"Daniel 9 isn't about the Messiah"
The claim, stated fairly
Rabbinic commentators read the "anointed one" of Daniel 9 as a priest or king of the Second Temple period, and the Talmud warns against calculating the end.
Whatever the count, the order is fixed: an anointed one is cut off, then the city and sanctuary are destroyed. The Temple fell in 70 CE.
Daniel 9:26 says that "an anointed one" will be cut off, and that the people of a prince will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The prophecy ties the cutting off of an anointed one to the time before the Second Temple's destruction.
Yeshua was crucified around 30 CE. The Temple was destroyed in 70 CE (Josephus, Jewish War, book 6). The Talmud itself speaks of signs in the Temple during the forty years before its destruction (Yoma 39b).
The text
25וְתֵדַ֨ע וְתַשְׂכֵּ֜ל מִן־מֹצָ֣א דָבָ֗ר לְהָשִׁיב֙ וְלִבְנ֤וֹת יְרֽוּשָׁלִַ֨ם֙ עַד־מָשִׁ֣יחַ נָגִ֔יד שָׁבֻעִ֖ים שִׁבְעָ֑ה וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים שִׁשִּׁ֣ים וּשְׁנַ֗יִם תָּשׁוּב֙ וְנִבְנְתָה֙ רְח֣וֹב וְחָר֔וּץ וּבְצ֖וֹק הָעִתִּֽים׃ 26וְאַחֲרֵ֤י הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ שִׁשִּׁ֣ים וּשְׁנַ֔יִם יִכָּרֵ֥ת מָשִׁ֖יחַ וְאֵ֣ין ל֑וֹ וְהָעִ֨יר וְהַקֹּ֜דֶשׁ יַ֠שְׁחִית עַ֣ם נָגִ֤יד הַבָּא֙ וְקִצּ֣וֹ בַשֶּׁ֔טֶף וְעַד֙ קֵ֣ץ מִלְחָמָ֔ה נֶחֱרֶ֖צֶת שֹׁמֵמֽוֹת׃
25Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto one anointed, a prince, shall be seven weeks; and for threescore and two weeks, it shall be built again, with broad place and moat, but in troublous times. 26And after the threescore and two weeks shall an anointed one be cut off, and be no more; and the people of a prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; but his end shall be with a flood; and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
WEB/WMB: “Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times. After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined.
Daniel 9:25-26 (Hebrew, JPS 1917, WMB)
In the New Covenant
41When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it, 42saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. 43For the days will come on you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, 44and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:41-44 (WMB)
Where scholars disagree
The start date and the meaning of the "weeks" are debated by Christian and Jewish scholars alike, and many modern critical scholars date Daniel to the 2nd century BCE and read the passage of the high priest Onias III. We rest the argument on the order of events, not on one calculation.
Sources
- Rashi on Daniel 9:26
- Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 39b; Sanhedrin 97b
- Josephus, The Jewish War, book 6
- Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex. English: JPS 1917; World Messianic Bible (public domain).