DOES THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL 9 START COUNTING DOWN FROM 444 B.C.E. AND END WITH THE DEATH OF JESUS AROUND 30/33 C.E.?

Most Christian commentators prefer to start the Seventy Weeks countdown with 444 or 445 B.C.E. because it brings their calculations closer to the time period in which Jesus died (30/33 C.E.). A far better starting date is the decree of Cyrus (537 B.C.E) upon which all subsequent grants of approval were based (Isaiah 44:28). A correct reading of the passage and some simple arithmetic dispels any attempt to claim 444 B.C.E. as a starting date and Jesus' death in 30/33 C.E. as a terminus.

With that in mind we still have one week of years to contend with. But, the text of Daniel 9:26 says, "And after the sixty-two weeks (after a total of 69 weeks...or 483 years) an anointed one shall be cut off." This again is after, according to Christian exegesis, Jesus death and cannot be applied to him! Christendom's exegesis of this passage if faulty no matter what types of alteration of the Hebrew texts they apply or unique exegesis. It simply does not apply to Jesus.

This shows that if we use 444 B.C.E. as a starting date according to Christianity's interpretation of the text then the alleged second "anointed one" was "cut off" in the period following the year 38 C.E. (that is, "after the sixty-two weeks"). Since Jesus was crucified as testified by almost all Christian commentators in 30/33 C.E. then there would be no connection to anyone "cut off" prior to that year nor any possible reference to Jesus in this passage.