Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 62

Dan. 9:1, 2.

NOTE.-The first deportation to Babylon, when Daniel and his companions were carried captive, was in B.C. 606, and the seventy years of Jeremiah's prophecy would therefore expire in B.C. 536.

The first year of Darius was B.C. 538, and the restoration period was therefore only two years distant from that time.

2. What did this nearness of the time of restoration from captivity lead Daniel to do?

"And I set my face unto the Lord G.o.d, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes." Verse 3.

3. What urgent pet.i.tion of the prophet connects this prayer with the vision of the taking away of the continual mediation and the desolation of the sanctuary recorded in Daniel 8?

"Now therefore, O our G.o.d, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and his supplications, and _cause Thy face to s.h.i.+ne upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate_, for the Lord's sake." Dan. 9:17.

4. At the conclusion of Daniel's prayer, what a.s.surance did Gabriel give him?

"And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, _O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding_." Verse 22.

5. What previous instruction connected with the vision of Daniel 8 was thus being more fully carried out?

"And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, _Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision_." Dan. 8:16.

6. Why was further instruction concerning this vision necessary?

"And _I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days_; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and _I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it_." Verse 27.

7. To what did Gabriel now direct Daniel's attention?

"At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee: for thou art greatly beloved: therefore _understand the matter_, and _consider the vision_." Dan. 9:23.

NOTES.-There is abundant evidence that the instruction in the ninth chapter of Daniel supplements and interprets the vision of the eighth chapter. Note the following facts:-

(1) Daniel did not understand the vision concerning the treading down of his people and the sanctuary, and therefore searched the prophecies anew concerning the period of captivity.

(2) He evidently made a connection between the period of seventy years mentioned by Jeremiah and the twenty-three hundred days of the vision, and he at once began to pray earnestly for the restoration of the city and the sanctuary.

(3) The angel Gabriel, who appeared to him at the first, and interpreted all the vision with the exception of the twenty-three hundred days, now appears, and again directs his attention to the vision.

(4) The events of the vision begin with the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, the era of the restoration of the Jews to their own land. In the absence of any instruction to the contrary, this would be the natural time in which to locate the beginning of the period of twenty-three hundred days; and this is the very time given for the beginning of the seventy weeks, which are clearly a part of the twenty-three hundred days, and thus determine the time of their commencement.

(5) The seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety years, extend from the restoration of literal Jerusalem and the literal temple to the preaching of the gospel to all the world. See Acts 15:14-17. This special preaching of the gospel was completed in one generation, and was followed by the destruction of Jerusalem.

(6) The twenty-three hundred prophetic days, or twenty-three hundred literal years, begin at the same time as the four hundred and ninety years, or seventy weeks, or in B.C. 457, when the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem went forth; and extend from the restoration of literal Jerusalem and the typical temple service after the captivity in ancient Babylon, in the time of the Medes and Persians, to 1844 A.D., the time for the restoration of spiritual Jerusalem and of the knowledge of the mediation of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, taken away by the little horn, after the captivity in modern Babylon. This work of restoration is to be accomplished in one generation by preaching the gospel to all the world (Rev. 14:6-12), and this will be followed by the destruction of the world, or fall of all nations, of which the destruction of Jerusalem was a type.

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

The 2300 Days

The heavy line represents the full 2300 year-day period, the longest prophetic period in the Bible. Beginning in B.C. 457 when the decree was given to restore and build Jerusalem (Ezra 7:11-26; Dan. 9:25), seven weeks (49 years) are measured off to indicate the time occupied in this work of restoration. These, however, are a part of the sixty-nine weeks (483 years) that were to reach to Messiah, the Anointed One. Christ was anointed in 27 A.D., at His baptism. Matt. 3:13-17; Acts 10:38. In the midst of the seventieth week (31 A.D.), Christ was crucified, or "cut off," which marked the time when the sacrifices and oblations of the earthly sanctuary were to cease. Dan. 9:26, 27. The remaining three and one-half years of this week reach to 34 A.D., or to the stoning of Stephen, and the great persecution of the church at Jerusalem which followed. Acts 7:59; 8:1. This marked the close of the seventy weeks, or 490 years, allotted to the Jewish people.

But the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days; and as they (the seventy weeks) reach to 34 A.D., the remaining 1810 years of the 2300-day period must reach to 1844, when the work of judgment, or cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, was to begin. Rev. 14:6, 7. Then special light began to s.h.i.+ne upon the whole sanctuary subject, and Christ's mediatorial or priestly work in it.

Four great events, therefore, are located by this great prophetic period,-the first advent, the crucifixion, the rejection of the Jewish people as a nation, and the beginning of the work of final judgment.

8. What portion of the 2300 days (years) mentioned in the vision, was allotted to the Jews?

"_Seventy weeks_ are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city."

Verse 24, first clause.

NOTES.-"As both the 2300 years of chapter 8 and the 'seventy weeks' of chapter 9 start from the Persian period of Jewish history, in other words, as they both date from the _restoration era_ which followed the Babylonian captivity, their starting-points must be either identical or closely related chronologically."-_"__Light for the Last Days__"__ by H. Grattan Guinness, London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1893, page 183._

"There is plainly a close correspondence between the two visions of Daniel 8 and Daniel 9. The seventy weeks are said to be _cut off_ for certain distinct objects; and this implies a longer period from which they are separated, either the course of time in general, or some period distinctly revealed. Now the previous date (the 2300 days) includes two events,-the restoration of the sacrifice, and the desolation. The first of these is identical in character with the seventy weeks, which are a period of the restored polity of Jerusalem; and hence the most natural of the cutting off is that which refers it to the whole period of the former vision."-_"__First Elements of Sacred Prophecy__"__ by T.

R. Birks, London, 1843, pages 359, 360._

9. What was to be accomplished at the close of the seventy weeks?

"To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Same verse, latter part.

NOTE.-For "the Most Holy," the Douay version reads, "the Saint of saints."

10. What portion of this period was to reach to Christ, the Messiah, or Anointed One?

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be _seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks_." Verse 25, first part.

NOTE.-The word Messiah means anointed, and Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38) at His baptism in 27 A.D. Matt. 3:16.

11. At the end of this time, what was to be done to Messiah?

"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be _cut off_." Verse 26, first part.

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Rebuilding Of Jerusalem. "And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the G.o.d of Israel." Ezra 6:14.

12. How was the destruction of Jerusalem and the sanctuary by the Romans then foretold?

"And the people of the prince that shall come shall _destroy the city and the sanctuary_; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." Same verse, last part.

13. What was Messiah to do during the seventieth week?