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Readings in the Book of
Daniel
Daniel 9a:
A few months after receiving the vision we looked at last week, Daniel re-read a testimony written by Jeremiah, which he had sent out to all the exiles when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem for the second time in 597BC. When this had occurred Daniel and his companions had already been captives for about ten years.
He tells us about that reading:
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Daniel 9:
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans [in 539BC]; 2 in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
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The revolution had occurred and Darius the Mede was now king of Babylon. Daniel and his friends had at this point been captives for about 68 years, so the prophecy had been in his hands for over fifty years, yet only now did Daniel really understand what the Spirit had caused to be written! This often occurs in prophetic writings – they can be hazy and hard to understand until the Spirit is able to lift the veil off from our eyes, even though they appear to be written in plain language AFTER the event.
Here is the letter:
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Jeremiah 29:
1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon [in the second conquest]; 2 (after that Jeconiah [aka Jehoiachin] the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem). 3 [He sent it] by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah [the new] king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon [as ambassadors]) saying;
[The letter]
4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon; 5 Build you houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; 6 take you wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that you may be increased there, and not diminished. 7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray to the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall you have peace.
[In other words, settle down and be friendly to your captors and you’ll be OK. That’s the principle Paul expounded in Romans chapter 13 which even today has some professed Christians up in arms.]
8 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name: I have not sent them, says the LORD. [Yet Ezekiel lived amongst them and he was a true prophet!]
10 “For thus says the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
[So what He was saying was don’t listen to anyone who tells you that the captivity will end soon, or that you should rebel against your conditions.]
12 “Then [in the third generation] shall you call upon Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will hearken to you. 13 And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, says the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
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This last paragraph explains why Daniel only now began to pray for deliverance from Babylon. He knew that the time was near, for he had been in exile for nearly that long, and was probably married with grandchildren. But of course, he couldn’t be sure just when God intended the seventy years to start. Maybe it was from the second exile? That would mean at least another ten years. But he did know that it was time for the church to confess its lack of trust, and that he should be its spokesman.
As we read the record of his prayer we’ll find that sometimes he was talking directly to God, and sometimes he appears to be sharing with his companions. (We’re not told who they were, nor if Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were still alive, but we can be sure that this elderly man of God had many disciples.)
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Daniel 9:
3 And I set my face to the LORD God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said,
“O LORD, the great and dreadful [awesome] God, keeping the covenant [agreement] and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments; 5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and from Your judgments: 6 neither have we hearkened to Your servants the prophets, which spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.”
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He did not try to minimise their faults and included himself because he was as guilty as the rest. Even though he was doubtless much better than the average Hebrew, he was in captivity which was evidence of his participation in the group sin. Like Joseph, he had grown-up as a Christian very quickly among the exiles, but that did not cancel out the original cause of the captivity. Only Jeremiah was not tainted with that sin.
Here he admits that they had had plenty of warnings, but that they had ignored them. He knew that God had said, “And now, because you have done all these works, says the LORD, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you heard not; and I called you, but you answered not; therefore will I do to this house, which is called by My name, wherein you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh [the original home of the tabernacle, now in ruins, Joshua 18:1]. And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim”. Jeremiah 7:13-15.
The tribe of Ephraim had had the position and privileges of the firstborn when they left Egypt, but had sinned that away. See Genesis 48:17-20.
To a people who had such great pride in their existence as God’s representatives, and the fact that He had chosen to dwell amongst them in His own house, this was a terrible turn of events. See Exodus 29:45-46.
So the first requisite for an acceptable prayer of confession is to admit that we are in the wrong, and be very specific about where and how. Then we should recognise that because God has had no part in what has happened to us, we deserve the result.
So Daniel continued:
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Daniel 9:
7 “O LORD, righteousness belongs to You, but to us confusion of faces [for we say one thing and do another], as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries where You have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against You.
[The truth that we cause our own problems is often expressed as though God has punished us, but of course, He never punishes or destroys – all these things happen through the natural sequence of righteousness as we have already seen.]
8 “O LORD, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against You.”
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It was just and right that they who were so “confused” should be captives in Babylon, the city of confusion!
Then Daniel reminded his listeners of the important, in fact the only angle, of approach to the Son of God:
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Daniel 9:
9 “To the LORD our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him; 10 neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.”
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The only strength we have in asking for forgiveness is that God WANTS to forgive us. (This is what He has shown us by the body of Christ on the cross.) Although we have been neglectful and even disobedient, if we have not turned away from Him completely, if we are living what we preach, we can claim His mercy as His children and be sure of a favourable response.
Speaking again to his God, Daniel continues:
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Daniel 9:
11 “Yea, all Israel have transgressed Your law, even by departing, that they might not obey Your voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us, and against our judges [leaders] that judged [led] us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon Jerusalem.
13 “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God [till now], that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand Your truth. 14 “Therefore has the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all His works which He does: for we obeyed not His voice.”
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This is what was written in the law:
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Leviticus 26:27-45.
“And if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but walk contrary to Me; then I will walk contrary to you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins . . . And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lies desolate, and you be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. [See Leviticus 25:2-5.] As long as it lies desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your Sabbaths, when you dwelt upon it . . . And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
[It seems that the people had worked the land on the weekly Sabbath so it was poetic justice for such a statement to be made. Of course, the seventy years really depended on the attitude of the people changing, and that took three generations.]
[However] “If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against Me, and that also they have walked contrary to Me; and that I also have [justly] walked contrary to them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity [they needed to receive a new heart in conversion]: then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land . . .
And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD [who changes not].”
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Daniel 9:
15 “And now, O LORD our God, that have brought Your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand [You did it all], and have gotten You renown [in our hearts], as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. 16 O LORD, according to all Your righteousness, I beseech You, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17 “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that is desolate, for the LORD's sake [not because of any righteousness we have done].
18 “O my God, incline Your ear, and hear; open Your eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name: for we do not present our supplications before You for our righteousnesses, but for Your great mercies. 19 O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive; O LORD, hearken and do; defer not, for Your own sake, O my God: for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
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God cannot turn away from an honest child who is sorry for his or her past behaviour. We have the experience of Jacob in his trouble as a picture. “The LORD has also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will He recompense him. He took his brother [Esau] by the heel in the womb [using earthly strength], and [many years later] by his [spiritual] strength he had power with God. Yea, he had power over the Angel, and prevailed: he wept [in his helplessness], and made supplication to Him: he found Him in Bethel [the house of God], and there He spoke with us; even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD [the Son] is His memorial. Therefore turn you to your God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on [rest in] your God continually”. Hosea 12:2-6.
He had already promised that the captivity would only last for 70 years, and now that they had confessed the problem (for this was a group prayer entered into by most of the people of Israel), He was able to fulfil His word.
There was an immediate response:
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Daniel 9:
20 And whiles 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 yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation [around 3pm].
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Gabriel wasted no time, but went right to the heart of the matter, the vision regarding the 2,300 days of the desolation of the sanctuary/temple.
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Daniel 9:
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I am now come forth to give you skill and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show you; for you are greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
24 “Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city,
[1] to finish the transgression,
[2] and to make an end of sins,
[3] and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
[4] and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
[5] and to seal up the vision and prophecy,
[6] and to anoint the Most Holy.”
25 “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 “And after sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 “And He [the Messiah] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
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Wow! We’ll need to look at this very closely next week.
Bye for now,
Ron
Some of the comments in these readings are adapted from books in my library. No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly. All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own.
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Genesis 48:
17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put your right hand upon his head”.
19 And his father refused, and said, “I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations”.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying, “In you shall Israel bless, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’:” and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Back
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Exodus 29:
45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they [and the nations around them] shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God. Back
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Leviticus 25:
2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, “When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to the LORD. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; 4 but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for the LORD: you shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. 5 That which grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, neither gather the grapes of your vine undressed: for it is a year of rest to the land.”
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The seventh-year sabbath of the land was a picture of the whole church’s rest in God. The seventh-day Sabbath is a personal sign of that “rest”. Back
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