The Rabbis and Daniel's 70 weeks?

[Guest]

Hi all, I'm trying to find out how Jews who do not accept Jesus as Messiah deal with Daniel's 70 weeks. So far, I've come across the following:

The famous Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon (Maimonides) in the 12th Century AD said:
"Daniel has elucidated to us the knowledge of the end times. However, since they are secret, the wise (rabbis) have barred the calculation of the days of Messiah's coming so that the untutored populace will not be led astray when they see that the End Times have already come but there is no sign of the Messiah"
Igeret Teiman, Chapter 3 p.24.

And apparently, someone called Rabbi Moses Abraham Levi (can't find any details about this person) said regarding the time of Messiah's coming:
"I have examined and searched all the Holy scr iptures ures and have not found the time for the coming of Messiah clearly fixed, except in the words of Gabriel to the prophet Daniel, which are written in the 9th chapter of the prophecy of Daniel"
The Messiah of the Targums, Talmuds and Rabbinical Writers, 1971.

Doeas anyone have any information as to how the ancient Rabbis interpreted Daniel's 70weeks and also how the non-Messianic Rabbis today interpret them?

ybiM,
Ely

[Guest]

This is the quote of one orthodox Rabbi "The Talmud forbids us to calculate the coming of the Messiah so as to prevent speculation and possible loss of faith should the Messiah not come at the calculated time."

In the Talmud , Jesus is described as a sorcerer and deceiver.

[Guest]

Hello, Ely,

I am not really knowledgeable in this area, but for what it's worth, here's a couple of leads:

1) http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/faq/faq-da.html I do not endorse this site per se, but the link will partially answer your question about how (some) Jews deal with the seventy weeks;

2) My Oxford Jewish Study Bible says in its commentary:

...because prefigurations of Christ and Christian resurrection were seen in Daniel by the early church, the rabbinic tradition hesitated to embrace the visions of Daniel. The Rabbis denied that Daniel was predicting events after the Maccabean revolt, and especially not the end of time, and assigned him a role as seer, not prophet (b.Meg. 3a, b.Sanh. 94a).

Shalom,
Emmet