Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
CHAPTER IX. (VERSES 27-29 CONTINUED.)
HERE again is indisputable harmony. But further: Messiah was to confirm the covenant with many for one week. This would be the last week of the seventy, or the last seven years of the 490. In the midst of the week, the prophecy informs us, he should cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. These Jewish ordinances, pointing to the death of Christ, could only cease at the cross; and there they did virtually end, though not literally till A. D. 70. After three-score and two weeks, according to the record, the Messiah was to be cut off. It is the same as if it had read, And after three-score and two weeks, in the midst of the seventieth week, shall Messiah be cut off and cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. Now, as the word, midst, here means middle, according to abundance of authority which we might produce, if necessary, the crucifixion is definitely located in the middle of the seventieth week. It now becomes an important point to determine in what year the crucifixion took place. This question is decided by the following testimony: “The Saviour attended but four passovers, at the last of which he was crucified. John 2: 13; 5: 1; 6: 4; 13: 1. This could not bring the crucifixion later than A. D. 31, as recorded by Aurelius Cassiodorus, a respectable Roman senator, about A. D. 514; ‘In the consulate of Tiberius Cæsar, Aug. 5, and Ælius Sejanus [U. C. 784, A. D. 31], our Lord Jesus Christ suffered on the eighth of the calends of April.’ In this year and in this day, says Dr. Hales, agree also the council of Cæsarea, A. D. 196 or 198, the Alexandrian Chronicle, Maximus Monachus, Nicephorus Constantius, Cedrenus; and in this year, but on different days, concur Eusebius Epiphanius, followed by Kepler, Bucher, Patinus and Petavius.” “It is recorded in history that the whole time of our Saviour’s teaching was three years and a half, which is the half of a week of years.” Here, then, are thirteen credible authorities, locating the crucifixion of Christ in the spring of A. D. 31. We may therefore set this down as a fixed fact, as the most cautious or the most skeptical could require nothing more. This being in the middle of the last week, we have simply to reckon backward three and a half years to find where the 69 weeks ended, and forward from that point, three and a half years, to find the termination of the whole period. Thus, going back from the crucifixion, A. D. 31, spring, three and a half years, we find ourselves in the autumn of A. D. 27, where, as we have seen, the 69 weeks ended, and Christ commenced his public ministry. And going from the crucifixion forward three and a half years, we are brought to the autumn of A. D. 34, as the grand terminating point of the whole period of the seventy weeks. This date is marked by the martyrdom of Stephen, the formal rejection of the gospel of Christ by the Jewish Sanhedrim in the persecution of his disciples, and the turning of the apostles to the Gentiles. Acts 9: 1-18. And these are just the events which we should expect to take place, when that period which was cut off for the Jews, and allotted to them as a peculiar people, should fully expire. A word respecting the date of the seventh of Artaxerxes, and the array of evidence on this point is complete. Was the seventh of Artaxerxes B. C. 457? For all those who can appreciate the force of facts, the following testimony will be sufficient here: “The Bible gives the data for a complete system of chronology, extending from the creation to the birth of Cyrus—a clearly ascertained date. From this period downward we have the undisputed canon of Ptolemy, and the undoubted era of Nabonassar, extending below our vulgar era. At the point where inspired chronology leaves us, this canon of undoubted accuracy commences. And thus the whole arch is spanned. It is by the canon of Ptolemy that the great prophetic period of seventy weeks is fixed. This canon places the seventh year of Artaxerxes in the year B. C. 457; and the accuracy of this canon is demonstrated by the concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses. This date we cannot change from B. C. 457, without first demonstrating the inaccuracy of Ptolemy’s canon. To do this it would be necessary to show that the large number of eclipses by which its accuracy has been repeatedly demonstrated have not been correctly computed; and such a result would unsettle every chronological date, and leave the settlement of epochs and the adjustment of eras entirely at the mercy of every dreamer, so that chronology would be of no more value than mere guess work. As the seventy weeks must terminate in A. D. 34, unless the seventh of Artaxerxes is wrongly fixed, and as that cannot be changed without some evidence to that effect, we inquire, What evidence marked that termination? The time when the apostles turned to the Gentiles harmonizes with that date better than any other which has been named. And the crucifixion in A. D. 31, in the midst of the last week, is sustained by a mass of testimony which cannot be easily invalidated.” —Ad. Herald. From the facts above set forth, we see that reckoning the 70 weeks from the decree given to Ezra in the seventh of Artaxerxes, B. C. 457, there is the most perfect harmony throughout. The important and definite events of the manifestation of the Messiah at his baptism, the commencement of his public ministry, the crucifixion and the turning away from the Jews to the Gentiles, with the proclamation of the new covenant, all come in, in their exact place, and like a bright galaxy of messengers of light, cluster around to set their seal to the prophecy and make it sure. It is thus evident that the decree to Ezra in the seventh of Artaxerxes, B. C. 457, is the point from which to date the seventy weeks. That was the going forth of the decree in the sense of the prophecy. The two previous decrees were preparatory and preliminary to this; and indeed they are regarded by Ezra as parts of it, the three being taken as one great whole. For in Ezra 6: 14, we read, “And they builded and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.” It will be noticed that the decrees of these three kings are spoken of as one: “The commandment,” margin, decree, singular number, “of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes;” showing that they are all reckoned as a unit, the different decrees being but the successive steps by which the work was accomplished. And this decree could not be said to have “gone forth,” as intended by the prophecy, till the last permission which the prophecy required was embodied in the decree and clothed with the authority of the empire. This point was reached in the grant given to Ezra, but not before. Here the decree assumed the proportions, and covered the ground, demanded by the prophecy, and from this point its “going forth” must be dated. With the seventy weeks, we are now done; but there remains a longer period and other important events to be considered. The seventy weeks are but the first 490 years of the 2300. Take 490 from 2300, and there remain 1810. The 490, as we have seen, ended in the autumn of A. D. 34. If to this date we now add the remaining 1810 years, we shall have the termination of the whole period. Thus to A. D. 34, autumn, add1091810, and we have A. D., autumn, eighteen hundred and forty-four. Thus speedily and surely do we find the termination of the 2300 days, when once the 70 weeks have been located. One other point should here be noticed. We have seen that the seventy weeks are the first 490 days of the 2300; that these days are prophetic, signifying literal years, according to the Bible rule, a day for a year, Num. 14: 34; Eze. 4: 6, as is proved by the fulfillment of the seventy weeks, and as all eminent expositors agree; that they commenced in 457 B. C., and ended in A. D. 1844, provided the number is right, and twenty-three hundred is the correct reading. With this point established, there would seem to be no room for further controversy. On this point Dr. Hales remarks: ‘There is no number in the Bible whose genuineness is better ascertained than that of the 2300 days. It is found in all the printed Hebrew editions, in all the MSS. of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s collations, and in all the ancient Versions, except the Vatican copy of the Septuagint, which reads 2400, followed by Symmachus, and some copies noticed by Jerom, 2200, both evidently literal errors in excess and defect, which compensate each other and confirm the mean, 2300.’—Chronology, Vol. ii, p. 512. The query may here arise, how the days can be extended to the autumn of 1844, if they commence in 457 B. C., as it requires only 1843 years in addition to the 457, to make the whole number of 2300. Attention to one fact will clear this point of all difficulty; and that is, that it takes 457 full years before Christ, and 1843 full years after, to make 2300; so that if the period commenced with the very first day of 457, it would not terminate till the very last day of 1843. Now it will be evident to all that whatever part of the year 457 had passed away before the 2300 days commenced, just so much of the year 1844 must pass away before they would end. We therefore inquire, At what point in the year 457 are we to commence to reckon? From the fact that the first 49 years were allotted to the building of the street and wall, we learn that the period is to be dated, not from the starting of Ezra for Babylon, but from the actual commencement of the work at Jerusalem; which it is not probable could be earlier than the seventh month (autumn) of 457, as he did not arrive at Jerusalem till the fifth month of that year. Ezra 7: 9. The whole period would therefore extend to the seventh month, autumn Jewish time, of 1844. Our opponents on this view of the prophetic periods, have been wont in years past to meet us like this: ‘The 2300 days have not ended, because the time has passed. Why the time passed in 1844, without the consummation of our hopes, we acknowledge to be a mystery; but the passing of the time is proof that the 2300 days have not ended.’ Time, however, is no respecter of persons nor of theories; and with the formidable scythe which he is represented as carrying, he sometimes demolishes in the most summary manner the grotesque and gossamer theories of men, however dear they may be to their authors and defenders. It is so here. Heedless of the wild contentions of those who would fain compel him to stop and fulfill their darling predictions, he has kept on the swift but even tenor of his way until—what? every limit is passed to which the 2300 days can be extended; and thus he has demonstrated that those days have passed. Let not this point be overlooked. Setting aside for a moment the arguments by which they are shown to have ended in 1844, and letting them date from any point where there is the least shadow of ground for thus placing them, or from which any one has ever dreamed of dating them, and the utmost limit to which they would extend has gone by. They cannot possibly be dated at any point which would bring their termination so late as the present time. We therefore say again, with not a misgiving as to the truth of the assertion, nor a fear of its successful contradiction, Those days have ended!