Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Daniel 9: the 70 weeks

Daniel 9 begins with Daniel studying the book Jeremiah:

1-4 “Darius, son of Ahasuerus, born a Mede, became king over the land of Babylon. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was meditating on the Scriptures that gave, according to the Word of God to the prophet Jeremiah, the number of years that Jerusalem had to lie in ruins, namely, seventy.

Daniel became aware that Jerusalem and the temple would be rebuilt. He aligns with the Lord's will, confessing sins and claiming for Judah/Israel. He prays:

18 “‘Turn your ears our way, God, and listen. Open your eyes and take a long look at our ruined city, this city named after you. We know that we don’t deserve a hearing from you. Our appeal is to your compassion. This prayer is our last and only hope:
19  “‘Master, listen to us!
    Master, forgive us!
    Master, look at us and do something!
    Master, don’t put us off!
    Your city and your people are named after you:
    You have a stake in us!’

after that, we have the seventy seven weeks prophecy. It is really difficult to understand the precise interpretation of this prophecy. For me, it is a very clear prophecy that the Messiah would suffer:

25-26 “‘Here is what you must understand: From the time the word goes out to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Anointed Leader, there will be seven sevens. The rebuilding will take sixty-two sevens, including building streets and digging a moat. Those will be rough times. After the sixty-two sevens, the Anointed Leader will be killed—the end of him. The city and Sanctuary will be laid in ruins by the army of the newly arriving leader. The end will come in a rush, like a flood. War will rage right up to the end, desolation the order of the day.

The most interesting and precise point to me is: " the Anointed Leader will be killed". However, the resurrection is not mentioned on this prophecy. There are not many links in the old testament that points to the Messiah being killed. In Jesus' times, the disciples thought that the Messiah would rule over Israel (Psalm 2, 110), but according to Daniel, He would be killed.

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