This article has been written as part of a series presenting varied interpretations of different aspects of eschatology. You can find the others here. It is an area where there are many different viewpoints, and we encourage healthy and constructive discussion. We ask readers to reflect on the various studies put forward, and we welcome comments that are respectfully made. This is the first in a short series seeking to understand Daniel’s prophetic timelines. If you wish to contribute an article, you can find our guidelines here.
The intensity of Daniel’s prayer left him weary. He had been crying out to the Lord on behalf of his people Israel and for the City of Jerusalem, the holy mountain of God. He had put everything into the prayer and was left in a state of severe exhaustion. The prayer had not been in vain. From the start of Daniel’s time of intercession, God had been listening to his prayer. In response God had issued a command which Gabriel was sent to explain. He came to enable Daniel to understand the future destiny of his people and the city.
Before this time of prayer, Daniel had been studying the scroll on which was written Jeremiah’s prophecy that God had set 70 years for the desolation of Jerusalem (Dan 9:2;Jer 25:11). By the first year of Darius, Daniel had been in exile nearly 70 years. Was the exile soon to come to an end?
The Sabbath Year
Jeremiah had passed on the word of the Lord that the land would be allowed to rest until it had enjoyed its Sabbaths (2 Chron 36:21). To any who are unfamiliar with the Old Testament Law, this may seem a strange concept. It certainly does not relate to present day farming methods, which year after year extract from the land everything it can give.
When Israel entered the Promised Land, the Lord had said that the land was entitled to a rest every seventh year (Leviticus 25:2-7). It was to be a time when it was not cultivated. God had instituted the Sabbath year to teach both respect for his creation and faith in God for their daily provision. Through Jeremiah, God now decreed that the land was entitled to 70 years of rest to compensate for the previous 420 years when this law had been ignored. To allow the land to rest, God removed the people from the land.
Through the prophecy of Jeremiah, God is pointing to a period of 490 years in which the kingdom of Israel had failed. Gabriel brings the message that God is granting Israel another chance. There will be another period of 490 years.
Daniel knew the history of his people. By the year 586 BC Jerusalem had been the capital city of the nation for 420 years. King David had captured it from the Jebusites in 1006/5 BC and made it the capital of all Israel. David’s kingdom had been chosen to be an example to the world. It was to set the standards of righteousness to guide other nations. Under David’s descendants the kingdom deteriorated to become like all the nations around. It was worthless to God. For 420 years the nation had sinned and not kept the laws of God.
If we add 420 years and 70 years we come to a total of 490 years. This will prove a help to understanding the prophecy of the weeks, which also covers a period of 490 years. Through the prophecy of Jeremiah, God is pointing to a period of 490 years in which the kingdom of Israel had failed. Gabriel brought the message that God was granting Israel another chance. There would be another period of 490 years.
The Seventy Weeks
“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.” (Daniel 9:24)
The nation would be given another chance. God would grant them a period of seventy weeks, or 70x7 years, in which to achieve the things set out in the verse above. The word translated weeks literally means a period of seven, usually years. From the time of the institution of the Sabbath year, it was as natural for the Jew to think in terms of periods of seven years as it is for us to think in decades. Israel would be granted another period of 490 (70x7) years in which to correct their previous failure.
From the time of the institution of the Sabbath year, it was as natural for the Jew to think in terms of periods of seven years as it is for us to think in decades.
The question arises how, after all their previous failure, would they be able to live up to the things God expected of them? They were to cease their transgression (which could also be translated rebellion) and end their habitual tendency to sin. It might be possible for the nation to reform and act in submission to the laws of God but, given the past, it was asking a lot. The next two expectations were surely outside their capacity. Could full atonement ever be made for sin? Could a nation live in everlasting righteousness? The final two phrases, to seal up vision and prophecy and anoint the Most Holy, speak of the completion of the work of God and not the work of man. As Daniel heard the command explained, he must have wondered how this could ever come about. Could the nation be so completely reformed in its relationship to God that all past rebellion would come to an end? The answer came in the next verse:
“So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks; and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.” (Dan 9:25)
The answer was the Messiah. The scriptures, which had been written by the time of Daniel, were full of promises of the coming of a King who would reign in righteousness, a King whose kingdom would be established over all the earth. Promises that one day many nations would stream to Jerusalem to learn the ways of God. There would be a time of universal peace and plenty. All these promises centre on the righteous descendant of David called Messiah who would establish a kingdom that would never fail. Daniel had already seen an image of this kingdom in the vision of the rock that struck the statue. It is in the Messiah that all this would be accomplished. Time scales were set in which these events would take place. We will look at these in a further article next week.
Failure predicted
“Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.” (Dan 9:26)
Daniel was then warned that his people were destined to fail once again. The Messiah for whom they longed “will be cut off and have nothing”. He would be rejected. The very person who could lead the nation to accomplish all that God had destined for them would be cut off from his own people. Following the rejection of the Messiah, the Prince, by his own people, he would become the Prince of another people, the Gentiles (Matt 22:7). For 2,000 years the gospel and the kingdom would pass to the Gentiles instead of the Jews. The Gentiles would become the people of the Prince in the general sense of being entrusted with the gospel. This is in contrast to the Jews who are his chosen people in a special relationship. For a time the branches of the olive tree were to be broken off, and branches from a wild olive grafted in, taking their place (Rom 11:1-31). The Gentiles would turn against Israel and destroy Jerusalem and the temple. From then on Israel, the rightful heirs of the kingdom, would experience unrelenting war and desolation at the hands of the Gentiles right up to the end of the age. Often these same Gentiles would be misguided into thinking that they are serving God by persecuting the Jews.
Who is the He?
“And he will confirm a firm covenant with the many for one week, and in the middle of the week he will cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” (Dan 9:27)
Who is the ‘he’, at the beginning of this verse? How you answer that question determines the interpretation of this passage. Many say that ‘he’ refers to the one who makes desolate. On this basis they teach that the one who makes desolate will make a covenant with Israel for seven years. In that time the Temple will be rebuilt and the sacrificial system reintroduced. At the end of the three and a half years he will break his covenant and turn against the Jews. In this interpretation the ‘he’ is the same as the little horn of Daniel chapter 7. I am fully aware of this school of interpretation and once went along with it. I now believe that to interpret the ‘he’ as the little horn is a mistake.
Jesus confirms the covenant
In terms of grammar, it makes more sense if the ‘he’ as the subject of this sentence relates to the Messiah, the subject of the pair of sentences before. Jesus came to Israel not to the Gentiles. His presence confirmed the covenant that God had made with them, 2,000 years ago. They were his people to whom he sent the Messiah. After three and a half years of ministry Jesus was rejected and crucified. His death was a sacrifice made once for all. Therefore, he put a stop to the need for sacrifice and grain offering in fulfilment of this verse.
This verse intentionally presents a stark contrast. The first half is about the true Messiah who willingly gives his life as a sacrifice for the sins of Israel and the whole world. The second part speaks of one who makes desolate and destroys. Jesus said, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name you will receive him,” John 5:43. Jesus knew that rejection of himself would one day inevitably lead to Israel accepting Satan as their ‘saviour’.
God has listened to and answered Daniel’s intercession for Israel. Yes, he will give them another chance, but it will end in failure.
I cannot imagine a more tragic anti-climax. God had listened to, and answered, Daniel’s intercession for Israel. Yes, he would give them another chance, but it would end in failure. The one they claimed to long for would be rejected and instead their enemy would be accepted. Fortunately, that is not the end of the story. The end is given elsewhere in the Bible. At the end of the age the Jews will be allowed to return to the land. There they will be brought down to their lowest point ever. At that time they will, at last, turn to the one they crucified. In repentance they will accept their King. But that eventual happy ending is not revealed here. At this time we have to come to terms with tragedy.
We have been told that God highly esteemed Daniel. He was a person to whom God could open his heart. In his intercession Daniel had voiced the longing of the heart of God for Israel and Jerusalem. Here God shared with Daniel his own heartbreak over a nation which stubbornly went its own way. It was a nation which would crucify his beloved Son and bring on itself endless suffering. It was as if God ended the prophecy on this down note so that he and Daniel could weep together over the nation which they both loved. Nearly six hundred years later Jesus looked out over Jerusalem and also wept. He shared their heartbreak.
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Please pause here a while to pray for Israel and the Jewish people, that they will turn to the Lord.