Daniel 9 is not about the messianic age. Many Christians think that there could only be one messiah -- and they think that messiah was Jesus, who will one day return (second coming) to fulfill the messianic prophecies he didn't fulfill the first time. . . The Christian definition of the messiah (khristos (χριστος) aka "christ" is the Greek word for messiah) is the savior of the world, a divine being. In reality the term "messiah / מָשִׁיחַ / moshiach / messiah) is used thirty nine times in the T'nach to describe various people who are "anointed ones" (which is what the word means. Messiahs are normal human beings. Aaron, Moses' brother, was a messiah. Kings David and Solomon were messiahs. They were all humans born of human mothers and fathers who were anointed per G-d's instructions (or who inherited the anointing in an uncontested line). There were numerous messiahs 2000 years ago (Jesus was not one of them). The priests of the Temple, including the high priest himself, were messiahs. אגריפס / Herod Agrippa II ()28 CE - 92 CE) was a messiah -- an anointed king. . . Does Daniel 9 speaks of two messiahs -- one who gives the word to rebuild Jerusalem nearly 500 years before the second messiah of the vision may appear. . . I say "may" because all negative visions can be avoided -- their purpose is to act as a warning. . . . In Daniel 9 the first messiah comes after 49 years (7 shavuim): after the destruction of the Temple a ruler will come and give the order to rebuild Jerusalem: "Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (shavuim), and fir sixty-two shavuim (weeks / septets) it will be rebuilt, street and moat but in troubled times." Daniel 9:25. The first messiah is the subject of the seven shavuim (49 years). This messiah is Cyrus the Great of Persia. He was the king who gave the order to rebuild Jerusalem. Then there will be 62 shavuim (434 years) in which the Second Temple will stand -- a time for the Jews have nearly 500 years to return to observance and avoid a second exile. At the end of the 62 shavuim if the Jews do not end their sinful ways and return to G-d the Second Temple will be destroyed and the Jews will again face exile. A second messiah (an evil man) will be יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit.-- which means "and cut off" -- as in the person being cut off (excommunicated if you will) from G-d and the Jewish people. cut off (not killed) at this time. So, yes, this took place 2000 years ago -- and the second messiah was cut off (not killed) 2000 years ago -- and "no" this was not Jesus. Possibly the second, evil, messiah who was cut off (a term only used to speak of evil people) was אגריפס / Herod Agrippa II ()28 CE - 92 CE). "Now after the death of Herod, king of Chalcis, Claudius set Agrippa, the son of Agrippa, over his uncle’s kingdom" Josephus, Wars of the Jews chapter 12. So Agrippa II was the "king of the Jews" -- a puppet king of the Romans -- alive at the time the Temple was destroyed (Jesus had been dead about 35 - 40 years).. At the beginning of the Jewish war in 66 CE, Agrippa II barely escaped Jerusalem. The Jews threw both him and his sister, Berenice, out of the city. During the Jewish-Roman war of 66-73 CE Agrippa supported the Romans -- celebrating their victories with drunken parties that sometimes lasted for weeks. Definitely יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit -- cut off" -- as in the person being cut off (excommunicated if you will) from G-d and the Jewish people. cut off from the Jewish people! This claim has a kernel of a truth: it did happen 2000 years ago. There was a messiah (it wasn't Jesus). This messiah was not killed, he was spiritually cut off from G-d and the Jewish people. . . Daniel 9 has nothing to do with “the” messiah or the messianic age. David was a messiah. Aaron was a messiah. Saul was a messiah. Cyrus was a messiah. Solomon was a messiah. . . none of them were “the” messiah. There are two messiahs (plural) in Daniel 9 -- neither of which was "the" messiah. This is not a messianic prophecy. (Actually the book of Daniel is not prophecy at all -- it is found in Ketuvim, Writings, in the T'nach). From the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 29:10. 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi).
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Photos used under Creative Commons from dionhinchcliffe, paulasenciogonzalez, paulasenciogonzalez, amy32080, petersbar, Aaron Stokes, amboo who?, Damian Gadal, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, SharonaGott, Udo Schröter, paulasenciogonzalez, Joybot, zeevveez, ianmunroe, freeqstyler, quinn.anya, Ivy Nichols, Groman123, UnknownNet Photography, torbakhopper, “Caveman Chuck” Coker, CarbonNYC [in SF!], dgoomany, Lion Multimedia Production U.S.A., oldandsolo, dbeck03