And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
And he shall confirm the covenant - Christ. The confirmation of the covenant is assigned to Him also elsewhere, (Isaiah 42:6, "I will give thee for a covenant of the people" - i:e., He in whom the covenant between Israel and God is personally expressed; cf. Luke 22:20, "the new testament is my blood;" Malachi 3:1, "the angel of the covenant;" Jeremiah 31:31-34 describes the Messianic covenant in full). Contrast Daniel 11:30; Daniel 11:32, "them that forsake the holy covenant," "such as do wickedly against the covenant." The prophecy as to Messiah's confirming the covenant with many would comfort the faithful in Antiochus' times, who suffered partly from persecuting enemies, partly from false friends (Daniel 11:33-35). Hence, arises the similarity of the language here and in Daniel 11:30; Daniel 11:32, referring to Antiochus, the Old Testament Antichrist, the type of the final Antichrist.
With many - (Isaiah 53:11; Matthew 20:28; Matthew 26:28; Romans 5:15; Romans 5:19; Hebrews 9:28).
In the midst of the week - the 70 weeks extend to 33 AD Israel was not actually, destroyed until 79 AD, but it was so virtually, 33 AD, about three or four years after Christ's death, during which the Gospel was preached exclusively to the Jews: When the Jews persecuted the Church and stoned Stephen (Acts 7:1-60), the respite of grace granted to them was at an end (Luke 13:7-9). Israel having rejected Christ, was rejected by Christ, and henceforth is counted dead (cf. Genesis 2:17, "In the day that thou eatest thereof (of the tree of knowledge of evil) thou shalt surely die:" from the day of his fall he was counted dead, and yet Adam did not actually die until he was 930 years old; (Daniel 9:5; Hosea 13:1-2): its actual destruction by Titus being the consummation of the removal of the kingdom of God from Israel to the Gentiles (Matthew 21:43), which is not to be restored until Christ's second coming, when Israel shall be at the head of humanity (Matthew 23:39; Acts 1:6-7; Romans 11:25-31; Romans 15:1-33.) The interval forms for the covenant-people a great parenthesis.
He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease - distinct from the temporary "taking away" of "the daily" (sacrifice) by Antiochus (Daniel 8:11; Daniel 11:31). Messiah was to cause all sacrifices and oblations in general to "cease" utterly. There is here an allusion only to Antiochus' act, to comfort God's people when sacrificial worship was to be trodden down, by pointing them to the Messianic time, when salvation would fully come, and yet tropic sacrifices cease. This is the same consolation as Jeremiah and Ezekiel gave under like circumstances, when the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was impending (Jeremiah 3:16; Jeremiah 31:31; Ezekiel 11:19). Jesus died in the middle of the last week, 30 AD His prophetic life lasted three and a half years; the very time in which "the saints are given into the hand" of Antichrist (Daniel 7:25, "a time and time, and the dividing of time"). Three and a half does not, like ten, designate the power of the world in its fullness, but (while opposed to the divine, expressed by seven, of which three and a half is the half) broken and defeated in its seeming triumph; for immediately after the three and a half times, judgment falls on the victorious world-powers (Daniel 7:25-26).
So Jesus' death, after His three and a half years of ministry, seemed the triumph of the world, but was really its defeat (John 12:31). The rending of the veil marked the cessation of sacrifices through Christ's death: for the veil had always been associated with the typical sacrifices, so that, when it was torn, the sacrifices and it together gave place to the one antitypical sacrifice once for all consummated on Calvary, (Leviticus 4:6; Leviticus 4:17; Leviticus 16:2; Leviticus 16:15; Hebrews 10:14-22, "Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart," etc.) There cannot be a "covenant" without sacrifice (so Noah was taken into covenant with God with sacrifice, and Abraham, Genesis 8:20-22; Genesis 9:1-17; Genesis 15:9, etc.; Hebrews 9:15). But here the old covenant is to be confirmed, but in a way special to the new testament-namely, by the one sacrifice, which would terminate all sacrifices (Psalms 40:6; Psalms 40:11). Thus as the Levitical rites approached their end, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, with ever-increasing clearness, oppose the spiritual new covenant to the transient earthly elements of the old.
And for the overspreading of abominations - on account of the abominations committed by the unholy people against the Holy One. He shall not only destroy the city and sanctuary (Daniel 9:26), but shall continue its desolation until time of the consummation "determined" by God (the phrase is quoted from Isaiah 10:22-23), when at last the world-power shall be judged, and "dominion be given to the saints of the Most High" (Daniel 7:26-27). Auberlen translates, 'on account of the desolating summit of abominations (cf. Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11; thus the repetition of the same thing as in Daniel 9:26 is avoided), and until the consummation which is determined, it (the curse Daniel 9:11, "the oath that is written in the law of Moses") will pour on the desolated.' Israel reached the summit of abominations, which drew down desolation (for "wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together," Matthew 24:28) - nay, which is the desolation itself-when, after murdering Messiah, they offered sacrifices, Mosaic, indeed, in form, but paganish in spirit, because they had lost all their meaning when He had been once for all sacrificed; and because, also, they offered them not in faith, but in formalism and hypocrisy (cf. Isaiah 1:13; Ezekiel 5:11).
Christ refers to this passage, as also to Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11 (Matthew 24:15), "When ye see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place" (the latter words being tacitly implied in "abominations" as being such as are committed against the sanctuary). Tregelles translates, 'upon the wing of abominations shall be that which causeth desolation'-namely, an idol set up on a wing or pinnacle of the temple (cf. Matthew 4:5) by Antichrist, who makes a covenant with the restored Jews for the last of the 70 weeks of years (fulfilling Jesus' words, John 5:43, "If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive"), and for the first three and a half years keeps it; then in the midst of the week breaks it, causing the daily sacrifices to cease. It was "on a pinnacle of the temple in the holy city" that Satan tempted Jesus, and failed: and the same place may be the scene of Satan's coming temptation of Israel by Antichrist. Tregelles thus identifies the last half week with the time, times, and a half of the persecuting little horn (Daniel 7:25). But thus there is a gap of at least 1,830 years put between the 69 weeks and the 70th week! Sir Isaac Newton explains the wing ('overspreading') of abominations to be the Roman ensigns (eagles) brought to the east gate of the temple, and there sacrificed to by the soldiers: the war, ending in the destruction of Jerusalem, lasted from spring 67 AD to autumn 70 AD - i:e., just three and a half years, or the last half week of years (Josephus, 'Bellum-Judaicum,' 6: 6).
And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Tregelles translates, ' ... shall be poured upon the causer of desolation'-namely, Antichrist. Compare "abomination that maketh desolate" (Daniel 12:11). Perhaps both interpretations of the whole passage may be in part true; the Roman desolater, Titus, being a type of Antichrist, the final desolater of Jerusalem. Bacon ('Advancement of Learning,' 2: 3) says, 'Prophecies are of the nature of the Author, with whom a thousand years are as one day; and therefore are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have a springing and germinant accomplishment through many years, though the height and fullness of them may refer to one age.'
Remarks:
(1) It was the general impression of the Jews in exile that after the 70 years of captivity foretold should end, Messiah would come in glory to vindicate the cause of Israel, and to set up His kingdom in Jerusalem. Daniel is therefore commissioned in this chapter to inform them that 70 times 7 years must elapse after their return before Messiah would come, and that even then Messiah would not come as yet in the glory foretold by the earlier prophets, and anticipated prematurely by the Jews, but would come to die for the making an end of sins (Daniel 9:24). Daniel studied the revelation given from God in the letters of Jeremiah (Daniel 9:2), in order to know the times and events foretold. Herein we see his teachableness and humility. Though he was so great a prophet, and had been honoured with the converse of angels, and even of the Lord Himself, he did not think it beneath him to read Jeremiah's prophecies; nay more, instead of relying on his own thoughts, or on human calculations, he consulted the inspired letters of that prophet, which, with the other Scriptures, he regarded as the only infallible source of information. Let us similarly draw all our spiritual knowledge from that only well-spring of unmixed truth.
(2) God had promised to restore the Jews, after a 70 years' captivity, to their own land. This promise did not cause Daniel to restrain prayer, as if it were unnecessary, seeing that God's promise must come to pass, but was rather his incentive to greater carnestness in supplications, as having the strongest ground of assurance that his prayers would be heard. He who hath ordained the promised consummation, hath ordained also His people's prayers as means and forerunners to that consummation. We also are similarly to make God's Word the ground of our petitions. And when the time of performance of God's premises draws nigh, then in particular we are to plead them earnestly before God.
(3) Confession of sin should alway be the first element in prayer. Like Daniel, we should make our confession personal and particular, as well as general, and in common with others: "I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession" (Daniel 9:4). At the same time we should, as the prophet, mourn over and confess our nation's sins as our own. "We have sinned ... neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, who spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers and to all the people of the land" (Daniel 9:5-6). God had promised, if Israel in captivity would confess her sin, and accept the punishment of her iniquity (Leviticus 26:39-44), He would remember for her the covenant made with her fathers. Daniel accordingly accepts the Babylonian exile and the unparalleled evils brought upon Jerusalem (Daniel 9:12) as not exceeding what was her due, but as altogether consonant to the righteousness of God (Daniel 9:7-11; Daniel 9:13-14). But he pleads God's "covenant" (Daniel 9:4), and God's "mercies and forgivenesses," which "belong to Him" in accordance with that covenant (Daniel 9:9). Let us imitate him in this respect when we are in sore trouble, and pray for relief; let us justify God as righteous (Daniel 9:14) in all His dealings with us, however trying; and let our sole plea he His own everlasting covenant of mercy in Christ to all true and believing penitents. The spiritual restoration must precede the literal and external restoration. Without the former, the latter would be of no real benefit: soon the same sins, recurring through the unhumbled state of the heart, would render necessary again an infliction of the same, or even of a more severe chastisement.
(4) Moreover, Daniel's confession of sin precedes immediately the revelation as to the coming of Messiah. So it ever is. The Spirit first convicts the soul of its sin, and next points to Christ "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). While we are constrained to have reverent fear before God as "the great and dreadful God" (Daniel 9:4), and while we humbly confess our sins of ignorance, infirmity, and willful and habitual rebellion (Daniel 9:5), we may boldly and confidently cast ourselves on the grace and mercies of God in Christ.
(5) The sin of Israel had been universal-all had transgressed God's law, though it had been with the greatest plainness "set before" them by the servants and ministers of God. Their sin had been therefore inexcusable; and God, by the punishments which He inflicted, showed that His words were no idle threats. The curse had been poured out upon them to the dregs, in consonance with the oath of Yahweh (Daniel 9:11). Yet such had been the awful infatuation of the Jews, that they were not even by punishment brought to repentance. They possibly prayed that God would turn from His wrath; but they did not pray that "they might turn from their iniquities, and understand the truth of God" (Daniel 9:13). How often do those spiritually sick spurn the healing medicine, and prefer to leave sin to its deadly workings in them! But our prayers for deliverance from trouble can only be heard when we are willing to be delivered also from sin. If men believed God's fait hfulness to His threats, they would not go on, as they do, madly braving them. While the Jews were slumbering in spiritual apathy, God was all the time incessantly "watching upon the evil" Daniel 9:14). Like a vigilant watchman, He did not allow one of their sins to escape His all-seeing cognizance and the consequent punishment. Though ungodly men slumber spiritually, their "damnation slumbereth not" (2 Peter 2:3). (6) Daniel, however, pleads God's ancient favour in delivering Israel out of Egypt, whereby He had attested to the whole world His covenant-relation to the Israelites as his ground of hope that God would now again deliver them, turn His anger away, and cause His face to shine upon His own sanctuary as in the days of old (Daniel 9:16-17). He appeals to the Lord's regard to His own honour, and endeavours to show that the Lord's glory was at stake, before the Gentile nations, in the cause of His own covenant-people. So our most effectual plea with God will be, "For the Lord's sake (Daniel 9:17) ... for thy great mercies ... O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God; for thy people are called by thy name" (Daniel 9:18-19). Intense fervour and vehement earnestness, flowing from a lively sense of the urgency of our needs, and of the power and willingness of God to supply them, are the fire which will kindle the holy flame of true devotion.
(7) Whiles the prophet was yet speaking, yea, whiles he was speaking in prayer (Daniel 9:20-21), the angel Gabriel, from God, flew swiftly to him, to assure him that, at the very beginning of his supplications, the commandment went forth from God (Daniel 9:20-23) in answer to his petition. The prayer had power with God because it was offered in connection with the typical evening oblation (Daniel 9:21). So it is only in so far as our prayers are presented through our great antitypical sacrifice that they will bring to us an answer of peace. Then shall we, like Daniel, be "greatly beloved" for the sake of the Son of God's love. Before we call, God will answer; and while we are yet speaking, He will hear (Isaiah 65:24).
(8) Still the faith and patience of the servants of God were to be exercised. He, in common with his countrymen, from a misapprehension of the earlier prophecies, had expected the advent of Messiah in connection with the restoration from Babylon, after the 70 years of exile that had been foretold. But now he is informed that not the completion of 70 years, but the completion of 70 times seven years after that epoch, is to be the time wherein Messiah is to be looked for. Then indeed would the transgression be finished, an end be made of sins, and reconciliation be made for iniquity, everlasting righteousness be brought in, and the Most Holy be anointed (Daniel 9:24).
Moreover, he is told, whereas he and his countrymen looked for the manifestation of Christ's glorious kingdom at His advent, that, on the contrary, Messiah would then be "cut off," and their anticipations of His temporal kingdom, and the glory of Israel with Him, would at that time come to nothing (Daniel 9:26, note). The whole period from the downfall of the theocracy, at the Babylonian captivity, until its re-establishment at Messiah's second coming, was to constitute "the times of the Gentiles," which were to be "troublous times" (Daniel 9:25). In them the street and wall of Jerusalem were rebuilt. But no recovery of the full freedom and glory of the theocracy was thereby realized for the Jews, nor has been ever since. But to compensate for it, it was in this period that the Saviour came, in whom is summed up all that is good of all preceding ages. He came in great lowliness, reflecting in His person the humiliation and sufferings which are the portion of His covenant-people, Israel, during the whole period of the troublous times of the Gentiles. Till sin was "made an end of," by a full and perfect propitiation, "ever-lasting righteousness" could not be brought in. But now that "iniquity" has been "covered" (note, Daniel 9:24) by the atonement of Christ, the antitypical "Most Holy" place is anointed and consecrated; and by that new and living way which he has consecrated through the veil, that is, His flesh, believers may come boldly before God, accepted and justified in the everlasting righteousness of their divine surety.
(9) In the long period of the Gentile times, a beginning period of a half millennium was marked off-70 weeks of years, divided into 7 weeks of years at the beginning, and one week of years at the close, during both of which periods God was to vouchsafe revelations (in the latter period the greatest of all revelations, even God manifest in the flesh), and 62 weeks of years intervening, in which there was to be none; as also there is none in the long Gentile times, from the age of Christ and the apostles until the coming millennium. The full measure of Israel's guilt was to be filled up at the close of this period of 70 weeks of years. She not only was the guilty instrument of cutting off Messiah, but afterward hardened herself against the Holy Spirit, speaking through the apostles, and persecuted them; "forbidding them to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway" (1 Thessalonians 2:16). From that epoch she was counted as dead before God.
Therefore Messiah, who by His death would have brought salvation even to the nation which was His murderer, came in the person of the Roman "prince," Titus (Daniel 9:26), His representative, and destroyed the Jewish "city and sanctuary" with an overwhelming "flood" (Daniel 9:26). Thenceforth the kingdom of God has been transferred to the Gentiles, and shall be so until the King of Israel shall come again to "restore the kingdom to Israel" (Acts 1:6-7). Then shall Israel, in a preeminent sense, occupy the place to which, from her first election, she was ordained by God-namely, to be head of regenerated humanity. Messiah died in the midst of the prophetic week, for the confirmation of His covenant with the "many" who believe on Him: by His one sacrifice all other sacrifices are done away with: and by the fact that the 490 years have long since elapsed, the falsity of the Jews' expectation of Messiah, as if he had not yet come, is unanswerably proved. Desolations are to continue upon Israel, and are to be wound up with the last and greatest tribulation to her during the three and a half years of Antichrist, the counterpart of the three and a half years of Christ's ministerial manifestation. Then shall the determined time come for judgment on the God-opposed world-powers. The desolater shall be desolated, and God Himself shall plead the cause of His ancient people: and Israel's restoration by Her Messiah and King shall be the signal for blessings to the whole world. May we be found watching patiently, prayerfully, and believingly, for the blessed consummation, and for the coming of our Lord!