The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

II. Funck Places Seventy Weeks Between 457 B.C. and A.D. 34

JOHANN FUNCK (1518-1566), of Niirnberg, studied theology in Wittenberg, where he received his M.A. degree, and then ministered in his home town. He preached in several places and finally was recommended to Duke Albrecht of Prussia. He went to Konigsberg in 1547, where the duke was so pleased with this young clergyman that he made him his court preacher in 1549. Funck championed Osiander’s cause in the strife over righteousness by faith, ⁵ and after Osiander’s death (1552), together with Aurifaber, took over the leadership of Osiander’s party. After Aurifaber’s death (1559) he married his widow, who was a daughter of Osiander, and the whole fury of the opponents of Osiander’s teaching was hurled against him. ⁶ However, Funck submitted a confession of faith to the theologians of Leipzig and Wittenberg that was declared orthodox in 1561. Tragically enough, he fell a victim to political agitations, and was decapitated by Polish authorities in 1566. ⁷ PFF2 308.1

Funck wrote a Chronology, from creation to his own day. ⁸ He also probably wrote the German commentary of “J. F.” on the Apocalypse, to which Melanchthon wrote the introduction, and in 1564 he produced a vitally important work explaining and diagramming the seventy weeks of Daniel 9. ⁹ He gave most complete, thorough, and conscientious study to the data, from both prophecy and history, and was probably the first in Reformation times to begin the seventy weeks in 457 B.C., a date which was later favored by many of the theological writers of the early nineteenth century, particularly in Britain and America, the majority of whom began the 70 weeks and the 2300 days in 457 B.C., as will be seen in Volumes III and IV of the present work. Funck here gives his strong reasons for beginning the seventy weeks with the seventh year of Artaxerxes and, by a series of paralleling reckonings, shows that the 490 years therefore end in A.D. 34. PFF2 308.2

1. ANONYMOUS COMMENTARY SETS DATES AS 261 AND 1521.

A 700-page German commentary on the book of Revelation with a preface by Melanchthon, is attributed to Funck. This stresses that the pope is the Antichrist and the Babylonian woman in scarlet. It puts the 1260 years from Bishop Samosata, in 261, to the Diet of Worms, in 1521. It has the Two Witnesses as the Old and New Testaments, and understands the red dragon of Revelation 12 as the antichrist of all Antichrists, the devil; the beasts of chapter 13 are the Papacy; the Little Horn of Daniel 7 is not the Turk but the “papal empire”; the daily sacrifice is the true worship; the 666 may point to the years of papal rule; the 1290 years are 261 + 1290 = 1550; and the 1335 years run forty-five years beyond, to 1595. The signs of the times are portrayed from Matthew 24, with the advent as the climax. ¹⁰ PFF2 309.1

2. 490 SOLAR YEARS CUT OFF FOR JEWS

After an extended discussion of the views of Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, and Bibliander on the seventy weeks, Funck gives his own reckoning of the “exact date” of the period, which he holds is the “correct explanation,” connecting it with historical data of Greek and Roman history. The treatise is dedicated to Prince Albrecht, Margrave of Prussia, and was written while Funck was serving as court chaplain, and in fulfillment of a former promise. PFF2 309.2

Picture 1: TIMING AND RELATIONSHIP OF SEVENTY WEEKS STUDIED
John funck, of germany, in 1564 begins the 70 Weeks With 457 B.C., and closes them in A.D. 34(upper); John Tillinghast, two centuries later in England, asserts the 70 Weeks to be a lesser Epoch within the larger 2300 Year-Day period (lower). See pages 312 and 570
Page 311

These seventy weeks, Funck avers, are weeks of years, and are divided into three parts, totaling the seventy prophetic weeks, or 490 years. Moreover, they are fulfilled in solar, not lunar, time. And the seventy weeks—no more and no less—were “cut off,” or “counted off,” for the people of Daniel, the Jews. The definite beginning warrants a definite ending, which is connected with the Messiah’s death and resurrection. Funck tersely declares, “You must here understand seventy year-weeks; that means seventy times seven years, which is 490 years. Please note this.” ¹¹ PFF2 311.1

3. BEGINS WITH REBUILDING OF CITY, NOT TEMPLE

Then follows a careful, scholarly analysis of the six prophetically listed events that mark the close of the seventy weeks. Funck then turns to the beginning of the seventy weeks with the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem, from Artaxerxes—not from Cyrus, as Calvin and Luther had reckoned—for Cyrus only restored the temple. The difficulties involved in the reckoning of Persian reigns are rehearsed. Funck then contends that the seventy weeks, ending at the crucifixion in A.D. 34, begin with Artaxerxes Longimanus, ¹² fifth king of Persia, who began to reign in the fourth year of the seventy-eighth Olympiad, as demonstrated in his other work, the Ghronologia, and attested by Thucydides, Plutarch, and Xenophon. Funck held that it was impossible to understand and explain prophecy without the aid of world history. PFF2 311.2

Funck then presents his argument for starting with the seventh year of Artaxerxes. Declaring that the seventy weeks must, according to the angel, begin with the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, Funck succinctly states his thesis in these clear words: PFF2 311.3

“In the time of Cyrus, only the temple was built, and the religious worship was arranged to some degree. The people themselves, however, were still under the rule of the Persian satraps and judges and there was no freedom, necessary to build a ‘town or a people, but only compulsion, servitude, and slavery.... PFF2 312.1

“However, when Ezra received the order and the authority to install judges and magistrates who knew the law of the Lord and would teach those who were ignorant of it, that really meant freedom. And with it began the building of the town of Jerusalem and of the nation of Judea.... Therefore I consider this year, which was the seventh of Darius Artaxerxes Longimanus, the beginning of the seventy weeks of Daniel.” ¹³ PFF2 312.2

4. VARIOUS MODES OF COMPUTING BEGINNING YEAR

Funck reaches his final conclusion, and sums up his argument, in these clear words: PFF2 312.3

“You must begin to figure the 490 years with the other (second) year of the 80th Olympiad, or from the year after Creation 3506, or from B.C. 457, or from the 22nd year of Prince Resa Hesullam in the 16th year of the High Priest Joachim, or in the 7th of the reign of Artaxerxes of the Persians, or 42 years of Alexander Amynte Sone in Macedonia, or from the 294th year of the time of the founding of Rome, or you will find many other dates to which you can link this event.” ¹⁴ PFF2 312.4

The “Chronological Tables” presented are most interesting. They represent exhausting toil and scholarly research. In vertical columns, from left to right, appear progressively the years of the Olympiads, the year of the world, the year B.C., the Jewish reckoning, the events of the Persian monarchy, the events of the Macedonian kingdom, the year of the Roman reckoning, and reigns of the Roman rulers. The consecutive years run from top to bottom. In this table the first year of Artaxerxes in the “B.C.” column is 463, and therefore the seventh year is 457. Similarly, the seventy weeks are seen, in another table, to end in A.D. 34. PFF2 312.5

5. SIGNIFICANCE OF CONTRIBUTION NOT SENSED TILL LATER

Funck mentions the tremendous toil involved in this investigation, and “the sacrifice o£ several hundred Gulden, which sum I was obliged to spend for books, and to print and bring to light all this important knowledge for the benefit of Christianity.” But he assures us that he would not part with his findings for “much gold.” Making no apologies for being “sure” of his convictions, he assures us that he had no intention of placing himself “above others.” The real significance and value of Funck’s contribution was not, however, sensed at the time. But two centuries later it was destined to have a most important bearing in determining the appointed ending of the 2300-year period, when its relationship to the 70 weeks had been established. PFF2 313.1