The Oath in His Hand

A Twelve-Week Study

In Hebrew, the word for a seven and the word for an oath sit side by side. Shavua, a week. Shevuah, an oath. To swear, in the Bible's own language, is to seven oneself. So when the angel Gabriel told Daniel that seventy sevens were decreed, he was speaking in the vocabulary of oaths.

The Oath in His Hand follows that promise from Daniel's prayer to the week it was kept.

The study opens with the word that means both, then reads the decree of Daniel 9 slowly: seventy sevens, the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem, and the six things God promised to accomplish. From there it turns to the Gospels and watches the count unfold. John the Baptist points and says, "Behold the Lamb." Jesus is baptized at the Jordan, driven into the wilderness for forty days, and begins a ministry that keeps the appointed times in order.

The later weeks slow to the pace of the final days. A lamb is taken into the house on the tenth of the month. The King comes to His city. At the table He lifts the cup of the covenant. In the midst of the week He is sacrificed, as Daniel said. And on the morning after the Sabbath, the firstfruits sheaf is waved before the Lord as He rises from the grave. Seven Sabbaths later the count is complete, and the crown comes after it.

The feasts were never a separate calendar running beside the prophecy. They were the prophecy, kept to the day.

Each week includes teaching, Key Term boxes, questions for reflection, weekly readings, and a memory passage. Appendices offer notes for the study leader and a fair account of where readers differ, followed by a glossary and index.

The oath was sworn by sevens, and it was kept in His hand.