Daniel 9 Study

Paraphrased And Condensed  With Suggested Interpretation          

9:1 - [Babylon was overthrown in the night by Media, and] Darius the Mede was appointed successor to Belshazzar (Nebuchadnezzar’s son). [Darius the Mede, was the predecessor of Cyrus, who sent “all” Israel in “all” his kingdom home.] (And Assyria, where the “ten tribes” had been led captive, by then, was again a part of Babylonia, now Persia.) — 2 In the first year of Darius the Medes reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books of Jeremiah the prophet, the number of years that the desolation of Jerusalem would last, namely, seventy years. (Until Cyrus would make proclamation “Israel go on home”.) 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying ..“O LORD, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant (treaty, agreement, friendship) and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his (life giving, society preserving) commandments (and instructions)..6 We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets 10 ..you have banished.. because of the treachery committed against you.” [They even burned children and babies alive to the god Molech, while beating a drum/tophet to cover the screams.] (Why God wanted a separated nation to birth the “savior oF the-world, and disciplined them to strain out such horrors and also waywardness which curses.) 11..”And so the oath [alah -an oath] and the curse [shebuah - an oath, curse] (the effect, of cause and effect) that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, has been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. (Broken the treaty.) …13 ..All this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not looked for ..the LORD our God, seeking insight by your truth and turning from wickedness. (As evil ever begets evil.) 14 Therefore Yhvh (the LORD) has kept ready the calamity” [ra' - adversity] (his wrath, imo, is that he has created a cause and effect universe. Abandon God and the shield of his Spirit/Presence is naturally given up and lost, and the other fierce ‘gods’/demons who hate the light that was once there, are bound to viciously attack). ..16 “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger (of allowing naturally occurring consequences) and wrath turn away now from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill ..because of our doings.. your people have become a byword among all who are around us. 17..O LORD, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.”

     21 While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen earlier (in chapter 8 came in swift flight to me at the hour of the evening sacrifice. (Without a temple, the sacrifices were sacrifices of prayers, and this was carried through in the later synagogues. The whole idea of ancient sacrifices has to do with guilt and human psychology. Wrath and appeasement yes, but for an angry god is code for the sensitive and delicate human psyche. Surely? Have you ever beat yourself up over something? Perhaps “with many stripes”?) 22 Gabriel said to me, “Oh Daniel, I have now come to give to you understanding and insight. 23 When you began to pray for help and mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.” (Talk about “swift flight”!) “Therefore consider the word and understand this.”

     24 “All together, seventy weeks are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression [pesha - rebellion] to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity/guilt [avon - iniquity, guilt], to bring in enduring righteousness [tsedeq - rightness, righteousness] to seal [chatham - to seal, affix a seal, seal up] vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. [Most holy place is where one meets with God. Metaphor of the heart? In the temple, it was the innermost room where the high priest entered once a year, but now “we can boldly enter the most holy place” (Heb.10:19) and we can “draw near to God with a sincere heart, with the full assurance that faith brings!” (Heb.10:22). And to prove a point, I’ll include the rest of the verse - “having our hearts sprinkled and cleansed from a guilty conscience”. Heb.9:9 says the old system of sacrifice “was unable to cleanse the conscience”. …To anoint a most holy place.. the meeting place. Because God, like he was with Abraham, is a “friend” and a “Father” who “is love”.]

     25 “Know therefore and understand” [the scripture is written to each one of us] “that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem  (later under Artaxerxes) until Messiah the prince, there will be seven weeks. Then there will be sixty-two weeks of building Jerusalem.. with plaza and wall, but during troubling times. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one will be cut off [crucified/executed] and shall (seem to) have nothing. And the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed by the nation of the prince that is coming (one of the Caesars, Titus). Its end coming like a flood, and until the end of war (Ps.2) (there) will be desolations. 27 And (a) strong/mighty covenant [berith - treaty, league, covenant] great/many (for) one week [of years]. (At) half week, (an) end to sacrifice and offering, (and) on the wing (height) of abominations (will come?) appalling desolation, even up to the consummation [kalah - completion, full end] that is cut/determined/decreed/destined(?) is poured out upon the appalling/the desolate. (That would be the “quick” (concurrent?) bowls of Revelation, the final results of this all important contrast, and of the doings of mankind.) (Cross Ref. “an end to sacrifice and offering” Dan.12:11-12, an intriguing math problem. Lk.19:41,44?)