The Roman judgment on Judah and Jerusalem was consummated in two great catastrophes :-the Levitical Covenant was abolished, in the one, when the Temple was destroyed: in the other, precisely 65 years later (A. D. 135, Hadrian's war of extermination), the seed of Abraham was finally expatriated from the Land of Promise; this, accordingly, may be regarded as the supremus dies of the Abrahamic Covenant. Ponder the scene which is here described as the issue of that war: "The whole of Judæa was a desert; wolves and hyænas went howling through the streets of the desolate cities. Those who escaped were scarcely more fortunate: they were reduced to slavery by thousands. There was a great fair held under the terebinth beneath which Abraham, it was believed, had pitched his tent: thither his miserable children were brought in droves, and sold as cheap as slaves. Others were carried away, and sold at Gaza; others were transported into Egypt." (Milman, History of the Jews.)

In connexion with this impressive scene, let the reader consider this fact, involved in our date of the Exode. The time of the catastrophe was certainly the year 135. From the Promise (2106 B.c.) to this year are therefore just 2150 years, that is, five periods of 430 years precisely; and from the Exodus four such periods'.

But there are some further corollaries resulting from our date of the Promise. For the Covenant made on that day with Abraham attained its highest fulfilment in Solomon: now

ever, Origen had no very precise notion of a numerical parallelism of periods: and certainly he could not mean to represent the interval from Noah to Abraham as longer (in the proportion of 3 to 2) than the period from Adam to Noah. It may be remarked, that some of the ancients seem to have been very nearly in possession of the true length of the Mosaic period: and it is curious that the mystical calculation of the name Mwvons (= 1648) was supposed by some to give the exact length. Thus an unknown writer quoted from a MS. ined. by Cotelerius in Barnab. Ep. c. 16. isteóv öti tò Mwvons ὄνομα ψηφιζόμενον ἔχει ἄριθμον αχμή. Καὶ εὑρέθη ὁ Μωσαϊκός νόμος κρατήσας τοσαῦτα ἔτη,

1 Even the interval of 65 years, between the two instalments of the judg ment (A. D. 70 and 135), is significant in

connexion with this very period of 430 years. This will be shown in a subsequent chapter.

from our year of the Promise (2016) to the first year of the son of David (1016) are precisely a thousand years. Again: the whole period from the Promise to the end of the Mosaic dispensation (4 August, A.D. 70) is 2085 4m. The bisection of this period (or 1042 8m) lies at the close of 974 B.C., which is a very remarkable conjuncture of the history. For so we read: "They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam strong, three years: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon. And it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of Rehoboam Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord...And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them... Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." 2 Chron. xi. 17; xii. 1 ff. The third year of Rehoboam expired at the Passover of 974 B.C. the critical epoch of the troubles of Judah-the time when Egypt was again, for the first time since the Exode, a triumphant enemy is the central year of the entire Abrahamic dispensation. Ex illo retro fluere ac sublapsa referri.

That year,

It seems to me that the facts which have been described are sufficient to establish our interpretation of the apostolic statement. I shall, therefore, drop all further questioning on that point, and proceed to describe the manifold economy of Times and Seasons which that measure brings to light. First, however, we have to examine that famous prophecy of the Seventy Weeks, and to determine its bearings on our scheme of chronology.

CHAPTER II.

DANIEL'S PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS.

§ 332. We have now seen that the prophetical period of Seventy Sevens which was revealed to Daniel does not stand by itself, but forms part of a system of such periods. In the prophecy itself, there is an evident connexion between the period of seventy years foretold by Jeremiah, which were then just about to expire, and the period of seventy sevens which was the subject of a fresh revelation. The fact of this connexion is, in itself, sufficient to satisfy us, who live after the event, that a fulfilment in years was, if not the only, at least the principal and imme

diate fulfilment which was intended'.

The prophecy was given "in the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus the Mede, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans," i. e., in the course of the sixty-ninth year of the seventy years captivity. (Supra, § 184, p. 196.)

Babylon was now taken by the Medes as the Prophets had foretold: and Daniel, understanding by the books, especially by the prophecy of Jeremiah, "that the Lord would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem," "set his face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications." The object of his prayer is described in these words: "Hear the prayer of thy servant, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate. Behold our desolations, and the

This connexion ought not to be overlooked in the argument against that scheme of prophetical interpretation which assumes that each day of the other prophetical periods (1260, 2300, &c.) stands of course for a year. The advocates of the scheme in question appeal to the prophecy of the seventy weeks, as if it afforded a notable proof that, in the eye of prophecy, a day is of course, to be interpreted as a year. But in fact,

this prophecy says not a word about days; it speaks only of sevens. Το which I add, that the word sevens, in the Hebrew, is in a different form from the word which means weeks of days. Whether sevens of days are meant, or sevens of months, of years, or any other period, must be gathered from the context and the context, in so far as 70 sevens are opposed to 70 years, implies the unit to be a year.

city which is called by thy name. Defer not, for thine own sake, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name." And thus was his prayer answered: "While I was speaking and praying . . for the Holy Mountain of my God, the man Gabriel, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplication came forth the word (77) and I am come to shew thee, for thou art greatly beloved: wherefore understand the word and consider the vision.

Sevens seventy are cut off (or, cut short) upon thy people and upon thy holy city.

To finish the defection and to seal up sins,

And to cover (or, expiate) iniquity (perversity),

And to cause-to-come righteousness of ages:

And to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint (the) Holy of Holies. Thou shalt know therefore and understand:

From the going forth of the word for the restoring and for the building of Jerusalem to (the) Anointed, (the) Prince [Messiah Nagid].

(Shall be) sevens seven, and sevens sixty-and-two:

It shall be restored and built, (both) street and conduit3, even in the straitness of the times.

[Or, The street shall be restored and built,

And it is decreed, even in the straitness of the times.]

And after the sevens sixty-and-two shall Messiah be cut off, and it is not his: (i.e. the people.)

And the city and the sanctuary shall (the) people of the prince that is come to lay waste:

And its end (shall be) in (or, like) the inundation:

And even to the end of the war is (a) decree of desolations.

And he will make-firm a covenant with the many one seven,

(Or, One seven will make strong, &c.

Or, (The) covenant shall prevail, do-great-things, with the many, one seven.)

And the half (or, middle) of the seven will make-to-cease offering and drink-offering,

The K'ri here has DT, as in viii. 23, for ; "to bring sins to the full." Ewald prefers this reading as more agreeable to the sense, and also as being more poetical than the repetition of D in the same verse.

3

has undoubtedly the same חרוץ

meaning here, as in the Aramaic and Arabic, pool or water-conduit, the building of which is of so much importance to Jerusalem." Ewald.

And on the wing shall be abominations of desolation,

And even unto extermination and judgment shall it rain down upon the desolated (or, desolator).

§ 333. The obscurity of this prophecy before the event must have been great indeed, since even now it is so difficult to give, clear of ambiguity, the exact sense of several of its terms. How little it was understood before the event may be seen as matter of fact in the Septuagint the old version, that is, and not the Greek of Theodotion, which has been substituted for it. The ambiguity, doubtless, was intentional. Assuredly, it was not agreeable to the Divine Will that the Old Testament Church should know, so long before, that a period of nearly five centuries would clapse before the coming of the Messiah, and that His Advent would issue in the destruction of His "people, city, and sanctuary." That destruction was foreknown and decreed, but as the consequence of the nation's rejection of Messiah. And here, as in all other prophecies ejusdem materiæ, the true sense, which is the expression of the Divine Foreknowledge, lay hidden until the event disclosed it. The very purpose of probation required this concealment.

This, however, is not the place for any sufficiently extensive discussion of the nature and objects of Prophecy. Our business is to shew how the event has brought out the true sense of this prediction. And since its wording is designedly ambiguous, it is useless to argue, à priori, what must be the true sense. Only thus much appears upon a general survey of the prophecy, that after the sixty-two weeks "Messiah is cut off:" that a period of seven weeks precedes this of sixty-two: that in the middle of the 70th week, i. e. 31⁄2 years after the 7 + 62, “sacrifice and offering are made to cease."

x

§ 334. Now let us apply this scheme to the results of our chronological investigation. Messiah was "cut off" in the year A. D. 29, March 18. If from this date we measure back 3 +62 × 7+7 × 7 = 486 Julian years, we arrive at B. c. 459, 17th September. But 486 natural solar years, to end at 18 March A. D. 29, must begin 20 or 21 Sept. B. c. 459. In that year the 7th month began 11th Sept., whence the 20th Sept. was the 10th Tisri, or Day of Atonement. And, on turning to the history, we find this to be a date which precisely corresponds with the terms of the prophecy. Ezra vii. 1 ff.