Daniel 9:24-27 Part I

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings All,

Let's examine the context of this message given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel:

Daniel 9:24 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.

God determined that Israel, the people and the city be given 490 years within which (1) to "finish the trangression, (2) to make an end of sins, (3) to make reconciliation for iniquity, (4)to bring in everlasting righteousness, (5) to seal up (finish, complete) the vision and prophecy given hereby to Daniel, (6) AND to anoint the most Holy.

Some expositors have stated that all these conditions have been met with the advent of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Indeed they have, BUT ONLY for the believing Jews and Gentiles. Remember this prophecy is determined for Israel, and as can be attested by the Bible AND History, Jesus came unto His own, but His own received Him not.

So thus we wait UNTIL the people AND the city meet these determinations. According to Romans 11, this will not occur until "the fulness of the gentiles be come in (to the Kingdom of God).

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

There have been numerous expositors attempt to determine "the time" set hereby, by lining up the events with the advent of Jesus Christ. I won't go into that because of my own lack of knowledge of history and the fact that all the expositors I have read have been credible men, each with their own set of dates. Some agree with me, some don't. But for my purposes here, I will only point out that of the 70 weeks, 69 weeks (483 years) shall have passed BEFORE the coming of the Messiah, for He shall come at the END of the 69 weeks.

This evidence should be sufficient to show that the last week (7 years) would be upon Christ's shoulders to "fulfill" on Israel's behalf, ALL the requirements of this prophecy mentioned in Daniel 9:24 above. As can be attested by the fall and destruction of Israel and the scattering and destruction of her people, AND the historical perspective to date, the "determinations upon Israel" have not yet been fulfilled.

Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Regarding the 62 weeks above, here again many expositors have attempted to set a date for the beginning of this period of time. Some I might agree with, others I don't, so I leave that up to you to establish. I will address the END of that 62 weeks, at which time Messiah was CUT OFF. From the Gospel records, Jesus ministry to the Jews lasted 3 1/2 years, at which time His ministry to them was INDEED "cut off", by the cross. Messiah did NOT "die for himself", but for ALL men.

Historically, God has used other UNGODLY nations to come against Israel, to punish her for her sins, how much more worthy of punishment was Jerusalem and the Jews for killing God's only begotten Son? Thus we see the Roman peoples were brought against Jerusalem and by 70 A.D. the people were destroyed or scattered or taken into captivity. Josephus, in his book of "Wars" mentioned the fact that "Indeed it was God that brought this destruction against Israel." If anyone would take the time to read the books of Josephus, you would understand how devastating this destruction was against Israel. Starvation became so bad in Israel, that they sacrificed their own babies to the gods and even ate them. It was a terrible time and until Jerusalem was completely destroyed and "not one stone left unturned", the war continued against the people and the city.

Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Okay, to get to what appears to be a very difficult verse, but I say this only because there are at least two camps that are at opposite ends on its interpretation. One camp says that the word "he" is in reference to the "prince that shall come", the other camp, even as myself, believe that it refers to the Messiah. So I will attempt to be more careful in my exegesis of this passage so as not to create any more confusion than what already exists.

For the purist, this is how the verse is written in the original:

Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm 1396 = gaw-bar'

the covenant 1285 = ber-eeth'

with many 7227 = rab

for one 259 = ekh-awd'

week:7620 = shaw-boo'-ah, shaw-boo'-ah, sheb-oo-aw'

and in the midst 2677 = khay-tsee'

of the week 7620 = shaw-boo'-ah, shaw-boo'-ah, sheb-oo-aw'

he shall cause the sacrifice 2077 = zeh'-bakh

and the oblation 4503 = min-khaw'

to cease, 7673 = shaw-bath'

and for 5921 = al

the overspreading 3671 = kaw-nawf'

of abominations 8251 = shik-koots', shik-koots'

he shall make it desolate, 8074 = shaw-mame'

even until 5704 = ad

the consummation, 3617 = kaw-law'

and that determined 2782 = khw-rats'

shall be poured 5413 = naw-thak'

upon 5921 = al

the desolate. 8076 = shaw-mame'

Now, I have gone through many different Bibles as well as almost as many expositors to determine the English interpretation of this verse. Only a few find agreement among themselves, but ALL are colored by their own biasness. Since I am not literate in Hebrew I must draw understanding from what I believe to be a reasonable Bible interpretation (KJV) and then I must verify that translation by the events of the New Testament, which is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and by subsequent history in as much as it may be of value.

Of first and prime import is to determine who the pronoun "he" is referring to. So a short lesson in the usage of "pronouns and their antecedents" are in order:

When a pronoun is used, it must ALWAYS be preceeded by a noun (the antecedent), namely the subject of a preceding verb, that applies to that noun. It MUST be of the same plurality or singularity, and generally reflect the same gender, although in cases of the word "it", which has no gender, this would not apply, as well as the word "he" which often times is used as a generality that might apply to any gender - he, she or it.

Usually, but not always, it is the "immediate" preceeding noun that would be the antecedent to a pronoun, but not in all cases, such as we have in Dan 9:27. So here are the options: prince, people, himself and Messiah in that order. We can exclude "himself" because it too is a pronoun which refers to a prior antecedent. This leaves us first with the noun "prince" and this is crucial and must be explained in fuller detail later. It is important to determine IF it is the "prince" or the "people" that is the subject of the subsequent verb. Prince would fit the antecedent conditions, however, it is used ONLY to determine WHO the "people" are, for as we know, it was the "people of the Romans" that came and destroyed Jerusalem. It was NOT the person of the "prince which was to come" that destroyed the city. So the "prince which was to come" is used as an "adjective" as a modifier of the word "people", thus eliminating the word "prince" as being the antecedent in question. The next noun of course, is the word "people", but it does not agree with the "plurality or singularity" of the pronoun. "He" since it is singular, and "people" being plural. This leaves the word "Messiah which is next in order to be the antecedent, and which we shall soon discover is the one who fulfilled the scriptures mentioned in Dan 9:27.

So now we must determine if what has already come to pass, mainly revealed in the New Testament, is what is being revealed her to Daniel in vs. 9:27. Some "discernment" must be used by the hearer to determine the following. What I mean by this, is that the "fig tree", used in the Gospels by Jesus is a direct reference to the peoples and nation of Israel.

First it was Jesus who issued the "curse" upon Israel:

Matthew 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.

Matthew 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Remember the fact that Jesus NEVER did anything that He did not see the Father doing. The above is a reflection from the earthly side of what God was about to do in Heaven.

If this were ALL, then I might not have sufficient evidence for the WHO brought the destruction, so let's examine a parable:

Luke 13:6-7 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?

Who was this "man", and WHO was this "vineyard"? I believe this is obvious, but to the uninitiated, or unlearned, the "man" was Jesus Himself. The very person of God in human flesh. Note the time - three years. Remember Jesus ministry was 3 1/2 years during His first advent. Certainly this is NOT just a coincidence. So it was Jesus who "determined" that if the vineyard did not produce any fruit, that IT would be "cut down".

This did not actually occur till 70 A.D. when Israel was destroyed and her people were scattered, destroyed and taken into captivity.

No place in the Gospels, OR in any part of the NT, is there any reference to the "destruction" of Jerusalem and the temple ascribed to any other than God Himself. And as I have related, even the historian Josephus, remarked that this was the case.

So I believe this PROVES without a shadow of a doubt that it was GOD, in the person of Messiah who wrought this destruction, HOWEVER, I wouldn't feel comfortable if I had to rely upon this evidence alone. So we go to the next part of the prophecy, namely, "confirming the covenant".

So what is being said here in these three words? Plainly and simply, that the covenant that is to be confirmed is already established. So what "covenant" is that? Again let's refer to Daniel:

Daniel 9:4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

Now remember this particular "covenant" was for the people of Israel AND the City. Do not forget this or get it confused with the subsequent New Covenant, which will complete and fulfill ALL the OT "covenants" to the Jewish people. So again we turn to the New Testament:

Hebrews 8:8-10 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

which is a reference to:

Jeremiah 31:31-33 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

and again back to the NT:

Hebrews 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Jesus "confirmed" the "covenant" of Daniel 9:4 by "coming unto His own" (John 1:11), "A light shining in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it." (John 1:5)

Nowhere in the New Testament is it revealed that "the prince which was to come", whom I think we agree is the "prince and power of the air" of the NT, makes or confirms a "covenant" with Israel. NOR with anyone else for that matter. As best as I can determine, in fact, NOWHERE in the Whole Bible does "this prince", who I believe to be Satan, make a "covenant" with ANYONE.

Please continue to Part II