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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
D A N I E L.
CHAP. IX.
In this chapter we have,
I. Daniel’s prayer for the restoration of the Jews who were in
captivity, in which he confesses sin, and acknowledges the justice of
God in their calamities, but pleads God’s promises of mercy which he
had yet in store for them,
II. An immediate answer sent him by an angel to his prayer, in which,
1. He is assured of the speedy release of the Jews out of their
captivity,
And,
2. He is informed concerning the redemption of the world by Jesus
Christ (of which that was a type), what should be the nature of it and
when it should be accomplished,
And it is the clearest, brightest, prophecy of the Messiah, in all the
Old Testament.
| Daniel’s Confession and Prayer. | B. C. 538. |
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1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed
of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the
Chaldeans;
2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books
the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to
Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in
the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and
supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
We left Daniel, in the close of the foregoing chapter, employed in the
king’s business; but here we have him employed in better
business than any king had for him, speaking to God and hearing from
him, not for himself only, but for the church, whose mouth he was to
God, and for whose use the oracles of God were committed to
him, relating to the days of the Messiah. Observe,
1. When it was that Daniel had this communion with God
(v. 1),
in the first year of Darius the Mede, who was newly made king of
the Chaldeans, Babylon being conquered by him and his nephew, or
grandson, Cyrus. In this year the seventy years of the Jews’ captivity
ended, but the decree for their release was not yet issued out; so that
this address of Daniel’s to God seems to have been ready in that year,
and, probably, before he was cast into the lions’ den. And one powerful
inducement, perhaps, it was to him then to keep so close to the duty of
prayer, though it cost him his life, that he had so lately experienced
the benefit and comfort of it.
2. What occasioned his address to God by prayer
(v. 2):
He understood by books that seventy years was the time fixed for
the continuance of the desolations of Jerusalem.
v. 2.
The book by which he understood this was the book of the
prophecies of Jeremiah, in which he found it expressly foretold
After seventy years be accomplished in Babylon (and therefore
they must be reckoned from the first captivity, in the third
year of Jehoiakim, which Daniel had reason to remember by a good
token, for it was in that captivity that he was carried away himself,
ch. i. 1),
I will visit you, and perform my good word towards you. It was
likewise said
(Jer. xxv. 11),
This whole land shall be seventy years a desolation
(chorbath), the same word that Daniel here uses for the
desolations of Jerusalem, which shows that he had that prophecy
before him when he wrote this. Though Daniel was himself a great
prophet, and one that was well acquainted with the visions of God, yet
he was a diligent student in the scripture, and thought it no
disparagement to him to consult Jeremiah’s prophecies. He was a great
politician, and prime-minister of state to one of the greatest monarchs
upon earth, and yet could find both heart and time to converse with the
word of God. The greatest and best men in the world must not think
themselves above their Bibles.
3. How serious and solemn his address to God was when he understood
that the seventy years were just upon expiring (for it appears, by
Ezekiel’s dating of his prophecies, that they exactly computed the
years of their captivity), then he set his face to seek God by
prayer. Note, God’s promises are intended, not to supersede, but to
excite and encourage, our prayers; and, when we see the day of the
performance of them approaching, we should the more earnestly plead
them with God and put them in suit. So Daniel did here; he prayed three
times a day, and, no doubt, in every prayer made mention of the
desolations of Jerusalem; yet he did not think that enough, but even in
the midst of his business set time apart for an extraordinary
application to Heaven on Jerusalem’s behalf. God had said to Ezekiel
that though Daniel, among others, stood before him, his intercession
should not prevail to prevent the judgment
yet he hopes, now that the warfare is accomplished
(Isa. xl. 2),
his prayer may be heard for the removing of the judgment. When the day
of deliverance dawns it is time for God’s praying people to bestir
themselves; something extraordinary is then expected and required from
them, besides their daily sacrifice. Now Daniel sought by prayer and
supplications, for fear lest the sins of the people should provoke
him to defer their deliverance longer than was intended, or rather that
the people might be prepared by the grace of God for the deliverance
now that the providence of God was about to work it out for them. Now
observe,
(1.) The intenseness of his mind in this prayer; I set my face unto
the Lord God to seek him, which denotes the fixedness of his
thoughts, the firmness of his faith, and the fervour of his devout
affections, in the duty. We must, in prayer, set God before us, an set
ourselves as in his presence; to him we must direct our prayer
and must look up. Probably, in token of his setting his face
towards God, he did, as usual, set his face towards Jerusalem, to
affect his own heart the more with the desolations of it.
(2.) The mortification of his body in this prayer. In token of his deep
humiliation before God for his own sins, and the sins of his people,
and the sense he had of his unworthiness, when he prayed he
fasted, put on sackcloth, and lay in as hes, the
more to affect himself with the desolations of Jerusalem, which he was
praying for the repair of, and to make himself sensible that he was now
about an extraordinary work.
| Daniel’s Confession and Prayer; Daniel’s Prayer for His People. | B. C. 538. |
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4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession,
and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the
covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep
his commandments;
5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done
wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts
and from thy judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets,
which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our
fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us
confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are
near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither
thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have
trespassed against thee.
8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to
our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against
thee.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses,
though we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to
walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the
prophets.
11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by
departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the
curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the
law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against
him.
12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us,
and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a
great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath
been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is
come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God,
that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
14 Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought
it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works
which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth
out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee
renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee,
let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city
Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the
iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become
a reproach to all that are about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant,
and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy
sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and
behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name:
for we do not present our supplications before thee for our
righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer
not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people
are called by thy name.
We have here Daniel’s prayer to God as his God, and the confession
which he joined with that prayer: I prayed, and made my
confession. Note, In every prayer we must make confession, not only
of the sins we have been guilty of (which we commonly call
confession), but of our faith in God and dependence upon him,
our sorrow for sin and our resolutions against it. It must be our
confession, must be the language of our own convictions and that which
we ourselves do heartily subscribe to.
Let us go over the several parts of this prayer, which we have reason
to think that he offered up much more largely than is here recorded,
these being only the heads of it.
I. Here is his humble, serious, reverent address to God,
1. As a God to be feared, and whom it is our duty always to stand in
awe of: “O Lord! the great and dreadful God, that art able to
deal with the greatest and most terrible of the church’s enemies.”
2. As a God to be trusted, and whom it is our duty to depend upon and
put a confidence in: Keeping the covenant and mercy to those that
love him, and, as a proof of their love to him, keep his
commandments. If we fulfil our part of the bargain, he will not
fail to fulfil his. He will be to his people as good as his word, for
he keeps covenant with them, and not one iota of his promise shall fall
to the ground; nay, he will be better than his word, for he keeps mercy
to them, something more than was in the covenant. It was proper for
Daniel to have his eye upon God’s mercy now that he was to lay before
him the miseries of his people, and upon God’s covenant now that he was
to sue for the performance of a promise. Note, We should, in prayer,
look both at God’s greatness and his goodness, his majesty and mercy in
conjunction.
II. Here is a penitent confession of sin, the procuring cause of all
the calamities which his people had for so many years been groaning
under,
When we seek to God for national mercies we ought to humble ourselves
before him for national sins. These are the sins Daniel here laments;
and we may here observe the variety of words he makes use of to set
forth the greatness of their provocations (for it becomes penitents to
lay load upon themselves): We have sinned in many particular
instances, nay, we have committed iniquity, we have driven a
trade of sin, we have done wickedly with a hard heart and a
stiff neck, and herein we have rebelled, have taken up arms
against the King of kings, his crown and dignity. Two things aggravated
their sins:–
1. That they had violated the express laws God had given them by Moses:
“We have departed from they precepts and from thy judgments, and
have not conformed to them. And
(v. 10)
we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.” That which
speaks the nature of sin, that it is the transgression of the
law, does sufficiently speak the malignity of it; if sin be made to
appear sin, it cannot be made to appear worse; its
sinfulness is its greatest hatefulness,
God has set his laws before us plainly and fully, as the copy we
should write after, yet we have not walked in them, but turned
aside, or turned back.
2. That they had slighted the fair warnings God had given them by the
prophets, which in every age he had sent to them, rising up betimes
and sending them
(v. 6):
“We have not hearkened to thy servants the prophets, who have
put us in mind of thy laws, and of the sanctions of them; though they
spoke in thy name, we have not regarded them; though they
delivered their message faithfully, with a universal respect to all
orders and degrees of men, to our kings and princes, whom they
had the courage and confidence to speak to, to our fathers, and
to all the people of the land, whom they had the condescension
and compassion to speak to, yet we have not hearkened to them,
nor heard them, or not heeded them, or not complied with them.” Mocking
God’s messengers, and despising his words, were Jerusalem’s
measure-filling sins,
This confession of sin is repeated here, and much insisted on;
penitents should again and again accuse and reproach themselves till
they find their hearts thoroughly broken. All Israel have
transgressed thy law,
v. 11.
It is Israel, God’s professing people, who have known better,
and from whom better is expected–Israel, God’s peculiar people, whom
he has surrounded with his favours; not here and there one, but it is
all Israel, the generality of them, the body of the people, that
have transgressed by departing and getting out of the way,
that they might not hear, and so might not obey, thy
voice. This disobedience is that which all true penitents do most
sensibly charge upon themselves
(v. 14):
We obeyed not his voice, and
(v. 15)
we have sinned, we have done wickedly. Those that would find
mercy must thus confess their sins.
III. Here is a self-abasing acknowledgment of the righteousness of God
in all the judgments that were brought upon them; and it is evermore
the way of true penitents thus to justify God, that he may be clear
when he judges, and the sinner may bear all the blame.
1. He acknowledges that it was sin that plunged them in all these
troubles. Israel is dispersed through all the countries
about, and so weakened, impoverished, and exposed. God’s hand has
driven them hither and thither, some near, where they are
known and therefore the more ashamed, others afar off, where
they are not known and therefore the more abandoned, and it is
because of their trespass that they have trespassed
(v. 7);
they mingled themselves with the nations that they might be debauched
by them, and now God mingles them with the nations that they might be
stripped by them.
2. He owns the righteousness of God in it, that he had done them no
wrong in all he had brought upon them, but had dealt with them as they
deserved
(v. 7):
“O Lord! righteousness belongs to thee; we have no fault to find
with thy providence, no exceptions to make against thy judgments, for
(v. 14)
the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he does,
even in the sore calamities we are now under, for we obeyed not the
words of his mouth, and therefore justly feel the weight of his
hand.” This seems to be borrowed from
3. He takes notice of the fulfilling of the scripture in what was
brought upon them. In very faithfulness he afflicted them; for
it was according to the word which he had spoken. The curse is
poured upon us and the oath, that is, the curse that was ratified
by an oath in the law of Moses,
This further justifies God in their troubles, that he did but inflict
the penalty of the law, which he had given them fair notice of. It was
necessary for the preserving of the honour of God’s veracity, and
saving his government from contempt, that the threatenings of his word
should be accomplished, otherwise they look but as bugbears, nay, they
seem not at all frightful. Therefore he has confirmed his words
which spoke against us because we broke his laws, and against
our judges that judged us because they did not according to the
duty of their place punish the breach of God’s laws. He told them many
a time that if they did not execute justice, as terrors to
evil-workers, he must and would take the work into his own hands; and
now he has confirmed what he said by bringing upon us a great
evil, in which the princes and judges themselves deeply shared.
Note, It contributes very much to our profiting by the judgments of
God’s hand to observe how exactly they agree with the judgments
of his mouth.
4. He aggravates the calamities they were in, lest they should seem,
having been long used to them, to make light of them, and so to lose
the benefit of the chastening of the Lord by despising it. “It is not
some of the common troubles of life that we are complaining of, but
that which has in it some special marks of divine displeasure; for
under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon
Jerusalem,”
It is Jeremiah’s lamentation in the name of the church, Was ever
sorrow like unto my sorrow? which must suppose another similar
question, Was ever sin like unto my sin?
5. He puts shame upon the whole nation, from the highest to the lowest;
and if they will say Amen to his prayer, as it was fit they
should if they would come in for a share in the benefit of it, they
must all put their hand upon their mouth, and their mouth in the dust:
“To us belongs confusion of faces as at this day
(v. 7);
we lie under the shame of the punishment of our iniquity, for shame is
our due.” If Israel had retained their character, and had continued a
holy people, they would have been high above all nations in praise,
and mane, and honour
but now that they have sinned and done wickedly confusion and
disgrace belong to them, to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the inhabitants both of the country and of the city, for
they have been all alike guilty before God; it belongs to all
Israel, both to the two tribes, that are near, by the rivers
of Babylon, and to the ten tribes, that are afar off, in the
land of Assyria. “Confusion belongs not only to the common people of
our land, but to our kings, our princes, and our fathers
(v. 8),
who should have set a better example, and have used their authority and
influence for the checking of the threatening torrent of vice
profaneness.”
6. He imputes the continuance of the judgment to their incorrigibleness
under it
(v. 13, 14):
“All this evil has come upon us, and has lain long upon us,
yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, not in a
right manner, as we should have made it, with a humble, lowly,
penitent, and obedient heart. We have been smitten, but have not
returned to him that smote us. We have not entreated the face of the
Lord our God” (so the word is); “we have taken no care to make our
peace with God and reconcile ourselves to him.” Daniel set his brethren
a good example of praying continually, but he was sorry to see how few
there were that followed his example; in their affliction it was
expected that they would seek God early, but they sought him
not, that they might turn from their iniquities and
understand his truth. The errand upon which afflictions are sent
is to bring men to turn from their iniquities and to
understand God’s truth; so Elihu had explained them,
God by them opens men’s ears to discipline and commands that
they return from iniquity. And if men were brought rightly to
understand God’s truth, and to submit to the power and authority
of it, they would turn from the error of their ways. Now the first step
towards this is to make our prayer before the Lord our God, that
the affliction may be sanctified before it is removed, and that the
grace of God may go along with the providence of God, to make it answer
the end. Those who in their affliction make not their prayer to
God, who cry not when he binds them, are not likely to
turn from iniquity or to understand his truth.
“Therefore, because we have not improved the affliction, the
Lord has watched upon the evil, as the judge takes care that
execution be done according to the sentence. Because we have not been
melted, he has kept us still in the furnace, and watched over
it, to make the heat yet more intense;” for when God judges he will
overcome, and will be justified in all his proceedings.
IV. Here is a believing appeal to the mercy of God, and to the ancient
tokens of his favour to Israel, and the concern of his own glory in
their interests.
1. It is some comfort to them (and not a little) that God has been
always ready to pardon sin
(v. 9):
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; this refers
to that proclamation of his name,
The Lord God, gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity. Note,
It is very encouraging to poor sinners to recollect that mercies
belong to God, as it is convincing and humbling to them to
recollect that righteousness belongs to him; and those who give him the
glory of his righteousness may take to themselves the comfort of his
mercies,
There are abundant mercies in God, and not only forgiveness but
forgivenesses; he is a God of pardons
marg.); he multiplies to pardon,
Isa. lv. 7.
Though we have rebelled against him, yet with him there is
mercy, pardoning mercy, even for the rebellious.
2. It is likewise a support to them to think that God had formerly
glorified himself by delivering them out of Egypt; so far he looks back
for the encouragement of his faith
(v. 15):
“Thou hast formerly brought thy people out of Egypt with a
mighty hand, and wilt thou not now with the same mighty hand bring
them out of Babylon? Were they then formed into a people, and shall
they not now be reformed and new-formed? Are they now sinful and
unworthy, and were they not so then? Are their oppressors now mighty
and haughty, and were they not so then? And has not God said the their
deliverance out of Babylon shall outshine even that out of Egypt?”
The force of this plea lies in that, “Thou hast gotten thyself
renown, hast made thyself a name” (so the word is) “as at
this day, even to this day, by bringing us out of Egypt; and wilt
thou lose the credit of that by letting us perish in Babylon? Didst
thou get a renown by that deliverance which we have so often
commemorated, and wilt thou not now get thyself a renown by this which
we have so often prayed for, and so long waited for?”
V. Here is a pathetic complaint of the reproach that God’s people lay
under, and the ruins that God’s sanctuary lay in, both which redounded
very much to the dishonour of God and the diminution of that name and
renown which God had gained by bringing them out of Egypt.
1. God’s holy people were despised. By their sins and the iniquities
of their fathers they had profaned their crown and made themselves
despicable, and then though they are, in name and profession, God’s
people, and upon that account truly great and honourable, yet they
become a reproach to all that are round about them. Their
neighbours laugh them to scorn, and triumph in their disgrace. Note,
Sin is a reproach to any people, but especially to God’s people,
that have more eyes upon them and have more honour to lose than other
people.
2. God’s holy place was desolate. Jerusalem, the holy city, was a
reproach
(v. 16)
when it lay in ruins; it was an astonishment and a hissing to
all that passed by. The sanctuary, the holy house, was desolate
(v. 17),
the altars were demolished, and all the buildings laid in ashes. Note,
The desolations of the sanctuary are the grief of all the saints, who
reckon all their comforts in this world buried in the ruins of the
sanctuary.
VI. Here is an importunate request to God for the restoring of the poor
captive Jews to their former enjoyments again. The petition is very
pressing, for God gives us leave in prayer to wrestle with him: “O
Lord! I beseech thee,
v. 16.
If ever thou wilt do any thing for me, do this; it is my heart’s desire
and prayer. Now therefore, O our God! hear the prayer of thy servant
and his supplication
(v. 17),
and grant an answer of peace.” Now what are his petitions? What are his
requests?
1. That God would turn away his wrath from them; that is it which all
the saints dread and deprecate more than any thing: O let thy anger
be turned away from thy Jerusalem, thy holy mountain!
v. 16.
He does not pray for the turning again of their captivity (let the Lord
do with them as seems good in his eyes), but he prays first for the
turning away of God’s wrath. Take away the cause, and the effect
will cease.
2. That he would lift up the light of his countenance upon them
(v. 17):
“Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate;
return in thy mercy to us, and show that thou art reconciled to us, and
then all shall be well.” Note, The shining of God’s face upon the
desolations of the sanctuary is all in all towards the repair of it;
and upon that foundation it must be rebuilt. If therefore its friends
would begin their work at the right end, they must first be earnest
with God in prayer for his favour, and recommend his desolate sanctuary
to his smiles. Cause thy face to shine and then we shall be
saved,
Ps. lxxx. 3.
3. That he would forgive their sins, and then hasten their deliverance
(v. 19):
O Lord! hear; O Lord! forgive. “That the mercy prayed for may be
granted in mercy, let the sin that threatens to come between us and it
be removed: O Lord! hearken and do, not hearken and speak only,
but hearken and do; do that for us which none else can, and that
speedily–defer not, O my God!” Now that he saw the appointed
day approaching he could in faith pray that God would make haste to
them and not defer. David often prays, Make haste, O God! to help
me.
VII. Here are several pleas and arguments to enforce the petitions. God
gives us leave not only to pray, but to plead with him, which is not to
move him (he himself knows what he will do), but to move ourselves, to
excite our fervency and encourage our faith.
1. They disdain a dependence upon any righteousness of their own; they
pretend not to merit any thing at God’s hand but wrath and the curse
(v. 18):
“We do not present our supplications before thee with hope to
speed for our righteousness, as if we were worthy to receive thy
favour for any good in us, or done by us, or could demand any thing as
a debt; we cannot insist upon our own justification, no, though we were
more righteous than we are; nay, though we knew nothing amiss of
ourselves, yet are we not thereby justified, nor would we
answer, but we would make supplication to our Judge.” Moses
had told Israel long before that, whatever God did for them, it was
not for their righteousness,
Deut. ix. 4, 5.
And Ezekiel had of late told them that their return out of Babylon
would be not for their sakes,
Ezek. xxxvi. 22, 32.
Note, Whenever we come to God for mercy we must lay aside all conceit
of, and confidence in, our own righteousness.
2. They take their encouragement in prayer from God only, as knowing
that his reasons of mercy are fetched from within himself, and
therefore from him we must borrow all our pleas for mercy, and so give
honour to him when we are suing for grace and mercy from him.
(1.) “Do it for thy own sake
(v. 19),
for the accomplishment of thy own counsel, the performance of thy own
promise, and the manifestation of thy own glory.” Note, God will do his
own work, not only in his own way and time, but for his own sake, and
so we must take it.
(2.) “Do it for the Lord’s sake, that is, for the Lord Christ’s
sake,” for the sake of the Messiah promised, who is the Lord (so the
most and best of our Christian interpreters understand it), for the
sake of Adonai, so David called the Messiah
(Ps. cx. 1),
and mercy is prayed for for the church for the sake of the Son of
man
(Ps. lxxx. 17),
and for thy Word’s sake, he is Lord of all. It is for his sake
that God causes his face to shine upon sinners when they repent and
turn to him, because of the satisfaction he has made. In all our
prayers that therefore must be our plea; we must make mention of his
righteousness, even of his only,
Ps. lxxi. 16.
Look upon the face of the anointed. He has himself directed us
to ask in his name.
(3.) “Do it according to all thy righteousness
(v. 16),
that is, plead for us against our persecutors and oppressors
according to thy righteousness. Though we are ourselves
unrighteous before God, yet with reference to them we have a righteous
cause, which we leave it with the righteous God to appear in the
defence of.” Or, rather, by the righteousness of God here is
meant his faithfulness to his promise. God had, according to his
righteousness, executed the threatening,
“Now, Lord, wilt thou not do according to all thy righteousness?
Wilt thou not be as true to thy promises as thou hast been to thy
threatenings and accomplish them also?”
(4.) “Do it for thy great mercies
(v. 18),
to make it to appear that thou art a merciful God.” The good things we
ask of God we call mercies, because we expect them purely from
God’s mercy. And, because misery is the proper object of mercy, the
prophet here spreads the deplorable condition of the church before God,
as it were to move his compassion: “Open thy eyes and behold our
desolations, especially the desolations of the sanctuary. O look
with pity upon a pitiable case!” Note, The desolations of the church
must in prayer be laid before God and then left with him.
(5.) “Do it for the sake of the relation we stand in to thee. The
sanctuary that is desolate is thy sanctuary
(v. 17),
dedicated to thy honour, employed in thy service, and the place of thy
residence. Jerusalem is thy city and thy holy mountain
(v. 16);
it is the city which is called by thy name,”
It was the city which God had chosen out of all the tribes of
Israel, to put his name there. “The people that have become a
reproach are thy people, and thy name suffers in the
reproach cast upon them
(v. 16);
they are called by thy name,
v. 19.
Lord, thou hast a property in them, and therefore art interested in
their interests; wilt thou not provide for thy own, for those of thy
own house? They are thine, save them,”
| Daniel’s Prayer Answered; The Answer to Daniel’s Prayer; The Coming of the Messiah; Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold. | B. C. 538. |
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20 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my
sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my
supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my
God;
21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man
Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being
caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening
oblation.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O
Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came
forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly
beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the
vision.
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of
sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth
of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the
Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two
weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in
troublous times.
26 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.
27 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.
We have here the answer that was immediately sent to Daniel’s prayer,
and it is a very memorable one, as it contains the most illustrious
prediction of Christ and gospel-grace that is extant in all the Old
Testament. If John Baptist was the morning-star, this was the
day-break to the Sun of righteousness, the day-spring from on
high. Here is,
I. The time when this answer was given.
1. It was while Daniel was at prayer. This he observed and laid a
strong emphasis upon: While I was speaking
(v. 20),
yea, while I was speaking in prayer
(v. 21),
before he rose from his knees, and while there was yet more which he
intended to say.
(1.) He mentions the two heads he chiefly insisted upon in prayer, and
which perhaps he designed yet further to enlarge upon.
[1.] He was confessing sin and lamenting that–“both my sin and the
sin of my people Israel.” Daniel was a very great and good man, and
yet he finds sin of his own to confess before God and is ready to
confess it; for there is not a just man upon earth that does good
and sins not, nor that sins and repents not. St. John puts himself
into the number of those who deceive themselves if they say that they
have no sin, and who therefore confess their sins,
1 John i. 8.
Good men find it an ease to their consciences to pour out their
complaints before the Lord against themselves; and that is
confessing sin. He also confessed the sin of his people,
and bewailed that. Those who are heartily concerned for the glory of
God, the welfare of the church, and the souls of men, will mourn for
the sins of others as well as for their own.
[2.] He was making supplication before the Lord his God, and
presenting it to him as an intercessor for Israel; and in this prayer
his concern was for the holy mountain of his God, Mount Zion.
The desolations of the sanctuary lay nearer his heart than those of the
city and the land; and the repair of that, and the setting up of the
public worship of God of Israel again, were the things he had in view,
in the deliverance he was preparing for, more than re-establishment of
their civil interests. Now,
(2.) While Daniel was thus employed,
[1.] He had a grant made him of the mercy he prayed for. Note, God is
very ready to hear prayer and to give an answer of peace. Now was
fulfilled what God had spoken
While they are yet speaking, I will hear. Daniel grew very
fervent in prayer, and his affections were very strong,
And, while he was speaking with such fervour and ardency, the
angel came to him with a gracious answer. God is well pleased with
lively devotions. We cannot now expect that God should send us answers
to our prayer by angels, but, if we pray with fervency for that which
God has promised, we may by faith take the promise as an immediate
answer to the prayer; for he is faithful that has promised.
[2.] He had a discovery made to him of a far greater and more glorious
redemption which God would work out for his church in the latter days.
Note, Those that would be brought acquainted with Christ and his grace
must be much in prayer.
2. It was about the time of the evening oblation,
v. 21.
The altar was in ruins, and there was no oblation offered upon it, but,
it should seem, the pious Jews in their captivity were daily thoughtful
of the time when it should have been offered, and at that hour were
ready to weep at the remembrance of it, and desired and hoped that
their prayer should be set forth before God as incense, and the
lifting up of their hands, and their hearts with their hands,
should be acceptable in his sight as the evening-sacrifice,
Ps. cxli. 2.
The evening oblation was a type of the great sacrifice which Christ was
to offer in the evening of the world, and it was in the virtue of that
sacrifice that Daniel’s prayer was accepted when he prayed for the
Lord’s sake; and for the sake of that this glorious discovery of
redeeming love was made to him. The Lamb opened the seals in the
virtue of his own blood.
II. The messenger by whom this answer was sent. It was not given him in
a dream, nor by a voice from heaven, but, for the greater certainty and
solemnity of it, an angel was sent on purpose, appearing in a human
shape, to give this answer to Daniel. Observe,
1. Who this angel, or messenger, was; it was the man Gabriel. If
Michael the archangel be, as many suppose, no other than Jesus Christ,
this Gabriel is the only created angel that is named in scripture.
Gabriel signifies the mighty one of God; for the angels are
great in power and might,
2 Pet. ii. 11.
It was he whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning. Daniel
heard him called by his name, and thence learned it
and, though then he trembled at his approach, yet he observed him so
carefully that now he knew him again, knew him to be the same that he
had seen at the beginning, and, being somewhat better acquainted with
him, was not now so terrified at the sight of him as he had been at
first. When this angel said to Zacharias, I am Gabriel
(Luke i. 19),
he intended thereby to put him in mind of this notice which he had
given to Daniel of the Messiah’s coming when it was at a distance, for
the confirming of his faith in the notice he was then about to give of
it as at the door.
2. The instructions which this messenger received from the Father of
lights to whom Daniel prayed
(v. 23):
At the beginning of thy supplications the word, the
commandment, came forth from God. Notice was given to the angels in
heaven of this counsel of God, which they were desirous to look into;
and orders were given to Gabriel to go immediately and bring the notice
of it to Daniel. By this it appears that it was not any thing which
Daniel said that moved God, for the answer was given as he began to
pray; but God was well pleased with his serious solemn address to the
duty, and, in token of that, sent him this gracious message. Or perhaps
it was at the beginning of Daniel’s supplications that
Cyrus’s word, or commandment, went forth to restore and to
build Jerusalem, that going forth spoken of
“The thing was done this very day; the proclamation of liberty
to the Jews was signed this morning, just when thou wast praying for
it;” and now, at the close of this fast-day, Daniel had notice of it,
as, at the close of the day of atonement, the jubilee-trumpet
sounded to proclaim liberty.
3. The haste he made to deliver his message: He was caused to fly
swiftly,
v. 21.
Angels are winged messengers, quick in their motions, and delay not to
execute the orders they receive; they run and return like a flash of
lightning,
Ezek. i. 14.
But, it should seem, sometimes they are more expeditious than at other
times, and make a quicker despatch, as here the angel was caused to
fly swiftly; that is, he was ordered and he was enabled to fly
swiftly. Angels do their work in obedience to divine command and in
dependence upon divine strength. Though they excel in wisdom, they fly
swifter or slower as God directs; and, though they excel in power, they
fly but as God causes them to fly. Angels themselves are to us what he
makes them to be; they are his ministers, and do his
pleasure,
Ps. ciii. 21.
4. The prefaces or introductions to his message.
(1.) He touched him
(v. 21),
as before
(ch. viii. 18),
not to awaken him out of sleep as then, but to give him a hint to break
off his prayer and to attend to that which he has to say in answer to
it. Note, In order to the keeping up of our communion with God we must
not only be forward to speak to God, but as forward to hear what he has
to say to us; when we have prayed we must look up, must look after our
prayers, must set ourselves upon our watch-tower.
(2.) He talked with him
(v. 22),
talked familiarly with him, as one friend talks with another, that
his terror might not make him afraid. He informed him on what
errand he came, that he was sent from heaven on purpose with a kind
message to him: “I have come to show thee
(v. 23),
to tell thee that which thou didst not know before.” He had shown him
the troubles of the church under Antiochus, and the period of those
troubles
(ch. viii. 19);
but now he has greater things to show him, for he that is faithful in a
little shall be entrusted with more. “Nay, I have now come forth to
give thee skill and understanding
(v. 22),
not only to show thee these things, but to make thee understand
them.”
(3.) He assured him that he was a favourite of Heaven, else he would
not have had this intelligence sent him, and he must take it for a
favour: “I have come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved.
Thou art a man of desires, acceptable to God, and whom he has a
favour for.” Note, Though God loves all his children, yet there are
some that are more than the rest greatly beloved. Christ had one
disciple that lay in his bosom; and that beloved disciple was he
that was entrusted with the prophetical visions of the New Testament,
as Daniel was with those of the Old. For what greater token can there
be of God’s favour to any man than for the secrets of the Lord to be
with him? Abraham is the friend of God; and therefore Shall
I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?
Gen. xviii. 17.
Note, Those may reckon themselves greatly beloved of God to whom, and
in whom, he reveals his Son. Some observe that the title which
this angel Gabriel gives to the Virgin Mary is much the same with this
which he here gives to Daniel, as if he designed to put her in mind of
it–Thou that art highly favoured; as Daniel, greatly
beloved.
(4.) He demands his serious attention to the discovery he was now about
to make to him: Therefore understand the matter, and consider the
vision,
v. 23.
This intimates that it was a thing well worthy of his regard, above any
of the visions he had been before favoured with. Note, Those who would
understand the things of God must consider them, must apply their minds
to them, ponder upon them, and compare spiritual things with spiritual.
The reason why we are so much in the dark concerning the revealed will
of God, and mistake concerning it, is want of consideration. This
vision both requires and deserves consideration.
III. The message itself. It was delivered with great solemnity,
received no doubt with great attention, and recorded with great
exactness; but in it, as is usual in prophecies, there are things dark
and hard to be understood. Daniel, who understood by the book of the
prophet Jeremiah the expiration of the seventy years of the captivity,
is now honourably employed to make known to the church another more
glorious release, which that was but a shadow of, at the end of another
seventy, not years, but weeks of years. He prayed over that prophecy,
and received this in answer to that prayer. He had prayed for his
people and the holy city–that they might be released,
that it might be rebuilt; but God answers him above what he
was able to ask or think. God not only grants, but outdoes, the
desires of those that fear him,
1. The times here determined are somewhat hard to be understood. In
general, it is seventy weeks, that is, seventy times seven
years, which makes just 490 years. The great affairs that are yet
to come concerning the people of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem,
will lie within the compass of these years.
(1.) These years are thus described by weeks,
[1.] In conformity to the prophetic style, which is, for the most part,
abstruse, and out of the common road of speaking, that the things
foretold might not lie too obvious.
[2.] To put an honour upon the division of time into weeks, which is
made purely by the sabbath day, and to signify that that should be
perpetual.
[3.] With reference to the seventy years of the captivity; as they had
been so long kept out of the possession of their own land, so, being
now restored to it they should seven times as long be kept in the
possession of it. So much more does God delight in showing mercy than
in punishing. The land had enjoyed its sabbaths, in a melancholy
sense, seventy years,
But now the people of the Lord shall, in a comfortable sense, enjoy
their sabbaths seven times seventy years, and in them seventy
sabbatical years, which makes ten jubilees. Such proportions are there
in the disposals of Providence, that we might see and admire the wisdom
of him who has determined the times before appointed.
(2.) The difficulties that arise about these seventy weeks are,
[1.] Concerning the time when they commence and whence they are to be
reckoned. They are here dated from the going forth of the
commandments to restore and to build Jerusalem,
v. 25.
I should most incline to understand this of the edict of Cyrus
mentioned
for by it the people were restored; and, though express mention
be not made there of the building of Jerusalem, yet that is supposed in
the building of the temple, and was foretold to be done by Cyrus,
He shall say to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built. That was, both
in prophecy and in history, the most famous decree for the building of
Jerusalem; nay, it should seem, this going forth of the
commandment (which may as well be meant of God’s command concerning
it as of Cyrus’s) is the same with that going forth of the commandment
mentioned
which was at the beginning of Daniel’s supplications. And it
looks very graceful that the seventy weeks should begin immediately
upon the expiration of the seventy years. And there is nothing to be
objected against this but that by this reckoning the Persian
monarchy, from the taking of Babylon by Cyrus to Alexander’s
conquest of Darius, lasted but 130 years; whereas, by the particular
account given of the reigns of the Persian emperors, it is computed
that it continued 230 years. So Thucydides, Xenophon, and others
reckon. Those who fix it to that first edict set aside these
computations of the heathen historians as uncertain and not to be
relied upon. But others, willing to reconcile them, begin the 490
years, not at the edict of Cyrus
(Ezra i. 1),
but at the second edict for the building of Jerusalem, issued out by
Darius Nothus above 100 years after, mentioned
Others fix on the seventh year of Artaxerxes Mnemon, who sent Ezra with
a commission,
The learned Mr. Poole, in his Latin Synopsis, has a vast and most
elaborate collection of what has been said, pro and con,
concerning the different beginnings of these weeks, with which the
learned may entertain themselves.
[2.] Concerning the termination of them; and here likewise interpreters
are not agreed. Some make them to end at the death of Christ, and
think the express words of this famous prophecy will warrant us to
conclude that from this very hour when Gabriel spoke to Daniel, at the
time of the evening oblation, to the hour when Christ died, which was
towards evening too, it was exactly 490 years; and I am willing enough
to be of that opinion. But others think, because it is said that in
the midst of the weeks (that is, the last of the seventy weeks) he
shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, they end
three years and a half after the death of Christ, when the Jews
having rejected the gospel, the apostles turned to the Gentiles. But
those who make them to end precisely at the death of Christ read it
thus, “He shall make strong the testament to the many; the last
seven, or the last week, yea, half that seven, or half
that week (namely, the latter half, the three years and a half
which Christ spent in his public ministry), shall bring to an end
sacrifice and oblation.” Others make these 490 years to end with the
destruction of Jerusalem, about thirty-seven years after the death of
Christ, because these seventy weeks are said to be determined upon
the people of the Jews and the holy city; and much is said
here concerning the destruction of the city and the sanctuary.
[3.] Concerning the division of them into seven weeks, and sixty-two
weeks, and one week; and the reason of this is as hard to account for
as any thing else. In the first seven weeks, or forty-nine years, the
temple and city were built; and in the last single week Christ preached
his gospel, by which the Jewish economy was taken down, and the
foundations were laid of the gospel city and temple, which were to be
built upon the ruins of the former.
(3.) But, whatever uncertainty we may labour under concerning the exact
fixing of these times, there is enough clear and certain to answer the
two great ends of determining them.
[1.] It did serve them to raise and support the expectations of
believers. There were general promises of the coming of the Messiah
made to the patriarchs; the preceding prophets had often spoken of him
as one that should come, but never was the time fixed for his
coming until now. And, though there might be so much doubt concerning
the date of this reckoning that they could not ascertain the time just
to a year, yet by the light of this prophecy they were directed about
what time to expect him. And we find, accordingly, that when Christ
came he was generally looked for as the consolation of
Israel, and redemption in Jerusalem by him,
There were those that for this reason thought the kingdom of God
should immediately appear
(Luke xix. 11),
and some think it was this that brought a more than ordinary concourse
of people to Jerusalem,
[2.] It does serve still to refute and silence the expectations of
unbelievers, who will not own that Jesus is he who should come,
but still look for another. This prediction should silence them,
and will condemn them; for, reckon these seventy weeks from which of
the commandments to build Jerusalem we please, it is certain that they
have expired above 1500 years ago; so that the Jews are for ever
without excuse, who will not own that the Messiah has come when
they have gone so far beyond their utmost reckoning for his coming. But
by this we are confirmed in our belief of the Messiah’s being come, and
that our Jesus is he, that he came just at the time prefixed, a time
worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance.
2. The events here foretold are more plain and easy to be understood,
at least to us now. Observe what is here foretold,
(1.) Concerning the return of the Jews now speedily to their own land,
and their settlement again there, which was the thing that Daniel now
principally prayed for; and yet it is but briefly touched upon here in
the answer to his prayer. Let this be a comfort to the pious Jews, that
a commandment shall go forth to restore and to build
Jerusalem,
v. 25.
And the commandment shall not be in vain; for though the times will be
very troublous, and this good work will meet with great opposition, yet
it shall be carried on, and brought to perfection at last. The
street shall be built again, as spacious and splendid as
ever it was, and the walls, even in troublous times. Note, as
long as we are here in this world we must expect troublous
times, upon some account or other. Even when we have joyous
times we must rejoice with trembling; it is but a gleam, it is but
a lucid interval of peace and prosperity; the clouds will return
after the rain. When the Jews are restored in triumph to their own
land, yet there they must expect troublous times, and prepare for them.
But this is our comfort, that God will carry on his own work, will
build up his Jerusalem, will beautify it, will fortify it, even in
troublous times; nay, the troublousness of the times may by the
grace of God contribute to the advancement of the church. The more it
is afflicted the more it multiplies.
(2.) Concerning the Messiah and his undertaking. The carnal Jews looked
for a Messiah that could deliver them from the Roman yoke and give them
temporal power and wealth, whereas they were here told that the Messiah
should come upon another errand, purely spiritual, and upon the account
of which he should be the more welcome.
[1.] Christ came to take away sin, and to abolish that. Sin had
made a quarrel between God and man, had alienated men from God and
provoked God against man; it was this that put dishonour upon God and
brought misery upon mankind; this was the great mischief-maker. He that
would do God a real service, and man a real kindness, must be the
destruction of this. Christ undertakes to be so, and for this
purpose he is manifested, to destroy the works of the devil.
He does not say to finish your transgressions and your sins, but
transgression and sin in general, for he is the
propitiation not only for our sins, that are Jews, but for
the sins of the whole world. He came, First, To finish
transgression, to restrain it (so some), to break the power
of it, to bruise the head of that serpent that had done so much
mischief, to take away the usurped dominion of that tyrant, and to set
up a kingdom of holiness and love in the hearts of men, upon the ruins
of Satan’s kingdom there, that, where sin and death had
reigned, righteousness and life through grace might
reign. When he died he said, It is finished; sin has now
had its death-wound given it, like Samson’s, Let me die with the
Philistines. Animamque in vulnere ponit–He inflicts the wound and
dies. Secondly, To make an end of sin, to abolish it, that
it may not rise up in judgment against us, to obtain the pardon of it,
that it may not be our ruin, to seal up sins (so the margin
reads it), that they may not appear or break out against us, to accuse
and condemn us, as, when Christ cast the devil into the bottomless pit,
he set a seal upon him,
Rev. xx. 3.
When sin is pardoned it is sought for and not found, as that
which is sealed up. Thirdly, To make reconciliation for
iniquity, as by a sacrifice, to satisfy the justice of God and so
to make peace and bring God and man together, not only as an
arbitrator, or referee, who only brings the contending parties to a
good understanding one of another, but as a surety, or undertaker, for
us. He is not only the peace-maker, but the peace. He is
the atonement.
[2.] He came to bring in an everlasting righteousness. God might
justly have made an end of the sin by making an end of the sinner; but
Christ found out another way, and so made an end of sin as to save the
sinner from it, by providing a righteousness for him. We are all guilty
before God, and shall be condemned as guilty, if we have not a
righteousness wherein to appear before him. Had we stood, our innocency
would have been our righteousness, but, having fallen, we must have
something else to plead; and Christ has provided us a plea. The merit
of his sacrifice is our righteousness; with this we answer all
the demands of the law; Christ has died, yea, rather, has risen
again. Thus Christ is the Lord our righteousness, for he is
made of God to us righteousness, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. By faith we apply this to ourselves
and plead it with God, and our faith is imputed to us for
righteousness,
Rom. iv. 3, 5.
This is an everlasting righteousness, for Christ, who is our
righteousness, and the prince of our peace, is the
everlasting Father. It was from everlasting in the counsels of
it and will be to everlasting in the consequences of it. The
application of it was from the beginning, for Christ was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world; and it will be to the end,
for he is able to save to the uttermost. It is of everlasting
virtue
(Heb. x. 12);
it is the rock that follows us to Canaan.
[3.] He came to seal up the vision and prophecy, all the
prophetical visions of the Old Testament, which had reference to the
Messiah. He sealed them up, that is, he accomplished them,
answered to them to a tittle; all things that were written in the law,
the prophets, and the psalms, concerning the Messiah, were fulfilled in
him. Thus he confirmed the truth of them as well as his own mission. He
sealed them up, that is, he put an end to that method of God’s
discovering his mind and will, and took another course by completing
the scripture-canon in the New Testament, which is the more sure word
of prophecy than that by vision,
2 Pet. i. 19; Heb. i. 1.
[4.] He came to anoint the most holy, that is, himself, the Holy
One, who was anointed (that is, appointed to his work and
qualified for it) by the Holy Ghost, that oil of gladness which he
received without measure, above his fellows; or to anoint
the gospel-church, his spiritual temple, or holy place, to sanctify and
cleanse it, and appropriate it to himself
(Eph. v. 26),
or to consecrate for us a new and living way into the holiest,
by his own blood
(Heb. x. 20),
as the sanctuary was anointed,
Exod. xxx. 25,
&c. He is called Messiah
(v. 25, 26),
which signifies Christ-Anointed
(John i. 41),
because he received the unction both for himself and for all that are
his.
[5.] In order to all this the Messiah must be cut off, must die
a violent death, and so be cut off from the land of the living,
as was foretold,
Hence, when Paul preaches the death of Christ, he says that he preached
nothing but what the prophet said should come,
Acts xxvi. 22, 23.
And thus it behoved Christ to suffer. He must be cut off, but
not for himself–not for any sin of his own, but, as Caiaphas
prophesied, he must die for the people, in our stead and for our
good,–not for any advantage of his own (the glory he purchased
for himself was no more than the glory he had before,
no; it was to atone for our sins, and to purchase life for us, that he
was cut off.
[6.] He must confirm the covenant with many. He shall introduce
a new covenant between God and man, a covenant of grace, since it had
become impossible for us to be saved by a covenant of innocence. This
covenant he shall confirm by his doctrine and miracles, by his death
and resurrection, by the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s supper,
which are the seals of the New Testament, assuring us that God
is willing to accept us upon gospel-terms. His death made his
testament of force, and enabled us to claim what is bequeathed by
it. He confirmed it to the many, to the common people; the poor
were evangelized, when the rulers and Pharisees
believed not on him. Or, he confirmed it with many, with the
Gentile world. The New Testament was not (like the Old) confined to the
Jewish church, but was committed to all nations. Christ gave his life
a ransom for many.
[7.] He must cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. By
offering himself a sacrifice once for all he shall put an end to all
the Levitical sacrifices, shall supersede them and set them aside; when
the substance comes the shadows shall be done away. He causes all the
peace-offerings to cease when he has made peace by the blood of his
cross, and by it confirmed the covenant of peace and reconciliation. By
the preaching of his gospel to the world, with which the apostles were
entrusted, he took men off from expecting remission by the blood of
bulls and goats, and so caused the sacrifice and oblation to
cease. The apostle in his epistle to the Hebrews shows what a
better priesthood, altar, and sacrifice, we have now than they had
under the law, as a reason why we should hold fast our
profession.
(3.) Concerning the final destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish
church and nation; and this follows immediately upon the cutting off of
the Messiah, not only because it was the just punishment of
those that put him to death, which was the sin that filled up the
measure of their iniquity and brought ruin upon them, but because, as
things were, it was necessary to the perfecting of one of the great
intentions of his death. He died to take away the ceremonial law, quite
to abolish that law of commandments, and to vacate the
obligation of it. But the Jews would not be persuaded to quit it; still
they kept it up with more zeal than ever; they would hear no talk of
parting with it; they stoned Stephen (the first Christian martyr) for
saying that Jesus should change the customs which Moses delivered
them
(Acts vi. 14);
so that there was no way to abolish the Mosaic economy but by
destroying the temple, and the holy city, and the Levitical priesthood,
and that whole nation which so incurably doted on them. This was
effectually done in less than forty years after the death of Christ,
and it was a desolation that could never be repaired to this
day. And this is it which is here largely foretold, that the Jews who
returned out of captivity might not be overmuch lifted up with the
rebuilding of their city and temple, because in process of time they
would be finally destroyed, and not as now for seventy years only, but
might rather rejoice in hope of the coming of the Messiah, and the
setting up of his spiritual kingdom in the world, which should never
be destroyed. Now,
[1.] It is here foretold that the people of the prince that shall
come shall be the instruments of this destruction, that is, the
Roman armies, belonging to a monarchy yet to come (Christ is the
prince that shall come, and they are employed by him in this
service; they are his armies,
Matt. xxii. 7),
or the Gentiles (who, though now strangers, shall become the people of
the Messiah) shall destroy the Jews.
[2.] That the destruction shall be by war, and the end of
that war shall be this desolation determined. The wars
of the Jews with the Romans were by their own obstinacy made very
long and very bloody, and they issued at length in the utter
extirpation of that people.
[3.] That the city and sanctuary shall in a particular
manner be destroyed and laid quite waste. Titus the Roman
general would fain have saved the temple, but his soldiers were so
enraged against the Jews that he could not restrain them from burning
it to the ground, that this prophecy might be fulfilled.
[4.] That all the resistance that shall be made to this destruction
shall be in vain: The end of it shall be with a flood. It shall
be a deluge of destruction, like that which swept away the old world,
and which there will be no making head against.
[5.] That hereby the sacrifice and oblation shall be made to
cease. And it must needs cease when the family of the priests was
so extirpated, and the genealogies of it were so confounded, that (they
say) there is no man in the world that can prove himself of the seed of
Aaron.
[6.] that there shall be an overspreading of abominations, a
general corruption of the Jewish nation and an abounding of iniquity
among them, for which it shall be made desolate,
1 Thess. ii. 16.
Or it is rather to be understood of the armies of the Romans, which
were abominable to the Jews (they could not endure them), which
overspread the nation, and by which it was made desolate;
for these are the words which Christ refers to,
When you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel, stand in the holy place, then let those who shall be in Judea
flee, which is explained
When you shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies then flee.
[7.] That the desolation shall be total and final: He shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation, that is, he shall make it
completely desolate. It is a desolation determined, and it will
be accomplished to the utmost. And when it is made desolate, it should
seem, there is something more determined that is to be poured upon
the desolate
(v. 27),
and what should that be but the spirit of slumber
that blindness which has happened to Israel until the fulness of the
Gentiles shall come in? And then all Israel shall be saved.
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