Lesson: Daniel 9:4-14
Golden Text: “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him”(Daniel 9:9).
INTRODUCTION. If God informed you that Christ was returning tomorrow, you would probably make an assessment of your own spiritual condition as well as that of your family, your church, or your nation. After making that assessment you most likely would conclude that you and others were not as ready for the return of Christ as you should be. That’s the way it was with Daniel. After reading the portion of Jeremiah’s prophecy that dealt with the time frame for God to visit His people in captivity and deliver them from exile (see Daniel 9:2, Jeremiah 25:11-12;29:10-11), Daniel knew that neither he nor his fellow Hebrews were spiritually ready to return to their homeland. Therefore, Daniel decided to do something about that. He prayed a prayer of confession. While Daniel was not personally responsible for the fall of Judah, he nonetheless felt some accountability for the plight of his people. Consequently, he confessed the sins of the nation to Yahweh.
II. CONFESSION OF SIN (Daniel 9:4-8). How did the Hebrews fall into Babylonian Captivity? After the death of king Solomon, Israel split into two separate nations.As a result of their disobedience, the northern kingdom, called Israel, fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Over a century later, the southern kingdom, which didn’t learn anything from the fall of the northern kingdom, fell to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. However, before the actual destruction of Jerusalem, captives were taken in 605 and 597. Daniel was among the best and the brightest of the Jews taken in the first deportation (see Daniel 1:3-4). In Daniel 9:2-3, the prophet remembered Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning the Babylonian Captivity and how long it would last. This prompted Daniel to prepare himself for prayer with fasting, and sackcloth and ashes (see Daniel 9:3).This was during the reign of Darius the Mede called the “king over the realm of the Chaldeans” in verse 1.This means that he was king over the former Babylonian Empire.
A. Repentance (Daniel 9:4). Since Daniel had been in Babylon for many years, after reading Jeremiah’s prophecy he realized that the time for the Jews to be released and return to their homeland was coming soon. Not wanting anything to hinder the Jews deliverance from captivity, Daniel said “And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments.” First, Daniel began by recognizing God’s awesome nature as he identified Him as “the great and dreadful God.” The word “dreadful” here means “awesome.” Daniel also described God as always keeping the covenant with His people while showing them mercy. Based on what Jehovah had done for them (see Exodus 10:1-2), Israel was obligated to obey or “keep His commandments” (see Exodus 20:3-17). We must remember that obedience does not create a relationship with God; instead obedience should be the result of an already established relationship with God. Daniel began his prayer by recognizing who God is. That’s most important to a having a proper view of prayer.
B. Rebellion (Daniel 9:5-6).
1. (vs. 5). After Daniel acknowledged who the Lord was, he began confessing the sins of the nation. He said “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.” Notice that the prophet said “We have sinned.”Daniel was including himself in his prayer indicating that he considered himself as both part of the problem and part of the solution. If any Israelite was righteous, it was Daniel.Nevertheless, he was willing to take responsibility for what had befallen Judah, and he offered this prayer of repentance.Note: Too often we tend to see all the problems in our nation, families, and churches as somebody else’s fault.Maybe if we included ourselves in our prayers, like Daniel, it may help us see that we are not just innocent victims.Daniel identified the sins of the people as iniquity, wickedness, rebellion and “departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.”Yes,all sin is serious but sins involving direct disobedience to explicit divine commands are especially atrocious.
2. (vs. 6). Daniel continued to pray saying “Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.” In addition to the sins mentioned in verse 5, Daniel here added the fact that Israel didn’t listen to God’s “servants the prophets.” Of course Daniel was a prophet himself (see Mark 13:14), but he was referring to those prophets who came before him, and who had called upon the leaders and people to repent. Unfortunately, these servants of God were ignored by both the leaders and the people and some were even killed and martyred (see Hebrews 11:32-38). Sadly, not much has changed in today’s world. The preaching of the gospel is demeaned and ignored by many. Anyone who tries to tell people the right way to live and warn them about the coming judgment is considered old-fashioned and narrow-minded.
C. Righteousness (Daniel 9:7-8).
1. (vs. 7). As his prayer continued, Daniel said “O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.” The prophet acknowledged that “righteousness belongeth unto” God but Israel had “confusion of faces.” In other words, God’s people were covered with shame because of their sins. Daniel made it clear that the situation the Jews were in was due to the choices made by both Judah and Israel’s leaders and the people whom God had allowed to be driven to faraway lands.The choice they all made was that “they have trespassed against”God.This being said, what can we expect to happen to our Christian nation as we continue to ignore God? Let’s be mindful that if God brought disaster upon Israel for her sins, can we expect any better treatment?Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”For sure, it’s grievous when our political leaders disregard God’s Word, but it is even more grievous when our church leaders “call evil good, and good evil” (see Isaiah 5:20).
2. (vs. 8). Israel’s sins were so hideous that Daniel repeated what he said in the previous verse, “O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.” Again reiterating how everyone was guilty, their forefathers, the current Jewish population and all its rulers.
III. COMPASSION TOWARD SINNERS (Daniel 9:9-10)
A. (vs. 9). Now Daniel recognized God’s mercy and forgiveness. He prayed “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.” Even though His people “rebelled against him” the Lord was still full of “mercies and forgivenesses.” Overshadowing the sins of the people was the “mercy” or compassion of the Lord. Even when He gave the law at Mount Sinai, Yahweh (Jehovah) declared that He would show “mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (see Exodus 20:6).
B. (vs. 10). Daniel, still confessing the sins of the people, including his own went on to say that “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.” The Word of the Lord came to the Israelites by “his servants the prophets” yet the people didn’t obey nor live according to His commandments. The fact that the Lord sent prophets to warn the people was an expression of His mercy (see II Chronicles 36:15-16). Note: The fact that this generation of Jews was suffering the consequences of the sins of their fathers is confirmation of what God said in Exodus 20:5 that for those who worshipped false gods the Lord would be“visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”To be sure, children don’t bear the personal guilt and responsibility for the sins of their ancestors (see Deuteronomy 24:16; Ezekiel 18:20), but they do suffer the consequences. That’s what makes sin so terrible. Our personal sins can have a wide effect. Daniel was godly but he was still carried away captive as a young person.
IV. CONSEQUENCES OF SIN (Daniel 9:11-14)
A. Divine curse (Daniel 9:11-12).
1. (vs. 11). Daniel went on to say “Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy 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.” Using the phrase “all Israel have transgressed thy law” Daniel was referring to every descendant of Jacob as breaking the Law of Moses and not obeying God’s voice. As a result of this disobedience, Daniel said “therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses.” This curse mentioned in Daniel’s prayer refers to the curses for disobedience God said would fall upon Israel found in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. Among these curses was agricultural blight, pestilence, drought, sickness, military defeat, and enslavement. These and more would fall on Israel because as Daniel said “we have sinned against him (God).” Note: The fact that the northern tribes, called Israel, fell long before Judah, the southern tribes, should have been a warning heeded by Judah. But instead, Jeremiah had to rebuke them for trusting in the presence of the temple to save them (see Jeremiah 7:1-4; 26:12-15). Even after some of the Jews had been carried away to Babylon, the people thought that their time there would be brief and that Jerusalem would not be destroyed. False prophets kept reassuring them that all was well (see Ezekiel 13:1-3, 9-10, 16), when clearly it was not.
2. (vs. 12). The prophet here said “And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.” The Lord had “confirmed his words, which he spake against us” means that God had kept His promise that with the breaking of the law there would be punishment. Indeed the disobedience of the people and the “judges (their leaders) that judged us” had brought such disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah that it prompted Daniel to say that “for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.” In other words, Daniel could not think of any other suffering that took place that could compare to the suffering that they were experiencing in exile. This should remind us of how important it is to admit our sinfulness before the Lord (see I John 1:7-2:2).
B. Divine appeal (Daniel 9:13-14).
1. (vs. 13). In this portion of his prayer of confession Daniel was again reminded of the law and said “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, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.” Daniel was aware that all the evil that had come upon Israel was written in the Law of Moses, yet Israel didn’t call upon the Lord to pardon their sins. The truth of the matter is that the people didn’t want to turn from their iniquities; they didn’t want to “understand thy (God’s) truth.” We must always remember that everything we do or say we do it or say it by choice. No one can make us do wrong. The devil can influence us, but he cannot make us do anything. He has no power over God’s people (see I John 4:4).
2. (vs. 14). Daniel’s prayer of confession continued through verse 19, but here Daniel prayed “Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.” The phrase “the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us” means that God kept the calamity that would fall on the nation ready for the proper time. He knew it would be necessary. Many people might see this treatment of Israel as unfair, but Daniel understood that it was justified because “God is righteous in all his works which he doeth.” In other words, everything the Lord does is right and good. Note: It was more important for God to retain His integrity and uphold His moral law than it was for His guilty people to escape the consequences of their unfaithfulness. If God does not fulfill every word of His judgment, then we wouldn’t have any reason to believe His word of grace. Yes God is a God of grace but He is also a God who judges fairly.
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