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Daniel 9:27
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Daniel 9:27 Meaning and Commentary
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week
Sixty nine of the seventy weeks being accounted for, and the several events observed to be fulfilled in them; the angel proceeds to take notice of the remaining "one" week, or seven years, and what should be done within that space of time: a covenant should be confirmed with many; which is not to be understood of the Messiah's confirming the covenant of grace with many, or on account of all his people, by fulfilling the conditions of it, and by his blood and sacrifice, through which all the blessings of it come to them; for this is not for one week only, but for ever; but this is to be interpreted of the Roman people, spoken of in the latter part of the preceding verse; who, in order to accomplish their design to destroy the city and temple of Jerusalem, made peace with many nations, entered into covenant and alliance with them, particularly the Medes, Parthians, and Armenians, for the space of one week, or seven years; as it appears they did at the beginning of this week F12: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the
oblation to cease;
the daily sacrifice of the Jews, and all their other offerings; and which was literally fulfilled "in the half part" F13 of this week, as it may be rendered; towards the close of the latter half of it, when the city of Jerusalem, being closely besieged by Titus, what through the closeness of the siege, the divisions of the people, and the want both of time and men, and beasts to offer, the daily sacrifice ceased, as Josephus F14 says, to the great grief of the people; nor have the Jews, ever since the destruction of their city and temple, offered any sacrifice, esteeming it unlawful so to do in a strange land: and
at the same time, in the same half part of the week, for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate;
that is, the Roman people shall make the land of Judea desolate, for the overspreading of their abominations or idolatries in it. The words may be rendered, as by some, "upon the wing", the battlements of the temple, shall be the abominations,
or "idols of the desolator", or "of him that makes desolate" F15; so Bishop Lloyd; meaning either the ensigns of the Roman army, which had upon them the images of their gods or emperors; and being set up in the holy place, and sacrificed to, nothing could be a greater abomination to the Jews; or else the blood of the zealots slain on these battlements, by which the holy place was polluted; see ( Matthew 24:15 ) ( Luke 21:20 ) : even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon
the desolate;
that is, either these abominations shall continue in the place where they are set until the utter destruction of the city and temple; or the desolation made there should continue until the consummation of God's wrath and vengeance upon them; until the whole he has determined is poured out on this desolate people; and which continues unto this day, and will till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, ( Luke 21:24 ) . Some, as Bishop Lloyd, render it, "upon the desolator" F16; meaning the Romans; and the sense they take to be is, that this vengeance shall continue upon the Jews until it is turned upon the head of those who have made them desolate: now this "one week", according to the sense given, must begin in the sixty third year of the vulgar era of Christ, about thirty years after the expiration of the sixty nine weeks; since it ends in the seventieth year of the same era, in which was the destruction of Jerusalem, the grand event assigned to it in this famous prophecy; when it might have been expected it should have begun at the end of the sixty nine weeks, and run on in a direct line from them. The true reason of its being thus separated from them is the longsuffering and forbearance of God to the people of the Jews, who gave them, as to the old world, space to repent; but his grace and goodness being slighted, things began to work at the beginning of this week towards their final ruin, which, in the close of it, was fully accomplished: from the whole of this prophecy it clearly appears that the Messiah must be come many hundred years ago. The Jews are sensible of the force of this reasoning; so that, to terrify persons from considering this prophecy, they denounce the following curse, "let them burst, or their bones rot, that compute the times" F17. R. Nehemiah, who lived about fifty years before the coming of Christ, declared the time of the Messiah, as signified by Daniel, could not be protracted longer than those fifty years F18. The Jews also say the world is divided into six parts, and the last part is from Daniel to the Messiah F19.
F12 See Marshall's Chron. Treat. p. 271.
F13 (ewbvh yuxw) "et in dimidio hebdomadis", Montanus, Michaelis; "dimidio septimanae", Cocceius.
F14 De Bello, Jud. l. 6. c. 2.
F15 (Mmwvm Myuqv Pnk lew) "desolator", Piscator, Gejerus; "desolans", Covveius; "stupefaciens", Montanus.
F16 (Mmwv le) "super obstupescentem", Montanus; "in stupendem", Cocceius,
F17 T. Bab. Sanhedrin. fol. 97. 2.
F18 Apud Grotium de Ver. Rel. Christ l. 5. sect. 14.
F19 Caphtor Uperah, fol 17. 2.