Daniel 9 and the LXX

Question:
It was not until recently that I realized that most of the standard translations of Daniel 9:26 use phrases something to the effect, “The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary” (NIV)... in particular is the phrase “The people of the ruler who will come”. On the basis of this verse it is usually stated that the anti-Christ will either be of Roman-European descent (as was the Roman General Titus who commandeered the overthrew Jerusalem in 70 AD) or, if one looks at the mercenaries (under Titus) who were the ones who actually physically destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, then the anti-Christ would possibly be Turkish (which then can be used to lead one to believe that the anti-Christ could be Muslim). But I believe you cover the latter view well in your article “Signs of Our Times, Part 2”,without referring back to Daniel 9:26.

If the Greek Alexandrian Septuagint is correct however, then Daniel 9:26 should read:
“And he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming: they shall be cut off with a flood…” So, then, the identification of “the people” of the prince that is coming should not even be part of the inquiry based upon Daniel 9:26. However, your work in “Signs of Our Times, Part 2” follows a different path to track down the heritage of this coming anti-Christ ruler and, again, I commend you on your efforts. My question is, which version is correct, the standard text in use today or the LXX as quoted?

Response:
I thank you for pointing to the Septuagint passage and its difference to the Masoretic and omission of the word "people". That is important. I looked at the Greek on which the English translation was based and there are some problems. The English translation of the LXX and the actual Greek seem to differ. I attempted my own translation, but some of the Greek words were more ancient or different than New Testament Greek. Because I needed to know exactly what that the ancient Greek LXX actually said, I paid for the best current secular translation into English of the 37 Greek words in the LXX of Daniel 9:26. The result went through a cross-check. Here is how this modern English translation of the LXX Greek reads:

“and after sixty-two weeks the anointed one shall be put to death, and there is no judgment in him; and then the people, with their leader, that shall come shall destroy both the city and the temple; and his end shall come like a flood; and unto the end of the war desolation are determined.”

In contrast, the Brenton English translation reads:

“And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one shall be destroyed, and there is no judgment in him; and he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming: and they shall be cut off with a flood, and to the end of the war which is rapidly completed he shall appoint (the city) to desolations.”

For a complete comparison we give the modern English translation from the New King James version from the Masoretic text:

“And after the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.”

So the original LXX text does indeed include the words "the people" in the passage and the Brenton English translation has missed this key point. I am certainly glad that we checked. This means that all versions mention these people who destroyed the temple. Thus, the comments I made in another context about “the people” making up the Roman armies that destroyed Jerusalem, might equally apply to the Daniel 9:26 passage. Since these people were from what is now the area of Turkey and Syria, it is possible that one interpretation of this passage supports the contention that Antichrist or the Beast may be a Muslim from that region (see more details about that in the article on Cyprus and in the Jerusalem Wall.

I certainly thank you for bringing this discrepancy to my attention. I am indebted to you.

Note:

This passage in Daniel 9 has been one of the main texts on which the concept of a Roman antichrist has been based, and the EU thereby implicated. This complete LXX translation, while not entirely eliminating that possibility, states that Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 70 AD by the "people, with their leader, that shall come." The emphasis is on the people not the leader in this verse, and the people that comprised the armies were from the region of Turkey and Syria; they were not ethnic Romans.

However, we can go even further. The following verse, Daniel 9:27 in the English translation uses the word "he" which apparently refers to the "Prince" in the previous verse. But the LXX does not even mention "he" or "they" in reference to the 7 year covenant. It simply says "And for one week [of years] shall the covenant be established with the many...." So on this basis verse 26 need not necessarily have any relationship to the person signing the covenant. Therefore, Daniel 9:26 and 27 does not establish the ethnicity of the Antichrist.