In this post I will be referencing the commentary on Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45 and 9:24-27 by renowned Medieval rabbi and anti-Christian polemicist Shlomo Yitzchaki, otherwise known as RASHI. Rashi’s commentary is important since he candidly admitted that the Messianic era or kingdom would be ushered in during the time that Jesus appeared on the scene. He further acknowledges that the Messiah whose death is foretold in Daniel 9:26 occurred right around the time Jesus ministered. Rashi’s interpretation corroborates the Christian exegesis that Daniel prophesied of the events which culminated in Jesus’ crucifixion and the destruction of the second temple.  

Note what Rashi states in respect to Daniel 9:

24 Seventy weeks [of years] have been decreed upon your people and upon the city of your Sanctuary to terminate the transgression and to end sin, and to expiate iniquity, and to bring eternal righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holies.

Seventy weeks [of years] have been decreed: on Jerusalem from the day of the first destruction in the days of Zedekiah until it will be [destroyed] the second time.

to terminate the transgression and to end sin: so that Israel should receive their complete retribution IN THE EXILE OF TITUS AND HIS SUBJUGATION, in order that their transgressions should terminate, their sins should end, and their iniquities should be expiated, in order to bring upon them eternal righteousness and to anoint upon them (sic) the Holy of Holies: the Ark, the altars, and the holy vessels, which they will bring to them THROUGH THE KING MESSIAH. The number of seventy weeks is four hundred and ninety years. The Babylonian exile was seventy [years] and the Second Temple stood four hundred and twenty [years]. (The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary)

26 And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one will be cut off, and he will be no more, and the people of the coming monarch will destroy the city and the Sanctuary, and his end will come about by inundation, and until the end of the war, it will be cut off into desolation.

And after: those weeks.

the anointed one will be cut off: Agrippa, the king of Judea, who was ruling at the time of the destruction, will be slain.

and he will be no more: Heb. וְאֵין לוֹ, and he will not have. The meaning is that he will not be.

the anointed one: Heb. מָשִׁיחַ. This is purely an expression of a prince and a dignitary.

and the city and the Sanctuary: lit. and the city and the Holy.

and the people of the coming monarch will destroy: [The monarch who will come] upon them. THAT IS TITUS AND HIS ARMIES.

and his end will come about by inundation: And his end will be damnation and destruction, for He will inundate the power of his kingdom THROUGH THE MESSIAH.

and until the end of the wars: of Gog the city will exist.

cut off into desolation: a destruction of desolation. (Ibid.)

27 And he will strengthen a covenant for the princes for one week, and half the week he will abolish sacrifice and meal- offering, and on high, among abominations, will be the dumb one, and until destruction and extermination befall the dumb one.

And he will strengthen a covenant for the princes for one week: לָרַבִּים, for the princes, like “and all the officers of (רַבֵּי) the king,” in the Book of Jeremiah (39:13).

will strengthen: TITUS [will strengthen] a covenant with the princes of Israel.

for one week: He will promise them the strengthening of a covenant and peace for seven years, but within the seven years, he will abrogate his covenant.

he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering: This is what he says in the first vision (8:26): “and in tranquility he will destroy many.” Through a covenant of tranquility, he will destroy them.

and on high, among abominations will be the dumb one: This is a pejorative for pagan deities. i.e., on a high place, among abominations and disgusting things, he will place the dumb one, the pagan deity, which is dumb like a silent stone.

high: Heb. כְּנַף, lit. wing, an expression of height, like the wing of a flying bird.

and until destruction and extermination befall the dumb one: and the ruling of the abomination will endure until the day that the destruction and extermination decreed upon it [will] befall it, IN THE DAYS OF THE KING MESSIAH.

befall the dumb one: Heb. תִּתַּ, reach; and total destruction will descend upon the image of the pagan deity and upon its worshippers. (Ibid.)

Rashi acknowledges that Daniel’s prophesy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was fulfilled when the Roman general Titus came up against the city and sanctuary to destroy it. He further admits that this period coincides with the King Messiah anointing the artifacts of the holy sanctuary and subjugating the Roman empire.

This shows that even according to Rashi’s calculation the Messiah had to appear during the time when the second temple was still standing.

Rashi’s interpretation that the Anointed One who was to be cut off or killed refers to Herod Agrippa is rather ironic since there is nothing of significance related to Agrippa’s murder via poison, which took place in 44 AD. Rashi fails to explain exactly how or why Agrippa’s death brought about the end or termination of transgressions and sins, expiated or atoned for iniquities, ushered in eternal righteousness, and anointed the Holy of Holies.

Conveniently, Rashi failed to mention that just less than a decade earlier Jesus of Nazareth was killed on the cross for claiming to be the unique divine Son of God and Messianic King of the Jews who proclaimed that he had come to offer his life as a ransom for the forgiveness of sins!

“For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” Matthew 26:26-28  

“This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6:50-51

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.” John 10:11, 14-18

Thus, by situating the cutting off period of the Messiah in the first half of the first century AD, Rashi has provided tacit and implicit corroboration that Daniel was in fact prophesying the events which led to the violent death of Jesus Christ!    

As Messianic Jewish apologist and theologian Dr. Michael L. Brown explains:

Still, it is only fair to ask, If there are two anointed ones spoken of in the text, who is the first one? And for the sake of argument, if the second one is not Yeshua, then who is it? Candidates for the first anointed one include the Medo-Persian king Cyrus among non-Israelites and either Joshua the high priest or Zerubbabel the governor (spoken of throughout Ezra and Nehemiah, as well as in the Book of Zechariah) among Israelites. None of these figures, however, can be decisively identified as the anointed leader of whom the text speaks, nor is there a rock-solid interpretation that explains how the forty-nine-year period beginning with Daniel 9:25 ends with any of them. Some of them are certainly potential candidates, but there are either chronological problems (as in the case of Cyrus)²¹⁰ or problems in determining exactly why the text singled them out or how someone would identify them as the anointed one in question. Why them?

The point of this is simple: While it is certainly possible that Daniel 9:24–27 speaks of two anointed ones rather than one Anointed One (= Messiah), it is difficult to see why the first one was mentioned at all, especially in the context described (i.e., coming after a period of forty-nine years). This suggests that it is fair to revisit the traditional Christian division of the weeks suggested above (4.18 and 4.20), since that interpretation puts the emphasis on the proper division of the years (49 years for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, followed by 434 years until the Messiah’s death) and explains why such emphasis was placed on this mashiach.

As to the question of the identity of some of the non-Messianic candidates for the second anointed one—whose death is described in Daniel 9:26—reference is often made to the high priest Onias III, who was displaced by his brother Jason in 172 B.C.E. and then killed by Menelaus in 171 B.C.E. A later candidate would be King Agrippa I, who died in 44 C.E. However, the association with Onias III is based on the assumption that Daniel got his chronology entirely wrong (see above, 4.19), while the association with Agrippa I, which is the most common view among traditional Jewish interpreters, fails to explain why he would be singled out as a special anointed one whose death was of such significance. More important, it would mean that the Anointed One whose atoning death changed the course of world history, the candidate who fits the chronological data to a tee, was bypassed entirely in favor of a man whose death about fifteen years later was of no lasting significance at all.²¹¹ Similar questions could be raised about the other potential candidates who allegedly answer to the description of the anointed one mentioned in Daniel 9:26, a man whose death occurred shortly before the destruction of the Second Temple.

To repeat our premise, then, we can safely state that (1) if the text speaks of two anointed ones, the second of these two is Jesus the Messiah, and (2) if the text speaks of one anointed one, all the more can we be sure that it refers to our Messiah and King. Honestly, now, can anyone claim that there is one candidate who even remotely displaces Yeshua as the obvious, central subject of the text? I think not.

210 A potential candidate such as Cyrus, who was a key mashiach in biblical Jewish history, is disqualified because of chronological issues, since there is no valid way to begin the terminus a quo of Daniel 9:25 (received by revelation from the angel Gabriel somewhere around 539 B.C.E.) with a date 49 years before Cyrus (who issued his decree to rebuild the Temple in the year 539 B.C.E.)!

211 Gerald Sigal also makes the odd claim that the second anointed one mentioned in the text is Alexander Yannai, the ruthless high priest who led Israel from 103 to 76 B.C.E. There are, however, insuperable difficulties with this interpretation: (1) Since Cyrus cannot be the mashiach mentioned in Daniel 9:25, Alexander cannot be the mashiach who is cut off 434 years after Cyrus. (2) Even using Sigal’s dating (“The first seven weeks ends in 537 B.C.E. The second segment of the Seventy Weeks period, sixty-two weeks in length, covered by verse 26, culminates in 103 B.C.E.”), why does this period culminate with the beginning of Yannai’s reign rather than the end of his reign, his alleged “cutting off”? (3) Aside from the fact that the identification of Alexander Yannai is quite tenuous (why single him out, and why point to someone in whose lifetime what was written in Daniel 9:24–27 did not take place?), Sigal’s explanation of being cut off and having nothing is bizarre, since nothing unusual is recorded about Yannai’s death. Thus, he must argue that the verb yikkaret here means “suffer the penalty of excision” (as in “being cut off” for certain sins in the Torah), claiming that, “The penalty accompanying karet is here aptly described as ‘to have nothing,’ or ‘be no more.’” This is impossibly forced, since being cut off and having nothing (or being no more) unquestionably speaks of death (as widely recognized by Jewish commentators and translators). Not only so, but the only definitive evidence that Alexander Yannai suffered this alleged penalty of excision is that Sigal says he did! See concisely <http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/j4j2000/html/reflib/dan9120.html&gt; (Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus [Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI 2003] Volume 3. Messianic Prophecy Objections, pp. 130-132)

There’s more from Rashi, who also admitted that Daniel predicted that the Messianic kingdom would be established while the Roman empire was still in existence!

44 And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom forever, it will not be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left to another people; it will crumble and destroy all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever.

And in the days of these kings: in the days of these kings, WHEN THE KINGDOM OF ROME IS STILL IN EXISTENCE.

the God Of heaven will set up a kingdom: The kingdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, which will never be destroyed, IS THE KINGDOM OF THE MESSIAH.

it will crumble and destroy: It will crumble and destroy all these kingdoms.

45 Just as you saw that from the mountain a stone was hewn without hands, and it crumbled the iron, the copper, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has let the king know what will be after this, and the dream is true, and its interpretation is reliable.”

Just as you saw: just as you saw that a stone was broken off the mountain, which crumbled the entire image. This is the interpretation that the fifth kingdom will destroy and shatter them all.

what will be after this: what will be after this, after this kingdom of yours.

and its interpretation is reliable: for the Eternal of Israel neither lies nor repents. (Ibid.)

Rashi even goes as far as to confirm that the Son of Man figure whom the prophet saw is none other than King Messiah!

13 I saw in the visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him.

one like a man was coming: THAT IS THE KING MESSIAH.

and… up to the Ancient of Days: Who was sitting in judgment and judging the nations.

came: arrived, reached.

14 And He gave him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him; his dominion is an eternal dominion, which will not be removed, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

And He gave him dominion: And to that man He gave dominion over the nations, for the heathens he likens to beasts, and Israel he likens to a man because they are humble and innocent.

which will not be removed: [as translated,] will not be removed. (Ibid.)

Hence, according to Rashi the Messiah had to come and establish his kingdom during the Roman empire, specifically around the time of the first century AD!

Is it a coincidence, then, that Jesus shows up in the first century claiming to be that very Son of Man that Daniel foresaw and who had been sent to inaugurate the heavenly kingdom on earth?

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.’” Mark 1:14-15  

“But he was silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am; and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’” Mark 14:61-62  

“And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.” Matthew 4:23

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zeb′edee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And preach as you go, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without pay, give without pay.’” Matthew 10:1-8  

“For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” Matthew 16:27-28

“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Luke 11:20

“Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, “Lo, here it is!” or “There!” for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.’ And he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it.And they will say to you, “Lo, there!” or “Lo, here!” Do not go, do not follow them.For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.’” Luke 17:20-25

Unless indicated otherwise, scriptural references taken from the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE).

FURTHER READING

RABBINIC JUDAISM ON THE TIME OF MESSIAH’S APPEARANCE

The Time of Messiah’s Advent Pt. 1

The Time of Messiah’s Advent Pt. 2

MESSIANIC TIMELINE OF DANIEL REVISITED AGAIN

MORE ON DANIEL’S MESSIANIC TIMELINE

A Divine Messiah That Suffers and Reigns! Pt. 2

A Justification of the Translation of Dan. 9:24-27 in the KJV

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