DANIEL 9
9 In the first year of Darius, son of Ahaseurus, who was a Mede and had been made king over the empire of the Chaldeans; 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood in the Writings that (according to Yahweh’s word to Jeremiah the prophet) the desolations of Jerusalem were to number seventy years. 3 So I turned myself to the Lord, the Godhead, to commit to praying with requests, in fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4 So I prayed to Yahweh the Godhead and I confessed and said,
“Oh, Lord, the great and fearsome God, who, in committed love, keeps the covenant with those who love him and keep his commands. 5 We have sinned! We have been deviant and are condemned – guilty! We have rebelled by turning away from your commands and judgements. 6 No, we haven’t listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our rulers and our fathers – indeed to all the people of the land. 7 Righteousness is yours, Lord, but shame is smeared on our faces, as it is this very day on every man of Judah and on those living in Jerusalem and to all Israel – those near and far in all the earth. You have banished them there in their wrongdoing, in which they have acted without faith in you. 8 Yes, Yahweh, shame is across our faces – our kings, our rulers and our fathers – because we have sinned against you. 9 To my Lord, our Godhead, belong the compassions and the pardons, though we have rebelled while in him. 10 But we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our Godhead, to live in his laws. He has delivered them right in front of our faces in the hand of his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has ignored your Law! They are turning away so they can’t hear your voice. The oath and its curse, which were written in the Law of Moses, servant of the Godhead, have been poured out because we have sinned against you. 12 And he stood by his word, which he has spoken against us and against our rulers who have governed us, by bringing great calamity upon us. Nothing has ever been done under all the heavens like that which has been done in Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in Moses’ Law, all this calamity has come upon us and we haven’t bowed our faces before Yahweh, our Godhead, by turning from our immorality back to thriving in your truth. 14 But Yahweh was watchful over the calamity. He brought it upon us because Yahweh our Godhead is righteous in all the things he has done and we have not listened to his voice.
15 “So now, my Lord, our Godhead, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with your powerful hand, you are making a name for yourself even today. We have sinned. We have been wicked. 16 In keeping with all your righteousness, my Lord, please now turn your angry wrath away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For, because of our sins and the immorality of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by those who surround us. 17 So, our Godhead, listen to your servant’s prayer, and to his requests, and make your face shine on your demolished sanctuary for the sake of my Lord. 18 Lean your ear down and listen, my Godhead! Open your eyes and see our ruins and the city which has your name on her! For it’s not on the basis of our righteousness that we’re casting our appeals before your face, but on the basis of your many compassionate mercies. 19 My Lord, listen! My Lord, forgive! My Lord, pay attention and do something and don’t delay! – for your own sake, my Godhead, because your name is on your city and your people!”
20 And while I was speaking and interceding and confessing my sin, as well as the sin of my people Israel, and letting my appeal fall before Yahweh my God concerning his holy mountain – 21 yes, while I was speaking in intercession, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the first vision, touched me in my exhaustion at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 And he spoke to me, informing me. He said, “O Daniel, now I have come to give you wise understanding. 23 At the beginning of your prayers the reply was sent, and I have come to declare it, because you are tremendously valued. So pay attention to the issue and understand the vision:
24 Seventy sevens are laid out for your people and for your holy city –
to quash the disobedience,
and to make an end of sins,
and to atone for iniquity,
and to bring in the righteousness of the ages,
and to seal up vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the Holy of Holies.
25 Therefore know and understand that from the giving of the word to re-establish and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah the ruler, there will be seven sevens plus sixty-two sevens. It shall be built again with street and waterway, even in the distress of those times. 26 And after the sixty-two sevens the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the coming ruler shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and end it with a flood, and until the end, war and devastation are decreed. 27 And he shall confirm a treaty with many for one seven, and in the middle of the seven he shall stop sacrifices and offerings, and upon a wing there will be devastating abominations until the end. Then that which was decreed shall pour out on the devastator.
“Oh, Lord, the great and fearsome God, who, in committed love, keeps the covenant with those who love him and keep his commands. 5 We have sinned! We have been deviant and are condemned – guilty! We have rebelled by turning away from your commands and judgements. 6 No, we haven’t listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our rulers and our fathers – indeed to all the people of the land. 7 Righteousness is yours, Lord, but shame is smeared on our faces, as it is this very day on every man of Judah and on those living in Jerusalem and to all Israel – those near and far in all the earth. You have banished them there in their wrongdoing, in which they have acted without faith in you. 8 Yes, Yahweh, shame is across our faces – our kings, our rulers and our fathers – because we have sinned against you. 9 To my Lord, our Godhead, belong the compassions and the pardons, though we have rebelled while in him. 10 But we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our Godhead, to live in his laws. He has delivered them right in front of our faces in the hand of his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has ignored your Law! They are turning away so they can’t hear your voice. The oath and its curse, which were written in the Law of Moses, servant of the Godhead, have been poured out because we have sinned against you. 12 And he stood by his word, which he has spoken against us and against our rulers who have governed us, by bringing great calamity upon us. Nothing has ever been done under all the heavens like that which has been done in Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in Moses’ Law, all this calamity has come upon us and we haven’t bowed our faces before Yahweh, our Godhead, by turning from our immorality back to thriving in your truth. 14 But Yahweh was watchful over the calamity. He brought it upon us because Yahweh our Godhead is righteous in all the things he has done and we have not listened to his voice.
15 “So now, my Lord, our Godhead, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with your powerful hand, you are making a name for yourself even today. We have sinned. We have been wicked. 16 In keeping with all your righteousness, my Lord, please now turn your angry wrath away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For, because of our sins and the immorality of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by those who surround us. 17 So, our Godhead, listen to your servant’s prayer, and to his requests, and make your face shine on your demolished sanctuary for the sake of my Lord. 18 Lean your ear down and listen, my Godhead! Open your eyes and see our ruins and the city which has your name on her! For it’s not on the basis of our righteousness that we’re casting our appeals before your face, but on the basis of your many compassionate mercies. 19 My Lord, listen! My Lord, forgive! My Lord, pay attention and do something and don’t delay! – for your own sake, my Godhead, because your name is on your city and your people!”
20 And while I was speaking and interceding and confessing my sin, as well as the sin of my people Israel, and letting my appeal fall before Yahweh my God concerning his holy mountain – 21 yes, while I was speaking in intercession, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the first vision, touched me in my exhaustion at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 And he spoke to me, informing me. He said, “O Daniel, now I have come to give you wise understanding. 23 At the beginning of your prayers the reply was sent, and I have come to declare it, because you are tremendously valued. So pay attention to the issue and understand the vision:
24 Seventy sevens are laid out for your people and for your holy city –
to quash the disobedience,
and to make an end of sins,
and to atone for iniquity,
and to bring in the righteousness of the ages,
and to seal up vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the Holy of Holies.
25 Therefore know and understand that from the giving of the word to re-establish and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah the ruler, there will be seven sevens plus sixty-two sevens. It shall be built again with street and waterway, even in the distress of those times. 26 And after the sixty-two sevens the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the coming ruler shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and end it with a flood, and until the end, war and devastation are decreed. 27 And he shall confirm a treaty with many for one seven, and in the middle of the seven he shall stop sacrifices and offerings, and upon a wing there will be devastating abominations until the end. Then that which was decreed shall pour out on the devastator.
1)
Ahaseurus. Perhaps better known as Xerxes, but I’ve tried to stick the Hebrew rendering. who was a Mede. Medes came from what is present-day northern Iran.
Chaldeans. That is, the Babylonians. Babylon is located just south of present-day Baghdad in central Iraq
2)
the desolations of Jerusalem were to number seventy years. Looks like he was reading Jer 25:11 or 29:10. Notice he took it absolutely literally…
13)
as it is written in Moses’ Law. For example Lev 26:27-35. Notice in this Leviticus passage (v34) it links the punishment to the need for the land to have its Sabbaths. This point is made specifically in 2 Chr 36:21, where, leading up this time, 490 years’ worth of neglected Sabbaths (1 year in 7) makes exactly 70 years.
15)
with your powerful hand. If Jesus is symbolized as God’s right hand (e.g. Ps 118:16) as some suggest (http://www.gotquestions.org/right-hand-God.html ), this is an interesting turn of phrase. (See also Ex 15:6 and Josh 5:13-15 where Joshua worships this man who calls himself ‘the commander of the army of the Lord’, and the man accepts it. Therefore he is either God himself or he is an evil imposter usurping worship – a good angel would not accept worship that belongs to God alone. Thus I believe Jesus was leading Israel to the Promised Land, at the very least from the Jericho attack (Josh 6) onwards)
17)
for the sake of my Lord. Saying this while already speaking to God seems a strange turn of phrase. But compare this with Ps 110:1 ‘The LORD says to my Lord…’ where it only really makes sense if you realize that God the Father is speaking to Jesus. Perhaps Daniel is speaking to the Father with reference to ‘my Lord’, the coming Anointed One he would have read about in the scriptures? (e.g. Gen 49:10)
20)
my sin, as well as the sin of my people Israel. Daniel admits his part in the rebellion – at least that he’s not perfectly innocent. Good lesson for us all as we have all sinned (Rom 3:23).
21)
the man Gabriel. The angel Gabriel, in the form of a man. whom I had seen in the first vision. see 8:15-17.
at the time of the evening sacrifice. Daniel’s heart is so thoroughly on his homeland he is going by Israeli time, despite being in Babylon. The sacrifice wasn’t happening at the time, of course, with Jerusalem in ruins, but his desire was for home and for the way of life God had prescribed for the Jews. The evening sacrifice happened at the 9th hour, 3pm by Western reckoning.
24)
As of today some of these have been fulfilled, but ones such as ‘make an end of sins’ and to ‘bring in the righteousness of the ages’ certainly have not. Thus we can conclude these 70 weeks are not complete yet.
25)
from the giving of the word to re-establish and rebuild Jerusalem. This starts the clock on this prophecy. Which decree is the one? The options are:
a) Ezra 1:2-4,
b) Ezra 6:1-5,
c) Ezra 7:11-17, or
d) Nehemiah 2:1-9.
A, b and c all relate to the temple only (which was Ezra’s main concern, being a priest), so the only one which concerns rebuilding Jerusalem is (d), the decree from Artaxerxes. When did this happen? On (or very close to) March 14th 445 BC, according to Robert Anderson’s groundbreaking work on the subject – ‘The Coming Prince’ – published in the late 1800s. Go here for a helpful chapter in that book: http://philologos.org/__eb-tcp/chap10.htm (you can get the whole thing from there, too). Some quibble on minor details, but he was the first to break the back of the mystery, by understanding that God is using 360-day years.
until the Messiah the ruler. The Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, came in humility as a baby, and lived as an itinerant preacher, but only at his triumphal entry (Matt 21:1-11) did he allow himself to be called a ruler of any kind. Helps to explain why he continually shied away from earlier attempts to raise him up in that way, and also possibly how he knew ‘my time has not yet come’ (John 7:6 et al).
Messiah. Some are hesitant to translate ‘meshiach’ as messiah, preferring ‘anointed one’, which is certainly justifiable. But with the clarity the New Testament gives us, I have no hesitation in translating this as Messiah. There is only one person it could possibly be!
sevens. Or ‘weeks’ in some translations – a week simply meaning a group of seven of something. In this case the context time wise has been set as years (v2), so in this verse the angel Gabriel is talking about a period of 69x7 or 483 years, each 360 days long.
26)
after the sixty-two sevens. Which are immediately after the seven sevens, thus sixty-nine have elapsed (see diagram here).
cut off. Hebrew phrase meaning ‘killed’, not simply ostracised or something.
the coming ruler. This is not the Messiah as he is already ‘in the story’, and has been ‘cut off’ by this time anyway. This one is clearly different as he is coming later. He is the Antichrist, who is even now still yet to come (as Paul tells us re: ‘the man of sin’ from 2 Thess 2:3).
the people of the coming ruler shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. This refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. So this is saying that the people who will destroy Jerusalem at this time will be the same ethnicity as the Antichrist. For most of Christian history it was (correctly) understood that it was the Romans, under emperor Vespasian, who were responsible for this destruction. But who actually did the destroying? Some good research has shown us that the Romans employed people from the surrounding area in their quest, and as a result the vast majority of the marauders were of Syrian/Arab/Asia Minor(Turkish) ethnicity (see http://www.hope-of-israel.org/peopleofprince.html for a thorough analysis). This, among many other things coming to light in these times, points strongly to a Middle Eastern Antichrist, not a European one as has long been taken for granted.
end it with a flood. One of the many reasons (along with passages like Matt 24:37 - 'as it was in the times of Noah') that we are permitted to use Noah's Flood as instructive - a type or shadow in many respects - for us concerning the last days. The Flood of Noah parallels the flood we call the Tribulation (they have many fundamental patterns in common).
and until the end, war and devastation are decreed. For the vast majority of Israel’s history since 70AD (it was called Palestine from 135AD until 1948) it has been largely a wasteland (there’s the devastation), and since that time has been in constant turmoil, which is clearly seen to this day (there’s the war).
27)
And he shall confirm a treaty. The antecedent of the ‘he’ is the last guy mentioned, the ‘coming ruler’, AKA the Antichrist. The word ‘confirm’ in the Hebrew implies the reinstatement or enforcement of an existing treaty, not the creation of a new one. It may not be a very old treaty he enforces, but it seems it will be one that has lapsed or been broken in some way.
with many. This is not specific, but one would assume it is between Daniel’s people Israel and some other entity or entities. ‘Palestine’ perhaps, or maybe all the surrounding nations…? Only God knows.
for one seven. i.e one seven year period (of 360 day years) – that being the 70th seven, thus completing the prophecy. This time has many names in scripture, including ‘The time of Jacob’s Trouble’, ‘The Tribulation’, ‘the Day of the Lord’ (although this one may not have exactly the same time boundaries – but it’s at least a good approximation).
and in the middle of the seven he shall stop sacrifices and offerings. That is, 3.5 years after he enforces the treaty (between now and this time the Jewish temple must be rebuilt), he turns on the Jews publicly in this way.
and upon a wing there will be devastating abominations until the end. He desecrates the temple in Jerusalem with what’s commonly called ‘the abomination of desolation’ (see 11:31, 12:11. Also Jesus refers to it in Matt 24:15.) Exactly what it is remains to be seen, but the prototype of the event was the slaughtering of a pig in the Holy of Holies by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167BC. Abominable indeed!
Then that which was decreed shall pour out on the devastator. Don’t worry, he’ll get his! God will not be mocked (Gal 6:7).
Ahaseurus. Perhaps better known as Xerxes, but I’ve tried to stick the Hebrew rendering. who was a Mede. Medes came from what is present-day northern Iran.
Chaldeans. That is, the Babylonians. Babylon is located just south of present-day Baghdad in central Iraq
2)
the desolations of Jerusalem were to number seventy years. Looks like he was reading Jer 25:11 or 29:10. Notice he took it absolutely literally…
13)
as it is written in Moses’ Law. For example Lev 26:27-35. Notice in this Leviticus passage (v34) it links the punishment to the need for the land to have its Sabbaths. This point is made specifically in 2 Chr 36:21, where, leading up this time, 490 years’ worth of neglected Sabbaths (1 year in 7) makes exactly 70 years.
15)
with your powerful hand. If Jesus is symbolized as God’s right hand (e.g. Ps 118:16) as some suggest (http://www.gotquestions.org/right-hand-God.html ), this is an interesting turn of phrase. (See also Ex 15:6 and Josh 5:13-15 where Joshua worships this man who calls himself ‘the commander of the army of the Lord’, and the man accepts it. Therefore he is either God himself or he is an evil imposter usurping worship – a good angel would not accept worship that belongs to God alone. Thus I believe Jesus was leading Israel to the Promised Land, at the very least from the Jericho attack (Josh 6) onwards)
17)
for the sake of my Lord. Saying this while already speaking to God seems a strange turn of phrase. But compare this with Ps 110:1 ‘The LORD says to my Lord…’ where it only really makes sense if you realize that God the Father is speaking to Jesus. Perhaps Daniel is speaking to the Father with reference to ‘my Lord’, the coming Anointed One he would have read about in the scriptures? (e.g. Gen 49:10)
20)
my sin, as well as the sin of my people Israel. Daniel admits his part in the rebellion – at least that he’s not perfectly innocent. Good lesson for us all as we have all sinned (Rom 3:23).
21)
the man Gabriel. The angel Gabriel, in the form of a man. whom I had seen in the first vision. see 8:15-17.
at the time of the evening sacrifice. Daniel’s heart is so thoroughly on his homeland he is going by Israeli time, despite being in Babylon. The sacrifice wasn’t happening at the time, of course, with Jerusalem in ruins, but his desire was for home and for the way of life God had prescribed for the Jews. The evening sacrifice happened at the 9th hour, 3pm by Western reckoning.
24)
As of today some of these have been fulfilled, but ones such as ‘make an end of sins’ and to ‘bring in the righteousness of the ages’ certainly have not. Thus we can conclude these 70 weeks are not complete yet.
25)
from the giving of the word to re-establish and rebuild Jerusalem. This starts the clock on this prophecy. Which decree is the one? The options are:
a) Ezra 1:2-4,
b) Ezra 6:1-5,
c) Ezra 7:11-17, or
d) Nehemiah 2:1-9.
A, b and c all relate to the temple only (which was Ezra’s main concern, being a priest), so the only one which concerns rebuilding Jerusalem is (d), the decree from Artaxerxes. When did this happen? On (or very close to) March 14th 445 BC, according to Robert Anderson’s groundbreaking work on the subject – ‘The Coming Prince’ – published in the late 1800s. Go here for a helpful chapter in that book: http://philologos.org/__eb-tcp/chap10.htm (you can get the whole thing from there, too). Some quibble on minor details, but he was the first to break the back of the mystery, by understanding that God is using 360-day years.
until the Messiah the ruler. The Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, came in humility as a baby, and lived as an itinerant preacher, but only at his triumphal entry (Matt 21:1-11) did he allow himself to be called a ruler of any kind. Helps to explain why he continually shied away from earlier attempts to raise him up in that way, and also possibly how he knew ‘my time has not yet come’ (John 7:6 et al).
Messiah. Some are hesitant to translate ‘meshiach’ as messiah, preferring ‘anointed one’, which is certainly justifiable. But with the clarity the New Testament gives us, I have no hesitation in translating this as Messiah. There is only one person it could possibly be!
sevens. Or ‘weeks’ in some translations – a week simply meaning a group of seven of something. In this case the context time wise has been set as years (v2), so in this verse the angel Gabriel is talking about a period of 69x7 or 483 years, each 360 days long.
26)
after the sixty-two sevens. Which are immediately after the seven sevens, thus sixty-nine have elapsed (see diagram here).
cut off. Hebrew phrase meaning ‘killed’, not simply ostracised or something.
the coming ruler. This is not the Messiah as he is already ‘in the story’, and has been ‘cut off’ by this time anyway. This one is clearly different as he is coming later. He is the Antichrist, who is even now still yet to come (as Paul tells us re: ‘the man of sin’ from 2 Thess 2:3).
the people of the coming ruler shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. This refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. So this is saying that the people who will destroy Jerusalem at this time will be the same ethnicity as the Antichrist. For most of Christian history it was (correctly) understood that it was the Romans, under emperor Vespasian, who were responsible for this destruction. But who actually did the destroying? Some good research has shown us that the Romans employed people from the surrounding area in their quest, and as a result the vast majority of the marauders were of Syrian/Arab/Asia Minor(Turkish) ethnicity (see http://www.hope-of-israel.org/peopleofprince.html for a thorough analysis). This, among many other things coming to light in these times, points strongly to a Middle Eastern Antichrist, not a European one as has long been taken for granted.
end it with a flood. One of the many reasons (along with passages like Matt 24:37 - 'as it was in the times of Noah') that we are permitted to use Noah's Flood as instructive - a type or shadow in many respects - for us concerning the last days. The Flood of Noah parallels the flood we call the Tribulation (they have many fundamental patterns in common).
and until the end, war and devastation are decreed. For the vast majority of Israel’s history since 70AD (it was called Palestine from 135AD until 1948) it has been largely a wasteland (there’s the devastation), and since that time has been in constant turmoil, which is clearly seen to this day (there’s the war).
27)
And he shall confirm a treaty. The antecedent of the ‘he’ is the last guy mentioned, the ‘coming ruler’, AKA the Antichrist. The word ‘confirm’ in the Hebrew implies the reinstatement or enforcement of an existing treaty, not the creation of a new one. It may not be a very old treaty he enforces, but it seems it will be one that has lapsed or been broken in some way.
with many. This is not specific, but one would assume it is between Daniel’s people Israel and some other entity or entities. ‘Palestine’ perhaps, or maybe all the surrounding nations…? Only God knows.
for one seven. i.e one seven year period (of 360 day years) – that being the 70th seven, thus completing the prophecy. This time has many names in scripture, including ‘The time of Jacob’s Trouble’, ‘The Tribulation’, ‘the Day of the Lord’ (although this one may not have exactly the same time boundaries – but it’s at least a good approximation).
and in the middle of the seven he shall stop sacrifices and offerings. That is, 3.5 years after he enforces the treaty (between now and this time the Jewish temple must be rebuilt), he turns on the Jews publicly in this way.
and upon a wing there will be devastating abominations until the end. He desecrates the temple in Jerusalem with what’s commonly called ‘the abomination of desolation’ (see 11:31, 12:11. Also Jesus refers to it in Matt 24:15.) Exactly what it is remains to be seen, but the prototype of the event was the slaughtering of a pig in the Holy of Holies by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167BC. Abominable indeed!
Then that which was decreed shall pour out on the devastator. Don’t worry, he’ll get his! God will not be mocked (Gal 6:7).