David

As part of my study of eschatology I am going back into some chapters of Daniel.  I was recently part of a study of Daniel which lasted a whole school year.  I finished that study with a fairly strong conviction that the book of Daniel is primarily a collection of prophecies which culminate in Christ’s first coming and possibly extend as far as 70AD in which the temple was destroyed by the Roman general Titus.  (I believe I am the only one in the group to end up with this conviction so it is not reflective of our study.)  The only passages that I felt could possibly be about Christ’s second coming were Daniel 9:24-27 and some of Daniel 12.

Now I am returning to Daniel chapter nine to try to determine to what it refers.  The reason I have left this open as a prophecy of Christ’s second coming is that it is a difficult passage to interpret and I could not hold tightly to the belief that it refers to Christ’s first coming only.  Most other prophecies in Daniel are very clear in my opinion, but that is a topic for another time.  For the present I will delve into Daniel 9:24-27.

First, Daniel chapter nine begins with Daniel revealing that he came to understand the prophecy of Jeremiah found in Jeremiah 25:11-14.  In short the prophecy is that the Jews will be held by Babylon for seventy years and then Babylon will be punished.  Daniel seems to understand this prophecy only when the Persians conquer Babylon.  He then prays to God asking for forgiveness and for God to turn away His wrath.  During this prayer the angel Gabriel is sent to give Daniel a message.  The passage in question, verses 24 through 27, is Gabriel’s message.

The prophecy from Gabriel involves several time periods.  These time periods are called “sevens.”  Many interpreters take these “sevens” to be periods of seven years, likely after the Sabbatical years (that is, a week of years).  Other interpreters seem to take these to be symbolic time periods, at least the last “seven.”  I find that however you understand the “sevens,” interpretation from that is difficult and unclear.

The starting point of the timing may be Cyrus’ decree that Jerusalem be rebuilt.  Cyrus made that decree in 537 B.C.  The ending point most certainly seems to be Christ’s advent on earth.  If we take 70 “sevens” to be 70 times 7 years we have a total of 490 years.  This would bring us to 47 B.C.  That is a ways off from the birth of Christ, but not too significantly to where it would not fit at all.  It shows too much error for me to hold that strongly.  Not only that, but the timing between the decree and Messiah the Prince is actually 7 and 62 “sevens” which would be 483 years.  That would put the time at 54 B.C.  Interestingly, both of these time periods roughly correspond with the Roman conquest of Judea.

There are also other interpretations for starting and ending points.  However, the focus of this study into Daniel chapter nine is to determine what prophecies, if any, this passage has for the end times.  Of the views that Daniel 9 has end-time prophecies the primary explanation is that the seventieth “seven” is an indeterminate amount of time in between Christ’s first and second comings.  In this view the “people of the prince who is to come” normally is thought to refer to the Antichrist and his followers.  Though I find the time line presented above difficult, I find this interpretation even more difficult.  The primary reasons are as follows.  First, the time line for this view is even more troubling.  It is as if I were to say that since things don’t fully align in one view, everything should be completely rearranged.  Second, because the rest of prophecies are of Christ’s advent as a glorious event for God’s people I don’t want to move further beyond that unless compelled to.  If the evidence were strong I would move that way, but since it is not I find that the context and natural rendering of the book as a whole lend to staying with Christ’s first coming.  Third, aside from time line difficulties which still exist in the Antichrist view, this passage could easily refer to Christ and either Antiochus IV or Titus (or maybe even both?).  Fourth, the 70th “seven” is found in verse 27.  If this “seven” was a period of at least 2000 years, then how could the middle be the point at which sacrifice were brought to an end?  The last temple sacrifice was in 70 A.D. which would be the beginning of this indeterminate time period.  It seems that can only refer to Christ ending sacrifices forever, or to Antiochus IV or Titus forcibly stopping sacrifices.

In conclusion I will not use Daniel chapter nine as a text in my study of eschatology.  I tend toward understanding this chapter as ending no later than 70 A.D.  I will not hold this tightly though and am very open to further inquiry, especially if other passages in other books cause me to reconsider.  Furthermore, this does not exclude the passage from having some end time implications.  Any of the people or events prophesied may be types of end time figures or events.

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