Introduction Although the Jewish Scriptures evaluated the book of Daniel differently from the Christian Old Testament, by placing it in the Writings instead of with the major prophets, it remains a book of apocalyptic visions. Chapter nine begins with Daniel grappling with the prophetic prediction in Jeremiah 25:11-12, which declares that the Jews would serve the king of Babylon in captivity for seventy years. Now that the seventy years were almost at the end Daniel, in penitential prayer and confession, is petitioning Yahweh on behalf of his people. While in prayer, the angel Gabriel approaches Daniel to give him understanding concerning the future history of the Jewish nation under the illustration of seventy weeks. In Daniel 9:24-27, the account of the seventy weeks is unfolded. This discourse of Gabriel’s interpretation to Daniel concerning these four verses remains one of the most controversial topics among scholars. For, if Daniel 9:24-27 is misunderstood then any exegetical effort will be made to bend all other prophetic Scripture passages in order to compensate for that misinterpretation. However, if these verses are correctly understood, then all prophecy will fall into place without any contextual gymnastics. Therefore, an accurate interpretation of these seventy weeks is fundamental to building a solid understanding to the fulfillment of prophecy in the Bible. This paper will examine from a dispensational view the details of the seventy weeks prophecy, the start and end times of the seventy weeks, the division within the seventy weeks, and the divine purpose intended to provide a basis for building a solid foundation. The Details of the 70 Weeks Prophecy Beginning with the presupposition that the Bible (... ... middle of paper ... ...omplete Works of Josephus. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1960. LaHaye, Tim F., and Edward E. Hindson. The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy. (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2004. Lurie, David H. "A new interpretation of Daniel's "sevens" and the chronology of the seventy "sevens." Journal Of The Evangelical Theological Society 33, no. 3 (September 1, 1990): 303-309. http://content.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/pdf19_22/pdf/ddd/rfh/n0360-8808/atla0000830961.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=ATLA0000830961&S=R&D=rfh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNLr40Sep7M4v%2BbwOLCmr0yep7FSs6m4SrKWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOrf4H3w6vdT69fnhrnb5ofx6gAA (accessed April 15, 2014). Miller, Stephen R. The New American Commentary. Vol. 18, Daniel. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holmes, 1994. Walvoord, John F. Daniel The Key to Prophetic Revelation. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1971.
LaHaye, Tim, and Ed Hindson. The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy. Eugene, OR.: Harvest House Publishers, 2004.
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...6). Lastly Darius learns of god through the safety of Daniel in the lion’s den.
The Book of Daniel is the only full-blown apocalyptic book in the Protestant recognized version of the Canon. A literary device divides the book into two halves. Chapters 1-6 are a collection of stories that introduces the reader to Daniel and three other Israelites as unwilling guests of the Babylonia Empire ruled by Nebuchadnezzar. The second half, Chapters 7-12 consists of apocalyptic imagery of deformed beasts and the heavenly court. The focus of this paper will be on chapter 7, which serves as a bridge of the two halves. Chapter 7 is the earliest of the visions as it identifies with the genre of 8-12 while through language and content it reverts to Daniel chapter 2. The linguistic break down is not as neat as the literary divide in that Dan. 2:4b-7:28 was written in Aramaic while other portions of the book is written in Hebrew.
The book of Daniel is written by the fearless prophet Daniel in about 530 BC in Cyrus’ ninth year. The genre of Daniel is Narrative History, Prophetic Oracles, and it also contains some Apocalyptic material. Some of the major themes and ideas in the book of Daniel are humility, our ability to resist, embracing work beyond our own power, following God, being prepared, and the importance of prayer. Humility is a very important key to a good, sturdy, and strong relationship with the God and the other people involved in our lives (Daniel 1:11-14; 2:27). The ability to resist presented in Daniel shows us that we need to resist conforming into culture because at times culture disrupts God’s designs for us as His children (Daniel 1:8). Embracing work beyond our own power and ability is what God initially calls us to do. He calls us to go outside our personal comfort zone and embrace the work He has placed in our lives and accomplish it to the best of our abilities (Daniel 2:24). Following God is a huge concept not only in Daniel, but everywhere. Daniel is a fearless that follows His one true God no matter what temptation or suffering he is faced with (Daniel 1:9; 2:48; 6:16). Being prepared is very important because we need to be ready to place our trust in God and stand up for what we believe in situations that will test our faith (Daniel 1:16-18; 4:27; 7:21). The importance of prayer should not be under estimated because prayer is an essential practice for working in God’s kingdom faithfully (Daniel 9:3-46:10).
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