EXCERPT: The Historical-Messianic interpretation is the traditional understanding of Daniel 9. In this interpretation, the 490 years are an extension of God’s covenant with Israel, which was based on Israel’s Sabbath Year cycle. Jesus confirmed God’s covenant with Israel during the last seven of the 490 years.
This interpretation is called Messianic because it understands the Messiah to be the one who confirms the covenant for the seven last years. It is called historical because the full 490 years is interpreted as past history.
Daniel 9 has been understood in this way ever since the early church. It is only in recent centuries that Dispensationalism and Liberal Criticism have become the dominant views.
Below the Daniel 9 prophecy is explained from the Historical-Messianic perspective. The explanation will be phrase by phrase.
For discussions of the other interpretations of Daniel 9, see:
Dispensationalism
Critical Interpretation
Consistent Symbolical Interpretation
SEVENTY WEEKS
Gabriel began the prophecy by saying:
24a Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city (Dan 9:24)
Israel’s calendar followed a seven-year cycle in which every seventh year was a Sabbath Year for the land (Lev 25). The 70 weeks are 70 of those seven year-cycles and and, therefore, equal to 490 literal years.
“Your people and your holy city” refer to Israel and Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the capital and symbol of the Jewish nation.
THE COVENANT
This concept is fundamental to understanding many things in this prophecy. It is discussed in The Covenant in Daniel 9. Below is a brief summary:
SABBATH YEARS
In Leviticus 25, God commanded Israel to allow the land to rest every seventh year (Lev 25:2), comparable to the weekly Sabbath day of rest. Israel had to work the land for six years (Lev 25:3), but the seventh year was to be a sabbath; the land had to rest (Lev 25:4). In this way, the years on the Jewish calendar were divided into groups of sevens, with each seventh year a sabbath.
COVENANT EXILE PATTERN
Leviticus 26 contains the covenant promises (blessings) and warnings (curses). It states that, (a) should Israel become unfaithful (Lev 26:14-39), (b) God will send them into exile and scatter them among the nations (Lev 26:33). But (c) if Israel in exile “confess their iniquity” (Lev 26:40, 41, 44), (d) God will “remember (His) covenant … with Abraham” (Lev 26:42) “that I might be their God” (Lev 26:45). In other words, God would renew His covenant with them.
Furthermore, Leviticus 26 uses the seven-year cycle to calculate how long Israel would be in exile (Lev 26:34-35, 43). Namely, Israel would be in exile for every Sabbath Year not observed. While they are in exile, the land will enjoy its rest.
490 YEARS OF DISOBEDIENCE
Jeremiah prophesied that Israel would be in exile for 70 years. On the basis of Leviticus 26, as confirmed by 2 Chronicles 36:21, we know that each of Jeremiah’s 70 years of exile was a Sabbath year. This is confirmed by 2 Chronicles 36:21. Each of the 70 years, therefore, represents 7 years of disobedience. Consequently, the 70 years represent the equivalent of Seventy Weeks (490 years) of disobedience, prior to the exile.
DANIEL 9 FOLLOWS THIS PATTERN.
(1) This prophecy was received at a time when Jerusalem was in ruins and Israel in exile (Dan 9:2, 7). The exile was the covenant penalty for disobedience: Israel was scattered to allow the land to have its rest (2 Chron 36:21; Dan 9:11-13; cf. Lev 25:2).
(2) In his prayer (9:4-19) Daniel confessed the guilt of His people (Dan 9:5-11, 15-16), acknowledged the exile as the covenant penalty for disobedience (Dan 9:11-13), acknowledged that God had acted fairly (Dan 9:7, 14), but also prayed for the promise of covenant renewal after the exile (Dan 9:4). He prayed for “Your city and Your people” (Dan 9:19, 16-17). In this way, Daniel fulfilled the condition for covenant renewal after the exile (Lev 26:40-41). On behalf of Israel, and he prayed for the renewal of Israel’s covenant privileges.
(3) This context means, when Gabriel brought God’s answer, namely that “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city”, that this is a renewal of God’s covenant with Israel in terms of Leviticus 26:42, 45, for a new cycle of Seventy Weeks.
IMPLICATIONS
The important implications are:
(a) The covenant pattern forms the framework that binds together Daniel’s prayer in the first part of chapter 9 and the prophecy at the end of it. God’s covenant with Israel is the central theme in the entire Daniel 9.
(b) The 490 years promised by Daniel 9 are an extension of God’s covenant with Israel.
(c) The covenant that is confirmed during the “one week” (Dan 9:27) is the final seven years of God’s time-limited renewed covenant with Israel.
(d) God’s covenant with Israel comes to an end at the end of the Seventy Weeks of years.
(e) Since the 490 years of Daniel 9 are an extension of God’s covenant with Israel, and since the Sabbath year cycle is part of this covenant, every seventh year will be a Sabbath year. This means that these are 490 literal years, not prophetic years, as in Dispensationalism.
SIX GOALS
Verse 24 lists 6 goals for the 490 years, namely, to:
Finish the transgression, to make an end of sin
Make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness
Seal up vision and prophecy
And to anoint the most holy place
These goals are discussed in When will the Daniel 9:24 goals, set by for the 490 years, be fulfilled? However, the reader is advised to first read the explanation of verses 25 to 27 before reading the analysis of the goals.
Articles in this series
(1) The traditional interpretation of Daniel 9 is Historical-Messianic, in which the 490 years is an extension of God’s covenant with Israel. – CURRENT ARTICLE
(2) The 490 years began with Artaxerxes’ decree. The first 483 years ended with the arrival of the Messiah, namely His baptism in the 15th year of Emperor Tiberius.
(3) The Messiah who is cut off is our Lord Jesus Christ. The people who destroy the city are the Romans. The prince in Daniel 9:26 is a supernatural force controlling that Empire.
(4) The prophecy’s Poetic Pattern alternates between Jerusalem and the Messiah. In this pattern, Jesus confirms the covenant in Daniel 9:27.
(5) Jesus confirmed God’s covenant for the Seven Last Years by His personal preaching and by sending His disciples to Israel ONLY for a few years after His death.
(6) Daniel 9 promises atonement for sin (Dan 9:24) through the killing of the messiah (v26), while he will put a stop to sacrifice (Dan 9:27). In light of the New Testament, this messiah is Jesus Christ.
(7) The Poetic Pattern and the repetition of ideas from verse 26 identify the “complete destruction” in Daniel Dan 9:27c as the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
(8) The key message of Daniel 9 is that the Messiah will appear within 500 years after Jerusalem is given back to the Jews; before Jerusalem is destroyed in AD 70.
See also, the Summary of all Daniel 9 articles, including the Dispensational Interpretation of Daniel 9. Another series identifies the Antichrist in the other prophecies of Daniel.