By Theodore B. Hax, Th.M.
D a n ie l ’ s prophecy of the 70 weeks requires only four verses for its statement. Yet no passage in the whole Bible is more important for a right understanding of that part of God’s prophetic program which is yet future. The late Dr. H. A. Ironside keenly observed that “ if the seventy weeks be misunderstood, then an effort will necessarily be made to bend all the other prophetic Scriptures into accord with that misinterpretation. But if we have a correct understanding of the teaching of this chapter, we can then see readily how all prophecy, with out any forcing, falls right into place, and is intimately linked up with this the greatest of all time-prophecies.” (Lectures on Daniel the Prophet, page 155.) The following is a simple outline of the ninth chapter of Daniel: 1. Daniel understands the prophecy of the seventy years (w . 1-2). 2. Daniel’s prayer (w . 3-19). 3. Gabriel arrives to give wisdom (w . 20-23). 4. The prophecy of the seventy weeks (w . 24-27). Without going into a detailed exposition of the first twenty-three verses of this chapter, we do believe it is of utmost importance to observe that the chapter opens with Daniel’s understanding of Jeremiah’s prophecy of the seventy years of desolations upon Jerusalem in con nection with the Babylonian captivity. Notice Daniel’s simplicity in interpretation. When we read in Jeremiah 25:11 that seventy years would be the duration of the desolations upon Jerusalem while its inhabitants were captives in Babylon, he understood it in its most natural meaning. In other words, he interpreted God’s prophetic Word literally. This also is written for our instruction (Romans 15:4). We shall be wise to follow his example in our method of interpreting the prophecy of the seventy weeks. We shall consider this brief prophecy verse by verse. Verse 24, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” The opening phrase, “ seventy weeks are determined,” clearly identifies this as a time-prophecy. It is, therefore, of supreme importance that we rightly understand the meaning of the word “weeks.” Our English language uses this word only as a time measurement for seven days. The Hebrews, however, used the word to mean simply a seven. In English we have a word for twelve, viz., a dozen. Whether we mean a dozen eggs, or a dozen of something else, must be determined by the content of our conver sation. So the Hebrew word for week as a measurement was able to speak either of days or a seven of years. One was as common as the other. They had a Sabbath day as well as a Sabbath year. In their week of years, the Jewish farmer tilled his land for six years and the seventh year was a “ sabbath of rest unto the land” (Leviticus 25:3-4). If we should read verse 24 like this, “Seventy of sevens are determined upon thy people” we should more easily grasp the exact Hebrew expression. Do the seventy of sevens refer to weeks or days? If
they did, then the total time period would be 490 days, or a little over one year. The rest of the prophecy makes it perfectly plain that all that was to be accomplished in this time simply did not occur within 490 days. Therefore, Gabriel must have been talking about sevens of years. This is the more natural meaning since Daniel had just been meditating upon a prophecy that involved seventy years which would be ten sevens of years. Daniel must have known that the exact time of the Babylonian captiv ity was divinely computed to give the land of Israel as many years of Sabbath rest as their years of violation had involved. Israel had failed to observe the Sabbatic year as God had commanded. Their accumulated Sabbath years added up to seventy years. “For as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill three-score and ten years” (II Chronicles 36:21). The Scriptures themselves thus make it clear that Gabriel is here declaring that seventy weeks of years are determined upon Daniel’s people, the Jews, and upon “ thy holy city” which is Jerusalem. This is not, therefore, a prophecy of the church. Just as the Babylonian captivity had concluded 490 years of failure on the part of Israel, so God determined on another 490 years which shall end, not in failure, but in the accomplishment of a six-fold glorious consummation, and this six-fold consummation centers in God’s Old Testament people, Daniel’s people, Israel. Let Us note carefully and accurately what these divine accomplishments shall be. 1. To finish the transgression. The transgression of Israel was and is the rejection of her Messiah. The nation Israel continues in that transgression to this day. It is not yet finished. “Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25). Since the full number of the Gentiles has not yet come into the church, the blindness of Israel continues and her transgression is therefore still in progress. Those who hold that the seventieth week of Daniel is past are forced to defend the intolerable view that Israel’s transgression is finished. 2 .T o make an end of sins. Daniel had just been enu merating the sins of Israel and their wickedness in gen eral. The Old Testament prophets speak of a future day when Israel will no longer walk in her sins. “Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwell ing places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 37:23). This refers to the time of the final regathering of Israel into her own land when “ one king shall be king to them all . . . and they shall be no more two nations.” Paul speaks of the same future day for Israel when “ there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:26). The fulfillment of these words awaits the second coming of Christ to the earth. Again we point out that if one views the seventieth week of Daniel to be past, he must somehow take the position that Israel has already made an end of sins, which is simply contrary to fact. 3. And to make reconciliation for iniquity. Christ by His death made provision for the reconciliation of all
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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