The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9

Table of Contents

The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9………………………………………………3

The Beasts of Revelation 13………………………………………………….. 9

The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9

Accurate interpretation of prophecy can be challenging. Most often the foretelling of future events is secondary to a prophet’s admonition for repentance, resulting in the order of such events to be given out of chronological sequence. References to the first and second comings of the Messiah can be made in the same sentence. Only bits and pieces of future episodes seem to be given to any one prophet at any one given point in time. Added to all of this, the frequent use of symbolism and caricature in prophecy has one scouring other prophetic passages to try to determine the literal meaning. Thankfully, there were a few prophets that were given a sequential order of future events. These passages become “hooks” on which we can hang the additional details that were revealed by God at other times. One of the key passages that give chronological order to prophecy is Daniel chapter 9.

Verse one of Daniel 9 tells us that the events recorded in this chapter took place in the first year of Darius the Mede. Historically, this would have been about 538 BC, immediately following the fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians. Daniel would have already spent 67 years as an exile in Babylon, having been taken from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar following the Babylonian king’s first attack against Jerusalem in 605 BC. Somehow, Daniel had gained access to the Scriptures, particularly the writings of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 29:10-14 we read,

This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

This must have been the passage Daniel had just read, and it caused him to go to the Lord in prayer. He had been a man of prayer all his life, praying three times a day as previously seen in Daniel chapter 6. He also demonstrated a heart for the city of Jerusalem, for it was towards that city that he customarily prayed. According to Jeremiah, Israelites would begin to return to their land and the city of Jerusalem only after sincere prayer was whole-heartedly offered to God. Daniel would offer such a prayer on behalf of his people. With prayer and petition, and fasting in sackcloth and ashes, Daniel sought God’s mercy. Sin, both personal and national, was readily admitted and confessed. God was acknowledged as having been righteous and just in the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of Israel. Daniel earnestly prays that the city, the temple, and the people be restored for the glory of God.

This prayer reveals some interesting beliefs of Daniel. For one, he fully expected prophecy to be fulfilled literally. God said, through Jeremiah, that the captivity would last seventy years. That time period was just about up, and Daniel anticipated Israel would return to the land. He also demonstrated a belief that prayer really does change things. Since Jeremiah said prayer must precede a return to the land, Daniel prayed. He would agree with the words given through James, “We do not have because we do not ask God.” (James 4:2).

While he was still in prayer, the angel Gabriel was sent with an answer. Just as we are told in the New Testament that God can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20), the answer sent went well beyond the scope of Daniel’s prayer. Gabriel was about to reveal a timetable that would begin immediately after the request to Daniel’s specific prayer was granted. At the conclusion of the events in this