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LESSONS FOR BIBLE CLASSES

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 17, 1878

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 52, No. 16.

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LESSONS FOR BIBLE CLASSES.

By G. H. Bell

LESSON XVIII.—THE DATE OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS AND THE 2300 DAYS.

QUESTIONS.

  1. From what event was the period of seventy weeks to be reckoned? Dan. 9:25.
  2. How does the angel speak of this commandment?
  3. What means had Daniel of knowing that such a commandment was to be given?
  4. Where is the promise of it found?
  5. What reason had Daniel for expecting that this commandment would soon be issued? Jer. 29:10.
  6. For what had he been so earnestly pleading when the angel appeared to him? Dan. 9:1–19.
  7. Did he receive any assurance that the commandment should go forth?
  8. Did Gabriel tell him when the commandment should be issued?
  9. How does he mention it?
  10. What did the angel show to Daniel instead of telling him when the commandment should go forth?
  11. For what was Daniel particularly anxious?
  12. To what did the angel direct Daniel’s attention? Dan. 8:14.
  13. How far were the seventy weeks to reach?
  14. To what was the whole period of 2300 days to reach?
  15. What was thus shown to Daniel?
  16. What do we learn from Ezra 1:1–3?
  17. What does the commandment referred to in Dan. 9:25 include?
  18. To what does the work of restoration have reference?
  19. How many of the Jewish people availed themselves of the permission granted them by Cyrus?
  20. How was the work of building the temple interrupted?
  21. What enabled the Jews to resume the work?
  22. Who issued this decree?
  23. When?
  24. What did it afford them?
  25. Did it make any provision for the restoration of the Jewish laws?
  26. When was a decree issued that granted full powers to complete the work of restoring and building Jerusalem?
  27. By whom was it issued?
  28. How is this commandment mentioned in Ezra 6:14?
  29. What does this show?
  30. When was this commandment complete?
  31. When did the seventy weeks and the 2300 days begin?

SYNOPSIS.

In Dan. 9:25, the angel speaks of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem as something already understood by the prophet. He undoubtedly did understand it; for in Isa. 44:28, God promises that such a commandment should be issued. In Jer. 29:10, the period of the captivity of Daniel’s people is fixed at seventy years. See also 2 Chron. 36:21. As this time had nearly expired, Daniel must have been expecting that this commandment promised in Isa. 44:28 would soon go forth; indeed it was for this he was so earnestly praying when the angel appeared to him. See Dan. 9:19 and preceding verses.
The angel, instead of telling Daniel when the commandment should go forth, merely mentioned it as the starting point, or date, of the seventy weeks and the 2300 days, showing him when the promised Messiah would begin his ministry upon the earth, and how long it would continue. Daniel was very anxious about the worldly sanctuary which was then lying in ruins at Jerusalem. The angel assures him that this worldly sanctuary should be restored, and points him forward to the ministration in that heavenly sanctuary of which the worldly was but a type.
The seventy weeks were to reach a little beyond the close of the ministration in the earthly sanctuary and the beginning of the ministration in the heavenly. The whole period of 2300 days was to reach to the closing work in the heavenly sanctuary. See Dan. 8:14. Thus Daniel was shown the grand outline of the work to be performed for the salvation of men.
In Ezra 1:1–3, we learn that Cyrus issued a decree, granting permission to the Jews then in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. But the commandment referred to in Dan. 9:25 includes the building not only of the temple but of the city. It also included a work of restoration, which must have reference to the re-establishment of Jewish laws and customs,—the restoration of the civil government.
Availing themselves of the permission granted them by Cyrus, nearly fifty thousand of the Jewish people left Babylon, went up to Jerusalem, and began to rebuild the temple. About fourteen years later they were so hindered by their enemies as to be obliged to give up the work; but in B. C. 519, Darius Hystaspes issued a decree which afforded them protection and assistance in the work which Cyrus had given them to do. This decree, however, made no provision for the restoration of the Jewish laws.
At length, in B. C. 457, Artaxerxes Longimanus, the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther, issued a decree granting Ezra full power to complete the work of restoring and building Jerusalem.
In Ezra 6:14, this commandment is mentioned first as the commandment of the God of Israel, and then as the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, thus showing that the decrees of these Persian kings, all taken together, constituted but the one commandment which the God of Israel had long before decreed in Isa. 44:28. The commandment was not complete till the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus was issued B. C. 457, and the seventy weeks and the 2300 days commenced with the autumn of this year, when Ezra began the work which the decree authorized him to do. G. H. BELL.