Глава 9

1–2. Reflections of the prophet Daniel in the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede on the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy about the end of the Babylonian captivity. 3–19. Daniel's prayer for the Jewish people and for Jerusalem. 20–23. Appearance of the Angel Gabriel. 24–27. Revelation of the 70 weeks. Dan.9:1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Assuir, from the family of Media, who was appointed king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, Dan.9:2. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, figured out from the books the number of years about which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that seventy years would be fulfilled over the devastation of Jerusalem. The first year of the reign of Darius the Mede (538–537 BC) was also the year of the fall of the Babylonian Empire (Dan 5.30–31). And since the last event was placed in direct connection by the prophet Jeremiah with the end of the seventy-year Babylonian captivity (Jer. 25:9-12), Jeremiah’s prediction now attracted the special attention of Daniel (the synodal “realized” Hebrew “binoti” - “paid attention”). He dwelled on it for a long time with his thoughts. Babylon has fallen; 70 years of captivity are coming to an end, and yet the Jewish people are still in slavery. What does this mean? As can be seen from (Dan.9:15–19), Daniel does not doubt the truth of Jeremiah’s prediction, nor that the time has come for its fulfillment. He is tormented and worried by the thought whether the fulfillment of the prophecy is being slowed down by the sinfulness of the people. And since it had sufficient grounds (Dan.9:16, 18), reflection on the prophecy of Jeremiah led Daniel to a prayer for the forgiveness of the people and a request to turn away the wrath looming over Jerusalem (Dan.9:16, 20). Dan.9:3. And I turned my face to the Lord God with prayer and supplication, in fasting and sackcloth and ashes. Dan.9:4. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and confessed and said: “I pray to You, O Lord, great and wondrous God, who keeps covenant and mercy with those who love You and keep Your commandments! Dan.9:5. We have sinned, we have acted lawlessly, we have acted wickedly, we have persisted and departed from Your commandments and Your statutes; Dan.9:6. and they did not listen to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, and to our nobles, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. Dan.9:7. With You, O Lord, there is truth, but on our faces there is shame, like this day, on every Jew, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and on all Israel, on those near and far, in all the countries where You banished them for their apostasy, with which they retreated from You. Dan.9:8. Lord! There is shame on our faces, on our kings, on our princes and on our fathers, because we have sinned against You. Dan.9:9. But the Lord our God has mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him Dan.9:10. and we did not listen to the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His laws, which He gave to us through His servants the prophets. Dan.9:11. And all Israel has transgressed Thy law, and turned away, that they would not hearken unto Thy voice; and therefore the curse and oath were poured out on us, which are written in the law of Moses the servant of God: for we have sinned against Him. Dan.9:12. And He fulfilled His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, bringing upon us a great disaster, such as had never happened under heaven and such as had happened in Jerusalem. Dan.9:13. As it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has befallen us; but we did not beg the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Thy truth. Dan.9:14. The Lord observed this disaster and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works that He does, but we did not listen to His voice. In prayer, the prophet is, as it were, a representative of his people and an intercessor for them before the just God. Confessing the sins of Israel, he admits that the punishment they suffered - captivity - was fully deserved, in accordance with the criminality of the people (Dan.9:4-11) and the righteousness of God (Dan.9:12-14). Crime was expressed in the fact that everyone “sinned” - they departed from the right path indicated by the law of the Lord, they “acted deceitfully”, - they led a perverted life, they “dishonored” - they stubbornly resisted the will of the Lord and His law (Dan.9:5; cf. 1 Kings 8:47; Ps.105:6). The guilt of the people is further enhanced by the fact that the Lord used all means to admonish them, but they did not heed the admonitions (Dan.9:6). From this it happened that the infallible justice of God in actions regarding Israel was now revealed in the position of this latter, and the color of shame from the bitter consciousness of sins and the reproach suffered for them was imprinted on his faces. The Lord fulfilled the curses that He threatened for failure to fulfill the law of Moses (Dan.9:11-14). Dan.9:15. And now, O Lord our God, who brought forth Thy people from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and showed Thy glory as this day! We have sinned and acted wickedly. Dan.9:16. Lord! According to all Your righteousness, may Your anger and Your indignation be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, from Your holy mountain; For because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Dan.9:17. And now hear, O our God, the prayer of Thy servant and his supplication, and look with Thy bright face upon Thy desolate sanctuary, for Thy sake, O Lord. Dan.9:18. Incline, O my God, Thy ear and hear, open Thy eyes and behold our desolations and the city upon which Thy name is called; for we present our supplications before You, trusting not in our righteousness, but in Your great mercy. Dan.9:19. Lord! hear; Lord! sorry; Lord! take heed and do it without delay, for Your own sake, O my God, for Thy name is called upon Thy city and upon Thy people.” Confession of the sins of the people and the worthy punishment sent down for them is followed by a plea for mercy for suffering Israel and an end to captivity. The prophet bases this request primarily on the great work of liberating the Jews from Egypt, as such a work through which the Lord will confirm the covenant concluded with Abraham for his seed (Ex. 3:6). For the sake of this covenant, the Lord repeatedly saved His people (Ps. 105:45-47; cf. Deut. 9:26, 28). Another basis for the prophet’s prayer is the fact that because of the sins of the people, Jerusalem is in reproach (Dan.9:16), on which the name of God is named (Dan.9:18–19). But for the sake of His name, He more than once put aside His wrath, for He does not allow anyone to criticize him, and for the sake of His Glory, He restrained Himself from destroying the stiff-necked people (Is. 48:9-11; cf. Num. 14:13-17; Deut. 9:26, 28). Dan.9:20. And while I was still speaking and praying, and confessing my sins and the sins of my people Israel, and presenting my prayer before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; Dan.9:21. While I was still praying, the husband Gabriel, whom I had seen before in a vision, quickly flew in and touched me around the time of the evening sacrifice. Daniel’s prayer was so pleasing to God (cf. Deut. 30.1–4) that even before it was finished, He sent His Angel to answer it and to console the prophet, tormented by grief over his devastated homeland and suffering people. The messenger of God's will was known to Daniel in the vision of Chapter 8. Gabriel (Dan.8:16), “touched” the prophet, more precisely from the Hebrew – “appeared before him” around the time when, during the existence of the church, the daily evening sacrifice prescribed by law was offered (Ex.29:39; Num.28:4). Dan.9:22. and admonished me, spoke to me and said: “Daniel! Now I have come forth to teach you understanding. Dan.9:23. At the beginning of your prayer a word came out, and I came to tell it to you, for you are a man of desires; Therefore, look into the word and understand the vision. Daniel's prayer was the occasion for a revelation to him about the fate of the people; the real reason is the wisdom of God, which found it timely and useful to communicate the revelation to Daniel. It is he who is chosen to perceive it because “he is a man of desires” - a man worthy of God’s love. The revelation of the seventy weeks communicated to the prophet Daniel provided the very answer to his prayer that he needed. Daniel asked for an end to the present plight of the Jews. He based his prayer on the prophecies of Jeremiah. This latter, like other prophets, did not distinguish in his speeches the time of the deliverance of the Jews from captivity from the time of the coming of the Messiah, presenting these events as if they were simultaneous (Jer. 30: 8–10, 18–22; Jer. 31). Therefore, he demanded that Daniel be shown that the kingdom of the Messiah would not begin immediately after the liberation of the Jews from captivity, that many years would pass before that. This is what Daniel is told in the revelation of the weeks. Daniel, as can be seen from his prayer (Dan.9:15–17, 19), wanted good for his people because he was the bearer of true worship of God: “For your sake, O Lord.” But the Lord foresaw that the Jews would reject the Messiah, for which, according to the righteous judgment of God, they themselves would be rejected by God and handed over to their enemies. And this is communicated to the prophet to show him that the Kingdom of God will not forever be associated with the Jewish people (A. Rozhdestvensky. Revelation to Daniel about the 70 weeks, v. 50). Dan.9:24. Seventy weeks are appointed for your people and your holy city, so that the transgression may be covered, the sins may be sealed, the iniquities may be blotted out, and everlasting righteousness may be brought in, and the vision and the prophet may be sealed, and the Holy of Holies may be anointed. Revelation begins by determining the duration of the period during which the events further announced will take place. It is equal to seventy weeks (“shabuim”). Shabua literally means: “sevenfold time,” “seven,” i.e., time consisting of seven parts, regardless of what these parts are. Depending on such uncertainty of this term, the definition of the duration of the week, and therefore the entire period, is not uniform. And before, the expression “shabua” is used in some places of the Holy Scriptures (Gen.29:27, 28; Lev.12:5; Num.28:26; Deut.16:9, 10, 16) and by the prophet himself. Daniel (Dan.10:2–3) in the meaning of the week. But in this place (Dan.9:24–26) it cannot be understood in this sense, primarily because the events attributed to the vice of the 70 weeks could not have happened in such a short period of time as 490 days. Secondly, speaking in ch. 10. Regarding weeks in the sense of weeks, Daniel calls them not just “weeks,” but “weeks of days.” He would have expressed himself in the same way in Chapter 9, if he had meant the week here too. It is impossible to limit the duration of the week to a month, since months represented a very unstable unit of reckoning in the east: some were shorter, others longer. In addition, the period of 490 months (about 41 years) is short for events such as the construction of a city and a church, their destruction, etc. to take place. It is more natural to understand the week as meaning seven years. This view is held by ancient Christian interpreters: Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus of Rome, Tertullian, Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom; Jewish scholars Saadia Gaon, Rashi, Ibn Ezra, medieval exegetes and most of the modern ones. This calculation of the week does not contradict the Holy Scriptures. The week in the sense of seven years was represented by the Sabbath jubilee year (Lev.25:2–4; Lev.26:34–35, 43), directly called “the Sabbath of years” (Lev.25:8). If a week is equal to seven years, a period of 70 weeks will be 490 years. They, the revelation further says, are determined (literally from the Hebrew “nehgak” - cut off, cut off) for your people and your holy city, that is, those that will take place during their events will have a close relationship with the Jewish people. After indicating the duration of the period, its purpose is clarified - the benefits that it will bring with it are described. The 70 weeks are defined primarily so that “the crime is covered,” literally from the Hebrew “lekalle gappesh” - “the crime is finished.” At the end of the seventy weeks, sin will cease, its power and power over people will end. And since “pesha” means “transgression of the law of God,” “apostasy from God and His commandments,” the entire expression under consideration is applied to Christ’s atonement for original sin, which consisted in man’s violation of God’s commandments, apostasy from God. Of the ancient writers, Basil of Seleucia holds this view. 70 weeks are further appointed so that “sins are sealed away.” The image of sealing is used in Holy Scripture, firstly, to express the cessation of the freedom of action of a certain person (Job.37:7), restriction of the freedom to use a known object (Dan.12:4, 9; Job.9:7; Matt.27:66). In addition, the same image denotes the appropriation of an object, recognizing it as one’s own (John 6:27; Eph. 1:13; 2 Cor. 1:22). But in this case it cannot have such a meaning; it contradicts the previous expression: “end the crime.” It is more natural to understand “sealing” in the sense of cessation of freedom of action. To seal sins means to stop their power over people, to curb their power. With the coming of Christ, original sin was destroyed, and with it the sinful inclinations of man were curbed (1 John 3:9; Rom. 6:1). Sins are sealed, weakened, and not destroyed, like original sin, since a person is given only grace, which helps him fight against the sinful inclinations that live and act in him. The further phrase of the synodal reading: “the iniquities are atonement” represents the translation of the Hebrew expression: “lekapper avon.” “Lekapper” comes from “kafar” - to cover, and in relation to sins - to cleanse them through sacrifice, to atone. “Avon” means “perversity,” “sinfulness,” and then “guilt for sins.” Accordingly, “lekapper avon” means to atone for guilt. According to the fathers and teachers of the church, this expression speaks of the very act of atonement - the sacrifice of Christ, the result of which was the destruction of original sin and the curbing of individual sinful inclinations of man. On the negative side, the period of 70 weeks is characterized by the destruction of original sin and the weakening of the power of sinful desires, on the positive side - “bringing eternal truth.” Judging by the context, “eternal truth” has to replace the sinful state of people. In accordance with this, it means the state of a “justified” person, a state under grace, free from sin, life according to the laws and commandments of God, required by the truth of God (1 Pet. 2:24; Rom. 5:1, 9, 18–21; Rom. 6:18–20). This is the New Testament meaning of “truth” - “δικαιοσυνη”; This is the same meaning of the Old Testament “tzedek” as applied to the messianic time (Ps. 84:11, 12, 14; Is. 53:11; Jer. 23:6, etc.). Truth is called “eternal” because of the eternity of its Beginning and Source – God, and also because it will remain on earth forever. The establishment of “eternal truth” on earth must be accompanied by the imposition of a seal on the vision and prophecy - “the vision and the prophet were sealed,” i.e. the cessation of the further continuation of the Old Testament prophetic gift, the Old Testament prophetic predictions and visions, the subject of which was the destruction of evil on earth and the establishment of righteousness. The bearers and heralds of the Old Testament revelation - the prophets - were anointed. But with the cessation of the prophecies, the anointing of the persons who proclaimed them will also cease; it will be replaced by the anointing of the “Holy of Holies”: “and the Holy of Holies was anointed.” Most interpreters of patristic times understand by the “Holy of Holies” the Messiah, and by anointing - either His Divinity, like Eusebius of Caesarea, Athanasius the Great, or the anointing of His humanity with the Holy Spirit, like Clement of Alexandria, Blessed Theodoret and Ammonius. The expression in question is also referred to by the Jewish exegetes, Ibn Ezra and Abarbanel, as the Messiah. In modern times, however, they find it impossible to agree with such an understanding, since it is not compatible with the meaning of the Hebrew expression “kodesh kodashim” (“Holy of Holies”). In the Holy Scriptures, almost exclusively objects, but not persons, are called by this name. First of all, this is the name of the department of the tabernacle and church, where the Ark of the Covenant stood (Exodus 26:33, 34; 1 Kings 6:16; 1 Kings 7:50; 1 Kings 8:6; 1 Chronicles 6:49, etc.), then the altar of burnt offering (Exodus 29:37; Exodus 40:10) and incense ( Ex.30:10), then - all the vessels and accessories of the tabernacle (Ex.30:28-29), all the sacrifices offered in it (Lev.2:3, 10; Lev.6:17, 25, 29; Lev.7:1, 6). The prophet Ezekiel uses the name “kodesh kodashim” to refer to the sanctuary (Ezek.45:3) and the entire space on the top of the mountain around the new church (Ezek.43:12). The only place where "kodesh kodashim" appears to be used of persons is 1 Chronicles 23:13: "Aaron was set apart to consecrate him into the Holy of Holies." But in LXX this place is read differently: “to sanctify the holy of holies.” And Greek reading is given preference in exegetical literature over Hebrew. In view of this meaning of the term “kodesh kodashim,” the newest exegetes attribute the expression in question to the Church founded by Jesus Christ, citing as proof of this, among other things, the fact that the image of the church is always used to express the concept of the Church and never denotes the person of the Messiah (Ps. 14:1; Ps. 23:6; Ps. 63:3, etc.). But since the Church, the body of Christ (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 6:15; 1 Cor. 12:12, 13, 27; Eph. 4:4; Eph. 5:30), is inseparable from Its Head - Jesus Christ, it is more natural to refer the words “kodesh kodashim” to both Christ and His Church (A. Rozhdestvensky). The anointing of the Holy of Holies is the communication of the Spirit of God, the communion with the Divine (1 Samuel 10:1–6; 1 Samuel 16:13, 14; Acts 10:38; 1 John 2:20; 2 Cor. 1:21–22). The Head of the Church, Christ, bore such anointing of the Divine in His incarnation and received a special anointing in baptism; through Him, as the head, the Church joins the Divinity, and its individual members receive anointing in the sacraments. Dan.9:25. Therefore, know and understand: from the time the commandment goes out to restore Jerusalem until Christ the Master there are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; and the people will return and the streets and walls will be built, but in difficult times. After indicating the general content of the period of 70 weeks, the starting point of the entire period and its part is noted. The seventy weeks will begin with the issuance of a decree (Hebrew “dabar” meaning “command”, “order”) on the restoration and construction of Jerusalem. From this time until Christ the Master (Hebrew “mashiach nagid” - Anointed Prince; cf. Is.9:6; Ezek.24:24; Mic.5:2) there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, a total of 69 weeks. The year of the decree on the restoration of Jerusalem is the initial year of the 70 weeks. And since such a decree was given only by Artaxerxes the Long-armed in the 20th year of his reign (Neh. 2:8-9; earlier decrees of Cyrus - 1 Ezra 1: 1-4; 1 Ezra 6: 3-5 and Darius Hystaspes - 1 Ezra 6: 1-12 allow the construction of the church, but not the restoration of the city, and therefore cannot be taken into account), then some Exegetes count the weeks and begin from this time. Others, paying attention to the testimony of Nehemiah 1:1-3; Neh.2:3, 17:) about the destruction of the Jerusalem wall and the burning of the gates, it is assumed that this circumstance took place in the period of time between the arrival of Ezra and Nehemiah in Jerusalem - between the 7th and 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes (P. Tikhomirov. The Prophet Malachi. pp. 56-59. A. Rozhdestvensky. Revelation to Daniel about the seventy weeks, p. 193–194). Ezra, taking advantage of Artaxerxes' permission, began rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (cf. 1 Ezra 9:9), but they were destroyed by enemies. In view of this, the decree of Artaxerxes from the 20th year of his reign is considered a confirmation of his own decree from the 7th year (1 Ezra 7:11-26), from which the period of seventy weeks begins. And since, according to the Ptolemaic canon, Artaxerxes ascended the throne between December 18, 465 and December 18, 464 BC, then the seventh year of his reign, and together with the starting point of the period of weeks, will be 458 or 457 BC. From this time until Christ the Lord, that is, before His appearance to the world, 69 weeks must pass, or 483 years. According to the testimony of the Evangelist Luke, the appearance of Jesus Christ in public ministry coincided with the beginning of the preaching of John the Baptist - both events took place in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius (Luke 3:1-23). Tiberius ascended the throne after the death of Octavian Augustus, which followed on August 19, 14 AD. Thus, if the first year of Tiberius’s reign lasted from August 19, 14 to August 19, 15 AD, then his fifteenth year falls from August 19. 28 to 19 August 29. Some scholars, based on the fact that Tiberius was his co-ruler even during the life of Augustus, consider his reign to be from the year 13 AD. In this case, the 15th year of Tiberius will be the year 27 AD. The distance between this point in time and the beginning of the weeks (458 or 457 BC) will be 483 years. The beginning of the weeks is the issuance of the commandment “to restore and build Jerusalem.” Naturally, the decree began to be implemented immediately after its appearance. Accordingly, one must think that for the building of a city revelation appoints the first seven weeks. The opening words of verse 26 also speak in favor of the same thing: “and after sixty-two weeks Christ will be put to death.” The second part of the period - 62 weeks - is clearly separated from the first - seven weeks. During this last period, special events will take place; but revelation does not know others other than the building of a city. About this latter it is expressed as follows: “tashub venibveta rehob veharuts”, or in a literal translation into Russian: “they will be restored (“shub” in the meaning of restore Ps. 79:4, 8, 20 :)) and streets will be built (“rehob” - Gen. 19: 2; Judges 19:20; 2 Chron. 32: 6, etc.) and walls” (“haruts” from “harats” - to be “sharp”, “to cut”, literally means “cut out”, “dug out”, hence “ditch”). The restoration of Jerusalem as a populated place (street) and, secondly, as a fortress (ditch) will take place amid unfavorable circumstances: “in difficult times,” which is confirmed by the testimony of the book of Nehemiah about the destruction of the city walls erected under Ezra (Nehemiah 1:3) and the obstacles Nehemiah himself encountered during their repair from Tobiah and Zapaballat (4). As for whether the construction of Jerusalem really took 49 years, this question cannot be definitively resolved. There is, however, an attempt to solve it in the affirmative sense. It is based on the proposal that the construction of Jerusalem continued as long as Ezra lived and then, from time to time, with absences in Babylon, Nehemiah. Ezra worked on the construction of Jerusalem for 13 years (from the 7th to the 20th year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah 2:1). In the 20th year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah came to his aid and restored the destroyed wall within 52 days (Neh.4:1; Neh.6:15). After staying in Jerusalem for 12 years, Nehemiah returned to Artaxerxes, and then returned to his homeland (Neh. 13:6). The time of this second arrival of Nehemiah in Jerusalem is determined by the life of his contemporary “Joiad,” the son of the great high priest Eliashib (Neh. 13:28). Since, according to the Alexandrian Chronicle, Eliashib died in 413 BC, and nothing prevents us from thinking that Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem five years after his death, then exactly 49 years will elapse before his return to his homeland from the 7th year of Artaxerxes (457-408 BC). ( A. Rozhdestvensky, p. 215). Dan.9:26. And at the end of sixty-two weeks Christ will be put to death, and will not be; and the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed by the people of the leader who comes, and its end will be like a flood, and until the end of the war there will be devastation. At the end of the second part of the period of weeks, “Christ will be put to death.” Determining the time of this event, the Jewish preposition “Achari” - “after”, “following”, “behind” - only indicates that those incidents discussed further happened no earlier than the end of the 62 weeks, but does not represent the exact date: they could have happened immediately after the 62 weeks and after a certain period of time after them. The exact definition of the time of the killing of the Messiah is given in Art. 27. Likewise, although the revelation does not directly say by whom He will be killed, judging by the fact that the consequences of the death of Christ will affect the Jewish people, the culprit in the murder of the Anointed One is the Jews. The first of these consequences is indicated by the Hebrew expression: “beein Ιο”. Translated in translations, either with literal accuracy (Aquila: “και ουκ εστιν αυτω”; Symmachus: “και ουχ υπαρξει αυτφ”), then with changes representing a kind of explanation (LXX: “και ουκ εσται", meaning the subject of "εσται" - "χρισμα"; hence the synodal "and will not"; αυτω "; from which the Slavic: "and there will be no judgment in him"; Vulgate: "et non erit ejus populus qui eum negaturus est" "and the people will no longer be His (the people), since he will deny Him"), similarly, and differently interpreted, the expression in question means: "and it will not be for him." Judging by the context, the subject of “will not” refers to the Messiah, and the pronoun “him” refers to the Jewish people. With such a translation, the whole phrase: “and the Messiah will not be for him,” that is, for the Jewish people, speaks of the rejection of the Jewish people, as the first consequence of their killing of the Messiah. A similar understanding is expressed in the Latin translation of the passage in question (see above), and Ephraim the Syrian holds the same view (see Rozhdestvensky. Revelation to Daniel, pp. 113 etc.). The second consequence of the murder of the Messiah will be the destruction of the city and the sanctuary by the people of the prince who came. The destruction of Jerusalem and the church is not attributed to the leader, but to his people. This detail makes exegetes think that the revelation refers to the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 AD. He, as you know, wanted to spare the church, gave several orders to his soldiers about this, but this time they disobeyed him. A brand accidentally thrown by one warrior set the church on fire, and no effort could stop the fire. With the destruction of the city and the church, the centers of civil and religious life of the Jews, the end of the political-church system of the Jewish people will come: “and its end will be like a flood.” More precisely from the Hebrew: “psekitszo bagishetef” - “and its end in the flood.” The verb “shataf”, from which the noun “shetef” comes, is used by the prophet Daniel in the figurative meaning of an army flooding the conquered land and drowning everything on it (Dan. 11:10, 22, 26). The Roman armies will pour into Judea like the waves of a flood upon the earth (cf. Isa. 28:2) and destroy everything. Although the invasion of the Romans is like an all-destroying flood, it will cause resistance from the Jews and will be accompanied by constant war: “until the end - wars a.” This latter will not be caused by human considerations, but will be the result of a divine definition: “the definition of devastation.” The Synodal reading: “and until the end of the war there will be devastation,” is not conveyed from the corresponding Hebrew phrase: “ve ad ketz milhama neherezet shomemot,” the word “neheretset” is the definition. The whole phrase is conveyed like this: “until the end - war”, a definition of devastation. The chronological dates of Daniel 9:25 are interrupted in Daniel 9:26 by indicating the murder of the Messiah and its consequences in relation to the Jewish people. In Daniel 9:27, as we will see below, revelation again returns to the chronology of messianic time. The reason for this phenomenon is thought to be as follows. The Jews were inclined to “wait for the Messiah” as a glorious earthly king who would restore and exalt their earthly kingdom and subjugate the rest of the nations to them. This idea could be favored by v. 25, which calls the Messiah “prince” and speaks of the restoration of Jerusalem as a fortress. In view of this, in order to take away from Daniel the opportunity to understand the earthly Jewish kingdom by the Messianic kingdom, he is directly pointed out what best speaks of the incorrectness of such an understanding: the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish people and the consequences of this. And only after this the speech returns again to the chronology of messianic time (A. Rozhdestvensky. Revelation to Daniel, pp. 133–134). Dan.9:27. And the covenant shall be established for many for one week, and in the half of the week sacrifice and offering shall cease, and the abomination of desolation shall be upon the wing of the sanctuary, and the final predetermined destruction shall befall the desolator.” In the last week, that is, the seventieth week, the “confirmation of the covenant for many” falls. The word “covenant” (Heb. “berith”) is used in the Holy Scriptures to designate unions between nations (Josh. 9:6, etc.), individuals (1 Samuel 18:3; 1 Samuel 23:18, etc.), but most often, and in the book of the prophet Daniel predominantly (Dan.9:4; Dan.11:22, 28, 30, 32), to designate covenant - the union of God with people. The rejection of the Jewish people for the murder of the Messiah, noted above (Dan.9:26), was supposed to tell the prophet Daniel that by this covenant he does not mean the previous union of God with the Jews, but a new, eternal covenant, which was predicted by the prophets close to him in the time of his life - Jeremiah (Jer.31:31-34; Jer.32:40-41) and Ezekiel (Ezek.16:60, 62; Ezek.34:25; Ezek.37:26). The covenant will be established “for many.” Since the revelation was given to Daniel regarding his prayers for his people and concerned the fate of this latter (Dan. 9:24), then by “many” we naturally mean “many” of the Jewish people. Not the entire nation enters into a new communion with God: the murderers of the Messiah came out of it, and revelation proclaims rejection and destruction to the mass of the people for this (Dan.9:26). And indeed, according to the testimony of Prince. According to the Acts of the Apostles, not all Jews, but only “many” of them believed in Jesus Christ and became members of the New Testament church. These include 3,000 people who turned to Christ on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:5, 41), 5,000 Jews after the miracle of the Apostle Peter and his sermon in the church (Acts 4:4). The rest of the masses were so hostile to Christianity that after the murder of Saint Stephen, the believers scattered throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 7:58–59; Acts 8:1), and the apostles transferred their preaching to the pagans (Acts 8:26, 27, 38). The establishment of the “New” Testament makes the existence of the former “Old” unnecessary and superfluous. It is cancelled; those external forms in which it was revealed and manifested are also canceled along with it. And since the essence of the Testament was the reconciliation of man with God, and this latter was achieved through sacrifices (Lev. 17:11), then with the abolition of the Old Testament they are also abolished: “at half the week the sacrifice (Hebrew “zebah” - bloody sacrifice) and the offering will cease” (Hebrew “mincha” - bloodless sacrifice, grain offering). But the Old Testament sacrifices lost their value as atoning means only in view of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who “with His blood once entered into the sanctuary and obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12). Therefore, the expression: “at half the week the sacrifice and offering will cease” is an indication of the death on the cross of Jesus Christ, which, according to revelation, should fall on half of the last seventieth week, or, what is the same, should take place 3 1/2 years after His appearance in public ministry. According to most interpreters, the death of Jesus Christ took place in 30 AD: this year the 15th of Nissan, the day on which the Jews ate Passover and on which Christ was crucified, fell on Friday (Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54, 56; cf. Matthew 27:62; Matthew 28:1). The Savior's public ministry lasted approximately 3.5 years. The further words of revelation in the Hebrew text read: “ve al kenaf shikkutzim meshomem.” “Kenaf”, from the verb “kanaf”, is used in the meaning of “wing”, and then in a figurative meaning - the edge of an object or space: the edge of clothing (Num. 15:38; 1 Sam. 24:5, 12), the edge, the border of a country (Job.37:3; Job 38:13; Is.11:12). “Shikkutzim” is the plural of the noun “shikkutz” - an abomination (Dan. 11:31; Dan. 12:11), and “meshomem” is the participial form of the verb “shamem” - devastator, devastator. In the Hebrew text, shikkutzim is the definition of the word kenaf, and the subject becomes meshomem. With such a construction, the entire phrase should be translated as follows: “and the desolator will appear on the wing of abominations.” This is how the Hebrew (Masoretic) text is conveyed, the Syriac translation (Peshito): “and on the wings of abomination the desolator,” Aquila and Symmachus: “και επι της αρχης των βδελυγματων ερημωυησεται." Other translations consider “shikkutzim” as the subject, and “meshomem” as its definition. So the LXX translates: “και επι τον ιερον βδελυγμα των ερημωσεων εσται”; Vulgate: “et erit in tempto abominatio desolationis”; Russian synodal: “and on the pinnacle of the sanctuary there will be the abomination that makes desolate.” As for the explanation of this place, it is not diverse and stable. Most ancient interpreters understood by the “abomination of desolation” a statue of a pagan god or an image of a Roman emperor placed in the Jerusalem Temple shortly before its destruction. Blessed Theodoret and Eusebius of Caesarea thought that the image of Caesar was brought into the church by Pilate; John Chrysostom speaks of the image placed in the church by Hadrian; Clement of Alexandria claims that Nero placed an abomination in the holy city of Jerusalem, and Basil of Seleucia - that this was done by Gaius. But such explanations are not justified by history: it does not know of a case where an image of a Roman emperor was placed in the Jerusalem Temple. From history we only know that Pilate ordered sacred shields with the image of the emperor to be erected in Herod’s palace in Jerusalem, but by order of Tiberius they were removed. During the reign of Caligula, the Temple of Jerusalem was indeed threatened with desecration: they gave the order to the ruler of Judea, Petronius, to erect a statue of the emperor in the church; but the latter did not carry out the order. Unlike the named fathers and teachers of the church, Origen refers to the “abomination of desolation” as the Roman army. Finally, some, like, for example, Eusebius of Caesarea, mean by the “abomination of desolation” the Jerusalem Temple itself. According to him, since Christ died and the veil of the church was torn, the sacrifice and libation were taken away from the Jews, and the abomination of desolation began in the church. Christ also pointed out this with the words: “Behold, your house is left to you empty.” (Matthew 23:38). Blessed Theodoret holds the same view. “Through the sacrifice of the cross,” he says, not only will that (legal) sacrifice cease, but also the abomination of desolation will be given to the sanctuary, that is, it, previously revered and brought into awe, will become desolate.” Adhering to this interpretation, the expression in question is paraphrased as follows: “a devastator will come to the borders of the church (the “wing of abominations”),” that is, an all-devastating army will appear on the borders of the desecrated city and the church - the Roman legions (A. Rozhdestvensky. Revelation to Daniel. pp. 151–155). According to the meaning from the Hebrew reading, the reading of the LXX and the Vulgate: “and in the church there will be an abomination of desolation.” The fulfillment of this prediction is seen in the invasion of Jerusalem by Roman troops. Beginning under the procurator Gesoi Flora in 66 A.D., they ended with the destruction of the city and church under Vespasian in 70. The Romans, executors of the divine sentence about the destruction of Jerusalem and the church, will bring it to the end: “and to the end the sentence will be poured out on the desolate” (the exact translation of the Hebrew phrase: “ve ad kala veneheratsa tipah al shomem”). You might be interested in: