I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

In the year 2000, on the 23rd day of this month, my wife married me.  So here we are on day 15 of the 20 days that I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary for 20 years of marriage.  Happy Anniversary Darling!

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 9-10.

I am not sure where to start on today’s passage.  Do I start with Daniel’s prayer, or do I start with the odd time frames in the first vision?  Interestingly, Daniel was reading the prophecies of Jeremiah, which had been written when Daniel was a boy, or possibly young man, and considered them to be the word of God.  During his reading he realized that the time of Exile which Jeremiah had prophesied was almost up (or perhaps completed).  This led Daniel to earnestly pray asking God to restore Jerusalem to His people.  I think we should take note that despite believing that God had promised that He would restore Jerusalem, Daniel still felt a need to pray that God would do so.  Daniel did not pray because he thought God would not fulfill His promise otherwise.  No, Daniel prayed because he needed to acknowledge that Jerusalem’s restoration was God’s doing.

The two visions in this passage contain some very cryptic language.  In addition, the first vision recorded occurred chronologically after the second one (Cyrus ruled before Darius).  In the first vision, Gabriel comes to Daniel and tells him that “seventy sevens” had been decreed for the people of Israel to atone for their sins.  Then Gabriel tells Daniel that “seven sevens plus sixty-two sevens” would pass between when the command was given to rebuild Jerusalem and when the Messiah would appear.  As I said, this is very cryptic.  Are the “sevens” referred to here weeks, or groups of years?  Or some other time period?  Further, does it mean that the Anointed One appears during the last of the “seventy sevens”?  Or do the “seven sevens plus sixty-two sevens” represent a separate passage of time, perhaps coming after the “seventy sevens”?