13. THE PURPOSE OF GOD CONCERNING ISRAEL
WE have thus traced out the whole line of Gentile prophecy, which flows in an unbroken stream from Nebuchadnezzar to the last great head of the Fourth Empire.
And we have found that we are now in the clay-iron times of the feet of the image, and that the world is soon to see the revival of the Roman Empire under the form of ten confederate kingdoms, the brief but memorable course of which will be cut short by the fall of the stone from the mountain—that is, by the descent of the Lord Jesus from the height of His power.
But while earth was bending to the sway of the Babylonian monarch, or shuddering beneath the tread of Persian myriads; while men were wondering at the lightning-rapidity and irresistible bravery of the legions of Alexander, or saluting Cæsar as lord of the world and a present deity; when the crown was placed on the brow of Charlemagne, and the majesty of Rome again hovered over Europe; while the Eastern Empire was being destroyed by Moslem hordes; or while the armies of Napoleon were spreading like a prairie-fire over the surface of Christendom—what, during these long times of commotion and change, was the counsel of God in regard to the Jew? Had He cast away His people? God forbid! He had not cast away His people whom He foreknew.
Through all the turmoil of Gentile times His purpose concerning Israel has remained sure. And although the children of Abraham have long been a nation scattered and peeled, a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land invaders, like overflowing rivers, have spoiled; yet when the iniquity of the Gentiles is full, and God's patience with them exhausted, Israel shall come into remembrance and be again gathered. Great Babylon shall fall, and Jerusalem shall arise and shine as the true city of the great King, and the joy of the whole earth.
Now the key to the future of Israel is to be found in the ninth chapter of Daniel. If we understand that portion of God's Word, our difficulty with the remainder of Hebrew prophecy will be greatly diminished, and we shall easily see how to arrange other predictions each in its own place.
Nor is this all. The closing verses of the chapter, by marking out the times of God's dealings with the Jews, instruct us also in regard to the position of the Church in the grand progress of His purposes; and show us that, although her members will hereafter reign with Christ, she, nevertheless, at present occupies a mere parenthesis in the world-history.
Believers often fail to realize this fact practically, even when they agree to it in theory. They are eager to apply the prophetic Scriptures directly to themselves; can spare but little for the Israelite; nay, will sometimes even speak of his history as though the great object of
THE PURPOSE OF GOD CONCERNING ISRAEL. 187 his existence were to supply a type of the Church of this age.
To counteract such views, Paul wrote the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, in which he shows that the Gentiles are merely as the branches of a wild olive tree which are at present grafted on the Jewish stock, but shall shortly be broken off to make way for the restoration of the natural branches. He warns the Gentiles not to be ignorant of this mystery, lest they should grow wise in their own conceits; and reminds them that God has a covenant with Israel, and that His gifts and callings are without repentance. Therefore the glory of earth must return to the children of Abraham, and "if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead!"
The Church has indeed a glorious destiny; but her calling is heavenly, while the Israelites shall be the Kings of the Earth. Since, therefore, prophecy mainly refers to earth, the Israelite has by far the greatest share of it. For those who are strangers and pilgrims here, and who are commanded not to mind earthly things, require to know but little of the world's history; those whose Saviour, whose home, and whose city, are in heaven, are not much concerned with the course of events below. Those who are warned that at any moment, even in an hour when they think not, the King's messengers may announce, "The Master is come and calleth for thee," have no need to know the times and the seasons.¹
The Lord has, consequently, given but two continuous prophecies of the Church, while the prophetic
¹ Thess. v. 1
Scriptures abound with details of the time when He will resume His covenant relations with Israel
II.
THE PERPLEXITY OF DANIEL.
IN the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, just before Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem for the first time, God foretold the impending trouble by the mouth of Jeremiah, and also set His limit to it. Judah should be a desolation, and should serve the king of Babylon seventy years; at the close of which time Babylon should be punished, and the land of the Chaldeans destroyed.¹ The prophet did not, however, add anything respecting the restoration of his countrymen.
But shortly after the departure of the second band of captives—Jehoiachin and those who were taken with him—the false prophet Hananiah declared that, within the space of two years, the Lord would break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from off the neck of all nations, and bring back to Jerusalem the vessels of the Lord's house which had been carried away to Babylon.² The same strain was taken up among the captives by Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah;³ the hope of the exiles was raised, and many of them contemplated an immediate return to Judæa.
But this was forbidden by a letter from Jeremiah, who directed them to settle in Babylonia, since God would have them to do so until the end of the Seventy
¹ Jer. xxv. 8-14. ² Jer. xxviii. 10-17. ³ Jer. xxix. 20-23.
THE PERPLEXITY OF DANIEL.
Years, and would then visit them and permit them to return to their own country.¹ Apparently the people obeyed this command, and remained where they were.
At last, however, the empire of the Chaldeans fell, and in the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, Daniel, who had been promoted to the place of prime minister, became perplexed and anxious, probably from a twofold cause. He had carefully studied the prophecies of Jeremiah, and found that permission had been given to return to Jerusalem within two years from that time; for it was then about the sixty-ninth year of the captivity. Yet when he considered the disposition of his people, he saw that their exile had not led them back to God, that they were not chastened and humbled by affliction, and were, therefore, by no means in a condition to receive mercy at the hand of the Lord.
And again; he was well aware that there would be a gathering of all Israel from the nations among which they had been scattered, when the Messiah would rule over them in their own country; and he seems to have looked upon this grand restoration as identical with the return at the end of the Seventy Years. Hence a great perplexity; for he knew by former revelations that four Gentile empires must run their course before the sovereignty could be transferred to Israel. And as yet only one of these had fallen, there were still three to fulfil their destiny and the last of them must pass through three phases; while for all these great events there remained but a little more than one year!
Such seems to have been Daniel's perplexity, and
¹ Jer. xxix. 4-11.
he was quite unable to solve the enigma. His procedure was, however, characteristic. The difficulty in regard to the empires he left, not doubting that God would find a way to accomplish His own purpose; but remembering that, in the terrible prediction of Moses respecting the captivity,¹ confession is mentioned as that which will cause the Lord to return to His people, he set his face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes, and made humble confession for himself and his people, earnestly entreating the Lord to turn away His anger and fury from them and from Jerusalem for His great mercies' sake.
III.
AN answer was speedily vouchsafed to the prophet. While he was yet speaking his prayer was interrupted by a gentle touch, and looking round he saw the man Gabriel, who had interpreted his previous vision, again standing near him. This heavenly messenger had been despatched from the Throne to assure the greatly beloved one that his petition had been heard, and should ultimately be granted; but that God must for a while defer the removal of His anger and fury from Jerusalem. Daniel must patiently wait and endure, even as the Lord did when the cup He so much dreaded might not pass away; or as Paul, when it was signified to him that the thorn in the flesh, from which he had thrice besought the Lord for
Levit. xxvi. 40-42
THE PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 191 deliverance, must still be a messenger of Satan to buffet him.
But just as an angel descended to strengthen the Lord in His agony, just as Paul was told that God's grace should be sufficient for him, so Gabriel was sent to Daniel to give him skill and understanding, and to reveal the matter to him, and make him know the purposes of God. Thus the prayer of the prophet opened a channel of blessing, and called forth a great revelation upon which all other prophecy appears to hinge, and without a clear knowledge of which it seems vain to attempt to understand anything. And intensely concentrated as this wondrous utterance is, it, nevertheless, presents no great difficulty, provided we begin with a good translation. The following is a literal rendering;—
Dan. ix. 24. "Seventy Weeks have been severed off upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to shut up the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to cover iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint a Holy of holies."
Ver. 25. "Know, therefore, and understand:—From the going forth of a command to restore and build Jerusalem unto an Anointed One, a Prince, shall be Seven Weeks, and Sixty and Two Weeks: the street shall be restored and built, and the wall, even in the pressure of the times."
Ver. 26. "And after the Sixty and Two Weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and there shall be nothing for Him. And the city and the sanctuary shall the people destroy of a prince that shall come: and his end shall be in the overflowing" (that is, of God's wrath), "and until the end there shall be war, that which is determined for desolations."
Ver. 27. "And he" (that is, the prince that shall come) "shall confirm a covenant with the majority" (that is, of the Jewish people) "for One Week: and in the midst of the Week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease: and upon the wing of abominations shall be the desolater, even until the consummation, and that which has been determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
We must now examine these verses minutely.
Seventy Weeks. Literally, Seventy Sevens. The word "week" is retained, because we have no exact equivalent for the Hebrew original,¹ which signifies a period of seven, but does not decide whether the seven are hours, days, months, years, or any other measure of time. That point must always be determined by the context; and in the present passage periods of seven years each are doubtless intended, because Daniel's mind is dwelling on the Seventy Years of Jeremiah.² The meaning of the angel seems to be—The Seventy Years of probation will not suffice; nay, after them must come seven times seventy other years. We should remember that the Sabbatical years and the Jubilee made the idea of a week of years very familiar to Israelites.
Have been severed off. That is, from the times of the Gentiles, from the age during which their four World-empires should hold sway.
Upon thy people and upon thy holy city. This prophecy, then, is concerned with Israelites, and not with Christians. Seven times seventy, or four hundred
¹ Some commentators use "heptad," or "hebdomad"; either of which words would do, if it could be considered English.
² If Christians be suspected of bias in interpreting "the sevens" as weeks of years, because the end of the sixty-ninth seven is thus made to synchronize with the time of Christ's death, it is impossible to bring such a charge against Jews. And yet, until the Middle Ages were far advanced, the Jews invariably adopted the same explanation, although by so doing they convicted themselves of rejecting the Messiah, and placed a formidable weapon in the hands of their Christian opponents.
and ninety years are to be taken out of the times of the Gentiles for the special dealings of God with the Jews and Jerusalem; that is, of course, with the Jews at Jerusalem: for the people must during the time be dwelling in their own country.
The Four Hundred and Ninety Years of God's pleadings with His people shall be made to produce six results, which are named as follows.
I. To shut up the transgression.
II. To seal up sins.
III. To cover iniquity.
IV. To bring in everlasting righteousness.
V. To seal up vision and prophet.
VI. To anoint a Holy of holies.
We may divide these six consequences into two classes: for the first three are concerned with the taking away of sin, and the last three with the bringing in of righteousness. And the latter will be found to correspond, each to each, with the former.
To shut up the transgression. That is, to arrest and restrain it, so that it can no longer work and spread. The article probably indicates the whole course of Israel's transgression, or "breaking away" from God.
To seal up sins. The figure of sealing is connected with that of shutting up in prison or restraining. So Darius seals the stone, which is put at the mouth of the lions' den, with his own signet and with that of his lords.¹ And in the book of Job, God is said to seal up the stars, so that they do not shine;² and is also described as sealing up the hand of every man, when by the frost and rain of winter He prevents the continuance of daily labour in the fields.³ The sealing
¹ Dan. vi. 17. ² Job ix. 7. ³ Job xxxvii.
up of sins consequently signifies their restraint under safe custody.
There is a good illustration of both figures, and probably a clue to the interpretation of the passage, in the twentieth chapter of the Revelation, where an angel, after binding Satan and casting him into the abyss, shuts him up and sets a seal upon him, that he may deceive the nations no more.
To cover iniquity. That is, according to the well-known scriptural figure, to make atonement for it. While the previous clauses seem to refer to the two-thirds of the Jewish nation which will perish during the refining process, and have their part with Satan and his angels, these words speak of another way of getting rid of sin, and point to the one-third which shall be saved.¹
We now come to the second group of results.
To bring in everlasting righteousness. When the transgression is shut up and sins are sealed, then everlasting righteousness shall be brought in. This will be done by the introduction of the new covenant, in accordance with which God will no longer write upon tables of stone, but put His law in the inward parts of His people and write it in their hearts.²
To seal up vision and prophet. When sins are sealed up, vision and prophecy shall also be laid aside as being no longer needed. For it was only after sin had come into the world that prophecy was introduced as a great instrument of God in the war against it; and so, when sin is put away, prophecies also shall fail.
To anoint a Holy of holies. Lastly, in the place of the Tabernacle and former Temples, in which the
¹ Zech. xiii. 8, 9.
² Jer. xxxi. 33.
covering, or atonement, was wont to be typified, a new Holy of holies shall be anointed. There is great significance in this announcement; for although the Tabernacle of Moses was anointed, there is no mention of such a ceremony in the consecration of the Temple of Solomon, the latter being regarded as a mere continuation of the former. And it is doubtless for a similar reason that we hear nothing of an anointing in the case of the Temple of Zerubbabel. But the Holy of holies of this prophecy, the grand Temple described in the latter chapters of Ezekiel, will be no mere continuation of former Sanctuaries: the fact that the great Sacrifice has already been offered once for all, and that sin—as regards Israel at least—will then be shut up and sealed, will doubtless cause great changes in the ordinances and service. And, moreover, this Temple, which Messiah Himself shall build,¹ will also be the place of the manifestation of His glory during the Millennial reign, and the anointing will, perhaps, specially consecrate it for that purpose.
Such, then, will be the results of God's dealing with the Jews, at the close of the Four Hundred and Ninety Years. The trangression will be restrained and sins sealed up, so as no longer to affect them—for the stumbling-blocks will then have been consumed with the wicked;² their iniquity will be expiated, and the new covenant of their God will bring them everlasting righteousness; all promises will then have been fulfilled; the law of God will be written on the heart of every Israelite, so that there will be no further need of the exhortations, rebukes, warnings, and threatenings, of the prophets; and Mount Zion will be crowned with
¹ Zech. vi. 12, 13.
² Zeph. i. 3.
a Temple, of which the building of Solomon was but a very faint type, and to which—as we are elsewhere told—the Cherubim and the Glory will return, to be a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night.¹
But what sign would mark the commencement of the Four Hundred and Ninety Years? And, when they had commenced, would their course be unbroken to the end of the period, or would it be interrupted? These questions the angel now proceeds to answer.
The appointed time would begin at the going forth of a command to restore and build Jerusalem—not the Temple, of which there is no mention, but the city, the street and the wall.
The prophecy did not, therefore, take as its commencing date the decree of Cyrus, which had reference only to the rebuilding of the Temple; nor that of Darius Hystaspes, which was no more than a confirmation of the permission granted by Cyrus. And again, the edict issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus merely empowered Ezra to carry on the Temple services.
But in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, certain men of Judah came to Shushan, and, in answer to Nehemiah's inquiries after his brethren at Jerusalem, replied;—"The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire."² Over this intelligence Nehemiah mourned, and, like Daniel, made humble confession before God for the sins of his people.
¹ Ezek. xliii. 1-5; Isa. iv. 5, 6.
² Neh. i. 3.
Shortly afterwards, in the month Nisan, he went into the royal presence to perform his duty as cup-bearer, and the king observed that his countenance was changed with sorrow. Interrogated as to the reason, Nehemiah replied;—“Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?”¹ Sympathizing with his distress, Artaxerxes immediately issued a decree for the rebuilding of the city and the wall, and sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem to superintend the work. It is clear, therefore, that the Four Hundred and Ninety Years commence from some day of the month Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus.
From this date until the appearance of an Anointed One Who should also be a Prince—that is, a Royal Priest—Seven Weeks and Sixty and Two Weeks were to elapse; or, in other words, there should be Forty-nine and Four Hundred and Thirty-four, or Four Hundred and Eighty-three Years between the edict and the coming of Messiah as a Prince.
The Forty-nine Years are probably separated off as being the period taken up by the restoration of the city and the wall.² Of the pressure of the times we may find some account in the book of Nehemiah.
The Anointed One, Who should also be a Prince, can be none other than the Lord Jesus, of Whom it was said;—“Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”³ And again;—“Even He shall
Neh. ii. 3.
² The wall is said to have been finished in fifty-two days (Neh. vi. 15): but this must have been merely a temporary work for present exigencies. Moreover, the city also was to be rebuilt.
³ Psalm cx. 4.
build the Temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a Priest upon His throne."¹
But at what period of our Lord's life can He be said to have presented Himself as Priest and King? Not at His birth: for He was then only known as the carpenter's son. Not during the greater part of His ministry: for, although He was anointed by the Spirit, and quickly revealed Himself as the great Priest by teaching the people, by cleansing lepers, and by forgiving sins, He, nevertheless, would not put Himself forward as King. On the contrary, He forbade His disciples to disclose His real nature; and when the crowd, excited to enthusiasm by His wondrous words and works, would have set the crown upon His head, He refused it, and sent them away.
But at His entry into Jerusalem, four days before His death, His manner changed, and He suffered the whole multitude which followed Him to break forth into the cry;—"Blessed be the King That cometh in the name of the Lord."² And when the Pharisees urged Him to rebuke His disciples, He replied;—"I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." In other words, He chose at that time to have Himself openly proclaimed King, and Matthew informs us that He did so to fulfil the prophecy of Zechariah;—"Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass."³ This prophecy reveals the significance of the event, and shows us that the day indicated was that of the appearing of Messiah as the Prince.
¹ Zech. vi. 13.
² Luke xix. 38.
³ Matt. xxi. 5.
Thus, then, the commencing-point of the Four Hundred and Ninety Years was the promulgation of the edict in the month Nisan of the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus; and the Four Hundred and Eighty-third Year ended on the tenth day of the month Nisan, when Christ entered Jerusalem as the King of the daughter of Zion. Both starting-point and goal are so clearly indicated in Scripture that, as believers, we have no need to trouble ourselves with the uncertainties of human computation, but may at once assume that the interval was exactly four hundred and eighty-three years.
If, however, the prophecy can be verified chronologically, its influence will be greatly extended: it will then become a powerful testimony to unbelievers, as well as a guiding light to the people of God. And of all attempts so to verify it, the solution lately proposed by Dr. Anderson seems the most satisfactory. We will, therefore, summarize it, recommending the reader to seek further details in the pages of "The Coming Prince."
Now the first point to be settled is the length of a prophetic year. And the Bible furnishes evidence that such a year was not reckoned according to the Julian system, but contained only 360 days. Even in the history of the flood we find that the five months, from the seventeenth day of the second month to the seventeenth of the seventh, are reckoned as 150 days.¹ And in the Apocalypse the same period is described as 3½ years, as forty-two months, and as 1,260 days. Evidently, therefore, twelve months of thirty days each, or 360 days, are assigned to a year.
¹ Gen. vii. 11, 24; viii. 3, 4.
Consequently, 483 prophetic years would contain 483 × 360, or 173,880 days.
Again; the starting point of the prophecy, as we have just shown, is some day of the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king," that is, in B.C. 445. And by proving that Nehemiah must have commenced his journey to Jerusalem very early in Nisan, Dr. Anderson makes it probable that the decree was given on the first of the month, which in that year would correspond with the 14th of March.
On the other hand, the close of the 483rd year is signalled by the Lord's entry into Jerusalem four days before His death. To find the date of this occurrence, we must remember that His ministry commenced in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberias, that is, in the year which began on the 19th of August, A.D. 28.
Hence the first Passover of our Lord's public ministry must have been in the Nisan of A.D. 29. And since He appears to have kept four, the last would have been in the Nisan of A.D. 32. Now the Passover was on the fourteenth of the month: therefore our Lord must have entered Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan, or the 6th of April, A.D. 32.
Thus then—
The edict of Artaxerxes was promulgated, March 14th, B.C. 445.
Christ presented Himself in Jerusalem as King, April 6th, A.D. 32.
"The intervening period—according to the Julian reckoning—was 476 years and 24 days (the days being reckoned inclusively, as required by the language of the prophecy, and in accordance with the Jewish practice).
| But 476 x 365 | 173,740 days. |
| --- | --- |
| Add (14th March to 6th April, both inclusive) | 24 ,, |
| Add for leap years | 116 ,, |
173,880 days."
But it has been shown above that 69 of Daniel's weeks, or 483 prophetic years, contain just 173,880 days.
Therefore, the first part of this great prophecy was exactly fulfilled to the very day.
Now the Jews of our Lord's time doubtless retained a copy of the famous edict which restored their national existence; or, at least, its date must have been well known to them. And thus, with very little trouble, they might have calculated the precise day on which their Messiah was to present Himself as King; while the prophecy of Zechariah would have instructed them as to the manner of His entry into the city. With such exactness, and in so literal a manner, are the predictions of God brought to their fulfilment!
At the close, then, of the appointed interval, Messiah the Prince moved towards Jerusalem; and after halting to weep over it from the heights of Olivet, passed under the gates and through the streets which were so soon to be levelled with the dust, and offered Himself as her King to the daughter of Zion. But, alas! she saw no beauty in Him that she should desire Him: He was despised and rejected, and, only four days later, the fickle multitude which had enthusiastically cried, "Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord!" was rending the air with discordant shouts of "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"
"The Coming Prince," 2nd edition, p. 128.
And so, after enduring the horrors of that night whose beginning saw Him basely betrayed by one of His own disciples, and during the dark watches of which He gave His back to the smiter and His cheek to them that plucked off the hair, and hid not His face from shame and spitting; after that mocking trial, in which the judges bribed false witnesses, but did not even then succeed in obtaining coherent testimony; after He had been further dragged, once before Herod and twice before Pilate, and none could find aught against Him—then at length the Anointed One was cut off.
And there was nothing for Him; none of those glories which were to surround the person of the Messiah. Instead of appearing as the King of kings and Lord of lords, He was found in the form of a servant. And so far was He from possessing a kingdom above all, and an everlasting dominion, that He had not, during His life, where to lay His head, and was soon cut off altogether from the land of the living.
In place of that Divine beauty and appalling majesty, the first glance of which struck the persecuting Saul helpless to the ground, and which caused even the beloved disciple John to fall at His feet as dead, lo! His visage was marred more than any man, He had no form nor comeliness, nor was there any desirable beauty seen in Him.
For His painful mission in those days was to bear our griefs, and carry our sorrows; to be wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; to receive the chastisement which should bring peace to us, that by His stripes we might be healed. He came to make His soul an offering for sin, to pour out His soul unto death, to be numbered with the transgressors, to bear the sins of many.
He was cut off, and there was nothing for Him.
But the crucifixion of our Lord took place four days after His appearance as the Priest-King—that is, four days after the close of the Four Hundred and Eightythird Year—and yet it is not said to have happened in the Seven Years which still remained to be fulfilled.
At this point, therefore, it seems that there is a gap separating the Four Hundred and Eighty-third Year from the last Seven. For God had given up the sinful nation which rejected His Son: His covenant was suspended, so that they were no longer His people: and, consequently, the course of the Four Hundred and
Ninety Years had ceased to run on.¹
The prophecy then speaks of vengeance which should follow for the cutting off of Messiah: the city and the Sanctuary, Jerusalem and the Temple, should be destroyed. This was fulfilled by the Romans under Titus, about forty years after the death of
Christ: but still there is no mention of the missing
Seven Years; the interval continues.
Lastly; we are told that, after the destruction of the city and Sanctuary, there should be wars and desolations until the end, during a period fixed indeed by
God, but unknown to man. Terribly has this been verified; and so frequent have been the captures of
Jerusalem by Roman, Persian, Saracen, and Turk, that the city of our Lord's time has become deeply buried beneath successive layers of ruin and débris, and is now found from fifty to eighty feet below the level of the
¹ For the principle on which this explanation is based, see the chapter on Mystic Chronology in the Prolegomena.
soil. All these destructions are included in the words, "And until the end there shall be war, that which is determined for desolations"; and yet there is no mention of the final Seven Years.
Thus, from the appearing of Messiah the Prince, there occurs an undefined interval, a great interruption in the progress of the Seventy Weeks, which, as we shall presently see, is not unnoticed in other parts of Scripture.
But, to retrace our steps for a moment, the city and Sanctuary were to be destroyed by the people of a prince that should afterwards come; and since it is added that this prince will meet his doom in the last great outpouring of God's wrath, it is manifest that he cannot have appeared in past time. Now the Romans destroyed the city and Sanctuary: so far, therefore, we gather that the prince will be a head of the Fourth Empire; but the time of his end shows us further that he will be the last head—that is, the Antichrist.
In the final verse of the prophecy we are told that he will confirm a covenant with the majority of the Jewish people for One Week. And so at length we find the missing Seven Years, the Seventieth Week.
Now the Jews must by this time have settled again in their own land, because the prophecy is expressly connected with the people and the city. Possibly the prince may himself have restored them: but, at any rate, he will find them in some trouble, or terrified by some impending danger, and will undertake their protection in Palestine for seven years. The compact may, perhaps, be similar to that by which Napoleon III. promised to maintain Maximilian as emperor of Mexico for a fixed time. But whatever the covenant may be,
THE PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 205 it will only be accepted by a majority of the people, and not by the whole nation: God will again leave Himself a remnant which shall not bow the knee to Baal.
Thus restored and settled in their own land, the Jews will rebuild their Temple and renew the sacrifices and services; but, probably, in a proud and atheistical spirit, and certainly in a way very displeasing to God. The last chapter of Isaiah represents them as engaged in these works not long before the appearing in glory of the Lord Jesus, a description of which begins with the fifteenth verse. But their efforts will spring from national pride, and will not be stimulated by love to God; therefore He declares;—“Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My throne, and the earth My footstool: where is this house that ye build unto Me? and where is this place of My rest? For all these things—that is, the visible world—My hand hath made; then all these things came into existence, saith the Lord; but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and contrite in spirit, and trembleth at My word.”
Then, in reference to the sacrifices which are again being offered, the Lord adds;—“He that killeth the ox is as the slayer of a man; he that sacrificeth the sheep as one that breaketh the neck of a dog; he that offereth an oblation, it is swine’s blood; he that causeth incense to rise up as a memorial is as one that blesseth an idol.” That is, the offerings will be as offensive to God as if men were insulting Him by sacrificing what He has declared to be unclean, or by paying adoration to false gods.
But the Jews will go on in their own ways during the first half of the Seven Years, and then there will be a change. In the middle of the Week—that is, at the end of Three Years and a Half—Antichrist will cause the sacrifices to cease, and transfer the worship of Jehovah to himself, exalting “himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”¹
The words, “upon the wing of abominations shall be the desolater,” are difficult; but we must remember that “abomination” was a common term among the Hebrews for a false god. So, in the first book of Kings, we find “Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites,” “Chemosh, the abomination of Moab,” and “Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon.”² And again; the false gods are declared in both Old and New Testament to be real existences.³ “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God.”⁴
If, then, abominations may here be taken to mean demons, the reference may be to some blasphemous imitation of the chariot of the Cherubim, produced by Satanic power, and perhaps similar to that on which Satan might have conveyed our Lord from the pinnacle of the Temple, could he have bent Him to the temptation. Possibly the appearance of Antichrist thus borne aloft by the agency of demons may be that which will finally determine the world to worship him as God; while the apostate Jews may regard it as the expected sign from heaven, and as the return of
¹ 2 Thess. ii. 4.
² 1 Kings xi. 5-7.
³ See “Earth’s Earliest Ages,” 2nd edition, pp. 245-9.
⁴ 1 Cor. x. 20.
the Glory to their Temple. For when another shall come in his own name, him they will receive. And immediately after this will commence the terrible persecution of all who refuse to worship the Beast and his image.
In such a mockery of Godhead the prince will continue, until the hour allotted to the Powers of Darkness has come to its full end. Then that which has been decreed will have been poured upon the desolate city of Jerusalem, and the time of the consummation will have arrived. Down from heaven will the flood of God's indignation be poured: the blasphemous pretender will be confounded by a brightness—far above that of the sun—which, lighting up the whole globe with the speed of the storm-flash, will proclaim the long-expected advent of the King of kings.
Such, then, is the great revelation granted, in answer to Daniel's confession and prayer, as a key to all Hebrew prophecies. Until he had received it, he could not understand his own previous visions. After that of the Four Wild Beasts we find him saying;—"As for me, Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me."¹ And at the end of the eighth chapter also, he remarks;—"And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterwards I rose up and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it."²
But the disclosure of the Seventy Weeks, which was vouchsafed to give him skill and understanding, enabled him to comprehend the purposes of God; and, consequently, in his preface to the next revelation
¹ Dan. vii. 28.
² Dan. viii. 27.
he tells us that "he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision."¹ Surely that which enlightened Daniel is of the greatest importance to us also, upon whom the ends of the ages are come; nor should we forget those pregnant words;—"And none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."²
IV.