Daniel 9:27

And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week Lit. make mightya covenant. The expression is a peculiar one; but apparently (the Heb. being late) make mightyis used in the weakened sense of make strongor confirm; cf. Psalms 103:11; Psalms 117:2 (where -is great" ought rather to be is mighty: the word is also sometimes rendered prevail, as Genesis 49:26; Psalms 65:3). The subject is naturally the -prince" just named (Daniel 9:26). If the text be sound, the allusion will be to the manner in which Antiochus found apostate Jews ready to cooperate with him in his efforts to extirpate their religion: see on Daniel 11:30; and cf. 1Ma 1:11-15, where, conversely, the Hellenizing Jews say, -Let us go and make a covenant with the nations that are round about us."

and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and meal-offering to cease alluding to the suspension of the Temple services by Antiochus from the 15th of Chisleu, b.c. 168, to the 25th of Chisleu, b.c. 165 (1Ma 1:54; 1Ma 4:52 f.: see the note on ch. Daniel 8:14). The -half-week" does not seem to coincide exactly with the three and a half years of Daniel 7:25 and Daniel 12:7; for Daniel 12:11 appears to shew that the suspension of the legitimate services did not precede the erection of the heathen altar on the 15th of Chisleu, b.c. 168; as the reckoning here is by weeks, the half-week is in all probability meant merely as a round fraction for what was strictly a little more than three-sevenths of a -week," three years and ten days. -Sacrifice" and -meal-offering" are mentioned as representing sacrifices generally: cf. 1 Samuel 2:29; 1 Samuel 3:14; Amos 5:25; Isaiah 19:21. The -meal-offering" (minḥâh) was properly the accompaniment of the burnt-offering, and, as such, offered daily: see Exodus 29:40-41. The word might, however, be used in its more general sense, and signify -offering" or -oblation" generally (1 Samuel 2:17; 1 Samuel 26:19).

and upon the wing of abominations(shall be) a desolator] or better (cf. on Daniel 8:13 and Daniel 11:31) one that causeth appalment: in contrast to Jehovah, who rides upon the cherub (Psalms 18:10), the heathen foe will come against the sanctuary, riding upon a winged creature, which is the personification of the forces and practices of heathenism [340]. -Abomination" (shiḳḳûẓ) is often used as a contemptuous designation of a heathen god or idol, or an object connected with idolatrous rites: see e.g. Deuteronomy 29:17; 1Ki 11:5; 1 Kings 11:7; Jeremiah 7:30. It would be better rendered for the sake of distinction from tô-çbâh, also -abomination" detestation or detestable thing (as it is actually rendered in A.V. when it occurs by the side of tô-çbâh, Ezekiel 5:11; Ezekiel 7:20; Ezekiel 11:18; Ezekiel 11:21); but -abomination" is, through the N.T. (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14), so inseparably connected with the Book of Daniel, that the time-honoured rendering may be left undisturbed.

[340] R.V. marg.-upon the pinnacleof abominations"; but though πτερύγιον (Matthew 4:5) means a pinnacle, there is no evidence that the Heb. or Aram. כנף acquired this sense. A.V. -for (i.e. on account of) the overspreading," &c., follows David Kimchi, who takes -wing" as a figure for spreading abroad, diffusion, -on account of the diffusion of abominations, men will be appalled." But such a metaphorical sense of the word is very improbable.

Whether, however, the rendering given above expresses the real meaning of the passage may be doubted. The figure of the -wing" is not in harmony with the context; and in Daniel 11:31 the same two words -abomination" and -desolator (orappaller)," differently construed, recur, with clear reference to Antiochus's persecution, -And they shall profane the sanctuary, (even) the stronghold, and take away the continual (burnt-offering), and set up the abomination that maketh desolate(or appalleth)" (cf. Daniel 12:11 -from the time when the continual burnt-offering was taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate(or appalleth) set up"; and above, Daniel 8:13); and it is highly probable that, slightly changing the text, we should read here, similarly, -and in its place (כנו for כנף : so Van Lennep, Kuenen, Bevan, Kamphausen, Prince; cf. Daniel 11:38) shall be the abomination that maketh desolate (or appalleth)" (שׁקוץ משׁומם, as Daniel 11:31, for שׁקוצים משׁומם, a מ erroneously repeated, and then שׁקוצם written pleneשׁקוצים), i.e. instead of the legitimate -sacrifice" and -meal-offering" on the altar of burnt-offering, there will be the detestable heathen altar (see on Daniel 11:31), built upon it by Antiochus.

and that, until the consummation, and that which is determined(i.e. the determined doom), be poured upon the desolator (or appaller)] the heathen abomination will remain upon the altar until the destined judgement come down upon its author (Antiochus). The phrase, theconsummation, &c., from Isaiah 10:23; Isaiah 28:22. Be pouredis often used of angeror fury(Jeremiah 42:18; Jeremiah 44:6 al.).