Although Daniel 9:24–27 addresses the Antiochene crisis of the second century bce, many of Jesus’ followers have read this passage with reference to his first and second comings. Following the typological example of the Old Testament and New Testament, this article considers how Jesus is another anointed one that replays the 6th and 2nd century worlds of Daniel 9 and thereby accomplishes the six objectives of Daniel 9:24.
Alhoewel Daniёl 9:24–27 die krisis in die tweede eeu v.C. veroorsaak deur Antiogus aanspreek, lees baie van Jesus se volgelinge hierdie gedeelte met verwysing na sy eerste en tweede koms. Hierdie artikel volg die tipologiese verstaan van die Ou Testament en Nuwe Testament en ondersoek tot hoe ’n mate Jesus nόg ’n gesalfde is wat die tweede- en sesde eeuse wêrelde van Daniёl 9 hervertolk. Sodoende, voer hierdie artikel aan, vervul dit dus die ses doelwitte van Daniёl 9:24.
The New Testament never explicitly cites Daniel 9:24–27 to say that Jesus fulfils the prophecy of the seventy sevens. This author (Ulrich
Not to be overlooked is that Jesus, before Josephus began to write, had already anticipated the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem temple and reinterpreted Daniel's abomination of desolation in view of it (Mt 24:15; Mk 13:14; Lk 21:20). The Gospels, however, never say that Jesus identified himself with the cut off anointed one of Daniel 9:26. He did not claim to be, and the Gospel writers did not portray him as, a second Onias III. Instead, the writer of Hebrews likened Jesus in his priestly role to Melchizedek (Heb 5:10). Even so, many of Jesus’ followers have read Daniel 9:24–27 with reference to his first and second comings.
Unlike the Babylonian exile of the 6th century, the Antiochene crisis of the second century did not involve deportation. Nevertheless, faithful Jews in Judea during the second century could feel alienated from their land because someone else (the Seleucids or compromised Jewish leaders) controlled Judea and them. Jubilee may represent a return to the land from which one had been estranged, but living in the land did not necessarily constitute jubilee. God's people also longed to be independent and faithful in their land. A Hellenised Jewish leader who disregarded God's law (cf. 1 Macc 1:11–15; 2 Macc 4:7–16, 5:6) was no better or preferable than a Seleucid ruler who persecuted those who kept the law (1 Macc 1:41–50; 2 Macc 5:25–26). Under either of them, the alienation persisted, and jubilee (i.e. the restoration of lost inheritance) remained an ideal.
For this reason, a 6th century narrative world in Daniel (and for some readers, a 6th century real world) and a 2nd century real world can be typologically related. In both cases, leaders failed to perform their duties with a concern for God's honor and God's people. Consequently, many of God's people lost sight of their identity and mission and became unrighteous. Jesus encountered a similar situation – irresponsible leaders and wayward people – during his ministry. For this reason, he, after cleansing the temple (Mt 21:12–13; Mk 11:15–16; Lk 19:45–46; cf. 1 Macc 4:41–43), applied the term
Wright (
Unlike the writer of Hebrews, Matthew may not call Jesus a priest, but Matthew makes a point of explaining the redemptive significance of Jesus’ name (Mt 1:21). He then presents Jesus as the one who can forgive sin (Mt 9:2) because he, by dying on a cross, paid the penalty for sin (Mt 20:28). Jesus was the definitive priest because he offered himself as the atoning substitute. In so doing, Jesus was involved in a war that others brought to him and that he took to them. This war that began long before his death involved stripping the spiritual forces of evil of their power to captivate people in rebellion – an outcome that his exorcisms had foreshadowed (Meyer
Daniel 9:26 forecasts trouble and deprivation for the second anointed one of the seventy sevens, and both certainly found their way to Onias III whose brother, Jason, unlawfully paid Antiochus IV for the office of high priest that Onias III legitimately held (2 Macc 4:7–10; 4 Macc. 4:17). Later, Menelaus unlawfully supplanted Jason and murdered Onias III (2 Macc 4:23–34). Something similar can be said about Jesus. Herod the Great tried to kill Jesus in infancy, and the trouble only continued after that.
At first glance, Jesus did not look like an anointed one who would accomplish the six objectives of Daniel 9:24 and thereby answer Daniel's prayer about mercy for Israel and glory for God (9:17–19). His sinless life surely did not go unnoticed by his contemporaries, but his humble beginnings hardly aroused expectations of royal destiny or priestly intercession. His tendency not to call himself an anointed one further made him an unlikely messianic figure. Moreover, he seemed to come to a tragic end like Onias III and so never realised the hopes that others had for him. Even so, all of this trouble was God's means of inaugurating his kingdom of redemption (cf. Mt 11:12; 20:28), and the Gospels suggest that Jesus spent most of his life intentionally looking ahead to his death. By his death, Jesus became greater than Onias III. This observation brings the six objectives of the seventy sevens into view.
Whilst it is true that the New Testament never explicitly cites Daniel 9:24, explicit quotations are not the only way that the writers of the New Testament interacted with the Old Testament. Its categories of thought almost unconsciously shaped their view of the world and especially their view of Jesus. This was certainly true of the book of Daniel (cf. Evans
Because the first three objectives concern the problem of sin, they can be grouped together here. It is hardly controversial to say that the New Testament considers the death of Jesus the definitive solution to sin. The New Testament begins with an angelic explanation of Jesus’ name in terms of salvation from sin (Mt 1:21), and then the first four books devote considerable attention to narrating Jesus’ death. Jesus in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 describes his impending death as a ransom for many. By calling himself the good shepherd in John 10:11, Jesus says that he willingly lays down his life for the sheep. He later announces in John 12:23, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified’ in death. When these passages and others are read with recollection of the meaning of Jesus’ name, it is evident that Jesus was aware of the atoning purpose of his first coming. The rest of the New Testament agrees with Jesus’ self-evaluation (e.g. Ac 13:38; Gl 1:4; Tt 2:14; Heb 9:15, 28; 1 Pt 2:24 3:18; 1 Jn 2:2 4:10; Rv 5:9).
Daniel 9:26 may not specifically say that the anointed one's death atoned for sin. Even so, one is not being unreasonable to ask why the death of the second anointed one is mentioned if it has nothing to do with the accomplishing of the six objectives, especially the first three. Moreover, Daniel's prayer implores God to provide a merciful solution to the sins of his people, and the first three objectives of the seventy sevens indicate that God wills to do so. In this atoning context, Gabriel then informs Daniel that an anointed one will be cut off. Meanwhile, Daniel has been reading the book of Jeremiah, which expects an anointed king of exceptional righteousness. This king's reign will be accompanied by the priestly performance of atoning sacrifice (Jr 33:18). Daniel has also handled visions (Nebuchadnezzar's and his) that announce the conquest of human evil by a coming kingdom and king. Furthermore, Daniel and his companions have experienced suffering because of their commitment to the God of Israel, and the God of Israel has used this suffering as a witness to Gentile kings and others. In other words, the Old Testament's pattern of righteous and redemptive suffering occurs in the book of Daniel. So then, linking the death of the anointed one in Daniel 9:26 with the realisation of the six objectives in Daniel 9:24 hardly strain the grammatical-historical method of interpretation.
Jesus taught his disciples to read the Old Testament in view of God's program of redemption that reaches its climax in his person and work (Lk 24:26–27, 44–47). The New Testament writers did just this. They may not cite every Old Testament verse and explain how it is fulfilled in Jesus. Instead, they assumed that their readers knew Jesus’ hermeneutic, could understand their Christ-centred reading of the Old Testament, and could handle the rest of the Old Testament in a similar way on their own. If associating the anointed one in Daniel 9:26 with the six objectives in Daniel 9:24, especially the first three, makes good hermeneutical sense without Jesus’ lesson in Luke 24, that association by generations of Christians after Jesus’ Easter teaching is certainly understandable. God uses his anointed ones, especially Jesus the antitype of redemptive suffering, to address the problem of sin.
The New Testament further explains how God answered the two requests of Daniel's prayer: mercy for Israel and glory for God. Firstly, God in Jesus treated his people mercifully by providing atonement at great cost to himself. In so doing, he diverted his wrath onto Jesus who absorbed it along with sin's just penalty. A righteous God propitiated his righteous anger and expiated the consequence of sin without destroying the sinners (Dn 9:16). Secondly, God brought glory to his name through his chosen means of redemption that climaxed at the cross of Jesus. Humans might not pursue glory through redemptive suffering, but Daniel's God is great and awesome (Dn 9:4). He exists in a league by himself and answers prayers in ways that exceed human expectation. Humans can only marvel at ‘the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God’ (Rm 11:33) that regenerates through death.
The fourth objective promises everlasting righteousness. Daniel's prayer of confession, which was prompted by his reading of Jeremiah, acknowledges in Daniel 9:7 that God is righteous (צדְָקהָ) and that his people, in effect, are unrighteous (Dn 9:18). In fact, they are covered with shame because of their wilful violations of God's commands. Those commands are part of God's covenant that He made with Israel through Moses (Dn 9:4–15). This covenant may have provided the standard of righteous conduct for a people already redeemed by putting their faith in the blood of the Passover lamb; nevertheless, it did not have the power of regeneration within it (Baker
Calvin (
the Fathers [
God's grace comes ultimately through Jesus the anointed one. Only the Spirit of Jesus can apply the benefits of Jesus’ active and passive obedience to believers and thereby regenerate and transform their hearts. From a historical point of view, Old Testament saints experienced this work of Jesus’ Spirit proleptically, and New Testament saints receive it retrospectively.
Transforming grace is the basis for everlasting righteousness. Because Jesus kept the law of God without infraction, He is the righteous one who can satisfy the justice of God by paying sin's penalty. The resurrection proves God's acceptance of Jesus’ work. Not only does the resurrection vindicate Jesus as the Righteous One (Ac 2:24, 33; Rm 1:4; 1 Tm 3:16) but it also makes him able to share his righteousness with those who believe in him (Beale
The Mosaic covenant had to do with the sanctification and mission of an already redeemed people. It told them how to live righteously in response to God's preliminary and anticipatory provision of redemption in the Exodus. As seen, for example in Paul's association of the law with love (Rm 13:8–10), the Mosaic instruction continues to have the same role in the lives of New Testament saints. It defines how a royal priesthood carries out its mission to model a redeemed and righteous alternative to the disobedience of God's revealed will that characterises this present evil age. The observance of dietary, sacrificial, and other laws may require adjustment because of the movement of redemptive history, but the abiding truths behind these laws remain in effect. Jesus who kept the law in order to perform Israel's priestly mission, enables his people to keep it for a similarly priestly (i.e., evangelistic) purpose (cf. 1 Pt 2:9–3:17).
If Daniel's reading of Jeremiah's recalls the new covenant that makes righteousness possible through the internalisation of God's law, Jeremiah also expected a future king named
One other point should be made in connection with the fourth objective. Daniel 2:37 says that the God of heaven gives dominion to Nebuchadnezzar, but not forever. Three other kingdoms follow his. Moreover, verse 38 limits Nebuchadnezzar's rule to humans, beasts, and birds – creatures that dwell on earth. Verse 39 even explicitly says that the third kingdom will rule over all the earth. None of the four kingdoms, however, rules over heaven. So then, Daniel 2 contrasts the human kingdoms of earth and God's kingdom of heaven (Pennington
At this point, it is hard not to think that Matthew's contrast between heaven and earth constitutes his way of distinguishing between the two ages that characterise New Testament eschatology as a whole (e.g. Gl 1:4).
The seventy sevens disclose what God will do in the future in order to answer Daniel's twofold prayer for mercy for Israel and glory for God. Stated differently, the seventy sevens announce God's promises and state his intention to fulfil those promises. Sealing prophetic vision, which is the fifth objective, has to do with promise and fulfilment. Promise and fulfilment assume God's continued activity in history to work out his plan of redemption. Gabriel assures Daniel that God's purpose for his people did not end in exile. God still has more in store for them, and he will finish what he has announced. The seventy sevens, of course, do not constitute the first promise of God in the Old Testament. By the time that Gabriel appeared to Daniel, Yahweh already had an established track record of announcing his intention and then performing his word. Still, the Old Testament ends with an incomplete story and some promises unfulfilled.
Not surprisingly, then, the New Testament opens with Matthew's announcements of fulfilment. Whilst some of his Old Testament citations were not predictions in their Old Testament context, Matthew considered the whole Old Testament the beginning of God's story that foreshadows the climax and consummation in the person and work of Jesus (cf. France
Daniel 9:24 is not the only reference to sealing in Daniel. Daniel is also told to seal a vision (Dn 8:26) and a book (Dn 12:4) until the time of the end. The contents of both are a mystery that only Jesus, according to the New Testament, can disclose. As both the message and the messenger of God, Jesus came in the fullness of time to inaugurate God's kingdom of redemption. He alone, by virtue of his death for sin, has the right to open the seals on the revelation of God's salvation of his world and people (Rv 5:9–10). Moreover, Jesus alone, by virtue of his resurrection that attests to the satisfaction of divine justice, guarantees the announcement of God's victory over evil and God's vindication of those for whom Jesus died.
Gabriel informed Daniel that the seventy sevens would anoint the most holy one (either a place or a person). Given Daniel's plea for the restoration of God's desolate sanctuary (Dn 9:17), the sixth objective would seem to have a building and not a person in view. The Old Testament and intertestamental literature may never record the return of God's glory to the second temple, but the Gospel of John does. John 1:14 says that the Word, earlier identified as God, took a human nature and lived on earth amongst
The parallels between Ezekiel 40–48 and Jesus continue in John. In John 4, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and strikes up a conversation with her by asking for a drink. Astonished that a Jewish man would pay attention to her, she asks why he is talking to her. Jesus responds by saying that she, if she knew who he was, would ask him for a drink and would receive living water. Confused and even offended, she asks how Jesus can give her water. Jesus says that his water relieves thirst forever and produces a spring of eternal life within those who drink it. If John has already identified Jesus as the new temple, this conversation with the Samaritan woman further establishes him as the source of the river of God's redeeming grace that flows from Ezekiel's new temple (cf. Spatafora
Revelation 21:22 goes so far as to say that no temple is in the New Jerusalem. This observation might initially seem to contradict Daniel and Ezekiel, but not really. Ezekiel 48 expands the
The writer of Daniel may not have been able to make all of these connections, and one wonders how much the writer of
Gabriel informed Daniel that the objectives of the six infinitives would take seventy sevens to reach realisation. Whether seventy sevens are understood more literally as 490 years or more symbolically as ten jubilee cycles, no interpretive approach can escape the reality that arguably five of the six objectives have yet to achieve complete fulfilment. The one exception is the third objective. Jesus has already made the final and definitive sacrifice for sin. His atoning death paid the penalty for the sins of his people, regardless of their place in history. Jesus died once for all (Heb 9:12, 24–28). That the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Jesus’ work down through history to individual believers so as to regenerate and sanctify them does not detract from Jesus’ affirmation on the cross, ‘It is finished’. The on-going ministry of the Holy Spirit, both before the cross and after, is made possible by the finished work of Jesus.
As for the other objectives in Daniel 9:24, they have an ‘already-not yet’ quality to them. Regarding the first two objectives, neither the Maccabean crisis nor the first coming of Jesus put an end to sin (cf. Kaiser
The presence of sin in the world, of course, means that the fourth objective (everlasting righteousness) awaits full realisation. As Jeremiah's righteous king, the sinless Jesus may impute his righteousness to those who trust in him for justification, but every Christian's experience lags behind his or her position. Paul remarkably claims that Christians are now seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph 2:6), but the same letter tells its recipients to eliminate all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, and slander (Eph 4:31). The imperative would not be necessary if none of this unrighteous behaviour existed amongst the Ephesian Christians.
As for the fifth and sixth objectives, they, too, await complete fulfilment. Not all prophecy has yet come to pass – the fifth objective. For example Isaiah's expectation of a new heaven and earth, purged of the effects of the curse, is not yet a reality, nor are the prophetic threats against the enemies of God and his people. Jesus, for example stopped short of saying that the day of vengeance in Isaiah 61:2 found fulfilment
So then, what the prophets in general expected after the exile and what Gabriel in particular announced for the seventy sevens has progressively but partially materialised in history. Some difference, though, exists between the future outlook of the prophets (including Daniel) on the one hand, and the New Testament on the other (cf. Beale
Recognising the difference between Old Testament eschatology and New Testament eschatology helps to explain how interpreters who read Daniel 9:24–27 with reference to the Antiochene crisis (the standard scholarly view), the first coming of Jesus (the standard reformed and perhaps evangelical view), or a seven-year period of tribulation for the modern state of Israel before the second coming of Jesus (the dispensational view) have something to contribute to the discussion. The seventy sevens, which run from the end of the Babylonian exile to the end of Antiochus IV, can speak meaningfully to any moment in history because they contribute to a pattern that appears throughout the Christian Bible. That pattern has to do with God's progressive and organic accomplishment of the six objectives of Daniel 9:24 throughout the events of redemptive history. Stated differently, jubilee comes in stages.
For this reason, both Old Testament eschatology and New Testament eschatology feature tension between what God has already done in fulfilment of his promises and what still awaits realisation. The so-called tension between the already and the not yet does not characterise New Testament eschatology alone. Postexilic literature is especially aware of the poignancy of an incomplete, but not wholly future, restoration (cf. Bright
Meanwhile, the New Testament emphasises the tension by referring to followers of Jesus as aliens and strangers in this present evil age (1 Pt 2:11). Like the Israelites in Egypt, in Babylon, and under the rule of Antiochus IV and Hellenised Jews, Christians await the Jubilee of Jubilees. They may have experienced a foretaste of jubilee by means of what Jesus accomplished at his first coming, but the fullness of jubilee (i.e. the complete enjoyment of the six objectives of Daniel 9:24) remains a future event for which Christians wait with longing as well as joy (1 Pt 1:6–9). Whilst one could read Daniel 9:24–27 with cynicism and say that jubilee never came in the second century and has not come since, Antiochus IV did die and so also did the Hasmonean rulers.
This article has focused on what Daniel 9:24–27 means in the New Testament period and beyond. It is true that the New Testament never explicitly cites Daniel 9:24. Still, Jesus is another anointed one and the final Anointed One. The New Testament considers the death of Jesus the definitive solution to sin (the first three objectives). Jesus makes believers in him righteous so that they can act righteously (the fourth objective). He fulfils prophecy (the fifth objective) by bringing redemptive history to its goal, which is his exaltation through the salvation of his people. Moreover, he, as Immanuel (God with us), is the Holy of Holies that sanctifies the whole world (the sixth objective). By finishing the accomplishment of the six objectives of the seventy sevens, Jesus brings the fullness of jubilee.
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
See also Ulrich (
Collins (
Grabbe (
As argued by Atkinson (
On Jesus as the new Israel that recapitulates the mission of old Israel and performs it, see Beale (
The phrase
On the two ages in New Testament eschatology, see Hoekema (
Cf. Wallace (