Daniel Chapter 9 Lesson

(Dan 9:2) In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of Yahuwah came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Daniel did not just wait for visions to tell him Yahuwah's will. He studied the Scriptures carefully to know the times. This text is an affirmation of the fact that the Bible predicts future events in specific years, not just giving us spiritual instruction and generalities. Daniel knew when the time of desolation should end by reading the Bible. This experience of Daniel encourages us to do the same.

(Dan 9:3) And I set my face unto the Sovereign Elohoim, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

(Dan 9:4) And I prayed unto Yahuwah my Eloah, and made my confession, and said, O Sovereign, the great and dreadful El, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

Daniel recognizes the duty of humankind as expressed in the Decalogue: we are to love Yahuwah and keep His commandments. Revelation 14:12 expresses this in another way: to keep the commandments of Yahuwah and have the faith of Yahushua.

(Dan 9:5) We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

(Dan 9:6) Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Sin is defined as rebellion that departs from keeping the commandments, and that refuses to listen to the prophets. Sin is not some nebulous, ambiguous spiritual state of mind, but rebellion expressed in these two specific actions.

(Dan 9:7) O Sovereign, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

(Dan 9:8) O Sovereign, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

Sin results in confusion, destruction and catastrophe.

(Dan 9:9) To the Sovereign our Eloah belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;

(Dan 9:10) Neither have we obeyed the voice of Yahuwah our Eloah, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

(Dan 9:11) Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of Elohim, because we have sinned against him.

(Dan 9:12) And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

(Dan 9:13) As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before Yahuwah our Eloah, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

Catastrophe is an opportunity to turn from sin and understand the truth. There is much catastrophe in the world today. It is an opportunity to turn from rebellion against Yahuwah, obey His commandments, and understand the truth, that we are standing before the closing scenes of earth’s history.

(Dan 9:14) Therefore hath Yahuwah watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for Yahuwah our Eloah is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.

(Dan 9:15) And now, O Sovereign our Eloah, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

(Dan 9:16) O Sovereign, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

(Dan 9:17) Now therefore, O our Eloah, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Sovereign's sake.

Daniel prays for the people and the sanctuary. Everything to follow will be in answer to that prayer. From the book of Daniel we will find what is to happen to the people and the sanctuary, and when.

(Dan 9:18) O my Eloah, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.

(Dan 9:19) O Sovereign, hear; O Sovereign, forgive; O Sovereign, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my Eloah: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

Yahuwah forgives by His great mercy, and not for our righteousness. That is an eternal principle of the eternal Gospel. It is not something new discovered by Paul or Luther, but the way of salvation made known from the beginning of time. There is only one covenant, the eternal covenant of the mercy of Yahuwah. By the same token, there is one abiding law of Yahuwah that does not change. It is the very law that the Papacy has tried to change and suppress.

(Dan 9:20) And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yahuwah my Eloah for the holy mountain of my Eloah;

(Dan 9:21) Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, 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.

(Dan 9:22) And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.

(Dan 9:23) 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 “man” Gabriel was the angel sent to explain the vision to Daniel. The vision that needed explaining was the vision of Daniel 8. Gabriel is about to explain these things to Daniel.

(Dan 9:24) 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.

Gabriel begins to by referring to seventy weeks that are determined. During that time the Jewish people will be given a time of grace, the city will stand, and during that time transgression and sin (offerings) will be brought to an end and reconciliation to bring in everlasting righteousness will be accomplished, and the most Holy [=Yahushua] would be anointed

In ancient times a prophetic day was nearly always interpreted as a year. This is true both in ancient Jewish and early Christian thought. But the proof is in the pudding: The fact is that the year for a day principle fits the fulfillment of prophecy throughout history, and therefore ought to be considered valid. While modern people may reject it and speculate on the future, the past history of the world is seen now to correspond to the years represented by the days and weeks of prophetic time.

(Dan 9:25) Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

The seventy weeks or 490 days will begin from the going forth of the decree to restore and build Jerusalem. The going forth of the command to rebuild started with the decree of Cyrus in 536 (Ezra 1:1-4), was affirmed by Darius in 519 (Ezra 6:1-12), and became effective in the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus to Ezra in 457 (Ezra 7). The year 457 is thus the point of departure for counting the seventy weeks.

From 457 to Messiah the Prince there are seven weeks and sixty two weeks, that is, 69 weeks or 483 years. That brings us up to 27 A.D. which is the year of the anointing or baptizing of Yahushua. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt during the seven weeks, that is, during the 49 years beginning from 457 B.C. Thus, in 408 B.C. the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple was completed. There is one week left over of the 70. It begins in 27 A.D. with the anointing of the Messiah and ends in 34 A.D.

(Dan 9:26) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Gabriel here describes the things that should take place after 27 A.D. when the seven weeks and 62 weeks came to an end. After that time the Messiah would be cut off, and a prince would come to destroy the city and sanctuary. The king that cut off the Messiah in 31 A.D. and destroyed the city and sanctuary in 70 A.D. was the Roman emperor. But those dates are not yet mentioned.

(Dan 9:27) And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Here Gabriel describes the seventieth week, which begins in 27 A.D. The middle of the week is the year 31 A.D. That is the year in which the Messiah was cut off by Rome. By offering himself for sin, Yahushua caused the sacrifice and oblation to come to an end. He thus prepared the temple for its destruction by removing from it the divinely appointed sacrificial system that pointed toward him as sin offering and priestly intercessor for humankind.

At the end of the week, the time of grace for the Jewish nation came to an end. The sanhedrin, the highest ruling institution in the Jewish nation, itself confirmed the rejection of Yahushua by their sentencing of Stephen to death in 34 A.D.

There is a gap in time here, before the vision of chapters ten and eleven. The reason for this is explained in the vision.