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Know therefore and understand. Note this second admonition, as shown in the Structure ("25-") above.
from the going forth, &c. : i.e. in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (= the great king: i.e. Astyages), 454 B.C. See notes on Neh_2:1, Neh_5:14, Neh_13:4. Also App-50 and App-58.
commandment = word. Hebrew. dabar. App-73. Referring to the Divine word rather than to a royal decree.
Jerusalem. Not the Temple (as in Ezra), but the city (as in Nehemiah), which was the subject of Daniel's prayer, and therefore the answer to it.
Messiah = anointed. Only priests and kings were anointed, lepers, and Elisha (1Ki_19:16) being the only exceptions.
Messiah the Prince = "Messiah [that is to say] the Prince [of the People]". Messiah is a noun, and is connected with Prince by apposition: i.e. a priest-king. Only one such known to Scripture (Psa_110:4. Zec_6:13. Joh_4:25).
the Prince. Hebrew. nagid = a leader and ruler of the People (1Sa_9:16; 1Sa_10:1; 1Sa_13:14; 1Sa_18:13; 1Sa_25:30. 2Sa_5:2, &c). Therefore not Zerubbabel (who was a prince but not a priest); nor Ezra (who was a priest but not a prince); nor Cyrus (who was a king but not a priest, and he only as a type of Messiah, who was both).
seven weeks = forty-nine years (454-405 B. C). See App-50, and App-91.
threescore and two weeks = 434 years (405 B. C-A.D. 29): the two together being 49 + 434 = 483 years; leaving seven years to make up the full 490 years of Dan_9:24. See App-50, and App-91.
the street . . . and the wall = open place . . . and close street: implying the completeness of the restoration; which included the places of resort and the thoroughfares leading thereto, like our English "court and alley".
the street = the broad way or open space by the gates or elsewhere.
the wall. Hebrew. haruz. Whatever it may mean, it cannot be "wall", for that is homah (that which surrounds). Haruz = something cut in or dug out; and may well be used of what is narrow, and then that which is narrowed down to a deciding point, a decision or determination, as in Dan_9:26; Dan_11:36. Compare Isa_10:22. Job_14:5, &c. See the Oxford Gesenius.
in troublous times: i.e. the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. This covers the forty-nine years. We know this, not from history profane or Divine, but from the statement here.