The Understanding of Daniel
Daniel 9: 1 – 27
King James Version (KJV)
Daniel’s
Prayer
9 In the first
year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made
king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
THE INTERCESSION OF DANIEL
3 And I set my
face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and
sackcloth, and ashes:
4 And I prayed
unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and
dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them
that keep his commandments;
5 We have
sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled,
even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6 Neither have
we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our
kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O Lord,
righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this
day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all
Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither
thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed
against thee.
8 O Lord, to us
belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers,
because we have sinned against thee.
9 To the Lord
our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 Yea, all
Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey
thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written
in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12 And he hath
confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that
judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath
not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is
written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our
prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and
understand thy truth.
14 Therefore
hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our
God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
15 And now, O
Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with
a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we
have done wickedly.
16 O Lord,
according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy
fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our
sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are
become a reproach to all that are about us.
17 Now
therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications,
and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's
sake.
18 O my God,
incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and
the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications
before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
19 O Lord, hear;
O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my
God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
THE
INTERVENTION OF GABRIEL
20 And whiles I
was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people
Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy
mountain of my God;
21 Yea, whiles I
was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at
the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the
evening oblation.
22 And he
informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now
come forth to
give thee skill and understanding.
23 At the
beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to
shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and
consider the vision.
24 Seventy weeks
are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know
therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to
restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven
weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the
wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after
threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the
people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;
and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war
desolation are determined.
27 And he shall
confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he
shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading
of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and
that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
OBSERVATION
Prophetic Key. According to many interpreters, Daniel 9 contains a pivotal prophecy. It has come to be known as "Daniel’s Seventy Weeks of Years." An understanding of these weeks is crucial to one school of interpretation of latter-day prophetic events. Unfortunately, but understandably, the interpretation of this segment is diverse among equally dedicated, committed Christians. These notes shall reflect the frequently accepted dispensational approach. However, additional entries in certain footnotes and at the end of this blog will address the more historical classical/conservative view by words
CLASSICAL INTERPRETATION.
As Daniel sought
the Lord to find out how long the Babylonian captivity would last God show him
that the original prophecy of Jeremiah, indicating that the captivity would
last seventy years, would be extended to "seventy sevens" or 490
years (Jer 29). This revelation, in fact, covers the history of Jerusalem and
the Jews from the time that Artaxerxes decreed they should rebuild the city of
Jerusalem (Neh 2:1-10) to the time of the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:15-31).
This whole
period is called "the Times of the Gentiles" because Gentile
political authority will be the major force until the final destruction of all Israel’s
enemies at the end of the Great Tribulation. This will culminate in the Battle
of Armageddon and the Second Advent of the Messiah. He will at that time
destroy all the armies that have come against Jerusalem.
The "seventy
sevens" are divided into three sections: seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and
one week. Each week represents seven years. The decree of Artaxerxes was in
446-445 B.C.
(Neh. 2:1). The
first two sections of weeks total 69 weeks or 483 years. This period ended in A.D. 32 WHEN THE
Messiah was "cut off" (9:26), or when Jesus was crucified on Calvary.
The Abomination
of Desolation, which Daniel prophesied would be part of the Seventieth Week,
was clearly dated by Jesus as being part of the Great Tribulation or end-time
period (Matt. 24:15). Nearly two thousand years have passed and the Seventieth
Week has not happened. We are still living in the parenthetical time called the
Times of the Gentiles, which precedes the culminative prophetic "week."
9:4-19 Intercede
before God, identifying with the sins of those for whom you pray. Base all petitions on the desire to glorify God’s name.
9:16-19
In spite of Daniel’s
impeccable life and testimony, Daniel’s intercession and supplication were not
based on his own righteousness but on the great
mercies of the Lord. Titus 3:5 declares it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us."
9:24-27 The revelation to Daniel of seventy
weeks came as an answer to his prayer. God showed him that the refining
judgments of Israel would come to an end, and their acceptance of the Messiah
would bring in everlasting righteousness. This prophecy provides a time frame
for messianic prediction from the time of Daniel to the establishing of the
millennial kingdom. It also establishes the fact that God is not finished with
Israel as a nation. To a great extent, Israel becomes God’s prophetic clock.
9:24, 26 The time frame of the seventy weeks or "Seventy
Sevens of Years" is associated with Daniel’s people, the Jews, and the
holy city, Jerusalem. The fact that the weeks of years (490 years) are 360-day
years is established by a comparison of 7:25
with Rev. 11:2, 3; 12:6, 14; and 13:5.
The
weeks of years began with the commandment by Artaxerxes in 445 B.C. to restore Jerusalem. Chronologically, they are divided as:
v Seven sevens 49 years - 445 to 396 B.C. (From Artaxerxes decree to the arrival of Nehemiah, and the covenant renewal celebration at Jerusalem)
v Sixty-two sevens 434 years – 396 B.C.to A.D. 32(From the dedication of the second temple to the Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ)
v One seven 7 years - Untitled
9:26,27 He shall make it desolate: National Israel will enter into a covenant with the
future little horn, the Roman prince (7:8, 11:36) or Antichrist for seven years
(Daniel’s final or Seventieth Week). In the middle of the week, the Antichrist
will break the covenant and demand that the blood sacrifice, restored by Israel
in the last days, must cease. He will then set up his image in the Jewish
temple and require worship (Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2 Thess. 2: 3, 4).
CLASSICAL INTERPRETATION: The classical approach to 9:24-27
differs, seeing such numerical computation as arbitrary. It views the 490 as
representing not a literal period, but a lifetime punishment seven times over
(Jer. 25:11; Lev. 26:28). In other words to this viewpoint, in some form or
other Israel’s desolation will last for centuries, the postexilic return not
making that end; but an end will come.
This
view also confines this prophecy to the second century B.C., that time when
Jerusalem would suffer greatly at the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes (he shall make it desolate). His "abominations"
include setting up a heathen altar in the temple, the time of the "cutting
off" of Onias III, God’s anointed high priest of that time ("Messiah"
vv.25, 26), which can be translated "anointed one," is thus seen by
the classical school as not necessarily referring to Christ but to the high
priest.) The prophesied consummation
is interpreted as Antiochus’s overthrow as the time of the Maccabean revolt.
The
classical approach does not, however, rule out anti type fulfillment of the
broader principles in Jesus Christ, in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.70, nor in the last days rampages of the Antichrist.
Daniel’s language is clearly eschatological at points, denoting a multilevel
prophetic fulfillment.
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/President/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts
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