Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John · Isaac Newton
CHAP. X.
_Of the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks._ The Vision of the Image composed of four Metals was given first to _Nebuchadnezzar_, and then to _Daniel_ in a dream: and _Daniel_ began then to be celebrated for revealing of secrets, _Ezek._ xxviii. 3. The Vision of the four Beasts, and of _the Son of man_ coming in the clouds of heaven, was also given to _Daniel_ in a dream. That of the Ram and the He-Goat appeared to him in the day time, when he was by the bank of the river _Ulay_; and was explained to him by the prophetic Angel _Gabriel_. It concerns the _Prince of the host_, and the _Prince of Princes_: and now in the first year of _Darius_ the _Mede_ over _Babylon_, the same prophetic Angel appears to _Daniel_ again, and explains to him what is meant by the _Son of man_, by the _Prince of the host_, and the _Prince of Princes_. The Prophecy of the _Son of man_ coming in the clouds of heaven relates to the second coming of _Christ_; that of the _Prince of the host_ relates to his first coming: and this Prophecy of the _Messiah_, in explaining them, relates to both comings, and assigns the times thereof. This Prophecy, like all the rest of _Daniel_'s, consists of two parts, an introductory Prophecy and an explanation thereof; the whole I thus translate and interpret.
_Seventy weeks are cut out upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression_, &c. Here, by putting a week for seven years, are reckoned 490 years from the time that the dispersed _Jews_ should be re-incorporated into [7] a people and a holy city, until the death and resurrection of _Christ_; whereby _transgression should be finished, and sins ended, iniquity be expiated, and everlasting righteousness brought in, and this Vision be accomplished, and the Prophet consummated_, that Prophet whom the _Jews_ expected; and whereby _the most Holy_ should be _anointed_, he who is therefore in the next words called the _Anointed_, that is, the _Messiah_, or the _Christ_. For by joining the accomplishment of the vision with the expiation of sins, the 490 years are ended with the death of _Christ_. Now the dispersed _Jews_ became a people and city when they first returned into a polity or body politick; and this was in the seventh year of _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, when _Ezra_ returned with a body of _Jews_ from captivity, and revived the _Jewish_ worship; and by the King's commission created Magistrates in all the land, to judge and govern the people according to the laws of God and the King, _Ezra_ vii.
25. There were but two returns from captivity, _Zerubbabel_'s and _Ezra_'s; in _Zerubbabel_'s they had only commission to build the Temple, in _Ezra_'s they first became a polity or city by a government of their own. Now the years of this _Artaxerxes_ began about two or three months after the summer solstice, and his seventh year fell in with the third year of the eightieth _Olympiad_; and the latter part thereof, wherein _Ezra_ went up to _Jerusalem_, was in the year of the _Julian Period_ 4257. Count the time from thence to the death of _Christ_, and you will find it just 490 years. If you count in _Judaic_ years commencing in autumn, and date the reckoning from the first autumn after _Ezra_'s coming to _Jerusalem_, when he put the King's decree in execution; the death of _Christ_ will fall on the year of the _Julian Period_ 4747, _Anno Domini_ 34; and the weeks will be _Judaic_ weeks, ending with sabbatical years; and this I take to be the truth: but if you had rather place the death of _Christ_ in the year before, as is commonly done, you may take the year of _Ezra_'s journey into the reckoning.
_Know also and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to cause to return and to build _Jerusalem_, unto the Anointed the Prince, shall be seven weeks_. The former part of the Prophecy related to the first coming of _Christ_, being dated to his coming as a Prophet; this being dated to his coming to be Prince or King, seems to relate to his second coming. There, the Prophet was consummate, and the most holy anointed: here, he that was anointed comes to be Prince and to reign. For _Daniel_'s Prophecies reach to the end of the world; and there is scarce a Prophecy in the Old Testament concerning _Christ_, which doth not in something or other relate to his second coming. If divers of the antients, as [8] _Irenæus_, [9] _Julius Africanus_, _Hippolytus_ the martyr, and _Apollinaris_ Bishop of _Laodicea_, applied the half week to the times of _Antichrist_; why may not we, by the same liberty of interpretation, apply the seven weeks to the time when _Antichrist_ shall be destroyed by the brightness of _Christ_'s coming?
The _Israelites_ in the days of the antient Prophets, when the ten Tribes were led into captivity, expected a double return; and that at the first the _Jews_ should build a new Temple inferior to _Solomon_'s, until the time of that age should be fulfilled; and afterwards they should return from all places of their captivity, and build _Jerusalem_ and the Temple gloriously, _Tobit_ xiv. 4, 5, 6: and to express the glory and excellence of this city, it is figuratively said to be built of precious stones, _Tobit_ xiii. 16, 17, 18. _Isa._ liv. 11, 12. _Rev._ xi. and called the _New Jerusalem_, the _Heavenly Jerusalem_, the _Holy City_, the _Lamb's Wife_, the _City of the Great King_, the _City into which the Kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour_. _Now_ while such a return from captivity was the expectation of _Israel_, even before the times of _Daniel_, I know not why _Daniel_ should omit it in his Prophecy.
This part of the Prophecy being therefore not yet fulfilled, I shall not attempt a particular interpretation of it, but content myself with observing, that as the _seventy_ and the _sixty two weeks_ were _Jewish_ weeks, ending with sabbatical years; so the _seven weeks_ are the compass of a _Jubilee_, and begin and end with actions proper for a _Jubilee_, and of the highest nature for which a _Jubilee_ can be kept: and that since _the commandment to return and to build _Jerusalem__, precedes the _Messiah the Prince_ 49 years; it may perhaps come forth not from the _Jews_ themselves, but from some other kingdom friendly to them, and precede their return from captivity, and give occasion to it; and lastly, that this rebuilding of _Jerusalem_ and the waste places of _Judah_ is predicted in _Micah_ vii. 11. _Amos_ ix. 11, 14. _Ezek._ xxxvi. 33, 35, 36, 38. _Isa._ liv. 3, 11, 12. lv. 12. lxi. 4. lxv. 18, 21,22. and _Tobit_ xiv. 5. and that the return from captivity and coming of the _Messiah_ and his kingdom are described in _Daniel_ vii. _Rev._ xix. _Acts_ i. _Mat._ xxiv. _Joel_ iii. _Ezek._ xxxvi. xxxvii. _Isa._ lx. lxii. lxiii. lxv. and lxvi. and many other places of scripture. The manner I know not. Let time be the Interpreter.
_Yet threescore and two weeks shall it return, and the street be built and the wall, but in troublesome times: and after the threescore and two weeks the _Messiah_ shall be cut off, and it shall not be his; but the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary_, &c. Having foretold both comings of _Christ_, and dated the last from their returning and building _Jerusalem_; to prevent the applying that to the building _Jerusalem_ by _Nehemiah_, he distinguishes this from that, by saying that from this period to the _Anointed_ shall be, not seven weeks, but threescore and two weeks, and this not in prosperous but in troublesome times; and at the end of these Weeks the _Messiah_ shall not be the Prince of the _Jews_, but be cut off; and _Jerusalem_ not be his, but the city and sanctuary be destroyed. Now _Nehemiah_ came to _Jerusalem_ in the 20th year of this same _Artaxerxes_, while _Ezra_ still continued there, _Nehem._ xii. 36, and found the city lying waste, and the houses and wall unbuilt, _Nehem._ ii. 17. vii. 4, and finished the wall the 25th day of the month _Elul_, _Nehem._ vi. 15, in the 28th year of the King, that is, in _September_ in the year of the _Julian Period_ 4278. Count now from this year threescore and two weeks of years, that is 434 years, and the reckoning will end in _September_ in the year of the _Julian Period_ 4712 which is the year in which _Christ_ was born, according to _Clemens Alexandrinus_, _Irenæus_, _Eusebius_, _Epiphanius_, _Jerome_, _Orosius_, _Cassiodorus_, and other antients; and this was the general opinion, till _Dionysius Exiguus_ invented the vulgar account, in which _Christ_'s birth is placed two years later. If with some you reckon that _Christ_ was born three or four years before the vulgar account, yet his birth will fall in the latter part of the last week, which is enough. How after these weeks _Christ_ was cut off and the city and sanctuary destroyed by the _Romans_, is well known.
_Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week._ He kept it, notwithstanding his death, till the rejection of the _Jews_, and calling of _Cornelius_ and the _Gentiles_ in the seventh year after his passion. _And in half a week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease_; that is, by the war of the _Romans_ upon the _Jews_: which war, after some commotions, began in the 13th year of _Nero_, A.D. 67, in the spring, when _Vespasian_ with an army invaded them; and ended in the second year of _Vespasian_, A.D. 70, in autumn, _Sept._ 7, when _Titus_ took the city, having burnt the Temple 27 days before: so that it lasted three years and an half. _And upon a wing of abominations he shall cause desolation, even until the consummation, and that which is determined be poured upon the desolate._ The Prophets, in representing kingdoms by Beasts and Birds, put their wings stretcht out over any country for their armies sent out to invade and rule over that country. Hence a wing of abominations is an army of false Gods: for an abomination is often put in scripture for a false God; as where _Chemosh_ is called [10] the abomination of _Moab_, and _Molech_ the abomination of _Ammon_. The meaning therefore is, that the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the sanctuary, and abolish the daily worship of the true God, and overspread the land with an army of false gods; and by setting up their dominion and worship, cause desolation to the _Jews_, until the times of the _Gentiles_ be fulfilled. For _Christ_ tells us, that the abomination of desolation spoken of by _Daniel_ was to be set up in the times of the _Roman Empire_, _Matth._ xxiv. 15.
Thus have we in this short Prophecy, a prediction of all the main periods relating to the coming of the _Messiah_; the time of his birth, that of his death, that of the rejection of the _Jews_, the duration of the _Jewish_ war whereby he caused the city and sanctuary to be destroyed, and the time of his second coming: and so the interpretation here given is more full and complete and adequate to the design, than if we should restrain it to his first coming only, as Interpreters usually do. We avoid also the doing violence to the language of _Daniel_, by taking the _seven weeks_ and _sixty two weeks_ for one number. Had that been _Daniel_'s meaning, he would have said _sixty and nine weeks_, and not _seven weeks_ and _sixty two weeks_, a way of numbring used by no nation. In our way the years are _Jewish Luni-solar years_, [11] as they ought to be; and the _seventy weeks of years_ are _Jewish weeks_ ending with _sabbatical years_, which is very remarkable. For they end either with the year of the birth of _Christ_, two years before the vulgar account, or with the year of his death, or with the seventh year after it: all which are _sabbatical years_. Others either count by Lunar years, or by weeks not _Judaic_: and, which is worst, they ground their interpretations on erroneous Chronology, excepting the opinion of _Funccius_ about the _seventy weeks_, which is the same with ours. For they place _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ in the reign of _Artaxerxes Mnemon_, and the building of the Temple in the reign of _Darius Nothus_, and date the weeks of _Daniel_ from those two reigns.
The grounds of the Chronology here followed, I will now set down as briefly as I can. The _Peloponnesian_ war began in spring _An._ 1 _Olymp._ 87, as _Diodorus_, _Eusebius_, and all other authors agree. It began two months before _Pythodorus_ ceased to be _Archon_, _Thucyd._ l. 2. that is, in _April_, two months before the end of the _Olympic_ year. Now the years of this war are most certainly determined by the 50 years distance of its first year from the transit of _Xerxes_ inclusively, _Thucyd._ l. 2. or 48 years exclusively, _Eratosth. apud Clem. Alex._ by the 69 years distance of its end, or 27th year, from the beginning of _Alexander_'s reign in _Greece_; by the acting of the _Olympic_ games in its 4th and 12th years, _Thucyd._ l. 5; and by three eclipses of the sun, and one of the moon, mentioned by _Thucydides_ and _Xenophon_. Now _Thucydides_, an unquestionable witness, tells us, that the news of the death of _Artaxerxes Longimanus_ was brought to _Ephesus_, and from thence by some _Athenians_ to _Athens_, in the 7th year of this _Peloponnesian_ war, when the winter half year was running; and therefore he died _An._ 4 _Olymp._ 88, in the end of _An. J.P._ 4289, suppose a month or two before midwinter; for so long the news would be in coming. Now _Artaxerxes Longimanus_ reigned 40 years, by the consent of _Diodorus_, _Eusebius_, _Jerome_, _Sulpitius_; or 41, according to _Ptol. in can. Clem. Alexand._ l. 1. _Strom. Chron. Alexandr_. _Abulpharagius_, _Nicephorus_, including therein the reign of his successors _Xerxes_ and _Sogdian_, as _Abulpharagius_ informs us. After _Artaxerxes_ reigned his son _Xerxes_ two months, and _Sogdian_ seven months; but their reign is not reckoned apart in summing up the years of the Kings, but is included in the 40 or 41 years reign of _Artaxerxes_: omit these nine months, and the precise reign of _Artaxerxes_ will be thirty nine years and three months. And therefore since his reign ended in the beginning of winter _An. J.P._ 4289, it began between midsummer and autumn, _An. J.P._ 4250.
The same thing I gather also thus. _Cambyses_ began his reign in spring _An. J.P._ 4185, and reigned eight years, including the five months of _Smerdes_; and then _Darius Hystaspis_ began in spring _An. J.P._ 4193, and reigned thirty six years, by the unanimous consent of all Chronologers. The reigns of these two Kings are determined by three eclipses of the moon observed at _Babylon_, and recorded by _Ptolemy_; so that it cannot be disputed. One was in the seventh year of _Cambyses_, _An. J.P._ 4191, _Jul._ 16, at 11 at night; another in the 20th year of _Darius_, _An. J.P._ 4212, _Nov._ 19, at 11h. 45' at night; a third in the 31st year of _Darius_, _An. J.P._ 4223, _Apr._ 25, at 11h. 30 at night. By these eclipses, and the Prophecies of _Haggai_ and _Zechary_ compared together, it is manifest that his years began after the 24th day of the 11th _Jewish_ month, and before the 25th day of _April_, and by consequence about _March_. _Xerxes_ therefore began in spring _An. J.P._ 4229: for _Darius_ died in the fifth year after the battle at _Marathon_, as _Herodotus_, _lib._ 7, and _Plutarch_ mention; and that battle was in _October_ _An.
J.P._ 4224, ten years before the battle at _Salamis_. _Xerxes_ therefore began within less than a year after _October_ _An. J.P._ 4228, suppose in the spring following: for he spent his first five years, and something more, in preparations for his expedition against the _Greeks_; and this expedition was in the time of the _Olympic_ games, _An._ 1 _Olymp._ 75, _Calliade Athenis Archonte_, 28 years after the _Regifuge_, and Consulship of the first Consul _Junius Brutus_, _Anno Urbis conditæ_ 273, _Fabio & Furio Coss._ The passage of _Xerxes_'s army over the _Hellespont_ began in the end of the fourth year of the 74th _Olympiad_, that is, in _June_ _An. J.P._ 4234, and took up one month: and in autumn, three months after, on the full moon, the 16th day of the month _Munychion_, was the battle at _Salamis_, and a little after that an eclipse of the sun, which by the calculation fell on _Octob._ 2. His sixth year therefore began a little before _June_, suppose in spring _An. J.P._ 4234, and his first year consequently in spring _An. J.P._ 4229, as above. Now he reigned almost twenty one years, by the consent of all writers. Add the 7 months of _Artabanus_, and the sum will be 21 years and about four or five months, which end between midsummer and autumn _An. J.P._ 4250. At this time therefore began the reign of his successor _Artaxerxes_, as was to be proved.
The same thing is also confirmed by _Julius Africanus_, who informs us out of former writers, that the 20th year of this _Artaxerxes_ was the 115th year from the beginning of the reign of _Cyrus_ in _Persia,_ and fell in with _An._ 4 _Olymp._ 83. It began therefore with the _Olympic_ year, soon after the summer Solstice, _An. J.P._ 4269. Subduct nineteen years, and his first year will begin at the same time of the year _An. J.P._ 4250, as above. His 7th year therefore began after midsummer _An. J.P._ 4256; and the Journey of _Ezra_ to _Jerusalem_ in the spring following fell on the beginning of _An. J.P._ 4257, as above. Notes to Chap. X. [1] Chap. ix. 24, 25, 26, 27. [2] _Cut upon_. A phrase in _Hebrew_, taken from the practise of numbring by cutting notches. [3] Heb. _to seal_, i.e. to finish or consummate: a metaphor taken from sealing what is finished. So the _Jews_ compute, _ad obsignatum Misna, ad obsignatum Talmud_, that is, _ad absolutum_. [4] Heb. _the Prophet_, not the Prophecy. [5] Heb. _the Messiah_, that is, in _Greek_, _the Christ_; in _English_, _the Anointed_. I use the _English_ word, that the relation of this clause to the former may appear. [6] _Jerusalem_. [7] See _Isa._ xxiii. 13. [8] Iren. l. 5. Hær. c. 25.
The year of the _Jews_, even from their coming out of _Egypt_, was Luni-solar. It was solar, for the harvest always followed the Passover, and the fruits of the land were always gathered before the feast of Tabernacles, _Levit._ xxiii. But the months were lunar, for the people were commanded by _Moses_ in the beginning of every month to blow with trumpets, and offer burnt offerings with their drink offerings, _Num._ x. 10. xxviii. 11, 14. and this solemnity was kept on the new moons, _Psal._ lxxxi. 3,4,5. 1 _Chron._ xxiii. 31. These months were called by _Moses_ the first, second, third, fourth month, _&c._ and the first month was also called _Abib_, the second _Zif_, the seventh _Ethanim_, the eighth _Bull_, _Exod._ xiii. 4. 1 _Kings_ vi. 37, 38. viii. 2. But in the _Babylonian_ captivity the _Jews_ used the names of the _Chaldean_ months, and by those names understood the months of their own year; so that the _Jewish_ months then lost their old names, and are now called by those of the _Chaldeans_. The _Jews_ began their civil year from the autumnal Equinox, and their sacred year from the vernal: and the first day of the first month was on the visible new moon, which was nearest the Equinox.
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