There is no claim that anyone would be holy. The "holy of holies" in this verse refers to the Temple, not to any person. "Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים / kodesh ha-kodesh / Holy of Holies." Daniel 9:24. The Holy of Holies, as its name implies, was the most sacred part of the entire Temple. This was a room in the Temple. A real room. Daniel is speaking of a room, not a person. This has nothing to do with Jesus or any other person. The קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים / kodesh ha-kodesh / Holy of Holies was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 40 cubits high. The floor, walls, and ceiling were gold. A rock was in the room. On the rock rested the אָרוֹן קׄדֶש / aron ha-kodesh -- the ark of the covenant. So, no -- this is not speaking of the messiah. The vision Daniel had was a warning -- indeed the Temple would be rebuilt (this was the Second Temple) -- but it would be built in troubled times. The Jews had 490 years in which to avoid a second, longer, exile if the turned to G-d. All negative visions of the future are warnings -- the negative can be avoided (this is why the warning is given). Between the rebuilding of the Temple by the Jews who returned from Babylonian Exile to the exile of the Jews by the Romans in the first century CE the Jewish people had an opportunity to avoid the second exile. If they did not listen to Daniel's warning the exile would happen. And it did happen. There are two "messiahs" (anointed ones) mentioned in this chapter. The first messiah is Cyrus -- the Babylonian Emperor -- who gave the word to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. The hundreds of years pass -- and Daniel foresees the destruction of the Second Temple and the Jews again exiled -- and the appearance of an evil messiah who will be part of that destruction. . . Neither of these messiahs was Jesus -- and one was "the" messiah. While most Christians think the word "messiah" only applies to one person (Jesus) the fact is that the word messiah” is used 39 times in the T’nach. It is not a rare word at all -- and it applies to a person who was properly anointed (or inherited an anointing) according to the laws of his / her country. Cyrus was a Babylonian emperor -- he was a messiah, but not a Jewish messiah. He was a proper king (one can assume anointed) by his country. 39 times -- yet Christian translations choose to use the word "messiah" only in Daniel 9 (some also in Psalm 20. . . The King James Version (KJV) has “the Messiah the Prince" in Daniel 9:25. . . The KJV puts the definite article "the" even though that word is not in the text. . . Why do you supposes they translate that word as "anointed one" in the other 30+ locations -- but choose "the messiah" here? It misleads -- whether by accident or purposely -- it misleads. Let me repeat that: “the messiah” does not appear in Daniel 9:25. There is no “the” in front of the word מָשִֽׁיחַ / moshiach / messiah / anointed one. Luke 1:35 has to do with the "holy ghost" (which does not exist) impregnating a married woman -- thus committing an act of adultery. In Luke 1:35 the angel is supposedly speaking to Mary and the angel is NOT speaking about Jesus. The angel is speaking of the “Holy Spirit” (part of the trinity, and again not biblical as there is only one G-d). If Mary was pregnant by anyone other than her husband, Joseph, her child had no tribal status and thus was not eligible to be a messiah -- let alone "the" messiah. . . but in any case Luke 1:35 has nothing to do with Daniel 9:24. Bottom line? Another false claim on the list of 365 supposed prophecies Jesus fulfilled -- Daniel is speaking of the holy of holies in the Temple -- not the messiah. From the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 29:10. 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi).
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