Search The Scriptures —Study 11 — Daniel 9:20-27

Study 11 From the Book of Daniel is: Daniel 9:20-27

Daniel had assumed that a period of seventy years would finish ’the desolations of Jerusalem’ (verse 2), and in his prayer, had pleaded with God for this (verse 18). God sends Gabriel to give him fuller understanding (verse 20-23), by conveying to him ‘a word’, which speaks not a seventy year, but of seventy weeks of years. The message is very condensed, and every clause is significant.

1-     Verse 24. What are the six things here mentioned? Noticed that they all concern the Jews and the holy city, and are to come to pass at the end of the full seventy weeks of years.

2-     The seventy weeks of years are divided into three periods of seven weeks, sixty-two weeks and one weeks respectively. What the first period signifies is not certainly known, unless it is the time taken to build the city. What event, however, is stated as happening at the end of the second period?

3-     The reminder of the passage has been variously interpreted even by those who regard it as inspired prophecy. If verse 26a is a reference to the cross of Christ, then verse 26b seems to point to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in AD 70. But such questions, as these arise: (a) Does the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 exhaust the prophecy? (b) Who is the ‘prince that shall come’, and is he to be identified with the little horn of 7:8, 24, 25? See Note 3 below.

Notes

1-     Verse 24. “To finish the transgression’ and ‘to put an end to sin’ are parallel expression meaning to bring Israel’s sinning to an end. Cf. Rom.11:26, 27. ‘To seal both vision and prophet’: i.e., to ratify them as being fulfilled. ‘To anoint a most holy place’: i.e., the consecration of the Messianic Temple, fulfilled in the establishment of the church, the body of Christ.

2-     From the decree of Artaxerxes I, referred to in Exr. 7:11ff. (458 BC), sixty-nine weeks of years bring us to the period of Christ’s ministry. This prophecy of Daniel may account for the widespread expectation of Messiah at the time Jesus appeared (cf. Mt. 2:1, 2; Lk. 2:25, 26; 3:15), and may lie behind our Lord’s own words in Mk. 1: 15a.

3-     Verses 26, 27. Many hold that in this prophecy, as in other Old Testament passages, the beginning and end of the Christian era are telescoped together, and that the prophecy here leaps forward to the end of the age. If so, the last ‘week’ is separated from the first sixty-nine by the whole interval between Christ’s first and second comings. With verse 27, cf. 2 Thes. 2: 8.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 10 — Daniel 9:1-19

Study 10 From the Book of Daniel is:  Daniel 9:1-19

1-     Consider the effect of the fall of Babylon upon one who, like Daniel, saw in it a fulfilment of prophecy (verse 2; cf. Je. 25:11; 29:10-14; 50:1-5). What did it lead him to do (cf. Ezk. 36:37), and what light do verses 2 and 3 throw upon the use of Scripture in our praying?

2-     As you read through Daniel’s prayer, how would you describe his praying? See especially verses 3 and 19. In his confession, how does he speak of God? How of himself and his people? In his petition, on what does he base his plea for mercy, and for what does he ask?

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Search The Scriptures —Study 9 — Daniel 8

Study 9 From the Book of Daniel is: Daniel 8

The vision of this chapter received historical fulfilment in the overthrow of Persia by Alexander the Great (330 BC), the division of Alexander’s kingdom into four (‘but not with his power’, verse 22), and the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes, who did what is here foretold of him in verses 9-12 and 23-25 (170-164, BC). Gabriel’s emphasis, however, upon the vision having to do with ‘the time of the end’ (see verses 17 and 19) suggests that its meaning is not exhausted in Antiochus, but that he is only a type of one greater than he, and yet to come, who will act in a similar way. Cf. 7:24-26 and Mt. 24:15; 2 Thes. 2:8-10.

1-     What expression is used both of the ram and of the he-goat in the time of their prosperity, and also of the king of verse 23? Yet what was the end of these kingdoms? Notice the repetition of the verb ‘to break’.

2-     Why was Daniel so deeply affected by this vision? Consider how the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel seemed to indicate that the return from exile would coincide with the advent of the kingdom of God (see, e.g., Je., 32:37-44; Ezk. 37:21-28); but this vision shows long vistas of history stretching into the future, and further suffering for the Jews.

Notes

1-     Verse 9. ‘The glorious land’: i.e., Palestine

2-     Verse 10. ‘The host of heaven… stars’: used figuratively of Israel and her leaders.

3-     Verse 11. ‘The prince of the host’: i.e., God Himself. Cf. verse 25.

4-     Verse 12. Israel was to be given over into the power of the ‘horn’ because of transgressions, and true religion was to be supressed.

5-     Verse 14. If the burnt offering ceased for 2, 3000 times, that would be 1, 150 days, which is a little more than three years.  It is known that Antiochus did suspend the burnt offering for three years and possibly a little longer.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 8 — Daniel 7

Study 8 From the Book of  Daniel is:  Daniel 7

The chapter records, first, the vision (verses 2:14); then the general interpretation (verses 15-18); then Daniel’s enquiry concerning three features of the vision (verses 19, 20); and lastly, the answer given to these enquiries.

1-     Assuming the four kingdoms to be the same as those which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream (chapter 2), what is there new in this vision which caused Daniel such distress and agitation of spirit (verses 15, 28))?

2-     To Nebuchadnezzar the kingdoms of this world appeared in the glittering splendour of material wealth and power, whereas by Daniel they are seen as beast of prey. What is the difference between these points of view, and which is the deeper and truer view? Cf. 1 Sa. 16:7; Mt. 4:8; 1 Jn. 2:16, 17.

3-     What is to be the final goal of history to which this vision looks forward?  Who are meant by ‘the saints of the Most High’  (verse 18)? What privileges will they have in the days to come?

Notes

1-     Verse 5. The bear represented the Medo-Persian Empire, noted for its greed for further conquest.

2-     Verse 6. The wings on the leopards’ back indicate the swiftness of Alexander’s campaigns. After his death his empire was divided into four parts.

3-     Verse 7. The fourth beast is either the Seleucid Empire, with its many kings (horns), of whom Antiochus Epiphanes was the most deadly, or Rome with its many emperors, under one of whom arose the Son of man.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 7 — Daniel 6

Study 7 From the Book of Daniel is: Daniel 6

            The identity of Darius the Mede is still a matter for debate, but the most likely candidates are Gobryas (Gubaru), the governor or Babylon, or Cyrus the king. This is one of many instances of biblical interpretation over which the reader has to admit that he simply does not know the answer until fresh evidence comes to light to help to solve the mystery.

       1-     Neither pressure of business nor the threat of death kept Daniel from prayer. How is it with you? Do you think that other qualities in Daniel’s character revealed in this chapter were the outcome of his prayer life? What were those qualities?  Cf. Is. 40:29-31; Phil: 4:5, 6.

      2-     Is your faith of such a kind that you can stand alone in obedience to God without external support? Are we so living that even our keenest critics take it for granted that the will of God comes first in our lives, come that what may?

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Search The Scriptures —Study 6 — Daniel 5

Study 6 From the Book of  Daniel is:  Daniel 5

Babylon fell in 539 BC, twenty-three years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar. A quarter of a century, therefore, has elapsed since the events of chapter 4.

      1-     What four accusations did Daniel bring against Belshazzar? In what two ways was Belshazzar’s sin aggravated and made more heinous?

       2-     Consider the judgment pronounced upon Belshazzar as symbolizing the divine judgment upon all ungodliness, whether in national or individual life. See verses 26 – 28, and cf. Pr. 15:3, 9; Ec. 8:11-13.

Notes

       1-     The identity of Belshazzar was for long unknown, but he is now known to have been the eldest son of King Nabonidus (556-59), and to have shared the duties of the throne with his father. While Nabonidus was a way from Babylon, his son had supreme authority there.

       2-     Verse 10, ‘The queen’: probably the queen-mother, window of Nebuchadnezzar.

       3-     Verses 25-28. The words represent three weights or coins, viz mina, shekel, and peres or half-mina. But the interpretation conceals numerous plays on words, for the verbal roots mean ‘to number to weight and to divide’. In the case of ‘peres’, ‘to divide’, a further similarity to the word for Persian has been used.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 5 — Daniel 4

Study 5 From the Book of Daniel is: Daniel 4

The theme of this chapter is pride. It takes the form of a decree by Nebuchadnezzar announcing the strange psychical affliction he has undergone, through which he has learnt the all-important lesson that

‘the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will’ (verse 25).  It can be compared with Is. 14:8-17 and Ezk. 1-10, passages which in their turn look back to the basic sin of humanity (Gn. 3).

       1-     How effective was the king’s experience in bringing him to humility? Contrast his attitude to God and confession of Him in this chapter with his previous utterances in 2:47; 3:29. How would you define the change?

      2-     What are the main themes of Daniel’s teaching in this situation? With verse 27, cf. Mi. 6:8.

Notes

      1-     Verse 13. ‘A watcher, a holy one’: i.e., an angelic figure who acted with the authority of God.

      2-     Verse 33. The mental derangement, known as zoanthropy, lasted for a set period described as ‘seven times’ (verse 16). This could mean ‘seven years’ or simply ‘a substantial period of time’.  In the apocryphal ‘Prayer of Nabonidus’, found a Qumran, it is recorded that King Nabonidus, a successor of Nebuchadnezzar, spent seven years of his reign in isolation at Teima because of some strange illness. So this chapter is not without parallel in ancient traditions.

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