Daniel 9 – An Introduction to the Prophecy

Overview of the Chapter

Daniel received the vision in Daniel 9 in 538 BC. At that time, Israel was in captivity in Babylon. Jerusalem and the temple were in ruins. The first 19 verses of Daniel 9 are Daniel’s prayer. He prayed for Jerusalem, the temple, and his people. While he was still praying, the angel Gabriel appeared and gave him this extremely compact prophecy.

The Six Goals

Verse 24 lists profound goals for the 70 weeks, including solving the sin problem of the entire human race. For some, these goals were fulfilled through Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago. For others, these goals will only be fulfilled when He returns and sets up His eternal kingdom.

70 Weeks

Israel had two types of weeks: weeks of days and weeks of years. Every week of years consisted of seven years in which the seventh was a year of rest; a sabbath for the land. The weeks in Daniel 9 are literal weeks of years.

The word “week” is used in Daniel only once outside Daniel 9, where it is qualified as “of days.” This confirms that the weeks in Daniel 9 are weeks of years.

Since these are weeks of years, the 70 weeks are equal to 490 literal years. No day-for-a-year symbolism is required to convert days into years.

Daniel was obviously very glad to receive this prophecy as an assurance that God would restore Israel to their country. But the time limit of 70 weeks, which the angel announced, must have puzzled him.

The Events

While verse 24 gives the goals for the 70 weeks, verses 25 to 27 describe the events of the 70 weeks.

The Messiah

The 490 years will begin with the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. The Messiah would appear 483 years later.

Daniel did not pray for the 6 goals or for the Messiah. He only prayed for Jerusalem and his people. That both the goals and the Messiah were added implies that these goals would be fulfilled through the Messiah.

The First 49 Years

No specific event marks the end of the first 49 years. However, since that would be 49 years after the decree to restore Jerusalem, most commentators agree that this was the period of the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Messiah killed, Jerusalem destroyed

Verse 25 describes the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the appearance of the Messiah, but verse 26 predicts the destruction of both.

For probably most interpreters, the Messiah is Jesus Christ, and the destruction of the city was the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

In verse 25, the messiah appears at the end of the first 483 years. In verse 26, he will die, and the city will be destroyed some undefined time after the end of the 483 years.

The Last Seven Years

Verse 27 describes the 70th week, the last seven years.

During these seven years, somebody will make a firm covenant. For some, this is Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago, who maintained God’s covenant with Israel. For others, it is an end-time antichrist.

In the middle of the seven years, somebody will put a stop to sacrifice

Complete Destruction

Verse 27 ends with a complete destruction. It does not say whether the destruction will be during or after the last seven years. Some believe that this is the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. For others, this is an end-time Antichrist.

Interpretations

This wonderful prophecy is interpreted very differently by the different schools of thought.

The Final Seven Years

Particularly, the final seven years are interpreted very differently by the different schools:

In the Liberal Interpretation, the final week plays off during the reign of the Greek king Antiochus IV, 168 years before Christ.

In the traditional Historic-Messianic interpretation, the entire prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago.

In Dispensationalism, the last seven years describe the work of the Antichrist during the 7 years immediately prior to Christ’s return.

Messianic-Historical

In the Messianic-Historical interpretation, the entire prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago:

The 490 years began with Artaxerxes’ first decree in 458/7 BC.

The first 483 years ended, and the last seven years began with Jesus’ baptism in AD 26/27.

According to verse 27, somebody would end sacrifices in the middle of the last seven years. In the Messianic-Historical interpretation, this was caused by Jesus’s death. He was killed in the middle of the last seven years. Sacrifices did not end literally, but in terms of significance. The Jewish sacrifices pointed forward to His death and, after He died, had no further significance.

The 490 years ended, not when Jesus died, but 3½ years later. Israel’s probation did not end when Jesus died. For a number of years after His death, God sent the Holy Spirit with extraordinary power, but to Jews only. It was only a few years after His death, after Israel had also rejected the Holy Spirit by persecuting His Spirit-filled disciples, that the Holy Spirit and the gospel were redirected to include Gentiles, and Israel’s probation ended. That was the end of the 490 years.

Jerusalem was not destroyed during those 490 years, but only later, in 70 AD.

Dispensational Interpretation

In this interpretation, the 490 years began with Artaxerxes’ second decree in 445/4 BC.

The first 483 years ended with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, a few days before His death.

A huge gap separates the final 7 years from the first 483. The entire “church age” is a gap during which the prophetic clock has stopped ticking.

The final seven years are the seven years immediately prior to Christ’s return, commencing with the rapture of the church.

During those final seven years, the Antichrist – a prince of a revived Roman Empire – will oppress the Jews. During the latter half of the seven years, the Antichrist will bring upon the world a 3½ year tribulation worse than ever before.

Liberal Interpretation

Most Liberals do not believe that the Bible is God’s authoritative and reliable revelation. They also do not believe in miracles or divinely inspired prophecies. For them, the Bible is simply the product of the evolution of human thought.

Therefore, and since the prophecies in Daniel mention the Medo-Persian and Greek empires by name, liberals argue that the Book of Daniel was written after the events it claims to predict. Specifically, they believe that Daniel was compiled during the mid-2nd century BC by an unnamed and uninspired Jew. In this view, the crisis in Daniel, including Daniel 9, is the persecution of Jews and Judaism by Antiochus Epiphanes, around the year 167 B.C.

In the standard liberal interpretation, the 490 years began with the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The first 49 years came to an end with Cyrus’ decree in 538 B.C., which allowed the Jews to return to Judah. At the end of the next 434 years, in 171/0 BC, the Jewish High Priest Onias III was the messiah who was “cut off” (murdered). During the last seven years after Onias’ death, the Greek king Antiochus IV destroyed Jerusalem and put a stop to sacrifices. At the end of the seven years, after the successful Maccabean revolt, the temple was rededicated in 164 BC.

Symbolic Interpretation

Daniel’s prophecies are symbolic. For example, the animals in Daniel 7 symbolize consecutive empires. But Daniel 9 seems literal. For example, the city is the literal Jerusalem. However, in the Consistent Symbolical interpretation, Daniel 9 is also symbolic. For example, Jerusalem symbolizes the Church. The periods are also symbols: The first 7 weeks symbolize the time before Christ, the 62 weeks are the Church Age, and the final week is the end-time rule of the Antichrist.

The purpose of this article series is to determine which is the correct interpretation.