Daniel 9.26b-The Second Event Taking Place After the Sixty-Ninth Week
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday January 16, 2014
Daniel: Daniel 9:26b-The Second Event Taking Place After the Sixty-Ninth Week
Lesson # 289
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. 26a “Then, after the sixty two-units of seven years, the Messiah will be executed so that He possesses nothing.” (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)
“And the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary” is the next event that will take place after the Messiah will be executed so that He possesses nothing.
“The people” is the noun ʿǎm (עַם) (am), which means “people” in the sense of a large group based on various cultural, physical and geographical ties referring to a large group that is larger than a tribe or clan but smaller than a race and speaks of a national entity.
“The prince who is to come” is composed of the noun ʿǎm (עַם) (am), “the people of,” and then we have the noun nā·ḡîḏ (נָגִיד) (naw-gheed´), “the prince” which is followed by the verb bôʾ (בּוֹא) (bow), “who is to come.”
The noun nā·ḡîḏ means “leader, ruler, prince” since it refers to someone who is the highest authority and describes this ruler or leader as the highest authority of the people who will destroy Jerusalem and its temple.
The noun ʿǎm is in the construct state meaning that it is governing the word which follows it which expresses a genitive relation to these two words.
The word which follows ʿǎm is the noun nā·ḡîḏ.
The former is grammatically bound to the latter, thus, the latter is the head noun.
The genitive relation between the two words is source meaning this coming leader will originate from the people who will destroy Jerusalem and its temple.
The verb bô(ʾ) means “the coming” since it is functioning as a relative clause, which is indicated by its articular construction since the article is a substantiver meaning it is converting this verb into a noun.
Here in Daniel 9:26, the verb bô(ʾ) means “to come” in the sense of appearing in history indicating that this leader will “appear” in history.
The participle form of this verb is also functioning as an attributive adjective meaning that it is ascribing an attribute of this leader who will arise from the Roman Empire.
“The city and the sanctuary” refers to the city of Jerusalem and the temple standing in Jerusalem which was dedicated to the worship of the God of Israel.
“And its end will come with a flood” intensifies the idea of Jerusalem and its temple will be destroyed by the people of the coming prince.
“Its end” is composed of the the noun qēṣ (קֵץ) (kates), “end” and then we have the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “its.”
The noun qēṣ means “end” referring to the cessation of Jerusalem functioning as a population center for the Jews and as their capital city.
The word is modified by the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ), which means “its” referring to Jerusalem.
The NET interprets this word to mean “his” referring to the prince who is to come who is the Antichrist.
However, Antichrist is killed by Jesus Christ Himself.
Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans waging war against it.
“With a flood” is used in a figurative sense expressing the fact that the war waged by the Roman armies against Jerusalem will overwhelm that city just like a flood can overwhelm a city causing it to cease to function.
It is indicating that Jerusalem’s demise will come about by means of a war that will be unique in history because of the ferocity and cruelty of the Romans and unparalleled suffering of this city’s inhabitants.
My translation thus far of Daniel 9:26 “Then, after the sixty two-units of seven years, the Messiah will be executed so that He possesses nothing. Next, the people of the coming leader will destroy the city as well as the sanctuary. Indeed its end will take place with a flood.”
So in Daniel 9:26, the first event that will take place after the four hundred eighty-third prophetic year, which ended with Jesus Christ presenting Himself to Israel as their king, is that the Messiah will be executed so that He possesses nothing.
Gabriel then proceeds to tell Daniel that there will also be a second event following the execution of the Messiah, namely the people of the coming leader will destroy the city as well as the sanctuary.
Gabriel then advances upon this statement by informing him that Jerusalem’s end will take place with a flood, which is a metaphor for sudden destruction by war.
Like the first event, this second event has been fulfilled in history as well.
In 70 A.D. the Roman armies under Titus laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed this city as well as Herod’s temple.
This destruction was not only in fulfillment of the prophecy here in Daniel 9:26 but fulfilled the Lord Jesus Christ’s prophecy of the destruction of this city (Luke 19:43-44) and temple (Matthew 24:2; Luke 21:6).
In A.D. 70 less than 40 years after Christ’s prophecy, the Roman legions of Titus besieged Jerusalem, killing more than one million of her inhabitants, and totally fulfilling Christ’s prophecy in Luke 19:44.
The bloodthirsty cry of the people in Matthew 27:23, “Let Him be crucified” and in Matthew 27:25, “let His blood be on us, and on our children” had its tragic fulfillment for 40 years later the Roman legions led by Titus sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Herodian Temple and slaughtered the citizens of Jerusalem.
Notice, that Gabriel informs Daniel that it will be the people and not the coming leader who will destroy Jerusalem and the temple.
Remember Antichrist does not destroy Jerusalem or the Temple according to the book of Revelation.
Zechariah 12 and 14 teach that Jerusalem will be under attack but some Jews will continue to fight in the city until the Second Advent of Christ.
The coming leader is a reference to Antichrist and is not a reference to Jesus Christ since He is not a Roman.
Furthermore, the Messiah is said to be executed in the first statement in verse 26.
So this coming leader comes after the execution of the Messiah.
Also, it is not a reference to the Roman general Titus who led the siege against Jerusalem in 70 A.D. since the emphasis in the passage is upon “the people.”
It is stated this way because this prophecy would link the Roman destruction with the event which took place in 70 A.D. while simultaneously setting up Antichrist to be linked to the first “he” in Daniel 9:27 and the seventieth week.
The coming leader also cannot be Antiochus Epiphanes IV since he did not destroy Jerusalem or the temple.
Therefore, this second event mentioned in Daniel 9:26 makes clear that the people and the coming leader will not appear on the pages of history at the same time.
Daniel 9:27 also make it crystal clear that the coming leader is the future persecutor of the nation of Israel during the seventieth week or seventieth unit of seven years.
So the phrase “the people of the coming leader” simply means that this coming leader will originate from the people who destroyed Jerusalem and the Herodian temple in 70 A.D.
Now, we know from the prophecies in Daniel chapter seven that Antichrist will be a Roman, which is indicated by the fact that “the little horn” in this chapter comes from the fourth beast, which history makes clear is a reference to the Roman Empire.
In Daniel 7:19-26, the little horn is described as waging war against God’s people up to the time of the Second Advent of Christ, which corresponds to the depiction of the Antichrist in Revelation (Daniel 7:11, 20-26; 8:25; Revelation 13:1-10; 19:20).
Thus, history has made clear that the first two events which are prophesied to take place after the sixty-ninth week or four hundred eighty-third prophetic year have been fulfilled in history.
The sixty-ninth week ended with Jesus Christ presenting Himself to Israel as her king and the nation rejected him as recorded in the gospels.
Then Gabriel predicts that between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week the Messiah would be executed.
This too was fulfilled by Jesus Christ when He was crucified as a criminal by the Romans at the instigation of the Jewish leaders.
The second event predicted to take place by Gabriel between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week is the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple by a nation.
This too was fulfilled in 70 A.D by the Romans in fulfillment of the prophecies communicated by Jesus Christ to His disciples.