The context of this chapter, the whole focus, is Daniel confessing the sins of his nation, Israel. We note immediately he dates his event during the first year of the ruler he calls "Darius," appointed to manage Medo-Persian affairs in the district of Babylon, the flat plain at the southern end of Mesopotamia. We generally place that around 538 BC. This was nearly 70 years after the first exile under Babylon, affecting the royal family of Judah, including Daniel himself. Daniel had been reading Jeremiah's prophecy (25:11-12) which mentioned the approximate span of 70 years for the Exile. Daniel's confession on behalf of his nation is poetry beyond compare. In it, he clearly emphasizes God is just, Israel sins recklessly even yet, but asks God to keep His promise.
The answer brought by the angel Gabriel, now familiar to Daniel, was dispatched immediately upon Daniel beginning his prayer. The answer is cryptic to us, but not to Daniel. If all we read here are numbers, to which we feel compelled to match dates with anything approaching precision, we understand nothing. In Hebrew prophecy, numbers are first and foremost symbolic. We read the Old Testament all too often forcing a literal meaning to numbers where it is plainly wrong to Hebrew eyes. God Himself makes it entirely too clear He does not set dates for things, but moves when the time is right, or when things are ready. There's no question whether He knows the dates of future events; Hebrew literature never considers the question in the first place. All things come from God's hand "in the fullness of time." Whatever Gabriel means here, the numbers are primarily symbols within an answer to what Daniel is asking: that Jehovah keep His promise. Daniel does not realize at first the return to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple won't accomplish what he hopes, but it does fit into God's plan, so it will happen. Twisting the obvious meaning of the prophetic statements to match some pre-determined use of the numbers does violence to God's Word. We must first see Gabriel's message in the context of Daniel's prayer.
Israel had sinned. The Northern Tribes were exiled permanently; gone forever, lost to history, because of open rebellion against Jehovah, from which they steadfastly refused to repent. Judah didn't go so far, but certainly did evil enough. During the long reign of Manasseh, things had gotten so bad people no longer remembered the Law of Moses. Indeed, until the priests had stumbled across an old copy hidden in the Temple, Josiah would never have known just how to lead the nation in repentance. As it was, he was warned it was too late, in the long run, but the hammer would fall only after his reign. His reign was cut short by a fool's errand because God was ready. In the last few days, Jeremiah had warned them not to resist the conquest by Babylon, for it was the hand of God. The Exile lasted about 70 years, but more importantly it ended when God was ready. According to Daniel's prayer, it appears they hadn't really repented, so there was some other reason. Surely, there were good people, and they would do good things, but the nation as a whole had failed to repent as God required. Still, He was keeping His promise, in that they would return to their earthly home because He was ready to do it.
The word translated "week" is actually "seven" as there was no specific Hebrew word for "week." A basic principle is "seven" refers to sacredness, a concept which sometimes included a completion of things. Seven also would represent an element of wrath (Lev. 26:18, 21, 24, 28). Realizing they had failed to repent, God was going to up their punishment seven-fold -- 70 years of Exile becomes 70x7 years of survival as a Nation. At the end of that time, they would finish their sins. Their time would pass, and the passing national ritual purity would be replaced with eternal righteousness without a nation. This would see the end of Israel receiving any further prophecies, and the Most Holy would be anointed -- the root meaning of "Messiah." At the same time, we see whereas the Exile was a time of God's patience at work, so the 70x7 would be a further patience of God giving His people one last chance to be repent.
That the period between this message and the life of Jesus is more than 500 years is not important at all here. We can argue from now until the Second Coming what is meant by "the decree to restore and build Jerusalem" and miss the point entirely. The period of 7x7 is a reference to the Jubliee Year. Until Israel complied with the Mosaic rhythm of existence, with their Sabbaths, and Sabbatical years, and Jubilee Years, etc., all the building they could do would mean nothing. Indeed, because they only paid lip-service to genuine obedience, it would barely serve as ritual purity. As it was, from the year Cyrus released the exiles (538 BC), until they began actually operating under the Law of Moses under Nehemiah's reforms (445 BC) took about another 70 years. That decree to rebuild Jerusalem was supposed to be a reference Daniel understood, so most likely points to the initial Return. Let us not forget this message was to Daniel, the man asking in prayer to hear from God. An important point was this rebuilding would not be easy, and we can refer again to Nehemiah's account to find a literal fulfillment of that. Whatever we make of the "sevens," we dare not lose sight of the prophetic message regarding the end of the Nation of Israel.
For it would be Israel who works to cut off their own Messiah. It would be wholly unjust, for the Messiah would be guilty of no sin. He would suffer willingly on behalf of others. Indeed, because of Israel cutting Him off, their rebuilt city would be destroyed one last time. That destruction would come at the hands of the prince of those who would come to rule during Messiah's time: Rome. In AD 70, Titus, then son of the Roman Emperor, destroyed the city of Jerusalem. The warfare was long, and many hundreds of thousands had died by the time the soldiers swarmed into the city. The Temple was destroyed completely, and Jews were forbidden to enter even the suburbs. Here, it is tied directly to Israel's rejection of their Messiah. Notice no amount of tweaking the "sevens" will make sense here.
Until John the Baptist, the Law of Moses stood. Once John began his ministry, the Law was being fulfilled. No unfinished business remained except the Messiah Himself. Thus, John called to a final chance to renew the Old Covenant as the path to the New Covenant. During the last "seven" the New Covenant would begin -- "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" At the mid-point, the Messiah would offer Himself and complete the Old Covenant. At His death, it was gone. There could be no further sacrifice; that was done. The Temple was meaningless. However, for the duration of that "seven" the Jews would continue as the focus of the message of the New Covenant. The rest of that verse is quite hard to translate. What is clear is God will judge sin. It would seem what follows after the final Messianic sacrifice will remain a great many horrifying things, which would continue until God was through. Keep in mind the Early Church was convinced whatever this all meant, this chapter of Daniel was fulfilled by AD 70, and the business of the last "week" was completed. Given their proximity to living memories of the Apostles' teaching, it takes incredible arrogance to somehow decide we have found something they missed.
The contention here is to warn the modern reader: If we must see the "weeks" as periods of time, then we must be prepared to see things through the very relaxed concept of time held by Hebrew culture. When dealing with the work of God, time is a very flexible, elastic concept. Trying to read the sevens as precise time periods is insanity, and serves only to obscure the actual prophecy. The whole issue was the utter failure of Israel to be faithful, to actually translate a simplified ritual and legal code into a faith in the Redeemer who brought them out of slavery. They were offered freedom, but hardly accepted the mere earthly version of it. Eventually the spiritual freedom would be offered to the whole of humanity. That would be the final end of the Law of Moses. Daniel's prayer was for the restoration of Israel as she could have been. Gabriel related God's message it would not happen. What God had promised, both blessing and curse, would most certainly be fulfilled.
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Ed Hurst
07 December 2007
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