*

completed the prophecy, and sealed up the vision by his own death. The covenant, that is, the new covenant of the Gospel, was then by his life and death confirmed. And in the half part of this week; that is, in the last half part which ended in Christ's death, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. This was fulfilled when Christ our passover was sacrificed for us, and was once offered to bear the sins of many. For all the sacrifices and oblations of the Jewish Law being only types and figures of a Redeemer who was to come, when he came who had been thus prefigured, and offered up himself, all these representations of him ceased and expired of course. For the law had only a shadow of good things to come §.

*So it ought to have been rendered instead of the midst of the week, for the original Chatzi signifies the half part and not the midst. Prideaux.

The Greek confirms this, Eve Ins Eldorados; so does the Vulgate, Castalio, and the Great Bible.

+ 1 Cor. v. 7.

Heb. ix. 28.

§ Heb. x. 1. Mr. Wintle however, considers this passage in a different light, and supposes the week to refer to "the seven years of the Roman war,”

The

The latter part of this verse evidently relates to the destruction of Jerusalem; when the Jews, (the measure of their iniquities being filled up by the death of Christ, and their rejection of him as their expected Messiah) were wholly forsaken of God and given up to the sword of the Romans. Then in the literal, as, when the Messiah expired, in the mystic sense, the sacrifice and the oblation ceased; for the temple in which they were offered was wholly destroyed, so that as Jesus had foretold, Matt. xxiv. 2, not one stone was left upon another. Jerusalem was then indeed made desolate, its once favoured inhabitants being scattered over all the world; and so it will remain with respect to them even until the consummation; till the time appointed by the Almighty for the restoration and conversion of the Jews, and that thus determined by God shall be poured upon the desolate,

The

* Or, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, Luke xxi, 24; in which words our Saviour probably meant to allude to this prophecy, and to refer the com

The expression in this verse, the overspreading of abominations, alludes to the. images borne in the Roman standards, which were considered by the Jews as a Breach of the second commandment, and were therefore an abomination to them. Our Lord cites this passage, and evidently so applies it, though not exactly in the prophet's words, in Matt. xxiv. 15, and in Mark xiii. 14. Probably he quoted from the Targum then in general use among the Jews, or perhaps even from the Septuagint itself, for the Greek version of the original passage passage exactly agrees with his manner of quoting it *.

Such

pletion of it to the general conversion of the Gentiles, which may perhaps take place at the same time with that of the Jews.

* Και επι το ιερον βδελυγμα των ερημώσεων εσίαι. Grabe's LXX. Chandler translates the original, " And upon the battlement shall be the idols of the desolator." Which bears the same meaning as the Greek. Mr. Wintle's version is somewhat different," When upon the border shall be the abomination of desolation;" and he thinks it may refer to the pollution of the temple by dead bodies during the siege; but, as our Lord mentions so particularly the

Roman

Such is, I believe, the true meaning of this celebrated and remarkable prophecy, and in this manner it appears to have been understood by the ancient Jews. And this was the principal cause why the Messiah was expected when the time thus foretold by Daniel drew near; which is ably pointed out by the learned Bp. Chandler, both in his " Defence," and in his " Vindication" of that Defence against Anthony Collins. For the Jews understood the calculation by weeks just as the Christians do; and when, according to their different computations of the date from whence they were to begin, the sixty-nine weeks of years were expired, many impostors appeared who pretended to be the expected Messiah, And this circumstance was foretold by our Lord, Matt. xxiv. 5. Many shall come in my name (that is, assuming the name that belonged to him) saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Roman Eagles, both in Matt. and Luke, they seem to be more immediately connected with the threatened abomina◄ tion,

Since

Since that time therefore, the Jews, not able to deny that the Messiah was to come at that period, according to the pro phet, have chosen to suppose, some, that Herod Agrippa was Daniel's Messiah; others, that the prophecy was fulfilled in Vespasian, by whose army under Titus, the city and sanctuary were destroyed; and others, that the whole order of priesthood was meant, by Messiah the Prince, which at that time was to be abolished, But all these interpretations are too fanciful and absurd to need a serious refutation; yet they are still useful, because they serve to prove the general opinion among the Jews, of the exact time painted out by this prophecy of Daniel. And the later Jews, in order to get rid of the difficulty at once, have both denied that Daniel was a prophet at all, and have pronounced a curse upon all who shall presume to fix a time for the coming of Christ *. Some of them however

Maimonides as cited by Jenkin; "Reasonableness of the Christian Religion," Vol. ii. p. 310-Edit. 5th. See also Leslie's "Short and easy Method with the Jews." P. 189-Edit, S.h. And Sanhedrin xi. 30.

have