_Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week._ He kept it,
notwithstanding his death, till the rejection of the _Jews_, and calling of
_Cornelius_ and the _Gentiles_ in the seventh year after his passion.

_And in half a week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease_;
that is, by the war of the _Romans_ upon the _Jews_: which war, after some
commotions, began in the 13th year of _Nero_, A.D. 67, in the spring, when
_Vespasian_ with an army invaded them; and ended in the second year of
_Vespasian_, A.D. 70, in autumn, _Sept._ 7, when _Titus_ took the city,
having burnt the Temple 27 days before: so that it lasted three years and
an half.

_And upon a wing of abominations he shall cause desolation, even until the
consummation, and that which is determined be poured upon the desolate._
The Prophets, in representing kingdoms by Beasts and Birds, put their wings
stretcht out over any country for their armies sent out to invade and rule
over that country. Hence a wing of abominations is an army of false Gods:
for an abomination is often put in scripture for a false God; as where
_Chemosh_ is called [10] the abomination of _Moab_, and _Molech_ the
abomination of _Ammon_. The meaning therefore is, that the people of a
Prince to come shall destroy the sanctuary, and abolish the daily worship
of the true God, and overspread the land with an army of false gods; and by
setting up their dominion and worship, cause desolation to the _Jews_,
until the times of the _Gentiles_ be fulfilled. For _Christ_ tells us, that
the abomination of desolation spoken of by _Daniel_ was to be set up in the
times of the _Roman Empire_, _Matth._ xxiv. 15.

Thus have we in this short Prophecy, a prediction of all the main periods
relating to the coming of the _Messiah_; the time of his birth, that of his
death, that of the rejection of the _Jews_, the duration of the _Jewish_
war whereby he caused the city and sanctuary to be destroyed, and the time
of his second coming: and so the interpretation here given is more full and
complete and adequate to the design, than if we should restrain it to his
first coming only, as Interpreters usually do. We avoid also the doing
violence to the language of _Daniel_, by taking the _seven weeks_ and
_sixty two weeks_ for one number. Had that been _Daniel_'s meaning, he
would have said _sixty and nine weeks_, and not _seven weeks_ and _sixty
two weeks_, a way of numbring used by no nation. In