Year 2, Week 24, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 24, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Daniel 9.

Today’s reading continues in the Book of Daniel. Daniel and many others were among the first wave who were taken into Babylonian captivity. These deportations occurred somewhere around 605 BC. Daniel’s prophetic ministry continued for about seventy years as his last known prophecy was given in about 536 BC. The episodes of Daniel and his friends fill Daniel 1-6. Daniel 7-12 are primarily visions that the LORD granted to Daniel in exile, visions that had both imminent and distant fulfillments. Daniel 9, which occurred around 539 BC, records what Daniel found in the writings of the prophet Jeremiah: “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years” (Daniel 9:1-2). As Daniel read that the Babylonian captivity would last seventy years, and that sixty-six of those years had transpired, Daniel prayed: “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was how the focus of Daniel’s prayer was for mercy: “O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name” (Daniel 9:18-19). Daniel had just witnessed a significant regime change as the Medo-Persian empire had just toppled the Babylonian empire. It is in this context that Daniel turns to the writings of Jeremiah to try and discern how long his captivity would last. Jeremiah explained: “This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste” (Jeremiah 25:11-12). This Word stirred Daniel to pray.

The content comprising Daniel’s prayer for mercy had two primary components. First, Daniel’s prayer contained a clear confession of sin: “we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. 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” (Daniel 9:5-6). This confession of sin, which was a corporate confession, included acknowledgment of shame: “To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel…To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you” (Daniel 9:7-8).

The second component of Daniel’s prayer contained a strong acknowledgement of God’s faithfulness: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments…To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness…Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly” (Daniel 9:4,9a,14-15). Daniel’s hope was sourced in the LORD’s character and his prayer for mercy was rooted in the LORD’s merciful nature toward His people.

Gabriel was sent with a response while Daniel was praying: “While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice” (Daniel 9:20-21). Daniel would receive another vision in the context of his prayer for mercy; and the motivation behind this vision was the LORD’s love for Daniel: “At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision” (Daniel 9:23).

The vision that Daniel experienced concerned a final outworking of the LORD’s plans to successful atone for His people’s sins and therefore to fully restore them: “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place” (Daniel 9:24). The details of this vision of seventy weeks is hard to fully decipher as it breaks down the seventy weeks into three segments, which consist of seven sevens, sixty-two sevens, and one seven. These weeks reflect a period of years that can be traced from Daniel’s time through the close of the Old Testament to the years surrounding the ministry of Christ. And while it is a challenge to determine all the details, it may be helpful to keep in mind that what Daniel is being told is the LORD’s plan to “put an end to sin,” and “bring everlasting righteousness.” It is these points that we must not miss.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe