DANIEL 9
24 “Seventy weeksare decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. And for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Itsend shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” – Daniel 9:24-27
DANIEL 9 SEVENTY WEEKS VISION
According to some references, the Hebrew word translated “weeks” (shabu’im) literally means “sevens.” In Genesis 29, it can refer to seven days or in Leviticus 25, it could mean seven years. The Jews observed a seven-year celebration (the sabbatical year), as well as a seven-day celebration (the Sabbath). Most scholars believe that this word here represents seven years. It would have been normal then for him to interpret these sevens as years. Seventy-seven year periods totals 490 years. As Jerusalem was suffering under the hand of Gentiles for 70 years (Daniel 9:2), so the Jews and Jerusalem would suffer under the hand of Gentiles for 490 years.
Commentator Young says that “By the time these 490 years run their course, God will have completed six things for Israel. The first three have to do with sin, and the second three with the kingdom. The basis for the first three was provided in the work of Christ on the cross, but all six will be realized by Israel at the Second Advent of Christ.” Young continues that “This is a Divine revelation of the fact that a definite period of time has been decreed for the accomplishment of all that is necessary for the true restoration of God’s people from bondage. “This seventy-weeks vision manifests God’s mercy and steadfast love for his people. He prepares them for what is to come.
REFLECTION
- What can you infer from this vision as to the character and nature of God?
