Here is what we know. The Jewish calendars used a 360-day year; 4 69 weeks of 360-day years totals 173,880 days. In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King would be 173,880 days. The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 B.C. The day that Christ presented Himself as King was April 6, 32 A.D.
When we examine the period between March 14, 445 B.C. and April 6, 32 A.D., and correct for leap years, we discover that it is 173,880 days exactly, to the very day.
Now, can you give me evidence that, if we are to count the beginning of the 70 weeks from 538 B.C., instead of 444 B.C., the days to Christ entering Jerusalem would add up precisely as they do when we count from 444 B.C., using the Biblically correct 360 day years?
“Now, can you give me evidence that, if we are to count the beginning of the 70 weeks from 538 B.C., instead of 444 B.C.”
I’m not contesting the fact that the dating started in 444 B.C.. What I am contesting is the writer’s statement that it was “Xerxes commandment to restore the Temple on March 5, 444 BC”. No responsible historian holds to that position. Xerxes ordered Jerusalem rebuilt and according to the scripture, and that was the signal for the prophetic clock to restart, not the rebuilding of the temple.