Daniel 9:26-27 – The 70th Week
Daniel 9:26-27 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: 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. v27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
V 26 At the end of the 62nd week, the Messiah would be cut off. This happened at his death in about 27AD. He was killed and not recognized by the Jewish leaders as their Messiah. The latter half of this verse states the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Notice that the prince that is to come: he was not yet in place when the Messiah shall be cut off. This time frame would then exclude Antiochus Epiphanes from being this prince. Other commentators suggest this prince is the Titus who was ruling when the Herodian temple was destroyed in 70 AD. While this latter view makes better sense than the former view, this prince destroying the temple in 70 AD does not coincide with other passages of scripture. Read Daniel 11:36 – 12:13. I believe this prince that will come is none other than the beast that is reference in Rev 13 and in Dan 7. In other passages of scripture, he is referred to as, the son of perdition, the wicked one, the antichrist and his revealing is still future.
As I am writing these thoughts, Hamas and Israel have been engaged in warfare for about 1 month. Some see these wars as a sign of the battle of Gog and Magog as outlined in Ezekiel 38-39. These speculators are being premature in their assumption. As seen above this prince will destroy the temple and the city. Titus destroyed the temple and the city in 70 Ad. At this point in history there is not present temple. For this verse to have prophetic properties for today, the temple will have to be built, or there is another explanation not yet revealed. I believe the temple will be rebuilt again for the 3rd time. Can I prove this? Not yet, but the Jewish religious leaders have been making preparation for this rebuilding for a number of years.
V27 In this verse it is stated, he, the prince in verse 26, will confirm the covenant with many for 1 week. The word “week’ is supplied by the translators and determined by the context. It is my understand that the word is self means a period of 7 “somethings” hours, days, weeks, months, years, millenniums. Here the word 7 refers to years. The prince will then break his covenant with the Jewish nation with many in the middle of the week or after 31/2 years. No such covenant was made with the Jewish nation by Antiochus Epiphanes or Titus. When you hear that someone has made a peace treaty with Israel for 7 years, take notice. While it is very possible that an “imposture” treaty could be under taken to deceive and/or discourage many, you should still notice what is happening around you. If after 3 ½ years there is a breaking of a 7 year covenant with the Jews, you should really take notice. If that prince claims to be a messiah and sets an idol up in a future Jewish temple, it is probably that Christ will return in 3 ½ years. Watch, Wait and be Ready for His return. For He comes in an hour that we think not.
The thoughts below were written about a week after the initial post above.
About 40 days have passed since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023. This past week a simple republican backed bill was introduced into the United States senate to provide $14.3 billion in additional funding to Israel. This bill was defeated by the ruling majority in the senate by a 51% to 48% margin. All of the 51 democratic senators, voted against this bill. This was an orchestrated response with a broader intent and purpose than most realize I believe a larger part of the 51% might have voted for the funding of Israel if other incentives or inducements were introduced into the bill. Such induments might be but are not limited to more funding for Ukraine and more funding to house and feed the illegal aliens the current administration is funneling into the United States with the future intent of keeping the current 51% in control of the United States. The one party also did not like that this new funding was going to be paid for by cutting the budget of the IRS. Enough of Politics! Why am I even writing these thoughts? Because this is one of the signs of America failing to assist Israel in their time of need. We already had pro-Palestinian marches take place in the United States over the past weeks. I believe these events are only the beginning and we will see similar actions and events take place. In the future the United States may not only fail to assist Israel, we might even condemn Israel in their fight against terrorist. The ungodly do not love Israel. They hate Israel. When a nation turns against Israel, they will incur God’s wrath either now or in the future.
As stated above, Israel will make a peace agreement with a person or with a nation for a period of 7 years. Why would Israel need to make an agreement with such a person if the United States is still supporting them, or will the United States encourage them to make such an agreement, or will the United States not be a super nation during this time of history, or will the United States turn their back on Israel? Time will tell, but these developments have my attention.