SRR #74 | Rightly Dividing The Weeks - The Danielic Imperative Part 12

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The 70 Weeks Prophecy as a Mosaic Judgment

This week on Simple Riff around the radio, Timothy Kaufman walks us through the 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel chapter 9. Showing that Gabriel actually states that the 70 weeks are cut up or divided. And then proceeds to describe them as cut up and divided into three separate sets of weeks.

Historically, eschatologists have tried to put the sevens back together again to make them fit Christ. But instead, we ought to do as Gabriel did, which is leave them cut up. When we cut them up the way Gabriel did, we find that each set of weeks has its own starting point.

And its own fulfillment under the Mosaic covenant. Ultimately leading us to the identification of the abomination of desolation. That Jesus said would return within one generation as a sign of Jerusalem's impending destruction.

For more, here's Tim.

Okay, thanks Tim. It's good to be back. I hope everybody enjoyed last week's episode. And we're ready for another one. This is our 12th episode in this series. And we appreciate those who have been hanging on this long to listen.

We've been discussing Daniel 9 for several weeks now. And the context of that chapter is that Jeremiah had prophesied 70 years of desolations for Jerusalem. Because the Jews were guilty of worshipping false gods.

Violating the Sabbath and profaning the sanctuary. According to Leviticus 26, if the Jews would not hear the Lord and obey His commandments, He would send them into captivity and bring desolations upon the people, the city, and the sanctuary.

If after this they still did not repent of their wickedness, the Lord would multiply their punishments sevenfold. Keep in mind that Leviticus 26 is the only place in the Law of Moses that promises desolation for these sins.

And it is the only place in the Law of Moses that promises a sevenfold multiplication of the punishment for a failure to repent. Now, the vision of Daniel 9 occurs toward the end of the 70 years of captivity.

And Daniel writes at the beginning that he had been studying the books of Jeremiah that prophesied the desolations. And further, that the desolations had come upon them according to the Law of Moses, which is a reference to Leviticus 26.

And further, that after all the punishments, the Jews still had not repented of their wickedness. That, of course, would require a sevenfold multiplication of their punishments, according to Leviticus 26.

That failure to repent during the 70 years of captivity was corroborated in Zechariah 1 .12, which says the Lord continued to have indignation against the Jews for those 70 years, and Zechariah 7, verses 4 -7, which says that the Jews had not at all turned to the Lord in true repentance all those 70 years.

In the prayer of Daniel 9, Daniel seeks the Lord's guidance on when the 70 years will end, and in the process confesses that even at this point the Jews still had not repented. And so, instead of Gabriel showing up to tell him when the 70 years would end, Gabriel shows up to tell him not only that the 77s are now in view, which is a sevenfold multiplication required under Leviticus 26, but that even more desolations are determined, which again is a reference to Leviticus 26, the only place in the Mosaic Law that requires desolations as a punishment for sins.

What we also highlighted last week was the fact that the Jews were given clear instructions from the Lord on exactly how to show that they were truly ashamed of all their sins. And part of that was to purge, cleanse, and rededicate the altar for eight days following very specific instructions directly from the Lord in the 25th year of their captivity delivered through Ezekiel the prophet.

However, when the Jews returned to the land, they did not do this. As we saw in Ezra chapter 3, they simply did not follow his instructions. And further, they were required to acknowledge that they had walked contrary to God and that he had walked contrary to them, something that is explicitly required according to Leviticus 26.

In other words, there was no real repentance, shame, or sorrow for what they had done. And a seven-fold multiplication of punishment was not only completely justified, but was required according to the Law of Moses.

Now to put a fine point on it, the whole chapter of Daniel 9 simply drips with Leviticus 26 significance. And we have missed it for literally millennia because we have focused instead on the belief that Daniel 9 was a promise of a coming Messiah.

Instead, it was in reality an implementation of the Leviticus 26 protocol. This is why we have said from the beginning of this series, and maintain now, that the prophecy of Daniel 9 is Mosaic rather than Messianic.

It is not fulfilled in the coming of Christ, but in the repentance of the Jews when they finally rededicated the altar and the sanctuary in accordance with the instructions of Ezekiel. That is what we will be showing this week and next week.

So, what we dealt with last week was the traditional Messianic interpretation of the 70 weeks of Daniel, especially regarding the parts that speak of finishing the transgression, making an end of sins, making reconciliation for iniquity, bringing an everlasting righteousness, and sealing up the vision and prophecy and anointing the Most Holy.

That is Daniel 9 .24. These have for more than a thousand years been interpreted as a Messianic promise, but not by any writer of apostolic authority. Not one New Testament writer or speaker identified Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel chapter 9.

Even though the New Testament places a great deal of emphasis on Jesus' fulfilling prophecy, and as it turns out, these prophecies of finishing the transgression, making an end of sins, and making reconciliation for iniquity, bringing an everlasting righteousness, and sealing up the vision and prophecy, and anointing the Most Holy, were all consistent with the conditions of the Leviticus 26 protocol, and the conditions expressed by Ezekiel to show true repentance.

Thus, we showed last week that the apparently Messianic implications of Daniel 9 .24 were in fact mosaic, and would conclude with the Jews rededicating the altar and anointing it, and the altar is the Most Holy, and anointing it in accordance with the Law of Moses.

That is why, as we showed last week, the 77's would not be complete until the Jews anointed the Most Holy, the altar, under the Old Covenant, showing true repentance for the sins that had brought around the 70-year punishment to begin with.

It is a mosaic prophecy, not a Messianic one. Okay, so our listeners will ask, well, what about the passages in Daniel 9 that explicitly prophesy the coming of the Messiah? Well, that's a great question, and the answer to that question is in the text.

It's in the Scriptures. My first point is that Daniel 9 does not prophesy the coming of THE Messiah, and I will just say for the record that the capitalization of Messiah the Prince in Daniel 9 .25, and the capitalization of Messiah in Daniel 9 .26, are interpretations of the text.

The text does not actually say THE Messiah, THE Prince. We'll get to that momentarily, but the ones Daniel 9 did prophesy to come, actually did come, and they came under the Old Covenant, under a mosaic construct.

When I say they, I'm referring to the fact that Daniel wrote down for us what Gabriel prophesied, and Gabriel prophesied three separate time periods of 7 -7's, 62 -7's, and 1 -7. And we're going to get to the division of that 77's in a few minutes, but one anointed ruler is supposed to come after 7 -7's, and another anointed is to be cut off after 62.

And we'll show how that was all fulfilled under a mosaic construct, under the Old Covenant. That should not surprise us, because from start to finish, the punishments, the sevenfold multiplications of the punishments, the desolations of the sanctuary, and the rededication of the altar, are all mosaic in nature, based on Leviticus 26, and the instructions received from Ezekiel 25 years into the 70-year captivity.

And it is clear that Gabriel and Daniel and Jeremiah were all speaking the same mosaic language in the exchange that is recorded in Daniel 9. And as we will show, that is true even of the parts that have been historically interpreted as explicit references to the coming Messiah.

In fact, the coming Messiah is actually a coming ruler who is anointed, one that was actually explicitly identified in the scriptures. And we'll show who that is. So let's take a look at the words of Gabriel and start working our way through them.

We're going to do two things in this episode. First, we're going to address the fact that Gabriel divided the weeks into three subsets, as the text plainly shows. After introducing the 70 weeks, Gabriel never refers again to the 70 weeks as a single unit, but instead refers to seven sevens, 62 sevens, and one seven.

That will be the first part of this week's episode. Second, we will address the starting points of each set of sevens. And yes, I did say starting points in the plural, not starting point. We will address the starting point of each set of weeks into which Gabriel divided them, and that means we've got to find three starting points.

In the history of Danielic eschatology, most but not all schools of thought have put the weeks back together after Gabriel cut them into pieces. But we're going to deal with them as separate pieces of the prophecy, the way Gabriel described them.

So let's start with the division of the weeks according to Gabriel's prophecy. So reading from Daniel 9 .24, it starts with 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city. That phrase has alternately been interpreted in various translations as 70 weeks are determined, 70 weeks are decreed, 70 weeks are apportioned, and 70 weeks are cut short.

I have even heard it described as 70 weeks are covenanted upon thy people and upon thy holy city. There is a reason for the diverse translations, and the reason is that the word translated as determined is actually a unique and obscure Hebrew word occurring nowhere else in the scriptures, but it means to divide, which I hasten to add is not the word Gabriel uses elsewhere when he means determined.

By way of comparison, when Gabriel uses determined later in his prophecies, that is later in this chapter and in chapter 11, he uses a different word, and he uses it consistently. Daniel 9 .26 says,. And unto the end of the war desolations are determined, and he uses the word karatz for determined.

Daniel 9 .27 says,. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate, and he uses the word karatz for determined. Daniel 11 .36, speaking of the same time period, says,. Till the indignation be accomplished, for that that is determined shall be done, and again uses the word karatz.

These are all references to the end of the indignation and the fact that desolations had been determined as a judgment by God against the Jews in accordance with Leviticus 26. But when saying 77s are, quote, determined, unquote, in Daniel 9 .24, Gabriel actually uses a different term.

It's a unique term, and it means to cut up or to divide. That word is kathat. The theological word book of the Old Testament says of the term,. This verb appears only in the passive stem nifal and only in Daniel 9 .24, the famous 70 weeks passage.

In rabbinic Hebrew, the root basically means cut, hence the translation decreed in most versions. That's from the theological word book of the Old Testament, page 778. In his dictionary of Targumim, Talmud, and Midrashic literature, Marcus Jastrow shows that when kathat is used in its passive stem, the primary connotation is typically in the cutting or the severing or amputation of the object itself.

He gives several examples about things being cut off and severed or cut into, amputated, or being cut in half. And that's from, again, Marcus Jastrow, dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud, and Midrashic literature, volume 1, page 513.

So, based on what we know about the term, let's at least acknowledge that when Gabriel speaks of 77's being cut up and proceeds to divide them into three sets of weeks, it appears at the outset that Gabriel really meant that 77's had been divided or cut up.

It is hardly a stretch to conclude that meaning from the text. 77's are divided or cut up into three subsets of weeks. 18th century Hebrew scholar John Gill also recognized the significance of Gabriel's singular use of the term.

In this very specific context, 70 weeks had been kathat, or cut up, or sectioned into smaller amounts. This is from John Gill's exposition of the Bible on Daniel 9 .24. It says the word, as it signifies to cut, aptly expresses the division or section of these weeks into distinct periods as 7, 62, and 1.

So yes, the word Gabriel uses was kathat, or divided. And he used the term in the context of 70 weeks being sectioned or cut up into three subsets of weeks. And that is precisely how Gabriel discusses the weeks from that point forward.

After he first introduced the 70 weeks, he then spoke of their fulfillment only in their division. And we ought to consider these separate sets of weeks as they are revealed to us instead of trying to add them back together again, which is typically how we have approached Daniel chapter 9.

Gabriel never says, for example, after the 77's Messiah will come. In fact, as I will show, he did not even say after 69 7's the Messiah will come. He actually said an anointed ruler would come after 7 7's, and that an anointed would be cut off after 62.

That is simply what the text says. And that's actually what happened, as we'll show. And this leads to a problem that has faced eschatologists since we first started interpreting the 77's. We have simply added them back together and tried to deal with them as a single unit, either as 77's or as 69 7's, to get to Christ and his ministry, and then one week sometime later on, separated from the 69.

Interpretations differ about how to handle the 70th week. Some hold that the 69 years lead to Christ, and the final week sums up his earthly ministry until his ascension. Others see half the week fulfilled in Christ's earthly ministry and the other half fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem.

And still others see the second half of the week fulfilled in the distant future with the rise of Antichrist and Christ's returns. But many interpretations simply add the 7 and the 62 together to get a 69-week unit, which is something Gabriel does not even mention.

The point we are making is that Gabriel divided the 70 weeks, and they need to be interpreted in their divided form, because that's how he revealed them to us. We cannot simply put them back together again to try to make them fit Christ and his ministry.

What we're going to propose is that the Jews knew this, and what is more, that we, as in we Protestants, have known this from a long time ago, and that the text of the passage does not actually support a 69-week period.

But with the passage of time, we have forgotten what we used to know about that Hebrew text, and we have been trying to make the prophecy fit Christ, and we've been adopting a 69-week period, even though we actually know the text does not mention one and actually does not support one.

So let us start with the Jewish objection to the translation of Daniel 9 .25, in which Gabriel mentions 7 weeks and 62 weeks. In our modern translations, largely put them back together again into a 69-week period.

We understand that the Jewish objection is going to be considered biased against an interpretation that finds its fulfillment in Christ. But my concern is that the Christian interpretation is biased in favor of finding fulfillment in Christ, and we need to cast the bias aside and study what the text is actually saying.

I believe that by looking at the text closely in Daniel 9 and studying it in the context of Leviticus 26, the solution will come to the surface, and as we mentioned earlier in this series, when we are finished, we will not only identify the start and finish of each of the three sets, but we will also be able to discern the meaning of the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings, the 1 ,290 days, and the 1 ,335 days, and we'll also be able to explain why Gabriel would describe a 3 .5-year period as 1 ,290 days instead of 1 ,260.

Again, the answers are all in the text. So let's turn to Daniel 9 .25. In the King James, Daniel 9 .25 reads,. The seven weeks and three score and two weeks is typically taken as 69, but our first objection is that if Gabriel had been speaking of a 69-week period, he would have said three score and nine instead of seven weeks and three score and two weeks.

Here are a few examples of how this is done in Hebrew. Genesis 46 .27. In order to say 70, Moses wrote three score and ten. This is what he wrote. And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls.

And the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were three score and ten. In Leviticus 12 .5, to say 66, he writes three score and six days. But if she should bear a maid, child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation, and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three score and six days.

66 days. Numbers 31 .28. Referring to the word 72, the text says three score and twelve. And the beaves were thirty and six thousand, of which the Lord's tribute was three score and twelve. 72. Numbers 31 .39.

In order to say 61, the author writes three score and one. It says, and the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred, of which the Lord's tribute was three score and one. That is 61. Thus, and my point is that when you write a number in Hebrew, and it starts with three score or 60, you simply add to three score whatever you need to get to the right amount.

So 72 is three score and twelve. 70 is three score and ten. 66 is three score and six. 62 is three score and two. And 61 is three score and one. To say 69, you would not say seven weeks and three score and two weeks.

That is simply not the way you would say 69. You would say three score and nine. Gabriel was clearly talking about a seven-week period, or 49 years, and another 62-week period that was 434 years. Then later in the passage, he refers to one week of seven years.

We will talk about those three periods momentarily, but we need first to establish that Gabriel actually divided the weeks, and importantly, he certainly did not mention the 69-week period. He actually said he was dividing the 77s, and then proceeds to discuss them as if he had divided them.

And that's how we need to understand the passage. Now what I want to point out next is that the King James translates, in Daniel 9 .25, unto the Messiah, the Prince. But the definite article, that is the word the, as it's translated into English, does not actually occur in the Hebrew.

And further, the Hebrew simply says, an anointed ruler, not the Messiah, the Prince. As we said last week, Christ is an anointed ruler, but not every anointed ruler is Messiah, or Christ. Lacking a definite article, the correct translation is simply, unto an anointed ruler, rather than unto the Messiah, the Prince.

Additionally, in the Hebrew, the punctuation of Daniel 9 .25 speaks of the seven weeks as something separate from the 62 weeks. I'll start with the Jewish objection to the King James translation, and then address the Protestant acknowledgment of the same issue.

I'm about to read from a group called Jews for Judaism, criticizing the modern King James, but before our listeners take offense, it's worth pointing out that even Protestant Hebrew scholars, as well as the original 1611 King James, actually agree with the Jewish critics on this point, on the punctuation issue that exists between the 7 and the 62.

My point is, even people who believe Jesus is the Messiah agree that Gabriel did not speak of 69 weeks. Okay, so here's the comment from Jews for Judaism. The King James version disregards the Hebrew punctuation.

The punctuation mark, atnach, functions as the main pause within a sentence. The atnach is the appropriate equivalent of the semicolon in the modern system of punctuation. It thus has the effect of separating the 7 weeks from the 62 weeks.

That is, until an anointed one, a prince, shall be 7 weeks, semicolon. Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again. By creating a 69-week period, which is not divided into two separate periods of 7 weeks and 62 weeks, respectively, Christians reach an incorrect conclusion, i .e., that the Messiah will come 483 years after the destruction of the first temple.

That's again, Jews for Judaism, on the translation of Daniel 9 .25. So, we could object and say that, well, the Jews are of course biased against Christ, but our own Hebrew scholars agree and know that this is true.

The fact is, the Hebrew text militates strongly against the chronic temptation to construct a 69-week period simply by adding the 7 to the 62. For example, this is from Professor Robert Dunsweiler of Biblical Theological Seminary.

This is actually from his class notes from Systematic Theology 4, and you can actually download these online. It's from Biblical Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and if you download his lecture notes, you can find this on page 389 of Systematic Theology 4.

He says, the construction of verse 25 does not appear readily to lend itself to the idea of simply adding the 7 weeks to get a total of 69. In fact, it would appear that in the Hebrew construction, the 7 weeks would go with what becomes before them, and the 62 weeks would appear to be a separate unit.

So, that's from Professor Robert Dunsweiler, class notes, Biblical Theological Seminary. My point is that when Daniel 9 .25 says, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be 7 weeks, it is saying, shall be 7 weeks semicolon or period, thus establishing a 49-year period, not a 483-year period.

And that means there must be a separate 62-week period. And in fact, what we find in the next verse, Gabriel picks up and says, after the 62 weeks. That's very, very significant because we have tried to add the 62 to the 7, and Gabriel keeps right on talking, as if he was only talking about a 62-week period that's separate from the 7.

But for now, we just wanted to show that the actual text shows that the 7 and the 62 are separate. They are not supposed to be added back together. The Hebrew text separates them. We'll also address the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah, the Prince, in a few minutes, when we get to the discussion on the starting points.

But first, we just need to focus on Gabriel's division of the weeks, and especially the fact that there is no 69-week period in Gabriel's prophecy, and the punctuation of the original Hebrew militates against our attempt to add them back together again to make 69.

Now, the Jewish objection that there is a semicolon between the 7 and the 62 has been corroborated by Dunsweiler. It was also reflected in the original 1611 translation of the King James. This is how the passage was translated when the King James was first rendered in English.

From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, semicolon, and threescore and two weeks, the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times.

Now, the later King James translation actually demoted that semicolon into a comma, so that it softens the hard break between the 7 and the 62 that is present in the original Hebrew, and that the original King James recognized.

The King James now reads, From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, comma, and threescore and two weeks, the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times.

And now the new King James gets rid of any punctuation at all between the 7 and the 62, and completely eliminates even the hint of the hard break that actually exists in the original Hebrew. Here's how the new King James translates the verse, From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times.

So, that's a brief study of the comparatively recent translations of an ancient text, and what has happened over time is that we have gradually and discreetly eliminated something in the Hebrew because it did not comport with our conviction that the text must be speaking of the arrival of Christ after 483 years, or 69 sevens.

We eliminated the hard break between 7 and 62 because we thought we already knew what the prophecy was about, and thus the punctuation didn't matter. All that mattered to us was that the prophecy must be about Christ, and so we have, over time, let the punctuation fade into the background so that we could get our 69-week period.

Instead of simply adding them together to make the prophecy fit Christ, we should have been asking why the punctuation militates so strongly against our traditional attempt to join together what Gabriel divided.

And again, I want to make sure everybody understands when I say we, I really mean we. I spent years studying Daniel chapter 9, trying to figure out how it maps to Christ. The fact is, there is a hard punctuation between the 7 and the 62 because Gabriel divided them, and that is how we should approach the text.

Now, before we move on, I do want to acknowledge that there are some relatively minor or obscure translations that still honor that original text, and I'll mention them here. I'm going to mention a Protestant translation, a Roman Catholic translation, and a Jewish translation.

So this is from the English Standard Version, a Protestant translation. From the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks.

Period.

Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and a moat, but in a troubled time. The New American Bible, that's the Roman Catholic translation, says from the utterance of the word that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt until one who is anointed and a leader, there shall be seven weeks.

Period.

During 62 weeks it shall be rebuilt with streets and trenches in a time of affliction. And now here is the Jewish Publications Society translation of Daniel 9 .25 from 1917. It says from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto an anointed one, a prince shall be seven weeks.

Semicolon. And for threescore and two weeks it shall be built again with broad place and moat, but in troublous times. So there are three different translations from Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Jews acknowledging something that is actually present in the original text.

The hard separation between seven and 62. That hard separation manifests in two ways, namely in the fact that if Gabriel had meant 69 weeks, he would have said threescore and nine weeks instead of seven weeks and threescore and two weeks.

And also in the fact that the Atnach punctuation serves to separate the seven from the 62, as Jews, Protestants, and Roman Catholics all know to be true. This is not an interpretation, but is simply a fact in the original text.

That is why the original King James and some other translations still separate the seven from the 62, because in the original Hebrew that's how it was revealed to us. My point is that, in opposition to Gabriel's revelation, historically we have been straining at the text to make it say what we want it to say.

That straining at the text to find a 69-week period satisfies the longing of the eschatologists to find Christ in the prophecy. The longing is understandable, for at the end of the alleged 69 weeks the Messiah comes and is cut off.

But the Hebrew simply does not allow that reading, as we showed from Daniel 9 .25 and from actual Hebrew scholars, including Protestants. In fact, in the next verse it shows that Gabriel did not see the Messiah being cut off after 3 score and 9 weeks, but after 3 score and 2.

In reality, Gabriel says one Messiah, or rather an anointed ruler is coming at the end of the 7 weeks, and another will be cut off after the 62 weeks. There are, in fact, two sets of weeks in view here in Daniel 9 .25 -26.

A set of 7, and a set of 62. Not a single set of 69. And there are two anointeds, one at the end of the 7, and one at the end of the 62, which we are about to show. Neither of them is the promised Christ, and just as important, Gabriel never at any point in the prophecy ever says an anointed is coming at the end of the 69 weeks.

And in fact, he never even mentions the 69 week period at all. And then when we get to Daniel 9 .27, he refers to the third and final set of weeks, that is the last week. And we will spend an entire episode on that 70th week in our next episode.

So to conclude this section on the division of the weeks, we will briefly observe why Gabriel's prophecy had both good news and bad news for Daniel. Daniel was lamenting the fact that the sanctuary and the city are now desolate, and Gabriel responded that the city and the sanctuary would be rebuilt, but that even more desolations are determined.

And for there to be more desolations, that would require that the city and the sanctuary be rebuilt, so they could be re-desolated. Just read the text of Gabriel's prophecy. That's what it says. During the 62 weeks it will be rebuilt, and in the 70th week it will be re-desolated.

But keep in mind the objectives of the 70-year punishment and the objectives of the 77's punishment. To get the Jews to repent and to rededicate the altar in accordance with the instructions of Ezekiel.

And that repentance would require that the altar, the most holy, be anointed. And what we'll find is that that is exactly what happens at the end of the 70th week. And that's the point we were making last week at the end of the episode, that the 77's are divided into three sets, and that at the end of each one there is something about an anointing or an anointed.

After 7, an anointed ruler will come. After 62, an anointed will be cut off. And after 1, the most holy will be anointed. And that brings us to part 2 of this week's episode. When do the 77's begin? The real question is, actually, when does each set begin?

And that's what we'll cover next. Well, when do the weeks begin? Or when does each set of weeks begin? The answer is in the text. We've already shown that Daniel 9 is an application of Leviticus 26. So we know that the 7-fold multiplication is because of their failure to repent.

We also know from Jeremiah 24 that God had identified two baskets of figs for captivity, good Jews and bad Jews, and He was going to use the same captivity for the good of the good figs and to scatter the bad figs.

We also know that the Jews did not repent or follow the Lord's instructions for showing their sincere shame and repentance for their sins during the Lord's indignation against them for 70 years, and thus the original captivity had to be extended, according to Leviticus 26.

And that is why we see that the end of the indignation is much, much later under the Greek Empire. And in fact, we see the same two baskets of figs being dealt with at the end of the indignation, as we saw in Jeremiah 24, before the 70-year captivity.