Page 278 - Daniel

Psalm 37:9. 59
The word “anointed” was used of priests (Lev. 4:3, 5); Saul (1 Sam.

12:1–3; 24:5–6); David (2 Sam. 22:51; 23:1); the kings of Israel in
general (1 Sam. 2:10; Lam. 4:20); Cyrus (Isa. 45:1); and of the future
Messiah who was to come from the line of David (Pss. 2:2; 132:17–18).
It initially referred to the fact that oil was poured over the heads of the
priests (Exod. 28:41) and the kings (1 Sam. 10:1; 16:12–13) to set them

apart to their responsibility before God. Ultimately, the word came to
refer to the future king from the line of David who would arise to fulfill
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all God’s promises to Israel, that is, Jesus Christ. It seems best to
understand Daniel using the word in this sense, especially since he
identifies the Messiah as the future “leader,” a term used of Israel’s past
kings like Saul (1 Sam. 9:16) and David (1 Sam. 13:14). Daniel’s
audience would have understood “anointed leader” in a messianic

context.
The prominence of the Messiah in Old Testament prophecy and the

mention of Him in both verses 25 and 26 make the cutting off of the
Messiah one of the important events in the prophetic unfolding of God’s
plan for Israel and the world. How tragic that, when the promised King
came, He was “cut off.” The adulation of the crowd at Christ’s triumphal
entry and the devotion of those who had been touched by His previous
ministry were all to no avail. Israel’s unbelief and the calloused
indifference of her religious leaders when confronted with the claims of

Christ combined with the hardness of heart of Gentile rulers to make this
the greatest of tragedies.

Christ was indeed not only “cut off” from man and from life, but in
His cry on the cross indicated that He was forsaken of God. The plaintive
cry “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46)
reveals not only the awfulness of separation from God, but points also to
the answer—the redemptive purpose. The additional phrase in verse 26
“[he] shall have nothing” means that nothing which rightly belonged to
Jesus as Messiah the Prince was given to Him at that time. He had not
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come into His full reward or the exercise of His regal authority. He was
the sacrificial Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the world (John
1:29). Outwardly it appeared that evil had triumphed.

Although evangelical expositors have generally agreed that the