and calendar, which provided for Sab batical years as well as days, and the Hebrew of that day was accustomed to think of the week of years as well as the week of days.” Barclay, “We notice, first, that a period of seventy weeks of years, that is four hundred and ninety years, was decreed upon Daniel’s people Israel, and his holy city Jerusalem, during which six things were to be accom plished, as follows: “F ir s t. To finish transgression. The margin makes it read, to finish the transgression. Literally, it is, to shut up the transgression, the idea being to restrain it. It is the trans gression of Israel, in a definite sense, that is referred to, and doubtless the finishing of the transgression is the turning away of ungodliness from Jacob, when the deliverer shall come out of Zion. The rejection of Messiah is the transgression of Israel, and in that day they shall receive him. (Com pare Isa. 59:20 with Romans 11:26.) “Second. To make an end of sins, or to seal up sins. The sins, mark you, are the sins of Israel and Jerusalem, for only Daniel’s people and their holy city are in view in this prophecy. As it is written, ‘This is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.’ (Compare Isa. 27:9 with Romans 11:27.) “Third. To make reconciliation for iniquity, or to purge away iniquity. Of course, the expiation for Israel’s sins was accomplished by the Lord Jesus on the cross, but its application to the people of Israel as such awaits the day when God shall bring them to Himself by the heavy hand of judg ment. This cannot be fulfilled in its specific and primary sense until Israel’s reception of the Lord Jesus as Messiah. “Fourth. To bring in everlasting righteousness. This points to the na tional restoration and conversion of Israel. ‘And so all Israel shall be saved.’ (Rom. 11:26.) “Fifth. To seal up vision and prophecy, or prophet. Visions and Prophets are only necessary when sin abounds. With sins all gone and com- 33
upon natural wisdom or merely human knowledge. If God had intended the whole human race to understand the vision, he would assuredly have writ ten it in plain terms, but He has been pleased to hide these things from the wise and prudent and reveal them unto babes. Pettingill, “The word translated weeks throughout this passage is heb domads, meaning literally sevens — not necessarily seven days, but just sevens. The word might be rendered H IS GREAT LOVE FOR ME Oh, who am I that Christ should come From heaven to this earth. To take upon Himself the form Of man in lowly birth? And then should suffer shame and death Upon a cross for me? That He should there, become my sins And nail them to that tree? A borrowed tomb became His grave: 'Twas sealed and guards were kept To see that no one came by night And took Him while He slept. But He arose and conquered death; Despite the guards and seal: No seal could keep Him in that tomb; No men His body steal. No bonds could hold Him in His grave Yet no one saw Him go: No one except the Father God; While guards walked to and fro. Oh, sinful soul that I have been: He died to set me free! Because He lives, I too shall live Throughout eternity! — Fiadette R. Myers heptade, corresponding with our Eng lish decade. Whether days, months or years is meant must be determined from the context; and in this in stance we shall plainly see that the seven in each case is a period of seven years. Seventy of these sevens, therefore, would be four hundred and ninety years. This point would be sufficiently clear to a Jewish mind, for the idea of heptades, or seven- years periods, was a familiar one in connection with the Levitical ritual
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