From David Guzik Commentary:
a. He shall confirm a covenant: The “he” Gabriel described is the
prince who is to come mentioned in the previous verse. If we know that the prince’s
people destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70, then we know this coming prince has his ancestral roots in the soil of the ancient Roman Empire.
i. Therefore, the
prince who is to come will in some way be an heir to the Romans, even as the final world government is an heir to the Roman Empire (
Daniel 7).
b. He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week: The coming prince will make a covenant with Israel for the final unit of seven years, completing the seventy weeks prophesied for the Jewish people and Jerusalem.
i. Covenant with many: The word many here is a
specific reference to Israel, not a
general reference to a group. The ancient Hebrew says, “
covenant with the many.”
ii. With this covenant Israel will embrace the Antichrist as a political messiah, if not the literal Messiah. Jesus predicted this in
John 5:43:
I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
iii. Taking the description of what would be accomplished in the 70 Weeks from
Daniel 9:24, we know that the 70 Weeks are not yet complete. Yet the events promised in the first 69 weeks
are fulfilled, indicated that there is a lengthy “pause” in the 70 Weeks, between the 69th week and the 70th week. The 70th week will begin when the coming prince shall confirm a covenant with the Jewish people. These gaps or pauses in prophecy may seem strange to us, but they are common. Comparing
Isaiah 9:6 and
Luke 1:31-33 shows another significant pause or gap in prophecy regarding the coming of the Messiah.
iv. We can think of it in this way: God appointed 490 years of special focus on Israel in His redemptive plan. The years were paused by Israel’s rejection of Jesus. Now there is no
special focus on Israel in God’s redemptive plan because this is the time of the church. God’s focus will return to Israel when the church is taken away (at the rapture) and the last seven years of man’s rule on this earth begin.
v. “The 70th week will begin when the Jewish people are restored in unbelief to their land and city; and among them will be found a faithful remnant, owning their sin, and seeking Jehovah’s face.” (Henry Ironside writing in 1911)
c. In the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering: The coming prince will break the covenant with Israel in the middle of the seven years, the final week (period of seven years).
i. The Book of Revelation sees this seven year period with both its halves as yet future (
Revelation 12:6,
13-14;
13:5-9,
14-15). The middle of the week and the end of sacrifice had not yet happened in 90 A.D.
d. On the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate: The ending of sacrifice will come with abominations, followed by tremendous
desolation.
i. Abominations translates an ancient Hebrew word (
shiqquwts) that is connected to horrific idolatry (
Deuteronomy 29:17,
1 Kings 11:5-7,
2 Kings 23:13). The idea is that the coming prince breaks the covenant and brings an end to sacrifice and offering by desecrating the holy place of the temple with a horrific idolatry.
ii. Jesus called this the
abomination of desolation (
Matthew 24:15) and indicated that it would be a pivotal sign in the Great Tribulation. Paul referred to the idolatry of the coming prince in
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
e. Until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate: This breaking of the covenant and abomination of desolation has a promised consummation. Before the 70th week is completed, each of the things described in
Daniel 9:24 will be accomplished and everlasting righteousness will reign.
END OF QUOTE
Over time people have understood more about this prophecy. That makes sense:
12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
