CHAPTER VI
THE SEVENTIETH WEEK
"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in
the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to
cease." (#Da 9:27)
We come now to the last verse of the prophecy, which verse is of surpassing
interest and importance. It has to do specifically with the seventieth
week of the prophecy. The expiration of 69 weeks brought us "unto
Christ, " but not to His crucifixion, nor to that which is the great
subject of all prophecy, "the sufferings of the Christ" (#1Pe
1:11). Particularly it should be kept in mind that the six things of (#Daniel
9:24) depended for their accomplishment upon His atoning death, His resurrection,
and His ascension into heaven. All these events were "after the threescore
and two weeks."
When Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ in glory on the Mount of Transfiguration,
they "spake of His exodus which He should accomplish at Jerusalem"
(#Lu 9:31). His "exodus" or "way out" of this world
was the consummation of the purposes of God, the climax of all prophecy,
the supreme event of all the ages. Thereby He accomplished eternal redemption,
opened a fountain for sin and for uncleanness, sealed the everlasting
covenant, and set aside forever the sacrifices appointed by the law.
The first part of Daniel 9:27, quoted at the head of this chapter, is
quite clear except for the words "for one week, " which will
be explained later on. The meaning of the clause (apart from those three
words) is, we believe, easily discerned in the light of the New Testament
scriptures. To "confirm" the new covenant (#Jer 31:31-34 Heb
8:6-13,10:1-18), that is, to make it sure, was the great purpose for which
the Son of God came into the world in the body of flesh prepared for Him
(#Heb 10:5). Moreover, it was by His death as a sacrifice for sin that
He displaced and abolished the sacrifices of the law, thus causing them
"to cease." God had had "no pleasure" in these because
they "could never take away sins, " whereas "it pleased
the Lord to bruise Him, " making "His soul an offering for sin"
(#Isa 53:10). If we take the pronoun "He" as relating to "the
Messiah" mentioned in the preceding verse, then we find in the New
Testament scriptures a perfect fulfilment of the passage, and a fulfilment,
moreover, which is set forth in the most conspicuous way. That pronoun
must, in our opinion, be taken as referring to Christ, because (a) the
prophecy is all about Christ, and this is the climax of it; (b) Titus
did not make any covenant with the Jews; (c) there is not a word in Scripture
about any future "prince" making a covenant with them. Other
reasons in support of this conclusion will appear later on. But the foregoing
are sufficient.
There are three points in the passage we are now studying, and each of
them is completely fulfilled in the inspired accounts of the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ given in the New Testament. Those three points are (1)
confirming the covenant with many; (2) what happened in the midst of the
week; (3) causing the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. We will briefly
examine these three points in order.
1. Confirming the covenant with many. We ignore for the present the words
"for one week, " which words would seem to limit the duration
of the "covenant" to the short period of seven years. It will
suffice for now to say that there is no preposition "for" in
the text, and that the words "one week" do not refer to the
duration of the covenant, but to the time when it was confirmed; for that
covenant was confirmed by the shedding of the blood of Christ (#Heb 9:14-20)
in "the one week, " the last of the seventy which had been "determined."
This will be clearly shown later on.
As to the fulfilment of this important feature of the prophecy we have
a clear announcement from the Lords own lips. For when, in the institution
of His memorial supper, He gave the cup to His disciples, He uttered these
significant words, "This is My blood of the new covenant, shed for
many for the remission of sins" (#Mt 26:28). In these words we find
four things which agree with the prophecy: 1st, the One who was to confirm
the covenant, Christ; 2nd, "the covenant" itself; 3rd, that
which "confirmed" the covenant, the blood of Christ; 4th, those
who receive the benefits of the covenant, the "many." The identification
is complete; for the words correspond perfectly with those of the prophecy,
"He shall confirm the covenant with many." There could not be
a more perfect agreement.
It is to be noted in this connection that the prominent feature of the
new covenant is the forgiveness of sins (#Jer 31:34 ) (#Heb 10:1-18).
Hence the significance of the Lords words, "for the remission
of sins." His mission in coming into the world was to "save
His people from their sins" (#Mt 1:21). That is the prominent feature
of His gospel (#Lu 24:47 Ac 10:43).
It is further to be noted that, although the promise of the New Covenant
was made to the entire "house of Israel and house of Judah, "
not all of them entered into its benefits. Those who rejected Christ were
"destroyed from among the people" (#Ac 3:23). They were, as
branches, "broken off" (#Ro 11:17). We see then the accuracy
of Scripture in the words of the prophecy "with many, " and
those of the Lord Jesus "shed for many."
This use of the word "many" is found in other like scriptures.
Thus, in a similar prophecy it is written: "My righteous Servant
shall justify many" (#Isa 53:11). Again, "And many of the children
of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God" (#Lu 1:16). This was
said by the same heavenly messenger, Gabriel, when he announced to Zacharias
the birth of a son. And yet againthis time from the lips of Simeon"This
Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel" (#Lu
2:34). And yet once more, in the words of the Lord Jesus, "For the
Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give
His life a ransom for many" (#Mt 20:28). In each of these scriptures
the word "many" applies to those who receive by faith the benefits
of the New Covenant which Christ made sure by the shedding of His blood
upon the Cross.
2. In the midst of the week. These words are important in helping to identify
the fulfilment of the prophecy. Considering the supreme importance of
the death of Christ, upon which depended not only the six predictions
of verse 24, but all the purposes of God; and considering also that the
prophecy gives the time when the Lords ministry as "the Messiah"
was to begin, we should expect to find in it a statement when His ministry
was to end by His being "cut off." This information is given
in the words "in the midst of the week, " that is the seventieth
week. The expiration of 69 weeks brought us "unto the Messiah."
Only "one week" of the seventy remained; and in the midst of
that last week He was crucified.
We have here (as already indicated) a valuable means of checking up our
conclusions and testing their correctness. For, as has been often pointed
out since very early times, the Gospel of John contains information by
which it appears that the ministry of Christ lasted three and a half years.
In fact Eusebius, a Christian writer of the fourth century, is quoted
as saying: "It is recorded in history that the whole time of our
Saviours teaching and working miracles was three years and a half,
which is half a week. This, John the evangelist will represent (i.e. will
make known) to those who critically attend to his Gospel."
Thus the length of our Lords ministry, as disclosed by the Gospel
of John (half a week), strikingly confirms the prophecy, which gives 69
weeks unto the beginning of the Lords ministry, and fixes the ending
thereof "in the midst of the week" following.
3. He shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. No one will dispute
that, when Christ suffered and died on the Cross, thus offering "one
sacrifice for sins forever, " He then and there caused the sacrifices
and oblations of the law to cease as a divine appointment. Even when in
full vigour they were but the shadows of that perfect and all sufficient
sacrifice which He, as the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of
the world, was to offer in due time. Hence they were completely displaced
when Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot
to God.
Neither can there be any question that the removal of those sacrifices
(which could never take away sins) was a great thing in the eyes of God,
a thing so great and wellpleasing to Him as to warrant its having a prominent
place in this grand Messianic prophecy. In proof of this important point
we direct the attention of our readers to (#Heb 8$, 9$, 10$.) In those
chapters the Spirit of God puts before us in great detail, and with solemn
emphasis, the setting aside of the Old Covenant, with all that related
to it, the "worldly sanctuary, " the priesthood, the "ordinances
of divine service, " and particularly those many sacrifices (by which
a remembrance of sins was made every year); and He puts before us also
the confirming of the New Covenant, with its heavenly sanctuary, its spiritual
priesthood, its sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, all based upon
the atonement of Christ. The great subject of this part of Hebrews, as
of the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks, is the Cross.
Chapter 10 of Hebrews dwells largely upon the sacrifices which were "offered
by the law, " emphasizing the imperfection and insufficiency thereof
to purge the conscience of the offerers, and declaring that, for that
reason, God had no pleasure in them. It was because of this ("wherefore")
that the Son of God said, "Lo I come (in the volume of the Book it
is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God" (v. 7). This relates the
passage directly to the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks, which has for its
subject the coming of Christ into the world and the purpose for which
He came. How full of significance then, and how conclusive for the object
of our present study, are the words which follow!
"Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and
offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which
are offered by the law; then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.
He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second" (#Heb
10:8,9).
This is the climax of the whole matter. "He taketh away" those
sacrifices and oblations wherein God had no pleasure! What perfect agreement
with the words of the prophecy, "He shall cause the sacrifice and
oblation to cease"! And when we find, both in the prophecy (#Da 9:27)
and in Hebrews 10, that this setting aside of the sacrifices of the law
is connected directly with the confirming of the New Covenant, we are
compelled to conclude that the passage in Hebrews is the inspired record
of the fulfilment of this prophecy.
We ask careful attention to the fact that in (#Hebrews 10:12) it is expressly
stated that Christ took away the sacrifices of the law when He offered
Himself as the "one sacrifice for sins forever, " ere He "sat
down on the right hand of God." Those sacrifices, therefore, ceased
to exist in Gods contemplation from the moment Christ died. From
that moment God regards no longer the sacrifices of the law. It is impossible,
therefore, that the words "he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation
to cease" could refer to any event subsequent to the crucifixion
of Christ. To this we purpose to return. But at this point we would simply
raise the question, where shall we look for a fulfilment of the prophecy,
if we reject that recorded in (#Hebrews 10:9)?
"FOR ONE WEEK"
We come now to the words "for one week" (#Da 9:27), which have
been the means of leading astray some who have undertaken to explain this
prophecy.
Manifestly those words are utterly inconsistent with the view that the
covenant spoken of is the New Covenant, since that is "everlasting"
(#Heb 13:20). But it is hardly conceivable that any covenantparticularly
one of such importance as to have a prominent place in this prophecywould
be confirmed for such a brief term as seven years Even if we suppose,
as some do (though with no proof whatever to support them), that the prophecy
refers to some agreement which the supposed "prince" of the
future will supposedly make with "many" Jews, permitting them
to resume the long abolished sacrifices of the law, can we conceive that
such a covenant would be limited to the insignificant term of seven years?
In view of the difficulty presented by the words "for one week, "
we consulted a Hebrew scholar, asking him if there were any preposition
"for" in the original text, or anything to imply it. His reply
was that there is no "for" in the text, nor anything to imply
it. This information removed the chief difficulty; but it left still unsettled
the meaning to be given to the words "one week." That further
information, however, was supplied by the same Hebrew scholar (formerly
a Jewish Rabbi, but now a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ), who gave
us the English rendering of the Septuagint Version of (#Daniel 9:27).
This Septuagint Version is a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into
Greek, made nearly three hundred years before the birth of Christ. It
has a claim on our acceptance as an authoritative version, because our
Lord and His apostles frequently quoted from it.
Particularly do we ask attention to the fact that when our Lord, in His
prophecy on Mt. Olivet, quoted from the latter part of (#Daniel 9:27),
He used the words of the Septuagint Version, namely, "the abomination
of desolation" (#Mt 24:15). Therefore we have a special warrant for
following the sense of the Septuagint. We give the English translation
of the entire verse as it appears in the Septuagint.
"And one week shall establish the covenant with many; and in the
midst of the week my sacrifice and drink offering shall be taken away;
and upon the temple shall be the abomination of desolation; and at the
end of the time (the age) an end shall be put to the desolation."
From this wording the meaning of the first clause is easily grasped. It
is a common form of speech to say for example, "the year 1776 established
the independence of the American colonies"; "the year 1918 restored
Alsace and Lorrainne to France, " etc., which is a figurative way
of saying that such or such an event took place at the time specified.
This form of expression is used when it is desired to call special attention
to the year, or other period, in which a certain event occurred. So here,
the previous verses having accounted for 69 of the total of 70 weeks,
it was most appropriate to emphasize that last week; and especially so
for the reason that the last week was not only to fulfil the six predictions
of verse 24, but it was to be the climax of all the ages.
The sense of the passage then is this: That the one remaining week would
witness the confirming of the covenant (which could only mean the promised
New Covenant) with the many; and that, in the midst of that last week,
Christ would cause the entire system of sacrifices appointed by the law
to cease, by the offering of Himself as the all sufficient sacrifice for
sins.
This gives to the last week of the seventy the importance it should have,
and which the prophecy as a whole demands, seeing that all the predictions
of verse 24 depend upon the events of that last week. On the other hand,
to make this last week refer to a paltry bargain between antichrist (or
a supposed Roman prince) and some apostate Jews of the future, for the
renewal (and that for a space of only seven years) of those sacrifices
which God has long ago abolished forever, is to intrude into this great
scripture a matter of trifling importance, utterly foreign to the subject
in hand, and to bring the entire prophecy to an absurdly lame and impotent
conclusion.
"MY SACRIFICE AND DRINK OFFERING"
In further elucidation of the sense of verse 27 we would call special
attention to the words of the Septuagint Version, "My sacrifice and
drink offering shall be taken away." Before the death of Christ the
sacrifices of the law were Gods. But He would never call His the
sacrifices which apostate Jews might institute under agreement with antichrist.
This we deem to be conclusive.
Subsequently to the first appearance of these papers we have had access
to Dr. Wm. M. Taylors excellent book entitled Daniel The Beloved,
in which the above rendering of verse 27 is confirmed. Dr. Taylor gives
Dr. Cowles version of that verse, as follows: "One seven shall
make the covenant effective to many. The middle of the seven shall make
sacrifice and offerings to cease, " etc.
We quote also from Dr. Taylors comments, which afford confirmation
of the conclusions we had already reached:
"It is well known by those acquainted with chronology that Christ
was born four years earlier than the first of the era which we call by
His name. Therefore, at the year 26 A.D. our Lord would be really thirty
years of age; and we know (#Lu 3:23) that His baptism, or public manifestation
to the people, took place when He began to be about thirty years
of age.
"Further, at the end of half a seven of years, or in the middle of
the heptad, Messiah, according to this prediction, was to cause the sacrifice
and offerings to cease. Now, if we suppose this to refer to the fact that
Christs death, being a real and proper sacrifice for sin, virtually
abolished all those under the law, which were only typical, we have here
a date harmonizing with that of the Crucifixion. It is as near as possible
demonstrable from the Gospel by John that our Saviours public ministry
lasted three years and a half (see Robinsons Harmony of the Gospels,
Appendix); and this is corroborated by the parable of the barren fig tree
(#Lu 13:6-9) which seems to indicate that three years of special privilege
to the Jews had run their course, and that a fourth, or a portion of a
fourth, was to be given them. Here again, therefore, we have a coincidence
of date between the prediction and the history.
"The exposition we have given of this section of Daniels prediction,
and of the manner of its fulfilment, is fitted to stir the heart even
of the most indifferent. For myself, I feel awed by the sense of the nearness
of God, which comes over me when I read these verses and when I remember
how they have been confirmed by the events of which Calvary was the scene.
God is in this history of a truth. But let us not forget that it differs
from ordinary history only that here we are permitted to read out of the
Book of Divine purpose and prescience; whereas in other cases that record
is hidden from our eyes. God is in all history as really and as much as
He was in this. How solemn, yet how reassuring also is the thought !"
In view of all this, we would ask, how can any sober minded expositor
of the Scriptures set aside the perfect and heart satisfying fulfilment
of this wonderful prophecy, so dearly to be seen in "the events of
which Calvary was the scene, " and propose instead a contrived fulfilment,
in a supposed covenant (whereof the Scriptures say not a word) between
antichrist and the Jewish people of the last days, relating to the imagined
revival of the long abolished sacrifices of the law?
Therefore we conclude that the modern interpretation which takes Christ
and the Cross out of the last verse of the prophecy, where it reaches
its climax, and puts antichrist and his imaginary doings into it, does
violence to the Scripture and serious wrong to the people of God.
Index - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - Appendix