Daniel 9.26a-The Messiah Will Be Executed After the Sixty-Ninth Week
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday January 15, 2014
Daniel: Daniel 9:26-The Messiah Will Be Executed After the Sixty-Ninth Week
Lesson # 288
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 9:24.
Daniel 9:24 “Seventy units of seven years have been decreed for the benefit of your people as well as for the benefit of your holy city in order to put an end to the rebellion and in addition to bring sin to an end as well as to atone for iniquity likewise to bring about everlasting righteousness as well as to seal up prophetic vision and in addition to anoint the most holy place. 25 Therefore, please know, yes please carefully consider: From the issuing of the command to restore, yes to rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince, there will be seven units of seven years and sixty-two units of seven years. It will be restored, yes it will be rebuilt with a public square as well as a defensive trench even during distressful times.” (My translation)
Daniel 9:26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.” (NASB95)
“Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing” presents the next event that will take place after the events recorded in verse 25.
“After” is the adverb ʾǎ·ḥǎr (אַחַר) (akh-ar´), which is pertaining to a time subsequent to another time.
The two points of time are the end of the sixty-ninth week or four hundred eighty-third prophetic year and the execution of the Messiah sometime after the sixty-ninth week or four hundred eighty-third prophetic year.
Therefore, this word indicates that the execution of the Messiah will take place sometime after the sixty-ninth week, which would be the four hundred eighty-third prophetic year.
“The sixty-two weeks” is composed of the noun šā·ḇûaʿ (שָׁבוּעַ) (shaw-boo´-ah), “weeks” which is modified by the cardinal number šiš·šîm (שִׁשִּׁים) (shish-sheem´) and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), which is not translated and followed by the dual number šenǎ·yim (שְׁנַיִם) (shen-ah´-yim), which altogether are translated “sixty-two.”
The masculine plural noun šā·ḇûaʿ means “a unit of seven years” and is modified by the plural form of the cardinal number šiš·šîm, which means “sixty.”
The articular construction of the word is anaphoric meaning that the word was used in verse 25 and its meaning and referent is the same here in verse 26 and is followed by the conjunction wa which is joining šiš·šîm with the dual number šenǎ·yim, which means “two.”
Therefore, these three words mean “sixty-two units of seven years” or “sixty-two weeks,” which is four hundred thirty-four prophetic years.
“The Messiah” is the noun mā·šîaḥ (מָשִׁיחַ) (maw-shee´-akh), which means “anointed one, Messiah” and denotes someone who has been ceremonially anointed for an office and here it refers to the Savior of Israel, who is Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.
“Will be cut off” is the verb kā·rǎṯ (כָּרַת) (kaw-rath´), which is used often in the Old Testament for the execution of a criminal (Genesis 17:14; Exodus 12:19; 30:33, 38; 31:14; Leviticus 7:20; Psalm 37:9; Proverbs 2:22).
Here in Daniel 9:26, this word means “to cut off” but in the sense of being executed as a criminal and thus speaks of a violent act against the Messiah in that He will be executed as a criminal.
“And have nothing” presents the result of the Messiah being executed.
“Have nothing” is composed of the adverb ʾǎ·yin (אַיִן) (ah´-yin), “nothing” and then we have the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh) and its object is the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who) and together they are translated “have.”
The third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) means “he” referring to the Messiah and is the object of the preposition lĕ, which is marker of possession indicating the Messiah will “possess” nothing as a result of being executed.
The substantive ʾǎ·yin means “nothing” and is speaking of the absence of a quantity and is thus expressing the fact that the Messiah will possess “nothing” as a result of being executed.
Daniel 9:26a “Then, after the sixty two-units of seven years, the Messiah will be executed so that He possesses nothing.”
Gabriel now proceeds to inform Daniel of events which will transpire after the four hundred eighty-third prophetic year.
The first event that will take place is the execution of the Messiah so that He possesses nothing.
This was fulfilled in history by Jesus of Nazareth when He was executed as a criminal by Rome through crucifixion.
The fact that the Messiah would possess nothing as a result of this execution was also fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth since it denotes that He did not establish in bodily form His millennial kingdom on the earth.
The millennial reign of Christ did not take place as a result of Israel rejecting Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and King (John 1:11).
Thus, Gabriel’s statement here in Daniel 9:26 makes crystal clear there is a time gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week.
Remember the sixty-two weeks are sixty-two units of seven years or four hundred thirty-four prophetic years.
They immediately follow the first seven weeks which are seven units of seven years or forty-nine prophetic years.
There is no time gap in between the seven units of seven years or first seven weeks and the sixty-two units of seven years or four hundred and thirty-four prophetic years.
They are to be added together in this prophecy and thus constitute sixty-nine weeks which are sixty-nine units of seven years or four hundred eighty-three prophetic years.
Here in Daniel 9:26, Gabriel informs Daniel that the execution of the Messiah will take place “after” the sixty-two weeks, i.e. the sixty-two units of seven years or four hundred thirty-four prophetic years.
Thus, the execution is “after” the sixty-nine weeks, i.e. the sixty-nine units of seven years which are four hundred eighty-three prophetic years.
The seventieth week does not begin until the treaty between the prince who is to come and Israel is established.
The execution of the Messiah comes before this treaty.
Therefore, those interpreters who argue there is no time gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week are in error. Consequently, the seventieth week is still yet future.
There are several major factors which support the view that there is a time gap between the fulfillment of the sixty-ninth week and the seventieth.
First, the six divine objectives which appear in Daniel 9:24 must be fulfilled within the seventy weeks but these have emphatically not been fulfilled historically.
For instance, the objective of anointing the most holy place has not been accomplished within 490 years.
The holy place was destroyed in Daniel 9:26 but then in Daniel 9:27 we see it rebuilt since sacrifices were allowed under the “firm covenant” but this temple does not presently exist.
Therefore, one must see a future fulfillment during the seventieth week in Daniel 9:27, which thus necessitates a time gap, which corresponds to the church age as we noted.
Another major factor supporting a time gap is that the “he” in Daniel 9:27 refers to “the prince who is to come” in Daniel 9:26, if one follows the rules of grammar which would support the view that the nearest antecedent for the “he” in verse 27 is “the prince who is to come” in Daniel 9:26.
Connected to this third point, is that if the “he” in Daniel 9:27 is the Messiah, then one cannot reconcile the fact that the temple sacrifices continued until 70 A.D. over thirty years after the crucifixion of Christ.
Furthermore, the “he” in Daniel 9:27 breaks the covenant.
At what point did Christ make a covenant with the Jews and then break it?
There is nothing in the New Testament which would even suggest this.
Another major factor which supports the time gap is that the events mentioned in the last three and a half years of Daniel 9:27 fit perfectly with the events described in the book of Revelation.
Furthermore, if the first sixty-nine weeks have been literally fulfilled in history, then we would expect the seventieth week to be as well.
Of course we have not seen a literal fulfillment in history of the seventieth week.
We have not seen a Roman dictator make a seven-year treaty with Israel and then break it in the middle of this seven year period, nor, have we seen in history a Roman dictator put a stop to the sacrifices in the temple and in fact, no temple is standing in Israel today.
However, Christ’s first advent and presentation of Himself to the nation of Israel as her king has taken place literally in history as recorded in the gospels and thus fulfilling literally Daniel 9:25.
We have also seen the fulfillment of Daniel 9:26 and the cutting off of the Messiah after this presentation, which is recorded in the gospels.
Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans as predicted in Daniel 9:26, thus, it follows that if Daniel 9:25-26 were fulfilled literally in history, then we can expect the same for Daniel 9:27.