11. The anointing of the Most Holy, mentioned in the 24th verse, must relate to the anointing of a person; which person must be the Messiah. 12. The causing of the sacrifice and meat-offering to cease must be considered as synchronizing with the appearance of the abomination of desolation; that is to say, so far synchronizing, that they are caused to cease in the course of the same war that Jerusa lem is compassed by the Roman armies. Now, if I have at all succeeded in establishing these positions, no interpretation that contradicts any one of thein can be deemed admissible. But it is obvious, that each interpretation, which has hitherto been considered, however unobjectionable it may be in some points, is irreconcileable with one or other of the preceding positions. Hence I think, that not one of them, as they stand at present, is perfectly tenable. We must inquire therefore, whether any exposition can be produced, which quadrates in all respects with such positions as may be established abstractedly. CHAPTER CHAPTER VI An inquiry into the proper interpretation of the prophecy. HAVING now discussed the mode of computing the seventy weeks, the chronology of the different edicts from some one of which they must necessarily be computed, and the abstract mutual relation of the different clauses of the prophecy, we shall be prepared to investigate with greater advantage the proper interpretation of it. I. WEEKS SEVENTY are THE PRECISE PERIOD UPON THY PEOPLE AND UPON THY HOLY CITY, TO COMPLETE THE APOSTASY, AND TO PERFECT THE SIN-OFFERINGS, AND TO MAKE ATONEMENT FOR INIQUITY, AND TO CAUSE him who is THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE ETERNAL AGES TO COME, AND TO SEAL THE VISION AND THE PROPHET, AND TO ANOINT THE MOST HOLY ONE. 1. Since it is a priori uncertain from which of the edicts of the kings of Persia the seventy weeks are to be reckoned, since however they are to be reckon ed ed prospectively*, since they must terminate with some one or more of the particulars here specified to be accomplished †, and since they must be esteemed an unbroken continuous period of time ‡; it is manifest, that, if we can ascertain the particular with which they terminate, we shall thereby ascertain the proper date of their commencement: and, if that can be ascertained, we shall then tread upon sure ground, and shall have the key given us to interpret all the subordinate parts of the prophecy. Our first business therefore must be to inquire into the meaning of the six particulars here specified by Daniel, as destined to be accomplished in the course of the seventy weeks. (1.) The first of them is, the completion of the apostasy. The import of the word yw has already been shewn to be the revolt of a subject from the allegiance due to his lawful sovereign. Hence, in a theological sense, particularly in the case of a theocracy such as the government of Israel was, it is equivalent to apostasy in a more or less intense degree. All the acts of idolatry, into which the Ifraelites were seduced, were so many acts of rebellious apostasy from their heavenly sovereign. Each of them According to the 1st abstract position. was was a revolt, in a far more special and definite manner than the idolatrous acts of the Gentiles; because God was king in Israel*, and therefore each act of idolatry was a denial of his supremacy, an act whereby his liege-men withdrew their allegiance and transferred it to another, Yet, bad as this senseless idolatry of the ancient Israelites may have been, their apostasy cannot be said to have been completed by any one particular act of it. Moreover the seventy weeks look prospectively: therefore. their apostasy cannot have been completed before the time of Daniel. But we know, that after their restoration from Babylon, they never, at least nationally, relapsed into idolatry: yet, since the seventy weeks look prospectively, their apostasy must have been completed subsequent to that restoration. It must therefore be some withdrawing of their allegiance, palpable and atrocious no doubt to the very highest degree since it was to be an absolute consummation of all their former apostasies, yet of a different nature from any former act of rebellious idolatry, inasmuch as they were never after their restoration from Babylon nationally idolatrous. Now I know not any act perpetrated by the Jews subsequent to the time of Daniel, that can vindicate to * 1 Sam. viii. 7. xii, 12. Isaiah xli. 21. xliii, 15. Jer. viii. 19. Such was the title of the itself the tremendous preeminence of being a consummation of apostasy, except ther formal rejection and judicial murder of their divine king when he dwelt among them veiling his majesty in a tabernacle of flesh. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion," exclaims an inspired prophet, "shout, O daughter "of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto "thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and "riding upon an ass *." Messiah: a title, which he claimed as his due even in the very face of his enemies; a title, the claiming of which subjected him to the bitterest taunts †. But in what manner did the Jews receive their king? When Pilate scoffingly says to them, Behold your king; their answer is, Away with him, crucify him. The governor inquires, What shall I crucify your king? the chief priests solemnly reply, as the representatives of their nation, We have no king but Cesar §. Is it possible to conceive a more palpable and deliberate withdrawing of allegi ance from a sovereign, than this was? In their dif ferent acts of idolatry they seem for the most part, not so much to have altogether rejected their king, Zechar. ix. 9. + See Matt. xxvii. 11, 29. Mark xv. 2, 9, 12, 18, 32, Luke xxiii. 2, 3, 37. John xix. 14. § John xix. 15. as |