affirm let others judge I propound it to the consideration of the learned who can do it without whose approbation I shall not satisfie my self Yet thus much I am sure of that if this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which we are wont to translate seven weeks could be well bestowed the chiefest difficulty were taken from this Prophecy For the Threescore and two Weeks alone counted from the Epocha here named so well befits the distance from thence to CHRIST that the event seemeth to argue that they should be there fixed and not reckoned from any other Beginning Moreover that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} should be a generall expression of what in the Lxij Weeks is after more particularly determined may seem probable for these reasons 1. Because the Angel ascribes no proper event unto them but having presently named the Lxij Weeks makes no farther reckoning of those other but follows and dwels upon these only as though the other were implied and contained in them 2. Those who count them for Xlix. years and continue the Lxij Weeks from the end of them to make up Lxix Weeks in all can give no sufficient reason why they should be thus separated and divided asunder For that which the followers of Funccius who reckon from Artaxerxes Longiman assign to be done in seven Weeks of years to wit that during all that time Jerusalem with the rest of the Cities of Judah were building and repairing is grounded neither upon Scripture nor other Story but pure and meer conjecture Scaliger finds Nehem. cap. 13. 6. That Nehemiah returned again to Artaxerxes his Court in the 32. year of his raign and thence supposeth that the building of the City about which he was sent was finished but the year before and that to be the determination of those seven Weeks there being then 49. years expired from the time the Lxx. began at the Building of the Temple under Darius Nothus But to make this good he is fain to raise the Epocha of the Lxx. so high in the raign of Darius that they end before the destruction of Jerusalem Besides he seems not to be aware that these seven Weeks are by the Text to be counted from a time when a Commission came out to cause to return and to build Jerusalem and not from the time of building the Temple Nor does it follow Nehemiah staid so long there therefore the City was till then in building Nay what if the Text rightly construed imports not that Nehemiah in the 32. year of Artaxerxes returned to the Court but rather that obtaining new leave of the King he came then to Jerusalem the second time whence he had been long absent For the particle {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Cap. 13. ver. 6. seems not to be taken rationally for Quia but discretively for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} id est Sed But as Ezra 4. 3. 2 Sam. 16. 18. Gen. 4. 8. and so that Text of Nehemiah to be read after this sense And in all this time saith he I was not there But in the 32. yeare of Artaxerxes c. I came to the King that is into his presence to ask new leave which after a little waiting he obtained Nor is it very credible that the time he first set the King cap. 2. ver. 6. should be twelve years If therefore {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} be granted to be a generall expression of what the Lxij Weeks more particularly determine the way whereby it may be translated to such a sense is as I have before represented yet is it not the only one I can adde two wayes more as first this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} seven useth we know to be taken indefinitely for plurimi multoties c. Thus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} would without any anomaly or novelty at all signifie indefinitely Many Weeks if it might seem probable that in a passage of reckoning by definite numbers some numerall word may be taken indefinitely The sense would be all one with that I have followed viz. As the whole time limited for the continuance of the Holy City consisted of many Weeks even Lxx. Weeks So also this lesser period contained therein from the Epocha mentioned unto MESSIAH shall be a time of Many Weeks even Lxij Weeks Another way were it not somewhat harsh might be this The Hebrew Nouns of Cardinall numbers do somtimes substantivare signifying their numbers in abstracto like those Greek Numeralls Monas Dyas Trias Tetras Hebdomas So Gen. cap. 7. 10. cap. 8. 12. we have {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. hebdomas dierum Exod. 34. 29. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Decas verborum Decalogus Gen. 17. 12. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Filus ogdoadis dierum Ioshua 14. 2. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Novenarius or Enneas tribuum If they be Substantives in statu constructo were they not or may they not be so in absoluto In the third Chapter and 29. ver. of Damel {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in absoluto seems to be a Substantive having an Adjective joyned with it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which we translate one seven times If this therefore may be admitted {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in our Text of Daniel will sound per Ellipsin conjunctionis Hebdomades Hebdomas Weeks and a Week the sense being all one with the former saving that one Week is implied as singular from the rest which may be that which the Angel afterward mentions ver. 27. If it were pointed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as by the consonants it might be there would be no great question but it might be translated Weeks and a Week But if {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} must needs import some limited time of 49. years I would rather choose to count the Lxij Weeks from the same Epocha with them under Artaxerxes Mnemon then from the end of them and yet leave as probable a conjecture to be made of what was done in them as those who follow Funccius from the other Artaxerxes do use to give I have sometimes considered whether if it be translated seven Weeks those seven Weeks might not be applyed as rotundus numerus to those Fifty and two dayes Nehem. 6. 15. where it is said So the Wall was finished in the 25. day of the Moneth Elul in fifty two dayes somewhat more indeed then seven Weeks yet short of seven an half and so not regarded in accompt by Weeks If this could be then the reason of the Angels division of weeks into 7. and 62. would be because of divers kinds of Weeks understood the first of dayes wherein the Wall of Jerusalem should be finished the second of years from thence unto the Messiah If it
DANIELS WEEKES AN INTERPRETATION of part of the Prophecy of DANIEL BY JOSEPH MEDE late Fellow of Christs Colledge in CAMBRIDGE LONDON Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his Shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill 1643. DANIELS VVEEKES THE Weeks of Daniel are a Divine Chronology of the Time which the Sanctuary with the Legall Service should continue when it should be restored after the Captivity of Babylon During which time also the City of Jerusalem it self should be re-inhabited and the walls thereof rebuilded and some Lxij weeks after that began to be should Messiah the Redeemer be anoynted yea and cut off and rejected of his own For which when the whole Lxx. weeks the time allotted should expire their Sanctuary and City should again be razed and their Common-wealth utterly dissolved Vers. 24. Cap. 9. Seventy weeks are allotted for thy people and for thy Holy City to finish transgression and make an end of sinnes and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse and to fulfill vision and prophecy and to anoint the MOST HOLY SEventy Weeks are determined or allotted That is The Holy City shall again be restored and Lxx. weeks of yeares are allotted and limited for the continuance thereof and thy people with it and that for this end that during the standing thereof the Messiah according to vision and prophecy may come to expiate sinne and be anointed in his Kingdome The word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} here translated determined or allotted signifies properly to be cut or cut out and so may seeme to imply such a sense as if the Angel had said to Daniel Howsoever your bondage and Captivity under the Gentiles shall not altogether cease untill that succession of Kingdomes which I before shewed thee be quite finished yet shall God for the accomplishing his promise concerning the Messiah as it were cut out of that long terme and certain limited Time during which the Captivity of Judah and Jerusalem being interrupted the Holy City and Common-wealth in some measure shall again be restored and so continue till Lxx. Weeks of yeares be finished Here I distinguish the beginning of the Times of the Holy City from the beginning of Jerusalem For the Holy City is so called of the Temple as the principall part and therefore the Time of the restitution thereof to be reckoned from the Time the Temple was builded But by Jerusalem is understood as appeares in the next verse the externall buildings and wals of the City which were not restored till some time after the Temple and Sanctuary was finished As for the impletion all are now agreed That the Beginning of these Weeks is to be reckoned from some Restoring either of the Temple and that in the second third or sixt yeare of the Raigne of some Darius or of the City in the seventh or twentieth yeare of some Artaxerxes Kings of Persia But it cannot be from Darius the first sirnamed Hystaspis for then they would come out long before the Birth of Christ Nor from the first Artaxerxes sirnamed Longimanus for he was an hinderer of the work of the Temple and forbad the building thereof Ezra cap. vers. 11. ad finem Nor from the second Artaxerxes sirnamed Mnemon for so they would far over-reach the Destruction of Jerusalem Therefore it remaines that they be counted from Darius the second sirnamed Nothus in the second yeare of whose raign the work of the Temple after a long interruption began to revive Ezr. 4. v. 24. Hag. c. 1. 2. Zachar. c. 1. c. and in the sixt yeare of his raign was finished Ezra 6. ver. 15. Secondly these Lxx. Weeks are the time allotted for the continuance of the Holy City and therefore must they last as long as it lasted and end with the end thereof but this cannot be unlesse we fixe their Epocha in the beginning of Darius Nothus Ergo Which in the event is most true For from the third yeare of Darius Nothus when the work of the Temple by the incitement of Haggai and Zachary renewed the year before was now confirmed by a new Edict from the King to be finished unto the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus are exactly 490 yeares that is Lxx. Weeks of years fully compleat Artaxerxes Longimanus died saith Diodorus li 11. Olymp. 88. 4. that is An. Olympiadico 352 Mens. Novembri or thereabout for Winter was entred Thucyd. lib. 4. Ergo Xerxes who raigned next after him one year ex eod. dying An. Olympiadico 353 Mens. Nov. Sogdianus also who succeeded Xerxes reigning but seven Months Anno Olymp. eodem  M. Maio Darius Nothus his Ann◠1. begins Annus 2. Anno Olympiad 354. M. Maio Annus 3. Anno Olympiad 355 M. Maio In this third yeare of the King and at the end of this Olympiadicall yeare in the beginning of August as may be supposed came forth the Edict of Darius some ten moneths after Zorobabel and Ieshua had begun to renew the work the yeare before Hag. 1. 14 15. And so much time halfe thereof being Winter may well be allowed for their enemies to hear of the work to goe see and do their best to hinder it when they could not to write and send unto the King the searching of the Rolles and obtaining a new Edict The Destruction of Ierusalem by Titus I take as granted Anno Olymp. 845. finiente 846. ineunte The Edict of Darius as is shewed Anno Olymp. 345. finiente 356. ineunte Distantia 490 490 The Account by yeares of Nabonassar ex Canone Ptolomaei Astronomico The last yeare or year of Neroes death Iune 9. in Ptolomies Canon answers to An. 815. Nabonass Ergo the yeare of Ierusalems Desolation 2. years after is concurrent with An. 817. Nabonass finiendus in Augusto The first of Darius Nothus in Canone Ptolomaei answers An. 325. Nabonass Ergo the third year of Darius is concurrent with An. 327. Nabonass Ordiendus à Decembri praecedent Differentia 490  Notwithstanding all this I had rather begin the Accompt from the sixt year of Darius in the Moneth Adar when the Temple was quite finished for then it first began to continue and not till then although the Destruction of Jerusalem will then fall out three years and an half sooner namely when the last week is but half run out And what if it do The Angel as I conceive tels us so much in the last verse when he sayes That in the midst of a Week the Sacrifice and Oblation should cease and the City be made desolate But how will the Prophecy be made good if the Seventieth Week be not compleat I answer It should be observed though it useth not to be that the Angel reckons not by single yeares but by Weeks If he had said there should be 490. years to the Excidium of Jerusalem then indeed to make good the prediction the City and Sanctuary must have been destroyed
the last year But when he sayes there shall be Lxx. Weeks allotted for the continuance of the Holy City it is enough if it be made desolate in the seventieth week For if those who reckon by yeares when the yeare designed answers the event will not stand upon the compleatnesse of months and dayes nor those who reckon any thing by dayes upon the compleatnesse of houres and minutes no more in the Angels reckoning here by weeks if so the number of the weeks be compleat are the parts of a week to be exacted The time of the Destruction of Ierusalem as before An. Olymp. 845 Mens. 6. August If the third of Darius began about May or June Anno Olymp. 355. then the sixt year of his raign begins in May or June An. 358. But the latter part thereof in February or Adar when the Temple was finished falls in An. Olymp. 359. Mens. 12. Feb. or Adar Distantia Anni 486 Mens. 6. That is just  69 Weeks and an half The Accompt by years of Nabonassar The time of the Destruction of Jerusalem as before An. 817 Nabonass M. 6. If the third year of Darius Nothus were for the first and greatest part concurrent with An. 327. Nab. as is afore shewed then his sixt year in like manner for the first and greatest part must concur with An. 330. But the head of the Nabonassarean year being then about the 5. of Decemb. the latter end of this sixt year in Adar or Feb. will fall in An. 331 Nabonass M. 12. Distantia Anni 486 Menses 6. Verse 25. Also know and understand that from the going forth of the Commandment to cause to Return and to Build Ierusalem unto MESSIAH the PRINCE shall be sevens of Weeks even threescore and two Weeks the Street shall be built again and the Wall even in a strait of times FRom the going out of the Commandment I take not this Epocha to be that of the whole Lxx. Weeks but a second Root of another and lesser period of time comprehended in them whose Beginning was to be after the Lxx. were begun and the end before they should be ended The Root of this second Computation is described to be a time when two things should be done A Commandment should go forth both to cause to Returne and also to Build not the Temple for that should be done before nor some few houses onely but the whole Area or Street and the Walls of Jerusalem which should then be re-edified though in a strait of Times that is it should be such a time when a Commission to cause the people to return and re-inhabite should be seconded with another to build the Wall of Jerusalem and the Plot within the Wall For by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} here I understand properly that circuit bounding out the limits of the City whereon the Wall was builded and anciently used to be marked out with a Plough earing a furrow round about By {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which implies a broad place I understand the Area or Plot of ground within whereon the houses were to be builded From such an Epocha and a Commission thus characterized as ye have heard must this second computation be reckoned Vnto MESSIAH the PRINCE that is unto {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Luke 23. 2. Mark 15. 32. or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as the Angell styles him Luke 2. 11. There is no exposition no interpretation of any passage in this Prophecy could seem so harsh but I would be content to admit it rather then yeeld that by MESSIAH the PRINCE here named should be meant any other then CHRIST our LORD and Redeemer For I am perswaded that the Church of Israel in the Gospel and from them the Apostles took it had no other place of Scripture whence they did or could ascribe the name of Christ and Messiah unto him they looked for but only from this of Daniel For there is no other Prophecy in all the Old Testament besides this where that Name is directly given him but only by way of type Shall be sevens of weeks even Lxij weeks The numerall word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I have here translated distributively understanding by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Hebdomadae septenae that is many seven Weeks or as our English handsomly expresseth Sevens of Weeks the sense to be as if the Angel had said As the whole time limited for the continuance of the Holy City from the first beginning to the last ending consisteth of many Sevens of Weeks viz. Lxx. Weeks So from this after-Epocha here mentioned unto MESSIAH should be likewise Sevens of Weeks plures septenniorum hebdomades even Sixty two Weeks of yeares For as in Lxx. are ten Sevens of Weeks so in Lxij are ix times seven wanting one and that little want makes no matter there being eight whole sevens besides in that number and you shall see in that which follows examples of the like The Hebrews want those numbers which the Grammarians call Distributive or Divisive Terni quaterni quini seni septeni c. which they most what supply by repetition as {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} septem septem but not alwayes as may appear 2 Sam. 18. 4. And all the people came out {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} ad centum millia i. centeni milleni by hundreds and by thousands 1 Kings 18. 4. Obadiah hid the Prophets of the LORD {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} quinquaginta viros in spelunca id est quinquagenos by fifty in a Cave Gen. 6. 19. Of all flesh thou shalt bring into the Ark {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} duo i. bina Twoes and therefore afterward c. 7. ver. 9. it is doubled {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} two and two yet of clean Beasts whereof he was to take seven there is an odde one To these I adde Ezra 1. v. 9 c. This is the number of the vessels to wit of the House of the LORD which Cyrus by the hand of Mithredath numbred unto Sheshbazzar Prince of Iudah thirty Chargers of gold a thousand Chargers of silver twenty nine knives thirty Basins of gold silver Basins of a second sort foure hundred and ten and other vessels {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} not mille a thousand but millena Tremel per millia Thousands to wit almost three thousand wanting but one hundred Otherwise if we translate it as a Cardinall number a thousand the summe will far exceed the Parts For it follows in the next words All the Vessels of gold and of silver were 5400. But unlesse the last number be taken divisive the particulars * make but 2500. wanting one Nor do I see how this difficulty would otherwise be solved Now whether these examples be sufficient to make probable the Translation which I have given I will not
seem impossible or unlikely that the Wall of the City should be repaired in so short a time and therefore those words according to Iunius to be meant of setting up the doors and bars only I could say first that the Wall was not new builded from the foundations but repaired upon the old ruines Secondly the speedy dispatch thereof was taken for a wonder even by the Jews Enemies who thereupon saith the Text perceived it was the hand of their God So that were there no worse scruple then this it were easily answered nor would examples * be wanting to parallel with it such as might make it seem at least possible As that strange and speedy building of the Walls of Athens by Themistocles after that Xerxes had demolished them reported by Diodor. Sic. lib. 11. Yea to come more near to the thing in question Iosephus lib. 6. c. 13. De Bell. Iud. tells us That Titus dividing the work amongst his Army begirt Ierusalem in three dayes space with a Wall of thirty nine Furlongs and thirteen Bulwarks to hinder the Jews excursions from within and all relief from without What the materials were I know not but he sayes it was a thing beyond all belief and might have seemed to be a work of some Moneths But leaving this digression let us see the computation and impletion of our Lxij Weeks The Computation and impletion of the Lxij Weeks FRom the seventh yeare of Artaxerxes Mnemon when Ezra had Commission to cause to Return and carry with him as many of the Jews as would to Jerusalem Ezra c. 7. ver. 7. 13. And from the twentieth year of the same Artaxerxes when Nehemiah obtained leave to build Jerusalem the City of his Fathers Sepulchres Nehem. 2. From both these Commissions though thirteen years distant the one from the other are by divine disposition unto MESSIAH the PRINCE threescore and two Weeks from the first of Solar from the latter of Lunar years For Lxij weeks or 434. Lunar years are lesse then so many Solar as much as is between the seventh and twentieth of Artaxerxes which admirable concordance I cannot impute to chance but ascribe to divine providence so ordering it of purpose that these two Epocha's and Commissions To cause to Return and To build Ierusalem might be as one and the same And as the Lunar year is contained within the Solar and by it ordered and directed so is the Period here from Nehemiahs Commission to Build the City contained and reduced to that from Ezraes Commission to cause the people to return In the last of these Weeks according to prediction was Christ our Lord anointed In the beginning whereof exactly between the first and second Passeover after his Baptisme when his Harbinger Iohn had now finished his Message and was cast in Prison a time precisely and purposely noted in the Evangelicall Story he first began to preach in Galilee the Gospel of the Kingdome ordained his Apostles and proclaimed himselfe to be the MESSIAH After Iohn was put in Prison saith Mark 1. 14. Iesus come into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdome of God and saying {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The time is fulfilled i. the last week of the sixty two weeks is come and the Kingdome of God is at hand From that time saith Matthew c. 4. 17. Jesus began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdome of heaven is at hand This was that day whereof Christ himself said at Nazareth that that Scripture was fulfilled The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poore c. and to preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord Luke 4. This the time and place whence S. Peter reckoned the beginning of Christs Prophecy in his Sermon to Cornelius That word saith he which was published throughout all Iudea and began from Galilee after the Baptisme which Iohn preached c. Acts 10. 37. In the third year of this Week two years and an half after he began his Prophecy and three years and an half after his Baptisme being made our Priest he offered himself upon the Crosse a Sacrifice for sinne was dead buried and rose again Then ascended up into heaven to be installed and to sit at the right hand of God from thenceforth to raigne untill he hath put all his Enemies under his feet But you will say This was all performed four years before the 434. years which is sixty two Weeks of years were expired I answer as before The Angell reckons not by single yeares but by Weeks the last whereof should be Messiahs Week as we have shewed it to have been If the Angel had said There shall be 434. years unto MESSIAH then to make good the prediction MESSIAH must have been anointed the last yeare But when he sayes There shall be Sixty two Weeks unto MESSIAH it is sufficient he was anointed the last Week But how this Week will at length be compleat we shall see in the next verse But first let us demonstrate our Computation Ezra's Commission Darius Nothus died saith Diodor. lib. 13. in the same yeare but a little while after the Composition of the Peloponesian war which was in May Olymp. 93. 4. that is An. Olymp. 372 finiente Ergo The first of Artaxerxes begins about August and concurres with Anno Olymp. 373. The seventh of Artaxerxes with Anno Olymp. 379. N. B. If Artaxerxes had began before August the number or date of his raign must have altred either in or between the first and fifth Moneth but they are both of one year Ezra 7. as also the first and the ninth Nehem. c. 1. c. 2. Christs Prophecy Christ our Lord was Baptized Anno Olympiadico 805. ineunte about the Feast of Expiations in the seventh Month Tisri six Months after Iohn began to baptize and in that year naturall and politicall which began in the 15. of Tiberius towards ending but was the 16. when he was baptized For Iohn I suppose began to preach and baptize in the first Month Nisan when the Summer was before him and not when the Winter was to enter in the 15. year of Tiberius which ended August following Now Iohns imprisonment was a year after the Baptisme of Christ namely between the first and second Passeover after it as is clear and evident by the Euangelicall Story Iohn c. 2. 23. c. 3. 22. Chap. 4. The Beginning therefore of Christs Prophecy which began at the imprisonment of Iohn Mark 1. 14. was Anno Olympiad 806. about the end I suppose of the same Month Tisri or Septemb. The beginning of Christs Prophecy An. Olymp. 806 Mens. 7. The Time of Ezra's Commission An. Olymp. 379. Mens. 7. Differentia An. 427. M. o. 61. weeks cōpleat From hence Mens. 7. begins the last week wherefore the Passion of Christ at the Passoever Mens. 1. firmly fixed by Chronologicall Characters in the 19. of Tiberius Anno Olymp. 808. Aerae Christian
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as Augustus is said Luke 2. 1. to have taxed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} according as the Romanes themselves used to call it Imperium Orbis Terrarum c. Antichrist who was to sit in the Temple or Church of Christ sits in the midst of this Empire whence it appears that the Church which Christ should have * after Israel disclaimed him should chiefly be in it This People therefore which was in Israels stead to be the People of Messiah the Prince should destroy the City and Sanctuary with such a Destruction as should like a Flood overwhelme the whole Nation and as an unresistible torrent break down and wash all away before it All which we know they did And unto the end of Warre Desolations are determined That is untill the end of the Fourth Kingdome of the Gentiles whose last period is that Time times and half a Time whereof it is said Dan. 7. ver. 21 22 25. That Antichrist the eyed and mouthed Horn should make War with the Saints and prevail against them and they shall be given into his hand untill a Time and Times and half a Time Untill the end of this War the Jewish Desolations are determined But of this more in the next Verse 27. Neverthelesse he shall confirme a covenant with Many one week and in half a week being * a Desolater he shall cause the Sacrifice and oblation to cease and that being over a wing of Abominations and untill the finall time even that which is determined it shall continue upon the desolate HEre the Angell tels us what should be be done in the last Week both of the first Computation and of the second that is the last of the Lxx. and the last of the Lxij And of this first as comming first in time Neverthelesse saith he he shall confirme a Covenant with Many one Week That is though the Body of the Jewish Nation should be cast off end be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} None of the people of the MESSIAH yet for one whole week he should offer himself unto them and gather many of them into the Covenant of the Gospel and this Week was the last Week of the Threescore and two Weeks which as I shewed before was wholly spent in preaching to those of the Circumcision This therefore is as it were a Prolepsis lest Daniel might think that none of his people should enter into the Covenant under Messiah These Many therefore are that Remnant whereof S. Paul speaks Rom. 11. That though Israel were cast off yet was there A Remnant according to the election of grace and therefore he limits the hardnesse happened unto Israel by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as not being universall And in half a Week being a Desolator he shall cause the Sacrifice and offering to cease A Desolater {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a word which otherwise much troubleth the Translator but being thus made a suppositum or Nominative case to the verb {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which hath no other near it it both much clears the sense and retains its propriety of signification Nor is the Postposition of the Nominative case to the verb against the use of the tongue nor the trajection here so great but the Latin will admit the same order of the words viz. Et abolebit sacrificium munus atque erit super alam abominationum Desolator Or Et abolebit sacrificium munus qui erit super alam abominationum Desolator Howsoever the Translation be this week the Angel now speaks of is the last of the Seventy which should be but half run out when the Temple and City should be destroyed and the legall service made to cease For if we reckon as I think we should the Seventy Weeks from the sixt year of Darius Nothus when the Temple was finished the Destruction thereof by Titus will fall out as is shewed in the midst of the last Week the whole half thereof from the beginning till then having bin spent in warlike preparations and exploits which ended with the burning and desolation both of City and Sanctuary Of those who end the Seventieth Week compleatly with the Destruction of Jerusalem some seem so to understand this first part of the verse as if the one Week here mentioned were the last of the Seventy and the confirmation of the Covenant to be therein to respect only the first half thereof wherein Christ made good his Covenant of preservation to the beleeving Jews namely as I would explain it by sending Cestius Gallus President of Syria in the middle or fourth year of the last Week about seven dayes to environ Jerusalem with an Army for to be that sign and watch-word mentioned in the Gospel of the near approaching Desolation thereof Luke 21. 20. that so those which were in Iudea being warned might flee into the Mountains of Arabia Petraea to Pella and deliver themselves from those dayes of vengeance and wrath upon their people And in the other half of the Week which remained he should cause the sacrifice and offering to cease by sending Vespasian with that second and fatall Army which should bring those wofull and vengefull Desolations upon them As for the phrase of Confirming a Covenant if the rest suted well it would be no straining to interpret it to be meant of preservation and exemption from a common calamity For we have the like speech Gen. 6. 17 18. where God having said to Noah that he would destroy by the Flood every thing that breathed upon the earth addeth But with thee will I establish my Covenant and thou shalt come into the Ark thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons wives with thee c. Thus much of the Week and Half Week But for the Desolater who should cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease whether and how it may be applied to Messiah himselfe or otherwise construed we shall better understand when the next is expounded And that being over a wing of Abominations {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I think literally rendred as was the former If any man would also have the order of the words precisely kept and therefore {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. Desolater to keep his station here as in the Hebrew he may render the words thus He shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And commanding over a Wing of Abominations be a Desolater or make Desolation The sense is yet the same Or thus And over a Wing of Abominations shall he be who makes Desolation All of them requiring nothing else but that so common Ellipsis of the Verb Substantive which in some expressions of this language is perpetuall Now for the construing and expounding this and the rest which remains of this verse I have alwaies in mine eye that part of the Prophecy of our
up their City Whence it is that the comming of this desolating Army of the Romans is called the comming of Christ Iames 5. Weep and howl ye rich men he writeth to Jews for the miseries that shall come upon you for you have heaped up goods for the last dayes That is according to Oecumenius when the end of your State is a comming and the Romanes shall spoil you of all which is expressed in the eighth verse by Christs comming Be ye patient saith he untill the comming of the Lord he speaks to the beleeving Jews whom the rest persecuted and in the next Stablish your hearts for the comming of the Lord draweth nigh He meaneth saith Oecumenius {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} So he takes that of Iohn If I will that he stay till I come that is saith he {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} till the Destruction of Jerusalem And proves that this comming of Christ is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Excidium Hierosolymorum by that of Malachi Cap. 3. Behold the Lord shall come and who shall abide the day of his comming And thus would I understand that Heb. 10. 37. For yet a little while and He that shall come will come and will not tarry Messiah therefore himself seems to be that Desolater here meant who should command over an Army of Abominations when he came to destroy the City and the Sanctuary Thus it appears our Saviours citation in the Gospel is not of the very words of Daniel in this passage but of the sense onely summarily expressed and that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is to be expounded {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Abomination or Abominable Army over which he should be who should make desolation As for the Seventy or whosoever else for S. Hierome doubts translated this Book if their Translation here were originally as we now have it and not translated thither out of our Saviours words in the Gospel they seem to have accommodated the place though of unlike construction and circumstance of sense unto two other places Chap. 11. 31. Chap. 12. 11. where some such kinde of Abomination is mentioned and likewise the participles {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} But in all three of them not well understanding what subject these participles included they contented themselves onely to expresse by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a generall relation of desolation in the abstract which might be diversly interpretable otherwise it is not possible by any alteration of the points to expresse their Translation verbatim out of this place unlesse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} were in statu constructo as it is not And untill the finall time even that which is determined it shall continue upon the desolate Here I have chosen to translate the verb {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} continue as the Targum renders it Ier. c. 7. 19. c. 42. 18. and the Vulgar here perseverabit as a metaphoricall signification taken from a continued pouring of water It is the Feminine Gender and therefore to be referred to a Feminine suppositum which I take to be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ala This wing of Abominations that is metonymice the Desolation wrought by it or forein possession brought in by it should continue upon the Desolate untill the finall time which was determined should be accomplished Or those Gentile people of the Romane Empire by whom Jerusalem was destroyed should continue their dominion and possession either of the place or desolate inhabitants once thereof untill that finall time be accomplished Whether this or that sutes best the meaning in S. Lukes language is thus expressed The Iews shall be carried captive over all Nations and Ierusalem trodden down of the Gentiles untill the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled That is as was said before untill the Monarchies of the Gentiles should be finished For these Times of the Gentiles are that last period of the fourth Kingdome prophecied * of a Time Times and half a Time at the end whereof the Angel swears unto Daniel ca. 12. 7 That God should accomplish to scatter the power of the Holy People This is that Fulnesse of the Gentiles which being come S. Paul tels us The Deliverers shall come out of Sion and all Israel shall be saved And the Angel in the Apoc. 10. 6. renews the same oath to S. Iohn which he sware before to Daniel That when these Times N.B. should end and be no longer the mystery of God should be finished as he had declared to his servants the Prophets Amen Appendix ALthough I think that precisenesse of dayes is not to be much stood upon when the events and their times do in the whole answer to Prediction yet have I been so curious as to enquire whether the Desolation of City and Sanctuary to be in the middle of the seventieth Week were fulfilled to a very day or not And as I think I have so found it very near if not altogether For Anno Iudaico 3344. Aerae mundi Scaligerianae 3533. the year the Temple was finished Neomenia Tisri according to the Jews Calender fell upon the 9. of September Calendarii Iuliani Feria 1. Cyclo Solis 12. Litera Dominic G. Ergo Neomenia Adar was Febr. 4. Fer. 2. Cyclo Solis 13. Lit. Dominic F. So the 3. of Adar the day whereon the Temple was finished Ez. 6. 15. will be the 6. of February From whence to the 8. of August whereon the Temple was fired and two dayes after consumed are exclusive 182. dayes that is halfe a year ad unguem But this year according to the Judaicall Calender was Annus Embolimaeus and so had two Adars which of them the Scripture meaneth is doubtfull But the Neomenia of the second Adar was March 5. Feria 4. So the 3. day of this Adar was the 7. of March From whence to the 8. of Septemb. the day whereon the City was fired are exclusive 184. dayes which is a day or two too much But it is more then probable that the Jewish Calender was not in Darius his time so exact nor the Moons motion so well known but the New Moon might sometimes anticipate the beginning of their Months a day or two Howsoever those who begin their reckoning from the 2. year of Darius as Scaliger doth cannot from the 24. day of the 6. Month Sept. 16 which the Prophet Haggai names cap. 1. v. ult. for the day whereon the work began shew their compleat Seventy Weeks so exactly terminated upon any event remarkable during the whole time of the War For as for the destruction of Jerusalem it self they come not near by whole years Of the opinion of Funcius FVncius his computation of the Lxx. weeks from the seventh of Artaxerxes Longimanus whence to Christs Passion he finds just 490. years hath three great and unavoidable inconveniencies 1. That it ends the 70. Weeks which by the text were allotted for the Holy City long before the times of the holy City were fulfilled 2. That this Artaxerxes might not be Artaxerxes the Hinderer of the Building of the Temple but that second Artaxerxes that gave Commission to Ezra and Nehemiah they are fain to bestow the names of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes mentioned Ezra 4. upon Cambyses and the counterfeit Tanioxarces or Smerdis whom others call Sphendates the Magus without any ground in Scripture or prophane History nay against probability For if Ahasuerus be Cambyses as by order he should be and Artaxerxes be Smerdis the Magus how will that businesse in the daies of Artaxerxes Ezra 4. 7. befit the 7. Months raign of Smerdis Or if preposterously as some will have it Ahasuerus be that Smerdis what needed the Holy Ghost so precisely to mention the Beginning * of his raign if he raigned but seven Months in all Secondly Neither Cambyses nor Smerdis can be Ahasuerus For Ahasuerus Esther 3. 7. and why should we feign any other Ahasuerus of Persia then the Scripture describeth and so diligently distinguishes from Ahasuerus the Mede as if there had been then no other Esth. 1. 1. raigned at least twelve years whereas Cambyses raigned but seven years and Smerdis but so many months 3. They cannot shew how 69. Weeks or 62. Weeks added to 7. Weeks for they have no other way are determined upon Messiah the Prince since they out-reach his Nativity and end 7. years before his Passion which was in the 19. and therefore 3. years at least before Iohns Baptisme which was in the 15. of Tiberius Wherefore neither beginning nor ending neither part nor whole of the sixtieth and ninth Week can point us out any time of the manifestation of Messiah FINIS The Temple was now finished in 4. years which argues it was well forwarded before and much I suppose in the daies of liberty under Darius Hystaspis For I take him to bee that Darius mentioned Ezra 4. 5. and never to have hindred the building but permitted the Jews to goe on as their poverty would suffer them which was but slowly * 30 1000 29 30 410 1000 2499 Wheresoever besides in Scripture Seven weeks are mentioned the words are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} * That renowned Palace and Court of Nebuchadnezzar within which were those Pensiles Horti was finished saith Josephus in fifteen dayes Antiq. Judaic. li 10. c. 11. in the Latine c. 13. Wherefore I would take that Iohn 3. frō the 13. ver. to the 21. to be the Evangelists owne words interposed and not the words of Christ to Nicodemus Anno Aerae Christian 33. I begin end these yeares in Tisri or Septemb. that so they may agree with that time of the Cōmission granted to Ezra which I before supposed to have been about that month Anno Aerae Christian 34. Anno Aerae Christian 35. Anno Aerae Christian 36. Anno Aerae Christian 37. * whilest * Or making desolation he c. * Auth. op. imperf in Mat. hom 49. initio hanc expositionem ad Petrum refert Hoc Petrus inquit apud Clementem exponit * Dan. 7. * {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ezra 4. 6.
Saviour in the Gospel Mat. 24. Mark 13. where he so expresly referres to this of Daniel with an unwonted caveat not to passe it over sleightly Let him saith he that readeth understand which admonition as it implies the speciall need we have of our Saviours Key to unlock it so it may seem to intimate that neither the Lxx. before nor the ordinary construction of their Rebbies then had hit the meaning of this Scripture Wherefore S. Luke relates not here as Matth. and Mark do our Saviours words verbatim but exegetically of set purpose so I am perswaded expounding this place of Daniel as will appear by that which follows Over a Wing of Abominations * That is An Army of Idolatrous Gentiles Even the selfe same which S. Luke saith Chap. 21. Ierusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles who also expoundeth Wing by Armies putting in stead of those words of our Saviour When ye shall see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the holy place these When ye shall see Ierusalem compassed with Armies and in both it follows Then let them which be in Iudaea flee into the mountains The word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Wing is of the Verb {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but once found in the Hebrew Scripture which signifies according to the Chaldee and Arabick To gather together besides in the Arabick circundare to environ or compasse about Both significations sute well to an Army and the latter that which beleaguers and begirts a City or Fort besieged Had S. Luke any reference to this when he speaks of Jerusalem compassed with an army The metaphor also of a Wing leanes most this way whether we consider their figure and motion being stretched out or their posture when Birds of rapine sit couring over their prey I will not say the Romane Eagle was here aimed at though {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is used not onely for Ala a Wing but for Alatum Volatile a Fowle or Winged Creature It is sufficient that neither the nature nor name of a Wing is strange or unaccustomed to an Army But how will you say will an Army of Abominations be made an Army of Gentiles I answer The Scripture in many places calleth Idols by the name of Abominations that is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} So the Egyptian Idols Exod. 8. ver. 26 c. are called The Abomination of the Egyptians Ezek. 7. 20. The Jews are said to have made the Images of their Abominations {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ier. 7. 20. to have set up {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is their Idols in the House of the Lord So 2 Kings 23. Ashtaroth is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Abomination of the Sidonians Cemosh {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Abomination of the Moabites but Mâ—lcom {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Abomination of the Children of Ammon Wherefore 1 Kings 11. 5 7. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is by the Seventy thrice Translated {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} This being a thing manifest we are to observe further That the Scripture useth also to expresse and imply under the names of the Gods the Nations themselves which worshipped them The Lord threatned to scatter Israel among the Nations and that there they should serve other Gods day and night Gods the works of mens hands wood and stone and which neither they nor their Fathers had known That is they should serve them not religiously but politically in as much as they were to become Slaves and Vassals to Idolatrous Nations even such Idolaters as neither they nor their Fathers had ever heard of Let it also be considered whether that of David 1 Sam. 26. 19. be not to be expounded after the same Trope They have saith he driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord saying Goe serve other Gods i. they have driven me to serve a Nation of another Religion Yea Ezra 9. 14. fitly to our purpose The Strangers with whom the people of Israel had contracted affinity are called expresly {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The people of Abominations which the Seventy render {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The people of the Lands that is Gentiles And where we reade in the first verse The people of Israel c. have not separated themselves from the people of the Lands according to their Abominations c. It is the same phrase with that of Moses Cattell after their kinde creeping things after their kinde That is the severall kinds of cattell of creeping things so the people of the Lands according to their Abominations is the severall kinds of Idolaters of the Lands about them And thus we have shewed that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Wing of Abominations is as much as {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an Armie of people of Abominations That is of Gentiles and Worshippers of Idols But who is this Desolater or Maker of Desolations who should command over this Wing of Abominations and bring these Gentiles against the Holy City â„Ÿ The words in the Originall stand indifferent to be applied either to the Romane Generall or Messiah but I could not render them so indifferently For if I render them And in half a Week a Desolater shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease and that being over a Wing of Abominations Or Over a Wing of Abominations shall he be who makes desolation This Desolater would then seem to be some other then Messiah that is the Romane Generall But render them as I doe And making desolation or being a Desolater He shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease and that c. Or He shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease and commanding over a Wing of Abominations be a Desolater either way of these they will have reference to MESSIAH the Prince who is the Person meant in the words immediately before He shall confirm a Covenant with many one Week And this I most incline to that so the Person spoken of may be the same throughout and a reason also appear of that additament That this Desolater should be over an Army of Abominations For if a Forein Generall were onely meant what needed this Addition what other Army could such a one lead but Gentiles But that Messiah himselfe should command over an Army of Idolaters this needed a speciall intimation And surely the Romane Army though an Army of Abominations was in this service the Army of Messiah So the Parable aiming at this Prophecy tels us Mat. 22. 7. When the King heard how spitefully they entreated his Messengers who came to tell them the Wedding whereunto they had been bidden was ready He was wroth saith the Text and sent forth HIS Armies and destroyed those Murtherers and burnt