Daniel 9:27

This verse contains four statements. - The first is: "He shall confirm the covenant to many for one week." Following the example of Theodotion, many (Hv., Hgstb., Aub., v. Leng., Hitzig, Hofm.) regard אחד שׁבוּע אח as the subject: one week shall confirm the covenant to many. But this poetic mode of expression is only admissible where the subject treated of in the statement of the speaker comes after the action, and therefore does not agree with בּרית הגבּיר, where the confirming of the covenant is not the work of time, but the deed of a definite person. To this is to be added the circumstance that the definitions of time in this verse are connected with those in Dan 9:25, and are analogous to them, and must therefore be alike interpreted in both passages. But if, notwithstanding these considerations, we make אחד שׁבוּע the subject, the question then presses itself upon us, Who effects the confirming of the covenant? Hvernick, Hengstenberg, and Auberlen regard the Messias as the subject, and understand by the confirming of the covenant, the confirming of the New Covenant by the death of Christ. Ewald, v. Lengerke, and others think of Antiochus and the many covenants which, according to 1 Macc. 1:12, he established between the apostate Jews and the heathen Greeks. Hitzig understands by the "covenant" the O.T. Covenant, and gives to הגבּיר the meaning to make grievous: The one week shall make the covenant grievous to many, for they shall have to bear oppression on account of their faith. On the other hand, Hofmann (Schriftbew.) renders it: The one week shall confirm many in their fidelity to the faith. But none of these interpretations can be justified. The reasons which Hengstenberg adduces in support of his view that the Messias is the subject, are destitute of validity.…

In this chapter we have, I. Daniel's prayer for the restoration of the Jews who were in captivity, in which he confesses sin, and acknowledges the justice of God in their calamities, but pleads God's promises of mercy which he had yet in store for them (v. 1-19). II. An immediate answer sent him by an angel to his prayer, in which, 1. He is assured of the speedy release of the Jews out of their captivity (Dan 9:20-23). And, 2. He is informed concerning the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ (of which that was a type), what should be the nature of it and when it should be accomplished (Dan 9:24-27). And it is the clearest, brightest, prophecy of the Messiah, in all the Old Testament.

9:27 The ruler (literally he): Most interpreters understand this pronoun as referring to the ruler of 9:26. Some think that it refers back to the anointed one of 9:25-26 and is thus a prophecy about Christ, meaning that Christ caused a covenant to prevail and removed the need for sacrifices and offerings by his death. However, the word behind make a treaty has the sense of imposing a covenant, evidently by the use of force or intimidation. Antiochus IV imposed a covenant with the people of Judea following the beginning of his rule in 175 BC (cp. 11:23; see 1 Maccabees 1:10-15). Other interpreters believe that this prophecy was fulfilled in the events of AD 66–70. For still others, it refers to a future ruler. • The phrase put an end refers to a destructive action, not an act of God’s salvation such as the Messiah would accomplish by his death. In 167 BC, Antiochus IV ordered the people of Judea to cease all practice of Jewish worship in the Temple and instead practice pagan worship, on pain of death (see 1 Maccabees 1:41-63). Similarly, the Roman general Titus put an end to the sacrifices and offerings in the Temple when he destroyed it in AD 70. • a sacrilegious object that causes desecration (literally an abomination of desolation): Cp. Dan 8:13; 11:31; 12:11. This expression (Hebrew shiqqutsim meshomem) is possibly a mocking play on the Semitic name for Zeus (Ba‘al Shamayim, “Lord of the Heavens”). Idol-gods are often referred to as shiqquts, “abomination,” “desolation,” elsewhere in the Bible (see Deut 29:17; 2 Chr 15:8; Isa 66:3; Jer 32:34; Ezek 20:7), and the similarity between the sounds of shomem, “devastation, destruction, desolation,” and shamayim is clear. In December 167 BC, Antiochus IV erected an image of Zeus atop the altar of burnt offering in the Temple…