Dougg: I understand the 7 years is the amount of time spent to rebuild the city and walls.

Dougg: I don't know why the 7 years plus 462 years is so critical to Judaism as being a issue - because the total is still 483 years, 69 weeks.
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I explained in my essay that there is no basis for the 7 week building process Christians claim. Let's see it again:

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If the word to rebuild Jerusalem starts in 457 BCE, what is the 49 years to rebuild Jerusalem? Where does Scripture indicate Jerusalem was rebuilt 49 years after the decree of Artaxerxes? In fact, Browns interpretation does not even fit the KJV translation he favors. Lets see it again:

9:25 Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off (KJV).

KJV says nothing here about a building process of 49 years. It says the time span between the commandment to build Jerusalem and Messiah is 7+62 weeks. From the commandment until the Messiah is 69 weeks. The actual building is never mentioned; we are not told how many years it took.
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The reason why the division of 62 and 7 is "so critical to Judaism" is because there is simply no reason to call 69 by 62 and 7, any more than calling 69 by 17 and 52. Scripture is not arbitrary like that.

Judaism has a clear explanation for the division 62 and 7, that fits right into the words of the verse. Christianity does not.