Daniel Chapter ix. "In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;

"In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem."

According to this the seventy years of the captivity of the children of Israel, during which the city of Jerusalem was desolate, was not the whole meaning of the word of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah, "That he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem." That history, although foretold, was but the vail to a history of greater magnitude. The desolations spoken of are those of the great city Jerusalem, and the seventy years are typical of the time from the creation of the first man until the Messiah comes into his kingdom: then Jerusalem will begin to bloom and to blossom. Daniel bears record that he understood from books the number of years called for by the seventy years of desolation. If so, then the history of the captivity is truly a parable; but where did Daniel find this information? He found it in the numbering of the children of Israel: in the bounds set by the number of the children of Israel, taken in connection with the time, and times and a half-time, or with the seven times of Nebuchadnezzar, or the seven daughters of Zion, or with the vision of Abraham, or with any of the types under which the seven epochs are represented: for the seventh epoch is symbolic of the dividing of a time, or its equivalent "a half-time."

The value of the half-time, and consequently of the whole time of the desolations of the great city Jerusalem, was obtained in actual figures from the second numbering of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh represent the total time from the fall of man in the garden of Eden until the coming of the Messiah into his kingdom. The forty thousand which crossed the river Jordan represents the link from the crossing of Jordan until the coming of the Messiah: hence the half-time is readily obtained, and which has been found (see book of Joshua) to be three thousand nine hundred and thirty-two years. What advantage or what benefit was it to Daniel that he understood the number of years of the desolations of Jerusalem? The benefit was this, that at the end of these desolations the Messiah should come into his kingdom, and the inheritance should be redeemed at that time; the benefit was, that a fixed tangible time was given that might be looked forward to as a fulfilment of the promises. Another benefit lies in the establishment of the time in the history of the world when to look for the coming of the Messiah.

Daniel appears to be the first to whom came a knowledge of the actual time when the Messiah should appear in his kingdom, and also of the magnitude of the great city Jerusalem, and the wonders of the labors of Mount Zion, although Moses may have known it.

When this great light struck upon him he said, "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

"And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

"We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

"Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

"O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

"O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

"To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;

"Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

"Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

"And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

"As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

"Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.

"And now, Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

"O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

"Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.

"O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.

"O Lord, hear; Lord, forgive; Lord, hearken and do ; defer not, for thine own sake, my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name."

In this powerful appeal the prophet undoubtedly recognizes the labors and sufferings of the Messiah: for he prays, "Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake." And again, " Lord, hear; Lord, forgive; Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name."

The text continues, " And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God;

"Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
"And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.

"At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be
built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

The seventy weeks called for by the text are typical of the epoch extending from the cutting off of the Messiah until the time that the iniquity of the Amorites shall be full. Now, according to the unit of value of the book of Daniel, the transgressions will be full in the year 2100, after the Messiah is cut off. When these years have been fulfilled, the books may be opened at any time, and the Ancient of days sit, and judgment be given: for with the fulfilment of these years comes the judgmental era.

The seven weeks, threescore and two weeks, represent the time from the commandment given in the garden of Eden for the rebuilding and restoration of Jerusalem until the coming of the Messiah the Prince, and the threescore and two weeks represent the time from the coming of the Messiah until he is cut off.

The unit of value for the week of the book of Daniel is thirty years. This unit is composed of the number of years the Messiah passed in the flesh, from the time he was born of the virgin until he entered upon his ministry. This unit of value would give two thousand and seventy years from the fall of our Adam, when the commandment was given for the restoration of Jerusalem, unto the coming of the Messiah the Prince.

The year 2070 corresponds, therefore, with the year in which Melchizedek met Abram, and brought forth bread and wine, and blessed him, and called him Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. From the records of the Scriptures, Melchizedek can be no other than a Divinity. He was not a creature: for he had neither father nor mother, neither beginning of days nor end of life. If such a one came down from heaven and met Abram, and blessed him, then his mission must have been of the highest import; and there seems to be no other event recorded in the Scriptures which can fill out the measure of the mission of Melchizedek than the advent of the Messiah the Prince.

The text states, "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off." According to this statement the labors of the Messiah would extend through a period of eighteen hundred and sixty years, which in all probability is longer than the lifetime of the longest lived of mankind, Methuselah having attained to nearly a thousand years. Paul's records call for longevity on the part of the Saviour: for he was tempted in all points as men are, and, if there is any truth in the saying, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick," then a long lifetime of persecution and affliction becomes a temptation of fearful strength to cause one to err.

From the text it is found that the Messiah shall be cut off in the year 3930, counting from our Adam, which varies but two years from that obtained from the numbering of the children of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

The text may now be considered sufficiently full to show the extent of the seventy years' desolation of Jerusalem. The half-time, or the dividing of time called for is three thousand nine hundred and thirty years, and in consequence the whole time would be seven thousand eight hundred and sixty years, which is the approximate lifetime of the present age.

It is stated in Deut. xxxii. 8, "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." The number of the children of Israel that were numbered (see Num. i. 46) was six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. The aggregate number of the three tribes which appertain to the present age, viz., Gad, Asher, and Naphtali, is one hundred and forty thousand five hundred and fifty. From these figures, by simple proportion, the bounds of the people are set at thirty-three thousand seven hundred and fifty-two years.

By "the thousand generations," in which, from Psalm xxii. 30, "A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation," the value of a generation is indicated, namely, the time the Saviour was manifest in the flesh to man, a period of about thirty-three and one-half years. By the thousand generations, then, the bounds of the people would approximate thirty-three thousand five hundred years, thus agreeing very closely with the preceding approximation.

The angel which appeared unto Daniel said unto him, "Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." What does this mean? The angel came whilst Daniel was making his prayer after he understood by books the extent of the seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem; therefore the first part of his message was to give Daniel more light upon that subject, which light was accorded as shown above. But, wherein is the vision considered? And which is the vision?

The vision evidently is the one relating to the Gihonic race, the one relating to the prince that shall come, when the transgressors are come to the full: for of it Daniel said, "I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." The angel continues his message to Daniel after the statement that the Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself, and says, "And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."

This part of the message clearly relates to the people of the prince that shall come, and not the prince himself; but the prince indicates the people, and the end of this people shall be with a flood. This contains a plain, straightforward prediction of the great deluge of Noah, and is in perfect harmony with all the Sacred Records.

It was asked in the previous chapter, "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?" and the reply was, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." This period is indicative of the time from the great Hiddekelic famine unto the flood, or deluge of Noah: for the relation is to the people of this age.

Thirty years have been given as the value of Daniel's week: consequently the value of a day would be the one-seventh of this, or four and two-sevenths years. From this the date of the Hiddekelic famine is established at nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven years before the flood, or about eight thousand two hundred years before Adam.

The legitimate bounds of a people or race are set from the creation of that people or race until the creation of the next, without regard to the number of years they may overlap; the bounds having been set to limit the aggregate existence of man, and to fix the limits of time.

The limits or bounds of the Gihonic race are set according to the number of the children of the tribes appertaining to it, viz., Simeon, Issacher, and Zebulun. It will be found in Num. i. that the aggregate number of those that were numbered was one hundred and seventy-one thousand one hundred; from which the bounds are found to be nine thousand five hundred and sixty-eight years.

It has been determined that the Hiddekelic famine occurred about eight thousand two hundred years before our Adam: hence the overlap of the Hiddekels with the Gihons was about one thousand three hundred and sixty-eight years, which is nearly three hundred years less than the lap of the Gihons over the present race, the Scriptural chronology fixing the latter at one thousand six hundred and fifty-six years. Hence it follows that the first man of the Gihonic, or Black race was created about nine thousand five hundred and sixty-eight years before Adam.