Part I, Chapter 10, 1

Of the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.

The Vision of the Image composed of four Metals was given first to Nebuchadnezzar, and then to Daniel in a dream; and Daniel then began to be celebrated for revealing secrets, Ezek. xxviii. 3. The Vision of the four Beasts, and of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, was also given to Daniel in a dream. That of the Ram and the He-Goat appeared to him in the daytime, when he was on the bank of the river Ulay; and it was explained to him by the prophetic Angel Gabriel. It concerns the Prince of the host, and the Prince of Princes; and now, in the first year of Darius the Mede over Babylon, the same prophetic Angel appears to Daniel again, and explains to him what is meant by the Son of man, by the Prince of the host, and by the Prince of Princes. The Prophecy of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven relates to the second coming of Christ; that of the Prince of the host relates to his first coming; and this Prophecy of the Messiah, in explaining them, relates to both comings, and assigns their times.

This Prophecy, like all the rest of Daniel's, consists of two parts: an introductory Prophecy and an explanation of it; the whole I translate and interpret as follows.

1 "Seventy weeks are² decreed for your people and for your holy city, to finish transgression, and³ to make an end of sins, to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, to consummate the Vision and⁴ the Prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy.

"Know also and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, until⁵ the Anointed the Prince shall be seven weeks.

"Yet after sixty-two weeks shall⁶ it return, and the street and the wall be built, but in troublesome times; and after the sixty-two weeks the Anointed shall be cut off, and⁶ it shall not be his; but the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and until the end of the war, desolations are determined.

"Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in half a week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease; and upon a wing of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and what is determined be poured upon the desolate."

"Seventy weeks are decreed for your people, and for your holy city, to finish transgression, &c." Here, by taking a week for seven years, 490 years are reckoned, from the time that the dispersed Jews should be re-formed into⁷ a people and a holy city, until the death and resurrection of Christ; by which transgression should be finished, and sins ended, iniquity atoned for, and everlasting righteousness brought in, and this Vision accomplished, and the Prophet brought to completion, that Prophet whom the Jews expected; and by which the Most Holy should be anointed, he who is therefore in the next words called the Anointed, that is, the Messiah, or the Christ. For by joining the accomplishment of the vision with the atonement for sins, the 490 years are ended with the death of Christ. Now the dispersed Jews became a people and a city when they first returned into a polity or body politic; and this was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, when Ezra returned with a body of Jews from captivity, and revived the Jewish worship; and by the King's commission created Magistrates in all the land, to judge and govern the people according to the laws of God and the King, Ezra vii. 25. There were but two returns from captivity, Zerubbabel's and Ezra's; in Zerubbabel's they had only commission to build the Temple, in Ezra's they first became a polity or city by a government of their own. Now the years of this Artaxerxes began about two or three months after the summer solstice, and his seventh year fell in with the third year of the eightieth Olympiad; and the latter part of it, in which Ezra went up to Jerusalem, was in the year of the Julian Period 4257. Count the time from then to the death of Christ, and you will find it just 490 years. If you count in Judaic years beginning in autumn, and date the reckoning from the first autumn after Ezra came to Jerusalem, when he put the King's decree in execution, the death of Christ will fall in the year of the Julian Period 4747, Anno Domini 34; and the weeks will be Judaic weeks, ending with sabbatical years; and this I take to be the truth: but if you would rather place the death of Christ in the year before, as is commonly done, you may take the year of Ezra's journey into the reckoning.

"Know also and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, until the Anointed the Prince shall be seven weeks." The former part of the Prophecy related to the first coming of Christ, being dated to his coming as a Prophet; this part, being dated to his coming to be Prince or King, seems to relate to his second coming. There, the Prophet was brought to completion and the Most Holy anointed; here, the one who was anointed comes to be Prince and to reign. For Daniel's Prophecies reach to the end of the world; and there is scarcely a Prophecy in the Old Testament concerning Christ that does not in some way relate to his second coming. If several of the ancients, as⁸ Irenæus,⁹ Julius Africanus, Hippolytus the martyr, and Apollinaris Bishop of Laodicea, applied the half week to the times of Antichrist; why may not we, by the same liberty of interpretation, apply the seven weeks to the time when Antichrist shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming?

The Israelites in the days of the ancient Prophets, when the ten Tribes were led into captivity, expected a double return; and that at the first the Jews should build a new Temple inferior to Solomon's, until the time of that age should be fulfilled; and afterwards they should return from all places of their captivity, and build Jerusalem and the Temple gloriously, Tobit xiv. 4, 5, 6: and to express the glory and excellence of this city, it is figuratively said to be built of precious stones, Tobit xiii. 16, 17, 18. Isa. liv. 11, 12. Rev. xi. and called the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Holy City, the Lamb's Wife, the City of the Great King, the City into which the Kings of the earth bring their glory and honor. Now while such a return from captivity was the expectation of Israel, even before the times of Daniel, I do not know why Daniel should leave it out of his Prophecy. This part of the Prophecy being therefore not yet fulfilled, I shall not attempt a particular interpretation of it, but content myself with observing that, as the seventy and the sixty-two weeks were Jewish weeks, ending with sabbatical years; so the seven weeks are the compass of a Jubilee, and begin and end with actions proper for a Jubilee, and of the highest nature for which a Jubilee can be kept; and that since the commandment to return and to build Jerusalem precedes the Messiah the Prince by 49 years, it may perhaps come forth not from the Jews themselves, but from some other kingdom friendly to them, and precede their return from captivity, and give occasion to it; and lastly, that this rebuilding of Jerusalem and the waste places of Judah is predicted in Micah vii. 11. Amos ix. 11, 14. Ezek. xxxvi. 33, 35, 36, 38. Isa. liv. 3, 11, 12. lv. 12. lxi. 4. lxv. 18, 21,22. and Tobit xiv. 5. and that the return from captivity, and the coming of the Messiah and his kingdom, are described in Daniel vii. Rev. xix. Acts i. Mat. xxiv. Joel iii. Ezek. xxxvi. xxxvii. Isa. lx. lxii. lxiii. lxv. and lxvi. and many other places of scripture. The manner I do not know. Let time be the Interpreter.

"After sixty-two weeks shall it return, and the street and the wall be built, but in troublesome times; and after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah shall be cut off, and it shall not be his; but the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, &c." Having foretold both comings of Christ, and dated the last from their returning and building Jerusalem; to keep this from being applied to the building of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, he distinguishes it from that, by saying that from this period to the Anointed shall be, not seven weeks, but sixty-two weeks, and this not in prosperous but in troublesome times; and at the end of these Weeks the Messiah shall not be the Prince of the Jews, but be cut off; and Jerusalem not be his, but the city and sanctuary be destroyed. Now Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the 20th year of this same Artaxerxes, while Ezra still continued there, Nehem. xii. 36, and found the city lying waste, and the houses and wall unbuilt, Nehem. ii. 17. vii. 4, and finished the wall the 25th day of the month Elul, Nehem. vi. 15, in the 28th year of the King, that is, in September in the year of the Julian Period 4278. Count now from this year sixty-two weeks of years, that is 434 years, and the reckoning will end in September in the year of the Julian Period 4712 which is the year in which Christ was born, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, Irenæus, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Orosius, Cassiodorus, and other ancients; and this was the general opinion, till Dionysius Exiguus invented the common account, in which Christ's birth is placed two years later. If some reckon that Christ was born three or four years before the common account, yet his birth will fall in the latter part of the last week, which is enough. How after these weeks Christ was cut off and the city and sanctuary destroyed by the Romans, is well known.

"Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week." He kept it, notwithstanding his death, until the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of Cornelius and the Gentiles in the seventh year after his passion.

"And in half a week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease"; that is, by the war of the Romans upon the Jews: which war, after some commotions, began in the 13th year of Nero, A.D. 67, in the spring, when Vespasian with an army invaded them; and ended in the second year of Vespasian, A.D. 70, in autumn, Sept. 7, when Titus took the city, having burned the Temple 27 days before; so that it lasted three years and a half.

Of the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.

The Vision of the Image made of four Metals was given first to Nebuchadnezzar, and then to Daniel in a dream. Daniel then became known for revealing secrets, Ezek. xxviii. 3. The Vision of the four Beasts, and of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, was also given to Daniel in a dream. The Vision of the Ram and the He-Goat appeared to him in the daytime, while he was by the bank of the river Ulay, and the prophetic Angel Gabriel explained it to him. It concerns the Prince of the host and the Prince of Princes. Now, in the first year of Darius the Mede over Babylon, the same prophetic Angel appears to Daniel again and explains what is meant by the Son of man, by the Prince of the host, and by the Prince of Princes. The Prophecy of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven concerns the second coming of Christ, and the Prophecy of the Prince of the host concerns his first coming. This Prophecy of the Messiah, in explaining them, concerns both comings and gives their times.

Like all the rest of Daniel's, this Prophecy has two parts: an introductory Prophecy and an explanation of it. I translate and interpret the whole like this.

1 "Seventy weeks are² cut for your people and for your holy city, to finish transgression, and³ to end sins, to expiate iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, to bring the Vision and⁴ the Prophet to completion, and to anoint the Most Holy."

"Know also and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to bring your people back and to build Jerusalem, until⁵ the Anointed the Prince, there will be seven weeks."

"Yet in sixty two weeks⁶ it will return, and the street and the wall will be built, but in troubled times. After the sixty two weeks the Anointed will be cut off, and⁶ it will not be his. The people of a Prince to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come in a flood, and until the end of the war desolations are decreed."

"Yet he will confirm the covenant with many for one week. In half a week he will make the sacrifice and the offering stop. On a wing of abominations he will make it desolate, until the end comes and what is determined is poured out on the desolate."

Seventy weeks are cut for your people and for your holy city, to finish transgression, etc. Here a week stands for seven years, so 490 years are counted from the time the scattered Jews would be brought back together into⁷ a people and a holy city, until the death and resurrection of Christ. By then transgression would be finished, sins ended, iniquity expiated, and everlasting righteousness brought in; the Vision would be accomplished and the Prophet brought to completion, the Prophet whom the Jews expected; and the Most Holy would be anointed, which is why the next words call him the Anointed, that is, the Messiah, or the Christ. The accomplishment of the vision is joined with the expiation of sins, so the 490 years end with the death of Christ. The scattered Jews became a people and a city when they first returned as a polity, or body politic. This was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, when Ezra returned with a body of Jews from captivity and revived the Jewish worship. By the King's commission he created magistrates in all the land, to judge and govern the people according to the laws of God and the King, Ezra vii. 25. There were only two returns from captivity: Zerubbabel's and Ezra's. Under Zerubbabel they had only permission to build the Temple; under Ezra they first became a polity or city, with a government of their own. The years of this Artaxerxes began about two or three months after the summer solstice, and his seventh year fell in the third year of the eightieth Olympiad. The later part of that year, when Ezra went up to Jerusalem, was in the year of the Julian Period 4257. Count the time from then to the death of Christ, and you will find exactly 490 years. If you count in Judaic years that begin in autumn, and date the count from the first autumn after Ezra came to Jerusalem, when he carried out the King's decree, the death of Christ falls in the year of the Julian Period 4747, A.D. 34. The weeks are then Judaic weeks, ending with sabbatical years, and I take this to be the truth. But if you would rather place the death of Christ in the year before, as is commonly done, you can count the year of Ezra's journey in the reckoning.

Know also and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to bring your people back and to build Jerusalem, until the Anointed the Prince, there will be seven weeks. The first part of the Prophecy concerned the first coming of Christ, since it was dated to his coming as a Prophet. This part is dated to his coming to be Prince or King, so it seems to concern his second coming. There the Prophet was brought to completion and the Most Holy anointed; here the one who was anointed comes to be Prince and to reign. Daniel's Prophecies reach to the end of the world, and there is hardly a Prophecy in the Old Testament about Christ that does not in some way concern his second coming. If some of the early writers, like⁸ Irenæus,⁹ Julius Africanus, Hippolytus the martyr, and Apollinaris Bishop of Laodicea, applied the half week to the times of Antichrist, why may we not, with the same freedom of interpretation, apply the seven weeks to the time when Antichrist will be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming?

In the days of the early Prophets, when the ten Tribes were led into captivity, the Israelites expected two returns. First, the Jews would build a new Temple, inferior to Solomon's, until the time of that age was fulfilled; after that they would return from all the places of their captivity and build Jerusalem and the Temple in glory, Tobit xiv. 4, 5, 6. To express the glory and excellence of this city, it is said in figure to be built of precious stones, Tobit xiii. 16, 17, 18. Isa. liv. 11, 12. Rev. xi. It is called the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Holy City, the Lamb's Wife, the City of the Great King, and the City into which the Kings of the earth bring their glory and honor. While such a return from captivity was what Israel expected, even before the times of Daniel, I do not see why Daniel should leave it out of his Prophecy. Since this part of the Prophecy is not yet fulfilled, I will not try to interpret it in detail. I will only observe that the seventy weeks and the sixty two weeks were Jewish weeks, ending with sabbatical years, while the seven weeks are the span of a Jubilee. They begin and end with actions proper for a Jubilee, and with the highest purposes for which a Jubilee can be kept. Also, because the commandment to return and to build Jerusalem comes 49 years before the Messiah the Prince, it may perhaps come forth not from the Jews themselves, but from some other kingdom friendly to them. It may come before their return from captivity and give occasion for it. Lastly, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the waste places of Judah is predicted in Micah vii. 11. Amos ix. 11, 14. Ezek. xxxvi. 33, 35, 36, 38. Isa. liv. 3, 11, 12. lv. 12. lxi. 4. lxv. 18, 21,22. and Tobit xiv. 5. The return from captivity, the coming of the Messiah, and his kingdom are described in Daniel vii. Rev. xix. Acts i. Mat. xxiv. Joel iii. Ezek. xxxvi. xxxvii. Isa. lx. lxii. lxiii. lxv. and lxvi. and many other places of scripture. I do not know the manner. Let time be the Interpreter.

"Yet in sixty two weeks it will return, and the street and the wall will be built, but in troubled times; and after the sixty two weeks the Messiah will be cut off, and it will not be his; but the people of a Prince to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary," etc. Having foretold both comings of Christ and dated the second from their return and the building of Jerusalem, he keeps this from being applied to the building of Jerusalem by Nehemiah. He tells it apart from that by saying that from this period to the Anointed there will be not seven weeks, but sixty two weeks, and these not in prosperous times but in troubled times. At the end of these Weeks the Messiah will not be the Prince of the Jews, but will be cut off; and Jerusalem will not be his, but the city and sanctuary will be destroyed. Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the 20th year of this same Artaxerxes, while Ezra was still there, Nehem. xii. 36, and found the city lying waste, with the houses and the wall unbuilt, Nehem. ii. 17. vii. 4. He finished the wall on the 25th day of the month Elul, Nehem. vi. 15, in the 28th year of the King, that is, in September in the year of the Julian Period 4278. Now count from this year sixty two weeks of years, that is 434 years, and the reckoning will end in September in the year of the Julian Period 4712. That is the year in which Christ was born, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, Irenæus, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Orosius, Cassiodorus, and other early writers. This was the general opinion, until Dionysius Exiguus invented the common reckoning, in which Christ's birth is placed two years later. If, like some, you reckon that Christ was born three or four years before the common reckoning, his birth still falls in the latter part of the last week, which is enough. How, after these weeks, Christ was cut off, and the city and sanctuary were destroyed by the Romans, is well known.

"Yet he will confirm the covenant with many for one week." He kept it, even after his death, until the Jews were rejected and Cornelius and the Gentiles were called, in the seventh year after his death.

"And in half a week he will make the sacrifice and the offering stop"—that is, through the war of the Romans against the Jews. After some commotions, that war began in the 13th year of Nero, A.D. 67, in the spring, when Vespasian invaded them with an army; and it ended in the second year of Vespasian, A.D. 70, in the autumn, on September 7, when Titus took the city, having burned the Temple 27 days before. It lasted three years and a half.