The Prophecy - Daniel 9:24-27 - Daniel's 70 Weeks |
Old Testament Prophecy |
24) Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25) So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26) Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27) And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate. |
The prophecy continues with a description of the judgment that would come on the generation that rejected the Messiah. The city which contains the sanctuary, that is, Jerusalem, would be destroyed by the people of the ruler who will come.(1)
It is significant that the people of the ruler, not the ruler himself, will destroy Jerusalem. Since he will be the final Roman ruler, the people of that ruler must be the Romans themselves. This, then, is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem about which Christ spoke in His ministry.(1)
This destruction was accomplished by Titus in a.d. 70 when he destroyed the city of Jerusalem and killed thousands of Jews.(1)
When the leaders of the nation registered their rejection of Christ by attributing His power to Beelzebub, the prince of the demons (Matt. 12:24), Christ warned that if they persisted in that view they would be guilty of sin for which there would be no forgiveness (Matt. 12:31-32). He also warned the nation that Jerusalem would be destroyed by Gentiles (Luke 21:24), that it would be desolate (Matt. 23:38), and that the destruction would be so complete that not one stone would be left on another (Matt. 24:2).(1)
These are the legions of Vespasian and Titus.(2)
After the death of the Roman Titus, who commanded the destruction of the temple, the temple would not be rebuilt until we were living in Messianic times.(3)
The Fast Day Of Tisha B'Av commemorates the Destruction of the Temple.
The Jewish leaders of that time had Four Signs Of The Coming Destruction Of The Temple.
Here are some links that have been created to help move around inside of the Daniel 9:24-27 prophecy.
Other links of interest include:
1). Walvoord, John F. ; Zuck, Roy B. ; Dallas Theological Seminary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 1:1364
2). Rashi
3). The Stone Edition Tanach Book of Daniel p. 1802.
