• The references (riven from the Hk. of Knoch are by some reeanleil as helonpn^ to a Christian addition to the original Jewinb work (see art. £kocu, Book ok).
God, just as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands ('2*^- ■") stands in conliaaC to the image, an evidently human or earthly product. That later writers, esp. those of the NT, siiould find in this passage a direct allusion to the Messiah, ia in exact accord with their interpretation of other or figures which primarily denote mankind or Israel (cf. Ps S-""- and He 2«-», Hos U' and Mt 2", Gn 12' and Gal 3'^ et al.).
iii. The ' Times ' of Daniel (7" 8" 9"" 12"- ") are difficult of interpretation. They are mainly an endeavour under tlie Antiochian persecution ti answer the anxious thought and piercing cry, 'Lord, how long? When wilt Thou restore the kingdom to Israel? When wUl the Messianic hope be realized ? ' They e.xpress the thouglit that the time of the fuldlment of the divine promise is very near at hand. The glorious assurances of U 40-66 had never been realized. The Jews, in their pitiful poverty and national smalluess, and above all in this hour of persecution, seemed still in their captivity, still within the period of the seventy years mentioned by Jeremiah (Jer 29'°), and an expl.anation of their duration and the announce- ment of their end is the evident endeavour of our author in 9^-^.
Of the weeks subdivided into 7 -I- 62 -t- 1 (9''-*'), as in the case of the image (ch. 2), and the four beasts (ch. 7), there are two main interpretations diflering generally according to the view taken of the Bk. of Dn as a whole, or esp. according to the historical and prophetic references in (a) ' the anointed one, the prince' (^), (b) 'the anointed one cut otl' (^), (c) the destruction («"■), (rf) the maker of the covenant ("*), (e) the desolation ('"'•). The pre- vailing Wew in the past in the Christian Church has seen in (a) (6) and [d) the Messiah, and in (c) and (c) the destruction of Jerus. by Titus, 70 A.D. •The view received at present, agreeably to the Maccabaean date of I)n, refers (a) to Cyrus (cf. Is 45'), (6) to Onias III. (2 Mac 4"), (rf) to Antiochus Epiphanes, (c) and (e) to the havoc and desolation wrought by Antiochus at Jerusalem. In the case of both interpretations a week has usually been held to represent seven years, but a difficulty has always been experienced in fixing the termini, and the various solutions proposed for adjusting the49-(- 434 + 7 years have been almost endless. The more prevailing one, in the old view, places the advent of Christ at the end of 69 weeks (v.'" AV and RVm), and refers the commandment to the decree of the 7th year of Artaxerxes, B.C. 457 or 458 (cf. Ezr T-'^), and then 483 yrs. later is A.D. 25 or 26, the date usually assigned for Christ's baptism, which, from His anointing with the Holy Spirit, might represent His proper Messianic advent (Pusey, Lect. IV.). This view and all other similar ones presented by those holding the genu- ineness of the Bk. of Dn contain their own refu- tation, for the termini a quo must be later than the period of the prophet, who would have died many years at the latest before the commencement of the 490 years or the 70 weeks B.C., and such a date could not have been taken as the basis of hia reckoning, unless the history of Israel after his death had been revealed to him in detail.
Under the other view the natural interpretation would be as follows : To the decree of Cyrus seven weeks (v.^"), i.e. 586-49 = 537. From this decree the city stands rebuilt during 62 weeks of 434 years, but after this period (v.*) the anointed priest Onias III. shall be cut off in B.C. 171 (i.e. 537 - 434 = 103. This should be 171 ; see below). During the next seven years, the last week (v. "*■'•), occur the havoc and niin wrought by Antiochus. The .sacrifice cea.sed, and the heathen altar was set up in the sanctuary. The latter event was in Dec. 168 (1 Mic 1") ; but the former, with the terrible
DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
DAKDA
657
ruin and slaughter (1 Mac 1"""), occurred probably some months earlier. The temple was re-dedicatea in Dec. Itio (1 Mac 4"). These three years and some months represent the half week of the ceasioK of the oblation, mentioned in the time, times, and half a time (7^), in the 2300 evenings and mornings (8"), i.e. 1150 davs, and in the 1290 days (12") and the 1335 days (12"). The representations, of course, are not exact, i.e. the number of days exceed in each instance SJ years, or half a week. Did we know all the circiunstances of the times, we might see a clear solntion, or possibly the author designed an enigmatic surplus or remainder to be inter- preted only through the future course of events, even as he had endeavoured to interpret the 70 weeks.
In the above interpretation the actual period between the decree of Cyrus and the deatli of Onias is shorter than the 62 weeks, i.e. 3G6 years instead of 434. This probably has arisen from the defective chronology of the writer. He placed the reign of Cyrus too early * (Bevan, Comill, Schiirer). Owing to the great difficulty of finding any con- sistent explanation of the 'times' of Dn, many writers have regarded the numbers as entirely symbolical.