Seventy Weeks - Word of Jeremiah
Daniel began to inquire into the promised end to the Babylonian Captivity recorded in the book of Jeremiah - Daniel 9:1-2.
The chapter begins with Daniel studying the scroll that contained the book of Jeremiah and the passage that promised the end of the captivity in Babylon after seventy years - (2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Ezra 1:1-11):
- (Daniel 9:1-2) - In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerusˎ of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans: in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel perceived by the scroll the number of the years as to which the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, to accomplish the desolations of Jerusalem, seventy years.”
- (Jeremiah 25:8-13) - “And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And when seventy years are accomplished, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity…I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this scroll that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.”
For Daniel, the “desolation” of Judah began with the subjugation of Jerusalem in the first year of king Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. The prophecy from Jeremiah is dated to the same year:
- (Daniel 1:1) – “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it.”
- (Jeremiah 25:1) – “The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
Thus, for Daniel, the captivity had reached its prophesied end. He understood from the “writings” the number of the years that Yahweh required “to accomplish the desolations of Jerusalem, seventy years.”
“Writing” is a translation of the Hebrew term sepher, which means “scroll.” “Accomplish” renders the Hebrew verb mala, meaning “complete.” The English term “desolations” represents the noun Hebrew noun horbah. Both “desolation” and “accomplish” are prominent in the prophecy from Jeremiah:
- “This whole land shall be desolation (horbah) and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years…And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished (mala)…”
Daniel calls the prophecy from Jeremiah the “word of Yahweh.” The term occurs again in verse 25, “the going forth of the word to return and to build Jerusalem.” In fact, the prophecy by Jeremiah is the text on which chapter 9 builds its interpretation of events and the prophecy of the “seventy weeks” – the “going forth of the word to return and build Jerusalem.”
The prophecy from Jeremiah is dated to the “fourth year of Jehoiakim” and the “first year of Nebuchadnezzar” - The same year cited at the opening of Daniel. A related word by Jeremiah set the conditions for the release of Judah, which now forms the basis for Daniel’s supplication:
- (Jeremiah 29:10-14) - “For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place… You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart…and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you.”
Yahweh promised to release Israel after seventy years, but only if she repented, an act Daniel proceeded to do as the representative of the nation. For him, the Babylonian Captivity began with the first attack against Jerusalem in 605 B.C. The decree of Cyrus to release the exiles was issued in 536 B.C., that is, seventy years after the deportation of Daniel and his companions to Babylon. Thus, in Daniel’s understanding, the time of release was at hand.
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