Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
9:24-27
In my view there is no more important prophecy than this one if we are to understand the end of times as it refers to Israel, the key component to understanding the Bible in general, and the end of the age in particular. There has been so much written about this passage that I feel it is important to present three of them and to conclude with my own. For any one person to think or say they have all the light on this passage is arrogant. A student of prophecy must examine the writings of those who have gone before with as few preconceptions as possible, always being open for more enlightenment from every quarter. Because prophecy is like an enormous jigsaw puzzle, I will lay out the three different configurations, and let you, my readers, decide which arrangement makes the most sense. There is some truth in all of the various scenarios; the task is to find the combination that gets closest to the full truth.
But before tackling the passage in question, it should be noted that for the purposes of this entire treatise, I will not use the term “week” or “weeks” in referring to the endtimes. It is a translation misnomer. The word means “seven” (shabua), a divine measurement. When we change seven to weeks or years, we do a disservice to proper knowledge. It is true that seven does refer to seven years, but then we have to determine what calendar we are using – Hebrew, Julian, or Gregorian. It is better to simply let “seven” be “seven.”
When we hear of Daniel’s seventieth seven, we automatically assume that it refers to seven years on our Gregorian calendar. But what about the Hebrew calendar? And what about the discrepencies in both of them? Our year measures the Earth’s orbit around the sun at 365.25 days, requiring a correcting day every four years. The Hebrew year is lunar, that is, it counts each month by the new moon, making it about 11 days shorter than the solar cycle. This means that every two or three years an extra month is added to compensate for the drift. The question is, why is everything so messed up? Why doesn’t the new moon appear every 30 days, and why doesn’t the Earth take precisely 360 to circle the sun? If the Earth and the moon were as they were created, then everything would be perfectly precise as it should be. But there has been too much cataclysmic judgment on Earth for perfection to survive and remain. Noah’s flood, with the fountains of the deep releasing so much water to the surface, and with the deluge from above adding to the Earth’s weight, surely altered the rotation. Every earthquake since Noah does its part to add to the imperfection. Therefore it is no wonder that calendars cannot calculate precisely what has been subject to judgment. If the Earth cannot maintain its rotation and orbit as the Creator intended, no measurement of time can be accurate without adjustments.
View A
The prophecy of the seventy sevens reveals the fourth and final 490-year cycle (7 x 70) of Israel’s history. Verse 24 tells us the duration of the cycle – 490 divine years of 360 days, or seventy sevens. The next verse tells us part of the breakdown of the seventy sevens. “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven sevens, and threescore and two sevens: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times” (9:25). Here are 7 sevens and 62 sevens for a total of 69 sevens. This leaves one seven more, and this is found in the next two verses. Daniel writes in 9:26-27: “And after threescore and two sevens shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one seven: and in the midst of the seven he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” The final seven comes after the Lord’s death, after Israel’s rejection, after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D., after Israel’s Diaspora, after Israel’s statehood of 1948, and after Israel’s capture of Jerusalem. After all this Israel foolishly agrees to a covenant with the Coming Prince who “shall confirm the covenant with many for one seven: and in the midst of the seven he (the Beast) shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” The Coming Prince of the first half of the Tribulation is assassinated at the midpoint when Satan the Dragon is driven out of heaven to the Earth. Satan uses the Prince’s body to reincarnate the seventh emperor of the ancient Roman Empire. This person is known to John as the Beast, the one who cancels the Temple sacrifices and establishes his image in the Temple in an egregious act of desecration. Three and a half years later the Word, the Messiah of Israel, slays the Beast with the breath of His mouth.
In this view when does the span of 490 years begin? Daniel gives us the answer in verse 25: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times” (9:25). This decree came from King Artexerxes to Ezra in the year 458 BC, the first day of Nisan (first month of Israel’s calendar). Here is the whole decree:
“Artaxerxes , king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace. And now I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. Forasmuch as you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God which is in your hand, and to bring the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, with all the silver and gold which you find in the whole province of Babylon, along with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, who offered willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; with this money, therefore, you shall diligently buy bulls, rams and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings and offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. Whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do according to the will of your God. Also the utensils which are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem. The rest of the needs for the house of your God, for which you may have occasion to provide, provide for it from the royal treasury.
I, even I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the provinces beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it shall be done diligently, even up to 100 talents of silver, 100 kors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt as needed. Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons. We also inform you that it is not allowed to impose tax, tribute or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, Nethinim or servants of this house of God.
You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the River, even all those who know the laws of your God; and you may teach anyone who is ignorant of them. Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him strictly, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of goods or for imprisonment” (Ezra 7:12-26).
Although the prophecy stipulates that the commandment is to “restore and to build Jerusalem,” and that “the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times,” this edict from Artexerxes to Ezra has to do with the Temple, the Law, and governance. There is no mention of the restoration of the city or its walls or the trouble with Israel’s enemies. These things may be implied, and Ezra may have understood it that way (Ezra 9:9), but the direct reference to the rebuilding of the walls and city comes with Nehemiah later on. Nevertheless, this view takes the decree as its starting point in 458 B.C. and begins the seventy sevens (490-year) countdown to Messiah, when Jesus will be slain as the Lamb of God for the sins of the people, will resurrect on the third day, and will establish His millennial kingdom the day following, thus accomplishing the six items in verse 24:
• to finish the transgression. This probably incorporates all of Israel’s trangressions in
forsaking their Maker in pursuit of other gods. The Lord Jesus by His work would shut
up this tendency forever. As He expired on the killing tree, He meant exactly what He
said: “It is finished.”
• to make an end of sin, or seal up sin, as if restraining it in prison. Satan will be cast
into the abyss for a thousand years, and a seal will be set upon his confinement
(Rev. 20:3). This is what Jesus did for His children, all His children, including the
Ecclesia
that would fill up Israel’s Diaspora. The sin of Israel and the Ecclesia is, in truth, sealed
up, as is the ability to sin. Though the full accomplishment of this will require the
kingdom age, it is, as Jesus said, finished.
• to make atonement for iniquity. Because of their iniquity in the end times, two thirds
of the nation of Israel will die unrepentant. The other third will be refined in Yahweh’s
purging fires. In Zechariah 13:7-9 we read of the work of the Messiah’s death in this
regard: “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow,
saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will
turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith
the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined,
and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I
will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.” The nation will pay
dearly for her iniquity, but for those who repent and look to their redeeming Messiah
a way of atonement is set before them. Though this prophecy applies to Israel, we, as
the Ecclesia, are beneficiaries of the Lord’s great work.
• to bring in everlasting righteousness. Jeremiah writes: “But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they
shall be my people” (31:33). Here is the power of the new covenant. What once was
mere outward assent becomes inward reality and practice. This, of course, speaks of the
kingdom, when everlasting righteousness will prevail.
• to seal up vision and prophecy. Once everlasting righteousness is brought in by the
inward law written upon the hearts of His chosen and beloved nation, visions and
prophecies required to stem the tide of sin and debauchery are no longer needed. There
will be no prophets in the kingdom – only kings and priests.
• to anoint the most holy place. This speaks of the Temple that Messiah Himself will
build in His kingdom. “And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts,
saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his
place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the
LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall
be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both”
(Zech. 6:12-13).
The seventy sevens (490 years) allotted to Israel will result in the accomplishment of these six items. Their transgression will be restrained and their sins will be sealed up to never bother them again forever and their iniquity will be expiated in a glorious removal of all things negative. Yahweh will write His new convenant upon the hearts of every child of Jacob, removing any further need of warnings, threatenings, and rebuffs by the prophets. Finally, the new Temple will crown the earthly Mt. Zion (described in detail in five wonderful chapters – Ezekiel 40-44) and will issue forth living water to heal and to enliven (Ezekiel 47:1-12), a prelude to the river of water of life coursing down the holy and eternal city, New Jerusalem, from Yahweh’s throne.
When we add 490 years to Nisan 1 458 BC (the year of Artexerxes’ decree to Ezra), we come to Nisan 1 33 AD, the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The period of seventy sevens is complete chronologically, but Israel does not cooperate. They reject their Messiah. But Daniel 9:25 foreseeing the future, breaks up the 70 weeks this way: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”
Sixty-nine weeks (483 years) brings us to Nisan in 26 AD, the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist, whose proclamations and calls to repentance signal the commencement of the 70th week. The 70th week ends with the death of Messiah. The kingdom should have followed immediately upon Israel’s recognition and acceptance of her beloved Messiah, who recently gave them the sign of Jonah – three days and three nights in the bowels of the Earth – but Daniel 9:26 reads: “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” Instead of Messiah restoring the kingdom to Israel at that time, judgment falls on the nation. “The people of the prince that shall come” refers to the Roman Titus who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD during the Jewish revolt of 66 – 73 AD. The city is destroyed, the Temple is demolished entirely, and the people are dispersed to the nations. Was this a surprise to Yahweh? Hardly. But how can we now reconcile the fact that the 490 years was consecutive in verse 24, after which the kingdom should have been established, but in the following verses all kinds of disruptive chaos ensues upon Israel? Israel’s rejection of Messiah cancelled the original final seven years of grace under John the Baptist and Jesus. Because of Israel’s rejection, the Lord cannot reckon the final seven years (26 – 33 A.D.) and must replay the 70th seven at the end of the age. Elijah replaces John the Baptist in the first half and the Beast (Antichrist) replaces Jesus in the second half.
This replay, or second chance, is not unprecedented. Once Israel left Egypt, they were close to the Promised Land, and sent spies in to scout out the land. This was their grand opportunity to acquire the land quickly, but instead rejected the arguments of Joshua and Caleb, forcing the Lord to abandon that evil generation until they died in the wilderness. Then when a new generation rose up under the training of Joshua and Caleb, the Lord took them in to the land to conquer and to settle. This is the principle here. Plan A was for Israel to accept Messiah after His resurrection, and to coronate Him King over the millennial kingdom. They failed, so Yahweh cancelled the final seven years of grace under John and Jesus, and made Israel wander in the wilderness of the nations of the world for over 1900 years. What we are now waiting for is the second opportunity of that final seven years of discipline to purify the Bride of Christ. Because Israel rejected John’s call to repentance, she will have to endure the unflinching demands of the real Elijah. Because Israel rejected the Christ of grace, she will have to endure the brutality of the Antichrist.
The final seven will open with the coming Prince and the nation of Israel signing a treaty assuring peace in the land of Israel and the right of the people to build her Temple and renew the sacrificial system. The two witnesses (Elijah and Enoch) will preach powerfully for three and a half years until the Prince is assassinated, the Antichrist, known as the Beast, comes forth, murders the two witnesses, bans the sacrificial system and Temple worship, establishes his image in the Temple, institutes his own sacrificial system in an act of egregious desecration, and, under the guidance of the False Prophet, directs the world to worship the image. As the judgment of the seals, trumpets, vials, and woes rain down upon the inhabitants of the Earth, the Beast resorts to the rebuilt city of Babylon to strategize his attack upon Israel using the kings of the Earth and their armies. Gathering in the long swath of Israel with the armies of the world, the Beast’s armies attack the helpless nation until Yahweh and His anointed One intervene to deliver Israel and to crush the enemy horde in the great winepress of Yahweh’s wrath. I agree with these details of the seventieth seven.
However, I find this view somewhat inadequate in meeting the requirements of Daniel’s prophecy. For example, the starting point of this view is King Artexerxes’ decree for Ezra to return to Jerusalem and to build the house of Yahweh, however the prophecy demands a decree or word or letter that has to do with the restoration and building of Jerusalem, not the temple. This view also fails to address the reason why Daniel breaks up the 69 sevens into 7 and 62. Surely the Spirit is not being ambiguous. If the 7 and the 62 are continuous, then Daniel would have written 69. There is no reason for him not too, but obviously the inspiring Spirit had something definite in mind. This view does not have a suitable answer.
This view relies on a repetition of the seventieth seven sometime at the end of days. The original seven involves a 3.5-year ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus’ 3.5-year ministry. The replay at the end of this age involves Elijah and Enoch during the first half of the seven, and the Antichrist during the last half. I’m not sure the Scriptures warrant this kind of interpretation, although there is precedent for Yahweh’s mercy and a second opportunity. It seems that we would be able to find such an important detail in the text of this vital prophecy. If it is there, it escapes me.
View B
In this perspective the commencement point is not the decree of Artexerxes to Ezra (458 B.C.), which had reference only to the rebuilding of the Temple and of governance (Ezra 1:1-4), and not the confirmation of Darius (Ezra 6:7-12) to continue the work; but rather the letter of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah to build Jerusalem in 445 B.C. The following explains: “Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me” (Nehemiah 2:7-8). This happened in the month Nisan (probably Nisan 1) in the twentieth year of the king. From this point to the coming of Messiah the Prince would be 483 years. The combination of the seven sevens and the sixty-two seven is continuous, without a break between the two. It is supposed that the seven sevens is the length of time it took to rebuild the city and its walls, although the Scriptures are silent concerning this. The mention in verse 25 of “troublous times” accords with Nehemiah’s experience in getting the work done.
The prince of the prophecy is the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who presented Himself as the coming king when He rode into Jerusalem on the humble donkey on Nisan 10, exactly 483 years to the day according to the 360-day year.Here begins the gap between the 483rd year and the final seven years. In this gap Jesus is put to death, resurrects, ascends, and sends the Spirit as the inaugurator and builder of the Ecclesia. For over nineteen centuries the Body of Christ has been the subject of the Lord’s promise in Matt. 16 to build it so that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. In this gap the nation of Israel rejected her Messiah, saw her city and Temple overthrown by Titus the Roman in 70 A.D., and was dispersed to the nations in what is known as the Diaspora. Jerusalem has been destroyed so many times in the interim that the soil upon which Jesus trod is fifty to eighty feet below the present surface.
The details of the final seven in this view match the final seven in view A.
View C
The third view agrees with the first two regarding the seventieth seven, but accounts for the distinction between the seven sevens and the sixty-two sevens. It reckons a time gap between all the sevens – the seven, the sixty-two, and the one – and therefore has a different starting point from View A and View B. View A starts with King Artexerxes’ decree to Ezra to go up to Jerusalem and build the Temple (458 B.C). View B starts with Artexerxes’ letters to Nehemiah to go up to Jerusalem and restore its wall and its streets (445 B.C.). Both of these views make the seven sevens and the sixty-two sevens continuous. View A ends the seventy sevens (the 490th year) the day of Jesus’ resurrection. Because of Israel’s rejection of Jesus’ final sign, the sign of Jonah’s three days and three nights in the sea monster’s belly pointing to His own span in the belly of the Earth, the final seven years starting with John the Baptist must be replayed at the end of the age in order for a new generation of Israelites to recognize and embrace their Messiah. View B sees the 483rd year ending when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey colt, bathed in the people’s proclamations of His kingship. What transpired took the nation into a nearly two-millennia tailspin of destruction and dispersion, and from which they emerged only sixty-five plus years ago in preparation for the final seven. This brings us to View C, a view I espouse, but not without trepidation. Enlightenment of prophecy is fluid, and current light from the Lord on His Word could be simply another small piece of a rather large puzzle.
This perspective maintains an earlier starting point than the other two because of the time gap that exists between the sevens. Here is verse 25 again: “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.” The word for “restore” in Hebrew is shub, which means “to return,” or “to turn back.” This definition could be construed to mean that not only the people would return to their former condition and place, but also the city of Jerusalem as well. It is the restoration to a former condition. This is precisely the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah (spoken in 587 B.C.) found in 32:37-44 in which He promises to call out His people from captivity in Babylon and to bring them back to their own land and cities, especially Jerusalem: “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the LORD.” The one word characterizing this wonderful passage, promise, and prophecy is “restoration.” This direct word from Yahweh could not be more significant, because it begins the seven (49 years).
Precisely 49 years after Yahweh’s word of promise to Jeremiah, an anointed one rises up in the Lord’s sovereignty, of whom Isaiah writes in 45:1: “Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.” Cyrus is the Lord’s chosen vessel to fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecy to end the nation’s captivity. It is this Persian king who releases the Jews to return to their land and city in 538 B.C. Daniel was praying for this very thing when it happened. So from the time the Lord spoke to Jeremiah about releasing the people from their 70-year captivity unto the time it happened by Cyrus’ decree to Ezra and to all who would go with him to return and build Yahweh’s house in Jerusalem was the seven sevens, or 49 years.
The beginning and the end of the sixty-two sevens are not as definite as the other two views, but the prophecy does not demand it. Verse 25 merely says: “Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.” This speaks of Nehemiah’s efforts and frustrations in carrying out the successful building of Jerusalem’s walls, streets, and gates. Having obtained from Artexerxes (444 B.C.) the necessary documentation to return and complete the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, especially the wall, Nehemiah had to assemble volunteers and building material, and then had to make the long trek. Josephus puts Nehemiah’s arrival in Jerusalem at the time of Artexerxes’ twenty-fifth year (440 B.C.). Adding sixty-two sevens (434 years) to that date puts us at the birth of Messiah around 6 B.C., which, of course, is highly significant, but still not required by the prophecy. Verse 26 says that “after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing.” Everyone agrees that this anointed one is Jesus the Messiah, and that being “cut off” speaks of His death. The prophecy only demands that His death come after the sixty-two sevens. How long after is not specified.
The beauty of this time frame – of separating the seven, the sixty-two, and the one – is that it does not need an elaborate chronological scheme to make everything fit. To allow for Cyrus to be an anointed one to carry out the Lord’s release of the Jews captivity meets the demands of Daniel’s prophecy concerning the seven sevens. To let Nehemiah head up the sixty-two sevens instead of sixty-nine sevens (which requires an elaborate and forced chronological scheme) lets the prophecy flow seamlessly.
As to the rest of the prophecy concerning the gap between the sixty-nine sevens and the final one seven, it matches the other two views with this minor caveat. In verse 26 “the prince who is to come (who) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary” is the Roman prince Titus, who did his work in 70 A.D. Here begins the long Diaspora of the Jews, of which nothing is written in the prophecy. What comes next is this: “Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed.” The “end” of what? What does “Its” refer to? I posit that it is the end of the prolonged chronological gap between the sixty-two sevens and the final seven, because right after this “flood” of war, verse 27 follows with “And he.” This person makes a covenant with many in Israel. What war precipitates a treaty between the “he” and the “many?” I think the answer is the Gog war in which the enemies of Israel are so supernaturally decimated that the whole world (through the Prince of the United Nations) sues for peace to prevent such a fearful carnage from ever reoccurring. The world will know that Yahweh of Israel is responsible for the wholesale destruction of Gog and his alliance, and they are deathly afraid of the lack of peace and security. Worldlings lust for peace and security; peace to prolong their decadent lifestyles, and security from the consequences. Once Israel foolishly gives up her leverage in the name of peace (her proclivity from the day of her statehood), the final seven begins.