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I know, the title of this article sounds insane but hold on for a second. If only we could read Hebrew then we would not be misled so badly by Christian theology and the title for this article would not sound so impossible. That might sound strange to you but it won't after you read this article. Let me explain to you, the reader and truth seeker how Daniel 9, that great Christian passage of choice that is supposed to place this Jesus and the fulfillment of all Messianic prophecy in and around our day and time period according to Daniel's 70 weeks cannot possibly be correct and has nothing whatsoever to do with any Jesus.
From the King James Version (KJV) Bible:
Daniel 9:24-27
[24] Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. [25] Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Mes-si'-ah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. [26] And after threescore and two weeks shall Mes-si'-ah 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. [27] And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Now, unknown to most readers, is that you just read the "forged" version that is inaccurate to the Ancient Hebrew Scriptures. But lets go with this verse since this is what is in our Christian Bibles. I will address the correct Hebrew in a second. According to the vast majority of Christian interpretations of this "altered" Daniel 9, verse 25, we see that Daniel is told by an Angel when the Messiah, of course this is supposedly the Jesus of the New Testament, is to come. We are led to believe that we should start counting from "the commandment to restore Jerusalem" and count 7+ 62 "weeks." Each week is not 7 days, but 7 years. That's when Jesus came is supposedly to have come. Verse 26 says that he will be "cut off", and this of course is again interpreted as if "killed" and the verse hints that it will be to benefit other people. In other words, it says, accepting traditional Christian interpretation, that when Jesus will die that he will die for our sins. Also note that after he dies, the Temple and Jerusalem are to be destroyed. It seems so plain and simple according to our pervious indoctrination to this traditional Christian interpretation of this verse. We are led to believe that this is certain as the nose is on our face.
Answer for yourself: Are the Jews stupid and ignorant of their own Bibles let alone their own history? Are the Rabbis totally incompetent to have missed this? Are they in need of saving? Or could it possibly be that the Daniel in their Ancient Hebrew Scriptures does not read like the Daniel we have in our Christian Bibles and that these Jewish people and scholars and Rabbis have known for 2,000 years that this passage in Daniel 9 refers to not only two different "anointed one" but that their identities are entirely different because they are separated in time as defined by these same Hebrew Scriptures?
Answer for yourself: Why are the Jews waiting for their Messiah when the KJV Christian Bible as well as other Christian texts chapter states very clearly that the Messiah is to come and die before the destruction of the second Temple? If this isn't Jesus, who can it be? Could the Jews know the identities of these two "anointed ones" in the Hebrew Texts and know for certain that it never referred to some descendant of David in these texts? Could Christians learn a thing or two or 500 from study of Judaism?
As a Pastor when studying the Jewish Roots of my Christian faith both while in Seminary and after Seminary during my years of my Pastorate I was saddened and disheartened to find that Christian proof-texts that support Christian theology, especially Messianic theology and prophecy as applied to the Christian Jesus are all based on Hebrew Scriptures and verses that are:
You will find upon study that Daniel 9 proof-text contains all of these problems but few if any Christians ever discover this for themselves since being indoctrinated that Christianity is the only true religion given by God. Such false assurances guarantees few if any study their Christian faith as to its reliability and truthfulness. Such is the great deception to which we as Christians have fallen.
I want you to read the following contrasting verses closely and see if you stop any problems. First let us read the passage for a Christian Bible:
Dan 9:25-26 25 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. 26 And after threescore and two 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. (KJV)
Now let us read the passage from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Tanakh:
25 Know 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. 26 And 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.
In verses 25 and 26, the KJV, the Christian Bible, translates the Hebrew word "mashiach", as "Messiah."
Answer for yourself: What is wrong with that?
Of course, the translation of "mashiach" with "capital M" as in "Messiah" is not a real translation, it's just Anglicizing a Hebrew word. A real translation would be "one who is anointed."
Answer for yourself: Did the Christian translators just slip up and make a mistake?
No! This was purposefully done as they knew how to translate the word "mashiach" correctly and had done so before. Let me show you. KJV translates "mashiach" correctly, in 1 Samuel 24:6, when David says, concerning Saul, "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD." The KJV Christian translators again translates "mashiach" correctly, as "anointed", in Isaiah 45:1 concerning a gentile king, Cyrus.
Isa 45:1 1 Thus saith the LORD 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 before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; (KJV)
These same Christian translators did not use a "capital M" in these other verses but decided "theologically" to send a message of special interpretation to the readers of Daniel 9 to make sure everyone got their point and their interpretation of the text in Daniel 9 in spite of what it truthfully said in the Hebrew which never said what these Christian translators were saying. Throughout the Bible, "mashiach" is translated as "anointed". There is only one place in the entire Bible that KJV does not translate "mashiach" as anointed, and that's here in Daniel 9.
Answer for yourself: Why?
This was done to make sure the reader was to think that in this passage we are dealing with a very special anointed person and of course that person, according to these Christian translators, had to be the very promised "Messiah" so they set this theology off by using a capital "M" on the term messiah instead of using "anointed" as they had all other times in translating this word. We are "reading" Jesus into this verse when historically and linguistically he is not within a thousand miles of this verse. But that is not all.
Also, KJV inserts the definite article here. KJV says "unto the Mes-si'-ah." The use of the definite article "the" again sets off and sanctifies this "anointed one" as a "special" anointed one and this was made know not only by using a "capital M" but now also by the use of the definite article before the word "messiah".
Answer for yourself: Is there a problem with this? Yes, there is!
In the Hebrew, the definite article, the letter "heh", is not used. Again these Christian translators have made this up out of thin air! The Christian KJV translators wants you to think that we are talking about a very specific anointed person, not just any person who happens to be anointed.
Finally, as mentioned above, the letter "M" is capitalized here.
Answer for yourself: Why is this a problem as well? Well, for starters, the language of Hebrew has no capitalization, yet the KJV saw it fit to capitalize this word, and show you that we are dealing with a special Messiah.
It is pretty simple once you come to learn a few things. Without a doubt the KJV translators wants you, the reader, to assume that this chapter is speaking about the Messiah by translating "mashiach" as "the Messiah" instead of a more honest translation, "an anointed one". Had it said "an anointed one", it might never occur to you that this passage might be speaking of the Messiah.
This aside, there is a much more serious problem with the translation.
Answer for yourself: And what could this be? Well, it is the actual time referred to in this passage.
Understand according to traditional Jewish interpretation of the Hebrew Bible the 70 Weeks of Daniel was to end in 70 A.D. Either Israel would merit their "anointed one" or else they would not and God would not unveil and reveal him. History shows that this expected and hoped-for "messiah" never appeared. All of this is determined again by the Hebrew Scriptures and the Hebrew texts which the Jews of all nations are best equipped to interpret their own Scriptures. Yet, with the failure of the "messiah" to appear in the first century it was necessary to yet hold out faith and hope that it might yet be this Jesus. In order to get the years to add up past 70 A.D. and this keep the door open for an appearance of this Jesus, early Christianity and their scriptural forgers took a period of 7 weeks and added it to a period of 62 weeks in order to get a 69 week prophecy. This becomes very clear when we compare the KJV translation to a more correct Hebrew translation:
Christian/KJV
...from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Mes-si'-ah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Mes-si'-ah be cut off...
Judaism
...from the time that the word went out to restore and build Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with street and moat, but in troubled time. After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off...
Answer for yourself: How does the Hebrew Scriptures disagree with the later Christian versions of these texts?
According to the Hebrew Scriptures that existed way before the rise of Gentile Christianity these verses from Daniel 9 speak about two messiahs, not one. At the time of the giving of this Hebrew prophecy, an anointed prince, a ruler, is supposed to come after 7 weeks (49 years.) Then, hundreds of years later (62 weeks -- 434 years), a second anointed person, one who is not called a prince, will be cut off. So, in the Hebrew we have two different "anointed ones" that are separated by hundreds of years. We have two completely distinct periods of time in the Hebrew Scriptures and each time period is to be accompanied with its own "anointed one"; first an anointed one will come after 49 years and then another one after 434 years.
Answer for yourself: Did the KJV translators miss this by accident because they don't know Hebrew? Was it a simple mistake or did they have to "theologically" have only one time period or "anointed one" if this was to point to a Jesus? What we find is that Christian translators eliminated the first messiah by combining the 7 weeks with the 62 weeks and in so doing they conceal the fact that the first part of Daniels' prophecy referred to Cyrus the Great who in 49 years from the "going forth of the word" would free the captive Jewish and let them return home. By combining these "two messiahs" or "two anointed ones" into "one" then these Christian interpreters believed that they could make this passage refer to this Jesus even though the Jewish Rabbis pointed out their mistakes.
Answer for yourself: Can we prove that these weeks are not meant to be combined? Yes, we can.
Answer for yourself: We need to put our thinking hats on now and ask ourselves the following question: Have you ever heard of the number 69 expressed as 62 + 7? That seems rather odd does it not? In Hebrew, the way to say 69 is to say "sixty and nine", not "sixty and two and seven". Proof to this can be found in Genesis 5:27 "And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty and nine years, and he died."
Unknown to almost all Christians is the fact that purposefully the King James translators ignored one of the Hebrew vowel marks. The verse says "...seven weeks; and sixty two weeks". Under the word,"shavu'im", the first occurrence of the word "weeks" in verse 25, is what we call in Hebrew an "etnachta". An etnachta, also called an "etnach", looks similar to an upward pointing wishbone, and is the Hebrew equivalent of a semi-colon.
Answer for yourself: And what should this mean to us? This is a major bombshell to Christian theology. The punctuation of the verse in the Hebrew clearly indicates that there should be an interruption in translation between the first seven weeks and the next sixty-two weeks. But we don't see this in the Christian Bible as this is not brought over in translation. The KJV and traditional Christian translation, on the other hand, puts a semi-colon after the second occurrence of the word "weeks". According to the KJV, the etnachta should have appeared later in the verse (under the word u'shna'im, "and two", to be precise.)
Answer for yourself: What has been the typical Christian response when this is pointed out to them?
Christians usually counter with the charge that the Jewish people changed the punctuation in order to obscure the true Christological meaning of these verses because they do not want to believe in Jesus. However, the Christians who claim this can find no evidence to their claim whatsoever. Their claim rests solely on their disappointment in the facts that when presented challenge their very core beliefs surrounding the New Testament Jesus.
But we are not through yet. We need to look at the beginning of verse 26. The verse says "After the sixty-two weeks."
Answer for yourself: The verse above mentions 62 weeks? Which 62 weeks? Did we not just see that these 62 weeks were to be combined with the last 7 weeks according to traditional Christian interpretation thus making it 69 and not 62 weeks?
Answer for yourself: Is it not obvious now that the Christian interpretation of verse 25 didn't mean the 7 weeks and 62 weeks to be combined? They are separate periods, and it's these 62 weeks that verse 26 refers to when it says "the 62 weeks". However, it's important to point out that the typical Christian won't understand what you're talking about, since his KJV Bible goofed up this translation as well. If you look at the Christian verses you will see that the KJV Bible drops the definite article when translating verse 26.
Answer for yourself: So what did we see here? We saw that according to Christian interpretation the KJV runs these two periods of time together into one period of 69 weeks after which they believe the Messiah will come and the Hebrew Scriptures separated the 62 and 7 weeks since teach period has its own "anointed one".
But there is good news. Almost all modern Christian translations accept that KJV made a mistake. Here's a list of some of these Bibles with their translations of these verses:
King James - 1611
King James - 1611
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.
King James - 1885
Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Anointed One, the prince, shall be seven weeks: and threescore and two weeks, it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.
New American Bible
Know then and understand this: from the utterance of the word regarding the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed and a leader, there shall be seven weeks. During sixty-two weeks it shall be rebuilt, with streets and trenches, in time of affliction.
Revised Standard Version
Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in troubled time.
New Revised Standard Version
Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in troubled time.
The Bible: A New Translation
Know then, understand, that between the issue of the prophetic command to re-people and rebuild Jerusalem and the consecrating of a supreme high priest, seven weeks of years shall elapse; in the course of sixty-two weeks of years it shall be rebuilt with its squares and streets.
New English Bible
Know then understand: from the time that the word went forth that Jerusalem should be restored and rebuilt, seven weeks shall pass till the appearance of one anointed, a prince; then for sixty-two weeks it shall remain restored, rebuilt with streets and conduits.
The Anchor Bible
Know then and understand this: from the utterance of the word regarding the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed leader there will be seven weeks. Then during sixty-two weeks it will be rebuilt, with its streets and moat, but in a time of distress.
Revised English Bible
Know, then, and understand: from the time that the decree went forth that Jerusalem should be restored and rebuilt, seven of those seventy will pass till the appearance of of one anointed, a prince; then for sixty-two it will remain restored, rebuilt with streets and conduits.
The Modern Readers Bible
Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks: and three-score and two weeks, it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.
The Bible: An American Translation
Learn therefore, and understand: from the going forth of the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, till there comes a prince, and anointed one, there shall be seven weeks; Then for sixty-two weeks it shall stay rebuilt, with it's squares and streets.
The Good News Bible: Today's English Version
Note this and understand it: From the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until God's chosen leader comes, seven times seven years will pass. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, and will stand for seven times sixty-two years, but this will be a time of troubles.
The International Critical Commentary
And thou art to know and understand. From the issue of the word to build again Jerusalem unto an Anointed Prince seven weeks. And for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again, street and moat, but in distress of times.
The Expositor's Bible
From the decree to restore Jerusalem unto the Anointed One (or "the Messiah"), the Prince, shall be seven weeks. For sixty-two weeks Jerusalem shall be built again with street and moat, though in troublous times.
A New Commentary on Holy Scriptures
The first period lasts seven weeks, and runs from the prophecy of the restoration to the coming of the anointed prince; the second period of sixty-two weeks is that during which the restoration is duly carried out.
Answer for yourself: Did you notice that most of these Christian translations are dropping out the "M" word, a capitalized "Messiah" and translating it correctly as "anointed"?
Answer for yourself: What happens to this "anointed one" in verse 26? It says he will be "cut off". In Hebrew the word for "cut off" is "yikareit".
Answer for yourself: Could this refer to Jesus? We should hope not! Why not?
In nearly all cases, this term, "yikareit" is used to refer to wicked people, sinners, who are being cut off as a punishment and this is not the way that Christians want to view their Jesus let alone the Jews look toward one from King David who is to hopefully come eschatologically.
Lets us look at Psalm 37:28 for an example of the use of the word "yikareit":
For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his faithful ones. The righteous shall be kept safe forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
God could have used a neutral term, such as "yamut", which means "he will die", or "ye'herag", he will be killed.
Answer for yourself: Don't you find it rather strange that Christians, who say that Jesus never sinned in his life, should have this fate of being cut off from God because he is "wicked"? Surely we need to reconsider if this passage actually refers to this Jesus as he hoped for "messiah" of Israel!
But the problems don't end here. Another problem with the Christian reading is to be found again in verse 26.
Answer for yourself: What is to happen after the anointed one is cut off?
The people of the prince are to come and destroy the Temple. At the same time that or perhaps right after the anointed one gets killed, or perhaps right after, the Temple is to be destroyed.
Answer for yourself: What is the problem here that goes unnoticed by most? The people of the prince comes to destroy the Temple and this actually occurred in 70 A.D. and this is not the time allotted in the New Testament for the death of this Jesus or this "wicked one" which is tied to the destruction of this Temple which again is this second "anointed one" found in the Hebrew of Daniel 9. This death of Jesus simply did not happen historically in 70 A.D. so this "anointed one" found in Daniel 9 is not the Jesus of Christian theology. Thus, the whole of Daniel 9 has nothing to do with some supposed historical rabbi named Jesus who later become the cornerstone of Christian theology. The Temple was destroyed in the year 70 whereas Jesus was allegedly killed in the year 32. That's nearly a 40 year difference which more than 5 of Daniel's weeks. If Daniel is giving a precise chronology he wouldn't leave this area of the prophecy so sloppy and neither would God our Creator.
In verse 25, there was a reference to a "commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem." Since this is the starting point of the whole calculation, it's crucial to know when this commandment took place. Many Christian writers will tell you that this commandment was given by King Artexeres of Persia in the year 444 B.C.E. (some say 445). If you want to, you can cause the Christian "scholar" a really tough time if you ask him to prove this. However, for now, let's follow some "reasoning" and let us just assume that it's true.
Using the above as if "true", which it is not by the way, but in order to find the truth let us assume that this King Artexeres of Persia gave this command. Such reasoning of the Christian position starts with the year 444 BCE, and add (62+7) x 7 years. 69 x 7 = 483 years. If we add 483 years to 444 BCE we end up at the year 39.
Answer for yourself: What is the problem with this calculation as held by the vast majority of presumed Christian writers and scholars today. Well, for starters, nobody says that some Jesus died as late as 39 A.D. Some say he died in 30 CE, some say 31, 32, 33, and that's it. According to most this Jesus had to have died at 33 A.D. at the latest, and most people say he died in the year 32. They're 7 years too late, thus canceling this Jesus as the fulfillment of Daniel 9 according even to Christian "interpretation".
Answer for yourself: But ingenious as Christian theologians and prophecy addicts are how do they get around this problem? Well, they claim that the Bible has 2 kinds of years: Solar years, which are 365.25 days, and there's also something called a "prophetic year". A prophetic year only has 360 days. Thus, in order to make this Christian interpretation fit closer to the assumed year for the death of this Jesus then by necessity Daniel had to be speaking in "prophetic years", not in solar years. It follows, using this "prophetic year" of 360 days that if we multiply those 483 years by only 360 days, we get 173,880 days. We can convert that into solar years by dividing that into 365.25, which yields 476 years. Now if we add 476 years to 444 BCE, we end up at 32 CE.
Answer for yourself: But even at that they forgot one critical thing. What was this again? According to the Hebrew and not the English changes made to this text the Hebrew language definitely separates this time period into two different periods and mentions "an anointed one" in each of them and one remember, the last one which is supposed to be the one connected to this Christian Jesus is declared "wicked" in the text. This is a problem that no manipulation of years and days can overcome.
This solution, the prophetic year is brilliant. There's only one problem: it's rather obvious that there is no such thing as a prophetic year and it was invented by zealous Christians who wanted, very badly, to be able to read Jesus into this prophecy. Nowhere in the Bible do we find a 360 day year. Not in any Jewish literature. And while it is true that we use a lunar calendar which has only 354 days, we add an extra month to our years a little less often than every three years in order to reconcile our calendar with the solar calendar. If we didn't do that, our holidays would roam through the seasons and wander around the Solar calendar. On some years, we would have Passover in the winter, and we can't do that; God commanded us to keep passover "b'chodesh ha'aviv" in the spring season. This this idea of a prophetic year is born our of pure desperation by Christians who were called on the carpet by their detractors who knew better during history when these Christian "theologies" connected with this Jesus were created.
Also, Christianity really does not know exactly when Jesus died; we don't have his death certificate. However, because they assume that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, they are forced to make sure that Jesus' life fits into Daniel 9. Then, they say that Daniel 9 predicts Jesus. If we were to know when Jesus really died, and it turned out that he didn't die on this date, Jesus is in trouble. Christianity does not seem worried though, since nobody knows exactly when he died anyway. This is circular reasoning.
Let's get back to the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. Again, Christianity claim that this is Artexeres, who issued a decree in 444 BCE.
Answer for yourself: Was this the only decree to rebuild Jerusalem? Were there other decrees issued, perhaps by other kings, that allowed the Jews to rebuild their Temple? What would this do to this Christian time table that is already "juggled" as I showed you? Well, we loose our proof from Daniel 9 that Jesus is the prophesied "anointed one" to come as maintained by Christianity who creatively was made to supposedly come according to "prophetic years" at the right time mentioned by Daniel. As you saw this is complete opposed by the Hebrew but who knows that? Other decrees are equally damaging because this will mean that we start the calculations from a different proclamation made at a different time and then this creative "theology" no longer can put Jesus in the supposed correct time period whereby he can be viewed as the one spoken of by Daniel 9.
Answer for yourself: Were there other decrees historically? Well, yes, there were four such decrees.
One was this decree from Artexeres to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2:1-8; 444 B.C.E.) that we mentioned above. However, there was an earlier decree that Artexeres issued to Ezra (Ezra 7:11-16; 457 B.C.E.), another decree that Cyrus gave (Ezra 1:1-4; 539 B.C.E.), and a fourth decree that Darius gave (Ezra 5:3-7; 519 B.C.E.).
Answer for yourself: Why do the Christians pick the one from Artexeres to Nehemiah? Because it fits best when you invent the "prophetic year". Simply said, Christians are making Daniel fit their "theology" and working backwards to "fulfill" this prophecy. This is, again, circular reasoning and besides that it is "adding to and taking away" from the truth of the text. Christianity starts off with the premise that "Jesus is the Messiah." Then they say "Daniel 9 must, therefore, be about Jesus." Lastly, they say "the decree must therefore be the decree of Artexeres to Nehemiah."
If you do the studies you can prove that the decree mentioned here in Daniel 9 cannot be the decree of Artexeres to Nehemiah. Daniel speaks, specifically, about a decree/permission to rebuild Jerusalem.
Answer for yourself: What is the big, big problem that Christians miss when saying this? Well, for starters, the city was already restored by the time Nehemiah came around. Nehemiah was only asking for permission for people to travel safely in order to patch up the breaches in the walls. Nehemiah needed this because the Samaritans were trying to sabotage the project. Nehemiah never asked for permission to rebuild a ruined city, and Artexeres never issued such a proclamation.
When we put this all together, all the mistranslations, the circular reasoning problems, the invention of the "prophetic year", the "wicked anointed", the problems in the context of these passages, both Hebrew and later English, and finally see that we fail to understand the history of the era in question and even when Jerusalem was "rebuilt" then we see clearly that Daniel 9 is the wrong text to try to make Jesus the "Jewish Messiah". But knowing not these things the efforts to make this Christian Jesus the Jewish Messiah has no limits and have not for some 1,700 years. To top it all off if I were trying to make Jesus the "Jewish Messiah" and I wrote the New Testament surely I would have quoted from it somewhere but the New Testament has no quote from Daniel 9 at all. The New Testament, which quotes so many verses from the Hebrew Bible, claiming to have fulfilled them, fails to quote Daniel 9. The very fact that the New Testament doesn't quote Daniel 9 proves that when it was assembled and created its redactors and editors did not, at that time historically and theologically, see Daniel as a proof-text for their presentation of this "Jesus" as the Jewish Messiah.
Answer for yourself: What should this say to us? Well, simply that this "theology" was a later development in history has has been many trying to make this Jesus of Roman invention be the "Jewish Messiah".
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