Daniel 9:24

The 70 years foretold by Jeremiah are to be understood as 70 weeks of years (i.e. 490 years); at the end of that period sin will be done away with, and the redemption of Israel will be complete. Jeremiah's promises, which, while the city and nation are being made the prey of Antiochus, seem a dead letter, will, with this new explanation of their meaning, receive their fulfilment; and (as Daniel 9:26 shew) the time when this will take place is not now far distant. Perhaps, as Prof. Bevan observes, this explanation may have been suggested to the writer by the terms of Leviticus 26:18; Leviticus 26:21; Leviticus 26:24; Leviticus 26:28, where it is emphatically declared that the Israelites are to be punished seven timesfor their sins: "the 70 years of Jeremiah were to be repeated seven times, and at the end of the 490th year the long-promised deliverance might be confidently expected." The Chronicler had already brought the idea of the 70 years of Judah's desolation into connexion with heptads, or -weeks," of years, by his remark (2 Chronicles 36:20 f.) that they were the penalty exacted by God for the -sabbatical" years, which Israel had neglected to observe whilst in possession of its land (cf. Leviticus 26:34 f.).

weeks i.e. (as the sequel shews) weeks of years, a sense not occurring elsewhere in Biblical Hebrew, but found in the Mishna.

determined decreed (R.V.). The word is a different one from that rendered -determined" in Daniel 9:26, and occurs only here in Biblical Hebrew. In the Talm. it means to determine in judgement, decide.

to finish the transgression to bring it to an end. The verb rendered finishis anomalous in form, and might also be rendered to confine(as in a prison, Jeremiah 32:2), or restrain(Numbers 11:28), viz. so that it could no longer spread or continue active (so R.V. marg.). But the former rendering is preferable; and is that adopted both by the ancient versions and by the great majority of modern commentators.

and to make an end of sins parallel with to finish transgression: cf. for the meaning of the verb, Ezekiel 22:15 (-consume"). So the Heb. marg. (Qrê), Aq., Pesh., Vulg. The Heb. text (K'tib) and Theod. have to seal up(חתם for התם), which is explained (in agreement with restrainin the last clause), as meaning partly to preclude from activity, partly to preclude from forgiveness (cf. Job 14:17): but this explanation is forced; and the Qrêyields here a meaning in better harmony with the context.

and to cancel iniquity The verb kippermeans originally, as seems to be shewn by Arabic, to cover; in Hebrew, however, it is never used of literal covering, but always in a moralapplication, viz. either of coveringthe face of (i.e. appeasing [334]) an offended person, or of screeningan offence or an offender. When, as here, the reference is to sin or iniquity, the meaning differs, according as the subject is the priest, or God: in the former case the meaning is to coveror screenthe sinner by means (usually) of a propitiatory sacrifice [335], and it is then generally rendered make atonementor reconciliationfor (as Leviticus 4:20; Leviticus 4:26; Leviticus 4:31); in the latter case it means to treat as covered, to pardonor cancel, without any reference to a propitiatory rite, as Jeremiah 18:23; Psalms 65:3; Psalms 78:38; Psalms 79:9 (A.V. to purge awayor forgive) [336]. Here no subject is mentioned: it would most naturally (as in the case of the other infinitives) be God; moreover, when, in the ritual laws, the subject is the priest, the object of the verb is never, as here, the guilt. The rendering of R.V. marg.(-to purge away"), though somewhat of a paraphrase, is thus preferable to that of A.V.

[334] See Genesis 32:20 [Heb. 21]; and cf. Proverbs 16:14 (-pacify").

[335] Occasionally without one, as Exodus 30:15-16; Numbers 16:46 f., Numbers 25:13.

[336] See more fully the note in the writer's Deuteronomy, p. 425 f.; or the art. Propitiation in Hastings" Dict. the Bible.

everlasting righteousness The expression does not occur elsewhere. In thought, however, Isaiah 45:17, -Israel is saved through Jehovah with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be put to shame, and ye shall not be confounded, for ever and ever," Isaiah 60:21, -Thy people shall be all of them righteous, for ever shall they inherit the land," are similar. The general sense of the four clauses, of which this is the last, is that the Messianic age is to be marked by the abolition and forgiveness of sin, and by perpetual righteousness. It thus expresses in a compendious form the teaching of such passages as Isaiah 4:3 f. (the survivors of the judgement to be all holy), Isaiah 32:16-17 (righteousness the mark of the ideal future), Isaiah 33:24 (-the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity"), Ezekiel 36:25-27; Isaiah 45:17; Isaiah 60:21.

and to seal vision and prophet] i.e. to set the seal to them, to ratify and confirm the prophets" predictions, the figure (cf. John 3:33; John 6:27) being derived from the custom of affixing a seal to a document, in order to guarantee its genuineness (Jeremiah 32:10-11; Jeremiah 32:44). The close of the 70 weeks will bring with it the confirmation of the prophetic utterances (such as those just quoted) respecting a blissful future.

A.V., R.V., -seal up," means to close up, preclude from activity, the sense of the expression, upon this view, being supposed to be that, prophecies being fulfilled, prophet and vision will be needed no more.

and to anoint a most holy] -most holy" or -holy of holies" (lit. holiness of holinesses) is an expression belonging to the priestly terminology and is variously applied. It is used of the altar of burnt-offering (Exodus 29:37, -and the altar shall be most holy," Exodus 40:10), of the altar of incense (Exodus 30:10), of the Tent of meeting, with the vessels belonging to it (ib. Exodus 30:26; cf. Numbers 4:4; Numbers 4:19; Ezekiel 44:13); of the sacred incense (ib. 30:36), of the shew-bread (Leviticus 24:9), of the meal-offering (Leviticus 2:3; Leviticus 2:10; Leviticus 6:17; Leviticus 10:12), of the flesh of the sin-and guilt-offering (Leviticus 6:17; Leviticus 6:25; Leviticus 7:1; Leviticus 7:6; Leviticus 10:17; Leviticus 14:13; Numbers 18:9; cf. Leviticus 21:22; Ezekiel 42:13; Ezra 2:63; 2 Chronicles 31:14); of things -devoted" to Jehovah (Leviticus 27:28); of the entire Temple, with the territory belonging to it, in Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel 43:12; Ezekiel 45:3; Ezekiel 48:12); and once (perhaps) of the priests (1 Chronicles 23:13), -And Aaron was separated, to sanctify him as (a thing) most holy [337], him and his sons for ever, to burn incense, &c.": - theholy of holies," or - themost holy (place)," is also the name, in particular, of the inmost part of the Tent of meeting, and of the Temple, in which the ark was (Exodus 26:33, and frequently). As no object is called in particular -a most holy (thing)," general considerations, viewed in the light of the context, can alone determine what is here intended. A material object, rather than a person, is certainly most naturally denoted by the expression, and most probably either the altar of burnt-offering (which was in particular desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes), or the Temple generally, is what is meant. The term anointis used both of the altar of burnt-offering in particular, and of the Tent of meeting and vessels belonging to it in general, in Exodus 29:36; Exodus 30:26-28 (cf. Exodus 40:9-11; Leviticus 8:10-11; Numbers 7:1; Numbers 7:10; Numbers 7:84; Numbers 7:88), each time immediately preceding the passages quoted above for the use in the same connexion of the term -most holy." The consecration of a temple in the Messianic age (cf. Isaiah 60:7; Ezekiel 40 ff.) is, no doubt, what is intended by the words.

[337] The words ought however, perhaps, to be rendered (cf. A.V., R.V.) -that he should sanctify that which was most holy, he and his sons for ever," the reference being to the sanctuary and sacred vessels (cf. Exodus 30:29), and to the various sacrifices mentioned above.