Hosea 1:11
(a) "Then the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall set over themselves one head,
(b) and they shall come up out of the land. For great shall be the day of Jezreel."
It's not unusual for apocalyptic/prophetic literature to mix two different topics into one and the same verse in a text. We see it in prophetic literature all the time - the above mention of the destruction of Israel (the Northern kingdom) in the Valley of Jezreel in one and the same verse where the uniting of Israel and Judah into one nation (after the restoration of both to God) is suddenly introduced, - being a good example.
The part speaking about the coming up out of the land and the day of Jezreel (the day and place that Israel was judged) happened in circa 722 B.C (see Hosea 1:4-5), which is what Hosea Chapter 1 is talking about, but the first part of Hosea 1:11 is speaking of a reuniting of Israel and Judah that would occur many years later.
Hosea offered no explanation of why the first part of Hosea 1:11 should be popped into a passage where the text is speaking about the destruction of Israel's Northern kingdom in the Valley of Jezreel. He didn't need to. It's a common style of writing in all the prophetic books.
The same principle applies to Daniel 9:26-27, which we will look at below (Daniel 9:24-27 speaks about the coming of Israel's Messiah):-
Daniel 9:24
Seventy weeks (meaning "weeks of years", or 70 x 7 years) are decreed as to your people and as to your holy city, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.
Daniel 9:25 "Know therefore and understand, that from the going out of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in times of affliction." (Daniel 9:25).
The Messiah is the only person mentioned in Daniel 9:24-25, so the chief subject of the entire 70 weeks prophecy is the Messiah. If the chief subject in the prophecy was about both the Messiah AND the people of the prince who was to come (mentioned in verse 26), the latter would also have got a mention in the beginning, in verses 24-25.
In context, verse 25 is speaking about the amount of time that must pass until the Messiah comes. "The street" probably refers to the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which took place during the first seven weeks of years (49 years):
Daniel 9:25 "Know therefore and understand, that from the going out of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in times of affliction." (Daniel 9:25).
Daniel 9:26 "And AFTER (Hebrew achar) sixty-two weeks (after the sixty-two weeks which followed the first seven) Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.
And the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end of it shall be with the flood, and ruins are determined, until the end shall be war."
Subject: The coming of the Messiah.
Timing: 70 weeks from a certain point in time.
Purpose: 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.
Determined upon: Thy people and thy holy city.
Subject of verse 24: The Messiah.
Subject of verse 25: The Messiah.
Subject of verses 26-27: (a) The Messiah; and (b) the destruction of the city and the sanctuary:
The chief subject of the prophecy was the coming of the Messiah, so the first question that should come to mind is:
DID THE MESSIAH DO OR ACCOMPLISH
ANY (OR ALL) OF THE FOLLOWING?:
Purpose: 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.
Determined upon: Thy people and thy holy city.
CONFIRMING A COVENANT
You may have heard talk about "the Antichrist making a seven-year covenant with Israel". Those who talk about this base the seven years on their assumption that the final seven years of Daniel's prophecy has never been fulfilled. They almost always have the cutting off of the Messiah (the crucifixion of Jesus) at the close of the 69th 'week' instead of after the 69th 'week' as the prophecy states.
"Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah" (Jeremiah 31:31)
"but this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, says the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the LORD; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more." (Jeremiah 31:33-34).
"For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for MANY for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:28).
Daniel 9:27 "And he shall confirm a covenant with MANY for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and for the overspreading wings (Hebrew: kanaph) of abominations he shall make it (the city and the sanctuary) desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." (Daniel 9:27).
CAUSING SACRIFICE AND OFFERING TO CEASE
Isaiah 1:11-17
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? says the LORD; I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats.
When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to trample My courts?
Bring no more vain sacrifice; incense is an abomination to Me; the new moon and sabbath, the going to meeting; I cannot endure evil and the assembly! Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me; I am weary to bear them.
And when you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek judgment, reprove the oppressor. Judge the orphan, plead for the widow.
Hebrews 10:8-10
"Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
"..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." (Daniel 9:27b).
Hebrews 10:3-7
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Therefore when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but You have prepared a body for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have had no pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I come ( in the volume of the Book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God."
Count: (7 + 62) weeks of years = 69 'weeks of years'. It was after this (in the 70th week) that Messiah was cut off (but not for Himself). In the 70th week, Messiah finished the transgression (of the law) and made an end of sins:
1. "It is finished!" (John 19:30). He did this "once for all" (Hebrews 7:27; also Hebrews 9:12 and Hebrews 10:2 & 10).
2. He made Atonement for iniquity (Romans 5:11) *
3. He brought in everlasting righteousness: "The LORD our righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16; Jeremiah 51:10)
4. He (a) Sealed up vision and prophecy. (He reopens the seals Himself: "And one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals of it." Revelation.5:5)
(b) He was anointed by the Holy Spirit when He was baptized by John the Baptist:
"And Jesus, when He had been baptized, went up immediately out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. And lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17)
So Jesus fulfilled it all:-
"Seventy weeks are decreed as to your people and as to your holy city,
1. to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and
2. to make atonement for iniquity, and
3. to bring in everlasting righteousness, and
4. to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." (Daniel 9:24).
Daniel 9:24-25
Seventy weeks (meaning "weeks of years", or 70 x 7 years) are decreed as to your people and as to your holy city, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement 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 out of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in times of affliction.
Still about the coming of the Messiah:
26-27 And AFTER sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease.
The 62 weeks (434 years) followed the first seven (49 years), so after a total of 483 years, i.e during the 70th week, the Messiah would be cut off.
- Verse 26 says the city and sanctuary will be destroyed.
- Verse 27 says why it will be destroyed.
The way it's written is typical (not uncommon at all) of Apocalyptic literature:
The Messiah:
Daniel 9
26 And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.
27 And he (Messiah) shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he (Messiah) shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease.
City & Sanctuary:
26 And the people of the ruler who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end of it shall be with the flood, and ruins are determined, until the end shall be war.
27 and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Compare it with Jesus' words when standing in the temple, 40 years before the city and the temple in it were destroyed by Roman armies:
Matthew 23:37-24:2
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and all of you would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say to you, You shall not see Me from now on until you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him in order to show him the buildings of the temple.
And Jesus said unto them, See all of you not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Matthew 23:37-24: 2).
DESOLATING ABOMINATIONS
Unlike the words "abomination of desolation", abominations (plural) are mentioned in Daniel 9:27.
The temple sacrifices continued to be made after the crucifixion of the Lamb of God, God's once-for-all sacrifice for sins, in rejection of Christ, God's sacrifice.
Isaiah 1:10-14
"Hear the word of the LORD, rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? says the LORD; I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats.
When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more vain sacrifice; incense is an abomination to Me; the new moon and sabbath, the going to meeting; I cannot endure evil and the assembly!
Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me; I am weary to bear them."
Hebrews 10:3-7
"But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Therefore when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but You have prepared a body for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have had no pleasure.
Then I said, Lo, I come ( in the volume of the Book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God."
Every sacrifice for sins made in rejection of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice for sins is an abomination to God - and for forty years following the death and resurrection of Jesus until the destruction of the temple, daily sacrifices for sin were being offered to God upon the altar in the Jerusalem temple.
So to assume that Daniel's 70th week has not yet been fulfilled, and that it was not fulfilled by the Messiah, is a false assumption to make, and placing the fulfillment of Daniel's 70th "week" (Daniel 9:27) at the end of this Age as though it's referring to the final seven years of this Age is an anachronism.
The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D, by David Roberts (1850)
Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D, by Francesco Hayez. Oil on canvas, 1867
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