peopled and built, with public places and streets (?). And after the sixty and two weeks an anointed one shall be cut off, and .... And the city and the sanctuary shall be destroyed by the people of a prince, who cometh (?), and whose end shall be (sudden) as by a storm (?); and until the end there shall be war, and sentence of desolations (?). And he shall make many transgress the covenant for one week, and for half a week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and instead thereof (?) there shall be horrible abominations (?), until ruin and judgement shall be poured out upon the destroyer (?).

'Darius the son of Ahasuerus,' i. e. the son of Xerxes. The real Xerxes was the son of Darius, and neither was of Median blood. 'The writings,' i. e. the collection of prophetical writings which already existed as a finished group in the age of our author.

'That are near, and that are far off.' The author speaks not in Daniel's name but from his own heart and his own circumstances. He writes in Judæa.

'Not ... relying on our supplications.' A famous and very ancient Hebrew prayer, which finds a prominent place in our liturgy, opens with this quotation from Daniel. Note the point of view it is characteristically Jewish. The tendency was all in the direction of magnifying human sin and of exalting the divine righteousness. Man deserves nothing: God's goodness is sheer grace and compassion. The idea of a reward for personal merit is quite foreign to the Jewish liturgy. Whenever the Jew prayed, he could only regard himself and his community as sinners from of old. Righteous in their 'cause' as against the 'nations,' the Jews have no righteousness by which to demand the intervention of God. That must come either for the sake of his 'name' or from the fact that 'to him belong mercies and forgiveness.'

'To

The Hebrew of the last paragraph is very perplexing and obscure. 'Seventy weeks,' or more literally, seventy sevens. complete the sins' means to fill up the measure of the sins of the heathen oppressors. To consecrate a holy of holies' refers to the reconsecration of the polluted Temple. Thus the terminus ad quem in all these visions is always the same.

The going forth of the word,' i. e. the prophecy of Jeremiah. This may be the prophecy of 604 B. C., or perhaps a later one about 588 B. C. From 588 to 538 (the capture of Babylon by Cyrus) would be almost exactly 'seven weeks,' if we assume that each 'week' or 'seven' equals seven years.

'An anointed one, a prince.' Either Cyrus, who captured

THE SEVENTY WEEKS

715

Babylon in 538 B. C., twenty years after his accession to the throne of Persia in 558 B. C., or else less probably, Joshua, the first High Priest of the Return.

'An anointed one shall be cut off.' Some refer this to the supposed murder of Onias III, which is related in the Second Book of Maccabees (172 B. C.). It may also be translated 'the anointed one shall be abolished,' and refer to the end of Jason's ministrations as High Priest in 170 B. C.; for Jason was the last high priest in the true line of Aaronic succession.

The 'Prince' who destroys city and sanctuary is Antiochus Epiphanes. From this point to the end of the paragraph one can only attempt to give the probable and general meaning: an exact and literal translation is impossible, for the text is terribly doubtful and corrupt. Till the very end (i. e. till the Final Deliverance) there is war and ruin. Antiochus by his persecutions makes many Jews renegades for 'one week,' that is for seven years (171-164 B.C.), and the legal service of the altar is suspended for half a week,' i. e. three years and a half-the same period as that given in the former visions.

Finally, what are the seventy weeks? Each 'week' is seven years, and seventy weeks means therefore 490 years. There are two main lines of interpretation. The first starts from 588 B.C. (see above). From then till Cyrus' capture of Babylon is fifty years, i. e. practically seven weeks.' The last week is from 171-164 B.C. This leaves (538-171 B. C.) 367 years for the other sixty-two weeks,' or sixty-seven years too little. The suggestion is that the author made a mistake; he was led away by the desire to adapt himself and his chronological requirements to the prophecies of Jeremiah. He had no books to refer to, and no accurate tables of dates. It is therefore by no means unlikely that he made a mistake, or that he counted roughly in round numbers so as to suit the original prophecy on which he based his vision.

The second interpretation starts from 604 B. C., the year of Carchemish (see above). From 604 B.C. till 558 B. C., that is, from Carchemish till the accession of Cyrus, is forty-six years, i. e. nearly seven weeks,' and from 604 till 171 B.C. there are 433 years, i. e. almost exactly sixty-two weeks.' But the awkward thing about this interpretation is that the first seven weeks' have to be included in the sixty-two weeks, so that the whole period is not seventy weeks but sixty-two weeks plus the final week of persecution and desecration, i. e. sixty-three weeks in all. This seems very unlikely and artificial, though it does remain a curious coincidence that the interval between 604 and 171 B.C. is almost exactly sixty-two 'sevens.' It may also be noted that the

half week in which Antiochus caused the sacrifice to cease is included in the one week during which he makes many to transgress the covenant. In any case the end of the period is always the same. For the date when the temple was defiled, and the legal service ceased, is known: 168 B.C. Therefore the date of the expected deliverance, three years and a half later, is known also. The doubt whether our author wrote before or after the historic rededication of the temple (of which we shall hear in the next chapter) remains as before. The main reason why some scholars think that he wrote before that event (and that his three and a half years were a true prediction) is that to him the reestablishment of the legal services means the opening of the Messianic age, whereas in reality the dedication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus left a complete deliverance very far to seek.

§ 17. The introduction to the final vision.—We now come to the last, the longest, and the most elaborate of the visions. It extends from the beginning of the tenth to the end of the twelfth chapter, that is to the end of the book. Its nature and contents are thus succinctly described by Professor Driver. 'Daniel had fasted for twenty-one days, when an angel appears to him, and tells him that he had been prevented from coming before by the opposition of the "prince" (i. e. the guardianangel) of Persia, but being at length assisted by Michael, the "prince" (guardian-angel) of the Jews, he had been able to do so, and was now come in order to give Daniel a revelation concerning the future. The angel that speaks and Michael will have a long contest on behalf of Israel, first with the "prince" (guardianangel) of Persia, and then with the "prince" of Greece. The details of the contest form the subject of chapter eleven. Here, under veiled names, are described, first, briefly, the doings of four Persian kings, and of Alexander the Great, with the rupture of his empire after his death; afterwards, more fully, the leagues and conflicts between the kings of Antioch ("the kings of the north") and of Egypt ("the kings of the south"), in the centuries following; finally, most fully of all, the history of Antiochus Epiphanes, including his conflicts with Egypt, and the measures adopted by him for suppressing the religion of the Jews. The death of Antiochus is followed by the resurrection (of Israelites) and the advent of the Messianic Age. The revelation is designed for the encouragement of those living "in the time of the end," i. e. under the persecution of Antiochus, the close of which appears to be placed 1290 (or 1335) days after the suspension of the daily sacrifice in B. C. 168.'

The belief in guardian angels for different nations arose very late among the Jews. It was probably not of native growth.

It must be noted that at a certain point the retrospect in fact (though prophecy in form) ends, and a real prophecy begins. This prophecy concerns the death of Antiochus, and it was not fulfilled. Hence we may be quite sure that Daniel was written before the death of Antiochus.

The framework of the vision is as follows:

:

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the word was true, (betokening) great distress; and he heeded the word, and gave heed to the vision.

In those days I Daniel went mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is the Tigris; then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as torches of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the sound of his words like the sound of a great tumult.

And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned upon me to corruption, and I retained no strength. And I heard the sound of his words: and when I heard the sound of his words, then I fell down in a swoon with my face toward the ground.

And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, 'O Daniel, thou man greatly beloved, mark the words. that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent.' And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood up trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come because of thy words.

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I left him there with the prince of the kings of Persia (?). And I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for the vision concerneth far distant days.'

And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. And, behold, he who was like one of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, 'O my lord, because of the vision my pains came upon me, and I retained no strength. And how can

the servant of my lord talk with my lord? for as for me, there remaineth now no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.' Then he who was like the appearance of a man touched me again and strengthened me. And he said, 'O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.' And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, 'Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.'

Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I am come unto thee? and presently I must return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am rid of him, lo, the prince of Greece shall come. But I will shew thee that which is inscribed in the writing of truth: though there is none that helpeth me against these, but Michael your prince, who standeth by me to strengthen and defend me (?). But I will declare to thee the truth.'

The writing of truth' is the heavenly book, in which the divine decrees are written. We may compare the 139th Psalm.

§ 18. The angel's apocalypse: from Alexander to Antiochus Epiphanes. The apocalypse or revelation now begins. Let us first hear that part of it up to the death of Seleucus IV Philopator, the immediate predecessor of Antiochus Epiphanes (175).

'Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia: and the fourth shall be the richest of all, and when he shall have grown strong by reason of his wealth, he will stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.

'And a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he hath