Notes on Daniel: The 70 Weeks of Daniel 9
By Jay Rogers
Published April 2008
There is no break in the seventy weeks of Daniel that leads us to the time of Christ and picks up again during the future. I see this seventy weeks as continuous.
Daniel is, in fact, the backdrop to Revelation. The best possible explanation of Daniel is preterist interpretation. The events described in Daniel were fulfilled at or before the time of Christ. This position creates the least amount of problems from an interpretive standpoint. Only a fair knowledge of ancient history is needed to do this. Nevertheless, there are few commentaries on the bookshelves today fully describing Daniel from the preterist point of view.
I do not see a problem with the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem beginning some 40 years after the seventy-week period is fulfilled. The sacrifices ceased to have any effect after 69-1/2 weeks.
It is not necessary to find in Daniel an exact chronology that describes the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. We find that 40 year chronology in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
From our perspective today, an understanding of Daniel is paramount to understanding the Mount of Olives Discourse in Matthew 24, Luke 20 and Mark 13.
In two of these passages, Jesus refers to the “abomination of desolation refereed to in the prophecy of Daniel.” In Mark 13:14, the author inserts the aside: (“let the reader understand”). “Understand what exactly?” one might ask. Obviously, from the context, we must understand this passage of Daniel. And unless we have the correct interpretation of Daniel, we will not be able to understand the Mount of Olives Discourse.
Therefore, a preterist approach to Daniel is necessary to understanding the purpose of the book. Daniel was a prophecy given so that the restored Jews would know the times and events surrounding the coming of the Messiah. That is the main purpose of Daniel chapters 2, 7-12.
This concurs with Calvin’s interpretation of Daniel 9:27.
But we are now treating of a profanation of the temple, which should prove, if I may use the phrase, eternal and irreparable. Without the slightest doubt, this prophecy was fulfilled when the city was captured and overthrown, and the temple utterly destroyed by Titus the son of Vespasian. This satisfactorily explains the events here predicted.
The Historicist View Inconsistent
The historicist view has the visions in the book of Daniel fulfilled in chronological order all prior to AD 70, in effect agreeing with the preterist view. When interpreting the “little horn” of Daniel 7, the historicist view then takes a leap forward of 1500 years, only to return to a preterist approach for the rest of the succeeding five chapters!
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