Bible readers know the feeling of coming across a challenging verse. While we wish the meaning of everything in Scripture was equally clear, we know there are verses that interpreters classify as difficult to understand. Sometimes there are even whole paragraphs that challenge us. One such paragraph is Daniel 9:24\u201327. Those four verses are among the most difficult to interpret in the entire Bible. But thinking about them is worth it, because they are an angelic prophecy about the good news of future atonement by a strong covenant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The angel Gabriel came to Daniel with words of insight about the future (Dan. 9:21\u201322). But the angel\u2019s appearance was not arbitrary. It was in response to Daniel\u2019s activity of confession and prayer (Dan. 9:20\u201321). Most of chapter 9 was Daniel\u2019s bold prayer about the shameful deeds of the Israelites, about the need for great mercy and pardon for those transgressions, and about the hope of restoration to the promised land and holy city. The Israelites had sinned grievously, and the Lord was righteous when he sent them into exile and captivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel\u2019s prayer was from Daniel 9:3 to 9:19. The historical context for his prayer was the change in political administrations (Dan. 9:1\u20132). The Babylonian captors had fallen to the Medo-Persians in 539 BC. The timing signaled that Israel\u2019s exile and captivity in Babylon was finally coming to a close. Daniel had been reading in the book of Jeremiah about the end of Jerusalem\u2019s desolations after a seventy-year judgment (Dan. 9:2; see Jer. 25:1\u201314). Given the political upheaval in Babylon\u2019s fall to Persia, Daniel knew he was living in the time when God would once again turn his face toward the covenant people and would hear their pleas for mercy and restoration. So Daniel prayed, \u201cO Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name\u201d (Dan. 9:19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The angel Gabriel came to Daniel with information about the future, but this information was regarding the distant<\/em> future\u2014far after Daniel\u2019s days. While Daniel had prayed for the pardon and near-restoration that would bring an end to exile and captivity, a political and geographical realignment would not address the deepest issue. The deepest issue for the Israelites\u2014and for Gentiles\u2014was the problem of sin<\/em>. The greatest need, therefore, was atonement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The promise of atonement was precisely the subject of Gabriel\u2019s news. The angel told Daniel,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seventy weeks [or seventy sevens] are decreed about your people and your holy city, We need to notice that Daniel had been reading about a period of \u201cseventy years\u201d (Dan. 9:1), and now Gabriel announces a period of \u201cseventy\u201d weeks\/sevens (Dan. 9:24). The former period of \u201cseventy\u201d led to restoration, and the latter period of \u201cseventy\u201d would lead to an even better restoration. Gabriel\u2019s words about \u201cseventy sevens\u201d draw upon Leviticus 25, which teaches about the Year of Jubilee. The Lord told Moses, \u201cYou shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. . . . That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you\u201d (Lev. 25:8, 11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the background of Leviticus 25:8 to Gabriel\u2019s words in Daniel 9:24, we can see that Gabriel is promising an extraordinary time of liberation. This liberation is on a scale that surpasses anything in Israel\u2019s history. While Leviticus 25 spoke of a jubilee after seven sevens, Gabriel spoke about a liberation after seventy<\/em> sevens. The year of Jubilee in Leviticus (which occurred after forty nine years) was the year of the Lord\u2019s favor. According to Gabriel, this grand and future Jubilee (which would occur after 490 years) would be a time of unprecedented favor\u2014a tenfold<\/em> Jubilee![1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel had prayed for forgiveness and for God\u2019s wrath to be turned away (Dan. 9:9, 16\u201319). Gabriel\u2019s response is that God would answer that prayer even better than Daniel had prayed. God would deal with his people\u2019s sin. He would bring in righteousness and atonement (Dan. 9:24). And God would accomplish this great act through the work of an anointed one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reference to \u201can anointed one\u201d (Dan. 9:25) is in the context of a prophesied atonement (Dan. 9:24). The phrase \u201canointed one\u201d is the word for Messiah, the promised king from David\u2019s line who would reign forever (2 Sam. 7:12\u201313). Other prophets foretold that such a king would come, and Daniel reported the same expectation in his book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The timeline in Daniel 9:25\u201326 for this king is challenging, though. The seventy sevens are divided into three parts: seven sevens, sixty-two sevens, and one seven. The first division (Dan. 9:25, seven weeks\/sevens) is a clear connection to the seven sevens of the Jubilee custom (Lev. 25:8). And after sixty-two sevens, \u201can anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing\u201d (Dan. 9:26a). Adding these references together, the anointed one\u2019s work takes place after sixty-nine sevens\u2014in other words, in the<\/em> seventieth<\/em> seven<\/em>. This climactic time is in view when Gabriel says that the anointed one \u201cshall make a strong covenant with many for one week\u201d (Dan. 9:27a). The \u201cone week\u201d refers to the final seven of the seventy sevens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
to finish the transgression,
to put an end to sin,
and to atone for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal both vision and prophet,
and to anoint a most holy place (Dan. 9:24).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
1. This is a mathematical observation. If seven sevens speak of 49 years, and seventy sevens speak of 490 years, then numbers are being multiplied by ten. 7 x 10 = 70. And 49 x 10 = 490.<\/span><\/h6>\n\n\n\nAn Anointed One to be Cut Off<\/h2>\n\n\n\n