Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

Gabriel Again Appears

While Daniel was praying concerning the sanctuary lying desolate at Jerusalem, who appeared on the scene? BR-ASI9 157.5

“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.” Daniel 9:21. BR-ASI9 157.6

Note.—It was fitting that the angel Gabriel should return to the prophet for the purpose of explaining that portion of the prophecy in Daniel 8 which had not been interpreted. The angel not only would open to his vision the earthly typical sanctuary and its future, but would give him, for the benefit of those living at the time of the end, a view of the true heavenly service. BR-ASI9 157.7

What did the angel at once ask the prophet to consider? BR-ASI9 157.8

“He informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding . . . therefore consider the vision.” Daniel 9:22, 23. BR-ASI9 157.9

Note.—Since the 2300-day period was the only part of the former vision left unexplained, the angel would naturally begin with an interpretation of that period. BR-ASI9 157.10

What portion of the 2300 days mentioned in the vision was allotted to the Jews? BR-ASI9 157.11

“Seventy weeks [literally, “seventy sevens”] are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.” Daniel 9:24. BR-ASI9 157.12

Note.—The word translated “weeks,” literally, “sevens,” is used in Jewish literature to refer to periods of seven days and also to periods of seven years. Jewish and Christian scholars, generally, have concluded that the context here requires that “weeks” of years be understood. “Seventy weeks” of seven years each would be 490 years. BR-ASI9 157.13

In post-Biblical Hebrew the word here translated “determined” had the meaning “to cut,” “to cut off,” “to determine,” “to decree.” In view of the fact that the seventy weeks of Daniel 9 are a part of the 2300 days of chapter 8, and were cut off from them and assigned particularly to the Jews, the meaning “to cut” here seems especially appropriate. BR-ASI9 158.1

The seventy weeks, therefore, were “determined,” or cut off. There are two periods of time under consideration: the first, the 2300-day period; the second, the seventy-week period. They both had to do with the restoration of the Jewish people and the sanctuary, for the Jews were in captivity and the sanctuary in ruins. The two periods must then begin with the restoration, and thus at the same time. The full restoration of the Jewish laws and government pertaining to the people and their sanctuary took place in 457 B.C., as we shall see later. It is reasonable, then, to say that the seventy weeks were a part of the 2300-year period, and that they were thus “cut off” as a period pertaining to the Jewish people and their sanctuary service. BR-ASI9 158.2

What was to be accomplished at or near the close of this seventy-week period? BR-ASI9 158.3

“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.” Daniel 9:24, last part. BR-ASI9 158.4

“To Finish the Transgression.”—The Jews were to fill up the measure of their iniquity by rejecting and crucifying the Messiah; they would then no longer be His peculiar, chosen people. Read Matthew 21:38-43; 23:32-38; 27:25. BR-ASI9 158.5

“To Make an End of Sins.”—The best explanation of this clause is given in Hebrews 9:26: “Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”; and in Romans 8:3: “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” BR-ASI9 158.6

“To Bring in Everlasting Righteousness.”—This must mean the righteousness of Christ—that righteousness by which He was enabled to make an atonement for sin, and which, through faith, may be imputed to the penitent believer. BR-ASI9 158.7

“To Anoint the Most Holy.”—The Hebrew words here used are regularly employed of the sanctuary, but not of persons. The anointing of the “most Holy,” then, must refer to the anointing of the heavenly sanctuary, when Christ became the “minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Hebrews 8:2. BR-ASI9 159.1