LESSONS FROM DANIEL # 9
Two important points: Who is this Darius? and,
the correct interpretation of the “weeks” (literally,
HÉBDOMADS (“sevens”, or units of seven; the seventy sevens, or seventy weeks).
Daniel knows that the 70 yrs. of captivity about over. He prays for himself and for the nation, asking God to forgive and restore all to Jerusalem
The revelation received: conflicts ahead in the restoration; the Messianic kingdom; the destruc-tion of Jerusalem in AD 70.
9:1,2, v.1, Darius probably is the same one as in 5:31. If named king in 536, his first year would be the same as Cyrus’ third year, 10:1.
v.2, Jer. 25:12, And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jeh.
606 BC less 70 = 536 BC (1st year of 1st return)
Israel to confront 70 hébdomads of “indignation” before complete pardon of God in Christ comes.
9:3-19, v.3, The solution: turn to God; right atti-tude: humility / confession, and petition in prayer.
v.4, confess - homo/logeo = say the same (that God says about my guilt, sin).
God to be feared, because he doesn’t lie!
v.5, five synonyms: sinned, dealt perversely, done wickedly, rebelled, turned aside from God’s commandments.
God’s word is good, Rom.7:12, the law is holy, and the command. holy, and righteous, and good.
v.6, rejecting the prophets, they rejected God.
All, from greatest to least, guilty before God.
v.7, God’s justice in punishing Israel is admitted.
v.8, sin causes confusion; all sin is against God.
v.9, Rom. 5:8, we sinners, yet God died for us.
v.10, God speaks by means of inspired men.
Faith comes by hearing (but they disobeyed).
v.11, Sin has its consequences. God warns; so, he is just in punishing the sinner.
v.12,God doesn’t lie. The siege and the destruc-tion of Jer. (cannibalism, Jer. 19:9) was terrible.
v.13, Moses had predicted all this (Deut. 28).
v.14, The justice of God demands retribution.
v.15, Recognition of the sovereignty and omni-potence of God, and of their own culpability.
v.16, Daniel requests not material goods, but that God remove his wrath that they deserved.
v.17, Daniel pleads for God’s favor, based not on Israel’s righteousness but on God’s love.
v.18, We must implore God, based on his mer-cy, and not try to justify ourselves on our merits.
v.19, Request in five verbs: hear, forgive,heark-en, do, defer not. God does all to the glory of his name.
MODEL PRAYER: contrast God’s attributes with man’s wickedness. God doesn’t change; it is man that changes. Prayer lets God bless man.
9:20-23, v.20,21, While Daniel still prays, Gabriel is sent hastily. (See 8:15,16).
v.22, He is sent to cause Daniel to understand. What a great blessing is wisdom, understanding!
v.23, “At the beginning” of the prayer! Prayer is not to inform God, but to exercise our faith; not to benefit God, but man.
What a blessing to be considered “greatly belov-ed” by God; there is no greater eulogy!
Am I beloved of God? If not, whose fault is it? Job 1:8, “Hast thou considered my servant Job?”
9:24-27, 70 hébdomads = 70 groups of sevens.7X7 = 49 + 7x62 (434) = 483 + 7X1 (7) = 490 yrs.
God’s decree of 70 weeks (to bring to accom- plishment Messiah’s Kingdom, and the total des-truction of the Jewish economy).
Three principle interpretations:
1--Chronological = week (7 days) = seven years.
2--Symbolic = each week represents an indef-inite but complete period of time.
3--Premillennial = chronological, but with a big gap between the 69 and the 70th week.
1. Premillennial. 69 weeks (dating from 445 BC, the third return under Nehemiah, Neh. chap. 2) brings to triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem.
Then the “prophetic clock” stopped, a “paren-thesis” (gap theory, till the “Rapture of the church”, the Antichrist, and Christ's second coming) that has lasted 4 times (2000 years) the length of the entire 70 weeks (490 years)! Then comes the 70th week, the last one.
But if no gaps between the 69 weeks, why one so long between the 69th and the 70th?
2. Symbolical. Not literal days, but definite per-iods of time necessary to carry out the 3 divisions
The “terminus a quo” is 536 BC, decree of Cyrus
The second group of hébdomads brings us up to Christ's personal ministry, and the last “week” represents his personal ministry.
In the middle of the last week he is crucified.
Then is added the destruction of Jerusalem, put-ting an end to the Jewish economy.
3. Chronological. The “terminus a quo” (point of origin) with the least problems is the decree of Artaxerxes I, 458 (the 2nd return under Ezra).
Ezra 7:12, Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect and so forth. 13 I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, that are minded of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with thee.
7:25, And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thy hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people that are beyond the River.
458 BC - 49 = 409 - 434 = 26 AD +4 (calendar error) = 30 AD (Luc. 3:23, Jesus himself, when he began [to teach], was about thirty years of age).
Middle of last week, AD 33 Christ is killed, hav-ing preached three and a half years.
(I favor this interpretation of the 70 weeks, al-though there is much merit in the Symbolic).
v.24, 70 hébdomads concerning Israel and its capital, Jerusalem, underscoring the redemption of man by the Messiah, according to prophecy.
“to finish transgression”= (1) the culmination or
full measure of Israel’s sins, upon crucifying Christ.
(2) pardon sins. Isa. 53:5, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniqui-ties.
“to make an end of sins” = the effect of sin (con-demn to death) is undone by the death of Christ. Heb. 2:14, that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime sub-ject to bondage.
“make reconciliation for iniquity” = Christ's death is the propitiation, or cause, why God can show mercy to man the sinner.
Rom. 3:25,26, whom God set forth [to be] a propitiation (occasion of mercy), through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness …. for the showing, [I say], of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.
Heb. 9:5, and above it (ark of the covenant) che-rubim of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat (or, the propitiatory).
“to bring in everlasting righteousness” = that which Christ introduced and God imputes to the believer upon pardoning him.
Rom. 4:6-8, Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckon-eth righteousness apart from works, 7 [saying], Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man to whom, the Lord will not reckon sin.
When one is pardoned he is then a righteous man (because he has no sin). 1 Jn. 3:7, he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he (Christ) is righteous”.
“to seal up vision and prophecy” = when the scheme of redemption was realized, the pro-phecy that referred to it, was fulfilled, completed, there being no future purpose for its use.
Luke 24:44, These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me.
Acts 3:24, Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days.
No prophets/prophetesses today because no need for them!
“to anoint the most holy”. (1) Reference may be to Christ. In Acts 3:14 he is called the Holy One. The next verse refers to Christ.
Some versions say, “to anoint the most holy place”. In this case, (2) reference is to Christ's work of establishing the church. But the word “place” is supplied to the text.
The six things of v.24 are Messianic, fulfilled in the first coming of Christ.
The 70 hébdomads arrived at their “terminus ad quem” (point of ending) in the redeeming work of Christ in his first coming (not his second, per the Premillennialist).
The 70th week follows the 69 weeks, with no gap nor parenthesis in between. No prophetic clock stopped! The 70th week is not still future.
v.25, From the decree to Christ, seven hébdo-mads plus 62 more (= 69).
(The last group of hébdomads -- the 70th week -- begins with the work of the Messiah on earth).

“with street and moat” = complete restoration.
“troublous times” = the Samaritans who had long occupied the land caused them great conflict
v.26, after the 62 weeks (that followed the first seven), a total of 69, Christ's death occurred (so, it was during the 70th!).
Isa. 53:8, By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who [among them] considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke [was due]?
Premillennialism: Christ died after the 69th, so during the “gap”, since the 70th is still future. This “parenthesis” is a convenient, human invention.
Christ died in the midst of the 70th week.
“and shall have nothing” = Now by the crucifix-ion the unbelieving Jews were cut off from the Messiah completely and no longer pertain to him.
From the cross on, the people of God are spirit-ual Israel. Rom.9:8, it is not the children of the flesh (Jews) that are children of God; but the children of the promise (Christians) are reckoned for a seed.
“the people of the prince” = Titus (son of the Emperor, Vespasian), and the Roman army.
The complete destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70
Jesus confirmed this prophecy, Mat. 24:15-28.
Josephus, the contemporary historian, describes the famine, pestilence and homicides in Jerusa-lem, and considered it a fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy.
“the end thereof”. 1 Thess. 2:16, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always: but the wrath is come upon them (Jews) to the uttermost.
“with a flood” = a figure of total destruction.“even unto the end shall be war” = this refers to the coming end of Judaism.
v.27, literally, “he shall make firm a covenant with many one week”.
The word “for” is added to the text: “for one week”. Why not add the word “during”, to fit the context (vv.24-27)?
The point of emphasis is not duration of time, but that the 70th week is designated for the great events associated with the New Covenant (and cessation of the Old).
Christ confirmed the covenant (during the 70th week) “with many”.
Heb. 8:8,9,13, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt; For they continued not in my covenant, And I regarded them not, saith the Lord …. In that he saith, A new [covenant] he hath made the first old.
“in the midst of the week he shall cause the sac-rifice and the oblation to cease” = their usefulness or efficacy ceased when Christ died on the cross.
Their purpose, to serve as a type or shadow, was fulfilled. Hebrews addresses this very point.
Heb. 10:4-9, For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins ….. Sac-rifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; 6 In whole burnt offer-ings and [sacrifices] for sin thou hadst no pleas-ure …. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
If the Chronological interpretation is correct, the middle of the 70th week was 3 and a half years after Jesus began his earthly ministry (so, AD 33)
Jerusalem was not destroyed 3 and a half years after the cross, but in AD 70 (37 years later). So, this event is no part of the 70 weeks, but rather a consequence of the rejection of Christ (in the midst of the 70th week).
Ver. 25 permits this interpretation.
If the Symbolical interpretation is correct, then both Christ's death and the destruction of Jerusa-lem occurred during the 70th week.
In this case Christ's death was not in the middle of the week, and the destruction of Jerusalem occurred at the end of the 70th week.
According to Premillennialism, the 70th week has not yet arrived! If so, then the blessings of ver. 24, including the pardon of sins, has not yet arrived!
“and upon the wing of abominations” = the Ro-man army under Titus against Jerusalem.
Mat. 24:15, When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that readeth understand), 16 then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains ….
Lk. 21:20, But when ye see Jerusalem com-passed with armies, then know that her desola-tion is at hand. 21 Then let them that are in Ju-daea flee unto the mountains ….
“shall come one that maketh desolate” = Titus ordered the temple robbed, the city burned, the walls tumbled, leaving all desolate.
“even unto the full end and that determined” = the complete destruction of the Jewish economy as determined by God and prophesied many cen-turies before.
All priestly records were destroyed. It is impos-sible now for any Jew to claim that a certain one is the Christ, because he cannot prove his lineage as being from the tribe of Judah!
Mat. 23:38, Jesus said, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate”.
The angel revealed to Daniel that Jerusalem, then in ruins, would be rebuilt (ver. 25), but that in the consummation of God’s plan for the Messiah, the Redeemer and Saviour, Jerusalem finally and totally would be destroyed!
(The end of Rome was prophesied in 7:26).
The church of Christ is the spiritual Israel today!
Gal. 3:26-29, For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. 28 There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one [man] in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.
Gal. 6:16, And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace [be] upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Rom. 2:28,29, For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

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