Daniel 9
Daniel 9:24
Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
Daniel had learned from the book of Jeremiah that Israel was to have gone into captivity for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:1-11; Jeremiah 29:10). Having understood the time in which he was, he prayed to the Lord, petitioning for the servitude to be done. As Daniel prayed and confessed (Daniel 9:4), he asked for mercy.
A messenger from God came, namely Gabriel, to deliver the message. Seventy seven-year periods of time were decreed. A total of 490 was decided, and Jerusalem would be rebuilt.
The time was determined for Daniel’s people and his holy city. Six things were indicated to be done at the end of this time period:
- Finish (shut up) Transgression
- Put an end to (seal up) sin
- Atone for wickedness (cover wickedness)
- Bring in everlasting righteousness
- Seal up vision and prophecy (prophet)
- Anoint the most holy
The Rebuilding
Daniel 9:25
Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
The time from the “going forth of the word” until the time that the Messiah, the king would come would be 7 * 7 + 62 * 7 years, or 49 + 434 = 483 years. Of the original 490 years from v24, this leaves one week, or seven years, remaining. The first 49 years indicate the rebuilding period of Jerusalem, and the 434 years indicate the time between that and the coming of the Messiah, or Christ (both meaning “Anointed One”). This would be the time in which Jerusalem was built already, and people lived in it.
After the Sixty-Two
Daniel 9:26
After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
There is little controversy regarding most of Daniel 9, except for verse 27. Depending on your translation, the above being NIV, a people did come and destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end came like a flood, and wars continued until the end, and desolations were decreed. While not part of the 70 weeks proper by many people’s timeline, the city was destroyed around 70AD under the Roman emperor Titus.
The Last Seven
Daniel 9:27
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
If seventy sevens were determined, and 69 have passed up through v26, then Daniel 9:27 is the Seventieth Seven, the final “week” of Daniel 9, and for many, the final seven years of history.
If believed that the 70th week is the last 7 years of history, and that it is still outstanding, then phrases like “the people of the ruler who will come” would strongly indicate that Rome must be revived in some way, that we are still, somehow, in the time of the legs and feet of iron, and of the fourth beast.
Interpreted this way, it is necessary to assume a “gap” between the 69th seven and the 70th.
There is contention over who the “He” of v27 is. Some say it is the “ruler who is to come”, whose people destroyed the city (the Romans), and some say it still refers to the Messiah. There are many, quite different translations of v27, which does not help to clarify the text, but adds alternatives.
Daniel 9:26-27 YLT
And after the sixty and two weeks, cut off is Messiah, and the city and the holy place are not his, the Leader who hath come doth destroy the people; and its end is with a flood, and till the end is war, determined are desolations. And he hath strengthened a covenant with many — one week, and in the midst of the week he causeth sacrifice and present to cease, and by the wing of abominations he is making desolate, even till the consummation, and that which is determined is poured on the desolate one.’
Even in the Young’s Literal Translation, the exact meaning could be shifted some, depending on the interpretation of a few key phrases. This is not a short-coming in the text, but, rather, the glory of God to conceal.
The word about the covenant is to strength or confirm, not necessarily “make a new one”, but could be to ratify an existing one, which would seem to make sense as it does not take an entire seven years to make a covenant.
For those looking for a future fulfilment, it necessitates not a revived Rome, but a revived Israel with a new, third temple, with sacrifices, so that sacrifice can cease.
Many object to a past fulfillment of v27 because of v24, the six things listed. However, standard preterist interpretations provide fulfilments for all of these. Even as only 8 people made it into the ark including Noah, just because Israel missed its opportunity, missed its day of visitation, does not mean God missed it. If promises remain yet to be fulfilled, then, they remain to be fulfilled by the church. This, of course, is a far cry from “Replacement Theology”, which says that the church replaced Israel. Rather, as Paul wrote, we were grafted into the root, while some parts of the original tree were broken off. To forget the root is not good! As Paul wrote, out of the two, God has created One New Man! (Ephesians 2:15).
The six items listed in v24 aptly describe the work of God through Jesus and the preparation of John the Baptist.
- Repent, Finish transgression
- Do Good, Put an end to sin
- Jesus was the Passover lamb and covered our sins with His blood, to atone for wickedness
- He was brought in at the triumphal entry, bringing in everlasting righteousness
- The law and the prophets were until John (Luke 16:16), and sealed up vision and prophet
- Jesus was anointed by Mary of Bethany, Anoint the most holy
Clearly, whether specifics are brought out for different points, a case can be soundly made that these six things were done, and the fact that some of the Jews did not enter into them is not a failure in the Word, but in those hearing it.
Yet, this was not even unforeseen in the original text. Daniel 9:26 itself plainly signifies that the end of Jerusalem would come. This certainly would make me tend to see the 490 years as completely fulfilled, whether or not you connect the last week of Daniel’s 70 7’s to any other passage in scripture or not. Daniel is praying about the rebuilding and resettlement of natural Jerusalem, and he is promised from God that it will be established for a period 490 years. The only thing in question in my mind, then, would be what is the meaning of the additional 33-40 years (depending on when exactly you count the end of the 69th ‘seven’) from 70AD when Jerusalem was physically destroyed. While still mysterious, one scenario would be likened to the door on the ark. After the 70th seven, if contiguous, the fate of the city was sealed, and the desolations (already prophesied 500 years prior by Daniel, mind you) were fully determined and set into motion. Just because it took a few days for the rain to flood the Earth, once the ark door was closed, the fate of the world was already sealed at the conclusion of the seventy sevens when the Gospel went over to the Gentiles.
The notion of a period of seven years is not unique to end times study. The Jewish cycle of years was always in sevens, or weeks, with the 7th year always being a sabbath year with no sowing or reaping. After seven weeks, or 49 years, there was a jubilee year, or 50th year, rounding out the entire set, which was even a greater rest. All slaves would go free, land would return to its rightful owners, and there was no working in the fields because God had provided provision to last.
So, while another passage may reference a seven-year period, I see no direct need to correlate the two.
Instead, I see a different pattern for that of Daniel 9, a missed opportunity of the Jews, described by Paul as a partial hardening of the nation of Israel, temporary, so that the Gentiles could come in. After which, as Romans puts it, “All Israel will be saved.” Romans 11:26.
Many consider the decree to rebuild the temple that to be the 4th Biblical decree regarding the Jews returning to Israel, that of rebuilding the city. By some accounts, this aligns TO THE DAY that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey.
On schedule, keeping an over 500 year old appointment, Jesus arrived, on-time, for the first time openly allowing Himself to be recognized as the King, with shouts of “Hosanna!” or “Save!”. A week later, he was killed, or, after the 62 weeks.
Yet, by most translations, the scriptures had already prophesied the destruction of the city, not its salvation. 490 years had been determined for Jerusalem and Daniel’s people.
The YLT indicates the the ruler that was to come would destroy the people, implying that the city connects with the previous phrase.
Again, understand the timing for Daniel. Israel has been dispossessed from the land for nigh on 70 years, and Daniel is making intercessions, saying, that Israel had been very unfaithful. In response to his prayers, a messenger is sent, and it is disclosed that 490 years are decreed for the city and the people. It is to begin with a decree, and end with the king, with the final ‘week’ of confirmation of the new covenant.
After the 62nd week, it would appear the wars and desolations were determined for Jerusalem and the people. People still wrestle over whether the one to end the sacrifices and oblations was Jesus or the ruler of the people who destroyed the city (the Romans), and there is no direct concesus, without involving the rest of eschatalogical viewpoints.
What must be pointed out is that, at the end of the 490 years, would have been somewhere in the timeframe of 35AD to 40AD, depending on how you count the years, and which crucifixion date you agree with, and whether the 62nd week came at the baptism or entry into Jerusalem. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD, and then destroyed finally, with all Jews being banished in 135AD after a failed Jewish revolt.
I see no plausible argument for why the last week did not simply follow immediately on the heels of the first 69. All of v24 had been accounted for, the desolations were determined, as declared by Jesus’ own mouth in Luke 19:41-44 as He wept over it, saying, “they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
The end, later would come like a flood, with various wars until its end, and its desolation had been determined.
For the next several years, the Christians, as they were to become known, stayed in Jerusalem, and met daily both in the temple and house to house. God added to their number, but despite the signs, despite the outpouring of the Spirit and the manifestation of the Kingdom of God among them (Acts 3:1-10), the leaders of the Jews did not repent, they did not believe, they did not come to the Gospel.
The hardest verse is verse 27. When exactly was the sacrifice and present (oblation) ceased? Some make this out to be the crucifixion itself, dating the end of the 62nd week at the baptism, and the cross 3 1/2 years later.
For a space of several years, the gospel did go out boldly, and the covenant was confirmed with signs and wonders in Jerusalem (not that they stopped after that). The KJV has “and for the overspreading of abominations”, for the wide-spread, and growing abominations, it was made desolate, even until the very end, and that which was determined was poured out on the one already made desolate.
That is, when they missed Jesus, and the abominations began to spread over out and overshahdow the land, it was made desolate, possibly by 70AD. Until the very end, the very end of Israel and the city, before they were thoroughly dispersed throughout the nations, and that which was determined, the sentence for the city and the people, was poured out on those who were already desolate, with the final crushing of their rebellion and dispersion in 135AD.
It certainly is possible that the 70th week could either refer to an upcoming time period, or that, in light of “missing it the first time”, that God will give them ANOTHER CHANCE, so to speak, with another parallel seven year period. However, the original 490 years were concerning the people, and the city, regarding their restoration from Babylon in their first exile.
It would simply seem to me that, in light of them being dispersed, so completely broken, and so completely scattered, after having been restored for the time set forth by the angel from God, it would make sense that the seven year period would be concluded. The purpose for the 490 years was completed with Jesus’ ministry, and the failure of certain individuals to grasp it does not serve to negate nor delay the prophecy, but rather would simply help to further confirm it. It’s ambiguity, on the other hand, may in fact have been God’s grace in receiving the Jew’s humility and acceptance of Christ. While the destruction seemed immanent even to Daniel, perhaps the language was left open in the chance of better choices, not to say by any means God didn’t know which way they would choose.
Ultimately, the loss of Daniel 9:27, and even that of Daniel 2 and 7 would not deal any ‘death blow’ to end times prophecy study, or even necessitate a further preterist viewpoint, but the remaining scriptures would still say what they say. Fulfilled scriptures are still fulfilled, open scriptures are still open, and there really is little change. The scriptures that say man will become rare on the Earth, in my understanding, still have not happened. But, certain other interpretations may change as well.
It certainly could be that the 70th week remains outstanding, but it also appears that there is little it would add other than the part about confirming a covenant for seven years, and ending sacrifice and oblation. But, if these have already occurred, while prophecy does work in patterns quite often, we do not need to assume it will happen again. Rather, these events were the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ to Daniel in window of time of 490 years after their return to exile, after which, through the hardening of some, the time of the Gentiles has been upon us, yet appears to draw to a close with the Jews in Israel, and in much of Jerusalem.
