Notes on Daniel -- Part 17 -- The 70 Weeks of Daniel 9
By Jay Rogers
There is no break in the seventy weeks of Daniel that leads us to the time of Christ and picks up again during the future. I see this seventy weeks as continuous.
Daniel is, in fact, the backdrop to Revelation. The best possible explanation of Daniel is preterist interpretation. The events described in Daniel were fulfilled at or before the time of Christ. This position creates the least amount of problems from an interpretive standpoint. Only a fair knowledge of ancient history is needed to do this. Nevertheless, there are few commentaries on the bookshelves today fully describing Daniel from the preterist point of view.
I do not see a problem with the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem ceasing some 40 years after the seventy-week period is fulfilled. The sacrifices ceased to have any effect after 69-1/2 weeks.
It is not necessary to find in Daniel an exact chronology that describes the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. We find that chronology in three of the Gospels.
From our perspective today, an understanding of Daniel is paramount to understanding the Mount of Olives Discourse in Matthew 24, Luke 20 and Mark 13.
In two of these passages, Jesus refers to the "abomination of desolation refereed to in the prophecy of Daniel." In Mark 13:14, the author inserts the aside: ("let the reader understand"). "Understand what exactly?" one might ask. Obviously, from the context, we must understand this passage of Daniel. And unless we have the correct interpretation of Daniel, we will not be able to understand the Mount of Olives Discourse.
Therefore, a historical approach to Daniel is necessary for understanding the purpose of the book of Daniel. Daniel was a prophecy given so that the restored Jews would know the times and events surrounding the coming of the Messiah. That is the main purpose of Daniel chapters 2, 7-12.
Since Calvin's (preterist or historicist) interpretation of Daniel is being debated here, I thought I'd post his interpretation of Daniel 9:27.
"But we are now treating of a profanation of
the temple, which should
prove, if I may use the phrase, eternal and irreparable.
Without the
slightest doubt, this prophecy was fulfilled when
the city was
captured and overthrown, and the temple utterly destroyed
by Titus the
son of Vespasian. This satisfactorily explains the
events here
predicted."
By "preterist" I mean that the prophecy of Daniel was fulfilled before the entire canon of scripture was closed. I find it unlikely that the visions in the book of Daniel were fulfilled in chronological order except when we get to the "little horn" of Daniel 7. Then the historicist view takes a leap forward of 1500 years only to return to a preterist interpretation for the rest of the succeeding chapters!
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