Daniel 9:1-2, Reading Jeremiah
In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
Daniel is must now be quite old. He entered palace administration as a youth, shortly after the conquest of Jerusalem. And now close to seventy years have passed.
Daniel is reading in the scroll of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was not highly viewed by the leaders in Judah before the Babylonian conquest, because of his depressing predictions. But, after the conquest, his writings survived, surely because they were accurate.
Daniel is probably reading Jeremiah 25:8-14 or Jeremiah 29:10-14. (The passage in Jeremiah 29 is part of a letter to the exiles.)
Daniel 9:3-6, Petition, fasting, sackcloth and ashes
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
"O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 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's response to the prophecy of Jeremiah is interesting. He begins a very serious fasting and praying regime. He prays that the sins of Judah which led to the conquest will be forgiven. Ultimately, Daniel will ask that the people of Israel be allowed to go home. This is the only time (say both House and Archer) where Daniel uses God's covenant name of YHWH.
Daniel 9:7-14, Covered with shame
"Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.
All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. "Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.
Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.
Daniel's prayer recounts the reasons for the previous judgments against Israel. Daniel admits that the former people of Israel, now exiles, have still not fully submitted to God -- there may be a concern that the 70 year period will be extended.
During the Exodus and the wandering in the desert, the Israelites were warned that if they failed to follow YHWH, they would be turned over to enemy nations for judgment, yet a remnant would be remembered. (See Leviticus 26, for example. The promise of a remnant appears there in verses 44-45. A similar passage occurs in Deuteronomy 30:1-10. There verse 4 promises the return to the original land.)
House argues that prayer is a theme of the book of Daniel. Looking past the exciting stories of lions and fiery furnaces, we have a consistent steady prayer response of Daniel at each turn. This event is not different. Daniel pleads, as a representative of his people, that God forgive his nation and allow them to return home.
Daniel 9:15-19, Hear and act!
"Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.
O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
"Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.
O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."
Daniel's prayer and worship continue. It includes a plea for mercy and forgiveness for his people.
In Deuteronomy 4:34 and in many other places in the Old Testament, during or after the exodus (eg. Exodus 6:6), YHWH is described as defeating Egypt "with a mighty hand and outstretched arm". In some passages the phrase is shortened. Here the shortened form is "with a mighty hand."
Daniel 9:20-23, Gabriel
While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.
He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:
Gabriel, who had appeared in the last chapter, appears again. This time Gabriel appears while Daniel is still praying. Gabriel addresses Daniel as "highly esteemed"; Daniel seems to be given significant priority in the response.
Gabriel's appearance occurs "about the time of the evening sacrifice." Does this simply provide a time or was Daniel still able to do sacrifices while in Babylon?
Daniel 9:24, To finish transgressions
"Seventy `sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
Gabriel explains that a long period of time still remains, "seventy sevens", in order to:
- finish transgressions,
- put an end to sin
- atone for wickedness
- bring in everlasting righteousness
- seal up vision and prophecy
- anoint the most holy.
The most natural interpretation is that the "sevens" are periods of seven years, although this need not be taken as literal calendar years. The end of this period will bring in some permanent changes, an "end of sin", the reign of "everlasting righteousness" and the anointment of the "most holy." The full transformation is presumably still in the future.
Daniel 9:25-27, The sevens
"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven `sevens,' and sixty-two `sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
After the sixty-two `sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one `seven.' In the middle of the `seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
Although the NIV adds "of the temple" to the word wing in verse 27, Archer argues that the wing could be a "figure for the vulturelike role of the Antichrist as he swoops down...."
The judgment described in Jeremiah included 70 years of captivity. 70 is one of the important Old Testament numbers, the perfect 7 multiplied by a completed 10 (which was the base of the ancient numbering system.) Now there will be 70 7s (or 7 70s?) to complete the "atonement for wickedness." Somehow this 70 sevens break into 62+7+1/2+1/2 sevens....
There have been numerous attempts to equate the chronology of this chapter with a historical timeline. These attempts were numerous by the time Jerome commented on them in 400 AD! (Archer, p. 120.) Of particular interest is the end of the first 69 "weeks" of years, that is 483 years after "the decree to rebuild and restore Jerusalem." In one version of this (suggests Baldwin) the timeline begins with Jeremiah's prophecy and the 62 sevens end with the murder of high priest Onias in 171 BC and the entire prophecy ends with the death of Antiochus IV and restoration of the temple in Jerusalem in 164 BC. The math there does not quite work out -- there are not 69 sevens between Jeremiah's prophecy and 171 BC but ... the calendar math is rather vague and complicated. (The ancient Jewish calendar apparently used 12 lunar months, with an occasional leap month added in to keep Passover in the spring. )
Baldwin's commentary, pages 172-8, describes other attempts to navigate a historical timeline. Some equate the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem with the end of these 69 sevens of years. The difficulty with these computations is that there is debate about the beginning decree, debate about the dates of Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem and debate about the length of the Jewish year. Cyrus made a decree in 536 BC about the temple, as did Artaxerxes in 458 BC. In 445 BC Artaxerxes made a decree about the city. If we move 483 years forward from 445 BC we land about 39 AD (there is no 0 year) and if we use a year of 360 days (12 months of 30 days), we reduce that time period by about 7 years, leading to 32 AD. This is very close to the date of the triumphal entrance of Jesus into the city.
In Ezra 7:12-26, Artaxerxes I ordered Ezra to rebuild the temple. Gleason Archer, in his commentary on Daniel (p. 114), dates that decree to 457 BC. He then dates the appearance of Jesus as Messiah in Jerusalem to 27 AD, 483 calendar years later (p. 121)
In John 12:12-16 we see the crowds suddenly going out to meet Jesus and making a big deal about his triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Jesus had entered the city many times before that day. Why were the crowds suddenly waiting for him now? Some argue that a computation of the dates of Daniel led to that day.
Some Random Thoughts
I have always found it interesting to read Daniel's reaction to the scroll of Jeremiah. In that scroll, God promises to bring Judah home after seventy years. Shouldn't Daniel just get excited and pack his bags? Why does he pray that God will fulfill that prophecy? Some hints in the text suggest that the return to Jerusalem might have been conditional, which would explain Daniel's sudden fasting and prayer. But the science fiction side of me wonders if maybe Jeremiah's prophecy was given because 70 years later Daniel would pray and God would answer that prayer? Daniel prays so that Jeremiah, looking into the future, can write the prophecy that leads to Daniel's prayer...? I guess a sci-fi time loop is giving off track from my Old Testament studies....
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