The last of Daniel’s 70 year-weeks
Introduction: This study concludes a short series on parts of the OT that are relevant for interpreting other large sections of the Bible that deal with ‘eschatology’, which means the future destiny and final events of history. The aim is to provide a ‘bird’s eye view’ on some fundamental texts to encourage the reading and studying also of prophetic parts of the Bible. They were selected because of how the New Testament points to them as the basis to interpret especially the book of Revelation. One of those OT prophecies that the NT and Revelation mention (and interpret) is a vision of 70×7 years in Daniel 9 of God’s plan for his people. As discussed in the preceding study, the first 7+62 ‘weeks’ of years foretold the time from the rebuilding of Jerusalem until the coming of Messiah. So what did Daniel predict to happen to God’s people thereafter?
Read again Daniel 9:24-27
Explain: There are by and large two interpretations of these verses. A classic view before and since the Reformation that stood a test of time holds that the 70 weeks have already been literally fulfilled. More recently, an alternative view has also become widely accepted by others that the 70th week describes 7 literal future years in the history of the modern state of Israel, either before or after the church has been taken away by what is called the “rapture”.
Warm-up: Before digging into this text, watch a youtube excerpt (0-2’16”) of Chuck Missler, a prominent and able defender of the second view (Charles “Chuck” Missler is an author, evangelical Christian, Bible teacher, former businessman and US Air Force officer).
1) What did Missler say “characterizes” the 70th week? => Covenant for one week:
- What is this covenant supposed to be? => a right to the Palestinian land
- Does the text say that?
- Who may establish such a covenant?
- And how long does this covenant last (according to Missler)?
- What is then supposed to happen after half of the week? => Do you agree that the text in Dan 9 says that?
2) Who does Missler say is the “He” of v27?
- the “bad guy” – why? Quote: “…Grammar: Seemingly the same subject as the last one in v26.”
- What do others say who is the “He”? Does Missler say who held that view? => “all venerable commentators” (no names given).
- Did he give a reason why they are supposedly wrong? =>
- What was Missler’s argument that the Jews must have rebuilt a temple by then? =>
- Does v27 mention a temple at all?
3) When did the blood sacrifices of the Jews really come to an end?
- Does the Bible here or anywhere else say that they will resume and then later end again after the coming of Messiah?
- If this end of sacrifices were still future and would last only 3.5 literal years, should one not expect that the earlier abolishing of sacrifices that has now lasted no less than 2000 years would deserve mentioning as well?
- Which one would you consider more traumatic for Jews: The one of 2000+ years, or one of 3.5?
- Have you heard any plausible reason why Daniel would have overlooked the former to then so emphasize the latter?
4) What other covenants might qualify as the covenant that Dan 9 is talking about?
- Is the notion of a “covenant” (Hebr. berith) by the antichrist according to Missler supported anywhere else in the Bible?
- How does Dan 9 describe it? [strong/prevailing]
- How long (exactly) will it last? For the entire week or, as implied by Missler, only during its first half?
- What covenant (berith) was Daniel himself actually reading about when he studied Jeremiah’s 70yr prophecy, Dan 9:2?
- How did Jesus say he fulfilled this promise, Lk 22:20?
5) If the “He” in Dan 9:27 is Jesus, how did he establish the covenant at the beginning of the week, i.e. before the end of the sacrificial system?
- Explain: gabar (translated ‘to make strong’) is derived from a root word that means to be strong => How does that fit with Jesus? [Jesus is the strong covenant, he didn’t have to “make” one, cf Isa 42:6; Mal 3:1; Heb 10:7]
- v24: Why is sin atoned only by the end of the 70th week?
- Explain: To atone means to satisfy the demands of the law for just punishment
- Remember those priests in Ezekiel’s visionary temple who had abandoned their rightful king David: How is their sin atoned for, Ezk 44:12-13? [They were condemned to bear their own sin themselves, as elaborated in more depth by Ezk 4-5, especially 5:16-17]
- Why will God not forever reject his chosen people for having rejected Messiah as their atonement at the beginning of the 70th year-week?
6) What happens in the second half of the 70th week? [There were 3.5 literal years of war 67-70 AD]
- By contrast, what did John in Rev 11 say will define the duration of the second 3.5years/42Mt/1260d period of the 70th year-week?
- What does Revelation say will happen to the Jews (“thy people”) in the meantime, Rev 12:1-6? [Also the duration of second diaspora of the Jewish nation (described in metaphors from Gen 37:9-10) fleeing far from Israel (in the ‘desert’) is counted as 1260 ‘days’, i.e. the time period when the ‘outer court’ of the temple is no longer guarded by the unfaithful priests described in Ezk 44:11, but trampled by the nations, Rev 11:2]
- => Do any of these texts and their contexts call for a literal or rather for a non-literal interpretation of the second half of Daniel’s 70th week?
7) Application
- When you read prophetic parts of the Scriptures, is it of any practical relevance?
- How about Near East politics: Do/should you support a Zionist agenda? Why or why not?
- Should one take Daniel as the light and measuring stick to interpret Rev 11-12? Or should Revelation be used to interpret Daniel?
For further personal study (source:http://thomaswilliamson.net/70_weeks.htm):
- Ralph Woodrow, in “Great Prophecies of the Bible,” says, “The fact is, Daniel 9:27 says nothing about a future rebuilt temple, nothing about restored sacrifices, nothing about the Antichrist making a covenant with the Jews. There are over 280 references to ‘covenant’ in the scriptures and not one of them in any way introduces the idea of a covenant being made between the Jews and the Antichrist.”
- Over the centuries, the great commentators have agreed that Christ is the One who confirmed the covenant with many (see Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, Adam Clarke, Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Edward Young, John Calvin, John Wesley, Geneva Study Bible, etc). The Church Fathers such as Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius, Augustine and Eusebius regarded the 70th week of Daniel as having already been fulfilled by Christ’s earthly ministry, as did the Venerable Bede, John Wycliffe, Luther, Melanchthon, John Gill, etc.
Comment of the author: Note that the above ancient “amillennial” authors apparently thought that the entire 70th week was already fulfilled in the days of Jesus, whereas “premillennialists” generally think it is all still future. The truth would be in the middle where it often is, if the second 3.5 ‘years’ of Daniel’s 70th week are what Rev 11 and 12 seem to say they are, namely the entire period of the church until the end of the second Jewish diaspora.
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