p. 76 | Thoughts on Daniel by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Feb 16, 1882

Thoughts on Daniel.

By Uriah Smith

BY ELD. U. SMITH.

CHAPTER IX.—THE SEVENTY WEEKS.

VERSE 22. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. 23. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved; therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

The manner in which Gabriel introduces himself on this occasion, shows that he has come to complete some unfulfilled mission. It can be nothing less than to carry out the instruction to make this man "understand the vision," as recorded in chapter 8. "I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding." As the charge still rested upon him to make Daniel understand; and as he explained to Daniel in chapter 8, all that he could then bear, and yet he did not understand the vision, he now comes to resume his work and complete his mission. As soon as Daniel commenced his fervent supplication, the commandment came forth; that is, Gabriel received instruction to visit Daniel and impart to him the requisite information. From the time it takes to read Daniel's prayer down to the point at which Gabriel made his appearance upon the scene, the reader can judge of the speed with which this messenger was dispatched from the court of Heaven to this servant of God. No wonder Daniel says that he was caused to fly swiftly, or that Ezekiel compares the movements of these celestial beings to a flash of lightning. Eze. 1:14. "Understand the matter," he says to him. What matter? That, evidently, which he did not before understand, as stated in the last verse of chapter 8. "Consider the vision." What vision? Not the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's image, nor the vision of chapter 7; for there was no difficulty with either of these; but the vision of chapter 8, in reference to which his mind was filled with doubt and astonishment. "I am come to show thee," also, said the angel. Show thee in reference to what? Certainly in reference to something wherein he was entertaining wrong ideas, and something, at the same time, pertaining to his prayer; as it was this which had called forth Gabriel on his mission at this time.

But Daniel had no difficulty in understanding what the angel told him about the ram, he-goat, and little horn, the kingdoms of Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Nor was he mistaken in regard to the ending of the seventy years' captivity. But the burden of his petition was respecting the repairing of the desolations of the sanctuary which lay in ruins; and he had undoubtedly drawn the conclusion that when the end of the seventy years' captivity came, the time would come for the fulfillment of what the angel had said respecting the cleansing of the sanctuary at the end of the 2300 days. Now he must be set right. And this explains why at this particular time instruction should be sent him after a delay of fifteen years. Now the seventy years of captivity were drawing to their close, and Daniel was applying the instruction he had before received from the angel, to a wrong issue. He was falling into a misunderstanding, and was acting upon it; hence he must not be suffered longer to remain ignorant of the true import of the former vision. "I am come to show thee," "understand the matter," "consider the vision." Such were the words used by the very person Daniel had seen in the former vision, and to whom he had heard the command given, "Make this man to understand the vision," and who he knew, had never carried out that instruction. But now he appears and says, "I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding." How could Daniel's mind be more emphatically carried back to the vision of chapter 8, and how could the connection between that visit of the angel and this be more distinctly shown, than by such words from such a person? The considerations already presented are sufficient to show conclusively the connection between Daniel 8 and 9; but this will still further appear in subsequent verses.

One expression seems worthy of notice before we leave verse 23. It is the declaration of the angel to Daniel, "for thou art greatly beloved." The angel brought this declaration direct from the courts of Heaven. It expressed the state of feeling that existed there in regard to Daniel. Think of celestial beings, the highest in the universe, the Father, the Son, the holy angels, having such regard and esteem for a mortal man here upon earth, as to authorize an angel to bear the message to him that he was greatly beloved! This is one of the highest pinnacles of glory which mortals can attain. Abraham reached another, when it could be said of him that he was the "friend of God." Enoch, another, when it could be said of him that he "walked with God." Can we arrive at any such attainments? God is no respecter of person; but he is a respecter of the character. If in virtue and godliness we would equal these eminent men, we could move the divine love to equal depths. We, too, could be greatly beloved, could be friends of God, and could walk with him. And we must be in our generation what they were in theirs. There is a figure used in reference to the last church which denotes the closest union with God. "If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Rev. 3:20. To sup with the Lord denotes an intimacy equal to being greatly beloved by him, walking with him, or being his friend. How desirable a position! Alas for the evils of our nature which cut us off from this communion! Oh! for grace to overcome these, that we may enjoy this spiritual union here, and finally enter the glories of his presence at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

VERSE 24. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, 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.

Such are the first words the angel utters to Daniel, toward imparting to him that instruction which he came to give. Why does he thus abruptly introduce a period of time? We must again refer to the vision of chapter 8. We have seen that Daniel at the close of that chapter says that he did not understand the vision. Some portions of that vision were at the time very clearly explained. It could not have been these portions he did not understand. We therefore inquire what it was which Daniel did not understand, or, in other words, what part of the vision was there left unexplained. In that vision four prominent things are brought to view. 1. The Ram. 2. The He-goat. 3. The Little Horn. 4. The period of 2300 days. The symbols of the ram, the he-goat, and the little horn were explained. The time, however, was not. This must therefore have been the point which he did not understand. And as without this the other portions of the vision were of no avail, he could say, while the application of this period was left in obscurity, that he did not understand the vision.

If this view of the subject is correct, we should naturally expect, when the angel completed his explanation of the vision, that he would commence with the very point which had been omitted, namely, the time. And this we find to be true in fact. After citing Daniel's attention back to the former vision in the most direct and emphatic manner, and assuring him that he had now come forth to give him understanding in the matter, he commences upon the very point there omitted, and says, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city."

But how does this language show any connection with the 2300 days, or throw any light upon that period? We answer, the language cannot be intelligibly referred to anything else; for the word here rendered determined signifies "cut off;" and there is no period from which the seventy weeks could be cut off, but the 2300 days of the previous vision. How direct and natural, then, is the connection. Daniel's attention is fixed upon the 2300 days, which he did not understand, by the angel's directing him to the former vision; and he says, Seventy weeks are cut off. Cut off from what? The 2300 days most assuredly.

Proof may be called for that the word rendered determined signifies to cut off. An abundance can be given. The Hebrew word rendered determined, is nechtak. This word Gesenius in his Hebrew Lexicon, defines as follows: "Properly, to cut off; tropically, to divide; and so to determine, to decree." In the Chaldeo-Rabbinic Dictionary of Stockius, the word nechtak is thus defined: "Scidit, abscidit, conscidit, inscidit, exscidit —to cut, to cut away, to cut in pieces, to cut or engrave, to cut off." Mercerus, in his "Thesaurus," furnishes a specimen of Rabbinical usage in the phrase, chatikah del basar—"a piece of flesh," or "a cut of flesh." He translates the word, as it occurs in Dan. 9:24, by "præcisa est," was cut off. In the literal version of Arias Montanus, it is translated "decisa est,"—was cut off; in the marginal reading which is grammatically correct, it is rendered by the plural "decisæ sunt"—were cut off. In the Latin version of Junius and Tremellius, nechtak (the passive of chathak) is rendered "decisæ sunt"—were cut off. Again in Theodotion's Greek version of Daniel (which is the version used in the Vatican copy of the Septuagint, as being the most faithful), it is rendered by sunetmethesan, "were cut off;" and in the Venetian copy by tetmentai, "have been cut." The idea of cutting off, is pursued in the Vulgata, where the phrase "abbreviatæ sunt," have been shortened.

"Thus Chaldaic and Rabbinical authority, and that of the earliest versions, the Septuagint and the Vulgate, give the single signification of cutting off to this verb."

"Hengstenberg, who enters into a critical examination of the original text, says: But the very use of the word, which does not elsewhere occur, while others, much more frequently used, were at hand, if Daniel had wished to express the idea of determination, and of which he has elsewhere even in this portion availed himself, seems to argue that the word stands from regard to its original meaning, and represents the seventy weeks in contrast with a determination of time (en platei) as a period cut off from subsequent duration, and accurately limited."—Christology of the Old Testament, vol. ii, p. 301, Washington, 1839.

Why then, it may be asked, did our translators render the word, determined, when it so obviously means cut off? The answer is, They doubtless overlooked the connection between the eighth and ninth chapters, and considering it improper to render it cut off, when nothing was given from which the seventy weeks could be cut off, they gave the word its tropical instead of its literal meaning. But, as we have seen, both the construction and context require the literal meaning, and render any other inadmissible.

Seventy weeks, then, or 490 days of the 2300, were cut off upon, or allotted to, Jerusalem and the Jews; and the events which were to be consummated within that period are briefly stated. 1. The transgression was to be finished. That is, the Jewish people were to fill up the cup of their iniquity; which they did in the rejection and crucifixion of Christ. An end of sins, or of sin offerings was to be made. This took place when the great offering was made on Calvary. Reconciliation for iniquity was to be provided. This was made by the sacrificial death of the Son of God. Everlasting righteousness was to be brought in; the righteousness which our Lord manifested in his sinless life. The vision and the prophecy were to be sealed up, or made sure. By the events given to transpire in the seventy weeks, the prophecy is tested. By this the application of the whole vision is determined. If the events of this period are accurately fulfilled, the prophecy is of God, and will all be accomplished; and if these seventy weeks are fulfilled as weeks of years, then the 2300 days, of which these are a part, are so many years. Thus the events of the seventy weeks furnish a key to the whole vision. And the most holy was to be anointed; the most holy of the heavenly sanctuary. In the examination of the sanctuary, on chapter 8:14, we saw that a time came when the earthly sanctuary gave place to the heavenly, and the priestly ministration was transferred to that. Before the ministration in the sanctuary commenced, the sanctuary and all the holy vessels were to be anointed. Ex. 40:9, 10. The last event, therefore, of the seventy weeks, here brought to view, is the anointing of the heavenly tabernacle, or the opening of the ministration there. Thus the first vision of the 2300 days brings us to the commencement of the service in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, as the whole period brings us to the commencement of the service of the second.

We now consider the argument conclusive that the ninth chapter of Daniel is connected with the eighth, and that the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days; and with a few extracts from the writings of others we will leave this point.

The Advent Shield in 1844 said:—

"We call attention to one fact which shows that there is a necessary 'connection' between the seventy weeks of the ninth chapter, and something else which precedes or follows it, called 'the vision.' It is found in the 24th verse: 'Seventy weeks are determined, are cut off, upon thy people . . to seal up the vision,' etc. Now there are two significations to the phrase 'seal up.' They are, first, 'to make secret,' and second 'to make sure.' We are not now in which of these significations the phrase is supposed to be used. That is not the point now before us. Let the signification be what it may, it shows that the prediction of the seventy weeks necessarily relates to something else beyond

itself 'called the vision,' in reference to which it performs this work, 'to seal up.' To talk of its sealing up itself is as much of an absurdity as to suppose that Josephus was so much afraid of the Romans that he refrained from telling the world that he thought the fourth kingdom of Daniel was 'the kingdom of the Greeks.' It is no more proper to say that the ninth chapter of Daniel 'is complete in itself,' than it would be to say that a map which was designed to show the relation of Massachusetts to the United States, referred to nothing but Massachusetts. It is no more complete in itself than a bond given in security for a note, or some other document to which it refers, is complete in itself; and we doubt if there is a school-boy of fourteen years in the land, of ordinary capacity, who would not on reading the ninth chapter, with an understanding of the clause before us, decide that it referred to something distinct from itself, called the vision. What vision it is, there is no difficulty in determining. It naturally and obviously refers to the vision which was not fully explained to Daniel, and to which Gabriel calls his attention in the preceding verse,—the vision of the 8th chapter. Daniel tells us that Gabriel was commanded to make him understand that vision (8:16). This was not fully done at that interview connected with the vision; he is therefore sent to give Daniel the needed 'skill and understanding,' to explain its 'meaning' by communicating to him the prediction of the seventy weeks."

"We claim that the ninth of Daniel is an appendix to the eighth, and that the seventy weeks and the 2300 days or years commence together. Our opponents deny this."—Signs of the Times, 1843.

"The grand principle involved in the interpretation of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, is that the seventy weeks of Dan. 9:24, are the first 490 days of the 2300 of the eighth chapter."—Advent Shield, p. 49.

"If the connection between the seventy weeks of Dan. 8, does not exist, the whole system is shaken to its foundation; if it does exist, as we suppose, the system must stand."—Harmony of Prophetic Chronology, p. 38.

Says the learned Dr. Hales, in commenting upon the seventy weeks, "This chronological prophecy was evidently designed to explain the foregoing vision, especially in its chronological part of the 2300 days."—Chronol., vol. ii, p. 517.