The Seventy Weeks and 2300 Days
SYNOPSIS OF THE PRESENT TRUTH. No. 8.
THE SEVENTY WEEKS AND 2300 DAYS.
HAVING passed through the symbols of the second, seventh, and a portion of the eighth chapters of Daniel, we turn again to this last chapter to notice some other points there introduced. As recorded in verse 13, Daniel heard one saint ask another the question, how long the vision should be concerning the daily [sacrifice] and the transgression of desolation to give both the Sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot. The angel then addressed himself to Daniel and said, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed. How far this declaration was designed to be an answer to the question which he had heard, we will not endeavor to determine; but this much is revealed—enough for Daniel to know, enough for us—that unto twenty-three hundred days, then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed. This period is not alluded to again in that chapter: all the other parts of the vision are there fully explained; and it must have been therefore, this point concerning the time, that troubled the mind of the Prophet, and in reference to this, solely, that he exclaims at the end of the chapter, “I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” It was in the third year of Belshazzar, B. C. 553, that Daniel had this vision of chap. viii. Fifty-three years previous to this time, Jerusalem had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and the seventy years' captivity commenced; and thirty-five years before this, the Chaldeans had utterly demolished the city, broken down its walls and burnt the house of God with fire. 2 Chron. xxxvi, 19. Daniel had learned from the prophecy of Jeremiah, [chap. xxv.] that the seventy years of captivity were drawing near their close, in the first year of Darius, B. C. 538, as we read in the first verses of Dan. ix; and it is evident that he so far misunderstood the period of the 2300 days as to suppose that they ended with the end of the seventy years of Israel's servitude; therefore turning his face toward the prostrate city and the ruined temple of his fathers, he prays God to cause his face to shine upon his sanctuary which is desolate. Verse 17. “And whiles I was speaking and praying,” says he, [chap. ix, 20-23.] “even the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me and talked with me, and said, O, Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplication, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved; therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,” &c. That this is a continuation of the explanation of the vision of chap. viii, would seem sufficiently evident from the very face of the matter, without the aid of any special argument to prove it so. But as there is a vital point that hinges upon this fact, and as that point has been denied by some who in so doing were evidently sinning against their own better judgment, and the light which God had given them, we will offer a few reasons, which place it beyond the limits of contradiction, that the vision upon which Gabriel explains in Dan. ix, is the same that is recorded in chap. viii. 1. Gabriel had received a charge, [chap. viii, 16.] to make Daniel understand the vision; but at the end of that chapter, Daniel says he was astonished at the vision, but none understood it. Gabriel therefore did not complete his mission in chap. viii: the charge still rested upon him, “Make this man to understand the vision.” 2. The being who came to Daniel at the time of his supplication, was the very same who had appeared to him in the vision at the beginning; namely, Gabriel. And that he had now come to undeceive him concerning his application of the time, is evident in that he says, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. Why did he not give him a full understanding of the vision at first? Because, we answer, he revealed to him all that he was then able to bear; for he fainted and was sick certain days. 3. Direct reference is made to the vision at the beginning; and if that is not the vision of chap. viii, it is impossible to find it. And again, if Gabriel does not explain in chap. ix, what he omitted in chap. viii, it is impossible for any man to show wherein Gabriel fulfilled his commission to make this man understand the vision; and we have nothing then to shield him in our minds from the charge of being a fallen angel. But a position which will lead to either of these results, is utterly unallowable. 4. When Gabriel commenced his further explanation he does not explain the symbol of the ram; for that he had already explained: he does not explain the goat; for he had likewise explained that: neither does he commence about the little horn; for he had made that plain also in chap. viii. What then does he explain? The very point there omitted; namely, time. If there are any to whose minds these facts are insufficient to show the connection of Dan. ix, with the vision of chap. viii, we may as well bid them farewell right here; for they are not in a condition to be affected by any evidence; and they may as well not attempt to follow us any further in this argument. But how do the words of Gabriel, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people,” &c., explain the period of the 2300 days? The answer is, The word rendered, determined, signifies literally, cut off. Says Josiah Litch, in Midnight Cry, Vol. IV, No. 25, “Seventy weeks are determined, literally ‘cut off.’ The Hebraists all admit that the word determined, in our English version, does signify ‘cut off.’ Not one has disputed it.” Prof. Whiting, also, in Midnight Cry, Vol. IV, No. 17, says: “Thus Chaldaic and Rabbinical authority, and that of the earliest versions, the Septuagint and Vulgate, give the single signification of ‘cutting off’ to this verb. Should it be inquired why a tropical sense has been attributed to it, such as ‘determining,’ or ‘decreeing’ it may be answered that the reference of the verse (in which it occurs) to Dan. viii, 14, was unobserved. It was therefore supposed that there was no propriety in saying, ‘seventy weeks are cut off,’ when there was no other period of which they could have formed a portion. But as the period of 2300 days is first given, and verses 21 and 23 compared with Dan. viii, 16, show that the ninth chapter furnishes an explanation of the vision in which Gabriel appeared to Daniel, and of the ‘matter’—(the commencement of the 2300 days)—the literal (or rather, to speak properly, the only) signification demanded by the subject matter is that of ‘cut off’.” The Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance says, “Determined, literally, divided.” From what period are the seventy weeks divided, or cut off? From the 2300 days; for there is no other period given from which they can be taken; and this is placed beyond a doubt by the connection of the two chapters, which has already been proved. The seventy weeks, then, are the first 490 days of the 2300; and this is the key to the whole mystery. This is vitally necessary to an understanding of that period. On no other ground can it be explained. Yet some who were once sound in the truth on this subject, have rashly denied this; but for how good reason, we shall by and by see. The commencement of the seventy weeks therefore marks the commencement of the 2300 days; for the former being cut off from the latter, they of course commence together. From what point shall we date them is our next inquiry.