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by _Damon » Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:45 pm
Hi Todd. I wanted to weigh in here while Steve composes his own reply because I wanted to show you something that I think is highly significant about the structure and purpose of Daniel 9, in which the "seventy weeks' prophecy" appears.
Look at the beginning of Daniel 9 with me:
"In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom - in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years."
Now notice that time period: seventy years.
Here's the end of Daniel 9:
"Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision: Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy."
Notice the numeric parallel? Ever wonder why it's there?
To answer this question, I need to explain the prophetic cycles of history that this chapter of Daniel makes reference to. History begins with Creation, placing man in the Garden of Eden, in the presence of God. Shortly thereafter, man is exiled from the presence of God. The only way back into Eden and the presence of God is through the Messianic descendant of Eve (Gen. 3:15). This cycle of exile and return shows up again and again in Scripture, especially in connection with Israel.
Daniel noted that the period of Babylonian exile was supposed to last seventy years, according to Jeremiah the prophet. Knowing that this time period was nearly at an end, he prayed to God to have mercy on His people and to forgive their sins. So God issued this prophecy: in seventy more literal weeks, the Babylonian exile would be over!
Now obviously, the Messiah didn't come immediately after the end of the Babylonian exile. Nevertheless, because a return from exile is symbolically connected with the work of the Messiah in terms of biblical symbolism, the two were connected here in this chapter!
Doesn't that make sense?
As far as your question goes, seventy 'sevens' or weeks is only connected with Matthew 18:21-22 insofar as the numbers seven and seventy are connected with forgiveness. (Numbers often have a symbolic meaning in Scripture. Bullinger's "Number in Scripture" is a good reference for this.)
Damon
PS. There is an end-time overlay to this prophecy, relating to a period of seventy years and then seventy weeks right at the end of that seventy years. But that's another story.
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