SRR #75 | The 70th Week of Daniel - Danielic Imperative Part 13

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SRR #76 | All the Evenings and Mornings – Danielic Imperative Part 14

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I do a podcast. I'm not interested in your podcast. The anathema of God was for those who denied justification by faith alone.
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When that is at stake, we need to be on the battlefield, exposing the error and combating the error.
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We are unabashedly, unashamedly Clarkian. And so the next few statements that I'm going to make,
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I'm probably going to step on all of the Vantillian toes at the same time. And this is what we do at Simple Riff around the radio, you know.
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We are polemical and polarizing Jesus style. I would first say that to characterize what we do as bashing is itself bashing.
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It's not hate. It's history. It's not bashing. It's the Bible. Jesus said,
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Woe to you when men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way, as opposed to blessed are you when you have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
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It is on. We're taking the gloves off. It's time to battle. This week on Simple Riff from on the radio,
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Timothy Kaufman walks us through the final week of Gabriel's prophecy, showing that the 70th week of Daniel was to follow the 62 weeks, just as Gabriel prophesied, rather than following the 69 weeks as is traditionally assumed.
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Timothy Kaufman walks us through the seven year confirmation of a covenant between the
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Jews and the Gentiles, during which the people, the city, and the sanctuary in Jerusalem were re -desolated, including a decree in the middle of the week prohibiting sacrifices, and finally the recovery of the
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Temple Mount by the Jews, followed by the cleansing of the sanctuary in accordance with Daniel chapter 8, verse 14, and the rededication and anointing of the
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Most Holy, the altar, in accordance with Daniel chapter 9, verse 24, and the
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Lord's instruction in Ezekiel 43. All of this happened under the Old Covenant in a
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Mosaic -Levitical context, just as Daniel foretold. For more, here's
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Tim. Okay, thank you, Tim. That's a great introduction. I appreciate it, and I'm glad to be back.
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I'm glad that we've finally got to a point where we can discuss the 70th week of Daniel.
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Over the last few weeks, we have made a case that Daniel 9 is a prophecy that is inescapably Mosaic in nature and not
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Messianic. It is based on what we call the Leviticus 26 protocol, which not only calls for desolations as a punishment for Israel's sins, but also requires a seven -fold multiplication of the punishments if Israel fails to repent.
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Daniel had been reading the book of Jeremiah when he prayed to the Lord about the 70 years of desolations of Jerusalem and confessed that during the 70 years, the
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Jews had failed to repent. Gabriel arrived to answer Daniel's prayer and multiplied the 70 years by seven, informing
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Daniel that even though the city and the sanctuary would be rebuilt and the people would be returned to the land, it was so that they would be redesolated.
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As Gabriel said, desolations are determined. This is all Mosaic because Leviticus 26 is the only place in the
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Pentateuch that God imposes desolations as a punishment for sins and multiplies those punishments seven -fold when the
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Jews do not repent. As Daniel said in his prayer, All those desolations of Jerusalem were
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Mosaic according to the law of Moses in Leviticus 26 and the Jews did not repent. What we have also been showing in several ways is that the 77s are in fact related to the 70 years and are a continuation of the 70 years.
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First, the 70 years were intended to complete and satisfy the Lord's indignation against the Jews. He explained
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His indignation to Jeremiah prior to the 70 years in Jeremiah 10 .10 then explained that He had indignation against the
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Jews all those 70 years in Zechariah 1 .12. And as we saw in Ezra and Nehemiah, the
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Jews were still engaged in the abominations of the Gentiles even as they rebuilt the foundation, the altar, and the temple after they returned from captivity.
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And when Gabriel spoke to Daniel in chapter 8, he said the explicit purpose of his vision in Daniel 8 was to show him what shall be in the last end of the indignation, as Daniel 8 .19.
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The last end of the indignation would be when a king came to desolate the people in the sanctuary. That king would be against the sacrifices and the indignation would finally end when the sanctuary was cleansed as a sign of repentance.
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And that is exactly what is described in Daniel 9. The 77s end only when the
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Most Holy is anointed after the coming king destroys the people, the city, and the sanctuary and desolates the altar.
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The Most Holy, of course, refers to the anointing of the sanctuary and both the sanctuary and the altar are cleansed at the end of the indignation.
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That is why Daniel 8 says the indignation ends when the sanctuary be cleansed in Daniel 8 .14 and Daniel 9 says the 77s end when the
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Most Holy is anointed, Daniel 9 .24. It's all about the Jews repenting of how they have defiled the sanctuary and the altar.
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And they were told by Ezekiel in the 25th year of their captivity how they were to express their shame and their sorrow and their repentance.
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That's in Ezekiel 43. We are revisiting this and emphasizing the connection between the indignation and the 70 years in Leviticus 26 and Jeremiah and Gabriel and Israel's profanation of the sanctuary and the altar in order to make two main points.
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First, that all of this from Leviticus 26 to Jeremiah to the 70 years to Daniel's prayer about the end of the 70 years to Gabriel's response about the 77s all shows that it was purely
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Levitical in nature and the end of the indignation and the end of the 77s are all about cleansing the sanctuary, rededicating the altar and anointing them both and restoring the sacrificial priesthood.
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It is Mosaic to the core, not Messianic. The second point is that the 77s is a prolongation of the 70 years and therefore must have a common starting point with the 70 years.
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Whatever is going to happen at the end of the 70 years is extended to the end of the 77s and thus the 77s and the 70 years have a common starting point which, as we have noted, is 605
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B .C. And that's where we were last week. The 77s are a prolongation of the 70 years which began in 605
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B .C. So, our listeners might ask why not just fast forward 490 years from 605
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B .C. to 115 B .C. to find the fulfillment of the prophecy. The reason is very simple.
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The text does not support that. What we also focused on last week was that Gabriel not only multiplied the 70 years by 7 but then divided the 77s into three subsets of weeks.
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7 weeks, 62, and 1. We cannot simply add them back together to find the fulfillment.
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We have to handle them the way they are revealed to us. And the way they are revealed to us is as three divided sets.
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First, he said 7 7s and 3 score and 2 7s instead of 3 score and 9 7s which is the way you would normally say 69.
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Second, he put a hard punctuation mark between the 7 7s and the 62 7s showing that the 7 7s have a different starting and ending point than the 62.
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The 1611 King James Bible recognized it. The Jewish Publications Society 1917 translation recognized that.
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The Roman Catholic New American Bible recognizes it. The Protestant English Standard Version recognizes it.
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They all put a semicolon or a period between the 7 7s and the 62 7s recognizing the original
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Hebrew as it is revealed to us. Additionally, Gabriel used a specific word that means divide when he said 77s have been divided.
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And then he proceeded to discuss them in their divided form. He actually said that they were divided and then went right on talking about them as if they had been divided.
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He did not do as our modern translations do and simply put them back together to try to make them refer to Christ.
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Most notably, after saying that there are 7 7s and there are 62 7s he said that the final week occurs after the 62 7s quite noticeably not after the 69 and not after the 7.
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The whole revelation unfolds as if Gabriel had did the weeks into three sets of 7, 62, and 1 and Gabriel proceeds accordingly.
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What we also discussed last week was that 77s prophecy is intrinsically related to the 70 years.
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But the 7 7s has a starting point in 587 B .C. and the one week starts after the 62. And therefore the 62, the only set without a starting point given in the text must begin in 605
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B .C. The same starting point is the 70 years. Fast forward 62 7s or 434 years from 605
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B .C. gets us to 171 B .C. The year Onias III, the high priest, was murdered in exile.
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Thus, as the text says, not only was the city rebuilt during the 62 7s in accordance with Daniel 9 24, but an anointed, that is the high priest was cut off at the end of the 62 7s.
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That was in 171 B .C. Now to drive our point home, we notice that Cyrus king of Persia was an anointed ruler who was raised up by the
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Lord in 538 B .C. according to Isaiah 44 28 to 45 1.
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And Onias III was an anointed high priest who was murdered in 171 B .C. having nothing. So far everything is mosaic.
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What happened next was a 7 year period. One week it started with confirming the covenant and ended with the altar and the sanctuary being rededicated and anointed.
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In other words, 3 sets of 7s. After 7 7s an anointed is raised up to rebuild the city and the temple.
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After 62 7s an anointed high priest is murdered. And after 1 7 the most holy, the altar is anointed.
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It's exactly what Gabriel said would happen. And the prophecy was entirely mosaic. Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, let's relive that last week.
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The 70th week of Daniel 9. And we'll start with the detailed prophecies from Gabriel and then we'll walk through it line by line.
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This is Daniel 9 26 to 27. And please note that we are correcting some of the interpretations.
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Namely, in Daniel 9 26, instead of saying, After 3 score and 2 weeks shall the
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Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. We have corrected it to read, After 3 score and 2 weeks shall an anointed be cut off, having nothing.
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So let's proceed with Daniel 9 26 to 27. And after 3 score and 2 weeks shall an anointed be cut off, having nothing.
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And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
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And he shall confirm the covenant with the many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.
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And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
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Okay, let's take this one piece at a time. We've already covered after the 3 score and 2 weeks.
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So let's pick up with, And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
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Antiochus IV was the reigning king at the time of this period, and he is known to have conducted two expeditions against Egypt.
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Both are important to our discussion, but it is the first expedition that is of interest to us here. The record of his swift conquest of Egypt is recorded in 1
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Maccabees, which reads, When Antiochus saw that his kingdom was established, he determined to become king of the land of Egypt, that he might reign over both kingdoms.
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So he invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and elephants and cavalry, and with a large fleet.
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He engaged Ptolemy, king of Egypt, in battle, and Ptolemy turned and fled before him.
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And many were wounded and fell, and they captured the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and he plundered the land of Egypt.
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After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the 143rd year. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force.
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The details of his treatment of the people, the city, and the sanctuary are recorded for us in 1 Maccabees 1, 21 -28.
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He stripped the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple. He stripped it all off.
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He took the silver and the gold and the costly vessels. He took also the hidden treasures which he found.
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Taking them all, he departed to his own land. He committed deeds of murder and spoke with great arrogance.
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Israel mourned deeply in every community. Rulers and elders groaned. Maidens and young men became faint.
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The beauty of women faded. Every bridegroom took up the lament. He who sat in the bridal chamber was mourning.
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Even the land shook for its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was closed with shame. Antiochus was going to do a lot worse than this, but let's pick up with the next statement from Daniel 9, 26 -27.
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It says, And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
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Here, Gabriel is simply summarizing what the remaining verse describes in more detail, which specifically is that the people of the prince that shall come refers to King Antiochus and his soldiers coming to Jerusalem to desolate the people, the city, and the sanctuary, and that these desolations are determined all the way to the end of the indignation.
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That is, that's the end that is in mind here, the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
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As we have noted, Daniel 9 focuses on the sins of the Jews, the Lord's indignation against them, and the implications of Leviticus 26, and the prescribed desolations for the sins of the
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Jews until the indignation be accomplished. That is why the vision of Daniel 8, which covers this same time period, is explained by Gabriel as,
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Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation. And here in Daniel 9,
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Gabriel again speaks of the end and unto the end, but is not speaking about the saints ruling with Christ, but rather the end of the indignation of the
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Lord against the Jews. To give our listeners a foretaste of the atrocities committed by Antiochus IV against the
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Jews, and particularly as a fulfillment of, The end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
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We will cite this short description of his murderous rampage through the city. This is 2 Maccabees 5, verses 11 -16.
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When news of what had happened reached the king, he took it to mean that Judea was in revolt.
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So, raging inwardly, he left Egypt and took the city by storm, and he commanded his soldiers to cut down relentlessly everyone they met, and to slay those who went into the houses.
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Then there was killing of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaughter of virgins and infants.
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Within the total of three days, 80 ,000 were destroyed, 40 ,000 in hand -to -hand fighting, and as many were sold into slavery as were slain.
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Not content with this, Antiochus dared to enter the most holy temple in all the world, guided by Menelaus, who had become a traitor both to the laws and to his country.
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He took the holy vessels with his polluted hands, and swept away with profane hands the votive offerings which other kings had made to enhance the glory and honor of the place.
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So, that's just a citation from 2 Maccabees 5, verses 11 -16, an apocryphal book.
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It's not scripture, but it is a pretty good and interesting historical record, about which we'll talk a little bit more later.
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But we note here for emphasis that Antiochus IV desolated the people, the city, and the sanctuary, and his oppression of the
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Jews was extreme. There were some who escaped, went into hiding, and formed a counter -insurgency that would eventually prevail.
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We'll come back to the war that results from Antiochus' oppression of the Jews a little bit later. But we first wanted to cover
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Gabriel's summary of how bad things were going to get. Antiochus was going to make the lives of the Jews much more miserable, as we shall see.
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And, in fact, his oppression would become so severe that the Jews were organized into an armed resistance until the temple was taken back by force, and the sanctuary cleansed in accordance with Daniel 8 .14,
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and the altar rededicated in accordance with Ezekiel 43 .27, and anointed in accordance with Exodus 40 .10
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and Daniel 9 .24. So, let's proceed with Daniel 9 .27, which begins with,
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And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. In this verse, Gabriel has informed us that the prince that shall come shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.
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The wording here does not suggest merely the making of a covenant, but rather the strengthening of one that is already in place.
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The word rendered as confirm in Daniel 9 .27 is the Hebrew word gabar, which means to strengthen or to make stronger, as in Zechariah 10 .6
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and Zechariah 10 .12, which say, And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph.
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And I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up and down in his name. Sayeth the Lord. That's the same word used for strengthen in Zechariah 10 as Gabriel used for confirm in Daniel 9 .27.
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Other renderings of the term in the Old Testament are prevailed or stronger or make great or greater in some way.
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The point is that the word used for confirm means that in the 70th week there is a strengthening or prevailing of a pre -existing covenant.
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And what we'll find is that an agreement had been made by Antiochus IV with the Jews in 175 BC to raise their children in the
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Greek way of life. And then in 171 BC that agreement prevailed or was strengthened and was implemented to a much greater extent.
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So we're going to spend a little time on the first four years of the reign of Antiochus and how after four years the initial agreement in 175
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BC was strengthened or confirmed in 171 BC. So when King Antiochus came to power in Syria in 175
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BC the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees 1 .10
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-16 says that sometime between the ascension of Antiochus to the throne in 175 and his first invasion of Egypt, the people of Israel entered into a covenant with him to adopt the
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Greek way of life. This was instigated by Jason after he usurped the high priesthood from his brother
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Onias III. Here is how it is recorded in 1 Maccabees 1 .10 -16 as the author records the rise of Antiochus IV, the great persecutor of the people of God.
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which is 175 BC And then from that point forward he describes the invasion of Antiochus IV into Egypt.
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Now that's from the first book of Maccabees. The second book of Maccabees gives us a little bit more detail about Jason's intentions when he entered into this covenant with Antiochus IV to convert the
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Jews to the Greek way of life. His secularization policy was largely related to his desire to allow the
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Jews to participate in the quadrennial games, or what we now call the Olympics. What we want to point out here is that Jason, as sinful as he was, appeared largely interested in accruing power and integrating the
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Jews into secular Greek society. And his focus was on getting the gymnasium built and naturalizing the
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Jews as citizens of Antioch so they would be eligible for the games. He was not so much against the
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Jewish religion as he was for the Greek way of life. And his motive in forging an agreement with the king in 175
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BC appears to be centered on participating in the Olympic Games the following year.
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Here is 2 Maccabees 4, 7 -15 relating a little bit more detail for us.
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When Seleucus died and Antiochus, who is called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason, the brother of Onias, obtained the high priesthood by corruption, promising the king at an interview 360 talents of silver, and from another source of revenue, 80 talents.
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In addition to this, he promised to pay 150 more if permission were given to establish by his authority a gymnasium and a body of youth for it, and to enroll the men of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch.
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When the king assented and Jason came to office, he at once shifted his countrymen over to the Greek way of life.
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He destroyed the lawful ways of living and introduced new customs contrary to the law. For with alacrity he founded a gymnasium right under the citadel, and he induced the noblest of the young men to wear the
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Greek hat. There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways because of the surpassing wickedness of Jason, who was ungodly and no high priest, that the priests were no longer intent upon their service at the altar, despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to take part in the unlawful proceedings in the wrestling arena after the call to discus, disdaining the honors prized by their fathers, and putting the highest value upon Greek forms of prestige.
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Again, that's 2 Maccabees 4, verses 7 -15. So, to this point, the greatest offenses of Jason were the introduction of wrestling and the discus, and when the
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Jews got caught up in Olympic fever, the priests began to neglect the service of the altar. And when the
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Olympic Games came around, Jason sent the Jewish Olympians to the games in Tyre with a tribute to Hercules, for whom the games were being played.
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And Hercules, of course, was the paragon of masculinity. Those assigned to the task of carrying the tribute were not comfortable with offering a tribute to Hercules, so they opted instead to donate the tribute toward the construction of Antiochus' navy.
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The authors of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees were deeply offended by these acts of Jason, but in 171 it was going to get much, much worse.
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In 171 BC, Jason, who had usurped the high priestly office from his brother Onias, the
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Levite, was himself outbid for the office of high priest by Menelaus of the tribe of Benjamin.
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This is how it is recorded in 2 Maccabees 4, 23 -25. After a period of three years,
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Jason sent Menelaus to carry the money to the king and to complete the records of essential business. But he, when presented to the king, extolled him with an air of authority and secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding
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Jason by 300 talents of silver. After receiving the king's orders, he returned, possessing no qualification for the high priesthood, but having the hot temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage wild beast.
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Again, that's 2 Maccabees 4, 23 -25. To the degree that we can understand the historical record, it appears that what got started by Jason in 175
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BC to introduce the Jews to the Olympics was taken to a whole new level by Menelaus.
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When Menelaus found himself unable to make the payments to the king, he started stealing and selling the gold vessels from the temple, something
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Jason had not even entertained. Jason's agreement to introduce the Jews to the Greek way of life in 175
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BC was thus taken over by Menelaus, who actually started to sell off the priestly utensils and to dismantle the articles of the sanctuary.
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It was that act that raised the objection of Onias III, who was then murdered for raising an objection against him.
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All this happened in 171 BC. Keep in mind that to this point, Antiochus and his men have not yet entered the temple.
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It was the Jews who voluntarily converted to a new way of life in 175 BC, and it is the
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Jews who started stealing from the temple in 171 BC to maintain the agreement with the king. And that is where the covenant with the
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Gentiles got really interesting. Because Menelaus and his brother started to steal the holy vessels from the temple in order to pay the king and to bribe others, the conservative
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Jews started to revolt. And that is when things took a turn for the worse for the Jews. Under Jason, the
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Jews simply succumbed to a case of Olympic fever and started getting excited about wrestling in the discus to the point that they were neglecting their priestly duties.
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But under Menelaus, who fortified the existing agreement by usurping Jason, the confrontation between the
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Jews and Antiochus turned violent. This is where the trampling down of the Jews began. This is from 2
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Maccabees 4, 39 -48, detailing the sacrilege of Menelaus and his brother Lysimachus after the death of Onias III and the resulting death penalty that was imposed on the
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Jews who had revolted. Again, 2 Maccabees 4, 39 -48. And when report of them had spread abroad, the populace gathered against Lysimachus because many of the gold vessels had already been stolen.
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And since the crowds were becoming aroused and filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about 3 ,000 men and launched an unjust attack.
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But when the Jews became aware of Lysimachus' attack, some picked up stones, some blocks of wood, and others took handfuls of the ashes that were lying about and threw them in wild confusion at Lysimachus and his men.
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As a result, they wounded many of them and killed some and put them all to flight. And the temple robber himself they killed close by the treasury.
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Charges were brought against Menelaus about this incident. When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate presented the case before him.
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But Menelaus, already as good as beaten, promised a substantial bribe and therefore induced the king to change his mind.
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Menelaus, the cause of all the evil, he acquitted of the charges against him, while he sentenced to death those unfortunate men.
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And so those who had spoken for the city and the villages and the holy vessels quickly suffered the unjust penalty. Again, that's 2
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Maccabees 4, 39 -48, detailing the beginning of the oppression of the Jews who were actually standing up to defend the sacred vessels from the temple that Menelaus and his brother had begun to steal and sell off and use to bribe people.
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We have revisited all this time period for a few reasons. First, to show that the 62 sevens of Daniel 9 ended in the same year that the 70th seven began.
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And second, that even more relevant to our discussion this week is to show that the king was to confirm a covenant for one week, according to Daniel 9, 27, in the sense that he made the agreement more firm and more expansive.
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Thus, when Antiochus IV had started in the usurpation of Onias in 175 BC, when the
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Jews agreed to become like Greeks, he completed by affirming Menelaus more extreme secularization policies in the usurpation of Jason in 171, the same year
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Onias III was murdered, after the threescore and two weeks. In fact, we might even say that in his elevation of Menelaus to replace
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Jason, Antiochus IV had strengthened the covenant that he had made earlier with the Jews to adopt the
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Greek way of life, or that the covenant he had made earlier finally prevailed. We are dwelling on this because in the eschatologist's haste to find
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Christ in the prophecy of Daniel 9, he will often assume that the he in Daniel 9, 27 refers to Christ, as in,
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Christ shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. What is incorrectly assumed is that the covenant that he confirmed is that which
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Christ confirmed in his death, that is, by the blood of the covenant, according to Hebrews 10, 29. But that interpretation presumes that Gabriel's prophecy was about Christ.
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The he in Daniel 9, 27, however, is actually the prince of the previous verse, who shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary, according to Daniel 9, 26.
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That prince refers to Antiochus IV, not to Christ. The covenant that is confirmed in Daniel 9 is not
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Jesus' confirmation of a prior covenant in his blood, but simply Antiochus IV's confirmation with Menelaus, the agreement he had made earlier with Jason.
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This is confirmed for us in Daniel 11, 22 -23, which says that the vile person of Daniel 11, 21 is the one who makes a league or covenant with the people, and before whom the prince of the covenant, or the high priest, is broken.
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Daniel 11, 22 -23 says, It was
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Antiochus IV, not Christ, who is that prince who is to come, and his strengthened covenant, as we shall see, only lasted one week.
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It was strengthened in 171 B .C., and would come to an end in 164 B .C., seven years later, as we shall show.
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Just by way of reminder, Jesus did not come to make a one -week covenant with us, but Antiochus IV did confirm for seven years a covenant to raise the
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Jewish people as Greeks and convert them entirely to the Greek way of life. So, let's continue with the next section of the verse, and it is the part that says,
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As we noted when we were discussing Daniel 11, the Senate of Rome was alarmed at the expansionist policy of Antiochus IV, and sent
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Gaius Poppilius Laianus as an envoy to put an end to Antiochus IV's invasion of Egypt.
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And Antiochus IV gave in to Rome's demand. Still stinging from his humiliation before the
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Romans, Antiochus returned to Jerusalem. It was then that he implemented a much harsher policy of persecution against the
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Jews, as recorded for us in 1 Maccabees 1, verses 30 -40. They fortified the city of David with a great strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.
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And they stationed there as sinful people, lawless men. These strengthened their position.
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They stored up arms and food, and collecting the spoils of Jerusalem, they stored them there, and became a great snare.
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It became an ambush against the sanctuary, an evil adversary of Israel continually. On every side of the sanctuary they shed innocent blood.
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They even defiled the sanctuary. Because of them the residents of Jerusalem fled. She became a dwelling place of strangers.
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She became strange to her offspring, and her children forsook her. Her sanctuary became desolate as a desert.
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Her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into a reproach, her honor into contempt.
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Her dishonor now grew as great as her glory. Her exaltation was turned into mourning. It was only after he had finished plundering the city, burning it, tearing down the walls, and fortifying the citadel that Antiochus published a decree that formally abolished the sacrifices and oblations of the altar.
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This is what it says in 1 Maccabees 1, verses 41 -51. And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die.
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In such words, he wrote to his whole kingdom, and he appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city.
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Thus did Antiochus IV abolish sacrifices and oblations in 167 B .C., halfway through the seventieth week.
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As Josephus reports, Antiochus IV spoiled the temple and put a stop to the constant practice of offering daily sacrifice of expiation for three years and six months.
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That's in Flavius Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 1, Paragraph 1. So to reemphasize our main point, this portion of the prophecy of Daniel 9 .27,
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that he shall cause sacrifice to cease, is typically read in a Christological context that is foreign to the text, as if the only possible way for sacrifices to be interrupted is by the arrival of the
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Messiah. That reading is based on Hebrews 10 .18, which says, Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
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We agree that Christ put an end to sacrifices for sins. However, the context of Daniel 9 .27
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is not of a protagonist who cancels our debts, but of an antagonist who abolishes lawful sacrifices under the
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Old Covenant, which requires that the remnant rise up to reestablish the sacrificial order by rededicating the temple and the altar.
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This is confirmed for us by Daniel 8 .11 -12, which says that it is the evil king, not the prince of the host or the high priest, who causes sacrifices to cease.
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This is Daniel 8 .11 -12, And yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
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And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice, by reason of transgression. This is also confirmed by Daniel 11 .31,
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which tells us that the vile person of Daniel 11 .21 is the person who takes away the daily sacrifices.
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It says, And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice.
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The prophecy was not that Christ would come and take away the daily sacrifice, but that the evil, vile king and his people who pollute the sanctuary would take away the daily sacrifice.
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And the prophecy of Daniel 9 .24 is that the good guys would rededicate and anoint the most holy altar. And the prophecy of Daniel 8 .14
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is that the good guys would cleanse the sanctuary. Now, before we find the Jews cleansing the sanctuary and anointing the altar, we need to let the 70th week run its course, as described in the last words of the chapter.
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Here is the very last thing Gabriel says to Daniel as he interprets the vision of the 70 weeks,
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And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
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Okay, so let's take a look at what happened during the worst part of those last seven years.
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And we have this report from the author of 2 Maccabees, detailing the abominations that occurred within the temple.
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This is from 2 Maccabees 6, verses 3 to 6. Harsh and utterly grievous was the onslaught of evil, for the temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the
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Gentiles, who dallied with harlots and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and besides brought in things for sacrifice that were unfit.
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The altar was covered with abominable offerings which were forbidden by the laws. A man could neither keep the
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Sabbath nor observe the feasts of his fathers, nor so much as confess himself to be a
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Jew. So as a final insult to complete the prophecy and complete the desolation,
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Antiochus erected a desolating sacrilege upon the altar of burnt offering, according to 1
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Maccabees 1 .54. As we identified in a previous episode, the specific identity of the desolating sacrilege may be known by the response of the
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Samaritans to the sack of Jerusalem by Antiochus and the subsequent profanation of the temple.
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Lest they too come under the wrath of Antiochus, the Samaritans appealed to him that their temple also be dedicated to Jupiter.
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Their epistle to Antiochus and his written response to their request is recorded for us in Josephus' Antiquities of the
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Jews, Book 12, Chapter 5, Paragraph 5. Thus do we identify the statue of Jupiter, a
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Roman god, as the abomination of desolation that was foretold by Daniel the prophet. So how did the 70th week end?
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Well, it ended with the anointing of the Most Holy, in accordance with the Law of Moses and the instructions of Ezekiel.
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So let's visit those words of Gabriel who said, "...seventy -sevens are divided upon thy people to anoint the
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Most Holy." Fortunately, despite the extreme persecution of the Jews by Antiochus IV, they yet remained a remnant that did not adopt his policies.
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They refused to participate in the Olympics. They refused to sacrifice to false gods. They refused to profane the
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Sabbath. They refused to stop circumcising their sons and refused to give up the Scriptures. This is the period of the
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Maccabean Revolt, when Judas Maccabeus and his brothers took the Temple back from Antiochus IV and his garrison.
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The episode is cited in its entirety from 1 Maccabees, verses 36 -58.
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This is when the Maccabees finally got the upper hand on Antiochus and his men and took the
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Temple back. Then said Judas and his brothers, Behold, our enemies are crushed. Let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.
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So all the army assembled, and they went up to Mount Zion, and they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned.
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In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket, or as on one of the mountains.
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They also saw the chambers of the priests in ruins. Then they rent their clothes, and moored with great lamentation, and sprinkled themselves with ashes.
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They fell face down on the ground, and sounded the signal on the trumpets, and cried out to heaven. Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel, until he had cleansed the sanctuary.
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He chose blameless priests devoted to the law, and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place.
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They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned. And they thought it best to tear it down, lest it bring reproach upon them, for the
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Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar, and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill, until there should come a prophet to tell them what to do with them.
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Then they took unhewn stones as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one.
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They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple, and consecrated the courts. They made new holy vessels.
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They brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. Then they burnt incense on the altar, and lighted the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple.
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They placed the bread on the table, and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.
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Early in the morning, on the twenty -fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Kislev, in the one hundred and forty -eighth year, they arose and offered sacrifice as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering, which they had built.
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At the very season, and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals.
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All the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed heaven, who had prospered them.
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So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness.
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They offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise. They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields.
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They restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and furnished them with doors. There was very great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the
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Gentiles was removed. Again, that's 1 Maccabees 4, 36 -58. Now before we proceed,
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I want to take notice of one of the worst translation errors I've ever seen. The text here says that upon completing the rededication, the blameless priests devoted to the law decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields.
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If you think about it, no devout priest would have decorated the temple with golden crowns and shields, because the law of Moses does not prescribe such decorations.
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What the law of Moses does call for was golden wreaths and breastplates, as prescribed in Exodus 28, verses 22 -24, for the adorning of the priestly chambers and the garments outside the temple, but within the wall of separation.
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It is remarkable how widespread that mistranslation is. Many Bible editions that include the apocryphal books of 1 and 2
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Maccabees translate the passage this way, as if the devout priests of the law had decorated the exterior of the temple with golden crowns and shields.
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The Common English Bible, the Dewey Reams, the Good News Translation, the New American Bible, the New Revised Standard Version, the
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New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, the Wycliffe Bible, and the King James. When they include the apocrypha, they all translate this passage as if the
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Jews rededicated the temple and adorned it with golden crowns and shields, something the Jews never would have done.
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The reality is that Jews adorned the outside of the temple with wreaths and breastplates, as prescribed in the law.
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We will address the significance of that mistranslation a little more next week when we address the 1 ,335 days, but we're out of time for today, so we'll just summarize our conclusion for the week.
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Three and a half years after sacrifices were abolished, and three years to the day since the abomination of desolation was erected on the altar, the sacrifices of the
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Law of Moses were restored. At this point we will simply highlight the fact that the altar, the sanctuary, and the holy vessels were all rebuilt by blameless priests devoted to the law.
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That law required the newly constructed altar, which is most holy, and the sanctuary and vessels to be anointed when they were first consecrated for holy use.
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This is according to Exodus 40 verses 9 to 11. And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and thou shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof, and it shall be holy.
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And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar, and it shall be an altar most holy.
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And thou shalt anoint the laver, and his foot, and sanctify it. We will remind our listeners as well, as we have done several times to this point, that the
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Jews at this time rededicated the altar in accordance with the instructions of Ezekiel. To demonstrate the significance of the eight -day rededication that is recorded for us, we will revisit some historical information showing the proper way to rededicate the altar and how the
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Jews failed to do this when they returned from captivity. So this is King Hezekiah after the altar had been defiled by King Ahaz.
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We have from 2 Chronicles chapter 29 verses 16 to 18 a record of how the priests went about rededicating and cleansing the sanctuary and the altar after it had been defiled by King Ahaz.
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2 Chronicles 29, 16 to 18, �And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the
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Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the
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Lord. And the Levites took it to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.
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Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the
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Lord. So they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days, and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
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Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, �We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shoebread table with all the vessels thereof.�
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So that's the record of when they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days, including the altar.
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Let's now look at Ezekiel's instructions to the Jews, how they were supposed to show their remorse and shame when they returned from captivity.
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This is Ezekiel 43, 18 -27. It says, �And he said to me,
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Son of man, thus saith the Lord God, these are the ordinance of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.�
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So we're going to fast forward to verse 25, which says, �Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering.
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They shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it, and they shall consecrate themselves.
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And when these days are expired, it shall be that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings, and I will accept you, saith the
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Lord.� Now let's look at what happened when the Jews returned from captivity. This is
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Ezra 3, 1 -3, 6. It says, �And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
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Then stood up Jeshua the son of Josedach, and his brethren their priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the
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God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.�
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Now skipping forward to verse 6, it says, �From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings unto the
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Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.� So we're just going to note here that there was a prescription in the law of Moses to offer burnt offering as a memorial on the first day of the seventh month in Leviticus 23, verses 24 -25.
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And that was the first offering that the Jews made when they returned to the land. They did not purify at first the way that they were supposed to.
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Their failure to dedicate the altar in accordance with the instructions of Ezekiel is made even more clear by the fact that when they dedicated the temple in chapter 6 and offered for a sin offering for all
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Israel 12 he goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel, that's Ezra 617, it stands in stark contrast with what
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Ezekiel had actually prescribed. He said, �Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering.�
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That's Ezekiel 43 -25. There was no requirement to offer 12 as a sin offering according to the number of tribes of Israel.
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That's just an illustration of how far off the Jews were from repenting the way Ezekiel had instructed them 25 years into their captivity.
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So now let's look at what happened when the Maccabees rededicated the temple and the altar. This is from 1
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Maccabees 4, verses 42 -56. He chose blameless priests devoted to the law, and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place.
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They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned, and they thought it best to tear it down, lest it bring reproach upon them, for the
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Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until there should come a prophet to tell them what to do with them.
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Then they took unhewn stones as the law directs and built a new altar like the former one. They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple and consecrated the courts.
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So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days and offered burnt offerings with gladness. They offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise.
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So we simply note the care that was demonstrated by the Jews when they rededicated the altar in 164
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BC, which is very similar to the care that was demonstrated by the
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Jews when King Hezekiah had the altar rededicated after it was profaned by King Ahaz.
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And that stands in contrast with the careless sincerity demonstrated by the Jews when they returned from captivity.
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From our standpoint, looking back toward them, we can understand the festivication that precipitated the carelessness because they were celebrating their first sacrifices since the captivity.
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But nevertheless, the Jews had not followed Ezekiel's instructions, and it was Ezekiel who said that once the altar had been purified and purged, then
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I will accept you, saith the Lord God. So that's where we'll conclude this week regarding Daniel 9 .27
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and the 70th week. The Most Holy was anointed the conclusion of the 70 weeks, just as Gabriel had prophesied.
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And according to Ezekiel's prescription, once the altar was purged and purified according to his instructions, it would signify true shame and true repentance, and an end of the sins that brought about the original 70 -year captivity, and the
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Lord would accept them, and reconciliation would take place, and it would signify the end of the indignation, fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel 8 .19
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in which Gabriel said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, and it would fulfill the prophecy of Daniel 9 .24
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that said 70 weeks are divided upon thy people to anoint the Most Holy. As we can see, the whole prophecy of Daniel 9 was indeed
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Mosaic rather than Messianic, and the anointing of the Most Holy referred to the altar rather than to Christ.
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The anniversary of the fulfillment of the 70th week is now known as Hanukkah, the feast of the dedication of the temple, as mentioned in John 10 .22
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where it says, And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
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So we will return next week to discuss the final week of the prophecy in a little bit more detail, namely to discuss the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings identified in Daniel 8 .14,
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and the times and a half, which is 1 ,290 days, as well as the 1 ,335 days in Daniel 12.
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And finally we'll start looking at Jesus' reference to the abomination spoken of by Daniel the prophet in the
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Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Significantly, once we take Daniel 9 in its
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Leviticus 26 context and we look at it from the perspective of a vision in which
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Gabriel visually divides 70 weeks into three subsets of weeks, we find that after seven sevens, an anointed comes who the
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Lord had raised up to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. After 62 sevens, the anointed high priest is murdered as a herald of the 70th week, and after the 70th week, the
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Most Holy, the altar, is rededicated according to the law of Moses, which would have required that it be anointed.
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And thus the Most Holy was anointed at the end of the 70th week. So that's our conclusion on Daniel chapter 9.
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We're going to actually start turning our attention toward Daniel chapter 8 and the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings, and Daniel chapter 12 and the 1 ,290 days and the 1 ,335 days.
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So we'll come back to that next week, but we appreciate everybody listening, and we hope everybody has a good week, and we'll pick up on this next time in our next podcast.