniel’s people and the holy city that is to be rebuilt during these weeks. Consequently this prophecy does not apply to the Gentiles who become Christians or spiritual Israelites, but applies to the natural Jews like Daniel. It applies to the second Jerusalem, or the city then rebuilt, and not to the third Jerusalem erected years after A.D. 70 and which is standing today under British mandate. According to the most literal meaning of Gabriel’s word, those seventy weeks that are determined, destined, or fixed, upon the Jews and their sacred city, “have been divided.” And as Gabriel's further words show, they were divided up into three periods, (1) seven weeks, (2) sixty-two weeks, and (3) one week; that is to say, (a) 49 years, (b) 434 years, and (c) 7 years; totaling 490 years. How these three periods are each to be marked Gabriel proceeds to say, and we leave it for the next succeeding article to describe in detail.

    THE SEVENTIETH WEEK

    IN DIVIDING up the seventy weeks of years the angel Gabriel said to Daniel: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” —Dan. 9: 25.

    2 The translation of this verse by the Jewish scholar, Isaac Leeser (1853), reads as if the city would be under construction throughout the sixty-two weeks, saying: “Know therefore and comprehend, that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed the prince will be seven weeks: and during sixty and two weeks will it be again built with streets and ditches (around it), even in the pressure of the times.” This also reads as if it would be only seven weeks from the starting point up till the Messiah the Prince appeared. But this Leeser translation does not agree with the facts, neither with a much earlier translation by Jews, namely, the Greek Septuagint translation from the Hebrew, made from

    1. How many weeks was it to be “unto the Messiah the Prince”? 2. Why does Isaac Lees.er’s translation not agree with facts? and after 280 B.C. This reads: “Therefore thou art to know and understand, that from the going forth of a word for returning an answer and for building Jerusalem until an Anointed ruler are seven weeks, and sixty two weeks. They shall indeed return and a street shall be built and a wall, and these times shall be emptied out.” (C. Thomson) And with this agree the majority of reliable modern translators, without religious bias.

    3 Note that the starting point of the seventy weeks is the going forth of the word or commandment “to restore and to build Jerusalem”. When did such a word go forth? Not two years after this vision; that is to say, not in 537 B.C., for the decree of Cyrus which went forth in that year was specifically for the building of the temple on its old site. According to the much-revered priestly scribe Ezra himself, King Cyrus said in his decree: "All the kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me; and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah”; and in the rest of the decree he twice more stresses the rebuilding of the

    3. Why was not the decree of Cyrus in 537 B.C. the starting point of the seventy weeks?

    temple rather than rebuilding Jerusalem.—Ezra 1: 2-4, Am. Stan. Ver.

    * Neither do we find the starting point in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes,* king of Persia, even though Ezra did go up to Jerusalem that year with a special letter of commission from the king. On this event the following facts present themselves:

    6 “This Ezra went up from Babylon. And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which Jehovah, the God of Israel, had given; and the long granted him all his request, according to the hand of Jehovah his God upon him. And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinim, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the lang. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon [Nisan 1]; and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem [Ab 1], according to the good hand of his God upon him.” (Ezra 7: 6-9, Am. Stan. Ver.) Thus Ezra was exactly four Jewish or lunar months in making the trip from the city of Babylon to Jerusalem.

    6 Now, if we read the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra (7:11-26), we find that in no place does it authorize or command him to rebuild Jerusalem. It had as its purpose, as Ezra himself describes it, “to beautify the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 7 : 27, Am. Stan. Ver.) Hence the letter referred exclusively to the gold and silver and the vessels for use in behalf of the temple at Jerusalem, and to the contributions of wheat, wino, oil and salt for the support of the temple worship, and also to the freedom from taxation of all the temple servants.

    • In Watchtower publications this Artaxerxes has been referred to as Artaxerxes III for the following reason: The Magian impostor Smerdis, who occupied Persia’s throne for less than eight months (B.C. 522), is called in Greek Arthasastha, usually translated Artaxerxes. Hence he would be the first Artaxerxes. (Ezra 4:7-24) The Greek Septuagint next speaks of Esther’s royal husband as “Artaxerxes”, who was really Xerxes the Great, and who was hence the second Artaxerxes.—Esther 1:1.

    The next one, who is usually referred to as Artaxerxes I, is the third Artaxerxes, being the one with whom Nehemiah dealt. Concerning him McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopedia, Vol. 1, page 440, Col. 1, says: “He is the same with the third Artaxerxes, the Persian king who, in the twentieth year of his reign, considerately allowed Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem for the furtherance of purely national objects, invested him with the government of his own people, and allowed him to remain there for twelve years (Neh. 2:1; 5:14).”

    4'6. (a) Why was not the starting point the letter Issued to Ezra in the seventh year of Artaxerxes? (b) How many months did Ezra take to go up to Jerusalem?

    T Actually, then, we must locate the going forth of the proper commandment and the start of the seventy weeks at thirteen years after this special visit of Ezra to the temple at Jerusalem.

    PROVING THE STARTING POINT

    ' The Jewish month Chislev is the ninth month and falls partly in our months of November and December ; and concerning this month we read: “The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, that were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.” (Neh. 1:1-3, Am. Stan. Ver.) This could not refer to any time during the seventy years that followed King Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem in B.C. 607. According to Jeremiah’s prophecy which Daniel studied, those seventy years were to be marked by the absolute desolation of Jerusalem and the land of Judah without even a remnant of the Jews or of domesticated beasts. However, the remnant of Jews who acted upon Cyrus’ decree and who returned from Babylonish captivity to the desolated city in 537 B.C. are elsewhere spoken of as the remnant of the captivity that had escaped. (Ezra 9:8,13-15; Isa. 4:2,3; 10:20-22; 37:31,32; Obad. 17) Some rebuilding of Jerusalem was accomplished by this remnant that escaped or returned from captivity in Babylon; but in the thirteen years after Ezra’s above-mentioned visit to Jerusalem the remnant and the holy city had come into the state that Hanani described to Nehemiah in the month of Chislev, in Artaxerxes’ twentieth year.

    ’ Nehemiah’s chance to petition King Artaxerxes (III) for the sake of rebuilding Jerusalem strongly against her enemies came four months later, in the same twentieth year of the reign of this Artaxerxes. We read: “And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king.” On that occasion in Nisan, the first Jewish month, after earnest heart-prayer to Jehovah God, Nehemiah made this request to the king: “If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send

    7. How many years after that did the seventy weeks begin?

    8. (a) When did Nehemiah first get a report of Jerusalem's sad condition? (b) Who were the remnant of the captivity then there?

    9. How did Nehemiah’s chance to petition King Artaxerxes come that same year? and for what did he petition? me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. ... If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river [Euphrates], that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to *make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into.” And Nehemiah tells us: “And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.” —Neh. 2:1-8.

    10 Being in the month Nisan, which falls partly in our months of March and April, that was in the spring of the northern year. But the going forth of the word or commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is not to be counted as issuing forth in that spring month, but rather more than four months later when the king’s word or commandment really began to take effect toward Jerusalem with Nehemiah there on the ground. For Nehemiah tells us that, at a set time either in Nisan or in a later month, he started his journey from Shu-shan (or Susa in Elam) to Jerusalem, and this must have taken longer than Ezra’s four-month journey from Babylon, because Shushan was over 400 miles east of Babylon and was thus farther from Jerusalem. So Nehemiah must have arrived there toward the beginning of the sixth month (Elul), or likely toward the end of September (Jewish Tizri) and near the end of Artaxerxes’ twentieth year of rule. From then on the seventy weeks of Gabriel’s prophecy began to count.

    11 Most commentators of today make the twentieth year of Artaxerxes correspond with B.C. 445. So the date given at the head of the marginal references in non-Catholic Bible editions is B.C. 445. But this is ten years too short, for the correct date is B.C. 455. In the footnote of the Catholic Douay Version Bible the date given is Ante Christum 454, or B.C. 454. In the non-Catholic King James or Authorized Version Bible the time schedule of history as compiled by Archbishop Usher was first added in the edition of A.D. 1701, but, instead of using Usher’s date for the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, Bishop Lloyd inserted Dr. Dodwell’s date of B.C. 445, and Bible chronologers have followed suit since. But in Usher’s The Annals of the Old and New Testament (1658), for the time of Hanani’s report to Nehemiah in the month Chislev (November-December) Usher gives

    10. Why does not the going forth of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem count from the month Nisan?

    11. What is Usher’s date for the twentieth year of Artaxerxes? and why do most Bible marginal readings differ from his date? in the margin of page 137 the following time-designation: “456 B.C., Year of the World 3550; Julian period 4258.” In the month Nisan (March-April), four months after Hanani’s report to Nehemiah, the time would become 455 B.C.

    12 The noted scholar Ernst Wm. Hengstenberg (1802-1869), with the facts of history behind him, ably disproved Dodwell’s date of B.C. 445. He shows 445 to be ten years too short. We turn to his Chris-tology of the Old Testament* in volume 2, under the heading “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel”, and the subheading “The Definiteness of the Dates”. There, on pages 389-391, Hengstenberg says as to the starting point from which the seventy weeks begin to count (or, “the terminus a quo of the seventy weeks”) the following:

    is “Thg 7 weeks beginning with this terminus a quo. The restoration of the city shall extend entirely through it, and be completed with its termination. This falls,—and, as will hereafter be shown, the TWENTIETH YEAR OF ARTAXERXES IS THE YEAR 455 before Christ,—in the year 406, two years before the end of the nineteenth year of the reign of Darius the Second, the successor of Artaxerxes.

    “The most remarkable testimony is furnished by Herodotus, whose history could not have been composed before the year 408, because he relates events which fall in this year and the preceding . . . What he says, therefore, respecting the greatness of Jerusalem, can tolerably well be applied to the time of the end of the 7 weeks. . . . the Kadytis of Herodotus is Jerusalem . . . Herodotus speaks of Kadytis in two places ... in a comparatively short time, in place of a heap of rubbish, a city should arise, inferior in greatness to few in Asia.”

    14 On page 394 (ft 2) Hengstenberg says: “All chronologists agree, that the commencement of the reign of Xerxes falls in the year 485 before Christ, the death of Artaxerxes, in the year 423. The difference [of opinion] concerns only the year of the commencement of the reign of Artaxerxes [in between B.C. 485 and 423]. Our problem is completely solved, when we have shown that this year falls in the year 474 before Christ. For then the twentieth year of Artaxerxes is the year 455 before Christ, according to the usual reckoning,...” On page 395 he says in proof of B.C. 474: “Krueger . . . places the death of Xerxes in the year 474 or 473, and the flight of

    • Translated from the German by Reuel Keith, D.D., from the First Edition, New York, 1836-1839, in three volumes; volume 2 being published by Wm. If. Morrison, Washington, D.C.

    12-14. When does the authority Hengstenberg show Artaxerxes began to reign? and hence when did his twentieth year fall?

    Themistocles* a year later.” This would allow for Xerxes the Great, the husband of Queen Esther, a reign of eleven or twelve years. Whereas Ctesias,** the Greek historian of the fifth century B.C., makes Artaxerxes to have reigned 42 years, the above calculation shows he reigned 51 years, beginning with the year B.C. 474. Thus on page 399 Heng-stenberg speaks of “a fifty-one years’ reign of Artaxerxes”.

    15 It is therefore established on competent authority that Artaxerxes king of Persia began reigning in 474 B.C.. and that his twentieth year fell in or overlapped on 455 B.C. This year, then, in the late summer, or early fall, marks the time when the word or commandment went forth with effect for Jerusalem to be rebuilt. So that is when the “seventy weeks” began to count. Since these weeks amount to 490 years, then they must find their end in the year 36 (A.D.), in the late summer or early fall.

    * The flight of General Themistocles from Greece to Asia happened at the time of the transferring of Persia’s throne from Xerxes the Great to his son Artaxerxes. The Grecian historian Thucydides lived during the reign of Artaxerxes, and tells us that General Themistocles fled from his home country to Persia when Artaxerxes had but “lately come to the throne”.

    The Grecian biographer, Plutarch, of the first century A.D., says under Themistocles (c. 27) : “Thucydides, and Charon of Lampsacus, say that Xerxes was dead, and that Themistocles had an interview with his son Artaxerxes; but Ephorus, Dinon, Cltarchus, Heraclides and many others, write that he came to Xerxes. The chronological tables better agree with the account of Thucydides.”

    Nepos, a Roman historian of the first century B.C., also backs up Thucydides, saying: “I know that most historians have related that Themistocles went over into Asia in the reign of Xerxes, but I give credence to Thucydides in preference to others, because he, of all who have left records of that period, was nearest in point of time to Themistocles, and was of the same city [namely, Athens]. Thucydides says that he went to Artaxerxes.”

    The point of all the above is: Diodorus Siculus, Greek historian of the first century A.D., in his annals or chronology gives the date of Themistocles’ death as 471 B.C. Now, on arriving in Asia, Themistocles sent a letter to Artaxerxes who had recently succeeded Xerxes to the throne of Persia. Themistocles asked him for an audience but begged first one year’s time during which to learn the Persian language, and after that he would come and lay before Artaxerxes some plans for subduing Greece. His request being granted by Artaxerxes, Themistocles appeared at his court at the end of said year. Hence he must have been in Asia at least two years before dying in 471, and so he must have arrived in Ephesus (Asia) in 473 B.C. Accordingly the beginning of Artaxerxes’ reign may be fixed at 474 B.C. His twentieth year would fall in 455 B.C.

    ** See McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopedia, Vol. 9, page 602, Col. 1, under “The Date of the Edict”.

    Also see “Equipped for Every Good Work”, pages 183, 184, 1947 edition.

    15. So, then, upon competent authority, when did the seventy weeks begin and end?

    THE MESSIAH APPEARS

    M During the first seven weeks, or forty-nine years, the city was to be rebuilt; and it became, as Herodotus the historian said of Kadytis, a city “inferior in greatness to few in Asia”. What is predicted to happen sixty-two weeks (or 434 years) after this! That is to say, what is to happen after sixty-nine weeks (or 483 years) of time, if we count from 455 B.C.! Daniel 9:25 (Young) answers: “From the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem till Messiah the Leader is seven weeks, and sixty and two weeks”; that is to say, sixty-nine weeks all together. Hence the appearance of the long-promised Messiah must occur at the end of the sixty-nine weeks. Those weeks, or 483 years, count from the fall of 455 B.C. This brings us to the fall of the year 29 A.D. What happened in that year? History shows that the fifteenth year of the reign of Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar fell in that year 29.* Tiberius began reigning in Rome at the death of Augustus Caesar on August 19, A.D. 14. Hence the first year of Tiberius’ reign extended from that date to August 18 of A.D. 15; and the fifteenth year of his reign extended from August 19, A.D. 28, to August 18, A.D. 29. Therefore the fifteenth year of Tiberius’ reign coincided with the 483rd year of the “seventy weeks” period.

    ” Now Luke 3:1-4 tells us what happened in that momentous year of 29 (A.D.), saying: “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judsea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, . . . the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country round about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” About six months after John's appearance, Jesus came from Nazareth to John and was baptized. At this baptism John testifies that Jesus became the Anointed One, or Christ, by being anointed with God’s holy spirit. John 1:32-34 tells us: “And John bare record, saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the holy [spirit]. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.” Shortly after this, John’s disciple Andrew met the anointed Jesus and then hunted up his brother Simon Peter. “In the morning he met his brother Simon and told him, We have found the messiah’ (which may be trans-

    • See “The Kingdom Is at Hand”, pages 18, 19.

    16. (a) What was due to occur after the end of sixty-nine weeks’ (b) With what year did the last year of those weeks coincide?

    17. What happened In that year, to fulfill the prophecy’ lated, ‘Christ’).” Thus the Christ had come, and this exactly on time, at the end of the 69 weeks (or 483 years) in the fall of A.D. 29.—John 1:41, Moffatt.

    18 At his anointing with the spirit Jesus was thirty years old. Luke 3:21-23 tells us: “When Jesus had been baptized and was praying, heaven opened and the holy spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him; then came a voice from heaven, ‘Thou art my son, the Beloved, to-day have I become thy father.’ At the outset Jesus was about thirty years of age.”—Moffatt.

    19 From this fact can be ascertained when Jesus was born. Since he was thirty years of age when he was baptized and anointed about the fall of A.D. 29, then he must have been born thirty years earlier, or about fall of B.C. 2.* In the fall of B.C. 1 Jesus would be one year old. In the fall of the next year, A.D. 1, he would be two years old. In the fall of A.D. 29 he would therefore be thirty years old. His birth in the fall of the year, about October 1, before the rainy winter-season of Palestine set in, agrees with Luke’s account that at the time of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night”. (Luke 2: 7, 8) Childbirth in a stable and laying the newborn babe in a manger would hardly be a proper thing for a wintry date, such as December 25. This is shown by Jesus’ own words later: “Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.” (Matt. 24: 19, 20) Very considerately, then, Jesus was born about the fall of the year at

    Various time-calculators put the date of Jesus’ birth at 4 B.C., or even 6 B.C. They do so to make his birth harmonize with what the Jewish historian Josephus says. In Antiquities of the Jews, Book 17, chapter 6 (T 4), Josephus says concerning Herod’s conduct shortly before he died: “But Herod deprived this Matthias of the high-priesthood: and burnt the other Matthias, who raised the sedition, with his companions, alive. And that very night there was an eclipse of the moon.”

    It has been calculated that such eclipse of the moon occurred March 13 of the year 4 B.C. and that hence Herod’s slaughter of the babes of Bethlehem after Christ's birth must have occurred at least in that year. But a lunar eclipse is not sufficient data by which to locate the year of a certain event, because in any one year there are two eclipse seasons, and an eclipse of the moon will generally, although not always, occur during each of these two seasons. Also because an eclipse of the moon may be seen from an entire hemisphere or half of the earth, more eclipses of the moon are visible at one place than eclipses of the sun. An entire year may elapse without an eclipse of the moon, but in many years there occur two eclipses of the moon. The year 1946 is such a year of two total eclipses; the one on June 14 was visible in Asia and eastern and southern Africa, and hence in Palestine; the second lunar eclipse, on December 8, is to be visible in Asia, Europe, and Africa, and hence in Palestine.

    18. When and how was Jesus anointed? and at what age?

    19. From this, how is Christendom’s “Christmas” season shown to be months off season?

    the end of the 453rd year of the seventy weeks, in B.C. 2. Hence Christendom’s “Christmas” celebration is months off season.

    MESSIAH CUT OFF

    20 The prophetic expression of Daniel 9:25 (Am. Stan. Ver.), “it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times,” refers to the rebuilding of Jerusalem with its squares and narrow streets and wall, which work should have been finished by the end of the first seven weeks of years, or 49 years. Hence the Rotherham translation, in harmony with the Greek Septuagint Version, reads: “The broadway and the wall shall again be built, even in the end of the times.” But after this is accomplished during those first seven weeks, what happens next! Daniel 9: 26 makes this answer: “And after threescore and two weeks [or 62 weeks] shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” The above-mentioned sixty-two weeks follow the first seven weeks.

    21 This verse cannot be understood to mean that at the end of sixty-nine (7 plus 62) weeks, in the fall of A.D. 29, the Messiah, Christ Jesus, must be cut off or slain. The historic record shows that after Jesus was anointed with God’s spirit and became Christ in that year of 29 (A.D.), he carried on a work of preaching for at least three and a half years, to take in four annual passover celebrations. Furthermore, Daniel 9: 25 told us that it would be sixty-nine

    Concerning the date of Herod’s death Josephus says, in Antiquities, Book 17, chapter 8 (T1) : “Now Herod altered his will, upon the alteration of his mind: . . . When he had done these things, he died, the fifth day after he had caused Antipater [his son] to be slain: having reigned since he had procured Antigonus [the Jewish high priest] to be slain, thirty-four years; but since he had been declared king by the Romans, thirty-seven.”

    In Book 14, chapter 16 1, 4), Josephus tells us that Herod

    took possession of the city of Jerusalem in the summertime of the third year of the 185th Olympiad, or B.C. 38, and began to reign. This was more than three years after he had been appointed to be king of Judea by the Roman senate. Hence from this date is when the reign of King Herod should be counted, and not the time of the senate’s appointment of him three years earlier, for at his capture of Jerusalem the senate’s appointment first took real effect. Some time after Herod’s capture of Jerusalem, he procured the death of the Jewish high priest Antigonus, B.C. 37.

    So, then, if we date the thirty-seven-year reign of Herod from the time of Jerusalem’s capture in B.C. 38, it brings us to B.C. 1 as the year of Herod’s death. This would easily allow for Jesus’ birth to fall in B.C. 2 during Herod’s reign, and for the visit of the Magi to Herod thereafter and then the slaughter of the innocent babes in Bethlehem at Herod’s cruel orders.

    20. What takes place during the first seven weeks? and what notable event is predicted to occur after the next sixty-two weeks?

    21. Why does that not mean Messiah must be cut off at the end of those sixty-two weeks, in the fall of A.D. 29? weeks “unto the Messiah the Prince”, that is to say, unto his becoming Messiah or Christ or Anointed One and thus making his. appearance as such. The effort of some Bible commentators to make the events of Jesus’ ministry fit into one year after his appearance is a plain wresting of the facts and is unsatisfactory. Hence what the prophecy means by saying that after the sixty-two weeks Messiah should be cut off is that at some time after their close the Messiah’s death could be expected. The final verse of the prophecy (Daniel 9: 27) definitely indicates when.

    22 One thing is certain: Messiah’s being cut off was not to be on his own account or because of any sin of his own. This is one meaning that has been assigned to the brief statement, “but not for himself.” Other translations carry a different thought: “And shall have nothing.” (Am. Stan. Ver.; Rotherham) This agrees with Jesus’ saying that he has no part in this world. His kingdom is not of this world, and, although the “prince of this world” came, he would find in Jesus nothing in common with the Devil and his world. This world, including the Jewish religious organization, did not decide in favor of the Messiah, but turned him over to political authorities to be executed en a tree of torture, in disgrace. “Without a successor to follow him,” or, “leaving none to succeed him.” {Leeser; An Amer. Trans.; Moffatt) These last translations agree with Isaiah’s question regarding Messiah: “He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation’?” (Isa. 53:8) These translations also show that there is just the one Messiah and that he needs no generation of successors, because Almighty God raised him up to life immortal in the heavens. Thereby he has the power of an endless life to carry out the work of everlasting blessing to all the families and nations of the earth. This, therefore, rules out the need of any successor in the form of a so-called “vicar” or “vicegerent” at Rome oi’ at Vatican City.

    23 It is because of Messiah’s being innocently “cut off” that the things described in the rest of the verse come as a judgment from Jehovah God. But these things do not come within the one remaining week of the “seventy weeks”. What these things are we read: “And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.”* (Dan. 9:26, Am. Stan. Ver.) This makes it clear that the

    * Translation according to the rabbi’s Masoretie text of the Hebrew.

    22. How was Messiah cut off “not for himself”, and ‘having nothing* and “without a successor to follow him”?

    23. When did the rest of the things foretold in. Daniel 9:26 come? and whj ? city whose rebuilding the angel Gabriel was foretelling would be destroyed some time after the seventy weeks, and evidently as a judgment upon its inhabitants for their treatment of the Messiah at his coming among them. The prince whose people destroy the rebuilt city and its sanctuary or temple is not the same as Messiah the Prince. History shows that, thirty-seven years after the Messiah the Prince was cut off, the Roman prince and general, Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian, came with a host of warrior people against the rebellious city and destroyed both it and Herod’s temple therein. This took place A.D. 70, about forty-one years after the anointing of the Messiah.

    24 But the original Hebrew text (all consonants) of Daniel 9: 26 may be read differently by applying different vowels to it. The ancient Septuagint Version indicates a different reading, rendering verse 26 this way: “And he, with the ruler who is coming, will destroy the city and the sanctuary. They shall be destroyed with a deluge, and even to the end of the war determined on in course, with desolations.” (0. Thomson) This shows that the Hebrew words translated “the people of the prince” may also be translated “with the prince”,* that is to say, with the agency of or by means of the prince. Some capable translators prefer this reading. Hence Houbi-gant translates it: “Afterwards he shall waste the city and the sanctuary, by the prince that is to come.” And Rotherham translates it: “And the city and the sanctuary will one destroy with the Prince.” This shows that the destruction of Jerusalem and her sanctuary after the cutting off of the Messiah would come as a divine judgment against that religious city. Jesus Christ declared: “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” (John 5: 22) Hence he, the Messiah, would supervise the execution of judgment from heaven, and the Roman prince, General Titus, was the human agent by means of which the divine judgment was poured out upon Jerusalem and her polluted temple.

    25 This destruction verily came like a flood or deluge, resulting in one of the most appalling disasters of human history upon the rebellious city. After the cutting off of the Messiah the difficulties of the Jews both among themselves and with the Roman government increased. Until Jerusalem’s end came A.D. 70, all efforts at quieting the situation failed, because God’s decree was: “Even unto the

    * Various Kennicott-DeRossi manuscripts in Hebrew read this way, also the Syriac Version, the Latin Vulgate, and the Greek Septuagint.

    24. What different reading may the Hebrew text at Daniel 9:26 have? and how do the facta in fulfillment agree with this reading?

    25. How was the end thereof “with a flood”, with war unto the end, and with the desolations determined? end shall be war.” Finally the complete desolations came upon the doomed city and upon the unhappy Jewish people who looked to her as their holy city with a sanctuary. To this far-separated day the sufferings continue upon the Jews, both inside and outside of Christendom. Now, above all times, it is time that more Jews should be honest with themselves and courageously examine to see if Messiah the Prince did come at the time that the angel Gabriel told Daniel. Remember: the relief and salvation of Jews and Gentiles alike come through this Messiah and his kingdom, which kingdom is at hand.

    GOOD RESULTS OF SEVENTY WEEKS

    39 Behold the blessings that come through this Messiah, as described in Daniel 9: 24. We quote the verse {Am. Stan. Ver.): “Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish [restrain] transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy [or, the holy of holies].”

    27 Finishing and restraining transgression and making an end of sins does not mean filling up the measure of the sins and transgression of Daniel’s people, although the cutting off of the Messiah after his nation rejected him was the very height of crime. But many took part in that crime in ignorance. (Acts 3:17) More happily, it means canceling transgression and sin for those who would manifest a faith in the Messiah and in the benefits of his cutting off in death. Jehovah’s law covenant with Israel through the mediator Moses had caused transgression and sin to be multiplied in the understandings of those under the Mosaic law. “For by the law is the knowledge of sin.” “The law entered, that the offence might abound.” “That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” (Rom. 3:20; 5: 20; 7:13) By the Mosaic law Daniel’s people did not gain justification to eternal life. Directly contrary to that, the law exposed them all as sinners and condemned them as such and brought upon them the curse as upon covenant-breakers. But where sin abounded as exposed by the Mosaic law, God’s mercy and favor abounded much more through his Messiah. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come.” (Gal. 3:13,14; Deut. 21:23) Thus by Messiah’s death on the tree the law covenant with its power to condemn was taken out of the way, and, by the merit of Messiah’s self-sacrifice, transgression and sins of the repentant sinners can

    26, 27. As predicted in Daniel 9: 24, how was transgression finished and an end made of sins?

    be canceled and the penalty thereof be restrained.

    29 By the value of Messiah’s death on the accursed tree a reconciliation of repentant believers is provided. A propitiatory covering is drawn over their sins, and thus the way is opened for their justification with God. Such justification is what is signified by “everlasting righteousness”. Such justification means being made right, righteous, in the sight of God. Such righteousness will be everlasting, and it will procure everlasting life to the justified one. It is by the Messiah, who was cut off after the sixtyninth week, that such everlasting righteousness is brought in as a thing recognized and accepted by God. So it is written, at Romans 3: 21, 22: “Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” Hence the coming of the Messiah and his cutting off in death at God’s appointed time seals up this vision and prophecy by Gabriel, as well as all the other inspired prophecies, as being true and from God. It stamps them with the seal of divine backing, as being from one divine source and not from erring man. It seals up the vision and prophecy as being restricted to Messiah because of finding their fulfillment in him and his work. Their interpretation is found in him, and we cannot look to anyone else for their fulfillment. Nothing else will unseal their meaning.

    20 One other thing that must be fulfilled by the end of the seventy weeks is that last mentioned, namely, “to anoint the most holy,” or, “to anoint the holy of holies.” This refers to more than the anointing of the Messiah with God’s holy spirit after he was baptized by John the Baptist, because “the most holy” or “holy of holies” does not refer to an individual person. “Holy of holies” is the expression used to refer to the true sanctuary of Jehovah God. (Ex. 26: 33, 34; 1 Ki. 6:16; 7: 50) As a prophetic type of this, in old time, “Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them”; and Moses did this on the day of installing the typical priesthood of Aaron and his sons. (Lev. 8:10) But the sanctuary or “holy of holies” that God anoints with his spirit by the end of the seventy weeks is not made by human hands; it is God’s building. It is his true temple made up of Jesus Christ as Foundation and Chief Corner Stone and of all his justified footstep followers as “living stones”.—Eph. 2: 20-22.

    30 On the day of Pentecost, approximately three and a half years after the anointing of Jesus at Jordan, the holy spirit of anointing came upon his 28. (a) How was reconciliation made for iniquity and everlasting right* eousness brought in? (b) How were the vision and prophecy sealed?

    29. Why does the ‘anointing of the most holy’ not apply to Jesus alone? 30. How did the anointing of the rest of the sanctuary class begin, and when?

    first Jewish followers, the faithful apostles and their fellow disciples. (Acts 2) Some time later the same spirit of anointing came upon the first non-Jewish or Gentile believers at the home of Cornelius the Italian centurion, the apostle Peter and other Jews being present as witnesses on that occasion. Hence, at the latest, it must have been at the close of the seventy weeks in the year 36 (A.D.) that this first anointing of the Gentile members of the sanctuary class took place.—Acts 10.

    81 Thus, for the encouragement and joy of all of us, whether Jew or Gentile, one never-to-be-forgotten fact remains: Although the city of Jerusalem and its material sanctuary were destroyed A.D. 70, these grand benefits from the cutting off and resurrecting of the Messiah the Prince continue with us to this year of 1946.

    THE FINAL WEEK

    32 Without question the final week, or seventieth week, is meant when the angel Gabriel said: “And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate.” (Dan. 9:27, Am. Stan. Ver.) Because in this connection “abominations” and “one that maketh desolate” are mentioned, certain religious commentators explain this verse to apply exclusively to what they call “Antichrist” and make it apply to a yet future and indefinite time. In this way they separate the seventieth week from the sixty-nine weeks by now more than nineteen hundred years, and by how much longer than that even they do not know. If this seventieth week is thus detached from the preceding sixty-nine weeks by a gap of more than nineteen centuries, then it has lost all its value as a timeindicator or marker, and it definitely indicates the time of nothing. Not even those who detach it and locate it in the future know when it will fall. They try, however, to bind it still together with the other sixty-nine weeks by saying its connecting-link is that it must happen upon “thy people” and “thy holy city”, that is to say, upon Daniel’s natural people, the Jews, and the city of Jerusalem in Palestine. Surely, the Jerusalem of today, without a temple built by Jewish hands, is not Daniel’s “holy city”.

    …