Note 10 — THE THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES OF OUR CREED. (continued 2)

(2.) In the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, Daniel reflected on the seventy years of exile foretold by Jeremiah, and fervently prayed to God for pardon and the restoration of Jerusalem. At the end of his prayer the angel Gabriel appeared to him, and told him that the hoped-for restoration would not take place before the lapse of seventy weeks of trouble and anxiety. There would elapse seven weeks before the “princely anointed” (‏משיח נגיד‎) led the Jews back to Palestine; sixty-two weeks of trouble and anxiety were predicted for the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple; and one week’s misery on the arrival of a new prince or governor, who would strengthen the covenant of the enemies and entirely suspend the Divine Service in the Temple for a short time.10