In Daniel 9:24, Gabriel’s words are absolutely essential for a correct interpretation of the Seventy Weeks’ prophecy; the location of the last week especially. Gabriel says the entire period involves Daniel’s people and Jerusalem, and these referents are not to be swapped out with ecclesial ones[1] There are then six particular things to be accomplished which are enumerated in the verse, things which are determined to occur.[2] These are arranged with three negatives followed by three positives:
To finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. – Daniel 9:24
Can these six items be identified? It depends upon ones eschatological commitments. I think if we keep to the gradually emerging eschatology which I have been following in the Prophets until now all the data has to be understood in one way. Let me explain.
The first item concerns finishing “the transgression”. Daniel has been praying about it (9:4-14), and any reader, especially of the historical and prophetic books, is intimately aware of the problem. To finish the transgression of Israel could only end in the destruction or salvation of the Jews (e.g. Isa. 59:20-21).[3] The making a complete “end of sins” is perhaps more inclusive, since not all sins are transgressions (pesa). This is best viewed as a curtailment of Israel’s historic waywardness, and invites the thought of a fresh start (Amos 9:8; Hos. 2; Mic. 7:14-20; Isa. 1:25-27; 62:1-7; Jer. 3:12-17). The third achievement is to “make reconciliation for iniquity”, which while accomplished at the Cross[4], here points more to the time of Israel’s attainment of that reconciliation. Even more, this recalls God’s stated intention to redeem His people (e.g. Jer. 30:11; 31:11-12; Ezek. 36:25-29). These three things tie in with the covenantal expectations raised by God in the prophets. As they stand they have not been fulfilled. Israel is still in sin.
The three positive achievements in 9:24 could not be more optimistic. What could be better than the introduction of “everlasting righteousness”? The first of the second set of achievements is “to bring in everlasting righteousness.” It is very difficult to imagine, even with the most sanguine imagination, how any phase of earth’s history so far qualifies for such a description. Again, this prediction is about Israel and Jerusalem in particular.[5] As I stated in my comments on Jeremiah 31:31f. “in those places where righteousness and salvation are in view, the context is unwaveringly a New covenant eschatological context.” This is a rational understanding of the close of Daniel’s petition in 9:16-19. It is what is someday expected (e.g. Isa. 25:8-9; 51:11; 61:2b-3). The fifth thing Gabriel mentions is the sealing up of vision and prophecy. If it is right to link all the previous accomplishments to Israel’s New covenant era, then this is readily comprehended. Since this era is marked by the setting up of the earthly kingdom of the promised Messiah (e.g. Isa. 11:1-10; 32:1; Jer. 23:5-6; Dan. 7:13-14), when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9; cf. Jer. 31:34), there will be no need for prophets.[6] This is lent support by a rather strange text in Zechariah.
It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, `You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the LORD.’ And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.
And it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive. – Zechariah 13:3-4
At first sight this passage is disturbing. What righteous parent would think of killing their own son, even if he were acting the part of a prophet? But the passage hints at the blatant act of temerity of the son’s action, as if to don the mantle was a vicious blasphemy. If one fits this action into the kingdom age when the prophet’s function becomes obsolete because of the worldwide knowledge of God, then it would make good sense.[7] Hence, to seal up visions and prophecy would certainly occur in the New covenant aeon as envisaged from an Old Testament perspective.
Finally, the sixth and most debated item in Daniel 9:24 is the anointing of “the most holy”. But from Daniel’s historical point of view the meaning is straightforward, the “most holy place” or qodesh qadashim is the most holy or sacred place, the new temple as predicted by Ezekiel (Ezek. 37:26-28; 40:1-44:27). Out of the thirty-nine occurrences in the Old Testament only one is possibly not referring to the holy of holies or implements used in its service. The term never implies a person, as amillennial interpreters have been wont to bend the text into saying.[8] This is not a reference to Christ but to a rebuilt temple.
We see then that all six things which have to come to pass after the seventy weeks concern the New covenant age as able to be understood from Daniel’s vantage point.[9] In the language of chapter 2, these things await the arrival of the “stone cut out without hands.” This is what we now know as the second coming of Christ.
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[1] Observe this comment by post-tribulationist author Robert H. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation, 189: “The seventy weeks have to do with the Jews. We cannot spiritualize the phrase ‘your people’ (v.24) into a spiritual Israel inclusive of the Gentiles without doing violence to the plain sense of the passage. For example, the destruction of Jerusalem, spoken of prominently in the prophecy, deals with Israel the nation. And yet, since in the seventy weeks the goals listed in verse twenty-four were to be accomplished, the seventy weeks cannot have entirely elapsed, for the finishing of Israel’s transgression, the purging of her iniquity, and the bringing in of her everlasting righteousness have not reached completion. Paul writes of these as still in the future for Israel (Rom. 11:25-27).”
[2] These six things all occur on earth. – see Kenneth L. Barker, “Evidence from Daniel”, in A Case for Premillennialism, eds., Donald K. Campbell and Jeffrey L. Townsend, 143
[3] Israel’s transgression could in no conceivable way been considered “finished” in the first part of the first century A.D. Paul cannot be bypassed (see 1 Thess. 2:14-15). The Jews as a people have continued to reject Jesus as their promised Messiah even to this day. Any reader of Romans 11:25 knows why. It is not until they look on Him whom they pierced and mourn for their rejection of Him (Zech 12:10) that they will be saved and their sins will be forgiven (cf. Isa. 59:20). We have seen that Israel’s salvation and restoration are contingent upon their acceptance of Jesus at the second coming. That is when they will enter into the terms of the New covenant (Ezek. 36:24-36). The decisive turn in world history will be the wresting of power out of the hands of the creature and into the hands of the God-man. This is the event that intervention that will finish the transgression, especially of Israel. The Cross made this event possible, but it did nothing to curtail human rebellion (see Matt. 10:34).
[4] As in e.g., Gleason L. Archer, “Daniel”, EBC, 112-113
[5] “The concern of v.24 is thus Israel and Jerusalem. It does not have a worldwide perspective…” – John E. Goldingay, Daniel, 258. Neither does he believe it refers to end times. This seems short-sighted since there has never been a realization of these prophecies otherwise.
[6] The sealing up of “vision and prophecy” implies a time when such things are no longer necessary. This could apply to the post-apostolic period where we have a completed canon of Scripture. But coming as it does after the mention of everlasting righteousness and reconciliation this is very unlikely. I think rather that this refers to a time in the future (Christ’s reign) when to presume to speak for God will actually be an act of high-handed rebellion.
[7] Passages such as this have to be lent due consideration in any attempted construction of Millennial society.
[8] See John E. Goldingay, Daniel, 260. Those who need the term to apply to Christ point to 1 Chronicles 23:13, but even there it is patently obvious that the reference is to the most holy things.
[9] “While the basis for these matters is found in Jesus’ death at His first coming, the full realization of these predictions awaits the coming of His kingdom.” – Michael J. Vlach, He Will Reign Forever, 217
