Daniel 9: 1-19 HCSB
1 In the first year of Darius, who was the son of Ahasuerus, was a Mede by birth, and was ruler over the kingdom of the Chaldeans- 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be 70. 3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: Ah, Lord-the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps His gracious covenant with those who love Him and keep His commandments- 5 we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from Your commandments and ordinances. 6 We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, leaders, fathers, and all the people of the land. 7 Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but this day public shame belongs to us: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel-those who are near and those who are far, in all the countries where You have dispersed them because of the disloyalty they have shown toward You. 8 Lord, public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against Him 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following His instructions that He set before us through His servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has broken Your law and turned away, refusing to obey You. The promised cursewritten in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against Him. 12 He has carried out His words that He spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us so great a disaster that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven. 13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not appeased the Lord our God by turning from our injustice and paying attention to Your truth. 14 So the Lord kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all He has done. But we have not obeyed Him. 15 Now, Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made Your name [renowned] as it is this day, we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. 16 Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, may Your anger and wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the injustices of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become an object of ridicule to all those around us. 17 Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of Your servant. Show Your favor to Your desolate sanctuary for the Lord's sake. 18 Listen, my God, and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city called by Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You based on our righteous acts, but based on Your abundant compassion. 19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for Your own sake, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.
Nebuchadnezzar Destroyed Jerusalem and took the people captive in 606 B.C. Darius takes Babylon in 538 B.C. and releases the Jewish captives in 536 B.C., exactly 70 years, just as Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah 25: 11-12, 29: 10, 30: 18, 31: 38 before the Babylonian captivity. Daniel writes this the year before the captives are released. Daniel is eagerly looking forward to the fulfillment of the prophecy and is beseeching the Lord to fulfill it while asking for forgiveness on behalf of the people of Israel. He acknowledges the transgression and humbly asks for the Lord's mercy on behalf of the people.
Daniel 9: 20-27 HCSB
20 While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before Yahweh my God concerning the holy mountain of my God- 21 while I was praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the first vision, came to me in my extreme weariness, about the time of the evening offering. 22 He gave me this explanation: "Daniel, I've come now to give you understanding. 23 At the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and I have come to give it, for you are treasured [by God]. So consider the message and understand the vision: 24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city- to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to wipe away injustice, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. 25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times. 26 After those 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming prince will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed. 27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator
The "seventy weeks" of Israel are not actually 7 day weeks , but weeks of years, the phrase in the Hebrew is "seventy sevens" or 490 years. In verse 25 The 7 weeks (49 years) refers to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple and the 62 weeks (434 years) are from that time till the Messiah will be cut off. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah record the beginning of these events. The Seventy Sevens period does not begin at the time Daniel wrote this in 537 B.C., But when Ezra receives commission from Artaxerxes King of Persia to return with the final captives and rebuild the nation of Israel, 83 years after Daniels prophecy. Seven years into the reign of Ezra the King of Persia gives permission to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, which takes 49 years.
These periods end with the "cutting off of the Messiah". From 457 B.C. to 33 A.D. is 490 years. The numbers also match from seven weeks (49 years) and 62 weeks (434 years) which 483 years total starting with the rebuilding of Jerusalem in 450 B..C. So Daniel, who according to the text wrote this prophecy in 537 B.C., and which even the most Liberal secular scholar believes could have been written no later than 160 B.C. due to the findings in the dead sea scrolls, predicts the death of the Jesus down to the exact year. This is the power of God. The people of the prince destroying the city and sanctuary refers to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. Prince is used in daniel to signify a supernatural ruler, which is why the Messiah is refered to as a prince. The people of the coming prince refers to a demonic force behind the power of Rome. The reference to the covenant of a week in verse 27 is partially unclear. The Him would be the Messiah, ceasing the sacrifices in the middle of the week matches with the rending of the Temple curtain after 3 years of ministry. The end of the 7 years most probably represents the shift in focus from witnessing primarily to the Jews to witnessing to the Gentiles, which begins in the book of Acts. The NASB translate the last sentence as
"and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."
Most Literal translations translate the text in this same fashion, which I think makes the meaning a little clearer. Some scholars think that this a reference to the Antichrist at the end times, but I am not so certain., Daniel also speaks of the Abomination of Desolation in Chapters 11 and 12, so we will look at it in greater detail there. Jesus also references the Abomination of Desolation as something that has not yet happened in Mark Chapter 13.
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