DANIEL SIMPLIFIED

 

CHAPTER 9.3

Gleanings from the Book of Daniel:

A Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series

 

DANIEL

Chapter Nine

The Prayer of Daniel

The Prophecy of Seventy Weeks

 

 

Prefix

One of the greatest passages on prayer in the Old Testament is found in Daniel Chapter 9. The people of Israel had been in Babylonian captivity for about 67 years. The scene opens with Daniel reading the scrolls of Jeremiah during the first year under Medo-Persian rule (9:1-2).

 

As he was studying Scripture, Daniel understood God’s prophecy of the seventy-year captivity was about to be fulfilled. So, its imminent fulfillment prompted Daniel to embark on an intercessory prayer that would occupy the first half of the chapter.

 

 

1. The Occasion of the Vision (Vv. 1-2)

2. The Prayer of Daniel (Vv. 3-19)

(Verse 3)

 

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

 

Daniel’s Approach to God

The Preparation for Prayer

Before approaching God in prayer, Daniel went through several motions in a flowing manner:

1. He set his face toward God

Setting one’s face toward God signifies seeking a concentrated focus, attention, or gaze on God and anticipating an answer.

 

2. He sought the Lord through prayer

Seeking God in prayer is to commune with God humbly (see Daniel Simplified 9.1.Introduction).

 

3. He sought the Lord by supplication

Apart from the prayer itself, supplicating is simply requesting or petitioning God for something specific. 

 

Next, Daniel reinforced his attitude toward God through three symbolic gestures:

1.   With fasting

Fasting is a voluntary discipline before God. It is a denial of physical necessities to keep one’s mind unencumbered.

 

For example: On a noted occasion, when the Temple had been restored after the Captivity, Ezra and company prayed for travel mercies back to Jerusalem:

Ezra 8:23 - So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer (NKJV).

 

2.   With sackcloth

Sackcloth was a traditional token of grief, a reminder that the penitent was unworthy to approach God. It consisted of a coarse bag or sack usually made of goat or camel hair.  

 

A well-known example is described in Nehemiah. During the Feast of Tabernacles, while back in the Land, the children of Israel prayed in this fashion:

Nehemiah 9:1 - Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

 

3.   With ashes

Ashes, as a token of grief, were taken from a burnt building or an animal. Ashes normally placed on the head were intended to let God know one’s feelings.

 

Here is an example found in the book of Jonah. After national repentance, the king of Nineveh disrobed and prayed to God:

Jonah 3:6 - For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

 

All three are outward acts of contrition to express humility, deep sorrow, or remorse before submitting to petition God. In effect, they are not only a way of concentration, but also a means to gain God’s attention.

 

Understanding Israel’s Punishment

Because of disobedience to God’s precepts, idolatry, and a willful failure to observe the sabbatical year law, the Israelites were removed from their land and were permitted to be taken captive by the Babylonians for 70 Years.

2 Chronicles 36:21 - The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation, it rested until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah (NIV).

 

The Sabbath

According to the Law of Moses, the Sabbath was a day of rest for the Hebrew people. It served to distinguish the Jews from the Gentiles.

 

This day was a day of rest and refreshing. Modeled after God's seven days of creation, the Sabbath was blessed and set apart unto God, for on that seventh day He rested (cf. Genesis 2:2-3). Spiritually, the Sabbath Day is an introspective time to contemplate the beauty and work of His creation (see Psalm 19:1).

 

The Sabbatical Year (Shemittah)

Being an agrarian culture, Hebrew legislation ruled that every seventh year a farmer was to let his fields rest and lie fallow after six years of production (cf. Exodus 23:10-2). God provided enough grain for two years just as He did manna for the sixth and seventh days of their wilderness journey (cf. Exodus 16:22-27).

 

The seven-year cycle would continue seven times. After the 49 years were completed, in the fiftieth year, known as the Year of Jubilee, all rented or mortgaged properties were to be returned to their original owners, and all slaves were returned to their original families (cf. Leviticus 25:10).

 

Israel’s Disobedience

For 490 years, the Hebrews did not keep the Sabbaths of the land, even though God's prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel warned them, they did not harken unto them. As a result, God allowed the Hebrew people to be taken into captivity by the Babylonians for every year (70 years) they failed to keep His law.

 

Daniel was reading Jeremiah’s prophecy when he understood the time of Israel’s captivity was nearing its end.

Jeremiah 29:10-14 - For thus saith 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. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

 

It was upon this reading Daniel began his lengthy intercessory prayer to God.

 

 

(Verse 4)

 

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.

 

With a contrite heart, Daniel begins his appeal to the God of Israel (Yahweh) with a confession. He recognized not only sin in his life but also the sins of God’s people. And notice, Daniel, addressed Him in a personal way by saying, “My God.”

 

Secondly, Daniel acknowledges God in several ways;

1. He is the great God – the one true God

2. He is a dreadful God – worthy of reverence

3. He is a covenantal God – faithful to keep His promises

4. He is a merciful God – forbearance of just punishment

a.  To those who love Him

b.  To those who keep His commandments  

 

Daniel employs a quote from Deuteronomy which is later used in Nehemiah:

Deuteronomy 7:9 - Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.

 

Nehemiah 1:5 - And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible (awesome) God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments.

 

 

(Verse 5)

 

We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments.

 

In his appeal to God, Daniel identifies himself with the sin of the nation. As he contrasts the goodness and grace of God from the previous verse with the sins of Israel, he specifically lists them forthwith:

1. We have committed iniquity (evil)

2. We have done wickedly (immorally, wrongly) in Your sight

3. We have rebelled against You

4. We have departed from Your precepts (commandments)

5. We have departed from Your judgments (ordinances)

 

 

(Verse 6)

 

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.

 

Daniel continues by contrasting God’s faithfulness to Israel’s unfaithfulness. He also declared no one listened to the servants of God He had sent (i.e., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, etc.).

 

Then Daniel catalogs those who turned their ears away from God’s prophets:

1. The kings of Israel

2. The princes of Israel

3. The fathers or elders of Israel

4. The entire populace of Israel

 

 

(Verse 7)

 

O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and 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.

 

Next, Daniel contrasts the righteousness that belongs to God with the guilty and shame that belongs to his people. The expression, confusion of faces simply means their hearts were full of shame and it showed on their faces (shamefaced, public disgrace).

 

Because of their unfaithfulness and iniquities, their 70 years of captivity chastisement caused open shame to God’s people including:

1. The men of Judah

2. The inhabitants of Jerusalem

3. The recipients of the Diaspora

 

Daniel knew that confession of sin is a requisite to a successful prayer life. And, by His grace, the blessings from God are normally the result.

 

 

Daniel continues the confession of their sins and the plea for God’s mercy in the forthcoming verses.

 

 

QUESTIONS:

1. What was Daniel doing that caused him to pray?

2. What did Daniel do before he prayed?

3. How long is the Sabbath year?

4. How long is the Sabbatical year?

5. Why did God permit Israel to go into captivity?

6. What were Israel’s sins against God?

7. “__________ belongs to God.”

 

 

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