Problems with Daniel Chapter 9:
1) Starting date: Daniel's says "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem", which is what Cyrus (whom Isaiah refers to as "the Lord's Messiah") had commanded in 538 BCE (see Is. 44:28). But Cyrus's order is too early for the missionaries (some even admit this is their reasoning), so they say the Daniel verse refers to the order in 445 BCE by one of Cyrus' successors, Artaxerxes, to resume the restoration which had already begun, but had been temporarily interrupted.
This is possible, but not likely.
2) Ending date: Missionaries say the phrase "after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off" refers to Jesus' entrance to Jerusalem. If that occurred in the 69th week -- better yet, let's use the word "septad" to avoid confusion -- then all those wonderful things (end of sin, everlasting righteousness, etc) should have come about a long time ago, certainly before the Romans leveled Jerusalem. Obviously this has not happened. So how could Jesus' death have occurred in the 69th septad of Daniel's predicted time span?
Missionaries say that "the clock was stopped". Daniel doesn't mention any stoppage of the clock. Try telling that to your mortgage company.
3) Numbering: Part of verse 25 in the KJV reads " ... seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built ..." Note the punctuation. The KJV is combining the numbers 7 and 60 and 2 into one number -- 69 to get the 69 septad prophecy. (Note that the JPS separates these into two numbers -- 7 and 62, each indicating a different event.)
The KJV usage is unprecedented. The Tanach (and everyone else) gives numbers almost the same way as English -- sixty and nine. You literally never see something like "seven and sixty and two." To make the prophecy fit, missionaries have invented a new numbering system for the Tanach.
4) Duration of a year: 69 septads equals 483 years. If you start at 445 BCE, this would take you to 39 CE, seven years after when most people think that Jesus entered Jerusalem. However, if you subtract 5 days for each year -- that is 2,415 days -- which is converted to about 6.5 years (bear with me) -- that takes you back to about 32 CE. In other words, if you say that a year is only 360 days long, then the time works out. So they say that the septads that Daniel speaks of are composed -- not of normal years -- but of 360 day years, and call these "Biblical years."
Nothing corresponds to a 360 day year. It is longer than standard Jewish year (of 12 lunar months) which is 354 days and is shorter than a solar year or a Jewish leap year (which is 13 lunar months.) Such a year could not have been used in Biblical times because the festivals, which are at least in part agricultural, would have gotten out of sync with the seasons.
What can this 'Biblical year' be other than an invention? When you set your own intervals, you can make anything come out.
5) Adding to the text: KJV verse 25 says -- "from the ... commandment to restore ... Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince"; the JPS says -- "from the ... word to restore ... Jerusalem unto one anointed, a prince," KJV says "the Messiah" while JPS says "one anointed." The Hebrew word "moshiac" can mean either (though in the Bible it is usually "an anointed." The problem with the KJV is the use of the specific adjective "the". "The Messiah, the Prince" certainly sounds like one very specific person, like Jesus. But the Hebrew text does not have "the." (in Hebrew, the prefix of the letter 'hay') The Hebrew words are "mashiac nageed" -- an anointed prince, of whom there were many. KJV has added a word not in the text.
Referance:
http://home.att.net/~fiddlerzvi/Daniel9.html
