Daniel 9

Daniel’s understanding of God’s word, his prayer

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,

9:1 Dan 5:31. This Ahasuerus is not the same as the one of the book of Esther.⚜

2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that he had specified for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, seventy years.

9:2 Observe that Daniel regarded the writings of Jeremiah as inspired by God and authoritative. Twice Jeremiah spoke of 70 years – Jer 25:11-12 and Jer 29:10. The first invasion of Judah by the Babylonian armies was in 605 BC. The 70 years were nearly over.⚜

3 And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

9:3 The knowledge that the 70 years were nearing their end inspired Daniel to prayer, not to complacency. Likewise God’s promises to us should move us to prayer, should inspire us to claim them, to act on them. Let us learn from Daniel’s prayer how to seek God in time of need with humility, confession, repentance, pleading. Observe the great earnestness with which Daniel sought God. He was seeking according to Deut 4:29; Jer 29:12-13.⚜

4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and mercy for those who love him, and for those who keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned, and have done evil, and have behaved wickedly, and have rebelled, by departing from your precepts and from your judgments. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7 “O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us shame of face, as it is this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those near, and those far away in all the countries where you have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness they have shown against you. 8 O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us through his servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law by departing from you, so as not to obey your voice. Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against him.

12 “And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven nothing has been done like what was done in Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, this whole disaster has come on us. Yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our evil deeds and understand your truth. 14 Therefore the LORD kept the disaster in view and brought it on us. For the LORD our God is righteous in all the deeds which he does, because we did not obey his voice.

9:14 Gen 18:25; Neh 9:33; Ps 7:9; 19:9; 129:4; 145:17. It was because God is perfectly just that He brought disaster on them. Justice must punish unrepented and unforsaken sin. Instead of complaining against God everyone should humble himself or herself, and confess that God is just (2 Chron 12:6).⚜

15 “And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made yourself a name, as at this day, we have sinned, we have behaved wickedly. 16 O Lord, I beg you, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain, because for our sins and for the evil deeds of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of scorn to everyone around us.

9:16 Daniel continues to place the emphasis where it belongs – on their sin and God’s righteousness.⚜

17 “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of your servant, and his supplications, and, for the Lord’s sake, cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate. 18 O my God, bow down your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and look on our desolations, and the city which is called by your name. For we do not present our supplications before you because of our righteousnesses, but because of your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For your own sake, O my God, do not delay. For your city and your people are called by your name”.

The angel Gabriel speaks of “seventy weeks”

20 And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God, 21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, flying swiftly, came and touched me about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 And he gave me information, and talked with me and said, “Daniel, I am now come forth to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you; for you are greatly beloved. Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

24 “Seventy ‘weeks’ have been decreed for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for wickedness, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

25 “Know therefore and understand that from the issuing of the command to restore and build Jerusalem to the Messiah the Prince will be seven ‘weeks’, and sixty-two ‘weeks’. The streets and the wall will be rebuilt, but in troublesome times.

9:25 The decree mentioned here was probably that of King Artaxerxes in 445 BC. See Neh 2:1-9. The temple had been finished and some other buildings had been constructed in Jerusalem before then. But it could not be said that the city had been rebuilt, for Nehemiah said he wished to go and rebuild it, and he received permission to do so. Some of the troubles he had in rebuilding the city are recorded in Nehemiah chapters 4 and 6. From the time of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the ministry and death of the Messiah (the Lord Jesus) 69 sevens were to be completed.

If this time period is calculated according to the lunar year which the Jews used (360 days to a year), it reaches to the last days of Christ on earth. So we have here a prophecy of the time of the death of Christ given more than five centuries before.⚜

26 And after the sixty-two ‘weeks’ Messiah will be cut off, but not for Himself. And the people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end will come as with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are decreed. 27 And he will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘week’, but in the middle of the ‘week’ he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations will be one who creates desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on the desolator”.

9:24-27 There has been, and is, much disagreement among scholars about the meaning of these verses. Some words and phrases in Hebrew are obscure in meaning and the interpretation difficult.⚜