Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 14:1 (Spring 2010)
Article: Daniel’s Seventy Weeks and the New Exodus
Author: Peter J. Gentry

SBJT 14:1 (Spring 2010) p. 26

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks and the New Exodus1

Peter J. Gentry

Introduction

Daniel 9 is famous for the Vision of the “Seventy Weeks.” Unfortunately, interpretation of this text has been difficult not only for average readers, but for scholars as well. We must not only pay attention to (1) the cultural and historical setting, and (2) the linguistic and textual data, but also carefully analyze and consider (3) the literary structures, (4) the apocalyptic genre of the text, (5) the relation of Daniel 9 to other prophetic texts in the Old Testament, and above all (6) the metanarrative or biblical-theological framework crucial for making sense of any individual text. Lack of understanding as to how apocalyptic and prophetic literature communicates has hindered the church especially in the last hundred years. In addition, a failure to grasp the larger story that alone makes sense of the details in this text have resulted in imposing on it a framework of understanding foreign to it.

Overview Of Daniel

The Stories and Visions of Daniel2