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Daniel 9 (ESV)

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

³ Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes…

 

²⁰ While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, ²¹ while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. ²² He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. ²³ At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

²⁴ “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, 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. ²⁵ Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. ²⁶ And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. ²⁷ And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

 

REFLECTION:

1. The time of the vision in this chapter is the same as the period covered in Chapter 6. King Darius here is the one in Chapter 6 of this book. The Ahasuerus mentioned here is not Esther’s husband. The events in Esther happened fifty years later. Daniel was already an old man at this time, but he was in power in the kingdom. However, he learned that the prophecy of the “70 years of desolation of Jerusalem” that the Lord said through the prophet Jeremiah was coming to an end, so he fasted, confessed his sins, and prayed for Jerusalem, showing that he had not forgotten that his fellow citizens were suffering.
2. God answered Daniel’s prayer and sent the angel Gabriel to give him wisdom and cleverness so that he could understand the vision. This shows that the prayers of the righteous are effective; true wisdom comes from the Lord God.
3. The “seventy weeks (sevens)” (24) are generally considered to be important prophecies related to the coming of the Messiah. But there are many different interpretations, and they basically agree that the “seventy weeks” are calculated based on year. Seventy sevens is four hundred and ninety years. These seventy sevens are divided into three sections: 1. the seven sevens are forty-nine years, which is the time when Jerusalem is rebuilt (25); 2. Another sixty-two sevens, a total of sixty-nine sevens, which is 483 years; that is to say, from the edict of rebuilding Jerusalem to the time of Christ’s death (26), there are 483 years. (This has been completely fulfilled: the edict for rebuilding Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 2) was in 454 BC; the death of the Lord was in 29 A.D.; the sum of the two was exactly 483 years.) 3. One seven is seven years. Originally, this seven was immediately after 483 years, but because the age of grace is inserted in the middle, this seven-year period will not be fulfilled until the Great Tribulation in the end time.
4. The important things that will happen during the last seven (27) are: 1. the future king (antichrist) will make a seven-year “covenant” with the Israelites; 2. during these seven year period, the king would forcibly interfere with the faith of the Israelites.

 

PRAYER:

Thank God for already preparing salvation for mankind through Jesus Christ, thank God that you have repented and believed in Jesus and became a disciple of the Lord. Ask God to give you the faith and love like Daniel to fast, confess sins, pray for your unbeliever friends, and preach the gospel to them, lead them to believe in Jesus and have eternal life.