'Thy sanctuary'.  Then it all comes pouring forth.  Reserve is abandoned.

Before this covenant -keeping God, Daniel pours out his petition:

'O my God, incline Thine ear, and hear; open Thine eyes, and behold our

desolations, and the city which is called by Thy Name: for we do not

present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, but for

Thy great mercies.  O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and

do; defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God: for Thy city and Thy

people are called by Thy Name' (9:18,19).

The limits of such a work as this Analysis compel us to omit much of

spiritual value, and so refraining from further comment on Daniel's prayer,

we turn our attention to:

How many different ways of computing the seventy weeks of Daniel 9 have

been put forward by earnest men of God?  We do not know, but there are many;

and the fact that such diversity exists must humble us before the Lord.

Differences of opinion exist as to where the reckoning begins, where the

reckoning ends, whether the 'weeks' are weeks of days or of years, and

whether the prince that shall come be Titus (a.d. 70) or the beast of the

Apocalypse.  Most affirm that there is now only the last week of Daniel 9 to

be fulfilled; while others believe that the seventy weeks are literal weeks

of days all yet future.  Facing this monument of human failure and

contradiction it seems at first an act of impertinence on our part to step

forward and make even a tentative suggestion.  Yet it is impossible to avoid

the subject, and, therefore, with every recognition of the faithfulness and

ability of others, we humbly place on record the way in which we have been

led by scriptural principles to a conclusion in the matter.

The first principle that demands recognition is that which deals with

the 'lo -ammi' periods of Israel's history.  For the benefit of those who may

not know the meaning of this term we state that it has reference to Hosea

1:9: 'Call his name Lo -ammi: for ye are not My people'.  The principle we

have in mind is that those periods when Israel are out of favour -- and so

'lo -ammi' -- are not reckoned in the prophetic calendar.  So far as God's

scheme of time is concerned, such periods do not exist.  They are, however,

reckoned in the calendar of the world, and consequently must be taken into

Perhaps a homely illustration will help to make the point clearer.  A

man, let us suppose, has an account at the bank, and upon inquiry, he learns

that his balance stands at oe500.  From one point of view he may truthfully

say that he owns oe500.  There is another point of view, however; he owes oe200

on his house, and other outstanding bills total oe200; so that although his

bank book shows oe500, he actually owns only oe100.  The bank book figure

represents the calendar of the world, and the residual figure the prophetic

times.  The 'lo -ammi' periods correspond with the debts and must be

subtracted to obtain the prophetic periods.

There were five occasions when the Lord 'sold' His people into the

hands of their enemies, and for these five periods the prophetic clock

stopped and time was unrecorded.  These periods are all found in the book of