Daniel Chapter Nine
Daniel 9:1-14
CHAPTER NINE
III. THE PRAYER, THE PRINCE, AND PROSPERITY—Dan 9:1-27
a. REPENTANCE
TEXT: Dan 9:1-14
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasureus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,
2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolation of Jerusalem, even seventy years.
3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
4 And I prayed unto Jehovah my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him, and keep his commandments,
5 we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy precepts and from thine ordinances;
6 neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him;
10 neither have we obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside, that they should not obey thy voice: therefore hath the curse been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against him.
12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet have we not entreated the favor of Jehovah our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in thy truth.
14 Therefore hath Jehovah watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth, and we have not obeyed his voice.
QUERIES
a. Why was Daniel studying the “books” concerning the captivity?
b. Why confess sins now after almost 70 years in captivity?
c. Does Dan 9:13 mean they had not prayed to God in the captivity?
PARAPHRASE (Daniel 9:1-14)
It was now the first year of the reign of Gubaru (king Darius, the son of Ahasuerus), 539–538 B.C. (Daruis was a Mede but was appointed king of the province of Chaldea by Cyrus). During that first year of his reign I, Daniel, was studying the scroll of Jeremiah the prophet, and learned that the time for the captivities of the Jews and the desolation of their land and holy city, Jerusalem, was seventy years, and thus very near its end. I fasted, donned sackcloth and ashes, and I pleaded with the Lord concerning the end of our captivities. I confessed my sins and those of my people, praying, O Lord, you are a great and awesome God; You always fulfill Your promises and keep Your covenants, returning love to those who love You and keep Your commandments. But we have sinned against You every way possible. We have been perverse, stubborn, wicked, rebellious, disobedient to Your precepts and commandments; we did not even pay attention to the prophets when You sent them to speak to our leaders and to us. O Lord, You are altogether righteous and holy, but we are shame-faced with sin to this very day. All of Your covenant people—the men of Judah, Jerusalem and all Israel—scattered all over by Your righteous judgment for their sins, they are even now shamefaced with sin. But the Lord our God is merciful, and pardons even those who have rebelled against Him. O Lord, our God, we have disobeyed You; we have flouted all the laws You gave us through Your servants, the prophets. All Israel has disobeyed; we have deliberately turned away from You and refused to listen to Your voice. As a consequence the curse of God—pronounced in the law of Moses—has been poured out upon us. And You have done exactly as You warned us You would; for never in all history has there been a disaster like what happened at Jerusalem to us and our rulers. Every curse against disobedience written in the law of Moses has come to pass because we have disobeyed Your law. Yet we have not appeased Jehovah our God by breaking with our sins and turning to the keeping of Your truth. Therefore God deliberately crushed us with the calamity He prepared—and He is just and holy in everything He does—because we have not obeyed His Truth.
COMMENT
Dan 9:1-2 IN THE FIRST YEAR OF DARIUS THE SON OF AHASUREUS . . . We have discussed the identity of Darius the Mede in chapter 5, Dan 5:31, and concluded that he is the “Gubaru” of the Nabonidus Chronicle. Mr. Whitcomb, author of Darius, The Mede, says, “The fact that no cuneiform text known to us mentions the name of Gubaru’s father is no evidence that his father could not have been Ahasuerus.” Gubaru (Darius, the Mede) was appointed king of Chaldea and Babylon in the same year that Cyrus conquered it, 539–538 B.C. This then, was the year that Daniel was studying the “books” concerning the duration of the captivities.
The term “books” does not mean the entire O.T. canon. Destructive critics would like to have it to mean this in order to claim that the O.T. canon was already complete when the book of Daniel was being written thus making the composition of the book of Daniel as late as 200 B.C. Leupold says, “the article before ‘books’ according to Hebrew usage, need imply nothing more than the idea of the books requisite for the passage involved (i.e. Jeremiah).” There is a quotation from “Jeremiah” made by Jesus in Mat 27:9 ff. which contains some phrases from the book of Zechariah. This probably indicates that more than one prophet’s work was recorded on one scroll—thus one scroll contain two or more “books.” As a matter of fact, many ancient Hebrew manuscripts have what is called the book of The ‘Twelve (all of the Minor Prophets on one scroll). It is highly probable that Daniel had a scroll of Jeremiah in his hand which also had other books written on the same scroll, but Daniel was studying Jeremiah. The passage that caught his attention was Jer 25:9-11, “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy-years.” The desolation began with the captivity of Daniel in 606 B.C. and the first devastation of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. So, in the first year of Darius (538 B.C.), the 70 years (536 B.C.) would be almost completed. The above dates are in harmony with 2Ch 36:21-23 and Ezr 1:1 ff which speak of the “first year of Cyrus (which was 539–538 B.C.). Some regard the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 as the point from which the 70 years are to be reckoned. But if this be so, Daniel would hardly feel that now, in the first year of Darius, the 70 years were very soon coming to completion and be in fervent prayer about it.
Dan 9:3-6 AND I SET MY FACE UNTO THE LORD GOD . . . WE HAVE SINNED . . . Daniel knows only too well that the cause for the captivity is the stubborn, deliberate rebellion and sin of the people. He sees that the time appointed by God for the captivity is about complete. He knows that the majority of the people still have not turned to God, so he sets himself in earnest, soul-baring prayer as he confesses his sin and those of his people. His main concern is not to know the precise meaning of the number 70; it is to implore Jehovah God for the complete, full and merciful cleansing and pardon for their sin. This is very important in understanding the answer the angel gives to Daniel’s prayer! For the answer is not precise in delineating the 70 sevens, calendar-wise, but the answer emphasizes the fact that complete forgiveness is in the future.
That Daniel was in earnest is indicated by the fact that he fasted and humbled himself in sackcloth and ashes—the customary attire for a Jew who wished to subdue the flesh in order to concentrate upon the spiritual.
Daniel salutes God as One who by mighty acts of supernatural character chastens and punishes sinful people. Then he praises God for His manifestations of absolute faithfulness in keeping His covenants (Word) to those who love Him. It is in this way God expresses His lovingkindness to those who love Him. Those who love Him keep His commandments (cf. I John).
The prophet uses four-synonyms for sin in order to emphasize the stubborn deliberations of it. Jer_6:16-19 indicates the rebelliousness of their attitude toward God and toward the prophets who spoke God’s message. See also Ezekiel, chapter 2 and 3. Their sin was not one of ignorance—it was willful disobedience. They loved to have it so! Thus the enormity of the nation’s sin! Those who have no love for the truth, but take pleasure in unrighteousness, God will allow them to have deluded minds, if they so desire. This impudent, arrogant, wicked people would not listen to the true prophets who predicted punishment—they listened to false prophets who cried, “Peace, peace, when there was no peace.”
Dan 9:7-11 . . . NEITHER HAVE WE OBEYED THE VOICE OF JEHOVAH OUR GOD, TO WALK IN HIS LAWS, WHICH HE SET BEFORE US BY HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS . . . THEREFORE HATH THE CURSE BEEN POURED OUT UPON US . . . It is evident from this prayer of Daniel that he thought the time of the captivity was about to be prolonged on account of the sins of his countrymen and he besought the Lord for mercy. It is a prayer of confession. The word confession is in the Greek is homologeo which means “to say the same as . . .” In the case of Daniel’s confession he is saying the same as God about rebellion against God’s will and the consequences of such rebellion. Daniel is admitting (confessing) that God is completely justified in bringing upon the people of Israel this captivity because this was the warning of God when the law was given to Moses (cf. Deut. chaps. 28, 29, 30). The phrase “poured out” is similar to that of the “pouring out” of the vials of wrath which symbolize the wrathful judgments of God depicted in the Book of Revelation (Rev 16:1-4). What the Jews were enduring in their captivities was what they deserved, and what God, through Moses, warned them would come if they should not hearken to the “prophets” of God.
Dan 9:12-14 AND HE HATH CONFIRMED HIS WORDS . . . YET HAVE WE NOT ENTREATED . . . And now, Daniel is frightened. In spite of the chastening of the captivity for their former sins, they have not, for the most part, “entreated” the favor of God. They have not “mollified” God. The verb translated “entreated” means literally “to make the face sweet.” They had not sweetened the face of God toward themselves by turning from their sinful ways in repentance and obeyed the will of God as expressed through His prophets. If they had, God would have removed the evil of captivity from them. They are in the same attitude toward God as before the captivity, so Daniel prays that the captivity not be prolonged.
God confirmed His Word as truly inviolable with the captivities of Israel and Judah. What God promises and warns will surely come to pass! The overthrow of the covenant people (both of Israel and Judah) involved an amount of cruelty and suffering that no other case in history could claim! Just one illustration of such unparalleled degradation is in Deu 28:53-57 where it is predicted that as a consequence of disobedience to God’s law the covenant people will actually be driven to eat the flesh of their own children! It was fulfilled literally in 2Ki 6:24-31 for Israel and in Jer 19:9 for Judah! God means what He says!
There is no unfairness or unrighteousness in God’s actions. He has done only what He said He would do, and gave ample warning and abundant help in providing a way to escape His judgment. Despite all this, the covenant people did not, and were not in Daniel’s time, hearkening unto Him, so their guilt, therefore, is all the greater.
QUIZ
1. How could Darius the Mede be the son of Ahasuerus?
2. Why would destructive critics like to have the term “books” mean the entire O.T. canon? What does the
term mean?
3. When were the 70 years of Israel’s captivity to end?
4. What is very important in understanding the answer the angel gives to Daniel’s prayer (information
concerning the 70 weeks)?
5. Why is Daniel praying about the people’s sin in the present tense?
6. How were God’s words concerning His judgment confirmed?
Daniel 9:15-19
b. REQUEST
TEXT: Dan 9:15-19
15 And now O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and thy wrath, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies sake.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
QUERIES
a. Why remind God of His mighty work in delivering Israel from Egypt?
b. Why Daniel’s interest in the holy city and the sanctuary?
c. Why pray all this “for thy great mercies sake?”
PARAPHRASE (Daniel 9:15-19)
And now, O Lord our God, my petition for my people. You brought great renown to your name when You delivered Your people from Egypt with a display of miraculous power. And now, though we of the captivity have sinned so terribly and are full of wickedness, have mercy and deliver Your people again as before. O Lord, I beseech You, as is befitting Your absolute righteousness and merciful love, withdraw Your wrath from Your city Jerusalem, the city which You consecrated for Your purposes. All the heathen nations round about us speak derogatory things of us and they reproach Your holy Name because Your city lies in ruins as a result of our sins, and sins of our fathers. We deserve our chastening but, I pray that You will hear Your servant’s prayer, Lord, and let Your face radiate in benevolence and good-will upon Your sanctified city, restoring it to its former glory only to establish Your glory, O Lord. O my God, bend down Your ear and listen to my plea. Open Your eyes and direct your gaze upon our wretchedness, and see the desolation of the city which is Yours. We do not ask because we deserve anything but simply in order that Your righteousness and mercifulness may be displayed before the nations. O Lord, hear me I plead; O Lord forgive your penitent people I pray; O Lord, act on behalf of Your own glory—Your people and Your city bear Your name and our Love for You cannot bear to hear You reproached because of our humiliation.
COMMENT
Dan 9:15-19 . . . WE DO NOT PRESENT OUR SUPPLICATIONS BEFORE THEE FOR OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT FOR THY GREAT MERCIES SAKE . . . This is the key phrase of the entire second half of Daniel’s beautiful prayer. The deep humiliation and concern for God’s glory must serve as a model for the attitude in all true prayer!
Daniel begins his petition to the Lord in the attitude that above all else he wishes the Lord to act to glorify His Own Holy Name just as He did in His miraculous deliverance of weak, humiliated, sinful Israel from Egypt.
The next concern (Dan_9:16) is that God withdraw His desolation of the Holy City and Holy Land and Holy People, not from any selfish motive on Daniel’s part, but in order that God’s righteousness, mercifulness and power may be vindicated before the eye of the heathen world which has taken great delight in mocking Jehovah God and Jehovah’s people because of their seeming powerlessness at the heathen’s hands.
Dan 9:17-19 are emphatic repetitions of Daniel’s concern that only the glory of God be upheld. Daniel is not concerned that the people be delivered in order to enjoy physical ease and comfort. Daniel is not interested that the people be delivered in order that their wounded pride be avenged. His only interest is that God’s holiness and faithfulness be vindicated. After all, sinning man deserves only judgment. If he is delivered at all, it will be entirely due to the very nature of God—His mercifulness and loving-kindness.
This is the whole point of prayer! God seeks contrition and penitence in prayer in order that He may do for man what He has made up His mind to do for man all along! It is not the eloquence of man’s prayers, nor the quantity of them that move God to action—if this were so, answer would come on the basis of merit. It is the attitude! Prayer does not change things—men are changed, they are so changed that they are driven to their knees in deep contrition an dependence; and God can then act as He has said He would act, and wants to act, from the beginning of the world. God cannot act to bless any man if that man does not pray, believing, trusting, repenting. It is not God who changes—it is man who changes. Man changes and God acts. God also acts when man does not change to conform to His will, but this action (judgment) is simply in accordance with what God has said He will do when man refuses to repent.
Daniel’s prayer that God will act in the interest of His Own Perfect Will is as God wishes. God only wants us to be better than we are, but He knows that this can only come as a result of man’s seeking to glorify his Creator and Redeemer. So it is that God acts to glorify His Own Name, not out of selfish egotism, but in order to bless His creation and His creatures. One has only to read such passages as Eze 20:9; Eze 20:14; Eze 20:22;
Eze 20:44 to understand that God acts for the sake of His Own Name. The inevitable result of God acting to glorify His name is that the man who accepts and acts in accordance with God’s way is thereby made a partaker of God’s glory (cf. 2Pe 1:3-4).
And this is the way Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven . . .” Jesus is our divine example in sacrificing oneself wholly to glorify God (cf. John 17).
In answer to his prayer Daniel receives, not just an interpretation of a phrase in Jeremiah’s book, but an unfolding of God’s program for the ages, which is in effect this: Not only am I, the Lord, going to fulfill this promise of deliverance after 70 years of captivity, but I am going to fulfill all my promises, and this is the pattern after which they shall be fulfilled (as outlined in the succeeding Dan 9:20-27).
QUIZ
1. What is the key phrase of this second part of Daniel’s prayer?
2. What historical action of God does Daniel use as the basis of his prayer?
3. What is Daniel’s main emphasis in his prayer?
4. Why do we say God does not change but that man must?
5. What other scripture express the idea that God always acts to glorify His Own Name?
6. When man, by faith accepts the above premise and acts in accordance with it, what is the inevitable result?
7. What example do we have to show that glorifying God is our mission?
Daniel 9:20-27
c. REVELATION
TEXT: Dan 9:20-27
20 And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21 yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he instructed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding.
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth, and I am come to tell thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.
24 Seventy weeks are decreed upon they people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
25 Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.
26 And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
27 And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate.
QUERIES
a. What are all the things God intends to complete by the end of “seventy weeks?”
b. Who is the “prince” to be anointed after 69 weeks?
c. Who is the “prince” whose people come to destroy the city?
PARAPHRASE (Daniel 9:20-27)
Even while I was praying and confessing my sin and the sins of my people, and desperately pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, His Holy Mountain, His angel Gabriel appeared to me as a man (this is the messenger of God I had seen in the earlier vision) and flew swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice, and said to me, Daniel, I am here to reveal to you the plans of God for His people and to help you to understand what is to come to pass concerning them. The very moment you began praying, a decree was issued by God concerning all you have prayed and longed for. I am here to tell you what it is—God has greatly honored you for your trust and faith in Him and He desires that you know these things.
The Lord has commanded that, counting from the time of an edict to go forth and rebuild Jerusalem, seventy sevens shall transpire before all the glorious spiritual blessings of the Messianic age are fulfilled. There will be fulfilled at the end of this time such transgressions as will climax all transgressions, killing the Messiah; the power given to overcome sin; the work done of reconciling estranged sinners back to God; the imputation by grace of righteousness to sinful men; the accreditation of God’s predictions through His prophets by the fulfillment of their prophecies; and the anointing of a Most Holy Messiah. I want you to know that counting from the year in which the principal increment of your people return from their captivities to rebuild and restore Jerusalem, there shall be seven sevens and forty-two sevens (a total of sixty-nine sevens) before the Messiah is anointed. During this period Jerusalem will have to suffer many perilous times while she is rebuilding. Sometime after the sixty-nine sevens the anointed Messiah will be slain and buried as a pauper. As a consequence of the Holy City slaying its anointed One, the people of a foreign emperor will come and destroy the Holy City and the Holy Sanctuary—this also after the sixty-nine sevens. A flood of destruction shall come upon the Holy City which has slain its Messiah, and war and desolation shall continue to flood upon this city until its end. The anointed One shall cause a strong and everlasting covenant to be established with many for one seven. And actually it shall be in the middle of that seventieth seven that the Anointed One shall bring to an end the sacrifices and oblations of Old Covenant by His own efficacious death. And the foreign ruler whose people come to destroy the city, will utterly destroy the Holy Sanctuary of those who killed the Anointed One, because that Sanctuary has become an abomination in the eyes of God. And the wrath of God shall pour forth upon this City and Sanctuary, and their devastation shall continue until God determines it shall end.
COMMENT
Dan 9:20-23 . . . WHILE I WAS SPEAKING IN PRAYER . . . THE MAN GABRIEL . . . INSTRUCTED ME . . . While he is in the very midst of his prayer, Daniel is approached by the angel Gabriel, come in human form, to deliver God’s answer to his prayer. The interesting thing about the answer is that it came before Daniel was through praying. Furthermore, the angel reported that God’s decree to accomplish what Daniel was praying for went forth at the very moment Daniel opened his mouth and began to pray! God knows what we have need of before we ask it. But God also knows that our greatest need is to ask for it! As long as a man is self-confident and self-dependent, he is in no position morally, intellectually or spiritually to receive. He only demands and spends whatever may come his way in goodness to confirm himself in his egotism. Repetitious prayers, like the heathens’, are vain and useless, simply because they are used by men to support their own vanity, and are used to seek the blessings of God by meritious repetition of prayers and self-righteousness. Therefore, be assured that the “things” you pray for are no problem with God. He can give you exceeding abundantly above all you can possibly ask or think (cf. Eph_3:20), if the power of utter, total, unreserved faith in Him abides in you. The problem is not what you need—the need is you resting on the Everlasting Arms.
Dan 9:24 SEVENTY WEEKS ARE DECREED UPON THY PEOPLE . . . It would be difficult to exaggerate the significance of this passage (Dan 9:24-27) in the teachings of Dispensationalists and Pre-millenialists! It is often appealed to as definite proof that the entire “Church age” is a parenthesis in the prophetic program. The “Church age” is supposed to occur between the events listed in Dan 9:26 and the events listed in Dan 9:27. The twenty-seventh verse of this chapter concerns the “seventieth week” which is supposed to be, according to Dispensationalists, the Millennium (or the 1000 years of Revelation 20).
We have found three excellent discussions of this so-called difficult passage (Prophecy And The Church, by Oswald T, Allis; The King Of Kings, by E. V. Zollars, a Restoration Reprint from College Press; and The Prophecy of Daniel, by Edward J. Young) from which we shall borrow in our comments on this section.
The word translated “weeks” is literally, “sevens.” It should be paraphrased, “Sevens—and in fact seventy of them are decreed . . . etc.” The correct interpretation, however, in light of other key passages (Eze 4:6, etc.) used to form the “year-day theory” is probably, “Seventy weeks-of-years (i.e. 7 years × 70) are decreed, etc. . . .”
Thus these 490 years express in the form of Divine revelation that a definite period of time has been decreed for the accomplishment of all that which is necessary for the “restoration of the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,” which is a messianic term in itself. Within this definite period of time will be finished all the plan of God’s redemption of man which he made known through the prophets to the fathers through divers portions and divers manners, (cf. Heb 1:1 ff).
a. Transgression would be finished: That is, the cup of iniquity of the Jewish people would be filled to the brim. They would reject the Messiah. The full height and depth of their iniquity was yet to be shown but would be shown within the 490 years. In putting the Messiah to death they reached the culmination of all their wickedness. No greater sin was possible. (Mat 23:32; 1Th 2:16).
b. In the death of the Messiah God will triumph over man’s rebellion and give the power, judicial and experiential, to conquer sin. He will, by a sovereign decree of grace, punish all sin in His Son (2Co 5:17 ff.), and offer to man a way (faith) to overcome his rebellion. All sin, even that done aforetime, was done away with in the death of Christ (cf. Rom 3:21-26; Heb 9:15-28).
c. To reconcile man to God’s will and way, God took the initiative and presented His Son as an atonement. Man hardened his heart toward God’s goodness and estranged himself from God. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . . and man’s heart is broken and he is drawn to God by the love of the Son. (Col 1:20-21).
d. The work of the Messiah would also bring in everlasting righteousness. There are two aspects of this righteousness; imputed righteousness, that is, the righteousness which God declares we have which we do not merit; and practiced righteousness, which we are promoted to do by faith and love in God as He reveals to us in His Book the way of righteous living. (Rom 1:17; 1Ti 6:18).
e. With the accomplishment of the work of the Messiah in fulfilling God’s prophesied plan of redemption, prophecy was confirmed, fulfilled, validated and thus sealed up—paid in full! (Act 3:24; 1Pe 1:10-11).
f. The anointing of the Messiah is to be accomplished during this period of time. The phrase occurs without the definite article and therefore means the anointing of a most holy “thing”—not place. Literally it should read, “the anointing of holiness of holinesses.” (Acts 1:38).
Allis, in Prophecy And The Church, indicates that there are points of agreement and points of difference between those who interpret the prophecy of the 70 weeks traditionally and those who interpret it dispensationally. Points of agreement are: (1) the 70 weeks represent weeks-of-years, a total of 490 years; (2) Only one period of weeks is described, as is proved by the fact that the subdivisions (7 + 62 + 1) when added together give a total of 70; (3) the “anointed one, the prince (Dan 9:25) and the “anointed one” (Dan 9:26) are the same person, the Messiah; (4) The first 69 weeks or 483 years had their terminus in the period of the first advent; their fulfillment is long past. Now the points of difference revolve around two significant questions: (1) Have the great events described in Dan 9:24 been fulfilled, or is their accomplishment still future?; (2) Is the 70th week past, or is it still to come?
Now the dispensationalists insist that all the events of Dan 9:24 are still in the future. They say, for example, “to make an end of sins” means to eliminate moral evil completely from this world. The reason the dispensationalists must insist that Dan_9:24 refers to the future is quite clear. If the fulfillment of the prophecy is still incomplete, and if the predictions relating to the 69 weeks had their fulfillment centuries ago, then the 70th week must be still future. Therefore, there must be an interval between the end of the 69th week and the beginning of the 70th week; and the entire Church age can be regarded as forming a “parenthesis” at this point.
So we must deal with the first difference now. Have the great events described in Dan_9:24 been fulfilled, or is their accomplishment in the future? In the light of plain N.T. teaching we cannot abide the idea that these events are in the future! We must resist such an idea with vigor. The N.T., especially the treatise to the Hebrews, represents all these transactions (Dan_9:24) as having been fulfilled at the first advent—in the great climactic event of the plan of God’s redemption at Calvary. Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice, the one and only sacrifice, made for all time which is able to perfect for all time those who are being sanctified by it (Heb 10:12-14). One should read the entire book of Hebrews, along with the book of Galatians, to understand that a return to Jewish law and Jewish sacrifices would be apostasy! Heb 9:28—“ . . . so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Notice that at Christ’s second advent He is not going “to deal with sin” for sin has already been dealt with! Certainly the N.T. teaches that Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the anti-type the confirmation of all prophecy! If Corinthians Dan 1:20, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God.” How more specific could it be stated that Christ is the goal of all the promises of God! “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev 19:11). “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Co 5:21).
The “traditional” and in our opinion, the scriptural view is that all these events (Dan 9:24) were fulfilled and completed in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ and the establishment of the church.
Dan 9:25 KNOW THEREFORE . . . THAT FROM THE GOING FORTH OF THE COMMANDMENT . . . UNTO THE ANOINTED ONE . . . SHALL BE SEVEN WEEKS, AND THREESCORE AND TWO . . . We must clearly understand that the fact (based squarely upon N.T. teaching) that all the six items presented in Dan_9:24 are Messianic settles the terminating point of the prophecy and the 70 weeks as well! The termination of the 70 sevens coincides then, not with the times of Antiochus, nor with the end of the present age, the second advent of Christ, but with His first advent! When Christ ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit descended, there remained not one of the six items of Dan 9:24 that was not fully accomplished.
Now, Dan 9:25, we are told exactly how many years shall intervene between the return of the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the “anointed One,” the Messiah. That expiration of time shall total 69 weeks-of-years (69 × 7 = 483 years). This prophecy was fulfilled in a marvelously accurate way.
There are only four events that can be taken as answering to “the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” (1) The decree of Cyrus, 536 B.C., Ezr 1:2-4. This was the decree for the building of the temple but did not include the authorization in restore the Jewish commonwealth. (2) The decree of Darius, 518 B.C., a decree for the further prosecution of the work permitted by Cyrus which seems to have been hindered. It was a repetition of the first decree, and did not authorize the re-establishment of the Jewish commonwealth. (3) The decree of Artaxerxes, 457 B.C. The seventh year are Artaxerxes was the year 457 B.C. and is confirmed by concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses. An exact copy of this decree is found in the seventh chapter of Ezra. It is written in Aramaic, which was spoken in Babylon at the time. The rest of the Book of Ezra is written in Hebrew. There is something very significant in the preservation of the original form of this decree, and when we see how much depends upon it, we may regard it as providential. By this decree permission was granted to Ezra to go up to Jerusalem, taking as many as he desired that were willing to go. It also was granted him unlimited treasure. It empowered him to ordain laws, set magistrates and judges who had authority to execute punishments—confiscation, banishment and even the infliction of the death penalty were included. In other words, Ezra was authorized to restore the commonwealth, and means were placed at his disposal to enable him to do so. (4) The fourth decree was given to Nehemiah 444 B.C. The purpose of Nehemiah’s going was to assist in accomplishing the work undertaken by Ezra which was being retarded. He accomplished his mission in 52 days after arrived at Jerusalem (Neh 6:15).
Now it is evident that the decree given to Ezra in 457 B.C. is the one authorizing the restoring and rebuilding of Jerusalem. Actually the three decrees (Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes) may really be regarded as one decree, that of Artaxerxes being the principal one in that his decree authorized the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth. It is so regarded by Ezra (cf. Ezr 6:14). Therefore, the decree of Artaxerxes must be regarded as the one referred to by the angel in the words, “from the going forth of the commanded,” and fixes our date from which to reckon.
Reckoning from 457 B.C., the first 7 sevens (7 × 7, or 49 weeks-of-years) we should arrive at the date of 408 B.C. for the accomplishment of the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth. The date 408 B.C. accords accurately with historic facts. This was the time the work was completed! This restoration was accomplished in troublous times, as the Biblical record bears out (see Nehemiah, Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, etc.).
Furthermore, if we reckon from 408 B.C., the next period of time, 62 sevens (62 × 7 weeks-of-years) or 434 years, we come down to the year 26 A.D. as the close of the second period. The close of this second period brings us to the Messiah (“the prince”) according to the prophecy. This was the 30th year of Christ’s life, since there is an error of four years in the calendar, as is well known. At this time (26 A.D.) Jesus began his public ministry (Luk_3:23), when he was about 30 years of age. When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, the Spirit of God in the form of a dove descended upon him, and a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son; in whom I am well pleased.” Immediately Christ entered upon His work. He was now the Anointed One. Here the second period of the “70 weeks-of-years” (the 434 years) ends.
Dan 9:26-27 AND AFTER THE THREESCORE AND TWO WEEKS SHALL THE ANOINTED ONE BE CUT OFF . . . AND IN THE MIDST OF THE WEEK HE SHALL CAUSE THE SACRIFICE . . . TO CEASE . . . The third period of the “70 weeks-of-years” consists of but one seven (or seven years). This is the long debated 70th week. The “cutting off” of the anointed one and his causing sacrifice and oblation to cease are coincidental—therefore his cutting off is determined to be “in the midst of the week” (in the midst of the 70th week). This settles once for all that the 70th week is not waiting for Christ’s second advent!
Dispensationalists are fond of the illustration of a clock. The ticking clock, they tell us, represents Jewish time. The mystery parenthesis is “time out.” God only counts time in dealing with Israel, when the people are in the land, according to them. Some add to this the further specification, when “they are governed by God.” Neither of these requirements is met by the interval which they find here in the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Consequently, the clock ceased to tick at the time of the triumphal entry. It will not tick again until that moment, still future, when God resumes His direct dealings with Israel (the Millennium). This will be when the Jews are once more in their own land. It will follow the rapture and be marked by the appearance of the (in some interpretations) resurrected Roman prince. So those of us who live now in the so-called “Church age” exist, as far as God’s time-clock is concerned, in a sort of “suspended animation,” while God’s time stands still.
It seems incredible that if the 69 weeks are exactly 483 consecutive years, exact to the very day, as dispensationalists admit, and if the 1 week is to be exactly 7 consecutive years, that an interval (a parenthesis) which is already more than 1900 years, nearly four times as long as the period covered by the prophecy, is to be introduced into this whole prophecy and be allowed to interrupt its fulfillment. It seems very much more plausible that since the 62 weeks are regarded as following directly on the 7, that the last week is to follow immediately on the 62.
There are two very serious objections to the “Jewish time-clock theory.” (1) Israel was still in the land for nearly 40 years after the death of Christ. In other words, Israel was still in the land for nearly 40 years (to 70 A.D.) after the clock stopped ticking! (2) And, if the clock could only tick when Israel was “governed by God” can we say this condition was really fulfilled at any time during the period of the 69 weeks? The “times of the Gentiles” are regarded by Dispensationalists as beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem. This entire period, then, was distinctly not a period when Israel was “governed by God.” If the clock represents “Jewish” time, with Israel in the land and governed by God, how then could it tick at all during the entire period from 606 B.C. to 30 A.D.? What the Dispensationalists really have is a parenthesis (“times of the Gentiles” beginning with Nebuchadnezzar) within which they have placed another parenthesis (the so-called “Church” age). On Dispensational principles the one parenthesis is no more entitled to be called Jewish time than is the other. If the clock could tick during part of the “times of the Gentiles”, it could tick during the whole of it! If the clock stops ticking at 30 A.D., instead of 70 A.D., it does so quite arbitrarily. For Israel continued to be in their land and under foreign rulers during these 40 years (30–70 A.D.), quite as much as from 457 B.C. to 30 A.D.
What then of the 70th week? To sum up so far, the 70th week follows immediately upon the 69th week—there is no parenthesis. In the midst of the 70th week the anointed one is cut off. That much we know. His “cutting off” and His “causing sacrifice and oblation to cease” are one and the same thing. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, the law of Moses in its entirety was nailed to the cross with Him, for He fulfilled its penalty and its purpose
(cf. Col 2:13-15; 2Co 3:7 ff; Eph 2:13-16, etc.). The very emphatic argument of the whole book of Hebrews is that Christ, by His death, did abolish the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. (cf. Heb 7:11; Heb 8:13; Heb 9:25-26; Heb 10:8-9).
Christ was actually crucified in the middle of the last prophetic week, (in the midst of the 70th seven) or three and one-half years after the beginning of his public ministry, thus fulfilling this part of the prophecy to the letter.
Only the last half of the 70th seven (3½ years) is left now to be accounted for. It is our opinion that the historic fact that for about three and one-half years after the death of Christ the gospel privileges were confined to the Jews by reason of providence, the prophecy that 490 years would be allotted to the Jews is finally fulfilled completely!
Some think the references in Dan 9:26-27 to “the people of the prince that shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary . . .” and “desolations,” and “upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate, etc.” forces the termination of the 70th seven to be the terrible destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Emperor Titus Vespasian in 700 A.D. While we believe the statements quoted above from Dan_9:26-27 do predict this Roman desolation of Jerusalem, we do not believe that it is necessary to find the termination of the 70th week in this destruction. This destruction of the city and the sanctuary was a consequence of the Jews “cutting off” their Messiah, but its accomplishment extends to a time beyond the strict limits of the 70th week. We quote in full from Prophecy and The Church, by Allis, pgs. 114–115 where the difficulty with forcing the destruction of Jerusalem to be the termination of the 70th week is discussed thoroughly:
A difficulty with this interpretation is to be found in the fact that it does not clearly define the terminus of the 70th week. Unless the view is taken that “in the midst of the week” means “in the second half” of it, and even at the end of that half, the end is not definitely fixed. It seems very unlikely that if “in the midst” really meant “at the end,” it would have been described in this way. On the other hand if “in the midst” is taken in its natural sense, a half-week, or three and a half years, remains to be accounted for after the crucifixion. Many interpreters regard this as referring to the period of the founding of the Church and the preaching of the gospel exclusively to the Jews, a period ending with or about the time of the martyrdom of Stephen. Others hold that the period of three and a half years was graciously extended to some 35 years, to the date of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a reference to which is found in Dan_9:26. Both of these explanations may be regarded as possible.
With regard to the claim that the prophecy extends to the date of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 it is to be noted that while the language of Dan_9:26 may seem to favor this, it does not require it. Dan 9:26 speaks of events which will come “after the threescore and two weeks.” Of these events it mentions first the cutting off of Messiah, which Dan 9:27 describes as taking place in the midst of the week. Then it speaks of the destruction of the city and sanctuary and finally of an “end” or an “end of war,” which is a very indefinite expression. Dan 9:27 declares that a covenant is to be made firm for “one week,” that “in the midst of the week” someone will cause sacrifice and oblation to cease. Then it goes on to speak of the coming of a “desolator” and of a “full end.” None of the predictions of desolation and vengeance contained in these verses can be regarded as so definitely included in the program outlined in Dan 9:24 that we can assert with confidence that they must be regarded as fulfilled within the compass of the 70 weeks. They are consequences of the cutting off; they may be regarded as involved in it, but their accomplishment may extend, and if this interpretation is correct, clearly does extend beyond the strict limits of the 70 weeks, since the destruction of Jerusalem was much more than three and a half years after the crucifixion. But, in either case, the great climactic event of the last week was the crucifixion which took place “in the midst” of that week. So interpreted there can be no interval between the 69th and the 70th weeks.
There is no doubt that Jesus was predicting the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D. when He quoted Daniel’s “abomination of desolation” in Mat 24:15-28. This desolation was to pour forth upon this city and its devastation would continue until God determined it was ended. For a graphic account of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. read the Antiquities of Josephus. Josephus himself interprets the event as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel.
But what is “the firm covenant with many” to be made for one week by the anointed one? It means that during the brief period of His earthly ministry and the infancy of the church (while the gospel was just beginning to be preached to the Jews) Jesus fulfilled the terms of the ancient covenant made with the seed of Abraham (cf. Rom 15:8), that He secured its benefits to “many,” (even the pouring out of the Spirit as prophesied by Joel), for the period up to the stoning of Stephen (or, if you prefer, perhaps in mercy until the time of the destruction of Jerusalem—at which time the “new covenant” which was in fact only the full unfolding of the old covenant and made no distinction between Jew and Gentile, went fully into effect through the destruction of the temple and of Jewish national existence). (Heb 8:13; Heb 9:15).
Edward J. Young’s interpretation of the 70th seven is that the termination of the last week is indefinite. We quote from The Prophecy of Daniel, by Edward J. Young, pp. 220–221.
CHAPTER NINE
III. THE PRAYER, THE PRINCE, AND PROSPERITY—Dan 9:1-27
a. REPENTANCE
TEXT: Dan 9:1-14
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasureus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,
2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolation of Jerusalem, even seventy years.
3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
4 And I prayed unto Jehovah my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him, and keep his commandments,
5 we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy precepts and from thine ordinances;
6 neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him;
10 neither have we obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside, that they should not obey thy voice: therefore hath the curse been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against him.
12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet have we not entreated the favor of Jehovah our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in thy truth.
14 Therefore hath Jehovah watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth, and we have not obeyed his voice.
QUERIES
a. Why was Daniel studying the “books” concerning the captivity?
b. Why confess sins now after almost 70 years in captivity?
c. Does Dan 9:13 mean they had not prayed to God in the captivity?
PARAPHRASE (Daniel 9:1-14)
It was now the first year of the reign of Gubaru (king Darius, the son of Ahasuerus), 539–538 B.C. (Daruis was a Mede but was appointed king of the province of Chaldea by Cyrus). During that first year of his reign I, Daniel, was studying the scroll of Jeremiah the prophet, and learned that the time for the captivities of the Jews and the desolation of their land and holy city, Jerusalem, was seventy years, and thus very near its end. I fasted, donned sackcloth and ashes, and I pleaded with the Lord concerning the end of our captivities. I confessed my sins and those of my people, praying, O Lord, you are a great and awesome God; You always fulfill Your promises and keep Your covenants, returning love to those who love You and keep Your commandments. But we have sinned against You every way possible. We have been perverse, stubborn, wicked, rebellious, disobedient to Your precepts and commandments; we did not even pay attention to the prophets when You sent them to speak to our leaders and to us. O Lord, You are altogether righteous and holy, but we are shame-faced with sin to this very day. All of Your covenant people—the men of Judah, Jerusalem and all Israel—scattered all over by Your righteous judgment for their sins, they are even now shamefaced with sin. But the Lord our God is merciful, and pardons even those who have rebelled against Him. O Lord, our God, we have disobeyed You; we have flouted all the laws You gave us through Your servants, the prophets. All Israel has disobeyed; we have deliberately turned away from You and refused to listen to Your voice. As a consequence the curse of God—pronounced in the law of Moses—has been poured out upon us. And You have done exactly as You warned us You would; for never in all history has there been a disaster like what happened at Jerusalem to us and our rulers. Every curse against disobedience written in the law of Moses has come to pass because we have disobeyed Your law. Yet we have not appeased Jehovah our God by breaking with our sins and turning to the keeping of Your truth. Therefore God deliberately crushed us with the calamity He prepared—and He is just and holy in everything He does—because we have not obeyed His Truth.
COMMENT
Dan 9:1-2 IN THE FIRST YEAR OF DARIUS THE SON OF AHASUREUS . . . We have discussed the identity of Darius the Mede in chapter 5, Dan 5:31, and concluded that he is the “Gubaru” of the Nabonidus Chronicle. Mr. Whitcomb, author of Darius, The Mede, says, “The fact that no cuneiform text known to us mentions the name of Gubaru’s father is no evidence that his father could not have been Ahasuerus.” Gubaru (Darius, the Mede) was appointed king of Chaldea and Babylon in the same year that Cyrus conquered it, 539–538 B.C. This then, was the year that Daniel was studying the “books” concerning the duration of the captivities.
The term “books” does not mean the entire O.T. canon. Destructive critics would like to have it to mean this in order to claim that the O.T. canon was already complete when the book of Daniel was being written thus making the composition of the book of Daniel as late as 200 B.C. Leupold says, “the article before ‘books’ according to Hebrew usage, need imply nothing more than the idea of the books requisite for the passage involved (i.e. Jeremiah).” There is a quotation from “Jeremiah” made by Jesus in Mat 27:9 ff. which contains some phrases from the book of Zechariah. This probably indicates that more than one prophet’s work was recorded on one scroll—thus one scroll contain two or more “books.” As a matter of fact, many ancient Hebrew manuscripts have what is called the book of The ‘Twelve (all of the Minor Prophets on one scroll). It is highly probable that Daniel had a scroll of Jeremiah in his hand which also had other books written on the same scroll, but Daniel was studying Jeremiah. The passage that caught his attention was Jer 25:9-11, “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy-years.” The desolation began with the captivity of Daniel in 606 B.C. and the first devastation of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. So, in the first year of Darius (538 B.C.), the 70 years (536 B.C.) would be almost completed. The above dates are in harmony with 2Ch 36:21-23 and Ezr 1:1 ff which speak of the “first year of Cyrus (which was 539–538 B.C.). Some regard the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 as the point from which the 70 years are to be reckoned. But if this be so, Daniel would hardly feel that now, in the first year of Darius, the 70 years were very soon coming to completion and be in fervent prayer about it.
Dan 9:3-6 AND I SET MY FACE UNTO THE LORD GOD . . . WE HAVE SINNED . . . Daniel knows only too well that the cause for the captivity is the stubborn, deliberate rebellion and sin of the people. He sees that the time appointed by God for the captivity is about complete. He knows that the majority of the people still have not turned to God, so he sets himself in earnest, soul-baring prayer as he confesses his sin and those of his people. His main concern is not to know the precise meaning of the number 70; it is to implore Jehovah God for the complete, full and merciful cleansing and pardon for their sin. This is very important in understanding the answer the angel gives to Daniel’s prayer! For the answer is not precise in delineating the 70 sevens, calendar-wise, but the answer emphasizes the fact that complete forgiveness is in the future.
That Daniel was in earnest is indicated by the fact that he fasted and humbled himself in sackcloth and ashes—the customary attire for a Jew who wished to subdue the flesh in order to concentrate upon the spiritual.
Daniel salutes God as One who by mighty acts of supernatural character chastens and punishes sinful people. Then he praises God for His manifestations of absolute faithfulness in keeping His covenants (Word) to those who love Him. It is in this way God expresses His lovingkindness to those who love Him. Those who love Him keep His commandments (cf. I John).
The prophet uses four-synonyms for sin in order to emphasize the stubborn deliberations of it. Jer_6:16-19 indicates the rebelliousness of their attitude toward God and toward the prophets who spoke God’s message. See also Ezekiel, chapter 2 and 3. Their sin was not one of ignorance—it was willful disobedience. They loved to have it so! Thus the enormity of the nation’s sin! Those who have no love for the truth, but take pleasure in unrighteousness, God will allow them to have deluded minds, if they so desire. This impudent, arrogant, wicked people would not listen to the true prophets who predicted punishment—they listened to false prophets who cried, “Peace, peace, when there was no peace.”
Dan 9:7-11 . . . NEITHER HAVE WE OBEYED THE VOICE OF JEHOVAH OUR GOD, TO WALK IN HIS LAWS, WHICH HE SET BEFORE US BY HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS . . . THEREFORE HATH THE CURSE BEEN POURED OUT UPON US . . . It is evident from this prayer of Daniel that he thought the time of the captivity was about to be prolonged on account of the sins of his countrymen and he besought the Lord for mercy. It is a prayer of confession. The word confession is in the Greek is homologeo which means “to say the same as . . .” In the case of Daniel’s confession he is saying the same as God about rebellion against God’s will and the consequences of such rebellion. Daniel is admitting (confessing) that God is completely justified in bringing upon the people of Israel this captivity because this was the warning of God when the law was given to Moses (cf. Deut. chaps. 28, 29, 30). The phrase “poured out” is similar to that of the “pouring out” of the vials of wrath which symbolize the wrathful judgments of God depicted in the Book of Revelation (Rev 16:1-4). What the Jews were enduring in their captivities was what they deserved, and what God, through Moses, warned them would come if they should not hearken to the “prophets” of God.
Dan 9:12-14 AND HE HATH CONFIRMED HIS WORDS . . . YET HAVE WE NOT ENTREATED . . . And now, Daniel is frightened. In spite of the chastening of the captivity for their former sins, they have not, for the most part, “entreated” the favor of God. They have not “mollified” God. The verb translated “entreated” means literally “to make the face sweet.” They had not sweetened the face of God toward themselves by turning from their sinful ways in repentance and obeyed the will of God as expressed through His prophets. If they had, God would have removed the evil of captivity from them. They are in the same attitude toward God as before the captivity, so Daniel prays that the captivity not be prolonged.
God confirmed His Word as truly inviolable with the captivities of Israel and Judah. What God promises and warns will surely come to pass! The overthrow of the covenant people (both of Israel and Judah) involved an amount of cruelty and suffering that no other case in history could claim! Just one illustration of such unparalleled degradation is in Deu 28:53-57 where it is predicted that as a consequence of disobedience to God’s law the covenant people will actually be driven to eat the flesh of their own children! It was fulfilled literally in 2Ki 6:24-31 for Israel and in Jer 19:9 for Judah! God means what He says!
There is no unfairness or unrighteousness in God’s actions. He has done only what He said He would do, and gave ample warning and abundant help in providing a way to escape His judgment. Despite all this, the covenant people did not, and were not in Daniel’s time, hearkening unto Him, so their guilt, therefore, is all the greater.
QUIZ
1. How could Darius the Mede be the son of Ahasuerus?
2. Why would destructive critics like to have the term “books” mean the entire O.T. canon? What does the
term mean?
3. When were the 70 years of Israel’s captivity to end?
4. What is very important in understanding the answer the angel gives to Daniel’s prayer (information
concerning the 70 weeks)?
5. Why is Daniel praying about the people’s sin in the present tense?
6. How were God’s words concerning His judgment confirmed?
Daniel 9:15-19
b. REQUEST
TEXT: Dan 9:15-19
15 And now O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and thy wrath, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies sake.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
QUERIES
a. Why remind God of His mighty work in delivering Israel from Egypt?
b. Why Daniel’s interest in the holy city and the sanctuary?
c. Why pray all this “for thy great mercies sake?”
PARAPHRASE (Daniel 9:15-19)
And now, O Lord our God, my petition for my people. You brought great renown to your name when You delivered Your people from Egypt with a display of miraculous power. And now, though we of the captivity have sinned so terribly and are full of wickedness, have mercy and deliver Your people again as before. O Lord, I beseech You, as is befitting Your absolute righteousness and merciful love, withdraw Your wrath from Your city Jerusalem, the city which You consecrated for Your purposes. All the heathen nations round about us speak derogatory things of us and they reproach Your holy Name because Your city lies in ruins as a result of our sins, and sins of our fathers. We deserve our chastening but, I pray that You will hear Your servant’s prayer, Lord, and let Your face radiate in benevolence and good-will upon Your sanctified city, restoring it to its former glory only to establish Your glory, O Lord. O my God, bend down Your ear and listen to my plea. Open Your eyes and direct your gaze upon our wretchedness, and see the desolation of the city which is Yours. We do not ask because we deserve anything but simply in order that Your righteousness and mercifulness may be displayed before the nations. O Lord, hear me I plead; O Lord forgive your penitent people I pray; O Lord, act on behalf of Your own glory—Your people and Your city bear Your name and our Love for You cannot bear to hear You reproached because of our humiliation.
COMMENT
Dan 9:15-19 . . . WE DO NOT PRESENT OUR SUPPLICATIONS BEFORE THEE FOR OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT FOR THY GREAT MERCIES SAKE . . . This is the key phrase of the entire second half of Daniel’s beautiful prayer. The deep humiliation and concern for God’s glory must serve as a model for the attitude in all true prayer!
Daniel begins his petition to the Lord in the attitude that above all else he wishes the Lord to act to glorify His Own Holy Name just as He did in His miraculous deliverance of weak, humiliated, sinful Israel from Egypt.
The next concern (Dan_9:16) is that God withdraw His desolation of the Holy City and Holy Land and Holy People, not from any selfish motive on Daniel’s part, but in order that God’s righteousness, mercifulness and power may be vindicated before the eye of the heathen world which has taken great delight in mocking Jehovah God and Jehovah’s people because of their seeming powerlessness at the heathen’s hands.
Dan 9:17-19 are emphatic repetitions of Daniel’s concern that only the glory of God be upheld. Daniel is not concerned that the people be delivered in order to enjoy physical ease and comfort. Daniel is not interested that the people be delivered in order that their wounded pride be avenged. His only interest is that God’s holiness and faithfulness be vindicated. After all, sinning man deserves only judgment. If he is delivered at all, it will be entirely due to the very nature of God—His mercifulness and loving-kindness.
This is the whole point of prayer! God seeks contrition and penitence in prayer in order that He may do for man what He has made up His mind to do for man all along! It is not the eloquence of man’s prayers, nor the quantity of them that move God to action—if this were so, answer would come on the basis of merit. It is the attitude! Prayer does not change things—men are changed, they are so changed that they are driven to their knees in deep contrition an dependence; and God can then act as He has said He would act, and wants to act, from the beginning of the world. God cannot act to bless any man if that man does not pray, believing, trusting, repenting. It is not God who changes—it is man who changes. Man changes and God acts. God also acts when man does not change to conform to His will, but this action (judgment) is simply in accordance with what God has said He will do when man refuses to repent.
Daniel’s prayer that God will act in the interest of His Own Perfect Will is as God wishes. God only wants us to be better than we are, but He knows that this can only come as a result of man’s seeking to glorify his Creator and Redeemer. So it is that God acts to glorify His Own Name, not out of selfish egotism, but in order to bless His creation and His creatures. One has only to read such passages as Eze 20:9; Eze 20:14; Eze 20:22;
Eze 20:44 to understand that God acts for the sake of His Own Name. The inevitable result of God acting to glorify His name is that the man who accepts and acts in accordance with God’s way is thereby made a partaker of God’s glory (cf. 2Pe 1:3-4).
And this is the way Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven . . .” Jesus is our divine example in sacrificing oneself wholly to glorify God (cf. John 17).
In answer to his prayer Daniel receives, not just an interpretation of a phrase in Jeremiah’s book, but an unfolding of God’s program for the ages, which is in effect this: Not only am I, the Lord, going to fulfill this promise of deliverance after 70 years of captivity, but I am going to fulfill all my promises, and this is the pattern after which they shall be fulfilled (as outlined in the succeeding Dan 9:20-27).
QUIZ
1. What is the key phrase of this second part of Daniel’s prayer?
2. What historical action of God does Daniel use as the basis of his prayer?
3. What is Daniel’s main emphasis in his prayer?
4. Why do we say God does not change but that man must?
5. What other scripture express the idea that God always acts to glorify His Own Name?
6. When man, by faith accepts the above premise and acts in accordance with it, what is the inevitable result?
7. What example do we have to show that glorifying God is our mission?
Daniel 9:20-27
c. REVELATION
TEXT: Dan 9:20-27
20 And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21 yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he instructed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding.
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth, and I am come to tell thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.
24 Seventy weeks are decreed upon they people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
25 Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.
26 And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
27 And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate.
QUERIES
a. What are all the things God intends to complete by the end of “seventy weeks?”
b. Who is the “prince” to be anointed after 69 weeks?
c. Who is the “prince” whose people come to destroy the city?
PARAPHRASE (Daniel 9:20-27)
Even while I was praying and confessing my sin and the sins of my people, and desperately pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, His Holy Mountain, His angel Gabriel appeared to me as a man (this is the messenger of God I had seen in the earlier vision) and flew swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice, and said to me, Daniel, I am here to reveal to you the plans of God for His people and to help you to understand what is to come to pass concerning them. The very moment you began praying, a decree was issued by God concerning all you have prayed and longed for. I am here to tell you what it is—God has greatly honored you for your trust and faith in Him and He desires that you know these things.
The Lord has commanded that, counting from the time of an edict to go forth and rebuild Jerusalem, seventy sevens shall transpire before all the glorious spiritual blessings of the Messianic age are fulfilled. There will be fulfilled at the end of this time such transgressions as will climax all transgressions, killing the Messiah; the power given to overcome sin; the work done of reconciling estranged sinners back to God; the imputation by grace of righteousness to sinful men; the accreditation of God’s predictions through His prophets by the fulfillment of their prophecies; and the anointing of a Most Holy Messiah. I want you to know that counting from the year in which the principal increment of your people return from their captivities to rebuild and restore Jerusalem, there shall be seven sevens and forty-two sevens (a total of sixty-nine sevens) before the Messiah is anointed. During this period Jerusalem will have to suffer many perilous times while she is rebuilding. Sometime after the sixty-nine sevens the anointed Messiah will be slain and buried as a pauper. As a consequence of the Holy City slaying its anointed One, the people of a foreign emperor will come and destroy the Holy City and the Holy Sanctuary—this also after the sixty-nine sevens. A flood of destruction shall come upon the Holy City which has slain its Messiah, and war and desolation shall continue to flood upon this city until its end. The anointed One shall cause a strong and everlasting covenant to be established with many for one seven. And actually it shall be in the middle of that seventieth seven that the Anointed One shall bring to an end the sacrifices and oblations of Old Covenant by His own efficacious death. And the foreign ruler whose people come to destroy the city, will utterly destroy the Holy Sanctuary of those who killed the Anointed One, because that Sanctuary has become an abomination in the eyes of God. And the wrath of God shall pour forth upon this City and Sanctuary, and their devastation shall continue until God determines it shall end.
COMMENT
Dan 9:20-23 . . . WHILE I WAS SPEAKING IN PRAYER . . . THE MAN GABRIEL . . . INSTRUCTED ME . . . While he is in the very midst of his prayer, Daniel is approached by the angel Gabriel, come in human form, to deliver God’s answer to his prayer. The interesting thing about the answer is that it came before Daniel was through praying. Furthermore, the angel reported that God’s decree to accomplish what Daniel was praying for went forth at the very moment Daniel opened his mouth and began to pray! God knows what we have need of before we ask it. But God also knows that our greatest need is to ask for it! As long as a man is self-confident and self-dependent, he is in no position morally, intellectually or spiritually to receive. He only demands and spends whatever may come his way in goodness to confirm himself in his egotism. Repetitious prayers, like the heathens’, are vain and useless, simply because they are used by men to support their own vanity, and are used to seek the blessings of God by meritious repetition of prayers and self-righteousness. Therefore, be assured that the “things” you pray for are no problem with God. He can give you exceeding abundantly above all you can possibly ask or think (cf. Eph_3:20), if the power of utter, total, unreserved faith in Him abides in you. The problem is not what you need—the need is you resting on the Everlasting Arms.
Dan 9:24 SEVENTY WEEKS ARE DECREED UPON THY PEOPLE . . . It would be difficult to exaggerate the significance of this passage (Dan 9:24-27) in the teachings of Dispensationalists and Pre-millenialists! It is often appealed to as definite proof that the entire “Church age” is a parenthesis in the prophetic program. The “Church age” is supposed to occur between the events listed in Dan 9:26 and the events listed in Dan 9:27. The twenty-seventh verse of this chapter concerns the “seventieth week” which is supposed to be, according to Dispensationalists, the Millennium (or the 1000 years of Revelation 20).
We have found three excellent discussions of this so-called difficult passage (Prophecy And The Church, by Oswald T, Allis; The King Of Kings, by E. V. Zollars, a Restoration Reprint from College Press; and The Prophecy of Daniel, by Edward J. Young) from which we shall borrow in our comments on this section.
The word translated “weeks” is literally, “sevens.” It should be paraphrased, “Sevens—and in fact seventy of them are decreed . . . etc.” The correct interpretation, however, in light of other key passages (Eze 4:6, etc.) used to form the “year-day theory” is probably, “Seventy weeks-of-years (i.e. 7 years × 70) are decreed, etc. . . .”
Thus these 490 years express in the form of Divine revelation that a definite period of time has been decreed for the accomplishment of all that which is necessary for the “restoration of the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,” which is a messianic term in itself. Within this definite period of time will be finished all the plan of God’s redemption of man which he made known through the prophets to the fathers through divers portions and divers manners, (cf. Heb 1:1 ff).
a. Transgression would be finished: That is, the cup of iniquity of the Jewish people would be filled to the brim. They would reject the Messiah. The full height and depth of their iniquity was yet to be shown but would be shown within the 490 years. In putting the Messiah to death they reached the culmination of all their wickedness. No greater sin was possible. (Mat 23:32; 1Th 2:16).
b. In the death of the Messiah God will triumph over man’s rebellion and give the power, judicial and experiential, to conquer sin. He will, by a sovereign decree of grace, punish all sin in His Son (2Co 5:17 ff.), and offer to man a way (faith) to overcome his rebellion. All sin, even that done aforetime, was done away with in the death of Christ (cf. Rom 3:21-26; Heb 9:15-28).
c. To reconcile man to God’s will and way, God took the initiative and presented His Son as an atonement. Man hardened his heart toward God’s goodness and estranged himself from God. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . . and man’s heart is broken and he is drawn to God by the love of the Son. (Col 1:20-21).
d. The work of the Messiah would also bring in everlasting righteousness. There are two aspects of this righteousness; imputed righteousness, that is, the righteousness which God declares we have which we do not merit; and practiced righteousness, which we are promoted to do by faith and love in God as He reveals to us in His Book the way of righteous living. (Rom 1:17; 1Ti 6:18).
e. With the accomplishment of the work of the Messiah in fulfilling God’s prophesied plan of redemption, prophecy was confirmed, fulfilled, validated and thus sealed up—paid in full! (Act 3:24; 1Pe 1:10-11).
f. The anointing of the Messiah is to be accomplished during this period of time. The phrase occurs without the definite article and therefore means the anointing of a most holy “thing”—not place. Literally it should read, “the anointing of holiness of holinesses.” (Acts 1:38).
Allis, in Prophecy And The Church, indicates that there are points of agreement and points of difference between those who interpret the prophecy of the 70 weeks traditionally and those who interpret it dispensationally. Points of agreement are: (1) the 70 weeks represent weeks-of-years, a total of 490 years; (2) Only one period of weeks is described, as is proved by the fact that the subdivisions (7 + 62 + 1) when added together give a total of 70; (3) the “anointed one, the prince (Dan 9:25) and the “anointed one” (Dan 9:26) are the same person, the Messiah; (4) The first 69 weeks or 483 years had their terminus in the period of the first advent; their fulfillment is long past. Now the points of difference revolve around two significant questions: (1) Have the great events described in Dan 9:24 been fulfilled, or is their accomplishment still future?; (2) Is the 70th week past, or is it still to come?
Now the dispensationalists insist that all the events of Dan 9:24 are still in the future. They say, for example, “to make an end of sins” means to eliminate moral evil completely from this world. The reason the dispensationalists must insist that Dan_9:24 refers to the future is quite clear. If the fulfillment of the prophecy is still incomplete, and if the predictions relating to the 69 weeks had their fulfillment centuries ago, then the 70th week must be still future. Therefore, there must be an interval between the end of the 69th week and the beginning of the 70th week; and the entire Church age can be regarded as forming a “parenthesis” at this point.
So we must deal with the first difference now. Have the great events described in Dan_9:24 been fulfilled, or is their accomplishment in the future? In the light of plain N.T. teaching we cannot abide the idea that these events are in the future! We must resist such an idea with vigor. The N.T., especially the treatise to the Hebrews, represents all these transactions (Dan_9:24) as having been fulfilled at the first advent—in the great climactic event of the plan of God’s redemption at Calvary. Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice, the one and only sacrifice, made for all time which is able to perfect for all time those who are being sanctified by it (Heb 10:12-14). One should read the entire book of Hebrews, along with the book of Galatians, to understand that a return to Jewish law and Jewish sacrifices would be apostasy! Heb 9:28—“ . . . so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Notice that at Christ’s second advent He is not going “to deal with sin” for sin has already been dealt with! Certainly the N.T. teaches that Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the anti-type the confirmation of all prophecy! If Corinthians Dan 1:20, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God.” How more specific could it be stated that Christ is the goal of all the promises of God! “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev 19:11). “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Co 5:21).
The “traditional” and in our opinion, the scriptural view is that all these events (Dan 9:24) were fulfilled and completed in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ and the establishment of the church.
Dan 9:25 KNOW THEREFORE . . . THAT FROM THE GOING FORTH OF THE COMMANDMENT . . . UNTO THE ANOINTED ONE . . . SHALL BE SEVEN WEEKS, AND THREESCORE AND TWO . . . We must clearly understand that the fact (based squarely upon N.T. teaching) that all the six items presented in Dan_9:24 are Messianic settles the terminating point of the prophecy and the 70 weeks as well! The termination of the 70 sevens coincides then, not with the times of Antiochus, nor with the end of the present age, the second advent of Christ, but with His first advent! When Christ ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit descended, there remained not one of the six items of Dan 9:24 that was not fully accomplished.
Now, Dan 9:25, we are told exactly how many years shall intervene between the return of the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the “anointed One,” the Messiah. That expiration of time shall total 69 weeks-of-years (69 × 7 = 483 years). This prophecy was fulfilled in a marvelously accurate way.
There are only four events that can be taken as answering to “the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” (1) The decree of Cyrus, 536 B.C., Ezr 1:2-4. This was the decree for the building of the temple but did not include the authorization in restore the Jewish commonwealth. (2) The decree of Darius, 518 B.C., a decree for the further prosecution of the work permitted by Cyrus which seems to have been hindered. It was a repetition of the first decree, and did not authorize the re-establishment of the Jewish commonwealth. (3) The decree of Artaxerxes, 457 B.C. The seventh year are Artaxerxes was the year 457 B.C. and is confirmed by concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses. An exact copy of this decree is found in the seventh chapter of Ezra. It is written in Aramaic, which was spoken in Babylon at the time. The rest of the Book of Ezra is written in Hebrew. There is something very significant in the preservation of the original form of this decree, and when we see how much depends upon it, we may regard it as providential. By this decree permission was granted to Ezra to go up to Jerusalem, taking as many as he desired that were willing to go. It also was granted him unlimited treasure. It empowered him to ordain laws, set magistrates and judges who had authority to execute punishments—confiscation, banishment and even the infliction of the death penalty were included. In other words, Ezra was authorized to restore the commonwealth, and means were placed at his disposal to enable him to do so. (4) The fourth decree was given to Nehemiah 444 B.C. The purpose of Nehemiah’s going was to assist in accomplishing the work undertaken by Ezra which was being retarded. He accomplished his mission in 52 days after arrived at Jerusalem (Neh 6:15).
Now it is evident that the decree given to Ezra in 457 B.C. is the one authorizing the restoring and rebuilding of Jerusalem. Actually the three decrees (Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes) may really be regarded as one decree, that of Artaxerxes being the principal one in that his decree authorized the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth. It is so regarded by Ezra (cf. Ezr 6:14). Therefore, the decree of Artaxerxes must be regarded as the one referred to by the angel in the words, “from the going forth of the commanded,” and fixes our date from which to reckon.
Reckoning from 457 B.C., the first 7 sevens (7 × 7, or 49 weeks-of-years) we should arrive at the date of 408 B.C. for the accomplishment of the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth. The date 408 B.C. accords accurately with historic facts. This was the time the work was completed! This restoration was accomplished in troublous times, as the Biblical record bears out (see Nehemiah, Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, etc.).
Furthermore, if we reckon from 408 B.C., the next period of time, 62 sevens (62 × 7 weeks-of-years) or 434 years, we come down to the year 26 A.D. as the close of the second period. The close of this second period brings us to the Messiah (“the prince”) according to the prophecy. This was the 30th year of Christ’s life, since there is an error of four years in the calendar, as is well known. At this time (26 A.D.) Jesus began his public ministry (Luk_3:23), when he was about 30 years of age. When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, the Spirit of God in the form of a dove descended upon him, and a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son; in whom I am well pleased.” Immediately Christ entered upon His work. He was now the Anointed One. Here the second period of the “70 weeks-of-years” (the 434 years) ends.
Dan 9:26-27 AND AFTER THE THREESCORE AND TWO WEEKS SHALL THE ANOINTED ONE BE CUT OFF . . . AND IN THE MIDST OF THE WEEK HE SHALL CAUSE THE SACRIFICE . . . TO CEASE . . . The third period of the “70 weeks-of-years” consists of but one seven (or seven years). This is the long debated 70th week. The “cutting off” of the anointed one and his causing sacrifice and oblation to cease are coincidental—therefore his cutting off is determined to be “in the midst of the week” (in the midst of the 70th week). This settles once for all that the 70th week is not waiting for Christ’s second advent!
Dispensationalists are fond of the illustration of a clock. The ticking clock, they tell us, represents Jewish time. The mystery parenthesis is “time out.” God only counts time in dealing with Israel, when the people are in the land, according to them. Some add to this the further specification, when “they are governed by God.” Neither of these requirements is met by the interval which they find here in the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Consequently, the clock ceased to tick at the time of the triumphal entry. It will not tick again until that moment, still future, when God resumes His direct dealings with Israel (the Millennium). This will be when the Jews are once more in their own land. It will follow the rapture and be marked by the appearance of the (in some interpretations) resurrected Roman prince. So those of us who live now in the so-called “Church age” exist, as far as God’s time-clock is concerned, in a sort of “suspended animation,” while God’s time stands still.
It seems incredible that if the 69 weeks are exactly 483 consecutive years, exact to the very day, as dispensationalists admit, and if the 1 week is to be exactly 7 consecutive years, that an interval (a parenthesis) which is already more than 1900 years, nearly four times as long as the period covered by the prophecy, is to be introduced into this whole prophecy and be allowed to interrupt its fulfillment. It seems very much more plausible that since the 62 weeks are regarded as following directly on the 7, that the last week is to follow immediately on the 62.
There are two very serious objections to the “Jewish time-clock theory.” (1) Israel was still in the land for nearly 40 years after the death of Christ. In other words, Israel was still in the land for nearly 40 years (to 70 A.D.) after the clock stopped ticking! (2) And, if the clock could only tick when Israel was “governed by God” can we say this condition was really fulfilled at any time during the period of the 69 weeks? The “times of the Gentiles” are regarded by Dispensationalists as beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem. This entire period, then, was distinctly not a period when Israel was “governed by God.” If the clock represents “Jewish” time, with Israel in the land and governed by God, how then could it tick at all during the entire period from 606 B.C. to 30 A.D.? What the Dispensationalists really have is a parenthesis (“times of the Gentiles” beginning with Nebuchadnezzar) within which they have placed another parenthesis (the so-called “Church” age). On Dispensational principles the one parenthesis is no more entitled to be called Jewish time than is the other. If the clock could tick during part of the “times of the Gentiles”, it could tick during the whole of it! If the clock stops ticking at 30 A.D., instead of 70 A.D., it does so quite arbitrarily. For Israel continued to be in their land and under foreign rulers during these 40 years (30–70 A.D.), quite as much as from 457 B.C. to 30 A.D.
What then of the 70th week? To sum up so far, the 70th week follows immediately upon the 69th week—there is no parenthesis. In the midst of the 70th week the anointed one is cut off. That much we know. His “cutting off” and His “causing sacrifice and oblation to cease” are one and the same thing. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, the law of Moses in its entirety was nailed to the cross with Him, for He fulfilled its penalty and its purpose
(cf. Col 2:13-15; 2Co 3:7 ff; Eph 2:13-16, etc.). The very emphatic argument of the whole book of Hebrews is that Christ, by His death, did abolish the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. (cf. Heb 7:11; Heb 8:13; Heb 9:25-26; Heb 10:8-9).
Christ was actually crucified in the middle of the last prophetic week, (in the midst of the 70th seven) or three and one-half years after the beginning of his public ministry, thus fulfilling this part of the prophecy to the letter.
Only the last half of the 70th seven (3½ years) is left now to be accounted for. It is our opinion that the historic fact that for about three and one-half years after the death of Christ the gospel privileges were confined to the Jews by reason of providence, the prophecy that 490 years would be allotted to the Jews is finally fulfilled completely!
Some think the references in Dan 9:26-27 to “the people of the prince that shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary . . .” and “desolations,” and “upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate, etc.” forces the termination of the 70th seven to be the terrible destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Emperor Titus Vespasian in 700 A.D. While we believe the statements quoted above from Dan_9:26-27 do predict this Roman desolation of Jerusalem, we do not believe that it is necessary to find the termination of the 70th week in this destruction. This destruction of the city and the sanctuary was a consequence of the Jews “cutting off” their Messiah, but its accomplishment extends to a time beyond the strict limits of the 70th week. We quote in full from Prophecy and The Church, by Allis, pgs. 114–115 where the difficulty with forcing the destruction of Jerusalem to be the termination of the 70th week is discussed thoroughly:
A difficulty with this interpretation is to be found in the fact that it does not clearly define the terminus of the 70th week. Unless the view is taken that “in the midst of the week” means “in the second half” of it, and even at the end of that half, the end is not definitely fixed. It seems very unlikely that if “in the midst” really meant “at the end,” it would have been described in this way. On the other hand if “in the midst” is taken in its natural sense, a half-week, or three and a half years, remains to be accounted for after the crucifixion. Many interpreters regard this as referring to the period of the founding of the Church and the preaching of the gospel exclusively to the Jews, a period ending with or about the time of the martyrdom of Stephen. Others hold that the period of three and a half years was graciously extended to some 35 years, to the date of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a reference to which is found in Dan_9:26. Both of these explanations may be regarded as possible.
With regard to the claim that the prophecy extends to the date of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 it is to be noted that while the language of Dan_9:26 may seem to favor this, it does not require it. Dan 9:26 speaks of events which will come “after the threescore and two weeks.” Of these events it mentions first the cutting off of Messiah, which Dan 9:27 describes as taking place in the midst of the week. Then it speaks of the destruction of the city and sanctuary and finally of an “end” or an “end of war,” which is a very indefinite expression. Dan 9:27 declares that a covenant is to be made firm for “one week,” that “in the midst of the week” someone will cause sacrifice and oblation to cease. Then it goes on to speak of the coming of a “desolator” and of a “full end.” None of the predictions of desolation and vengeance contained in these verses can be regarded as so definitely included in the program outlined in Dan 9:24 that we can assert with confidence that they must be regarded as fulfilled within the compass of the 70 weeks. They are consequences of the cutting off; they may be regarded as involved in it, but their accomplishment may extend, and if this interpretation is correct, clearly does extend beyond the strict limits of the 70 weeks, since the destruction of Jerusalem was much more than three and a half years after the crucifixion. But, in either case, the great climactic event of the last week was the crucifixion which took place “in the midst” of that week. So interpreted there can be no interval between the 69th and the 70th weeks.
There is no doubt that Jesus was predicting the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D. when He quoted Daniel’s “abomination of desolation” in Mat 24:15-28. This desolation was to pour forth upon this city and its devastation would continue until God determined it was ended. For a graphic account of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. read the Antiquities of Josephus. Josephus himself interprets the event as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel.
But what is “the firm covenant with many” to be made for one week by the anointed one? It means that during the brief period of His earthly ministry and the infancy of the church (while the gospel was just beginning to be preached to the Jews) Jesus fulfilled the terms of the ancient covenant made with the seed of Abraham (cf. Rom 15:8), that He secured its benefits to “many,” (even the pouring out of the Spirit as prophesied by Joel), for the period up to the stoning of Stephen (or, if you prefer, perhaps in mercy until the time of the destruction of Jerusalem—at which time the “new covenant” which was in fact only the full unfolding of the old covenant and made no distinction between Jew and Gentile, went fully into effect through the destruction of the temple and of Jewish national existence). (Heb 8:13; Heb 9:15).
Edward J. Young’s interpretation of the 70th seven is that the termination of the last week is indefinite. We quote from The Prophecy of Daniel, by Edward J. Young, pp. 220–221.
