Now let us look at Daniel about the seventy weeks. [Dan. 9, 25.:]"From the time that the command went out that Jerusalem should be built again" etc. We do not want to concern ourselves with the different opinions (in this piece), but accept the one, namely that the going out of the command is to be understood in such a way that it took its beginning in the second year of Darius, since the command, not of a man, but of God, went out through Haggai and Zechariah. And it is not necessary to place the beginning of this going out or the command in the year in which it was revealed to Daniel. For it was revealed to him (as it says above [v. I] in the text) in the first year of Darius and Cyrus, when the seventy years of desolation were already fulfilled and finished. So it is also not necessary to assume the beginning of these seventy years at that time.
where it would be revealed to Jeremiah, namely in the fourth year of Zedekiah or Jehoiakim, as some Jews and Lyra do. For Daniel and 2 Chron. 36 and the first chapter of Ezra teach sufficiently that the years of desolation began with the destruction of Jerusalem. And the word of Jeremiah about the desolation has nothing to do with this command, about which Daniel receives a new revelation after the end of the seventy years, since the word had already gone out that the captivity should be lifted. For Jeremiah says nothing of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, but of the people being brought back after seventy years, which was done and fulfilled.
Therefore the angel prophesies of a new word according to the word of Jeremiah, and he does not show him the beginning of the going forth. For he prophesies future things, not for
Daniel, but for his people. The angel divides the seventy weeks into seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and one week; namely, in seven weeks the streets and the trenches will be restored in a short time. That this is fulfilled is taught by the book of Nehemiah, who came in the twentieth year of Darius, and barely completed the walls, since in the meantime, from the second year of Darius, they had suffered many things in that puny time for eighteen years, in that the Gentiles prevented the work that was commanded by the word of God. For before that, from the time of Cyrus, the work had lain wholly idle for twenty-four years, being forbidden by Cambyses, king of the Persians.
Therefore the angel gives seven weeks, that is, forty-nine years, for the restoration of Jerusalem. For in so many years, from the second year of Darius, Jerusalem was hardly rebuilt, so that it had streets and ditches (as the angel speaks), that is, that it had a well-ordered regiment in the streets and was at peace, and ditches, that is, walls, fortifications against war and enemies. "There is a time to set up a city, both for regiment and against the enemies, that both may go and stand in pregnancy."
These years are fulfilled in the fifth year of Artaxerxes Mnemon, when Nehemiah and the priest Jehoiakim were still reigning etc.
[Dan. 9, 26.:] "And after the sixty-two weeks Christ shall be cut off, and there shall be no more." The 62 weeks are 434 years, which together with the 49 years or 7 weeks make 483 years. That is how many years there are from the second year of Darius. After this year, namely the 483rd year, immediately in the beginning of the following year, which is the first of the last week, and the beginning of the 34th year of Christ's life,-in this very year (I say) Christ is cut off, as here the angel speaks, and the last week follows, of which it will soon be said.
This word: "And be no more", or, what our Latin interpreter adds from his own and says: Et non erit populus ejus, qui eum negaturus est, must rather be understood in such a way that Christ, exterminated
from the land of the living and crucified by the Jews, will have nothing of the Mosaic law nor of any carnal worship, but also nothing of the world regiment or of the house regiment, but his kingdom will be a spiritual and eternal one in righteous justice and holiness. Ps. 16:4: "I will not sacrifice their libation with the blood." "All things are become new" [2 Cor. 5, 17. Isa. 43, 19.]. And elsewhere [Jn. 4, 21.], "Ye shall not worship in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem." [Ps. 16, 4.:] "I will not put her name in my mouth." By this well-chosen word "cut off," the angel indicates that Christ would die and rise again, bringing righteousness and life without law and works. Therefore follows [Dan. 9, 27:]
"He will strengthen the covenant of many A week." Read Peter's sermons, Apost. Cap. 3. 4 etc., and Paul's Apost. 13 and this whole book, in which they teach that through JEsum all things are fulfilled unto their children. And so it is evident what the angel wants. Now this week is to be considered like the feast of the Passover, in which they celebrated the whole week long. So also this week of the right and fulfilled Passover was exceedingly glorious and holy through the powers and miracles of the Holy Spirit and through the mighty and wonderful speeches in all languages.
"And in the midst of the week the sacrifice and meat offering shall cease." This was done Apost. 15, since it was established by public pronouncement in the Concilium of the Apostles that the burden of the Law must be lifted from the necks of the disciples. This happened about the third or fourth year after the resurrection, that is, in the middle of the last week.
How miserably blinded are the Jews, who so foolishly reject the exceedingly salutary promise of the weeks! For so Jeremiah, by the promise of the seventy years, upheld the people in captivity, that they might know that deliverance from that calamity was sure. Thus, since it should happen that after the return from captivity they should be afflicted with calamities not much less (for in Babylon they are surely honored quite gloriously
(The time of the end of the world has already passed, both through the kings and through the most excellent prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel etc.), God gives them the consolation that promises that these evils will not last longer than seventy weeks. Then Christ himself will be there, who will put an end to all evils through an eternal redemption. But they [the Jews]
make the end of the weeks the beginning of the time when Christ should be expected at an uncertain time. By excluding themselves from the predestined time, they plunge into the chaos of an indefinite and never coming time, and cheat themselves of the so salutary promise.