Daniel 9:1-27

The Seventy Weeks

In the first year of Darius the Mede, Daniel, studying the prophetical books, finds that Jeremiah has predicted that the desolation of Jerusalem will last for seventy years (Daniel 9:1). He prays, confessing the great sin of Israel, and entreating God to have mercy on His people (Daniel 9:3), Thereupon the angel Gabriel explains to him (Daniel 9:20) that Jeremiah's seventy years are seventy 'weeks,' or 'sevens,' of years (=490 years), which are to be made up of (7+62+1) 'weeks.' The seven 'weeks' begin with 'the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem,' and end with 'the anointed one, the prince,' and the sixty-two 'weeks' include the building of the city in troublous times (Daniel 9:25). The events of the last 'week' are more minutely described. An anointed one is cut off, and a hostile prince destroys the city and the sanctuary (Daniel 9:26). He makes a covenant with many for the one 'week'; for the half of the 'week' he makes the sacrifice and oblation to cease, an 'abomination of desolation' appears, and finally the desolator comes to a sudden end (Daniel 9:27).

Interpretation. The interpretation of this chapter is not without difficulty on any view of the book. Its explanation of the 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 29:10) is of course an artificial one. Jeremiah meant that the dominion of Babylon over all the nations of Western Asia would last for 70 years from the fourth year of Jehoiakim (605 b.c.) (Jeremiah 25:1; Jeremiah 25:11), 70 years being a round number for two generations: cp. the 40 years of Ezekiel 4:6; Ezekiel 29:11; Ezekiel 29:13. In this chapter the meaning is extended so as to refer to the humiliation of Jerusalem under a long succession of heathen powers. There are two main interpretations to be considered. The first places the beginning of the last 'week' in the time of Christ, and starts in its reckoning of the 70 'weeks' from the mission of Ezra (458 b.c.) or that of Nehemiah (444 b.c.). But though the end of the 70 'weeks' is to be placed 490 instead of 70 years after Jeremiah's time, yet the beginning of this period ought to coincide more closely with the beginning of Jeremiah's 70 years. And apart from other difficulties this view fails to give any clear explanation of the different events of the last 'week' The death of Christ abolished the OT. sacrifices not merely for 'half a week' but for ever, while the destruction of Jerusalem (70 a.d.) was much more than seven years (one 'week') after the crucifixion. The second interpretation finds in the events of the last 'week' another picture of the last seven years of Antiochus Epiphanes, and in the first seven 'weeks' the time (49 years) between the captivity (586 b.c.) and the edict of Cyrus (538 b.c.). That the Jews already reckoned Jeremiah's 70 years from the date of the final captivity is shown by 2 Chronicles 36:20; 2 Chronicles 36:21. The difficulty of this view relates to the 62 'weeks.' The time from the edict of Cyrus (538 b.c.) to the beginning of the last seven years of Antiochus Epiphanes (171 b.c.) is only 367 years, which is less than 62 'weeks' (434 years) by 67 years. To this it may be replied either that the 62 'weeks' are merely a broken period, not to be reckoned exactly, or that the writer of Daniel was not in a position to know the precise length of this interval. Josephus and other writers make similar errors in the chronology of that time.