1V prvním roce vlády Darjaveše, syna Achašveróšova, který byl médského původu a byl králem nad královstvím kaldejským, 2v tom prvním roce jeho kralování jsem já, Daniel, porozuměl z knih počtu roků, o nichž se stalo slovo Hospodinovo proroku Jeremjášovi; vyplní se, že Jeruzalém bude po sedmdesát let v troskách. 3Obrátil jsem se k Panovníku Bohu, abych ho vyhledal modlitbou a prosbami o smilování v postu, žíněném rouchu a popelu. 4Modlil jsem se k Hospodinu, svému Bohu, a vyznával se mu slovy: „Ach, Panovníku, Bože veliký a hrozný, který dbáš na smlouvu a milosrdenství vůči těm, kteří tě milují a dodržují tvá přikázání! 5Zhřešili jsme a provinili se, jednali jsme svévolně, bouřili se a uchýlili od tvých přikázání a soudů. 6A neposlouchali jsme tvé služebníky proroky, kteří mluvili ve tvém jménu našim králům, našim velmožům, našim otcům a všemu lidu země. 7Na tvé straně, Panovníku, je spravedlnost, na nás je zjevná hanba až do tohoto dne; je na každém judském muži, na obyvatelích Jeruzaléma, na celém Izraeli, na blízkých i dalekých, ve všech zemích, do nichž jsi je rozehnal pro jejich zpronevěru, které se vůči tobě dopustili. 8Hospodine, na nás je zjevná hanba, na našich králích, na našich velmožích a na našich otcích, neboť jsme proti tobě zhřešili. 9Na Panovníku, našem Bohu, závisí slitování a odpuštění, neboť jsme se bouřili proti němu 10a neposlouchali jsme Hospodina, našeho Boha, a neřídili se jeho zákony, které nám vydával skrze své služebníky proroky. 11Celý Izrael přestoupil tvůj zákon a odchýlil se a neposlouchal tebe. Na nás je vylita kletba a zlořečení, jak je o tom psáno v zákoně Mojžíše, Božího služebníka, protože jsme proti tobě hřešili. 12Dodržel jsi své slovo, které jsi promluvil proti nám a proti našim soudcům, kteří nás soudili, že uvedeš na nás zlo tak veliké, že takové nebylo učiněno pod celým nebem; tak bylo učiněno v Jeruzalémě. 13Jak je psáno v zákoně Mojžíšově, přišlo na nás všechno to zlo. Neprosili jsme Hospodina, svého Boha, o shovívavost a neodvrátili se od svých nepravostí a nejednali prozíravě podle jeho pravdy. 14Proto Hospodin bděl nad tím zlem a uvedl je na nás, neboť Hospodin, náš Bůh, je spravedlivý ve všech svých činech, které koná, ale my jsme ho neposlouchali. 15Nyní, Panovníku, náš Bože, který jsi svůj lid vyvedl z egyptské země pevnou rukou, a tak sis učinil jméno, jaké máš až dodnes, zhřešili jsme, byli jsme svévolní. 16Panovníku, nechť se, prosím, podle tvé veškeré spravedlnosti odvrátí tvůj hněv a tvé rozhořčení od tvého města Jeruzaléma, tvé svaté hory, neboť pro naše hříchy a viny našich otců je Jeruzalém a tvůj lid tupen všemi, kteří jsou kolem nás. 17Nyní tedy, Bože náš, slyš modlitbu svého služebníka a jeho prosby o smilování a rozjasni tvář nad svou zpustošenou svatyní, kvůli sobě, Panovníku. 18Nakloň, můj Bože, své ucho a slyš, otevři své oči a viz, jak jsme zpustošeni my i město, které se nazývá tvým jménem. Vždyť ne pro své spravedlivé činy ti předkládáme své prosby o smilování, ale pro tvé velké slitování. 19Panovníku, slyš! Panovníku, odpusť! Panovníku, pozoruj a jednej! Neprodlévej! Kvůli sobě, můj Bože! Vždyť tvé město i tvůj lid se nazývá tvým jménem.“ 20Ještě jsem rozmlouval a modlil se, vyznával hřích svůj i hřích Izraele, svého lidu, a předkládal Hospodinu, svému Bohu, své prosby o smilování za svatou horu Boží, 21tedy ještě jsem rozmlouval v modlitbě, když Gabriel, ten muž, kterého jsem prve viděl ve vidění, spěšně přilétl a dotkl se mě v době večerního obětního daru. 22Poučil mě, když se mnou mluvil. Řekl: „Danieli, nyní jsem vyšel, abych ti posloužil k poučení. 23Prve při tvých prosbách o smilování vyšlo slovo a já jsem přišel, abych ti je oznámil, neboť jsi vzácný Bohu. Pochop to slovo a rozuměj vidění. 24Sedmdesát týdnů let je stanoveno tvému lidu a tvému svatému městu, než bude skoncováno s nevěrností, než budou zapečetěny hříchy, než dojde k zproštění viny, k uvedení věčné spravedlnosti, k zapečetění vidění a proroctví, k pomazání svatyně svatých. 25Věz a pochop! Od vyjití slova o navrácení a vybudování Jeruzaléma až k pomazanému vévodovi uplyne sedm týdnů. Za šedesát dva týdny bude opět vybudováno prostranství a příkop. Ale budou to svízelné doby. 26Po uplynutí šedesáti dvou týdnů bude pomazaný zahlazen a nebude již. Město a svatyni uvrhne do zkázy lid vévody, který přijde. Sám skončí v povodni, ale až do konce bude válka. Je rozhodnuto o pustošení. 27Vnutí svou smlouvu mnohým v jednom týdnu a v polovině toho týdne zastaví obětní hod i oběť přídavnou. Hle, pustošitel na křídlech ohyzdné modly, než se naplní čas a na pustošitele bude vylito rozhodnutí.“
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 DANIEL'S CONFESSION AND PRAYER FOR JERUSALEM: GABRIEL COMFORTS HIM BY THE PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. (Dan. 9:1-27)
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 (
Иер 29:10) to the captives in Babylon; also
Иер 25:11-
Иер 25:12; compare
2Пар 36:21;
Иер 30:18;
Иер 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
Лев 26:39-
Лев 26:42, that if Israel in exile for sin should repent and confess, God would remember for them His covenant with Abraham (compare
Втор 30:1-
Втор 30:5;
Иер 29:12-
Иер 29:14;
Иак 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 (
Псал 102:13-
Псал 102:17). 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
Иер 31:4,
Иер 31:11-
Иер 31:12,
Иер 31:31, &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 (
Быт 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 (
Мф 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
Мф 18:21-
Мф 18:22) [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 (
Иез 36:22-
Иез 36:23). 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 (
Ин 14:15).
5 Compare Nehemiah's confession (Neh. 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], (
Псал 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-- (
Псал 14:3;
Рим 3:12).
the curse . . . and . . . oath . . . in . . . law--the curse against Israel, if disobedient, which God ratified by oath (Lev. 26:14-39;
Втор 27:15-
Втор 27:26; Deu. 28:15-68; Deu. 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-- (
Плач 1:12).
13 yet made we not our prayer before--literally, "soothed not the face of." Not even our chastisement has taught us penitence (
Ис 9:13;
Иер 5:3;
Ос 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 (
Псал 66:18;
Прит 28:9).
understand thy truth--"attentively regard Thy faithfulness" in fulfilling Thy promises, and also Thy threats [CALVIN]. Thy law (
Дан 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 (
Иов 14:16;
Иер 31:28;
Иер 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 (
Неем 9:33;
Иов 36:3;
Псал 51:4;
Плач 3:39-
Плач 3:42).
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 (
Псал 80:8-
Псал 80:14;
Иер 32:21;
Иер 23:7-
Иер 23:8).
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 (
Псал 31:1;
Псал 143:1).
thy city--chosen as Thine in the election of grace, which changes not.
for . . . iniquities of . . . fathers-- (
Исх 20:5). He does not impugn God's justice in this, as did the murmurers (
Иез 18:2-
Иез 18:3; compare
Иер 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
Дан 9:17, "for the Lord's sake";
Дан 9:19, "for Thine own sake" (
Ис 48:9,
Ис 48:11).
17 cause thy face to shine--metaphor from the sun, which gladdens all that it beams upon (
Чис 6:25;
Мал 4:2).
18 present . . . supplications--literally, "cause to fall," &c. (compare Note, see on
Иер 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 (
Иер 14:21).
20 whiles I was speaking--repeated in
Дан 9:21; emphatically marking that the answer was given before the prayer was completed, as God promised (
Ис 30:19;
Ис 65:24; compare
Псал 32:5).
21 I had seen in the vision at the beginning--namely, in the former vision by the river Ulai (
Дан 8:1,
Дан 8:16).
fly swiftly--literally, "with weariness," that is, move swiftly as one breathless and wearied out with quick running [GESENIUS]. English Version is better (
Ис 6:2;
Иез 1:6;
Откр 14:6).
time of . . . evening oblation--the ninth hour, three o'clock (compare
3Цар 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--
Дан 8:16;
Дан 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
Дан 9:22.
thou art greatly beloved--literally, "a man of desires" (compare
Иез 23:6,
Иез 23:12); 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
Мф 24:15, where Rome primarily, and Antichrist ultimately, is referred to (compare Note, see on
Дан 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 (
Откр 20:1-
Откр 20:15), 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 (Jdg. 4:1-5:31;
4Цар 18:7) as an unlawful one, at the first opportunity. But the prophets (
Иер 27:9-
Иер 27:11) 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 Dan. 9:1-27 with
Дан 2:34-
Дан 2:35,
Дан 2:44;
Дан 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 (
Езд 9:9;
Езд 7:11, &c.).
Дан 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
Дан 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
Дан 9:25, "restore and build Jerusalem." "Jerusalem" represents both the city, the body, and the congregation, the soul of the state. Compare
Псал 46:1-
Псал 46:11;
Псал 48:1-
Псал 48:14;
Псал 87:1-
Псал 87:7. 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 (
Дан 9:20-
Дан 9:27) [ 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
Исх 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 (
Иак 5:16-
Иак 5:18).
finish--literally "shut up"; remove from God's sight, that is, abolish (
Псал 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
Иов 9:7), is better supported.
make reconciliation for--literally, "to cover," to overlay (as with pitch,
Быт 6:14). Compare
Псал 32:1.
bring in everlasting righteousness--namely, the restoration of the normal state between God and man (
Иер 23:5-
Иер 23:6); to continue eternally (
Евр 9:12;
Откр 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 (
Ин 2:19-
Ин 2:22). The propitiatory in the temple (the same Greek word expresses the mercy seat and propitiation,
Рим 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
Исх 40:9,
Исх 40:34. Messiah was anointed with the Holy Ghost (
Деян 4:27;
Деян 10:38). So hereafter, God-Messiah will "anoint" or consecrate with His presence the holy place at Jerusalem (
Иер 3:16-
Иер 3:17;
Иез 37:27-
Иез 37:28), 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 (
Езд 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 (
Дан 9:25-
Дан 9:27) 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 (
Дан 9:25-
Дан 9:26) of "confirming the covenant" (
Дан 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 by its rejection of them. As the seventy weeks end with seven years, or 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 (
Откр 1:4;
Откр 3:1;
Откр 4:5). Ten is the number of what is human; for example, the world power issues in ten heads and ten horns (
Дан 2:42;
Дан 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 by Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi, whose labors extend over about half a 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 (
Псал 2:2;
Мф 27:37,
Мф 27:42). Nagid, as Prince of the Gentiles (
Ис 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 (
Мф 24:29-
Мф 24:31;
Ин 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,"
Дан 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
Дан 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 (
Лк 2:34; compare
Мал 3:1-
Мал 3:6;
Мал 4:1-
Мал 4:3). He repeatedly, in Passion week, connects His being "cut off" with the destruction of the city, as cause and effect (
Мф 21:37-
Мф 21:41;
Мф 23:37-
Мф 23:38;
Лк 21:20-
Лк 21:24;
Лк 23:28-
Лк 23:31). 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" (
Дан 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 (
Мф 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 (
Псал 90:5;
Ис 8:7-
Ис 8:8;
Ис 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 (
Ис 10:23;
Ис 28:22).
27 he shall confirm the covenant--Christ. The confirmation of the covenant is assigned to Him also elsewhere.
Ис 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
Лк 22:20, "The new testament in My blood";
Мал 3:1, "the angel of the covenant";
Иер 31:31-
Иер 31:34, describes the Messianic covenant in full. Contrast
Дан 11:30,
Дан 11:32, "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 (
Дан 11:33-
Дан 11:35). Hence arises the similarity of the language here and in
Дан 11:30,
Дан 11:32, referring to Antiochus, the type of Antichrist.
with many-- (
Ис 53:11;
Мф 20:28;
Мф 26:28;
Рим 5:15,
Рим 5:19;
Евр 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 (
Деян 7:54-
Деян 7:60), the respite of grace granted to them was at an end (
Лк 13:7-
Лк 13:9). Israel, having rejected Christ, was rejected by Christ, and henceforth is counted dead (compare
Быт 2:17 with
Быт 5:5;
Ос 13:1-
Ос 13:2), its actual destruction by Titus being the consummation of the removal of the kingdom of God from Israel to the Gentiles (
Мф 21:43), which is not to be restored until Christ's second coming, when Israel shall be at the head of humanity (
Мф 23:39;
Деян 1:6-
Деян 1:7;
Рим 11:25-
Рим 11:31; Rom. 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 (
Дан 8:11;
Дан 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 (
Иер 3:16;
Иер 31:31;
Иез 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 (
Дан 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 (
Дан 7:25-
Дан 7:26). So Jesus' death seemed the triumph of the world, but was really its defeat (
Ин 12:31). The rending of the veil marked the cessation of sacrifices through Christ's death (
Лев 4:6,
Лев 4:17;
Лев 16:2,
Лев 16:15;
Евр 10:14-
Евр 10:18). There cannot be a covenant without sacrifice (
Быт 8:20;
Быт 9:17;
Быт 15:9, &c.;
Евр 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 (
Псал 40:6,
Псал 40:11). 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 (
Дан 9:25), but shall continue its desolation until the time of the consummation "determined" by God (the phrase is quoted from
Ис 10:22-
Ис 10:23), when at last the world power shall be judged and dominion be given to the saints of the Most High (
Дан 7:26-
Дан 7:27). AUBERLEN translates, "On account of the desolating summit of abominations (compare
Дан 11:31;
Дан 12:11; thus the repetition of the same thing as in
Дан 9:26 is avoided), and till the consummation which is determined, it (the curse,
Дан 9:11, foretold by Moses) will pour on the desolated." Israel reached the summit of abominations, which drew down desolation (
Мф 24:28), nay, which is the desolation itself, when, after murdering Messiah, they offered sacrifices, Mosaic indeed in form, but heathenish in spirit (compare
Ис 1:13;
Иез 5:11). Christ refers to this passage (
Мф 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
Мф 4:5) by Antichrist, who makes a covenant with the restored Jews for the last 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 (
Дан 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" (
Дан 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."
The tenth through twelfth chapters more fully describe the vision in the eighth chapter by a second vision on the same subject, just as the vision in the seventh chapter explains more fully that in the second. The tenth chapter is the prologue; the eleventh, the prophecy itself; and the twelfth, the epilogue. The tenth chapter unfolds the spiritual worlds as the background of the historical world (
Иов 1:7;
Иов 2:1, &c.;
Зах 3:1-
Зах 3:2;
Откр 12:7), and angels as the ministers of God's government of men. As in the world of nature (
Ин 5:4;
Откр 7:1-
Откр 7:3), so in that of history here; Michael, the champion of Israel, and with him another angel, whose aim is to realize God's will in the heathen world, resist the God-opposed spirit of the world. These struggles are not merely symbolical, but real (
1Цар 16:13-15;
3Цар 22:22;
Еф 6:12).