Daniel 9

Da 9:1-27.

DANIEL'S

CONFESSION AND

PRAYER FOR

JERUSALEM:

GABRIEL

COMFORTS

HIM BY THE

PROPHECY OF THE

SEVENTY

WEEKS.

The world powers here recede from view; Israel, and the salvation by

Messiah promised to it, are the subject of revelation. Israel had

naturally expected salvation at the end of the captivity. Daniel is

therefore told, that, after the seventy years of the captivity, seventy

times seven must elapse, and that even then Messiah would not come in

glory as the Jews might through misunderstanding expect from the earlier

prophets, but by dying would put away sin. This ninth chapter (Messianic

prophecy) stands between the two visions of the Old Testament

Antichrist, to comfort "the wise." In the interval between Antiochus and

Christ, no further revelation was needed; therefore, as in the first

part of the book, so in the second, Christ and Antichrist in connection

are the theme.

1. first year of Darius--Cyaxares II, in whose name Cyrus, his

nephew, son-in-law, and successor, took Babylon, 538 B.C. The date of this chapter is therefore 537 B.C., a year before Cyrus permitted the Jews to return

from exile, and sixty-nine years after Daniel had been carried captive

at the beginning of the captivity, 606 B.C.

son of Ahasuerus--called Astyages by

XENOPHON. Ahasuerus was a name

common to many of the kings of Medo-Persia.

made king--The phrase implies that Darius owed the kingdom not to

his own prowess, but to that of another, namely, Cyrus.

2. understood by books--rather, "letters," that is, Jeremiah's letter

(Jer 29:10)

to the captives in Babylon; also

Jer 25:11, 12;

compare

2Ch 36:21;

Jer 30:18; 31:38.

God's promises are the ground on which we should, like Daniel, rest

sure hope; not so as to make our prayers needless, but rather to

encourage them.

3. prayer . . . supplications--literally,

"intercessions . . . entreaties for mercy." Praying

for blessings, and deprecating evils.

4. my confession--according to God's promises in

Le 26:39-42,

that if Israel in exile for sin should repent and confess, God

would remember for them His covenant with Abraham (compare

De 30:1-5;

Jer 29:12-14;

Jas 4:10).

God's promise was absolute, but prayer also was ordained as about to

precede its fulfilment, this too being the work of God in His

people, as much as the external restoration which was to follow.

So it shall be at Israel's final restoration

(Ps 102:13-17).

Daniel takes his countrymen's place of confession of sin, identifying

himself with them, and, as their representative and intercessory

priest, "accepts the punishment of their iniquity." Thus he typifies

Messiah, the Sin-bearer and great Intercessor. The prophet's own life

and experience form the fit starting point of the prophecy concerning

the sin atonement. He prays for Israel's restoration as associated in

the prophets (compare

Jer 31:4, 11, 12, 31,

&c.) with the hope of Messiah. The revelation, now granted, analyzes

into its successive parts that which the prophets, in prophetical

perspective, heretofore saw together in one; namely, the redemption

from captivity, and the full Messianic redemption. God's servants, who,

like Noah's father

(Ge 5:29),

hoped many a time that now the Comforter of their afflictions was at

hand, had to wait from age to age, and to view preceding fulfilments

only as pledges of the coming of Him whom they so earnestly desired to

see

(Mt 13:17);

as now also Christians, who believe that the Lord's second coming is

nigh, are expected to continue waiting. So Daniel is informed of a long

period of seventy prophetic weeks before Messiah's coming, instead of

seventy years, as he might have expected (compare

Mt 18:21, 22)

[AUBERLEN].

great and dreadful God--as we know to our cost by the calamities we

suffer. The greatness of God and His dreadful abhorrence of sin

should prepare sinners for reverent, humble acknowledgment of the

justice of their punishment.

keeping . . . covenant and mercy--that is, the covenant of Thy mercy,

whereby Thou hast promised to deliver us, not for our merits, but of Thy

mercy

(Eze 36:22, 23).

So weak and sinful is man that any covenant for good on God's part with

him, to take effect, must depend solely on His grace. If He be a God to

be feared for His justice, He is one to be trusted for

His "mercy."

love . . . keep his commandments--Keeping His

commandments is the only sure test of love to God

(Joh 14:15).

5. Compare Nehemiah's confession

(Ne 9:1-38).

sinned . . . committed iniquity . . . done wickedly . . . rebelled--a

climax. Erred in ignorance . . . sinned by

infirmity . . . habitually and wilfully done wickedness . . . as

open and obstinate rebels set ourselves against God.

6. prophets . . . spake . . . to our kings . . .

to all the people--They fearlessly warned all

without respect of persons.

7. confusion of faces, as at this day--Shame at our guilt, betrayed

in our countenance, is what belongs to us; as our punishment "at this

day" attests.

near, and . . . far off--the chastisement, however varied, some Jews

not being cast off so far from Jerusalem as others, all alike were

sharers in the guilt.

9. mercies--The plural intensifies the force; mercy manifold and

exhibited in countless ways. As it is humbling to recollect

"righteousness belongeth unto God," so it is comforting, that

"mercies belong to the Lord OUR God."

though we have rebelled--rather, "since," &c. [Vulgate],

(Ps 25:11).

Our punishment is not inconsistent with His "mercies," since we

have rebelled against Him.

10. set before us--not ambiguously, but plainly, so that we were

without excuse.

11. all--

(Ps 14:3;

Ro 3:12).

the curse . . . and . . . oath . . .

in . . . law--the curse against Israel, if

disobedient, which God ratified by oath

(Le 26:14-39;

De 27:15-26; 28:15-68; 29:1-29).

12. confirmed his words--showed by the punishments we suffer, that

His words were no idle threats.

under . . . heaven hath not been done as . . . upon

Jerusalem--

(La 1:12).

13. yet made we not our prayer before--literally, "soothed not the

face of." Not even our chastisement has taught us penitence

(Isa 9:13;

Jer 5:3;

Ho 7:10).

Diseased, we spurn the healing medicine.

that we might turn, &c.--Prayer can only be accepted when joined

with the desire to turn from sin to God

(Ps 66:18;

Pr 28:9).

understand thy truth--"attentively regard Thy faithfulness" in

fulfilling Thy promises, and also Thy threats [CALVIN]. Thy law

(Da 8:12),

[MAURER].

14. watched upon the evil--expressing ceaseless vigilance that His

people's sins might not escape His judgment, as a watchman on guard

night and day

(Job 14:16;

Jer 31:28; 44:27).

God watching upon the Jews' punishment forms a striking contrast

to the Jews' slumbering in their sins.

God is righteous--True penitents "justify" God, "ascribing

righteousness to Him," instead of complaining of their punishment as too

severe

(Ne 9:33;

Job 36:3;

Ps 51:4;

La 3:39-42).

15. brought thy people . . . out of . . . Egypt--a proof to all ages

that the seed of Abraham is Thy covenant-people. That ancient benefit

gives us hope that Thou wilt confer a like one on us now under similar

circumstances

(Ps 80:8-14;

Jer 32:21; 23:7, 8).

as at this day--is known.

16. thy righteousness--not stern justice in punishing, but Thy

faithfulness to Thy promises of mercy to them who trust in Thee

(Ps 31:1; 143:1).

thy city--chosen as Thine in the election of grace, which changes

not.

for . . . iniquities of . . . fathers--

(Ex 20:5).

He does not impugn God's justice in this, as did the murmurers

(Eze 18:2, 3;

compare

Jer 31:29).

thy people . . . a reproach--which brings reproach on Thy name. "All

the nations that are about us" will say that Thou, Jehovah, wast not

able to save Thy peculiar people. So

Da 9:17,

"for the Lord's sake";

Da 9:19,

"for Thine own sake"

(Isa 48:9, 11).

17. cause thy face to shine--metaphor from the sun, which gladdens all

that it beams upon

(Nu 6:25;

Mal 4:2).

18. present . . . supplications--literally, "cause to fall," &c.

(compare Note, see on

Jer 36:7).

19. The short broken ejaculations and repetitions show the intense

fervor of his supplications.

defer not--He implies that the seventy years are now all but complete.

thine own sake--often repeated, as being the strongest plea

(Jer 14:21).

20. whiles I was speaking--repeated in

Da 9:21;

emphatically marking that the answer was given before the prayer was

completed, as God promised

(Isa 30:19; 65:24;

compare

Ps 32:5).

21. I had seen in the vision at the beginning--namely, in the former

vision by the river Ulai

(Da 8:1, 16).

fly swiftly--literally, "with weariness," that is, move swiftly as

one breathless and wearied out with quick running

[GESENIUS].

English Version is better

(Isa 6:2;

Eze 1:6;

Re 14:6).

time of . . . evening oblation--the ninth hour, three

o'clock (compare

1Ki 18:36).

As formerly, when the temple stood, this hour was devoted to

sacrifices, so now to prayer. Daniel, during the whole captivity to the

very last, with pious patriotism never forgot God's temple-worship, but

speaks of its rites long abolished, as if still in use.

22. to give thee . . . understanding--

Da 8:16;

Da 8:26

shows that the symbolical vision had not been understood. God therefore

now gives "information" directly, instead of by symbol, which required

interpretation.

23. At the beginning of thy supplications, &c.--The promulgation of

the divine decree was made in heaven to the angels as soon as Daniel

began to pray.

came forth--from the divine throne; so

Da 9:22.

thou art greatly beloved--literally, "a man of desires" (compare

Eze 23:6, 12);

the object of God's delight. As the apocalyptic prophet of the New

Testament was "the disciple whom Jesus loved," so the apocalyptic

prophet of the Old Testament was "greatly beloved" of God.

the vision--the further revelation as to Messiah in connection with

Jeremiah's prophecy of seventy years of the captivity. The charge to

"understand" is the same as in

Mt 24:15,

where Rome primarily, and Antichrist ultimately, is referred to

(compare Note, see on

Da 9:27).

24. Seventy weeks--namely, of years; literally, "Seventy sevens";

seventy heptads or hebdomads; four hundred ninety years; expressed in a

form of "concealed definiteness"

[HENGSTENBERG], a usual way with

the prophets. The Babylonian captivity is a turning point in the

history of the kingdom of God. It terminated the free Old Testament

theocracy. Up to that time Israel, though oppressed at times, was; as a

rule, free. From the Babylonian captivity the theocracy never recovered

its full freedom down to its entire suspension by Rome; and this period

of Israel's subjection to the Gentiles is to continue till the

millennium

(Re 20:1-15),

when Israel shall be restored as head of the New Testament theocracy,

which will embrace the whole earth. The free theocracy ceased in the

first year of Nebuchadnezzar, and the fourth of Jehoiakim; the year of

the world 3338, the point at which the seventy years of the captivity

begin. Heretofore Israel had a right, if subjugated by a foreign king,

to shake off the yoke

(Jud 4:1-5:31;

2Ki 18:7)

as an unlawful one, at the first opportunity. But the prophets

(Jer 27:9-11)

declared it to be God's will that they should submit to Babylon.

Hence every effort of Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah to rebel was

vain. The period of the world times, and of Israel's depression, from

the Babylonian captivity to the millennium, though abounding more in

afflictions (for example, the two destructions of Jerusalem, Antiochus'

persecution, and those which Christians suffered), contains all that

was good in the preceding ones, summed up in Christ, but in a way

visible only to the eye of faith. Since He came as a servant, He chose

for His appearing the period darkest of all as to His people's temporal

state. Always fresh persecutors have been rising, whose end is

destruction, and so it shall be with the last enemy, Antichrist. As the

Davidic epoch is the point of the covenant-people's highest glory, so

the captivity is that of their lowest humiliation. Accordingly, the

people's sufferings are reflected in the picture of the suffering

Messiah. He is no longer represented as the theocratic King, the

Antitype of David, but as the Servant of God and Son of man; at the

same time the cross being the way to glory (compare

Da 9:1-27

with Da 2:34, 35, 44; 12:7).

In the second and seventh chapters, Christ's first coming is not

noticed, for Daniel's object was to prophesy to his nation as to the

whole period from the destruction to the re-establishment of

Israel; but this ninth chapter minutely predicts Christ's first

coming, and its effects on the covenant people. The seventy weeks

date thirteen years before the rebuilding of Jerusalem; for then

the re-establishment of the theocracy began, namely, at the return

of Ezra to Jerusalem, 457 B.C. So Jeremiah's

seventy years of the captivity begin 606 B.C.,

eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem, for then Judah

ceased to exist as an independent theocracy, having fallen under the

sway of Babylon. Two periods are marked in Ezra: (1) The return from

the captivity under Jeshua and Zerubbabel, and rebuilding of the

temple, which was the first anxiety of the theocratic nation.

(2) The return of Ezra (regarded by the Jews as a second Moses) from

Persia to Jerusalem, the restoration of the city, the

nationality, and the law. Artaxerxes, in the seventh year of

his reign, gave him the commission which virtually includes permission

to rebuild the city, afterwards confirmed to, and carried out by,

Nehemiah in the twentieth year

(Ezr 9:9; 7:11,

&c.).

Da 9:25,

"from the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem,"

proves that the second of the two periods is referred to. The words in

Da 9:24

are not, "are determined upon the holy city," but "upon thy

people and thy holy city"; thus the restoration of the religious

national polity and the law (the inner work fulfilled by Ezra

the priest), and the rebuilding of the houses and walls (the

outer work of Nehemiah, the governor), are both included in

Da 9:25,

"restore and build Jerusalem." "Jerusalem" represents both the city,

the body, and the congregation, the soul of the state. Compare

Ps 46:1-11; 48:1-14; 87:1-7.

The starting-point of the seventy weeks dated from eighty-one years

after Daniel received the prophecy: the object being not to fix for

him definitely the time, but for the Church: the prophecy taught

him that the Messianic redemption, which he thought near, was

separated from him by at least a half millennium. Expectation was

sufficiently kept alive by the general conception of the time;

not only the Jews, but many Gentiles looked for some great Lord of the

earth to spring from Judea at that very time [TACITUS, Histories, 5.13; SUETONIUS, Vespasian, 4]. Ezra's placing of Daniel

in the canon immediately before his own book and Nehemiah's was perhaps

owing to his feeling that he himself brought about the beginning of the

fulfilment of the prophecy

(Da 9:20-27)

[AUBERLEN].

determined--literally, "cut out," namely, from the whole course of

time, for God to deal in a particular manner with Jerusalem.

thy . . . thy--Daniel had in his prayer often spoken of Israel as

"Thy people, Thy holy city"; but Gabriel, in reply, speaks of

them as Daniel's ("thy . . . thy") people and city, God thus

intimating that until the "everlasting righteousness" should be brought

in by Messiah, He could not fully own them as His

[TREGELLES]

(compare

Ex 32:7).

Rather, as God is wishing to console Daniel and the godly Jews, "the

people whom thou art so anxiously praying for"; such weight does

God give to the intercessions of the righteous

(Jas 5:16-18).

finish--literally, "shut up"; remove from God's sight, that is, abolish

(Ps 51:9)

[LENGKERKE]. The seventy years' exile was a

punishment, but not a full atonement, for the sin of the people; this

would come only after seventy prophetic weeks, through Messiah.

make an end of--The Hebrew reading, "to steal," that is, to hide

out of sight (from the custom of sealing up things to be concealed,

compare

Job 9:7),

is better supported.

make reconciliation for--literally, "to cover," to overlay (as with

pitch,

Ge 6:14).

Compare

Ps 32:1.

bring in everlasting righteousness--namely, the restoration of the

normal state between God and man

(Jer 23:5, 6);

to continue eternally

(Heb 9:12;

Re 14:6).

seal up . . . vision . . . prophecy--literally, "prophet." To give

the seal of confirmation to the prophet and his vision by the

fulfilment.

anoint the Most Holy--primarily, to "anoint," or to consecrate after its pollution "the Most Holy" place but mainly Messiah,

the antitype to the Most Holy place

(Joh 2:19-22).

The propitiatory in the temple (the same Greek word expresses

the mercy seat and propitiation,

Ro 3:25),

which the Jews looked for at the restoration from Babylon, shall have

its true realization only in Messiah. For it is only when sin is "made

an end of" that God's presence can be perfectly manifested. As to

"anoint," compare

Ex 40:9, 34.

Messiah was anointed with the Holy Ghost

(Ac 4:27; 10:38).

So hereafter, God-Messiah will "anoint" or consecrate with His presence

the holy place at Jerusalem

(Jer 3:16, 17;

Eze 37:27, 28),

after its pollution by Antichrist, of which the feast of dedication

after the pollution by Antiochus was a type.

25. from the going forth of the commandment--namely the command from

God, whence originated the command of the Persian king

(Ezr 6:14).

AUBERLEN remarks, there is but one Apocalypse in

each Testament. Its purpose in each is to sum up all the preceding

prophecies, previous to the "troublous times" of the Gentiles, in which

there was to be no revelation. Daniel sums up all the previous

Messianic prophecy, separating into its individual phases what the

prophets had seen in one and the same perspective, the temporary

deliverance from captivity and the antitypical final Messianic

deliverance. The seventy weeks are separated

(Da 9:25-27)

into three unequal parts, seven, sixty-two, one. The seventieth is the

consummation of the preceding ones, as the Sabbath of God succeeds the

working days; an idea suggested by the division into weeks. In

the sixty-nine weeks Jerusalem is restored, and so a place is prepared

for Messiah wherein to accomplish His sabbatic work

(Da 9:25, 26)

of "confirming the covenant"

(Da 9:27).

The Messianic time is the Sabbath of Israel's history, in which it had

the offer of all God's mercies, but in which it was cut off for a time

a week, so they begin with seven times seven, that is, seven weeks. As

the seventieth week is separated from the rest as a period of

revelation, so it may be with the seven weeks. The number

seven is associated with revelation; for the seven

spirits of God are the mediators of all His revelations

(Re 1:4; 3:1; 4:5).

Ten is the number of what is human; for example, the world power

issues in ten heads and ten horns

(Da 2:42; 7:7).

Seventy is ten multiplied by seven, the human

moulded by the divine. The seventy years of exile symbolize the

triumph of the world power over Israel. In the seven times seventy

years the world number ten is likewise contained, that is, God's people

is still under the power of the world ("troublous times"); but the

number of the divine is multiplied by itself; seven times seven years,

at the beginning a period of Old Testament revelation to God's people

century, or seven weeks, and whose writings are last in the

canon; and in the end, seven years, the period of New Testament

revelation in Messiah. The commencing seven weeks of years of Old

Testament revelation are hurried over, in order that the chief stress

might rest on the Messianic week. Yet the seven weeks of Old Testament

revelation are marked by their separation from the sixty-two, to be

above those sixty-two wherein there was to be none.

Messiah the Prince--Hebrew, Nagid. Messiah is Jesus' title in

respect to Israel

(Ps 2:2;

Mt 27:37, 42).

Nagid, as Prince of the Gentiles

(Isa 55:4).

Nagid is applied to Titus, only as representative of Christ, who

designates the Roman destruction of Jerusalem as, in a sense, His

coming

(Mt 24:29-31;

Joh 21:22).

Messiah denotes His calling; Nagid, His power. He is to

"be cut off, and there shall be nothing for Him." (So the Hebrew

for "not for Himself,"

Da 9:26,

ought to be translated). Yet He is "the Prince" who is to "come," by

His representative at first, to inflict judgment, and at last in

person.

wall--the "trench" or "scarped rampart"

[TREGELLES]. The

street and trench include the complete restoration of the city

externally and internally, which was during the sixty-nine weeks.

26. after threescore and two weeks--rather, the

threescore and two weeks. In this verse, and in

Da 9:27,

Messiah is made the prominent subject, while the fate of the city and

sanctuary are secondary, being mentioned only in the second halves of

the verses. Messiah appears in a twofold aspect, salvation to

believers, judgment on unbelievers

(Lu 2:34;

compare

Mal 3:1-6; 4:1-3).

He repeatedly, in Passion week, connects His being "cut off" with

the destruction of the city, as cause and effect

(Mt 21:37-41; 23:37, 38;

Lu 21:20-24; 23:28-31).

Israel might naturally expect Messiah's kingdom of glory, if not after

the seventy years' captivity, at least at the end of the sixty-two

weeks; but, instead of that, shall be His death, and the consequent

destruction of Jerusalem.

not for himself--rather, "there shall be nothing to Him"

[HENGSTENBERG]; not that the real object of His first coming (His

spiritual kingdom) should be frustrated; but the earthly kingdom

anticipated by the Jews should, for the present, come to naught, and

not then be realized.

TREGELLES refers the title, "the Prince"

(Da 9:25),

to the time of His entering Jerusalem on an ass's colt, His only

appearance as a king, and six days afterwards put to death as "King of

the Jews."

the people of the prince--the Romans, led by Titus, the representative

of the world power, ultimately to be transferred to Messiah, and so

called by Messiah's title, "the Prince"; as also because sent by Him, as

His instrument of judgment

(Mt 22:7).

end thereof--of the sanctuary.

TREGELLES takes it, "the end of the

Prince," the last head of the Roman power, Antichrist.

with a flood--namely, of war

(Ps 90:5;

Isa 8:7, 8; 28:18).

Implying the completeness of the catastrophe, "not one stone left on

another."

unto the end of the war--rather, "unto the end there is war."

determined--by God's decree

(Isa 10:23; 28:22).

27. he shall confirm the covenant--Christ. The confirmation of the

covenant is assigned to Him also elsewhere.

Isa 42:6,

"I will give thee for a covenant of the people" (that is, He in

whom the covenant between Israel and God is personally expressed);

compare

Lu 22:20,

"The new testament in My blood";

Mal 3:1,

"the angel of the covenant";

Jer 31:31-34,

describes the Messianic covenant in full. Contrast

Da 11:30, 32,

"forsake the covenant," "do wickedly against the covenant." The

prophecy as to Messiah's confirming the covenant with many would

comfort the faithful in Antiochus' times, who suffered partly from

persecuting enemies, partly from false friends

(Da 11:33-35).

Hence arises the similarity of the language here and in

Da 11:30, 32,

referring to Antiochus, the type of Antichrist.

with many--

(Isa 53:11;

Mt 20:28; 26:28;

Ro 5:15, 19;

Heb 9:28).

in . . . midst of . . . week--The seventy weeks extend to A.D. 33.

Israel was not actually destroyed till A.D. 79, but it was so virtually,

A.D. 33, about three or four years after Christ's death, during which

the Gospel was preached exclusively to the Jews. When the Jews

persecuted the Church and stoned Stephen

(Ac 7:54-60),

the respite of grace granted to them was at an end

(Lu 13:7-9).

Israel, having rejected Christ, was rejected by Christ, and henceforth

is counted dead (compare

Ge 2:17

with

Ge 5:5;

Ho 13:1, 2),

its actual destruction by Titus being the consummation of the removal

of the kingdom of God from Israel to the Gentiles

(Mt 21:43),

which is not to be restored until Christ's second coming, when Israel

shall be at the head of humanity

(Mt 23:39;

Ac 1:6, 7;

Ro 11:25-31; 15:1-32).

The interval forms for the covenant-people a great parenthesis.

he shall cause the sacrifice . . . oblation to cease--distinct from

the temporary "taking away" of "the daily" (sacrifice) by Antiochus

(Da 8:11; 11:31).

Messiah was to cause all sacrifices and oblations in general to

"cease" utterly. There is here an allusion only to

Antiochus' act; to comfort God's people when sacrificial worship was to

be trodden down, by pointing them to the Messianic time when salvation

would fully come and yet temple sacrifices cease. This is the same

consolation as Jeremiah and Ezekiel gave under like circumstances, when

the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was impending

(Jer 3:16; 31:31;

Eze 11:19).

Jesus died in the middle of the last week, A.D.

30. His prophetic life lasted three and a half years; the very time in

which "the saints are given into the hand" of Antichrist

(Da 7:25).

Three and a half does not, like ten, designate the power of the world

in its fulness, but (while opposed to the divine, expressed by

seven) broken and defeated in its seeming triumph; for

immediately after the three and a half times, judgment falls on the

victorious world powers

(Da 7:25, 26).

So Jesus' death seemed the triumph of the world, but was really its

defeat

(Joh 12:31).

The rending of the veil marked the cessation of sacrifices through

Christ's death

(Le 4:6, 17; 16:2, 15;

Heb 10:14-18).

There cannot be a covenant without sacrifice

(Ge 8:20; 9:17; 15:9,

&c.; Heb 9:15).

Here the old covenant is to be confirmed, but in a way peculiar to the

New Testament, namely, by the one sacrifice, which would terminate all

sacrifices

(Ps 40:6, 11).

Thus as the Levitical rites approached their end, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,

and Daniel, with ever increasing clearness, oppose the spiritual new

covenant to the transient earthly elements of the old.

for the overspreading of abominations--On account of the

abominations committed by the unholy people against the Holy One,

He shall not only destroy the city and sanctuary

(Da 9:25),

but shall continue its desolation until the time of the consummation

"determined" by God (the phrase is quoted from

Isa 10:22, 23),

when at last the world power shall be judged and dominion be given to

the saints of the Most High

(Da 7:26, 27).

AUBERLEN translates, "On account of the desolating

summit of abominations (compare

Da 11:31; 12:11;

thus the repetition of the same thing as in

Da 9:26

is avoided), and till the consummation which is determined, it (the

curse,

Da 9:11,

foretold by Moses) will pour on the desolated." Israel reached the

summit of abominations, which drew down desolation

(Mt 24:28),

nay, which is the desolation itself, when, after murdering Messiah,

they offered sacrifices, Mosaic indeed in form, but heathenish in

spirit (compare

Isa 1:13;

Eze 5:11).

Christ refers to this passage

(Mt 24:15),

"When ye see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the

prophet, stand in the holy place" (the latter words being

tacitly implied in "abominations" as being such as are committed

against the sanctuary). TREGELLES

translates, "upon the wing of abominations shall be that which

causeth desolation"; namely, an idol set up on a wing or pinnacle of

the temple (compare

Mt 4:5)

of the seventy weeks of years (fulfilling Jesus' words, "If another

shall come in his own name, him ye will receive"), and for the first

three and a half years keeps it, then in the midst of the week breaks

it, causing the daily sacrifices to cease. TREGELLES thus identifies the last half week with the

time, times, and a half of the persecuting little horn

(Da 7:25).

But thus there is a gap of at least 1830 years put between the

sixty-nine weeks and the seventieth week. SIR

ISAAC NEWTON explains the

wing ("overspreading") of abominations to be the Roman ensigns (eagles)

brought to the east gate of the temple, and there sacrificed to by the

soldiers; the war, ending in the destruction of Jerusalem, lasted from

spring A.D. 67 to autumn A.D.

70, that is, just three and a half years, or the last half week of

years [JOSEPHUS, Wars of the Jews, 6.6].

poured upon the desolate--TREGELLES

translates, "the causer of desolation," namely, Antichrist.

Compare "abomination that maketh desolate"

(Da 12:11).

Perhaps both interpretations of the whole passage may be in part

true; the Roman desolator, Titus, being a type of Antichrist, the final

desolator of Jerusalem. BACON [The Advancement

of Learning, 2.3] says, "Prophecies are of the nature of the

Author, with whom a thousand years are as one day; and therefore are

not fulfilled punctually at once, but have a springing and germinant

accomplishment through many years, though the height and fulness of

them may refer to one age."