In ver. 21 we have a general view of the last great period of the Jewish Church (see the middle line in the diagram). It was to embrace four hundred and ninety years, from their permanent release from Baby- lonian bondage till the time when God would cast them finally off for their incorrigible unbelief. See Week, Within this space Jehovah would fulfil what he had predicted, and accomplish all his designs re- specting them under their special relation, Tlie par- ticulars noted in this cursory survey are, first, the con- clusion of the then existing exile (expressed in three variations, of which the last phrase, "expiating guilt," explains the two former, "closing the sin" and "sealing up offences"); next, the fulfilment of ancient prophecy by ushering in the religious prosperity of Gospel times;
SEVENTY WEEKS
601
SEVENTY WEEKS
Lout Reform betjinn, [late in summer] B.C. 410.
Christ baptized, August, A.D. '25.
Edict imhliHhed at Jerusalem, ■{ July, B.C. 459.
7 w.=49y.
02 weeks =434 years.
1 w.=7 y.
70 heptads=490 years.
tiy, yi-s.
02 weeks =434 years.
Halfw.
Jews rejected, }■ September, A.D. 32.
Reform completed, Christ sacrificed,
[early iu spring] B.C. 405. March IS, A.'D. 2:).
.SVgMe?.— Jerusalem razed by the Romans, A.D. TO.
and, lastly, as the essential feature, the consecration of the Messiah to his redeeming office.
The only "command" answering to that of ver. 25 is that of Artaxerxes Longimanus, issued in the sev- enth year of his reign, and recorded iu the seventh chapter of lizra, as Prideaux has abundantly shown (^Connection, s. a. 400), and as most critics agree. At this time, also, more Jews returned to their home tlian at anj' other, and the literal as well as spiritual " re- building of Jerusalem" was prosecuted with unsurpassed vigor. The period here referred to extends '■■till the Messiah" (see the upper line of above diagram) ; that is, as far as his public recognition as such by the voice at his baptism, the " anointing" of the previous verse ; and not to his death — as is commonly supposed, but which is afterwards referred to in very different language — nor to his birth, which would make the entire compass of the prophecy vary much from four hundred and ninety years. The period of this verse is divided into two portions of " seven heptads" and " si.xty-two hep- tads," as if the "command" from which it dates were renewed at the end of the first portion; and this we find was the case. Ezra, under whom this reformation of the state and religion began, was succeeded in the work by Nehemiah, who, having occasion to return to Persia in the twenty-fifth year after the commence- ment of the work (Neh. xiii, G), returned " after certain days," and found that it had so far retrograded that he was obliged to institute it anew. The length of his stay at court is not given, but it must have been consid- erable to allow so great a backsliding among the lately reformed Jews. Prideaux contends that his return to Judaea was after an absence of twenty-four years; and we have supposed the new reform then set on foot by him to have occupied a little over three years, which is certainly none too much time for the task (see the lower line of the diagram). The "rebuilding of the streets and intrench men ts in times of distress" seems to refer, iu its literal sense, to the former part especially of the forty-nine years (comp. Neh. iv), very little hav- ing been previously done towards rebuilding the citij. although former decrees had been issued for repairing the Temple; and in its spiritual import it applies to the whole time, and peculiarly to the three years of the last reform.
The " sixty-two weeks" of ver. 26, be it observed, are not said to commence at the end of the "seven weeks" of ver. 25, but, in more general terms, after the "dis- tressing times" during which the reform was going on; hence thej' properly date from the end of that reform, when things became permanently settled. It is iu con- sequence of a failure to notice this variation in the lim- its of the two periods of sixty-two weeks referred to by the prophet (comp. the middle portions of the upper and of the lower line iu the diagram) that critics have thrown the whole scheme of this prophecy into disor- der, iu aiijjlying to the same event such irreconcilable language as is used iu describing some of its different elements. By the ravaging invasion of foreigners here foretold is manifestly intended the destruction of Jeru- salem by the Roman troops, whose emperor's son, Titus, is here styled a "prince" in command of them. The same allusion is also clear from the latter part of the following verse. But this event must not be included within the seventy weeks ; because, in the first place,
the accomplishment would not sustain such a view — from the decree, B.C. 450, to the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, A.D. 70, bemg five hundred and twenty-eight years; secondly, the language of ver. 24 does not re- quire it — as it is not em- braced in the purposes for wiiich the seventy
weeks are tiiere stated to be appointed to Jerusalein and its inhabitants; and, lastl}-, the Jews then no longer formed a link in the chain of ecclesiastical history in the divine sense— Christian believers hav- ing become the true descendants of Abraham. At the close of the verse we have the judgments with which God would afliict the Jews for cutting off the Messiah: these would be so severe that the prophet (or, rather, the angel instructing him) cannot refrain from introducing them here in connection with that event, although he afterwards adverts to them in their proper order. What these sufferings were, Josephus narrates' with a minuteness that chills the blood, af- fording a wonderful coincidence with the prediction of Moses in Deut. xxviii, 15-68; they are liere called a " flood," the well-known Scripture emblem of terrible political calamities (as in Isa. viii, 7, 8 ; Dan. xi, 10, 22 ; Nah. i, 8).