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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4
3.
Sixty-nine and a half weeks were to extend to the
crucifixion,—the cessation of sacrifice and oblation in the midst
of the week.
Verse 27
.
4. The full period of 70 weeks was to witness the complete con-
firmation of the covenant with Daniel’s people. At the termination
of this period, the Jews having ceased to be God’s chosen people,
the gospel would be preached to the Gentiles.
In the seventh of Ezra we find the decree which we seek. It was
issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, B. C. 457. In
Ezra 6:14
the
house of the Lord at Jerusalem is said to have been built “according
to the commandment [margin, decree] of Cyrus, and Darius, and
Artaxerxes king of Persia.” The three kings did the one work; it
was begun by Cyrus, carried forward by Darius, and completed by
Artaxerxes. The scripture counts this action
one decree
. That the
later decrees were a continuation or completion of that of Cyrus, see
Ezra 6:1-14
. Taking B. C. 457 as the date of the commandment,
every specification of the prophecy concerning the 70 weeks is
fulfilled. That the reader may see the reasonableness of Mr. Miller’s
position on the prophetic periods, we copy the following, which was
published in the Advent Herald, Boston, in March, 1850, in answer
to a correspondent:—
“It is by the Canon of Ptolemy that the great prophetical period
of the seventy weeks is fixed. This Canon places the seventh year
of Artaxerxes in the year B. C. 457; and the accuracy of the Canon
is demonstrated by the concurrent agreement of more than twenty
eclipses. The seventy weeks date from the going forth of a decree
respecting the restoration of Jerusalem. There were no decrees be-
tween the seventh and twentieth years of artaxerxes. Four hundred
and ninety years, beginning with the seventh, must commence in B.
C. 457, and end in A. D. 34. Commencing in the twentieth, they
must commence in B. C. 444, and end in A. D. 47. As no event oc-
curred in A. D. 47 to mark their termination, we cannot reckon from
the twentieth; we must therefore look to the seventh of Artaxerxes.
This date we cannot change from B. C. 457 without first demon-
strating the inaccuracy of Ptolemy’s Canon. To do this, it would
be necessary to show that the large number of eclipses by which its
[495]
accuracy has been repeatedly demonstrated, have not been correctly
computed; and such a result would unsettle every chronological