Daniel 9
McGeeCHAPTER 9THEME: The prayer of Daniel; prophecy of the Seventy WeeksThis is another one of those remarkable chapters in Scripture. Dr. Philip Newell evaluates it, “The greatest chapter in the book and one of the greatest chapters of the entire Bible.” The double theme is prayer and prophecy. If one were to choose the ten greatest chapters of the Bible on the subject of prayer, this chapter would be included on any list. If the ten most important chapters on prophecy were chosen, this chapter would again be included on any list. The first 21 verses give us the prayer of Daniel, and the final 6 verses give us the very important prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.
Daniel 9:1
THE PRAYER OF DANIELThis prayer of Daniel is actually a culmination of a life of prayer. Daniel asked for a prayer meeting to learn the dream of Nebuchadnezzar at the beginning of the book, and he has been a man of prayer all the way through. The prayer in this chapter gives the pattern of his prayer life and acquaints us with the conditions of prayer. Here are some of the basic elements in the prescription of prayer. Purposeful Planning. Prayer was no haphazard matter with Daniel. He wrote, “And I set my face upon the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes” (v. Dan_9:3). Prayer was not just a repetition of idle words or the putting together of pretty phrases with flowery grammar. The Lord Jesus said, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (Mat_6:7). Such is not real prayer. Painful Performance. Daniel prayed with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. This was not done for outward show but to reveal the sincerity of his heart. One doesn’t see many prayer meetings like that today. Perfect Plainness. Daniel was candid and straightforward in his confession. He got right down to business with God. There is the story of a preacher in a Scottish prayer meeting who got up and started one of his long-winded prayers. Finally a dear old lady pulled his coattail and said, “Parson, call Him ‘Father’ and ask Him for something.” We need more plainness in prayer. Powerful Petition. Daniel received an answer while he was speaking and praying. The angel Gabriel appeared to him to give him some explanation. This man got answers to his prayers. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (1Jn_5:14). Personal and Private. Daniel did not call a public prayer meeting; he prayed privately. This prayer of his is of three minutes’ duration. Our Lord often prayed privately. His prayer which is recorded in John 17 is also three minutes long. There are many of us who want to call a public prayer meeting when we ought to spend more time in private prayer. Plenary (full) Penetration. Prayer is the only force that has penetrated outer space to the throne of God. Sir Isaac Newton said that he could take up a telescope and look at the nearest star, but he could put down the telescope, get down on his knees and penetrate the outer heavens to the very throne of God. Prayer for Daniel was a real exercise of soul in spiritual travail. Such prayer is arduous work. It requires effort and endurance and suffering. “First year of Darius …of the seed of the Medes.” The two significant questions are: Who was Darius and what was the date? Darius the Mede may be identified as Cyaxares II of secular history (Dan_5:31). “Darius” is more an official title, such as king, czar, or emperor, than an actual name. There has been some disagreement as to the exact date. Newell thinks it Isaiah 538 B.C.; Culber places it at 536 B.C. I think either date would fit into the background. This man conquered Babylon in 538 B.C.
Daniel 9:2
This is in the first year of the reign of Darius. Daniel has now seen a new great world empire come into position, and he is wondering about the future and especially the future of his own people. So Daniel turns to a study of the Word of God. He reads the book of the prophet Jeremiah who said that Israel would be in captivity for seventy years. The date is about 537 B.C. in this chapter. Daniel is between eighty-five and ninety years of age. He had been captured back in 606 B.C. when he was about seventeen. That means that the seventy-year period is coming to a close. It is about the time that these people will be given the opportunity to return to their own land. Daniel was concerned about his people. I think he was shaken by that little horn in chapter 8, Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king of the Seleucid dynasty. He would abuse Daniel’s people, and he would desecrate the temple. All of this caused Daniel great concern. We should notice that the determining factor which brought Daniel to this prayer was his study of the Word of God. The Word reveals the will of God. A study of God’s Word, followed by prayer, is the formula for determining God’s will. These are the promises which Daniel read: “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Jer_25:11). “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” (Jer_29:10). Keep in mind that Daniel had been studying Jeremiah’s prophecy about these seventy years. When Gabriel used the expression, “seventy weeks” (v. Dan_9:24), he was extending the time of the seventy years. The Seventy Weeks will cover the entire time of the nation Israel in this time of testing before the Kingdom is established on earth. Just reading Daniel’s prayer reveals how different prayer was in his day from what it is now. Notice first the conditions
Daniel 9:3
“To seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting.” We are told that the Lord Jesus fasted, but fasting was never given to the people of God as a service. It was something that one could do over and above what was required. It is mentioned that in the early church there were many who fasted. Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2Co_11:27). Daniel demonstrated a purposeful persistence in prayer. Even Jacob in his prayer cried, “…I will not let thee go, except thou bless me” (Gen_32:26). This prayer of Daniel is very personal. It concerns him and his people, which is evident by the repeated use of the first person pronouns, I, we, and our. They appear forty-one times in this prayer. You may remember that we pointed out how Nebuchadnezzar used the personal pronoun in chapter 4. What is the difference? For Nebuchadnezzar it was a mark of pride, a mark of being lifted up. The contrast of Daniel’s use of the personal pronoun is striking. It denotes humility, confession, and “confusion of faces” in contrast to Nebuchadnezzar’s pride and self-adulation. Daniel is down on his face before God. He recognizes the attributes of God. First we see that he rests upon his personal relationship to God. He calls Him, “My God,” appealing to God in a very personal way. Before he makes his confession, he dwells on the greatness of God. “Dreadful God” actually means worthy of reverence. One cannot trifle with God. Daniel acknowledges that God keeps the covenant and mercy to them that love Him. He not only makes promises, but He keeps them. He is immutable and, therefore, He is faithful. He is also a God of mercy. It was by His mercy that the nation Israel had been preserved. It is by His mercy that you and I have been brought to this present moment. It is by His mercy that He saves us. “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not” (Lam_3:22). God is gracious, but God also expects us to mean business, and God expects to be obeyed. Now notice Daniel’s confession of sin
Daniel 9:5
“We have sinned.” Daniel identifies himself with his people back there in the land of Israel when they rebelled against God, which resulted in their captivity. He is specific in his confession. He labels each sin: iniquity, wickedness, rebellion, disobedience, and refusal to hear God’s prophets. He writes them all down. He doesn’t leave any out. My friend, I believe that our confession of sin requires exactly that. It isn’t enough to go to God and say, “I have sinned.” Confession means to tell God exactly what we have done. When my wife sends me to the grocery store, she doesn’t say, “Get some groceries.” She always gives me a list of items. I am to get this, get that, and get the other thingand four or five more things. I have to go through that list. And I feel that confession of sins should be that specific. Spell it out to Him. Maybe we don’t like to do that because it is an ugly thing. But spell it out to Him; He already knows how ugly it is. We need to come to Him in frank, open confession.
Daniel 9:7
“All Israel, that are near, and that are far off.” The people of Israel were scattered, but there were no lost tribesit is a misnomer to call them that. Some of the tribes were near Daniel there in Babylon and others were far off, but he knew where they were. He didn’t say they were lost. But they were scattered “through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.”
Daniel 9:8
Up to this point have you noticed how Daniel contrasted God’s goodness with Israel’s sin? He contrasted His righteousness with their “confusion of face” which was their shame. They were scattered because of their trespass against God. They deserved the punishment they had received. God was righteous in sending them into captivity. God was right; they were wrong. Oh, my friend, if you go to God and make excuses for your sin, if you say to Him, “Lord, you know that I am weak and I was in this and that circumstance,” you are blaming your sin upon God. You are saying that God made a mistakeHe should have taken those things into consideration. He has been too hard on you! My friend, you and I are getting exactly what we deserve. And we need to go to God in confession of our sin. In our day I hear folk implying that God may be wrong in what He is doing. God is not wrong; we are the ones who are wrong. Daniel’s attitude is the proper attitude that each of us should take as we approach our God in prayer. God will not utterly forsake us, but He certainly is not going to move on our behalf until you and I get to the place where we can claim the mercy of God and stop making excuses for ourselves.
Daniel 9:15
This is Daniel’s petition and plea. He recalls how God led Israel out of Egypt. God did it because of His righteousness, not because of theirs. He found the explanation for their deliverance in Himself, not in the people. “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them” (Exo_2:24-25). The only thing that made an appeal to God from the people was their groaning. In other words, God saw their misery, and He remembered His mercy. Now Daniel asks God to repeat Himself by delivering them again because of His righteousness. God is righteous when He extends His mercy to us, because Jesus Christ has fully paid all the penalty for our sin. “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom_3:26). Now notice Daniel’s impassioned plea
Daniel 9:19
This is the climactic plea of Daniel. He asks God to hear and answer because of who He is and what He has promised. No good thing rests upon Israel. Daniel doesn’t plead because he is Daniel. Rather, he associates himself with his people and says, “We have sinned,” including himself, you see. God’s name is at stake, and Daniel is deeply concerned about the name of God and the glory of God. This is the basis for his plea. Now we shall see that while Daniel was praying, an answer was on its way.
Daniel 9:20
“Whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin.” Notice Daniel says, “my sin.” Daniel confessed that he was a sinner. It is interesting that there is no place in the Bible which mentions any sin that Daniel committed. In fact, when his enemies were trying to find some wrongdoing in his life, they could find nothingand we may be sure that they left no stone unturned. Now I have often made the statement that no one has ever been saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. And I have suggested that if anybody knew of someone in the Old Testament who was saved by keeping the Ten Commandments to let me know about it. Well, one night after a service in which I had said that no one in the Old Testament was ever saved by keeping the Ten Commandments, a UCLA student came up to me and said, “I found a man in the Old Testament who didn’t sin. It’s Daniel.” I told him very frankly that he was right. One cannot find a recorded sin which Daniel committed. Then I showed him this verse where Daniel says, “I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin.” If Daniel had never sinned but said that he was confessing his sin, then he would be lying to say he was confessing sin if, in fact, he had never sinned!
So Daniel is a sinner, any way you take it. I think the UCLA student was convinced that the Bible is correct when it says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom_3:23, italics mine). Now if you are wondering what sin Daniel committed, let me say that it is none of your business, and it is none of my business. God did not record it in His Word. So Daniel was a sinner, and I can still say that no one was ever saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. Daniel was casting himself and his people upon the mercy of God. “Presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God"which would be Jerusalem and the Kingdom of God that will be there (see Isa_2:1-2).
Daniel 9:21
“The man Gabriel"Gabriel was an angel and apparently appeared in human form. The time of his appearance was at the hour of the evening sacrifice at Jerusalem, which would be approximately three o’clock in the afternoon.
Daniel 9:22
PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKSNow here is the prophecy delivered by Gabriel which makes this chapter of such great importance in the study of eschatology. Notice that Daniel gets an immediate answer to his prayer. I heard Dr. Gaebelein say that it took him three minute to read Daniel’s prayer in Hebrew. By the time Daniel finished his prayer, the angel Gabriel was there. So Dr. Gaebelein reasoned and explained with a twinkle in his eye, “It took Gabriel three minutes to get from heaven to earth.” Of course, if Daniel had his eyes closed while he was praying, it may be that Gabriel was standing on one foot and then on the other for two minutes, waiting for Daniel to get finished. The Lord God has promised, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isa_65:24). Note that Daniel was “greatly beloved” in heaven. That is wonderful. The believer in Jesus Christ is seen by God as being in Christ. According to Eph_1:6 we are accepted in the Belovedso the believer is loved in heaven because he is in Christ.
Daniel 9:24
“Seventy weeks” does not mean weeks of seven days any more than it means weeks of seven years or seven other periods of time. The Hebrew word for “seven” is shabua, meaning “a unit of measure.” It would be comparable to our word dozen. When it stands alone, it could be a dozen of anythinga dozen eggs, a dozen bananas. So here, Seventy Weeks means seventy sevens. It could be seventy sevens of anything. It could be units of days or months or years.
In the context of this verse it is plain that Daniel has been reading in Jeremiah about years, seventy years. Jeremiah had been preaching and writing that the captivity would be for seventy years. The seventy years of captivity were the specific penalty for violating seventy sabbatic years. That would be seventy sevens, a total of 490 years. In those 490 years, Israel had violated exactly seventy sabbatic years; so they would go into captivity for seventy years. “To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years” (2Ch_36:21). 1 week = 7 years 70 weeks = 490 years 70 weeks divided into 3 periods: 7 weeks62 weeks1 week Now Daniel was puzzled as to how the end of the seventy years of captivity would fit into the long period of Gentile world dominion which the visions in chapters 7 and 8 had so clearly indicated. He obviously thought that at the end of the seventy years his people would be returned to the land, the promised Messiah would come, and the Kingdom which had been promised to David would be established. How could both be true? It appeared to him, I am sure, to be an irreconcilable situation created by these seemingly contradictory prophecies. The Seventy Weeks, or the seventy sevens, answer two questions. Israel’s kingdom will not come immediately. The seventy sevens must run their course. These seventy sevens fit into the Times of the Gentiles and run concurrently with them. They are broken up to fit into gentile times. The word for determined literally means “cutting off.” These seventy sevens are to be cut off, as the following verses will indicate. The seventy sevens for Israel and the Times of the Gentiles will both come to an end at the same time, that is, at the second coming of Christ. This is important to know for the correct understanding of the prophecy. The Seventy Weeks concern “thy people,” meaning the people of Daniel. That would be Israel. And they concern “the holy city,” which can be none other than Jerusalem. Six things are to be accomplished in those Seventy Weeks or 490 years. We will see as we progress in our study that sixty-nine of those “weeks” have already passed, and one “week” is yet to be fulfilled. Here are the six things to be accomplished:
- “To finish the transgression.” This refers to the transgression of Israel. The cross provided the redemption for sinfor the sin of the nation, but not all accepted it. Today the word has gone out to the ends of the earth that there is a redemption for mankind. But in that last “week” we are told that God says, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications …” (Zec_12:10). And in Zec_13:1: “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” That has not been opened yet. All you have to do is to look at the land of Israel and you will know this has not been fulfilled.
- “To make an end of sins.” The national sins of Israel will come to an end at the second coming of Christ. They are just like any other people or any other nation. They are sinners as individuals and as a nation. They have made many mistakes as a nation (so have we), but God will make an end to that.
- “To make reconciliation for iniquity.” During this period of Seventy Weeks, God has provided a redemption through the death and resurrection of Christ. This, of course, is for Jew and Gentile alike.
- “And to bring in everlasting righteousness” refers to the return of Christ at the end of the 490 years to establish the Kingdom.
- “To seal up the vision and prophecy” means that all will be fulfilled, which will vindicate this prophecy as well as all other prophecies in Scripture.
- “To anoint the most Holy” has reference to the anointing of the holy of holies in the millennial temple about which Ezekiel spoke (Ezek. 41-46).
Daniel 9:25
The starting point for this period of 490 years is essential to the correct understanding of the prophecy. Since this period is projected into the Times of the Gentiles, it must fit into secular history and originate from some date connected with the Times of the Gentiles. Of course there have been many suggestions for a starting point: the decree of Cyrus (see Ezr_1:1-4); the decree of Darius (see Ezr_6:1-12); the decree of Artaxerxesat the seventh year of his reign (Ezr_7:11-26); but I feel that the decree of Artaxerxes in the twentieth year of his reign (Neh_2:1-8) meets the requirements of verse Dan_9:25. The commandment to rebuild the city of Jerusalem was issued in the month Nisan 445 B.C. That, then, will be our starting point. The first seven weeks of forty-nine years bring us to 397 B.C. and to Malachi and the end of the Old Testament. These were “troublous times,” as witnessed by both Nehemiah and Malachi. Sixty-two weeks, or 434 years, bring us to the Messiah. Sir Robert Anderson in his book, The Coming Prince, has worked out the time schedule. From the first of the month Nisan to the tenth of Nisan (April 6) B.C. 32, Isaiah 173,880 days. Dividing them according to the Jewish year of 360 days, he arrives at 483 years (69 sevens). On this day Jesus rode into Jerusalem, offering Himself for the first time, publicly and officially, as the Messiah. After the 69 weeks, or 483 years, there is a time break. Between the sixty-ninth and Seventieth Week two events of utmost importance are to take place:
- Messiah will be cut off. This was the crucifixion of Christ, the great mystery and truth of the gospel: “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” (Mat_16:21). “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (Joh_3:15).
- Destruction of Jerusalem, which took place in B.C. 70, when Titus the Roman was the instrument. The final “week” (the seventieth), a period of seven years, is projected into the future and does not follow chronologically the other sixty-nine. The time gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks is the age of graceunknown to the prophets (Eph_3:1-12; 1Pe_1:10-12). The Seventieth Week is eschatological; it is the final period and is yet unfulfilled. “The prince” is a Roman; he is the “little horn” of Daniel 7; he is “the beast” of Revelation 13. After the church is removed from the earth, he will make a covenant with Israel. Israel will accept him as her Messiah, but in the midst of the “week” he will break his covenant by placing an image in the temple (Rev. 13). This is the abomination of desolation. What Israel thought to be the Millennium will turn out to be the Great Tribulation (Mat_24:15-26). Only the coming of Christ can end this frightful period (Mat_24:27-31). My friend, you and I are living in the age of grace, and the Seventieth Week of Daniel, the Great Tribulation, as the Lord Jesus called it, is yet to take place.