Daniel 9:1-14 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Daniel 9:1-14. Let’s go!
Daniel 9:1-2 (NIV)
1 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom–
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
On verses 1-2: Daniel had been reading the book of Jeremiah where Jeremiah predicts that the Jews of Jerusalem would be exiles and would only return to Jerusalem after 70 years. See Jeremiah 25:11-12 and 29:10. Jeremiah had given this prophecy found in Jeremiah 25:11-12 back in approximately 605 B.C. when Daniel would still have been a teenager. Cyrus, king of Persia, would let the Jewish exiles return to Jerusalem in 538/537 B.C., which is approximately 68 years later. How remarkable it is that Jeremiah’s prophecy was right.
Daniel 9:3 (NIV)
3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
On verse 3: I love how Daniel responded to Scripture. He didn’t just read or listen and walk away. He responded with prayer, petition, fasting, and mourning. All of that starts in the heart. May you and I have such a soft heart to the Word of God that the Word of God can easily move us to action, to worship, to repentance, to prayer, to doing something with what we have heard or read.
Daniel 9:4-14 (NIV)
4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands,
5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.
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 “Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame–the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.
8 O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.
9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;
10 we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.
11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. “Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.
12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.
13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.
14 The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.
On verses 4-14: Daniel had made a career out of speaking to kings. By this point he had already served King Nebuchadnezzar and King Belshazzar of the Babylonian empire and is now serving King Darius of the Mede-Persian empire. But the one king Daniel had never stopped talking to and never stopped serving was the King of kings, the LORD. In Daniel’s prayer there is an evident intimacy that only comes from spending much time in God’s Word and in God’s presence.
In his prayer Daniel contrasts the goodness of God with the wickedness of his people. He calls the LORD “great and awesome” (v4), “righteous” (v7), and “merciful and forgiving” (v9). In contrast Daniel calls himself and his people sinners – “we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled” (v5), “we have not listened to your servants the prophets” (v6), we are “covered with shame “(v7, 8), “we have rebelled against him” (v9), “all Israel has transgressed your law and turned away”. In every verse of this passage, if Daniel is not speaking to the faithfulness of God he is speaking to the unfaithfulness of his people. Daniel acknowledges that the reason his people were exiled to Babylon was because his people had utterly failed to obey God.
What can we learn from this? When praying to God on behalf of people you identify with, do these two things that Daniel did:
1. Put your attention on God and how great He is. This helps us to put everything else in perspective. Avoid the temptation to make your prayers all about the people. The fact is that there is no one like our God, so give Him the attention and praise He deserves.
2. Own the sins of the people you represent. This helps us to stay humble and allows us to more effectively pray on behalf of others. Notice that Daniel is among the most upright and noble men you will find in the entire Bible, yet when praying to God Daniel puts himself in the same boat as all the Israelites who had not been faithful to God. That’s what makes Daniel such an exceptional leader and intercessor for his people. Daniel did not see himself as so much better than his own people; rather he identifies with his people and takes ownership of his people’s sins, so every confession is “we sinned” rather than “they sinned”. Jesus would do the same to a far greater degree. Taking on human flesh, living among us, and dying for our sins, Jesus identified with us in every way so that we could be a faithful high priest, mediator and intercessor for his people.
Father, have mercy on us Your people in respect of all the ways we have sinned against You. Thank You that You always remain faithful, even when we are faithless. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
