Notes on Daniel's.seventy
weeks.prophecy
Concise
Bible:."This
period is taken from an important prophecy in Daniel
9:25-27. The seventy weeks are divided into three parts, namely, seven,
sixty-two and one. We shall see in the sequel that 'weeks of years' are
evidently intended.
"The first
period of seven weeks refers to the building of the street and the wall
or moat in troublous times of which times an account is found in the book
of Nehemiah. The second period of sixty two weeks extends to the times
of Messiah
the Prince, after which He should be cut off and have nothing of His Messianic
glory. To reconcile with this the dates of history, it must be noticed
that these weeks do not date from the commandment to build the temple,
which was in the first year of Cyrus king
of Persia (Ezra
1:1,2), but from the commandment to restore
and build the city of Jerusalem, which was given in the twentieth year
of Artaxerxes:.Nehemiah
2:1.
The date commonly
given for this is B.C.E.
445; but Usher gave 455 and Hengstenberg and others contend that this is
the true date. Hengstenberg shews in his Christiology how the mistake
arose. Vitringa rectified the date and Krüger, by an independent enquiry,
also proved that the old date was wrong. Some hieroglyphic
inscriptions in Egypt have shewn that Artaxerxes was associated with his
father in the twelfth year of the reign of Xerxes
and this information confirms the date given by Usher and others.
The year 29
A.D.
is the date now commonly given for the crucifixion.
It is generally agreed that the Lord lived on the Earth thirty-three and
a half years, but if He was born B.C.E. 4 and was crucified 33 A.D. as
given in the Authorized Version, He must have lived here 37 or 38 years;
hence there must be a discrepancy
somewhere.
"Early christian
writers appealed confidently to a document called The Acts of Pilate
which, though now considered spurious
as far as Pilate is concerned, must have
been an early writing and this points to the date 29 A.D. for the crucifixion.
Clement and Origen place the destruction of Jerusalem as forty two years
after the crucifixion. The destruction was
in 70 A.D. which confirms the date of the crucifixion as not later
than 29.
"It is judged
however by some that the sixty nine weeks reach only up to Messiah the
Prince as entering on His ministry, after which He was cut off and therefore
the sixty nine weeks should end at least three years earlier. This is probably
the true view, though it may be impossible now to precisely adjust dates.
This leaves
the last week of the seventy. The rest of the prophecy in Daniel 9:25-27
agrees with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and foretells a determined
period of desolation till war against it will end. Then Daniel 9:27 takes
up the outward circumstances of the last week, which is future, though
probably one half of it has been, for faith, fulfilled in the ministry
of Christ. The last week, in agreement with the above, will occupy a period
of seven years.
Verses 26 and
27 speak of 'the prince that shall come', who shall confirm a covenant
with the many for one week. He will no doubt be the head of the resuscitated
Roman Empire. This is confirmed by Revelation
17:9-18, in speaking of a kingdom that 'was, and is not' and shall
come. This head makes a covenant with Israel for seven years, but breaks
it in the middle of the week, causes the sacrifice and the oblation to
cease and dire desolation by the Assyrian closes the scene. See Abomination
of Desolation. The most momentous events will take place during the
latter half of the week, as detailed in Revelation. This will be a period
of three and a half years and if this interpretation is correct, we might
expect to find such a period definitely mentioned. And so it is; the period
of three and a half years is pointed out no fewer than seven times, as
follows:
Daniel
7:25."time,
times and dividing of time"; on the principle
of 'a day
for a year', so three and a half years.
Daniel
12:7; Revelation 12:14."time,
times and half a time".
Revelation
11:2; 13:5."42
months".
Revelation
11:3; 12:6."1,260
days".
Thus the half
week (half a time or 3½) is given in years; in months it's 42 and
in days it's 1,260.