Greatest of the Prophets - 56

 The Greatest Of The Prophets - by George McCready Price (1955) 56

9. THE TIMES OF THE MESSIAH

Daniel 9:20. And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God;
Daniel 9:21. Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

From this mention of the evening oblation it is evident that this prayer was the third of the daily series which he prayed concerning the matter which was upon his heart.

The angel Gabriel has been mentioned only once before, when he appeared to explain the vision of the eighth chapter to Daniel. On that occasion he had completed the explanation of all the main symbols; but the time symbol, about the 2300 evenings and mornings, was left wholly unexplained, and without the slightest hint of the time of its beginning.

It would be wholly unreasonable to think that they should begin with the time of Daniel or the giving of the vision; for the other symbols with which this time period was connected, that is, the little horn and its doings, were not themselves to begin until many centuries yet in the future, at least not until after the empire of Babylonia and that of Medo-Persia had passed away. Thus it is self-evident that Gabriel had not completed what he had been told to do: “Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.” Chapter 8:16. At the end of the same chapter, after Gabriel had completed his partial explanation, Daniel says: “I wondered at the vision, but none understood it.” Verse 27. Gabriel now appears to complete his work, and from what he tells Daniel, it is evident that his statements are of the nature of an enlargement or explanation of the time period of the 2300 evenings and mornings.

All these facts prove the close connection between this ninth chapter and the preceding eighth, making them in effect one vision; though this connection seems to have been strangely overlooked by most commentators. This intimate connection between the periods of the Messianic prophecy of this chapter and the 2300 days of the eighth chapter will become still clearer as we proceed. Neither is complete without the other.

Daniel 9:22. And he instructed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding.
Daniel 9:23. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth, and I am come to tell thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.

The angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who are heirs of salvation. It is well for us here on this sin-cursed earth to remember that the unseen powers of heaven go and come at the needs of God’s waiting, trusting people.

Consider the matter. What matter? Evidently the matter or subject which he tells us he had not understood. Gabriel had been commissioned by High Heaven to make Daniel understand the vision, and Gabriel had started in and had got as far as the time symbol of the 2300 days, when Daniel fainted and was sick certain days. After recovering and going about the king’s business, he declares that he still wondered at the vision, “but none understood it.” Obviously Gabriel had not fully completed what he had been commanded to do.

Understand the vision. In the light of all this, it is as clear as sunlight that Gabriel is not referring to some vision yet to be announced. To make such a remark about some vision which had not yet been
given would be superfluous, to say the least; for if he had some further vision to announce to Daniel, it was his business to make Daniel understand it in the right way. But he had been expressly told to make Daniel understand the vision of chapter 8; yet after he had given what explanations he did give in that chapter, Daniel was still in the dark concerning part of it, and declared that neither he nor anyone else understood it. Hence it is clear that Gabriel is here directing Daniel’s mind back to the unexplained part of the preceding vision. This unexplained part dealt with the matter of time and the date of certain events; likewise in Gabriel’s present message the subject is the same, the times and dates of certain events. Moreover, he begins by saying that a certain period is to be “cut off” and assigned to the Jewish people. Accordingly, we are absolutely shut up to the conclusion that the periods of time here given must be parts or subdivisions of the long period mentioned in chapter 8, namely, the 2300 evenings-mornings. No other conclusion is possible.

Daniel 9:24. Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy Holy City, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

Many peoples of ancient times, the Romans and the Greeks scarcely less than the Hebrews, were fond of dwelling on the mystic meanings of numbers. Such persons must have found much pleasure, if not instruction, in comparing the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity with the 70 x 7 years spoken of in this prophecy with its many subdivisions, and then comparing all of these with the “seven times more” (Leviticus 26:18), which was the term God used in His threat to chastise the Israelites for their sins. It is probably true that some mystical values of seven do enter into these predictions here in Daniel; though our present purpose is not to discover any mystical or recondite meanings which may underlie them, but to deal with the obvious facts which lie on the open face of these predictions.

Above all other prophetic periods given in the entire Bible, this period of seventy weeks, or seventy hebdomads, to use a term familiar to the Greeks which has become sufficiently Anglicized to be used in the plural form, stands out as a definite, unambiguous prediction, of vast importance to Christian doctrines, and easily capable of definite location both as to its beginning and its termination. Yet, because of the chronic blindness and perverse ingenuity of many who have dealt with the subject, J. A. Montgomery has termed the history of its exegesis or interpretation, “the Dismal Swamp of Old Testament criticism.” - The Book of Daniel, page 400.

In the year 1654 John Tillinghast published a book in London entitled, Knowledge of the Times, in which he dealt with these prophecies of Daniel and took the position that the seventy weeks “is a lesser epoch comprehended within the greater epoch of the two thousand three hundred days.” William Miller and his friends of about a century ago took the same position.

This situation has come about partly because hasty interpretations were made two thousand years ago or so, when no one had sufficient accurate historical facts to ensure a correct interpretation; then subsequent commentators have followed this wrong example. Over and over again the angel warned Daniel that his visions belonged to, or could only be correctly understood in, “the time of the end.” We need not expect to find that Jerome or even Luther or Calvin had a sufficiently accurate knowledge of the chronology involved to make an exact application of the dates here indicated. Even the great and pious Sir Isaac: Newton, only some two hundred and fifty years ago, was astray in some of the chronology regarding the crucifixion, even though he had the correct starting point for these seventy weeks, namely, 457 BC.

These observations ought to correct the general misunderstanding that people of antiquity were better informed concerning the dates of ancient events, merely because they lived nearer to them. This view is contrary to all the facts. We in modern times are better equipped to work out the true dates of ancient events, except for those persons who were directly or at least very closely connected with them. Thus the prophecy was absolutely correct in stating that the true chronology of the dates involved, like the true meaning of the symbols, would be “sealed until the time of the end.” Both the dates and the symbols would be correctly understood only at the time specified, or in what we now term modern times.

The radical disagreements among the “critics,” involving every single point in all these prophecies, and based on anti-Christian theories “made in Germany” and derived from Jewish scholars who have a settled antipathy toward Jesus as the Messiah, have been the chief factors in making this field of exegesis “the Dismal Swamp of Old Testament criticism.”

Yet it would seem incumbent on modern Christian scholars to reach a correct understanding of every detail of this great prophetic period, the most exactly measured off among all the prophecies of the entire Bible. Far more also depends upon its correct understanding. If the events connected with the career of Jesus of Nazareth agree with these numerous and precise predictions, then we have here a most powerful apologetic to prove that He was the true Messiah. Whereas, if the events do not thus agree with the predictions, the reverse of this is true. Surely it ought to be an axiom of Christian scholarship that what has been revealed is for our understanding, if we approach its study in the proper spirit. James 1:5. ((Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. )) Also in the time of the end, the statement of the angel to Daniel will be realized: “None of the wicked shall understand; but they that are wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:10.

We should today be able to understand everything about this prophecy. The angel’s interdiction is now removed, for the time of the end is fully come. Besides, we have available all the data necessary to pin down every date and every attendant specification of this period of the seventy weeks, if we approach the subject in the true spirit of scientific investigation. We should be aware of all the difficulties, while assured that we are now living in the days when the visions of Daniel are no longer sealed up, but are open for the understanding of all who are truly wise.

This entire question is so profoundly important that we shall do well to consider each item fully, even if need be at the expense of repeating some matters already stated.

Does this period of seventy weeks stand alone, as an independent line of prophecy? Or is it a part of, a supplement to, the much longer period of 2300 days brought to view in chapter 8:14? The latter had no assigned beginning, and can be measured only if its beginning is found somewhere else, as would be the case if this is a part of it. William Hales (1747-1831), William Miller 1782-1849), George Bush, Joseph Wolff, and all Adventists ever since have always contended that this period of seventy prophetic weeks is merely a part of the much longer period of 2300 days or years, and that the two begin together. The “critics,” however, deny any such connection, and treat the two periods as independent. The futurists not only treat the two periods as independent, but have adopted the additional peculiarity of breaking off the last week of the seventy (or the last half week, equaling 3.50 years), postponing this final period until after the Second Coming of Christ. Which system is right?

If it were merely a literary or historical problem, to be decided by the strict laws of language and common sense, there would be little difficulty in settling the matter; but man is seldom a logical or wholly candid animal. Theological and moral issues, far-reaching and profound, are so involved that what is obvious from a literary-exegetical point of view is ignored or flatly denied because of a priori considerations. Consistency is verily a rare jewel.

Seventy weeks. The original word here translated weeks is merely the plural for seven; thus it means seventy of these periods of seven, or a total of 490 in all; that is, 490 years. The Greeks and the Latins, as well as the Hebrews, were familiar with the custom of counting many things in groups of sevens, and of reckoning long periods of time in units of seven years each. The Hebrews not only reckoned their days in sevens, but years were also grouped in sevens, and then seven times seven years gave them their period of jubilee. Pusey (page 165, footnote) gives examples from the classical writers of a similar use of seven-year units.

Few scholars deny that these seventy weeks are meant to represent 490 literal years. The “critics,” however, for some unaccountable reason, wish to connect this period with the seventy years of Jewish captivity announced by Jeremiah. Jeremiah 29:10; 25:11. They tell us that by the time this pseudo Daniel was writing (assumed to be the time of the Maccabees), all pious Jews realized that Jeremiah’s term of seventy years had long passed, and that the return from captivity had not been fulfilled. Hence this pseudo Daniel invented this, another vision, to piece out Jeremiah’s period to a much later date, hoping that in the meantime something would happen to bring a real restoration from the captivity, and thus save the credit of the prophecy. Accordingly, this period of Daniel’s seventy weeks of years (so the “critics” tell us) was just a magnification or a prolongation of the original period of captivity foretold by Jeremiah, invented after the failure of Jeremiah’s prophecy had become apparent and the horrible persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes had begun. Daniel’s pseudo prophecy merely tried to encourage the Maccabees to persevere, they say, for soon Epiphanes would be destroyed, and the Jews would again enjoy peace and prosperity.

Hence the “critics” make a clumsy attempt to have Daniel’s period of seventy weeks begin with the prophecy given by Jeremiah, either 604 or 596 BC. R. H. Charles says that it should be dated from the
actual destruction of Jerusalem, 586 BC. See his Commentary, page 244. However, Pusey justly remarks that though they may “place the beginning of the period where they will, they cannot make either the whole sum, or its several portions, agree with any event in history before Antiochus, if only they adhere to the obvious principle, that the parts are equal to the whole, and so, that 7 + 62 + 1 are the same as the 70 mentioned just before.” - Daniel the Prophet, page 194.

We may pass from such a confusing of the prophecy to something more reasonable.

Are decreed upon thy people and upon thy Holy City. The Hebrew verb here translated “are decreed” is not found anywhere else in the Old Testament; hence the translators did not have much to work with to determine its true meaning. All scholars agree that the primary meaning of the word is “to cut,” or “to cut off,” and it is so rendered in the early translations of Daniel into Greek and Latin. Boutflower renders it “cut off, portioned off;” and similarly many others, including Moses Stuart and Montgomery, as well as Hengstenberg and Gesenius. No Semitic scholar denies that this is its primary meaning. But the English translators, not seeing any connection between this period of seventy weeks and the longer period of 2300 days, and thus seeing nothing from which this period of seventy weeks could literally be cut off, gave the word its secondary meaning of “decreed,” or “determined,” or “assigned.”

The meaning of the passage here under consideration therefore becomes about as follows:

“Seventy weeks are cut off [from the 2300 days] and are assigned to thy people and to thy Holy
City.”

“[From the 2300 days] seventy weeks are portioned off to thy people and to thy Holy City.”

“[From the 2300 days] seventy weeks are allotted to thy people and to thy Holy City.”

It may be well to recall here the close logical connection between the eighth chapter and the ninth, even at the risk of seemingly tiresome repetition.

In the eighth chapter we find recorded the vision of the ram and the he-goat, followed by the question about the length of time involved in certain of the statements: “How long shall be the vision?” The answer was given: “Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed”…

Daniel desired to understand the vision further, and he heard a heavenly voice which said: “Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.” Then followed a plain, straightforward explanation of the various symbols. But when he came to the portion dealing with time, the angel merely said: “And the vision of the [2300] evenings and mornings which hath been told is true: but shut thou up the vision; for it belongs to many days to come.” Chapter 8:26.

Of course, there was only the one part of the vision which the angel had not explained, namely, the part dealing with time. The temple and the city of Jerusalem were still in ruins, though Daniel knew that Jeremiah’s prophecy about the definite length of the captivity was soon to end. Though now an old man, he had cherished the hope that even he might personally return to his native land within a few years. But here he had a direct message from heaven about the taking away of the daily sacrifice and the treading down of the sanctuary for 2300 years more. The whole thing seemed too horrible for Daniel; and the best he could say was that no one understood what it meant. Had he been as rash as some people of these days, he might have said that there must be some mistake regarding these 2300 days or years; for clearly he could not reconcile it with Jeremiah’s prediction of a return from the captivity at the end of seventy years.

The next thing that Daniel records is that he dedicated himself to fasting and prayer to gain a better understanding of the great discrepancy apparently involved between the prophecy of Jeremiah and the statement of the angel in the preceding vision. His pathetic and impassioned prayer had as its central theme the entreaty that God would have mercy and cause His face “to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate.” When Gabriel again appeared, he expressly announced: I am now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding. . . . Therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.” Verses 22, 23.

What vision?

Clearly enough, this can refer only to the preceding vision which he had been commissioned to make Daniel understand, but which Daniel declared nobody understood. It is thus as certain as language could make it, that the further statement which the angel proceeds to make in this ninth chapter about the seventy weeks and its various subdivisions is to be regarded as a part, the initial part, of the previous period of 2300 days; and the two periods begin together.

As we now proceed to consider the rest of this chapter, it is evident that the six points made in the verse before us constitute a sort of summary of what is to be accomplished during these seventy weeks.

To finish transgression, and to make an end of sins. This means the filling up of their cup of iniquity by the Jewish nation. R. H. Charles translates it: “To complete the transgression and bring sins to the full.” This the Jewish nation did when they rejected and crucified their Messiah. The remaining specifications in this summary are more hopeful.

To make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. Reconciliation was provided for by the sacrifice of the spotless Son of God. He also provided everlasting righteousness for everyone who will accept it. Clearly nothing in these statements can fit anything done during the time of
Antiochus Epiphanes.

To seal up vision and prophecy. That is, to set the seal of attestation to the vision and prophecy. When this period of seventy weeks had elapsed, so the world could see that all its specifications and subdivisions had been accurately fulfilled, this would be a guarantee that the remainder of the long period of 2300 days would also come about in due time. The fulfillment of all these specifications regarding the seventy weeks is also a tremendous certification of the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to being the long promised Messiah.

To anoint the most holy. The margin reads, “a most holy place.” Hebrew scholars agree that the expression here used refers to a place, not a person. Apparently it does not refer to the anointing of the Messiah, which is also mentioned in this same prophecy, but to the inauguration by an anointing ceremony of the holy of holies in the heavenly sanctuary. This was accomplished at the beginning of our Savior’s work as high priest in heaven, when He entered upon His work soon after His ascension, an event which was signalized on earth by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. See Acts 2:33; Hebrews 6:20. The type or foreshadowing of this is recorded in Exodus 40:9, 10, where Moses was commanded: “Anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein.... The altar shall be most holy.”

Regarding this last statement, as the culmination of the five preceding ones, Uriah Smith justly
remarks:

“Thus this first division of the 2300 days brings us to the commencement of the service in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, as the whole period brings us to the commencement of the service in the second apartment, or most holy place, of that sanctuary.” - Daniel and the Revelation, 1912 ed., P. 218.

Also regarding these six predictions packed into this single verse, C. H. H. Wright declares:
“No grander expressions have been used of Messianic days by any of the prophets, and no language more suitably depicts the Christian Era and its blessings, than these six sentences of Daniel which speak of the six acts of divine grace to be performed within the compass of the ‘seventy weeks.”---Daniel
and His Prophecies, page 202.