Daniel 9 and the Timing of the Messiah: Did the Messiah Have to Come Before AD 70?
Introduction
Daniel 9 and the Timing of the Messiah: Daniel tells of an anointed one who gets "cut off" before Jerusalem and its Temple are destroyed. If that anointed one is the Messiah, and that destruction is Rome's in AD 70, then the Messiah had to come before AD 70. The short answer is yes: both "ifs" have strong support, and Jesus fits that window.
A Jewish friend might ask: Why assume this anointed one is Jesus? And if He's the Messiah, why is the world still at war?
What convinces me most is not a chart that claims one exact day. It's the order of events: the anointed one dies, then the Temple falls.
Quick Summary
Daniel's prayer is about sin, exile, Jerusalem, and the Temple.
The seventy "weeks" are usually read as seventy groups of seven years.
"Anointed one" can mean a king or a priest. The word alone does not point to Jesus.
The Christian case links the one cut off with Jesus and the ruined Temple with AD 70.
Jewish and critical readings name Agrippa or Onias; neither fits the whole passage like Jesus.
Question 1: Doesn't "Anointed One" Mean More Than the Final Messiah?
The Jewish case: The Bible calls the Persian king Cyrus God's "anointed" (Isaiah 45:1). And in the Hebrew text of Daniel 9:25, a pause mark right after "seven weeks" splits them off from the sixty-two. So the first anointed ruler could be Cyrus, and the one cut off in verse 26 someone much later. That's not one straight countdown to Jesus.
The Christian answer: True. "Anointed" just means set apart for a job, like king or priest. It doesn't automatically mean Jesus.
That pause mark was added by the Masoretes, Jewish scribes in the Middle Ages. Their tradition deserves respect, but the marks came over a thousand years after Daniel. They can't settle how Daniel grouped the weeks.
Rashi, the famous medieval Jewish commentator, takes the first anointed one as Cyrus and the one cut off as Agrippa, the Jewish king in Rome's day. But Rashi also says the destruction in verse 26 is the work of Titus and his Roman armies in AD 70. So even on his reading, an anointed one is cut off before Rome destroys the city.
Then add verse 24. The seventy weeks are given "to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness" (Daniel 9:24). Jesus dying for sinners fits that purpose. The word alone doesn't prove it's Him; the whole passage points that way.
Follow-Up Question to Ask Them: Which person fits the whole passage best, not just the word "anointed"?
Question 2: Why Read This as a Time Before AD 70?
The Jewish case: Rashi agrees verse 26 is Rome's work. But Jewish tradition reads the seventy weeks (490 years) as 70 years of exile plus 420 years for the Second Temple, the rebuilt Temple that replaced Solomon's. So the weeks are a timeline for the Temple, not a countdown to the Messiah.
The Christian answer: On Rome, we agree. Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived through the war, describes the Temple burning (Jewish War, book 6).
Daniel 9:26 says, "the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary." First the anointed one dies, then the city and Temple fall. Jesus was executed under Pontius Pilate about forty years before Rome's attack. Tacitus, a Roman historian, reports that execution too (Annals 15.44).
That order fits Jesus and Rome. And history breaks the 420-year count: the Second Temple was finished about 516 BC (Ezra 6:15) and burned in AD 70, about 585 years later.
Follow-Up Question to Ask Them: If the Temple's destruction is Rome's, who is the anointed one cut off before it?
Question 3: What About Onias and the Crisis Under Antiochus?
The critical case: Some scholars date Daniel to the 500s BC, when Daniel lived. Most critical scholars (who study the Bible like any other ancient book) date it to about 165 BC, under Antiochus IV, a Greek king who persecuted the Jews. Daniel 11 traces Greek kings' wars in close detail up to Antiochus, then misses how he died, so they see a writer living in that crisis. On this view, the one cut off is Onias III, a high priest who was murdered, and the crisis is Antiochus, not Rome.
The Christian answer: Onias fits being cut off, but Antiochus does not fit what comes next. And even on the late date, Daniel was written over two hundred years before Rome burned the Temple, so the AD 70 argument stands either way.
Here's the problem. First Maccabees, a Jewish history book outside the Protestant Bible, says Antiochus burned parts of the city and left the Temple desolate (1 Maccabees 1:31, 39). Real damage. But the Temple was still standing, and the Jews cleaned it and dedicated it again in 164 BC (1 Maccabees 4). That's what Hanukkah remembers. Daniel 9:26 talks about the city and sanctuary being destroyed. Rome did that in AD 70. Antiochus did not.
The numbers are also hard on this view. One critical count runs the sixty-two weeks from 605 BC to 171 BC, so they overlap the seven weeks (587 to 538 BC), though Daniel lists them one after the other. Others admit the numbers run long for their date.
Follow-Up Question to Ask Them: How does this reading explain the city and the sanctuary both being destroyed?
Question 4: Can You Calculate the Exact Day Jesus Arrived?
The objection: Christian charts use different starting points and calendars and land on different dates. Why trust that?
The Christian answer: Not to the day, no. But you can find a window. Seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks is 69 weeks. If each "week" is seven years, that's 69 x 7 = 483 years. The big question is where you start counting. Three main options:
Cyrus lets the Jews go home, 538 BC (Ezra 1). Count 483 years forward: 538 - 483 = 55. That lands around 55 BC, too early for Jesus.
Artaxerxes sends Ezra to Jerusalem, 457 BC (Ezra 7). Count 483 years: 483 - 457 = 26, plus 1 because the calendar has no year zero. That lands around AD 27, about when Jesus began preaching.
Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah to rebuild, 444 BC (Nehemiah 2). Some count with 360-day years. 483 x 360 = 173,880 days. Divide by 365 days and you get about 476 years. Then 476 - 444 = 32, plus 1 for no year zero, lands around AD 32 or 33, close to the cross.
Two guesses are built in. These kings' dates can shift a year either way, because ancient reigns were counted differently. And the 360-day year is an assumption Daniel 9 never states.
Still, look at the result. Cyrus misses Jesus. Both Artaxerxes starting points land inside Jesus' adult life.
Follow-Up Question to Ask Them: Which starting point do you think the text itself points to, and why?
Question 5: Where Are the Peace and Righteousness the Passage Promises?
The Jewish case: Daniel 9:24 promises an end to sin and lasting righteousness. The Messiah also brings Israel's exiles home and peace to the whole world (Isaiah 2:4; Ezekiel 37:21-28). That hasn't happened.
The Christian answer: Christians see two stages: first He deals with sin, then He returns to finish the job. Hebrews says, "Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him" (Hebrews 9:28).
Isaiah 53 shows a servant who is "pierced for our transgressions" (Isaiah 53:5) and then lives on. Daniel 7:14 shows a King whose "kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." Suffering first, then reigning, both in the Hebrew Bible.
Christians disagree on the details of Daniel's final week. You don't need an end-times chart to see that Jesus came, and died, before the Temple fell.
Follow-Up Question to Ask Them: Could the Messiah deal with sin first, and finish bringing peace later?
Key Verses
Daniel 9:1-19 - Daniel's prayer sets up the prophecy.
Daniel 9:24-27 - Sin, the anointed one, and the Temple's fall belong together.
Isaiah 45:1 - "Anointed" doesn't always mean the final Messiah.
Isaiah 53:10-12 - The servant's death deals with others' sins.
Hebrews 9:26-28 - Christ came once for sin and will come again.
Practical Takeaways
Read Daniel's prayer before you start counting weeks.
When you see a timeline, ask where it starts, how it groups the weeks, and what calendar it uses.
Tie the timing to the bigger evidence for Jesus, especially His resurrection.
Conclusion
So did the Messiah have to come before AD 70? Yes. Daniel puts the anointed one's death before the city and sanctuary fall, and Rome brought them down in AD 70. Jesus fits that window and the passage's purpose: He bore sin and rose again. Put the same test to every other reading: who was cut off before the sanctuary fell, and who dealt with sin? Read the text and examine the evidence for Jesus yourself.
Terms Explained
Messiah: the anointed King God promised to send.
Anointed: set apart by God for a job, like king or priest.
Seventy weeks: Daniel's seventy groups of seven, usually read as years.
Sanctuary: the holy place; here, Jerusalem's Temple.
Masoretes: Jewish scribes in the Middle Ages who added vowels and reading marks to the Hebrew Bible.
Sources
Josephus, Jewish War excerpts on the Temple's destruction (Josephus.org)
Daniel, Society for Old Testament Study (the later dating explained)
Accumulations: Hanukkah Lamps (The Jewish Museum; the 164 BC liberation)
George Athas, In Search of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9 (Gorgias Press; chronological summary)
The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia (The Metropolitan Museum of Art; 539/538 BC setting)
L. P. Tolhurst, Establishing the Date 457 BC (Ministry magazine)
Comments