[SUP]24[/SUP] 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. [SUP]25[/SUP] 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. [SUP]26[/SUP] 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. [SUP]27[/SUP] 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. ~ Daniel 9:24-27
The last part of verse 26 -
from the colon until the end of the verse - is what I like to call an 'aside' (because, in terms of thought process, the
focus of what is being said shifts
temporarily away from the "main/current focus" onto something else). Because the focus shifts away from the "main/current focus" - the new, temporary, focus is not necessarily constrained by the "main/current focus" at the point that the focus shifted. What this means for this passage is that, there is no necessity for the "destruction" that it is talking about to have anything [directly] to do with the 70 weeks (the "main/current focus" at the point of the 'aside') -
especially where timing is concerned. The phrase "that shall come" simply points to "some time later" - and does not mandate that the target thought/focus "line up" with the 70 weeks in any particular way. In terms of thought process, it is a
complete jump away from the 70 weeks that is being "discussed" before the point of the 'aside'.
At the beginning of verse 27, the focus returns to what it was before the 'aside'.
The word 'he' [x3] in verse 27 refers back to the word 'Messiah' in verse 26.
So - with the exception of the partial verse 'aside' discussed above - everything in these verses is talking about Christ.
The alignment of the 70 weeks is flawless -- if you know what you are aligning it with...
The "countdown" for the 69 weeks indicated in verse 25
starts with the point in time
that the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem.
The "countdown" for the 62 weeks indicated in verse 26
starts with the
end of the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
How long was the rebuilding of Jerusalem?
[ Further comments will have to wait... ]
( The crucifixion occurred in the middle of the 70th week. )