The seventy year week prophesy Dan 9:24-27 gives a quite explicit the Messiah prediction:
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.”
The degree of Cyrus in his first year (2Chr 36:23, Ezra 1:2) concerned building the Temple not the city. This Edict of Cyrus is identified by the Cyrus Cylinder which was created around 539-538 BC, it allows all people who were under the Babylonian rule to rebuild their temples and it does not specifically mention Jews. The first year of Cyrus must refer to the first year of Cyrus as the King of Babylonia. He become King of Babylonia in 539 BC, thus the degree was given 538BC. The degree of Darius (Ezra 6:7-8) of 519/520 BC confirmed the degree of Cyrus. It orders rebuilding the Temple, not the city or the wall/trench.
The order to rebuild Jerusalem can only be one of the two decrees by Artaxerxes. The first decree of Artaxerxes was in 458 BC (Ezra 7:13-26). It does not say anything about building a city and a trench. The second decree was given in 444 BC or 445 BC and it is described in Nehemiah 2:1-8. This decree ordered rebuilding the walls. This is the only decree that matches with Dan 9:24-27.
The wording in Daniel is a bit unclear mainly because Masorites added an accent, “atnach”, to the text around 900 AD, and this divides seven and sixty-two sevens into two parts, in some translations into two sentences. Such division does not appear in Septuagint. It is nevertheless clear that sixty-two sevens follows the first seven temporally because the whole time is given as seventy year weeks and after the sixty-two there is still one year week. Thus, the correct calculation is 69=7+62 year weeks after 444/445 BC. Later in Daniel a year is 360 days, as 1260 days is 3.5 years. This is the prophetic year, it is not the solar year or the Jewish lunar year. It is most logical that this year is also used in the prophesy Dan 9:24-27. Thus 69 year weeks is 69*7*(360/365.25)=476 (solar) years. there was no year zero, so 444BC+476=33AD. This is the most commonly accepted time of the crucifixion of the Christ. All calculations from these numbers give times that fit only to Jesus as there was no other known Messiah around that time. Clearly, the Book of Daniel, as we have it, predicts Jesus. I found the following analysis quite helpful, it contains all necessary discussion:
Strangely, if Dan 9:24-27 was in Daniel’s book in the form we have it today, why the Dead Sea Scrolls know nothing about it. The Dead Sea Scroll community was waiting for the messiah of Aaron and Israel, possibly a single person, a king of Israel, but they did not know the time of the arrival of the Messiah and though the scrolls are written before 31 BC, the community thought that they were the last generation. The simplest explanation is that Daniel’s text was a bit different in their time. Daniel’s book was included in Septuagint, but the Septuagint version of Daniel’s book is longer than in the Masoritic text, which is the basis of the Protestant Bible.
The text we have was preceeded by a different text. While we cannot know what the earlier form was, it is clear that Jews, and especially the Qumran Community, waited for a Messiah and expected him to arrive long before Jesus. The likely change to the text is that Dan 9:24-27 originally referred to the decree of Cyrus: the Temple is more important than the city wall. If so, let us calculate 383=69*7 years from the degree of Cyrus. If the prophetic year is used, we get the year 62BC. This is a very natural year for rebuilding Jerusalem because in 63BC Pompey the Great captured the city and damaged both the city and the Temple. This is very much what is said in Dan 9:26:
“And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.”
The anointed one was Aristobulus II. He was captured in 63BC together with two of his sons. He escaped later and again tried to start a rebellion. Likewise his son Alexander of Judea escaped and raised a rebel army two-three times. Also the other son, Antigonus Mattathias, escaped and started a civil war. Antigonus conquered Jerusalem and was a king for some years before Romans crucified him in 37BC. The third son of Aristobulus II, Alexander III, was drowned by Herod the Great in 36BC. The last Hasmonean princes were the sons of Mariamne I, a daughter of Alexander of Judea, with Herod the Great.
The killing of the children of Bethlehem seems to refer to Herod the Great killing the Hasmonean princes. It is useful to reread the prophecy of Bethlehem in Micah 5:1.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old,”
In this prophecy Bethlehem is not a city, it is a clan, a family.
For the Qumran Community prophesies were happening in their time. There was no House of David any more, but there was the House of Maccabee. Bethlehem were the Hasmoneans and the Community waited for a Hasmonean Messiah. Around 31 BC there was little reason to hope for a Hasmonean Messiah to appear. The Qumran Community was abandoned for 30 years after the earthquake of 31 BC.
Some bible scholars do not agree with this. One of them is Gregory Doudna, who proposed in 2013 that Antigonus II Mattathias was the Wicked Priest of the Dear Sea Scrolls and Hyrcanus II was the Teacher of Righteousness:
I cannot find from the Peshers of Nahum and Habakkuk support for Doudna’s claims. The beginning of the Damascus Document suggests that the Teacher of Righteousness was the founder of the Qumran Community and lived around 150 BC. The Wicked Priest was an opponent of the Teacher of Righteousness and had to be a Hasmonean High Priest. In the correct time frame it means that the Wicked Priest was Jonathan Apphus or Simon Maccabeus. I think it was Simon, as he was declared the king and high priest until the Messiah comes and he is omitted in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke.
I agree with the old view that the original Teacher of Righteousness was Onias IV who moved to Egypt to the Land of Onias and founded the temple of Leontopolis. This is logical since Alexander Jannaeus got support from Cleopatra III, who sent her two Jewish generals, sons of Onias IV. Cleopatra III largely depended on Egyptian Jews. Honi the Circle Drawer was most probably distantly related to Onias. Men of Hyrcanus II stoned Honi, which makes it very improbable that Hyrcanus II was considered righteous by the Qumran Community. There is a story of Honi: he was to wake up after 70 years. It may be related to the fact that Jewish Rabbis knew of a comet appearing once in 70 years, i.e., Halley’s comet. The Qumran Community had a connection to the temple in Leantopolis. Hasmonean rulers often applied to Egypt for help. This is related to the escape of the Holy Family to Egypt.
The end section of the Damascus Document mentions the only teacher who was taken away and states that Israel will face the wrath of God in 40 years from the time the teacher was taken away. This implies that the Teacher of Righteousness and the Wicked Priest may refer to different people in the Peshers of Nahum and Habakkuk than in the beginning of the Damascus Document. Therefore Hyrcanus is not completely ruled out as the teacher. Hyrcanus II died 30BC. If Hyrcanus II is the teacher then the Day of the Judgment should have been before 10 AD and the Messiah was expected before that time. However, I do not think Hyrcanus was the teacher. The teacher was some Zadok, not Levi.
The death of all sons of Aristobulus II was not the end of Messianic hopes of Hasmoneans. The sons of Mariamne I, Alexander and Aristobulus, returned to Jerusalem either 17BC or 12BC. They were popular among the people. Herod the Great accused them of plotting and killed both in 7BC, but Aristobulus left two sons: Herod Agrippa and Herod Chalcis. Herod the Great was King of Judea. After him Herod Archelaus was only Ethnarch. The only other King of Judea was Herod Agrippa I. He had a kingdom that was almost the same as that of Herod the Great, but his reign was only for three years.
Herod Agrippa was named after Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who died in March 12 BC and whose death was associated with the Halley comet of 12BC. Herod Agrippa was born 11 BC. The comet had special importance in the time of Augustus since Octavianus (Augustus, the son of the new god Julius Caesar, the god of fortresses in Daniel) had created a cult around Caesar’s comet. Augustus mourned Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa for a month. Naming a son Herod Agrippa was certainly not done without Messianic associations.
Many explanations have been given to the star of Bethlehem, but once we notice that Bethlehem is a clan, not a city, many of these become less probable. Indeed, Herod the Great died in 4 BC, which year agrees with the information Josephus gives: the lunar eclipse preceding the death and Passover come soon after. Thus, planet constellations after 4 BC are not possible explanations for the star. No astrologer of the time has mentioned any bright comet, nova or supernova, and the event should be bright. Halley’s comet of 12 BC is the closest bright event in the sky. It has been calculated that Halley’s comet of 12BC had the perihelion 10 October 12 BC, was closest to the Earth 9 September 12 BC and first observed by the Chinese 26 August 12 BC. The comet can be visible for over 80 days, so it may have been visible in December 12 BC.
Herod Agrippa was the oldest of the grandsons of Herod the Great. Aristobulus IV and Alexander returned to Judea 12 BC or in 17 BC. Alexander was born about 35 BC, Aristobulus was the younger brother, so in 17 BC Alexander was 18 and Aristobulus too young to marry. Berenice, the mother of Herod Agrippa, most probably was not in Rome, thus we may assume that Aristobulus IV and Berenice got married in 12 BC and Herod Agrippa was the first child. It is likely that he was born soon after 9 months, that is, in the beginning of 11 BC and his birth could be associated with the comet.
The end of prophesy in Dan 9 was to be after seventy year weeks. The 69 weeks ended in 33 AD and in the last week there had to be the abomination of desolation. Jesus told that it would be standing in the Temple. In 39 AD Caligula tried to install his statue to the Temple of Jerusalem. Caligula made Herod Agrippa King of Batanaea in 37 AD. Caligula was killed in January 24, 41 AD. Claudius made Herod Agrippa King of all Judea in 41 AD. Herod Agrippa tried to declare himself divine in 44 AD. This would have been the end of prophesy: God’s kingdom on the Earth, a kingdom to last forever and to rule all nations: Judaism did not have the transcendental view of God’s kingdom as non-Earthly but as a Jewish kingdom lasting a thousand generations. Herod Agrippa had a strong influence on Claudius (as he had on Caligula) and he even minted a coin where Herod and his brother crown Claudius, that shows something. Herod Agrippa I died, apparently by poison, in 44 AD.
The ending of Daniel’s prophecy is:
“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
All of this can be explained by the history of Jesus, Caligula and Herod Agrippa. Jesus, he was the good teacher, the sacrifice to redeem the sins of the Jews so that the end of the times could come.