Part I, Chapter 10, 2

And on a wing of abominations he shall cause desolation, until the end is reached and what has been determined is poured out on the desolate. The prophets, when they represent kingdoms by Beasts and Birds, take a wing stretched out over a country to stand for the armies they send out to invade and rule that country. Hence a wing of abominations is an army of false Gods: for an abomination is often put in scripture for a false God, as where Chemosh is called¹⁰ the abomination of Moab, and Molech the abomination of Ammon. The meaning, therefore, is that the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the sanctuary, abolish the daily worship of the true God, and overspread the land with an army of false gods; and by setting up their dominion and worship cause desolation to the Jews, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. For Christ tells us that the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel was to be set up in the times of the Roman Empire, Matth. xxiv. 15.

Thus in this short Prophecy we have a prediction of all the main periods relating to the coming of the Messiah: the time of his birth, that of his death, that of the rejection of the Jews, the duration of the Jewish war by which he caused the city and sanctuary to be destroyed, and the time of his second coming; and so the interpretation given here is fuller, more complete, and more adequate to the design than if we confined it to his first coming only, as interpreters usually do. We also avoid doing violence to the language of Daniel by taking the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks for one number. Had that been Daniel's meaning, he would have said sixty-nine weeks, and not seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, a way of counting used by no nation. In our reading the years are Jewish lunisolar years,¹¹ as they ought to be; and the seventy weeks of years are Jewish weeks ending with sabbatical years, which is very remarkable. For they end either with the year of the birth of Christ, two years before the common account, or with the year of his death, or with the seventh year after it: all which are sabbatical years. Others count either by lunar years or by weeks that are not Jewish; and, which is worst, they ground their interpretations on erroneous chronology, excepting the opinion of Funccius about the seventy weeks, which is the same as ours. For they place Ezra and Nehemiah in the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, and the building of the Temple in the reign of Darius Nothus, and date the weeks of Daniel from those two reigns.

The grounds of the chronology here followed I will now set down as briefly as I can.

The Peloponnesian war began in spring An. 1 Olymp. 87, as Diodorus, Eusebius, and all other authors agree. It began two months before Pythodorus ceased to be Archon, Thucyd. l. 2, that is, in April, two months before the end of the Olympic year. Now the years of this war are most certainly determined by the 50 years distance of its first year from the transit of Xerxes inclusively, Thucyd. l. 2, or 48 years exclusively, Eratosth. apud Clem. Alex.; by the 69 years distance of its end, or 27th year, from the beginning of Alexander's reign in Greece; by the celebration of the Olympic games in its 4th and 12th years, Thucyd. l. 5; and by three eclipses of the sun, and one of the moon, mentioned by Thucydides and Xenophon. Now Thucydides, an unquestionable witness, tells us that the news of the death of Artaxerxes Longimanus was brought to Ephesus, and from there by some Athenians to Athens, in the 7th year of this Peloponnesian war, while the winter half of the year was running; and therefore he died An. 4 Olymp. 88, in the end of An. J.P. 4289, a month or two before midwinter, suppose; for so long the news would take to come. Now Artaxerxes Longimanus reigned 40 years, by the consent of Diodorus, Eusebius, Jerome, Sulpitius; or 41, according to Ptol. in can. Clem. Alexand. l. 1. Strom. Chron. Alexandr. Abulpharagius, Nicephorus, including tin this the reign of his successors Xerxes and Sogdian, as Abulpharagius informs us. After Artaxerxes reigned his son Xerxes two months, and Sogdian seven months; but their reign is not reckoned apart in summing up the years of the Kings, but is included in the 40 or 41 years reign of Artaxerxes: omit these nine months, and the precise reign of Artaxerxes will be thirty-nine years and three months. And therefore since his reign ended in the beginning of winter An. J.P. 4289, it began between midsummer and autumn An. J.P. 4250.

The same thing I gather also thus. Cambyses began his reign in spring An. J.P. 4185, and reigned eight years, including the five months of Smerdes; and then Darius Hystaspis began in spring An. J.P. 4193, and reigned thirty-six years, by the unanimous consent of all chronologers. The reigns of these two Kings are determined by three eclipses of the moon observed at Babylon, and recorded by Ptolemy; so that it cannot be disputed. One was in the seventh year of Cambyses, An. J.P. 4191, Jul. 16, at 11 at night; another in the 20th year of Darius, An. J.P. 4212, Nov. 19, at 11h. 45' at night; a third in the 31st year of Darius, An. J.P. 4223, Apr. 25, at 11h. 30 at night. By these eclipses, and the Prophecies of Haggai and Zechary compared together, it is clear that his years began after the 24th day of the 11th Jewish month, and before the 25th day of April, and consequently about March. Xerxes therefore began in spring An. J.P. 4229: for Darius died in the fifth year after the battle at Marathon, as Herodotus, lib. 7, and Plutarch mention; and that battle was in October An. J.P. 4224, ten years before the battle at Salamis. Xerxes therefore began within less than a year after October An. J.P. 4228, in the spring following, suppose: for he spent his first five years, and something more, in preparations for his expedition against the Greeks; and this expedition was in the time of the Olympic games, An. 1 Olymp. 75, Calliade Athenis Archonte, 28 years after the Regifuge, and Consulship of the first Consul Junius Brutus, Anno Urbis conditæ 273, Fabio & Furio Coss. The passage of Xerxes's army over the Hellespont began in the end of the fourth year of the 74th Olympiad, that is, in June An. J.P. 4234, and took up one month: and in autumn, three months after, on the full moon, the 16th day of the month Munychion, was the battle at Salamis, and a little after that an eclipse of the sun, which by the calculation fell on Octob. 2. His sixth year therefore began a little before June, suppose in spring An. J.P. 4234, and his first year consequently in spring An. J.P. 4229, as above. Now he reigned almost twenty-one years, by the consent of all writers. Add the 7 months of Artabanus, and the sum will be 21 years and about four or five months, which end between midsummer and autumn An. J.P. 4250. At this time therefore began the reign of his successor Artaxerxes, as was to be proved.

The same thing is also confirmed by Julius Africanus, who informs us out of former writers, that the 20th year of this Artaxerxes was the 115th year from the beginning of the reign of Cyrus in Persia, and fell in with An. 4 Olymp. 83. It began therefore with the Olympic year, soon after the summer Solstice, An. J.P. 4269. Subtract nineteen years, and his first year will begin at the same time of the year An. J.P. 4250, as above.

His 7th year therefore began after midsummer An. J.P. 4256; and the Journey of Ezra to Jerusalem in the spring following fell on the beginning of An. J.P. 4257, as above.

Notes to Chap. X.

1 Chap. ix. 24, 25, 26, 27.

2 Cut upon. A Hebrew phrase, taken from the practice of counting by cutting notches.

3 Heb. to seal, that is, to finish or consummate: a metaphor taken from sealing what is finished. So the Jews compute, ad obsignatum Misna, ad obsignatum Talmud, that is, ad absolutum.

4 Heb. the Prophet, not the Prophecy.

5 Heb. the Messiah, that is, in Greek, the Christ; in English, the Anointed. I use the English word, that the relation of this clause to the former may appear.

6 Jerusalem.

7 See Isa. xxiii. 13.

8 Iren. l. 5. Hær. c. 25.

9 Apud Hieron. in h. l.

10 1 Kings xi. 7.

11 The ancient solar years of the eastern nations consisted of 12 months, and every month of 30 days; and hence came the division of a circle into 360 degrees. This year seems to be used by Moses in his history of the Flood, and by John in the Apocalypse, where a time, times and half a time, 42 months and 1260 days, are set as equivalent. But in reckoning by many of these years together, account is to be kept of the odd days which were added to the end of these years. For the Egyptians added five days to the end of this year; and so did the Chaldeans long before the times of Daniel, as appears by the Æra of Nabonassar; and the Persian Magi used the same year of 365 days, till the Empire of the Arabians. The ancient Greeks also used the same solar year of 12 equal months, or 360 days; but every other year added an intercalary month, consisting of 10 and 11 days alternately.

The year of the Jews, even from their coming out of Egypt, was lunisolar. It was solar, for the harvest always followed the Passover, and the fruits of the land were always gathered before the feast of Tabernacles, Levit. xxiii. But the months were lunar, for the people were commanded by Moses in the beginning of every month to blow with trumpets, and offer burnt offerings with their drink offerings, Num. x. 10. xxviii. 11, 14; and this solemnity was kept on the new moons, Psal. lxxxi. 3,4,5. 1 Chron. xxiii. 31. These months were called by Moses the first, second, third, fourth month, etc. and the first month was also called Abib, the second Zif, the seventh Ethanim, the eighth Bull, Exod. xiii. 4. 1 Kings vi. 37, 38. viii. 2. But in the Babylonian captivity the Jews used the names of the Chaldean months, and by those names understood the months of their own year; so that the Jewish months then lost their old names, and are now called by those of the Chaldeans.

The Jews began their civil year from the autumnal Equinox, and their sacred year from the vernal; and the first day of the first month was on the visible new moon, which was nearest the Equinox.

Whether Daniel used the Chaldean or Jewish year is not very material; the difference being but six hours in a year, and 4 months in 480 years. But I take his months to be Jewish: first, because Daniel was a Jew, and the Jews even by the names of the Chaldean months understood the months of their own year; secondly, because this Prophecy is grounded on Jeremiah's concerning the 70 years captivity, and therefore must be understood of the same sort of years with the seventy; and those are Jewish, since that Prophecy was given in Judea before the captivity; and lastly, because Daniel reckons by weeks of years, which is a way of reckoning peculiar to the Jewish years. For as their days ran by sevens, and the last day of every seven was a sabbath; so their years ran by sevens, and the last year of every seven was a sabbatical year, and seven such weeks of years made a Jubilee.

And upon a wing of abominations he will cause desolation, until the end comes and what has been decided is poured out on the ruined. The prophets, when they picture kingdoms as beasts and birds, put the wings stretched out over a country to stand for the army sent out to invade and rule that country. So a wing of abominations is an army of false gods, for an abomination in scripture often stands for a false god, as when Chemosh is called¹⁰ the abomination of Moab and Molech the abomination of Ammon. The meaning is this: the people of a prince yet to come will destroy the sanctuary, end the daily worship of the true God, and cover the land with an army of false gods, and by setting up their rule and their worship they will bring desolation on the Jews, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Christ tells us that the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel was to be set up in the time of the Roman Empire, Matth. xxiv. 15.

So in this short prophecy we have a prediction of all the main periods connected with the coming of the Messiah: the time of his birth, the time of his death, the time of the rejection of the Jews, the length of the Jewish war by which he caused the city and the sanctuary to be destroyed, and the time of his second coming. The interpretation given here is therefore fuller, more complete, and better fitted to the purpose than if we limited it to his first coming alone, as interpreters usually do. We also avoid doing violence to the language of Daniel, by taking the seven weeks and the sixty two weeks for one number. If that had been Daniel's meaning, he would have said sixty and nine weeks, not seven weeks and sixty two weeks, a way of numbering used by no nation. In our reading the years are Jewish luni-solar years,¹¹ as they ought to be, and the seventy weeks of years are Jewish weeks that end with sabbatical years, which is very notable. They end either with the year of Christ's birth, two years before the usual account, or with the year of his death, or with the seventh year after it, and all of those are sabbatical years. Others count either by lunar years or by weeks that are not Jewish; and worst of all they base their readings on wrong chronology, except for the view of Funccius on the seventy weeks, which matches ours. For they place Ezra and Nehemiah in the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, and the building of the Temple in the reign of Darius Nothus, and they date the weeks of Daniel from those two reigns.

I will now set out, as briefly as I can, the grounds of the chronology I follow here.

The Peloponnesian war began in the spring of An. 1 Olymp. 87, as Diodorus, Eusebius, and all other authors agree. It began two months before Pythodorus stopped being archon, Thucyd. l. 2, that is, in April, two months before the end of the Olympic year. The years of this war are fixed beyond doubt by several facts. Its first year stands 50 years from the transit of Xerxes, counting inclusively, Thucyd. l. 2, or 48 years counting exclusively, Eratosth. apud Clem. Alex. Its end, or its 27th year, stands 69 years from the beginning of Alexander's reign in Greece. The Olympic games were held in its 4th and 12th years, Thucyd. l. 5. And three eclipses of the sun and one of the moon are mentioned by Thucydides and Xenophon. Thucydides, a witness no one can question, tells us that news of the death of Artaxerxes Longimanus was brought to Ephesus, and from there by some Athenians to Athens, in the 7th year of this Peloponnesian war, while the winter half of the year was running. So he died An. 4 Olymp. 88, at the end of An. J.P. 4289, a month or two before midwinter at most, since the news would have taken that long to arrive. Artaxerxes Longimanus reigned 40 years, by the agreement of Diodorus, Eusebius, Jerome, Sulpitius; or 41, according to Ptol. in can. Clem. Alexand. l. 1. Strom. Chron. Alexandr. Abulpharagius, Nicephorus, counting in that number the reign of his successors Xerxes and Sogdian, as Abulpharagius tells us. After Artaxerxes, his son Xerxes reigned two months and Sogdian seven months, but when the years of the Kings are added up those reigns are not counted apart; they fall inside the 40 or 41 year reign of Artaxerxes. Take out these nine months, and the exact reign of Artaxerxes comes to thirty nine years and three months. So since his reign ended at the start of winter An. J.P. 4289, it began between midsummer and autumn An. J.P. 4250.

I gather the same thing another way. Cambyses began his reign in the spring of An. J.P. 4185 and reigned eight years, including the five months of Smerdes. Then Darius Hystaspis began in the spring of An. J.P. 4193 and reigned thirty six years, by the agreement of all chronologers. Three eclipses of the moon, seen at Babylon and recorded by Ptolemy, fix the reigns of these two kings, and that cannot be disputed. One was in the seventh year of Cambyses, An. J.P. 4191, Jul. 16, at 11 at night. Another was in the 20th year of Darius, An. J.P. 4212, Nov. 19, at 11h. 45' at night. A third was in the 31st year of Darius, An. J.P. 4223, Apr. 25, at 11h. 30 at night. From these eclipses, and by comparing the prophecies of Haggai and Zechary, it is clear that his years began after the 24th day of the 11th Jewish month and before the 25th day of April, and so about March. Xerxes therefore began in the spring of An. J.P. 4229, for Darius died in the fifth year after the battle at Marathon, as Herodotus, lib. 7, and Plutarch mention, and that battle was in October An. J.P. 4224, ten years before the battle at Salamis. Xerxes then began less than a year after October An. J.P. 4228, say in the following spring, for he spent his first five years and more preparing for his expedition against the Greeks. That expedition took place during the Olympic games, An. 1 Olymp. 75, Calliade Athenis Archonte, 28 years after the Regifuge and the consulship of the first consul Junius Brutus, Anno Urbis conditæ 273, Fabio & Furio Coss. Xerxes's army began to cross the Hellespont at the end of the fourth year of the 74th Olympiad, that is, in June An. J.P. 4234, and the crossing took one month. In autumn, three months later, on the full moon, the 16th day of the month Munychion, came the battle at Salamis, and a little after that an eclipse of the sun, which by the calculation fell on Octob. 2. His sixth year therefore began a little before June, say in the spring of An. J.P. 4234, and his first year consequently in the spring of An. J.P. 4229, as above. He reigned almost twenty one years, by the agreement of all writers. Add the 7 months of Artabanus and the sum is 21 years and about four or five months, which end between midsummer and autumn An. J.P. 4250. At this time, then, began the reign of his successor Artaxerxes, which is what had to be proved.

Julius Africanus also confirms this. He reports, from earlier writers, that the 20th year of this Artaxerxes was the 115th year from the start of the reign of Cyrus in Persia, and fell in with An. 4 Olymp. 83. It began, therefore, with the Olympic year, soon after the summer solstice, An. J.P. 4269. Take away nineteen years, and his first year begins at the same time of year, An. J.P. 4250, as above.

His 7th year therefore began after midsummer An. J.P. 4256, and Ezra's journey to Jerusalem in the following spring fell at the beginning of An. J.P. 4257, as above.

Notes to Chap. X.

1 Chap. ix. 24, 25, 26, 27.

2 Cut upon. A Hebrew phrase, taken from the practice of numbering by cutting notches.

3 Heb. to seal, that is, to finish or complete: a metaphor taken from sealing what is finished. So the Jews count it as ad obsignatum Misna, ad obsignatum Talmud, that is, ad absolutum.

4 Heb. the Prophet, not the Prophecy.

5 Heb. the Messiah, that is, in Greek, the Christ; in English, the Anointed. I use the English word so that the relation of this clause to the former one may appear.

6 Jerusalem.

7 See Isa. xxiii. 13.

8 Iren. l. 5. Hær. c. 25.

9 Apud Hieron. in h. l.

10 1 Kings xi. 7.

11 The ancient solar years of the eastern nations consisted of 12 months, and every month of 30 days, and from this came the division of a circle into 360 degrees. This year seems to be the one used by Moses in his history of the Flood, and by John in the Apocalypse, where a time, times and half a time, 42 months and 1260 days, are treated as equal. But when many of these years are counted together, an account must be kept of the odd days added at the end of these years. For the Egyptians added five days to the end of this year, and so did the Chaldeans long before the times of Daniel, as appears by the Æra of Nabonassar; and the Persian Magi used the same year of 365 days, until the Empire of the Arabians. The ancient Greeks also used the same solar year of 12 equal months, or 360 days, but every other year added an intercalary month, consisting of 10 and 11 days alternately.

The year of the Jews, even from their departure from Egypt, was luni-solar. It was solar, because the harvest always followed the Passover, and the fruits of the land were always gathered before the feast of Tabernacles, Levit. xxiii. But the months were lunar, because the people were commanded by Moses at the beginning of every month to blow trumpets and offer burnt offerings with their drink offerings, Num. x. 10. xxviii. 11, 14, and this ceremony was kept on the new moons, Psal. lxxxi. 3,4,5. 1 Chron. xxiii. 31. Moses called these months the first, second, third, fourth month, etc. The first month was also called Abib, the second Zif, the seventh Ethanim, the eighth Bull, Exod. xiii. 4. 1 Kings vi. 37, 38. viii. 2. But in the Babylonian captivity the Jews used the names of the Chaldean months, and by those names they understood the months of their own year, so that the Jewish months then lost their old names and are now called by those of the Chaldeans.

The Jews began their civil year at the autumnal equinox and their sacred year at the vernal equinox, and the first day of the first month fell on the visible new moon nearest the equinox.

Whether Daniel used the Chaldean or the Jewish year does not matter much, the difference being only six hours in a year, and 4 months in 480 years. But I take his months to be Jewish, for three reasons. First, Daniel was a Jew, and the Jews, even by the names of the Chaldean months, understood the months of their own year. Second, this prophecy rests on Jeremiah's prophecy of the 70 years captivity, so it must be understood in the same sort of years as the seventy, and those are Jewish, since that prophecy was given in Judea before the captivity. Last, Daniel counts by weeks of years, which is a way of counting special to Jewish years. Their days ran by sevens, and the last day of every seven was a sabbath. So their years ran by sevens, and the last year of every seven was a sabbatical year, and seven such weeks of years made a Jubilee.