Daniel Nine ... A Background Study  

Just as the book of Daniel contains both the story of Daniel’s life and a series of prophetic visions, this chapter includes both elements, also. It begins with the name of a king, so we can stop for a moment and follow the clues that might relate chapter nine with the chapters before, and perhaps more. This was the first year of Darius, who seized Babylon from Belshazzar. So this chapter occurred shortly after the handwriting on the wall, which is recorded in chapter five. During Darius’ reign, Daniel experienced a great deal of success in government affairs. And he was also condemned to be devoured by lions, a death sentence that God overturned.

At the end of chapter five, scripture tells us that Daniel served during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus. The timing of the two kings may be important. A. R. Fausset contends that Darius did not actually lead the army that conquered Babylon. He left that responsibility to his nephew and son-in-law, Cyrus, who would reign after him. The wording in Daniel says that Darius was made  king, which would hint that he did not accomplish this task himself. Fausset states that Darius reigned only one year before passing the throne to Cyrus. 

The mention of Cyrus as king of Persia should bounce us over to the book of Ezra, which begins with the decision of Cyrus, during the first year of his reign, to rebuild Jerusalem and send back some of the captives taken seventy years before. Besides adding one more Biblical character to the list of Daniel’s contemporaries, this connection gives us a hint that the time of the return from exile may have been very, very near. Keep that possibility in mind as the chapter walks us through Daniel’s fervent and candid prayer.

In verse two, Daniel refers to letters from the prophet Jeremiah. These are called the scriptures in the NIV. There may have been a series of such letters, but we have one very interesting example that we can read in the book of Jeremiah, in chapter 29. This was probably sent early in the captivity. In verse ten of chapter 29, Jeremiah specifically states that the exile will last seventy years, after which God will bring the survivors back from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Perhaps this was a promise that had been forgotten over the years. At the beginning of the exile, seventy years might have seemed like an eternity. Three new generations may have been raised up in this place, and with each generation, a historic promise can easily be lost. For some reason, though, Daniel was led back to the word of the prophet, and he rediscovered the timetable for the return.

But his reaction was not one of celebration. Assume for a moment that he could count the years and know that the promise was due to be completed within a few months. Ask then why he would be driven to such a passionate season of prayer. This was long prayer, marked by abstinence from food and by great sorrow. He pleaded with God for an answer, as if the promise in Jeremiah was not enough. The prayer itself is a marvelous example of what can be called intercession. Daniel placed himself before God on behalf of his people. He pleaded as much for their sake as for his own. Before, he had been a leader by his actions and his words. Now he took on another mantle of leadership. He came to God on behalf of those who needed an answer. 

As to the prayer, notice that it begins with God. Not with the request. Daniel praised God, or to put it another way, he was very honest about who God is. God is great and awesome. And just as important, God keeps a very special covenant with those who serve him. The idea of covenant is an important matter here. A covenant is a promise, or an agreement, much like a legal contract. God declares covenants as a way of defining how he will relate to his people. In this case, Daniel mentioned that it is a covenant of love. But in Leviticus 26, God was quite specific about the benefits of obedience and the terrible cost of sin. If the people would obey, they would remain in the land and be prosperous. If they refused, they would be carried off into exile.  

The same passage in Leviticus, especially in verses 40 through 42, promise that God will restore the people to their land if they turn from their rebellion and serve him. That is the covenant. That is God’s promise. And that will be Daniel’s argument.

Beginning in verse five of chapter nine, Daniel began to confess the sins of the people. The purpose of any confession is merely to admit the truth. And so Daniel took a hard look at the behavior of his countrymen and talked to God about it. They had rebelled against God. Daniel did not list petty grievances. He did not gossip. He saw the real tragedy of sin, that it separates people from their God. Israel had refused to hear the word that God had spoken through the prophets. They had turned away from the laws that God had put in place. They had been unfaithful, all of them.

Daniel did not separate himself from his people. We have sinned. We have rebelled. His own personal story, though, had been one of a very complete obedience to God. Daniel was one of the good guys. But he placed upon himself the same sins, right along with his people. In some respects, this is probably an honest appraisal, since we are never, ever holy before God. John tells his church in the tiny letter of First John that we are liars if we claim to have no sin (I John 1:8,10). But Daniel’s focus is on the people, and he is here guilty by association. We as a people have sinned. Even if a few of us are not guilty, as a people we are all together caught in the same sin. This is a truth of intercessory prayer. It feels the pain that the other person feels, and it bears the same burden. It is costly, painful prayer.

And it is a legal argument. Just as the covenant is God’s contract, and just as the return will only be accomplished by God’s hand, the prayer of Daniel must rest on God’s promise. In verses 11-14, he acknowledged that the sins of the people had broken the covenant. And in 15-19, he reminded God that restoration would be consistent with God’s character and promise. Daniel had already invoked the restoration clause of the covenant, in a way, simply by admitting the validity of the judgment. Now he mentioned the reputation and the name of God. The people had given no reason for God’s kindness to fall on them. But for God’s own sake, Daniel asked him to act.

The exile that we see in Daniel is unlike the situation in Leviticus. The covenant described an open-ended exile. For as long as the people sinned, they would be in captivity. When they turned to God, they would be free. But the exile in Babylon was for a specific period. In seventy years the people would return. Still, Daniel prayed. Perhaps he worried that God would not restore the people, since they were not ready. Or perhaps he could not let the matter of the sin of his people be unresolved. In times of great personal need, he had prayed. And now he prayed once again, this time for his people and for their home.  

As he prayed, an answer came to him. Gabriel arrived with an urgency that underscored the importance of the message. And though the message itself will not be entirely clear to us, there are lessons for us both in the announcement and in its delivery. It will be enough for us simply to follow some of the simpler themes of this chapter and regard the details of the vision with calm detachment. So we will remember the part of Gabriel’s announcement that makes sense and hide the rest away for another time, when God will make all such fuzzy things clear.

Several un-fuzzy notes can be discovered in Gabriel’s arrival. He found Daniel still immersed in prayer. Give him credit for a character that never wavers. He is highly esteemed in heaven, and this is how he has earned that favor. He has served, without complaint. He has obeyed, without fail. And now he prayed, with a great weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Here is a lesson for life, as well as for those who would seek to know prophecy. You don’t get answers from God by peering through scripture for forgotten truths or calculating how many years have passed from the building of the temple. Our job is to pray, and the answers will come when God sends them.

Notice that in this case the answer came at the time of the evening sacrifice. That would be about three o’clock in the afternoon, but Daniel still keeps time by the schedule of the temple. There had been no sacrifice for nearly seventy years. The temple had been destroyed at the beginning of the exile. But its significance is still fresh in Daniel’s mind. In a way, he keeps the evening sacrifice himself. He offers his sacrifice of praise and petition to God.

The vision that Gabriel shares with Daniel has a direct connection with the prayer to rebuild Jerusalem. The passage of time is described in murky language that talks of weeks or sevens. But it is clear that the years begin counting from the decision to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Daniel had asked for the restoration of Jerusalem. God explained to him that it would be rebuilt, but in a time of trouble. The exile had been a prelude to a much greater battle that would last through history. At some point, the Anointed One would come, as promised. But he would be cut off from his people, which would usher in a time of great peril. At the end, things would be put right, but only after terrible suffering for the people of God.

Just as the previous visions had revealed a king that would wage war against the people of God—and against God himself—here in chapter nine we find a ruler who desolates the worship of God in Jerusalem. The description is much like Antiochus in the previous chapter. He will plunder the temple and devise his own worship, one that will sicken the faithful and make everyone else quite happy for a short time.

People have worked diligently to understand the meaning of the sevens. Some have counted from the decree of Cyrus to the arrival of Jesus at his birth, or his crucifixion, or his triumphal entry. By making a seven equal seven years, the numbers seem to come out very close. But then there is a gap between the 69 sevens and the one seven, which seems eerily similar to the time of great tribulation in Revelation.

The vision shows us final things. God will put an end to sin, atone for wickedness, bring prophecy to its conclusion, and usher in a time of complete righteousness. Daniel was struggling with the problem of sin and exile. God reveals a much greater time of exile, and a much more complete solution for the problem of sin. But it will wait for a time far beyond the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity. Just as the end of the exile was only months away from Daniel’s experience, perhaps the answer to this vision may be much closer than we know.