To the prayer from the end of the exile period, the author of Daniel adds a prophecy contemporary with him, which he, like the prayer, places in the mouth of his hero...
To the prayer from the end of the exile period, the author of Daniel adds a prophecy contemporary with him, which he, like the prayer, places in the mouth of his hero. This prophecy, as can be seen, belongs to a person whose name is unknown to us today, someone who received from God a revelation about the end times and the coming of the Messiah. A simple calculation shows that the unnamed prophet expects the Messiah to appear 490 years, "seventy sevens," after the decree of Cyrus the Great about the Jews' return to the land of their fathers, issued in 538 BC, that is, in 48 BC (vv. 24-25). Of course, in this case there can be no question of exact dating, but by historical standards the time is indicated quite precisely; it is, of course, impossible to demand from a prophet absolute chronological precision down to the year. The mention of Jerusalem, which will be restored but "in troubled times" (v. 25), fully corresponds to the historical realities known to us today: the Temple was rebuilt in 515 BC, while the city walls could be rebuilt only by 443 BC.
But for the age in which the author of Daniel and the prophet whose name we do not know, whose prophecy he included in his book, lived, all this already belonged to long-past days. The words about the coming Messiah sounded much more urgent both for them and for their contemporaries. The mention of the Messiah's death and of the subsequent new destruction of the city and the Temple must undoubtedly have made a special impression on listeners and readers (v. 26). Previously only Isaiah of Babylon (Isa 53) had spoken about the suffering and death of the Messiah, and now an unnamed prophet not only confirms his witness but goes even further, as if anticipating the Savior's own prophecy about the end of Jerusalem (Matt 24:15-21). "The people of the ruler who will come" are obviously the Romans, who in 63 BC, under Pompey's command, would seize Judea and all Palestine, and in AD 70, under the emperor Vespasian, after the anti-Roman uprising, would raze the city and the Temple to the ground.
But the coming of the Messiah, as can be seen, will be preceded by the defilement of the Temple by a certain ruler, who is called "the desolator" and of whom it is said that deserved punishment will overtake him (v. 27). By "the week that confirms the covenant" are apparently meant the years separating the prophecy from the purification of the Temple after the Maccabees drove the Syrians out of Jerusalem in 166 BC. Perhaps it was spoken in 171 BC, after the murder, by order of Antiochus, of the high priest Onias III, who actively opposed the religious policy carried out by the Syrian authorities. And then it was revealed to the prophet that the persecutions would intensify, that "in the middle of the week" the Temple would be defiled, which happened in 168 BC, but that by the end of the "week" the covenant would be strengthened. So it happened: after the victory of the rebels led by the Maccabees, the Syrians were driven out of Jerusalem in 166 BC, and the Temple was purified. But these were events of the fairly near future. In the more distant perspective, however, the unnamed prophet was granted a glimpse not only of the suffering Messiah, but also of the catastrophe that would fall on the people soon after the Savior's death on the cross and resurrection.
9 Daniel's prayer for the restoration of Israel, Dan 9:1-23.
The answer sent him by an angel, Dan 9:24-27.
This is the clearest prophecy of the Messiah in all the Old Testament.
9:21 About the time - The time of the evening sacrifice was a solemn and set time of devotion. Tho' the altar was in ruins, and there was no oblation offered upon it, yet the pious Jews were daily thoughtful of the time when it should have been offered, and hoped that their prayer would be set forth before God as incense, and the lifting up of their hands, as the evening sacrifice. This was peculiarly a type of that great sacrifice, which Christ was to offer: and it was in virtue of that sacrifice, that Daniel's prayer was accepted, when he prayed for the Lord's sake.
9:24 Seventy weeks - These weeks are weeks of days, and these days are so many years. To finish the transgression - The angel discovers first the disease in three several words, which contain all sorts of sin, which the Messiah should free us from by his full redemption.He shews the cure of this disease in three words.
- To finish transgression.
- To make an end of sin.
- To make reconciliation:
all which words are very expressive in the original, and signify topardon, to blot out, to destroy.To bring in everlasting righteousness - To bring in justification by the free grace of God in Christ, and sanctification by his spirit: called everlasting, because Christ is eternal, and so are the acceptance and holiness purchased for us. Christ brings this in,- By his merit.
- By his gospel declaring it.
- By faith applying, and sealing it by the Holy Ghost.
To seal up - To abrogate the former dispensation of the law, and toratify the gospel covenant. To anoint - This alludes to his name Messiah and Christ, both which signify anointed.Christ was anointed at his first conception, and personal union, Luk 1:35.In his baptism, Mat 3:17, to his three offices by the holy Ghost,9:25 From the going forth - From the publication of the edict, whether of Cyrus or Darius, to restore and to build it.
9:26 And after - After the seven and the sixty two that followed them.Not for himself - But for our sakes, and for our salvation.And the people - The Romans under the conduct of Titus.Determined - God hath decreed to destroy that place and people, by the miseries and desolations of war.
9:27 He shall confirm - Christ confirmed the new covenant,
- By the testimony of angels, of John baptist, of the wise men, of the saints then living, of Moses and Elias.
- By his preaching.
- By signs and wonders.
- By his holy life.
- By his resurrection and ascension.
- By his death and blood shedding.
Shall cause the sacrifice to cease - All the Jewish rites, andLevitical worship. By his death he abrogated, and put an end to this laborious service, for ever. And that determined - That spirit of slumber, which God has determined to pour on the desolate nation, 'till the time draws near, when all Israel shall be saved.