24 “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” Daniel 9: 24-27
Daniel 9: 24 Seventy Weeks Broken Down
38nor does His word abide in you, because you do not believe the One He sent. 39You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me, 40yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.… John 5: 38-40
24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had described. But Him they did not see.” 25Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?”… Luke 24: 24-26
…43For the days will come upon you when your enemies will barricade you and surround you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will level you to the ground— you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” 45Then Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling there.… Luke 19: 43-45
Seventy weeks are decreed - So weeks means 7 here, and from the context we can see earlier in this chapter a period of 70 years, which were 70 Sabbath years that the people of Israel forsook. Every seventh year gives us a period of 490 years in which they did not keep the fallow year.
“Seventy weeks.” What are they? Well, the term for “weeks” – shavua or shavuim in Hebrew – does not mean “week.” It means “seven,” seventy sevens. It doesn’t in itself identify days, it doesn’t identify weeks, it doesn’t identify months, it doesn’t identify years, it just means seventy sevens. And so whenever you see the term, you’ve got to get its meaning from the context or the verses around it. - J Mac
Weeks (07620) (shabuwa', sabua' or shabua') is found 6x in the four verses of Da 9:24-27. In simple terms shabua' means a "unit of seven" and could refer to seven of anything. It is simply a numerical measure. Our English equivalent is "heptad" which means "a group of seven". Daniel as well as all of the Jews would have been quite familiar with the concept of "sevens of years" from the Mosaic law stipulating that ever seventh year was to be a sabbatical or rest year for the land during which time they were to plant no crops (Lev 25:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). The reason Daniel was praying in fact was because he had read in Jeremiah that Judah was in exile so that the land would be allowed to keep its sabbath rests (for 490 years they had failed to keep every seventh year as a sabbath!) (cf 2Chr 36:21). The only other type of weeks or sevens mentioned in Scripture are sevens of days (Sabbath rest each week). As Miller says "The burden of proof rests squarely upon anyone who would take the sevens in any other sense (other than days or years)." (New American Commentary: Daniel). - Precept Austin
Your people - The Jews, the children of Abraham.
19O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”
20While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and that of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the LORD my God concerning His holy mountain— Daniel 9: 19-20
Your holy city - God had chosen this place as the center of all redemptive history. It is Mt. Moriah where Abraham offered up Isaac, the threshing floor that David purchased, the place of the temple mount. This is where Messiah will reign in His Millennial Kingdom.
1Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city of Jerusalem, while the remaining nine were to dwell in their own towns. 2And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.… Nehemiah 11: 1-2
To finish the transgression - He exacted from them the 70 Sabbath years, but they transgressed His laws for 490 years while in the land, and it is interesting that He now takes 490 years from human history, which He devotes to His redemption plan. Now to those replacement theologians, please note, he says, "about your people and your holy city." We as gentiles have been grafted in, yet God has called all these things from His eternal sovereignty, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
…7Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. 8The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.… 1 John 3: 7-9
literally means "to restrain firmly the transgression." Today sin expresses itself freely, but a day will come when that will not be true (Ed Comment: Speaking in particular of the nation of Israel, but to be generally true of the entire world in the Millennial Kingdom). Jesus will rule with a rod of iron (Ps 2:6, 7, 8, 9) and every expression of evil--"transgression"--will be immediately restrained by His divine power. (Israel's Future--Part 1) - J Mac
To put and end to sin -
…25Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,… Hebrews 9: 25-27
To atone for iniquity - It should be no surprise to future Jews that are watching the times and the seasons, trying to anticipate Messiah, that Messiah shall also suffer, yet they rejected this idea even though it is explicit in OT prophecy. Abraham took his son up to be offered on this same Mt. Moriah, and God provided a ram in place of Isaac, there is a picture. We know that the wages of sin is death, that God is opposed to sin and that He is eternal, so in order to redeem men the price would have to be paid. Every spotless lamb that was ever offered under the law was a reminder of this very thing. Read Isaiah 53, this is the confession of the people at the end of the seventh week of years.
10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11On that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be as great as the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.… Zechariah 12: 9-11
…4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. 6In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.… Hebrews 10: 4-6
…19For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross. 21Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds.… Colossians 1: 19-21
To bring in everlasting righteousness - God has a moral code, not merely an ideal but a fixed measure of right and wrong. His righteousness, His standard is eternal.
6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail. 7Listen to Me, you who know what is right, you people with My law in your hearts: Do not fear the scorn of men; do not be broken by their insults.… Isaiah 51: 6-7
To seal both vision and prophet - At the end of the 70 weeks all this will be fulfilled. Messiah will have come and given His life as a ransom for many, the man of perdition will come in the final week which has been reserved after the time of the church. After He destroys the antichrist and his kingdom, then Messiah will set up His own kingdom, where men will be taught directly from Jesus, ruled by God.
Walvoord - The fifth aspect of the program, to seal up the vision and prophecy, is probably best understood to mean the termination of unusual direct revelation by means of vision and oral prophecy. The expression to seal up indicates that no more is to be added and that what has been predicted will receive divine confirmation and recognition in the form of actual fulfillment. Once a letter is sealed, its contents are irreversible (cf. Da 6:8). (Ibid) - Precept Austin
28After this, knowing that everything had now been accomplished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29A jar of sour wine was sitting there. So they soaked a sponge in the wine, put it on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted it to His mouth. 30When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.… John 19: 28-30
To anoint a Holy place -
The prophet Ezekiel records that the Temple will be rebuilt and this will occur during the time immediately following the Second Coming of Christ, commonly referred to as the Millennial (1000 year), when Messiah will reign for 1000 years on earth (Ezek 40-48). This 1000 year period is based primarily on the repeated phrase 1000 years (6 times) in Revelation 20. Many who refuse to interpret the Scriptures literally (where that interpretation is quite reasonable), take the 1000 years as symbolic, an interpretation generally referred to as amillennial. It is interesting that many of those who hold this position, also hold the position that God is finished with Israel and that the promises made to Israel in the OT have been "defaulted" to the Church. They base this specious interpretation on a misinterpretation of Galatians 6:16 (see discussion of the phrase Israel of God). Those who assume this non-literal interpretation, not surprisingly have considerable difficulty interpreting the book of the Revelation, which if taken literally, chronicles the final dealing of God with His chosen people Israel. It is little wonder (and very sad) that there are such a plethora of confusing interpretations on the great book of the Revelation. - Precept Austin
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