This, then, is the first space covered, the building of the wall

corresponding to the several miles of bad road in the illustration.  We now

arrive at the most important feature of our discussion, and one that we have

seen canvassed in no other work on Daniel.  It follows from the logical

application of the 'lo -ammi' principle.  The question is whether or not the

490 years set apart for the achievement of God's purpose in Israel, begin at

the going forth of the proclamation to rebuild Jerusalem.  To this question

expositors give an affirmative answer, but the 'lo -ammi' principle demands a

negative one.  We read in Nehemiah:

'The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are

in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken

down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire' (Neh. 1:3).

Do these expressions describe Jerusalem as in favour or in desolation?

There is only one answer.  Nehemiah saw in these events the fulfilment of the

curse threatened by law and prophets:

'If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations' (Neh.

Daniel also uses terms that imply 'lo -ammi' conditions.  Jerusalem is

'desolate' (9:2); Israel are 'driven' (verse 7); the curse is poured upon

them (verse 11); the visitation upon Jerusalem is unprecedented (verse 12).

And in verse 16 there is anger and fury and reproach.

The seventy sevens cannot commence until Jerusalem is rebuilt and the

curse removed; this makes clear the reason for the division of the years into

seven sevens and sixty -two sevens.  The seven sevens of 49 years represent

the time occupied in the rebuilding of the wall and street of Jerusalem by

Nehemiah in time of trouble, and the period ends at the dedication of the

temple (Ezra 6:16 -18).

To revert to our illustration, the period covered by the building of

the wall up to the dedication of the temple corresponds with the first 7

miles of country road.  At the dedication of the temple at the end of the

seven sevens the 'lo -ammi' period ends; the new high road is reached.  It is

then a distance of 62 miles to the Cross; or, leaving the illustration, an

unbroken period of 62 sevens to the time of 'the Messiah the Prince'.  Those

who include the 49 years of rebuilding, include a period when Israel was 'lo

-ammi', and they have no alternative to excluding from their reckoning the

whole period of the Acts of the Apostles.  But it is quite certain that

Israel were not set aside as a people until Acts 28, so that the period of

the Acts must be included.  Our interpretation has required only 62 sevens;

so that there is still scope remaining.  From a.d. 29 to 63, the usual dates

now given for the Crucifixion and Acts 28 respectively, is a period of 35

years; this accounts for five sevens.  Three sevens, therefore, remain for

the future, and these are dealt with in the book of Revelation; seven seals,

seven trumpets, and seven vials.  The final 'seven' is concerned with the

Beast, the False Prophet, Antichrist and Babylon, as we read in Daniel 9.

The prophecy of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9 is divided into three

parts, each of which is devoted to an explanation of events associated with

one of the great time -periods of the prophecy.  This can be seen more easily

if set out as follows: