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Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 7: Were Verses 26b-27 Fulfilled Historically?

Here is some of the historical viewʼs evidence, showing that Daniel 9:26b-27ʼs seven specific prophecies have already been fulfilled:

1-2) Vespasian, a widely-revered Roman military commander, arrived in the Holy Land in early 67 A.D. Emperor Nero had sent him to quell a revolt begun in 66 by many of the Jews against their corrupt Roman overlords. Vespasian established (caused) these two Roman policies for the duration of the Jewish War of 66/67-73:

I) Any Jew who peacefully re-submitted to Romeʼs authority was to be spared, and be allowed to live in peace. See #4 below.

II) Any Jew who continued to resist that authority was to be ruthlessly subdued. In the Spring, Vespasian, accompanied by his son Titus, three legions, and auxiliary troops altogether amounting to more than 60,000 men, began to war against the rebels in Galilee.

1, 3) Vespasianʼs policy #II ultimately caused the Roman army to destroy both Jerusalem and its Sanctuary, because the Jewish rebels continued to use both places as fortresses of defense.

4) Vespasian, by means of his policy #I, made covenants of peace with a number of important non-resisting cities. Essentially, he was merely “confirming” Romeʼs original covenant with the Jews, which allowed them – uniquely among the peoples of the Empire – to practice only their own mono-theistic religion, provided that they submitted to Roman civil authority.

According to the record by Josephus,

The Jewish War, Whiston version; Preface 8: [Vespasian] took…some of its [Galilee’s] cities by treaties, and on terms.

III:2:4 …the inhabitants of Sepphoris…the largest city of Galilee…received Vespasian, the Roman general, very kindly, and readily promised that they would assist him…

III:9:8 Now the seniors of the people [of Tiberius]…fell down before Vespasian, to supplicate his favor… Vespasian…accepted of their rights hands by way of security…[and] the citizens opened to him their gates…

5) Right about 3½ years/1260 days after Vespasianʼs “coming in” to the land, blood sacrifice [זֶבַח] ceased in the Temple on Tammuz 17 = July 15, 70 A.D. This was a consequence of the Roman armyʼs siege and warfare against Jerusalem, which had caused severe famine and great loss of life.

VI:2:1 …on that very day, which was the seventeenth day of Panemus, [Tamuz,] the sacrifice called “the Daily Sacrifice” had failed, and had not been offered to God, for want of men to offer it, and that the people were grievously troubled at it…

6) Six months earlier, Vespasian had turned over his military command to his son Titus, who continued the war under Vespasianʼs original policies. Vespasian then went to Rome, having been proclaimed the new Emperor by the Senate.

Under Titus, in early July the Romans captured the fortress-tower of Antonia on the northwest כְּנַף/corner of the Temple Mount. War V:5:8; VI:1:7 It provided access to the Temple complex via a narrow passage, which led “as far as the corner of the inner court of the Temple.” VI:1:8 This tower was elevated עַל/above/over the Temple, which allowed the Romans to look down upon the Temple and its courts. VI:1:5; 2:5

The “abominations of a destroyer” that ensued consisted of the most savage combat between Romans and Jews, including instances of Jewish fratricide; piles of corpses within the Temple complex; and the Jews and then the Romans setting fire to the Temple’s own cloisters across from the Roman-occupied Antonia. Also, the Romans began bringing their idolatrous ensigns (Aquilae), to which sacrifices were offered, into the Antonia Tower, and then into the Temple precincts. VI:1:7; 6:1 They were called Aquilae because of the eagle perched on top of them, a symbol of Jupiter.

VI:Endnote 24 …Tertullian truly says in his Apologetic…that the entire religion of the Roman camp almost consisted in worshipping the ensigns, in swearing by the ensigns, and in preferring the ensigns before all the [other] gods.

The destruction by fire of the Temple occurred during its capture on Ab 9/10 = August 4/5; followed by the destruction of upper Jerusalem (Zion) in early September. Thus Titus fulfilled the prophecy of “abominations/idolatry of a destroyer.”

7) A Jew named John of Gischala was the leader of a group of Zealots who had originally taken control over and ruthlessly dominated Jerusalem.

II:21:1 [He was] a treacherous person…and for wicked practices he had not his fellow any where. …[H]e laid waste all Galilee… IV:3:13 Now it was John who…was the occasion of all these [the party of the moderate High Priest Ananus in Jerusalem] being destroyed. He was a man of great craft, and bore about him in his soul a strong passion after tyranny…

By 70 A.D., Johnʼs Zealots had lost control over the city to another rebel leader, Simon, but still held the rebels’ highest and most fortified ground, that of the Temple complex. When the Romans ultimately came in “with a flood” of attackers to overwhelm the highly fortified inner courts and Sanctuary, “the consummation/end having been decreed” was “poured out upon [this] desolator.”

Summary

Simply stated, every one of the seven specific events prophesied by Daniel 9:26b-27 are found to be well-fulfilled by the events of the 7-year Jewish War of 66/67-73 A.D. The last stronghold of the Jewish rebellion, Masada, fell in 73. Roman military rule over Judea ended not long afterward, and civilian rule was re-instituted.

Daniel 9:26b-27 prophesied three different men to come: a leader/commander of an army, a destroyer, and a desolator. Vespasian fulfilled the first prophecy, Titus the second, and John the Zealot the third.

*          *          *

Nothing in the passage of Daniel 9:24-27 can be demonstrated to have any unequivocal prophetic message for OUR time, despite the great deal of hype to the contrary. It doesn’t mention at all

– any “abomination of desolation of the Holy Place [Sanctuary]” (Matt. 24:15; cf. Deut. 7:25-26 and Dan. 11:31);

– the time of the end/latter time/latter days, or any similar term;

– the Great Tribulation/“time of trouble such as never was” (Dan. 12:1);

– the saints, or any flight of God’s people;

– Messiah’s coming in the clouds, Divine Judgment, and/or the establishment of God’s kingdom;

– the King of the North’s or the Little Horn’s demise;

– or the raising of the dead.

These topics are discussed elsewhere in Daniel’s End Time prophecies. Why are none of them found here? Because this is not a prophecy about the end of the Church Age, but rather about the end of the Jewish Age. Remember, Gabriel said that this prophecy of 70 weeks was to be “upon thy [Danielʼs] people,” that is, “my [Danielʼs] people Israel,” and no one else. Dan. 9:24, 20

Every prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 has already been fulfilled. History sometimes repeats itself in type, but never in such detail that it duplicates such a specific series of events.

Final Notes

One issue that has rightly troubled many commentators is the gap in time, presumed by both the future and historical views, between the end of the 69 weeks of years and the beginning of the 70th. Some few people believe there was no gap, and the last seven (or three and one-half) years immediately followed the death of Jesus. However, they can provide no plausible argument for the fulfillment of the seven events prophesied by verses 26b-27. Nothing of the kind occurred in the 30s A.D.

Likewise, the future view has no convincing biblical argument for a nearly 2000-year gap. The historical view does provide a legitimate reason for a gap, however, which is this: 40 years (or days) was Godʼs standard period for the testing of His people Israelʼs obedience. In particular, God tested Israelʼs faithfulness for 40 years after they entered into the Mosaic Covenant at Mount Sinai. All the Israelites of adult age who failed that test died.

God likewise allotted 40 years to test whether the Jewish people, and especially their religious leaders, would accept or reject Christ’s New Covenant. After those 40 years were fulfilled, the rebels against the New Covenant had their holy city and Temple destroyed, which effectively ended many mandated practices of the Old Covenant. That covenant required both a Temple and a place to gather for the yearly festivals of the Law. Both places were destroyed, and the Temple was never rebuilt.

Jesus prophesied just such a “desolation” for the city, people, and Temple of his day, saying that these were “the things having been written.” Luke 21:22; “the things” referring to the events of verses 6 and 20-21. Only one Old Testament “written” prophecy fulfills this statement, and that is the passage of Daniel 9:24-27. (Micah 3:12 was not fulfilled until the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba War, which ended in 135 A.D.) In particular, Jesus singled out the corrupted and rebellious religious leaders of his day – ha-poshim/the apostates (Dan. 8:23) – whose pesha would soon be “utterly restrained” (9:24):

Matthew 23:29 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! … 31 …you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. … 35 …upon you shall come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth… 36 Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem… 38 Behold, your house [that is, the Temple] is left to you desolate.”

In saying these words, Jesus was in effect both witnessing to and re-decreeing the “decreed desolations” of Daniel 9:26b and 27, and prophesying that those desolations would be fulfilled during the generation of the first century A.D. Which they were.