{"commentary":{"id":"adam-clarke","name":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clarke","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"92e28c9363c876d215e296f2fe04abb3ab7e34a2aacebdf06bd62ae79c6e3dba","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":57,"totalNumberOfChapters":854,"totalNumberOfVerses":13318,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"DAN","commentaryId":"adam-clarke","name":"Daniel","commonName":"Daniel","introduction":"Introduction to the Book of the Prophet Daniel Daniel is said to have descended from the royal family of David; and he appears to have been carried into Babylon when very young, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, A.M. 3398, b.c. 602, or 606 before the vulgar era. He and his three fellow-captives, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, being likely youths, were chosen to be about the king's court, and were appointed to have an education suitable to the employments for which they were destined. As they had been carefully bred up in the Mosaic institutions, they regulated their conduct by them, even in the court of a heathen king, where they were in the capacity of slaves; hence, though ordered to be fed from the royal table, they would not touch that food, because the Chaldeans ate of meat forbidden by the Mosaic law, and probably even that which might be dominated clean became defiled by having been sacrificed to idols before it was prepared for common use. At their earnest request, the officer under whose care they were placed permitted them to use vegetables only; and finding that they grew healthy and strong by this aliment, did not oblige them to use the portion sent from the king's table. Daniel appears to have been instructed in all the wisdom of the Chaldeans, which was at that time greatly superior to the learning of the ancient Egyptians; and he was soon distinguished in the Babylonish court, as well for his wisdom and strong understanding as for his deep and steady piety. His interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the variously compounded metallic image raised his credit so high at the court that he was established governor of the province of Babylon, and made chief of all the Magians, or wise men in that country. The chief facts and incidents of his history are so particularly woven throughout the book bearing his name, and undoubtedly written by himself, that they need not be detailed here. The reputation of Daniel was so great, even in his lifetime, that it became a proverb. \"Thou art wiser than Daniel,\" said Ezekiel ironically to the king of Tyre, Eze 28:3; and by the same prophet God ranks him among the most holy and exemplary of men, when he declares, speaking relative to Jerusalem, which had been condemned to destruction, \"Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own lives by their righteousness,\" Eze 14:14, Eze 14:20. Josephus, Ant. lib. x., c. 12, says that God bestowed many favors on him: that he was advanced to the rank of the most considerable prophets; that he enjoyed the favor of princes, and the affection of the people during his life; and that after his death his memory became immortal. He observes also that, in the complexion of his predictions, he differs widely from all other prophets; they foretold scarcely any thing but disastrous events; on the contrary, he predicts the most joyous events, and fixes the times of accomplishment with more circumstantial precision than they did. And this is so true, that we cannot help thinking that God had given this eminent man a greater degree of light to fix the times when his predictions should issue, than he had given in general to all his predecessors, who simply declared the mind of God in relation to things future, without attempting to indicate the distance of time in which they should be fulfilled. There are but very few exceptions to this either in Isaiah or Jeremiah. And in this respect the prophecy of the seventy weeks of Daniel exceeds all that have gone before, as the incidents and transactions relative to its fulfillment were so various, and yet so fixed and declared six hundred years before the time, that when the time came in which they were predicted to take place, they were expected, and occurred exactly according to the prediction, and the expectations founded upon it. This prophet therefore, far from occupying a lower place among divinely inspired men, deserves to be placed in the front rank with all those who have been most distinguished among the men who have partaken most largely of the prophetic gift. The rabbins have endeavored to degrade Daniel, and have placed his prophecies among the hagiographa, books which they consider to possess a minor degree of inspiration; and it is probable that he meets with this treatment from them because his prophecies are proofs too evident that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah, and that he came at the very time that Daniel said the Prince Messiah should come. But the testimony and sayings of such men are infinitely overpowered by the testimony of Ezekiel, which has been produced above; and the testimony of our Lord, who gives him the title of prophet, Mat 24:15, without the slightest intimation that he was to wear this title with abatement. It is very probable that Daniel did not return at the general restoration from the Babylonish captivity. At that time, if alive, he must have been an old man; and it is most likely that he finished his days in Babylon, though some Asiatic authors hold that he returned to Judea with Ezra, came back afterward to Persia, and died in the city of Susa. Josephus speaks of his skill in architecture, Antiq. lib. x., c. 12, and that he built a famous tower at Ecbatane or Susa, which remained to his time, and was so exquisitely finished that it always appeared as if newly built. In this tower or palace the kings of Persia were interred; and in consideration of its founder, the guard of it was always chosen from the Jews. Daniel is famous among the orientalists. The author of the Tareekh Muntekheb says that Daniel flourished in the time of Lohorasp, king of Persia; and consequently in that of Ceresh, of Cyrus, who gave him the government of Syria; that he taught these two princes the knowledge of the true God; that he preached the true faith through the whole of the Babylonian Irak; and was, on the death of Nebuchadnezzar, sent by Bahman, (Artaxerxes Longimanus), son of Asfendiar, who then reigned in Persia, into Judea; and that, having returned, he died at Shouster, or Susa, the capital of Persia, where he lies interred. Some have supposed that the Zoraster or Zeradusht of the Persians is a confused picture of the Prophet Daniel. The account given by Abul Pharaje, in his fifth dynasty, may be considered favorable to this opinion. He says, \"Zeradusht, author of the Magiouseiah Magism, or sect of the worshippers of fire, flourished in the reign of Cambasous, (Cambyses); that he was a native of the province of Adherbigian, or Media, or, according to others, of Assyria; that he foretold to his disciples the coming of the Messiah, who should be pointed out by a star which should appear in the day time at his birth; that they should have the first information of his advent; that he should be born of a virgin; and that they should present him with gifts; because he is the Word that made the heavens.\" See Pococke's Abul Pharajius, p. 83 of the Arabic, and 54 of the Latin. D'Herbelot, on this account, makes the following remark: \"We may see by these words of the historian, that the prophesy of Balaam was pretty generally known throughout the east, and that the Magi, who came to worship our Lord, were the true Magians of Persia, and not Arab kings.\" The account given by Abul Pharaje makes Daniel and Zeradusht contemporary, and thus far is favorable to the opinion that the history of former may be dismissed under that of the latter. There have been several Zoroasters, of whom many fables are told; and no wonder, when the persons themselves are generally fabulous. The Asiatics make him the inventor of remel, or geomancy; and among them he passes for the author of a work entitled Assoul ol Tabeer, \"The Principles of the Interpretation of Dreams.\" I have in my own library a very ancient work which pretends to be drawn from this, and is entitled Somnia Daniel; it was printed in the infancy of printing, but without date; small 4to. There is an Arabic work in the French king's library, No. 410, entitled Odhmet al Mancoul, an Danial an Nabi, \"The Traditionary Predictions of Daniel the Prophet;\" which is said to contain many falsities, built on the foundation of Daniel's prophecies; but it has never been given to the public, and I have no other notice of it than the above from D'Herbelot. But although all these are curious from their antiquity, yet they are doubtless impostures. Abul Pharaje, in his history of the dynasties, says, that the seventy weeks of Daniel are to be dated from the twentieth year of Ardsheer Dirazdest, the Artaxerxes Longimanus of the Greeks, (called Bahman above), and the same to whom Nehemiah was sakee, or cup-bearer. Other orientalists are of the same opinion. This shall be considered more at large when we come to the prophecy itself. Artaxerxes had the name of Longimanus, or Long-handed, from the great extent of his dominions. Daniel cannot be ranked among the Hebrew poets: his book is all in prose; and it is written partly in Hebrew, and partly in Chaldee. The Chaldee, or Syro-Chaldaic part, begins with מלכא לעלמין חיי malka lealmin chei, \"O king, live for ever!\" and continues to the end of the seventh chapter. In the interpretation of his prophecies I have endeavored to follow the best critics and chronologists; and, without an extended comment, to give in as short a space as possible the meaning of every place. On the metallic images and seventy weeks I have been obliged to be more prolix, as these are of too much importance to be slightly handled. It is not my province to enter into the controversy about the date when the seventy weeks commence; even they who disagree so much from each other on this point come so near to the general issue that the difference is immaterial. The chronology of the several events mentioned in this book Calmet endeavors to fix as follows: - A.M. Event 3398 Daniel led captive to Babylon, Dan 1:1-7. 3399 Death of Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar. 3401 Jehoiakim revolts against Nebuchadnezzar, Kg2 24:1. 3402 Dream of the compound statue, Dan 2:1, etc. Daniel and his companions promoted to honor at court. Birth of Cyrus, son of Cambyses and Mandane. 3405 Jehoiakim is taken and put to death by the Chaldeans. Jeconiah is raised to his throne, but reigns only three months and ten days. Zedekiah, last king of Judah, succeeds; and reigns eleven years. 3416 Taking of Jerusalem, and destruction of the temple, 2 Chronicles 36. 3434 Return of Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon after his great conquests in Phoenicia, Judea, Egypt, etc. His dream of the great tree, Ch2 4:7, etc. 3435 He becomes insane, which lasts for seven years, 4:32, 33. 3442 He becomes sane, and re-ascends the throne. The golden image set up. The three Hebrews cast into the fiery furnace, 2: Death of Nebuchadnezzar after a reign of forty-three years, according to Berosus. Evil-Merodach succeeds him, and reigns two years. - Berosus. He sets Jeconiah at liberty, Jer 52:31. 3444 Belshazzar his son succeeds, Dan 7:1. Daniel's vision of the four beasts, representing the four great empires, chap. 7. 3447 Vision of the ram and he-goat, 8: The death of Belshazzar, chap. 5. 3449 Darius the Mede, called Cyaxares by Xenophon, and Astyages in the Apocrypha, son of Astyages, king of the Medes, and maternal great uncle to Belshazzar, succeeds him in the government of Chaldea, Dan 5:30, Dan 5:31. See Isa 13:1, etc. The visions of Daniel related, chap. 9, 10, 11, Dan 12:1-13 : Cyrus attacks the Medes in the first or second year of Darius the Mede, Dan 10:1. 3455 Daniel is cast into the den of lions, chap. 6. 3456 Death of Darius. Cyrus succeeds him. 3457 End of the Babylonish captivity declared by Cyrus, in the first year of his reign, Ch2 36:22, and Ezr 1:1; but afterward interrupted. See below. 3485 Termination of Jeremiah's seventy years under Darius Hystaspes, who gives orders to continue the rebuilding of the temple. 3550 Commencement of the seventy weeks, Dan 9:24. Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem, Neh 2:1-6. In this chronology Calmet differs from Usher. As a writer, this prophet is simple, yet pure and correct: and he is so conscientious that he relates the very words of those persons whom he introduces as speaking. He writes Hebrew where what he delivers is a bare narrative; but he relates in Chaldee the conversations which he had with the wise men and the kings; and in the same language he relates Nebuchadnezzar's edict, which he made after Daniel had interpreted his dream concerning the great metalline image. This is a proof of his great and conscientious accuracy; and exhibits this prophet in a most advantageous point of view. Daniel writes both Hebrew and Chaldee with great purity. This book divides itself into two parts. Part 1 is historical, and is contained in the six former chapters. Part 2: is prophetical, and occupies the other six.","order":27,"numberOfChapters":12,"sha256":"4ec182393b2c8eaf345eae26a8364bf793fe2663040a144753896bc83b3833af","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/DAN/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"DAN","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":12,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/DAN/12.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"DAN","chapter":12},"totalNumberOfVerses":258},"chapter":{"number":9,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":1,"content":["In the first year on Darius - This is the same Darius the Mede, spoken of before, who succeeded Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans. See Dan 5:31. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["I Daniel understood by books - The prophecy referred to here is found Jer 25:12; Jer 29:10. The people must have been satisfied of the Divine inspiration of Jeremiah, or his prophecies would not have been so speedily collected nor so carefully preserved. It appears that there was a copy of them then in Daniel's hands. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["I set my face - to seek by prayer - He found that the time of the promised deliverance could not be at any great distance; and as he saw nothing that indicated a speedy termination of their oppressive captivity, he was very much afflicted, and earnestly besought God to put a speedy end to it; and how earnestly he seeks, his own words show. He prayed, he supplicated, he fasted, he put sackcloth upon his body, and he put ashes upon his head. He uses that kind of prayer prescribed by Solomon in his prayer at the dedication of the temple. See Kg1 8:47, Kg1 8:48. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["Keeping the covenant - Fidelity and truth are characteristics of God. He had never yet broken his engagements to his followers, and was ever showing mercy to men. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["All Israel, that are near, and that are far off - He prays both for Judah and Israel. The latter were more dispersed, and had been much longer in captivity. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["Mercies and forgivenesses - From God's goodness flow God's mercies; from his mercies, forgivenesses. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["Therefore the curse is poured upon us - It is probable that he alludes here to the punishment of certain criminals by pouring melted metal upon them; therefore he uses the word תתך tittach. it is poured out, like melted metal, for this is the proper meaning of the root נתך nathach. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["The Lord watched upon the evil - In consequence of our manifold rebellions he hath now watched for an opportunity to bring these calamities upon us. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["And cause thy face to shine - Give us proof that thou art reconciled to us. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["Thy city and thy people are called by thy name - The holy city, the city of the great King. I think it scarcely possible for any serious man to read these impressive and pleading words without feeling a measure of the prophet's earnestness. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["The man Gabriel - Or the angel Gabriel, who had appeared to me as a man. איש ish is the same here as person - the person Gabriel.\nBeing caused to fly swiftly - God hears with delight such earnest, humble, urgent prayers; and sends the speediest answer. Gabriel himself was ordered on this occasion to make more than usual speed. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["Seventy weeks are determined - This is a most important prophecy, and has given rise to a variety of opinions relative to the proper mode of explanation; but the chief difficulty, if not the only one, is to find out the time from which these seventy weeks should be dated. What is here said by the angel is not a direct answer to Daniel's prayer. He prays to know when the seventy weeks of the captivity are to end. Gabriel shows him that there are seventy weeks determined relative to a redemption from another sort of captivity, which shall commence with the going forth of the edict to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, and shall terminate with the death of Messiah the Prince, and the total abolition of the Jewish sacrifices. In the four following verses he enters into the particulars of this most important determination, and leaves them with Daniel for his comfort, who has left them to the Church of God for the confirmation of its faith, and a testimony to the truth of Divine revelation. They contain the fullest confirmation of Christianity, and a complete refutation of the Jewish cavils and blasphemies on this subject.\nOf all the writers I have consulted on this most noble prophecy, Dean Prideaux appears to me the most clear and satisfactory. I shall therefore follow his method in my explanation, and often borrow his words.\nSeventy weeks are determined - The Jews had Sabbatic years, Lev 25:8, by which their years were divided into weeks of years, as in this important prophecy, each week containing seven years. The seventy weeks therefore here spoken of amount to four hundred and ninety years.\nIn Dan 9:24 there are six events mentioned which should be the consequences of the incarnation of our Lord: - \nI. To finish (לכלא lechalle, to restrain), the transgression which was effected by the preaching of the Gospel, and pouring out of the Holy Ghost among men.\nII. To make an end of sins; rather ולהתם חטאות ulehathem chataoth, \"to make an end of sin-offerings,\" which our Lord did when he offered his spotless soul and body on the cross once for all.\nIII. To make reconciliation (ולכפר ulechapper, \"to make atonement or expiation\") for iniquity; which he did by the once offering up of himself.\nIV. To bring in everlasting righteousness, צדק עלמים tsedek olamim, that is, \"the righteousness, or righteous One, of ages;\" that person who had been the object of the faith of mankind, and the subject of the predictions of the prophets through all the ages of the world.\nV. To seal up (ולחתם velachtom, \"to finish or complete\") the vision and prophecy; that is, to put an end to the necessity of any farther revelations, by completing the canon of Scripture, and fulfilling the prophecies which related to his person, sacrifice, and the glory that should follow.\nVI. And to anoint the Most Holy, קדש קדשים kodesh kodashim, \"the Holy of holies.\" משיח mashach, to anoint, (from which comes משיח mashiach, the Messiah, the anointed one), signifies in general, to consecrate or appoint to some special office. Here it means the consecration or appointment of our blessed Lord, the Holy One of Israel, to be the Prophet, Priest, and King of mankind. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem - The foregoing events being all accomplished by Jesus Christ, they of course determine the prophecy to him. And if we reckon back four hundred and ninety years, we shall find the time of the going forth of this command.\nMost learned men agree that the death of Christ happened at the passover in the month Nisan, in the four thousand seven hundred and forty-sixth year of the Julian period. Four hundred and ninety years, reckoned back from the above year, leads us directly to the month Nisan in the four thousand two hundred and fifty-sixth year of the same period; the very month and year in which Ezra had his commission from Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia, (see Ezr 7:9), to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. See the commission in Ezra 7:11-26 (note), and Prideaux's Connexions, vol. 2 p. 380.\nThe above seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety years, are divided, in Ezr 7:25, into three distinct periods, to each of which particular events are assigned. The three periods are: - \nI. Seven weeks, that is, forty-nine years.\nII. Sixty-two weeks, that is, four hundred and thirty-four years.\nIII. One week, that is, seven years.\nTo the first period of seven weeks the restoration and repairing of Jerusalem are referred; and so long were Ezra and Nehemiah employed in restoring the sacred constitutions and civil establishments of the Jews, for this work lasted forty-nine years after the commission was given by Artaxerxes.\nFrom the above seven weeks the second period of sixty-two weeks, or four hundred and thirty-four years more, commences, at the end of which the prophecy says, Messiah the Prince should come, that is, seven weeks, or forty-nine years, should be allowed for the restoration of the Jewish state; from which time till the public entrance of the Messiah on the work of the ministry should be sixty-two weeks, or four hundred and thirty-four years, in all four hundred and eighty-three years.\nFrom the coming of our Lord, the third period is to be dated, viz., \"He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week,\" that is seven years, Dan 9:27.\nThis confirmation of the covenant must take in the ministry of John the Baptist with that of our Lord, comprehending the term of seven years, during the whole of which he might be well said to confirm or ratify the new covenant with mankind. Our Lord says, \"The law was until John;\" but from his first public preaching the kingdom of God, or Gospel dispensation, commenced.\nThese seven years, added to the four hundred and eighty-three, complete the four hundred and ninety years, or seventy prophetic weeks; so that the whole of this prophecy, from the times and corresponding events, has been fulfilled to the very letter.\nSome imagine that the half of the last seven years is to be referred to the total destruction of the Jews by Titus, when the daily sacrifice for ever ceased to be offered; and that the intermediate space of thirty-seven years, from our Lord's death till the destruction of the city, is passed over as being of no account in relation to the prophecy, and that it was on this account that the last seven years are divided. But Dean Prideaux thinks that the whole refers to our Lord's preaching connected with that of the Baptist. וחצי vachatsi, says he, signifies in the half part of the week; that is, in the latter three years and a half in which he exercised himself in the public ministry, he caused, by the sacrifice of himself, all other sacrifices and oblations to cease, which were instituted to signify his.\nIn the latter parts of Dan 9:26 and Dan 9:27 we find the Third Part of this great prophecy, which refers to what should be done after the completion of these seventy weeks. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary - By the \"prince\" Titus, the son of Vespasian, is plainly intended; and \"the people of that prince\" are no other than the Romans, who, according to the prophecy, destroyed the sanctuary, הקדש hakkodesh, the holy place or temple, and, as a flood, swept away all, till the total destruction of that obstinate people finished the war. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":27,"content":["And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate - This clause is remarkably obscure. כנף שקוצים משמם kenaph shikkutsim meshomem, \"And upon the wing of abominations causing amazement.\" This is a literal translation of the place; but still there is no determinate sense. A Hebrews MS., written in the thirteenth century, has preserved a very remarkable reading here, which frees the place from all embarrassment. Instead of the above reading, this valuable MS. has ובהיכל יהיה שיקוץ ubeheychal yihyey shikkuts; that is, \"And in the temple (of the Lord) there shall be abomination.\" This makes the passage plain, and is strictly conformable to the facts themselves, for the temple was profaned; and it agrees with the prediction of our Lord, who said that the abomination that maketh desolate should stand in the holy place, Mat 24:15, and quotes the words as spoken δια Δανιηλ του φροφητου, by Daniel the prophet. That the above reading gives the true sense, there can be little doubt, because it is countenanced by the most eminent ancient versions.\nThe Vulgate reads, Et erit in templo abominatio, \"And in the temple there shall be abomination.\"\nThe Septuagint, Και επι το ἱερον βδελυγμα των ερημωσεων, \"And upon the temple there shall be the abomination of desolation.\"\nThe Arabic, \"And upon the sanctuary there shall be the abomination of ruin.\"\nThe above reading is celebrated by J. D. Michaelis, Epist. De Ebdom. Dan., p. 120: Vix insignius exemplum reperiri posse autumem, ostensuro in codicibus Hebraeis latere lectiones dignissimas quae eruantur, etc. \"A more illustrious example can, I think, hardly be found, to show that various readings lie hid in Hebrew MSS., which are most worthy of being exhibited.\" Vid. Bib. Hebrews Kennicott, Dis. Gen.\nI have only to add that this mode of reckoning years and periods by weeks is not solely Jewish. Macrobius, in his book on Scipio's dream, has these remarkable words: Sed a sexta usque ad septimam septimanam fit quidem diminutio, sed occulta, et quae detrimentum suum aperta defectione non prodat: ideo nonnullarum rerumpublicarum hic mos est, ut post sextam ad militiam nemo cogatur; Somn. Scip., lib. 1 c. vi., in fine. \"From the sixth to the seventh week, there is a diminution of strength; but it is hidden, and does not manifest itself by any outward defect. Hence it was the custom in some republics not to oblige a man to go to the wars after the sixth week, i.e., after forty-two years of age.\"\nVarious Readings of Dan 9:24-27\nHaving now gone through the whole of this important prophecy, and given that interpretation which the original seemed best to warrant, I shall next proceed to notice the principal various readings found in the Collections of Kennicott and De Rossi, with those from my own MSS., which the reader may collate with the words of the common printed text.\nDan 9:24\nשבעים שבעים נחתך על עמך ועל עיר קדשך\nלכלא הפשע ולחתם חטאות\nולכפר עו ולהביא צדק עלמים\nובצלחתם חזו ונביא ולמשח קדש קדשים׃\nDan 9:25\nותדע ותשכל\nמן מצא דבר להשיב ולבנות ירושלם\nעד משיח נגיד שבעים שבעה\nושבעים ששים ושנים תשוב\nונבנתה רחוב וחרוץ ובצוק העתים׃\nDan 9:26\nואחרי השבעים ששים ושנים\nיכרת משיח ואין לו\nוהעיר והקדש ישחית עם נגיד הבא\nוקצו בשטף\nועד קץ מלחמה נחרצת שממות׃\nDan 9:27\nוהגביר ברית לרבים שבוע אחד\nוחצי השבוע ישבית זבח ומנחה\nועל כנף שקוצים משמם\nועד כלה ונחרצה תתך על שומם׃\n\n\nHoubigant's Translation of Dan 9:24-27\nOf the whole passage Houbigant gives the following translation: - \nDan 9:24\nSeventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and the city of thy sanctuary:\nThat sin may be restrained, and transgressions have an end;\nThat iniquity may be expiated, and an everlasting righteousness brought in;\nThat visions and prophecies may be sealed up, and the Holy of holies anointed.\nDan 9:25\nKnow therefore and understand: - \nFrom the edict which shall be promulgated, to return and rebuild Jerusalem, there shall be seven weeks.\nThen it shall be fully rebuilt, with anxiety, in difficult times.\nThence, to the Prince Messiah, there shall be sixty-two weeks.\nDan 9:26\nAnd after sixty-two weeks the Messiah shall be slain, and have no justice.\nAfterwards he shall waste the city and the sanctuary, by the prince that is to come.\nAnd his end shall be in straits; and to the end of the war desolation is appointed.\nDan 9:27\nAnd for one week he shall confirm a covenant with many;\nAnd in the middle of the week he shall abrogate sacrifice and offering; And in the temple there shall be the abomination of desolation,\nUntil the ruin which is decreed rush on after the desolation.\nIn this translation there are some peculiarities.\nInstead of \"the street shall be built again, and the wall,\" Dan 9:26, he translates רחוב וחרוץ (with the prefix ב beth instead of ו vau in the latter word), \"it shall be fully (the city and all its walls) rebuilt with anxiety.\"\nInstead of ואי לו \"but not for himself,\" he translates, \"Nor shall justice be done him;\" supposing that די \"justice\" was originally in the verse.\nInstead of \"the people of the prince,\" Dan 9:26, he translates \"by the prince,\" using עם im as a preposition, instead of עם am, \"the people.\"\nInstead of \"and for the overspreading,\" he translates ועל כנף \"in the temple;\" following the Septuagint, και επι το ἱερον. This rendering is at least as good as ours: but see the marginal readings here, and the preceding notes.\nHoubigant contends also that the arrangement of the several members in these passages is confused. He proposes one alteration, which is important, viz., From the promulgation of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem shall be seven weeks; and unto Messiah the prince, sixty-two weeks. All these alterations he vindicates in his notes at the end of this chapter. In the text I have inserted Houbigant's dots, or marks of distinction between the different members of the verses.\nVarious Readings\nDan 9:24\nשבוים שבעים weeks written full, so to prevent mistakes, in thirteen of Kennicott's, four of De Rossi's, and one ancient of my own.\nשבעים Seventy-one of Kennicott's, and one of De Rossi's, have שבועים \"weeks, weeks, weeks;\" that is, \"many weeks:\" but this is a mere mistake.\nלכלא \"to restrain.\" לכלח \"to consume,\" is the reading of twenty-nine of Kennicott's, thirteen of De Rossi's, and one ancient of my own.\nולחתם \"and to seal up.\" Forty-three of Kennicott's, twelve of De Rossi's, and one of my own, have ולחתם \"to make an end.\" One reads ולחתום, more full.\nחטאות \"sins.\" חטאת \"sin,\" in the singular, is the reading of twenty-six of De Rossi's; and so, in the second instance where this word occurs, two of my MSS.\nעלמים \"everlasting.\" Two of my oldest MSS read שלמים, and so in the next instance.\nונביא \"and the prophet.\" The conjunction is omitted by two of Kennicott's.\nותשכל \"and understand.\" One of my MSS. has ותשכיל.\nDan 9:25\nמן מוצא \"from the publication.\" One MS. of De Rossi's omits the מן \"from,\" and instead of either, one of my oldest MSS. has למוצא \"to the publication.\"\nמשיה \"Messiah.\" Nine MSS. read the word with the point sheva, which makes it read, in regimine, \"the anointed of the prince.\" But this is evidently the effect of carelessness, or rather design.\nשבעה \"seven.\" Two MSS. add the conjunction ו vau, \"and.\"\nולבנות \"and to build.\" One of mine omits the conjunction.\nשבעים שבעה \"seven weeks.\" One of Kennicott's has שבעים שבה \"seventy years.\"\nושבעים \"and weeks.\" One of Kennicott's has ושבוע and a week.\"\nששים \"sixty.\" A few add the conjunction ו vau, \"and sixty;\" and another has ששה \"six;\" and another שבעים \"seventy.\" Wherever this word signifies weeks, two of my oldest MSS. write it full שבועים. In one of my MSS. השבועים ששים are omitted in the text, but added by a later hand in the margin.\nוחרוץ \"and the ditch.\" One MS. has העיר \"the city.\" And for רחב \"street,\" one of mine has רחוב of the same meaning, but more full.\nובצוק \"and in straits,\" or anxiety. One MS. without and, as the Vulgate and Septuagint.\nDan 9:26\nוהקדש \"and the holy place or sanctuary.\" But two of my most ancient MSS., and four of Kennicott's, leave out the ו vau, and read הקדש והעיר \"and the holy city,\" or \"city of holiness,\" instead of \"the city and sanctuary.\" In one MS. ו is omitted in והעיר.\nוקצו \"and its end.\" One MS. omits the conjunction ו and; one omits the following קץ \"the end;\" reading thus:\" and unto the war.\" But a more singular reading is that of one of my own MSS. written about a.d. 1136, which has וקיצו \"and its summer.\"\nששים \"sixty.\" But one of Kennicott's MSS. has ששים שבעים \"sixty weeks;\" and another adds the conjunction, And sixty.\nישחית shall destroy.\" But one of De Rossi's has ישחת \"shall be destroyed.\"\nעם \"the people.\" עם im, \"with,\" is the reading of one of Kennicott's, with the Septuagint, Theodotion, Syriac, Hexapla, Vulgate, and Arabic.\nבשטף \"with a flood.\" One MS. has השטף \"the flood.\"\nועל כנף \"and upon the wing.\" Nearly twenty MSS. have ועד \"and unto,\" etc.\nDan 9:27\nועד קץ \"and unto the end.\" עד־ \"to the end;\" and one has ועל \"and upon.\"\nקץ \"the end.\" One has עת \"the time;\" and another both, עת קץ \"the time of the end.\"\nועל כנף שקוצים \"and upon the wing (or battlement) abomination.\" Instead of this, one of the Parisian MSS. numbered three hundred and thirteen in Kennicott's, has ובהיכל יהיה שיקוץ \"and in the temple there shall be abomination.\" See the preceding notes. This is a similar reading to Theodotion, the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, Hexapla, and the Arabic; and is countenanced by our Lord, Mat 24:15. After all that has been said on this reading, (which may be genuine, but is less liable to suspicion, as the MS. appears to be the work of some Christian; it is written from the left to the right hand, and is accompanied by the Vulgate Latin), if this be an attempt to accommodate the Hebrew to the Vulgate, it should be stated that they who have examined this MS. closely, have asserted that there is no evidence that the writer has endeavored to conform the Hebrew to the Latin text, unless this be accounted such. The ancient versions give this reading great credit.\nשקוצים \"abominations.\" One of mine has less fully שקצים.\nמשמם \"desolation.\" One of mine has more fully משימם.\nועד \"and unto,\" is wanting in one of mine;\nועל \"and upon\" is the reading in one other.\nעל שומם \"until the desolation.\" שומם \"the desolation.\" One of mine has שמם without the ו vau. על is wanting; but is added in the margin, by a later hand, in another of these ancient MSS.\nI have thus set down almost all the variations mentioned by Kennicott and De Rossi, and those furnished by three ancient MSS. of my own, that the learned reader may avail himself of every help to examine thoroughly this important prophecy. Upwards of thirty various readings in the compass of four verses, and several of them of great moment.\n\n"]}],"introduction":"Daniel, understanding from the prophecies of Jeremiah that the seventy years' captivity was now terminating, pours out his soul in fervent prayer to God, and earnestly supplicates pardon and restoration for his captive people, Dan 9:1-12. When thus supplicating God in behalf of Israel, the angel Gabriel is sent to inform him of the seventy prophetic weeks, or four hundred and ninety natural years, which should elapse from the date of the edict to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple to the death of the Messiah, Dan 9:20-27; a prophecy most exactly fulfilled by the event, according to the computation of the best chronologers. Dean Prideaux states the commencement of these seventy prophetic weeks to have been in the month Nisan, in the year of the Julian period 4256, which corresponds with A.M. 3546, b.c. 458, according to the Usherian account. How awfully are the Jews blinded, who, in contradiction to so clear a prophecy, still expect the Messiah who was cut off, and, after suffering, is entered into his glory! \n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/DAN/9.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"DAN","chapter":9},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/DAN/10.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"DAN","chapter":10},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/DAN/8.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"DAN","chapter":8},"numberOfVerses":15}