Word of Jeremiah
Daniel received the revelation about the “seventy weeks” in the “first year” of Darius the Mede, shortly after the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire to the “Medes and Persians.” And his inquiry and prayer indicate that the events in chapter 9 occurred before the return of the first Jewish exiles to Jerusalem after the decree of Cyrus the Great.
The chapter begins with Daniel studying the
scroll that contained the book of Jeremiah with his focus on the passage
that promises the end of the captivity of Judah after seventy years:
- (Daniel 9:1-2) - In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, 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.”
THE DESOLATION
For Daniel, the “desolation” of Judah
began with the subjugation of Jerusalem in the first year of king Nebuchadnezzar’s
reign, and the prophecy in Jeremiah is dated to the same year - “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,
Daniel 1:1).
Thus, the Babylonian Captivity had reached
its prophesied end. And Daniel understood from the “writings” of
Jeremiah that the number of years that Yahweh required “to accomplish
the desolations of Jerusalem” was seventy.
The Hebrew term rendered “writing” is
sepher, meaning, “scroll.” The English “accomplish” translates
the Hebrew verb mala or “complete.” And the term “desolations”
represents the Hebrew noun horbah. Both “desolation” and “accomplish”
are prominent words in the prophecy in 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 passage from Jeremiah
the “word of Yahweh.” The term occurs again in verse 25 of chapter 9 - “the
going forth of the word to
return and to build Jerusalem.” In fact, Jeremiah’s prophecy is the text on
which chapter 9 builds its interpretation of events and the vision of the “seventy
weeks.”
Jeremiah’s prophecy is dated to the “fourth
year of Jehoiakim” and the “first year of Nebuchadnezzar,” the same year
cited at the opening of Daniel when the pagan king subjugated Jerusalem
and pillaged the Temple. And a related word by Jeremiah set the conditions for the
release of Judah that 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 now proceeds to do as
the nation’s representative. For him, the captivity began with the first attack
against Jerusalem in 605 B.C. The decree by Cyrus to release the exiles was
issued in 536 B.C., seventy years after the deportation of Daniel and his
companions to Babylon. Thus, in Daniel’s understanding, the time of release has
arrived.