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. 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 three score and two weeks: the
street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous
times.--Daniel ix. 24, 25.
The harps of Judah were silent--the disconsolate Israelites hung
them on the willows of Babylon--no songs of Zion were heard in that
land of captivity, where, for seventy long years, they wore the
galling yoke of bondage, bereft of home and all its blessings--the
land of their forefathers in the possession of strangers--Jerusalem
in ruins--her palaces consumed--the Temple destroyed--the spot
trodden down by the Heathen--themselves exposed to the taunts of
their conquerors, and compelled to bow before the idolatrous image
of Chaldean superstition.[117] Well might Judah's sons weep by the
waters of Babylon, whose murmurings recalled to their recollection
the stream which gushed from Horeb's mount.[118] The remembrance of
past blessings increases the weight of present misery. How changed
their state, and changed to punish their awful rebellions against
the Lord of Sabaoth! Yet the God of Israel was not unmindful of
his promise--he cheered their drooping spirits with the assurance
of speedy deliverance from their captive state. The prayer of
Daniel entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts--the command was
given--swiftly the angel, even Gabriel, flew to reveal his Lord's
decrees unto the mourning prophet--that "man greatly beloved" of
his God. Daniel was commissioned to foretel the deliverance of
the Jews from Babylon--the building of Jerusalem and its walls in
troublous times; and to him, Jehovah was graciously pleased to
renew the promise of the Prince, Messiah, whose appearance all
the patriarchs and prophets had foretold. The nearer that glorious
epoch approached, the more minutely was it described. The Lord
gave Daniel to "know and understand, that from the going forth of
the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah,
the Prince, should be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks."
The period here styled weeks, is generally allowed to be sabbaths
of years. This appears to be the sense of the passage, for the
Jews were accustomed to reckon their time and feasts by weeks or
sabbaths. The week of days was from one seventh or sabbath day to
another. The week of years was from one seventh or sabbatical year
to another; in the seventh, or sabbatical year, they neither sowed
their fields nor pruned their vineyards; it was a sabbath of rest
unto the land.[119] In the regulation of the year of Jubilee, they
were commanded to number "seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven
years, and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to thee
forty and nine years."[120] We therefore only follow the Mosaic
rule, (to which Moses' disciples cannot object,) if we consider
these seven weeks, and three score and two weeks, as seven times
sixty-nine, or four hundred and eighty-three years, which should be
between "the going forth of the commandment to restore and build
Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince." There were four distinct
decrees or commandments granted by the kings of Persia, in favour of
the Jews, who came under the dominion of that empire by its conquest
of Babylon. This was the epoch of Daniel's vision. No sooner had
Cyrus obtained possession of Chaldea, than he issued a decree
allowing the Jews to quit the land of their captivity, and repair to
Judea to build the temple of the Lord. He also restored to them the
vessels and treasures which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple
built by Solomon. On the grant of this decree,[121] five hundred
and thirty-six years before Christ, many of the Jews returned to
their own land, and laid the foundation of the temple; but they
were hindered in the building of it by their several enemies, who
were supported in their opposition by Artaxerxes, the successor of
Cyrus. But when Darius Hystaspes ascended the throne of Persia, he
issued a decree[122] five hundred and nineteen years before Christ,
forbidding the enemies of the Jews to interrupt the building of
the temple, and further commanded that materials requisite for the
work, and the animals, oil, and wine for the sacrifices, should be
supplied at his (the king's) cost. The third decree was granted
to Ezra, the scribe, four hundred and sixty-seven years before
Christ, by Artaxerxes Longimanus, in the seventh year of his reign,
by which he bestowed great favours upon the Jews,[123] appointing
Ezra Governor of Judea. He permitted all the Jews to return to
Jerusalem, and commanded his treasurers beyond the river, to supply
Ezra with such things as he needed for the house of his God, even
to an hundred talents of silver, an hundred measures of wheat, an
hundred baths of wine, and an hundred baths of oil. The king and
his princes presented much silver and gold, and many vessels, and
ordered that what else might be required for the house of God,
should be supplied from the king's treasury. This is not the same
Artaxerxes who listened to the slanderous reports of the enemies of
the Jews, and stopped the building of their temple; but Artaxerxes,
surnamed Longimanus, supposed to be the person styled Ahasuerus, in
the book of Esther, whose attachment to his Israelitish consort
may account for the distinguished favours he conferred on the
people of her nation. We find the queen was present when Nehemiah
presented his petition, which was the second decree granted by this
monarch, and was the fourth and last decree, being granted in the
twentieth year of his reign, and four hundred and fifty-four years
before Christ.[124] This was the most efficient decree, for by it
Jerusalem and its walls were built. The high resolves of the court
of Heaven were revealed; Daniel was made "to know and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build
Jerusalem, _unto_ the Messiah, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and
three score and two weeks, being sixty nine weeks, or four hundred
and eighty-three years. From the last, or fourth, decree to the
birth of Christ, (vide Rollin, volume 8, page 265,) is four hundred
and fifty-four years, to which we add twenty-nine years (the age
at about which Christ entered on his public ministry);[125] these
united, make the exact period of sixty-nine weeks, or four hundred
and eighty-three years. Daniel also declares that "seventy weeks (or
four hundred and ninety years) 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." We find between the seventy weeks, or
four hundred and ninety years, and the sixty-nine weeks, or four
hundred and eighty-three years, a difference of one week, or seven
years, which is the week evidently alluded to in the twenty-seventh
verse of this chapter, in which "he shall confirm the covenant
with many for one week, &c." From the period of Christ's first
entry into the ministry, and the calling of his apostles, until his
crucifixion, were three and a half years, and, for three and a half
years after that event, his apostles continued to minister amongst
the Jews. This makes a period of seven years, (or one prophetic
week,) in the midst of which the Messiah was cut off, and "the
sacrifice and oblation" virtually ceased. The correspondence is
exact: Jesus, the Messiah, not only entered on his public ministry
at the very period pointed out ages before, but was actually cut
off in the midst of the week, as was expressly foretold. These
predictions of the Prince Messiah are peculiarly striking. The
time for his appearance is marked, and the particular objects he
should effect on his coming, are described with such minuteness,
as scarcely to admit of the possibility of mistaking his person.
The grand features of his mission were so strongly exhibited, that
it was morally impossible the Messiah should appear and not be
recognised. Prejudice must have blinded the eye of that mind which
does not, on comparing the whole of the New Testament with this
prophecy, acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah. It bears
the stamp of divine prescience: none but the omniscient God could
have given his features with such clearness so many ages before.
This portrait of the Messiah, which bears so exact a resemblance
to Jesus, was in the possession of the Jews, at least five hundred
years before that glorious person was exhibited to the world, a God
incarnate.
[117] Dan. iii. 4-15.
[118] Numbers xx. 11.
[119] Lev. xxiii. 3., xxv. 3, 4.
[120] Lev. xxv. 8. 10.
[121] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23.
[122] Ezra vi. 7-12.
[123] Ezra vii. 11-23.
[124] Neh. ii. 1-8.
[125] Luke iii. 23.
Jesus declares himself to be the long promised Messiah--his claim
rests on no slight or doubtful evidence--he came at the very precise
time it was foretold the Messiah should appear to the people and the
holy city. Christ's ministry was among the people of the Jews--Judea
was the land of his nativity--the scene of his labours--the witness
of his miracles--he was born at Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, and
crucified just "without the gate" of the holy city. On Calvary
"he finished the transgressions, and made an end of sin, and make
reconciliation for iniquity." There the God-man, Christ Jesus,
offered up his life a ransom for the guilty--there the surety of
the Church paid the full price for her redemption, and made peace
by the blood of his cross--there "he suffered the just for the
unjust to bring sinners unto God." He took away "the hand-writing
of ordinances that was against us, taking them out of the way by
nailing them to the cross"--there he removed the iniquity of the
land in one day, and so completely "finished the transgression,"
by suffering the punishment due for his people's sins, that when
they are "sought for they shall not be found"--there he paid the
full price of their redemption, he cancelled the bond, and made
peace and reconciliation with offended justice. He "brought in an
everlasting righteousness, and not only suffered the penalty due for
their transgressions of God's law, 'which is holy, just, and good,'
but, as the head of the Church, he obeyed all the precepts of the
moral law; which he exalted and made honourable. Perfect was the
obedience wrought out--complete was the righteousness brought in
by the incarnate Deity, the Lord our righteousness, which is from
everlasting to everlasting "unto all and upon all that believe,
for there is no difference." Amidst the awful gloom on Calvary's
mount, was heard the cry "it is finished!" It was the conqueror's
shout--victory was achieved--Satan was vanquished--the sting of
death was taken away--the power of the grave destroyed--the conflict
was over--the ransom paid--the captives of the mighty delivered--the
law was honoured--justice satisfied--God glorified--Heaven
opened--man redeemed--and hell vanquished. That was the glorious
event which types were intended to exhibit, and prophets were
commissioned to proclaim. The appointed time of the vision was
arrived--it had long tarried, but it was accomplished. The chain
of prophecy was complete--the vision was sealed[126]--and the most
holy anointed. The God-man, Christ Jesus, anointed by his Father
king and priest of Zion, then exchanged his thorny crown for the
royal diadem--then left the sorrows of earth for the glories of his
mediatorial throne, which no enemy can touch--their opposition is
vain--he that sitteth upon the circle of the heavens, will laugh
them to scorn. Happy are they who have for their king and priest,
_him_ whose kingdom is eternal, and priesthood unchangeable--who
look to the Redeemer of Israel as the rock of their salvation, and
crown the most holy, Lord of all. "Happy are the people that are in
such a case, yea, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord."
[126] Rev. xxii. 18, 19.