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Israel's Sabbatical Year
In reaching a correct understanding of Daniel 9:24-27, it is necessary to understand the circumstances that occasioned the giving of this revelation by God to Daniel. No one questions that it relates to Israel’s Babylonian captivity for failure to observe the sabbatical year, given to Israel by the Lord. But how does that relate to the 70-weeks prophecy? As part of the stipulations in the Mosaic Law Code, Israel was to let her land lay fallow every seventh year.
“Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. Your harvest’s aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. And all of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you’” (Lev. 25:2-6).
Leviticus 26 provides the sanctions that God would impose upon Israel for the years that they did not obey the specifications of a sabbatical year.
"Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it." (Lev. 26:34-35).
"For the land shall be abandoned by them, and shall make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, shall be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes." (Lev. 26:43).
The Lord clearly revealed to Israel on how they were keeping or not keeping His Law in the historical book of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles and why Israel was sent away to Babylon for 70 years in the following passage:
"And those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. all the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete." (2 Chr. 36:20-21).
What passage in Jeremiah was the statement in Chronicles referring to? The following two references provide the answer.
And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years (Jer. 25:11).
For thus says the Lord, “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.” (Jer. 29:10).
It is clear from the above passages that God had a specific reason behind the deportation of the Southern Kingdom (Judah) to Babylon for 70 years. This would mean that Israel violated the sabbatical year 70 times. The Jews entered the Promised Land around 1450 b.c. and were deported to Babylon around 600 b.c. This means that they were in the land about 850 years before the Babylonian deportation. Had they disobeyed the sabbatical year commandment every seventh year, it would mean that they should have been in captivity for more than 121 years. Instead, they were held captive for 70 years, meaning that they were disobedient for only 490 of the 850 years in the land. This would mean that there were breaks or gaps in the accumulation of the 490 years, during the 850-year period, that resulted in Israel’s 70-year captivity. Why is this important? Because many of the critics of the literal interpretation of Daniel 9:24-27 insist that it is unreasonable to have gaps in that 490-year period. Which is false, since there were many gaps in the 490-year period related to the Babylonian Captivity.
Dr. Leon Wood explains this matter as follows:
Since Daniel was thinking in terms of the seventy-year captivity, as a Hebrew, could have easily moved from the idea of one week of years to seventy weeks of years. This follows because, according to 2 Chronicles 36:21, the people had been punished by this Exile so that their land might enjoy the sabbath rests which had not been observed in their prior history (cf. Lev. 26:33-35, Jer. 34:12-22). Knowing this, Daniel would have recognized that the seventy years of the Exile represented seventy sevens of years in which these violations had transpired; and he would have understood Gabriel to be saying, simply, that another period, similar in length to that which had made the Exile necessary, was coming in the experienced of the people.
From: http://raptureready.com/featured/ice/70-weeks-4.html
Quasar92
In reaching a correct understanding of Daniel 9:24-27, it is necessary to understand the circumstances that occasioned the giving of this revelation by God to Daniel. No one questions that it relates to Israel’s Babylonian captivity for failure to observe the sabbatical year, given to Israel by the Lord. But how does that relate to the 70-weeks prophecy? As part of the stipulations in the Mosaic Law Code, Israel was to let her land lay fallow every seventh year.
“Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. Your harvest’s aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. And all of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you’” (Lev. 25:2-6).
Leviticus 26 provides the sanctions that God would impose upon Israel for the years that they did not obey the specifications of a sabbatical year.
"Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it." (Lev. 26:34-35).
"For the land shall be abandoned by them, and shall make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, shall be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes." (Lev. 26:43).
The Lord clearly revealed to Israel on how they were keeping or not keeping His Law in the historical book of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles and why Israel was sent away to Babylon for 70 years in the following passage:
"And those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. all the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete." (2 Chr. 36:20-21).
What passage in Jeremiah was the statement in Chronicles referring to? The following two references provide the answer.
And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years (Jer. 25:11).
For thus says the Lord, “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.” (Jer. 29:10).
It is clear from the above passages that God had a specific reason behind the deportation of the Southern Kingdom (Judah) to Babylon for 70 years. This would mean that Israel violated the sabbatical year 70 times. The Jews entered the Promised Land around 1450 b.c. and were deported to Babylon around 600 b.c. This means that they were in the land about 850 years before the Babylonian deportation. Had they disobeyed the sabbatical year commandment every seventh year, it would mean that they should have been in captivity for more than 121 years. Instead, they were held captive for 70 years, meaning that they were disobedient for only 490 of the 850 years in the land. This would mean that there were breaks or gaps in the accumulation of the 490 years, during the 850-year period, that resulted in Israel’s 70-year captivity. Why is this important? Because many of the critics of the literal interpretation of Daniel 9:24-27 insist that it is unreasonable to have gaps in that 490-year period. Which is false, since there were many gaps in the 490-year period related to the Babylonian Captivity.
Dr. Leon Wood explains this matter as follows:
Since Daniel was thinking in terms of the seventy-year captivity, as a Hebrew, could have easily moved from the idea of one week of years to seventy weeks of years. This follows because, according to 2 Chronicles 36:21, the people had been punished by this Exile so that their land might enjoy the sabbath rests which had not been observed in their prior history (cf. Lev. 26:33-35, Jer. 34:12-22). Knowing this, Daniel would have recognized that the seventy years of the Exile represented seventy sevens of years in which these violations had transpired; and he would have understood Gabriel to be saying, simply, that another period, similar in length to that which had made the Exile necessary, was coming in the experienced of the people.
From: http://raptureready.com/featured/ice/70-weeks-4.html
Quasar92
