322 Joel White study of the symbolism and its interpretation is the identification of the three heads” (59). The majority opinion holds that the details best fit the Flavian emperors, a claim the preponderance of evidence would seem to support. In any case, all are agreed that some constellation of Roman emperors is in view. In 4 Ezra 12 Ezra prays for an interpretation of the vision. God acquiesces to Ezra’s request and states unequivocally that “the eagle which you saw coming up from the sea is the fourth kingdom which appeared in a vision to your brother Daniel” (4 Ezra 12:11). 2. Daniel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks (Dan 9) Dan 9 is set in the first year of the reign of Darius and relates how Daniel was meditating on Jeremiah’s prophecy that Israel would spend seventy years in exile (cf. Dan 9,2 with Jer 29,10). In the lengthy prayer that follows (Dan 9,4-19), Daniel’s yearning for the end of exile is palpable, and it is clear that he believes the prophesied seventy years must be nearing their completion. As Daniel prays, however, the angel Gabriel appears to him and reveals to him that the seventy years are to be understood as seventy weeks of years (Dan 9,24); in other words, 490 years. Perhaps no other single prophecy so captured the minds of Jews in the late Second Temple period as this one. It is clear that Josephus has this text in mind when he expresses his opinion that Daniel is in a league of his own when it comes to prophecy because, unlike other prophets who merely prophesy what events will occur in some indefinite future, Daniel also states when these events will occur (Ant. 10:267b). The fact that the number 490 carries such symbolic weight (490 = 49 x 10; i.e. ten jubilee periods) certainly prompted greater interest in the prophecy. In any case, the impact of Daniel’s prophecy was profound. As R. Beckwith so cogently states, There is strong evidence to show that the Essenes, the Pharisees and the Zealots all thought that they could date, at least approximately, the time when the Son of David would come, and that in each case their calculations were based upon Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 Weeks (Dan 9:24-27), understood as 70 weeks of years (60). (59) M. E. STONE, Fourth Ezra. A Commentary on the Book of Fourth Ezra (Hermeneia; Minneapolis, MN 1990) 363-365. (60) R.T. BECKWITH, “The Year of the Messiah: Jewish and Early Christian Chronologies, and their Eschatological Consequences”, Calendar and Chronology, Jewish and Christian. Biblical, Intertestamental and Patristic Studies (Leiden 1996) 217.