Daniel'sBible Study concerning Israel's Time of
Deliverance(Daniel 9:1-3)
"Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the
Medes" (Daniel 9:1) was the son of "Darius the Median" who slew "Belshazzar
the king of the Chaldeans" and took the kingdom of Babylon (Daniel 5:30-31)
"Darius" is a Persian title meaning "Maintainer"
or "Restrainer" and refers in this case to "Cyrus the Persian" (Daniel 6:28) who succeeded his father, "Darius the Median" (Daniel 5:31),
as king of Babylon
This is the "Cyrus king of Persia" whose spirit
"the Lord stirred up" to make a proclamation announcing the return of the Lord's people "to build
Him an house in Jerusalem" (II Chronicles 36:22-23)
This is the "Cyrus" whom the Lord "called
by name" years before the Babylonian Captivity and whom He would cause to act on behalf of His people and
His dwelling place with them (Isaiah 44:21-28; Isaiah 45:1-6)
Daniel knew by "books" the length of time of
Israel's Babylonian captivity (Daniel 9:2 cf. Jeremiah 25:8-12)
He also knew WHY Israel was to remain outside of the Land
for seventy years - one year for each violation of the Land's Sabbath year of rest (II Chronicles 36:20-21)
God decreed in the Law that the Land was to enjoy a Sabbath
year of rest every seven years (Leviticus 25:3-5)
Now that the Babylonian Captivity is over and God's deliverer
is on the throne, Daniel responds by seeking the Lord in "prayer" and "fasting" clothed with
"sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3) - all associated with mourning and repentance (Isaiah 58:5 cf. Leviticus 16:29-31; Jeremiah 6:26)
Knowing that the time of Israel's deliverance is at hand
- Daniel approaches the Lord in His way awaiting the sure fulfillment of His promised deliverance (Jeremiah 29:10-14)
Daniel'sPrayer concerning Israel'sSin and Judgment(Daniel 9:4-19)
Daniel begins his prayer by confessing Israel's great
and dreadful God (Deuteronomy 28:58) Who is Israel's faithful covenant keeping and merciful God (Daniel 9:4)
This SAME majestic acknowledgment of Israel's faithful
covenant keeping God is ALSO the testimony of Moses, Israel's Law Giver (Deuteronomy 7:7-9) and Nehemiah, Israel's City Rebuilder (Nehemiah 1:3-5)
Daniel follows his confession of the Lord's faithfulness
(Daniel 9:4) with his confession of Israel's unfaithfulness (Daniel 9:5)
Daniel identifies himself with his guilty nation by saying
"we" (Daniel 9:5) even though acknowledged by the Lord as being in the company of the
righteous (Ezekiel 14:14,20)
Daniel ALSO foreshadows the faithful Tribulation remnant
who will be preserved by the Lord from the defilement of their nation's idolatry (Revelation 14:1-5 cf. Revelation 2:14,20)
Daniel continues his confession before the Lord by saying
that when confronted by the wickedness of their behavior through the testimony of the Lord's prophets - their rulers
(kings and princes) and their elders (fathers) as well as the people - they ALL did NOT listen (Daniel 9:6)
The idolatry of the priests of Israel, i.e. the heads
of the 24 priestly courses plus the high priest = the 25 men (Ezekiel 8:15-16 cf.I Chronicles 24:1-4);
e.g. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist was of the priestly course of Abijah (Luke 1:5 cf.I Chronicles 24:10)
Daniel contrasts the righteousness belonging to Israel's
faithful God and the "confusion (shamefulness) of faces" belonging to all Israel for having trespassed
against their God (Daniel 9:7)
Once again Daniel uses the word "us" (Daniel 9:7)
as he did earlier by saying "we" (Daniel 9:5) and,
thus, identifies himself again with his guilty nation
Sin in one member affects all the other members as God
identified Achan's sin as israel's sin (Joshua 7:1,10-11)
This SAME principle holds TRUE for the Church as the Corinthian
fornicator was a blot on the WHOLE assembly (I Corinthians 5:1-3,6-8)
The greater one's position - the greater one's shame -
as can be seen by Israel's political and spiritual rulers being singled out concerning their condemnation (Daniel 9:8)
The Lord warned His hearers that greater responsibility
brings with it greater accountability (Luke 12:47-48)
Yet despite Israel's great rebellion there remains God's
greater mercy (Daniel 9:9) in that He did NOT totally consume them (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Israel will yet be called out of darkness into the Lord's
marvellous light (I Peter 2:9-10 cf.Hosea 1:9-10)
to fulfill His earthly purpose concerning His nation (Exodus 19:5-6)
Israel rejected God's laws through Moses and the urgings
of the Lord's prophets to return to their God (Daniel 9:10)
Daniel confesses that ALL Israel transgressed the Law
and, therefore, includes himself when saying that God's "curse is poured upon us" as the fulfillment
of God's "oath that is written in the Law" (Daniel 9:11)
Indeed, Daniel and his three friends are singled out as
among the choice captives of the "king of Babylon" to be retrained for service to him (Daniel 1:1,3-4,6-7)
In the Law, God vowed an oath to scatter Israel "among
the nations" for her idolatry (Deuteronomy 4:23-28)
God confirmed His words of judgment in the Law through
His prophets, which resulted in God bringing "a
great evil (calamity)" upon His rebellious people - a judgment that was unique among the nations (Daniel 9:12)
Israel's sin was unique among the nations in that she
like Adam transgressed His covenant (Romans 5:14 cf.Hosea 6:7)
Israel's judgment was unique among the nations in that
ALL the nations were made to witness the "heat" of the Lord's "great anger" towards His people
for "forsaking the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers" (Deuteronomy 29:24-28)
As Israel persistently resisted God's continual pleading,
God "watched upon the evil (calamity)" until He finally brought it to pass as His righteous judgment
upon her (Daniel 9:13-14 cf.Jeremiah 35:15-17)
Israel's disobedience to her heavenly father stands in
contrast to the Rechabites' obedience to their earthly father (Jeremiah 35:16 cf.Jeremiah 35:13-14)
The Law recorded five courses of judgment for Israel's
persistent disobedience (Leviticus 26:14-17,18-20,21-22,23-25,27-33) until He ultimately drove His rebellious people out of their
land into captivity in Babylon, so that their land would finally be able to "enjoy her sabbaths" (Leviticus 26:34 cf.II Chronicles 36:20-21)
Daniel appeals to God's mighty hand which delivered His
people from Egypt and again confesses their wicked and sinful response to that deliverance (Daniel 9:15)
Indeed, it was His deliverance of His people from Egypt
that marked their birth as a nation (Psalms 80:8-9 cf.Exodus 4:22-23)
Once in the Land, the Lord declared through Moses that
Israel would violate His covenant by going after other gods (Deuteronomy 31:16), which was fulfilled not long after Joshua's death (Judges 2:6-12)
God promised Israel that because they disobeyed Him by
"making a league" with certain inhabitants of the Land and NOT "throwing down their altars"
- He would leave those inhabitants in the Land and they would be a "thorn in your sides" and their gods
would be a snare to Israel (Judges 2:1-3)
Israel's response to the Lord's sad words (Judges 2:1-3)
was weeping and so that place where these sad words were spoken came to be known in Hebrew as "Bochim",
i.e. "weepers" (Judges 2:4-5)
Daniel pleads the Lord's righteousness (NOT THEIR OWN)
to turn away His fury from Jerusalem and their reproach among the heathen (Daniel 9:16-18)
The Lord's righteousness as the basis for the prophet's
appeal of deliverance from His anger is the Lord's merciful promise concerning the length of Israel's Babylonian
captivity (Jeremiah 25:11-12; Jeremiah 29:10), which was NOW at an end by virtue of who was NOW on the throne (Daniel 9:1-2)
Daniel's plea for the Lord's forgiveness of His people
is based upon the Lord's promise - NOT for their sake, BUT for His sake Who chose to call His city and His people
by His NAME (Daniel 9:19)
God chose to place His NAME in Jerusalem (II Chronicles 6:6)
and to put His NAME upon the "children of Israel" (Numbers 6:27)
Daniel speaking, praying, and confessing his sin and the
sin of his people (Daniel 9:20) - he does so facing towards Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10)
This is in accordance with Solomon's intercessory prayer
for his people at the dedication of the Temple (I Kings 8:28-30,33-36,38-39)
Daniel prayed three times daily (Daniel 6:10)
and this TIME was in prayer "about the TIME of the evening oblation" (Daniel 9:21)
Prayer and the "lifting up of hands" was to
accompany the evening sacrifice (Psalms 141:2)
The TIME of the evening sacrifice was a TIME of critical
testing earlier in Israel's history (I Kings 18:36) and the prayer of God's faithful servant brought an immediate response of Divine vindication
(I Kings 18:37-38)
Likewise, Daniel is blessed with an immediate Divine reply
to his supplications (Daniel 9:23)
Israel will experience the SAME swiftness of Divine answer
to prayer when He will come to dwell with them in His kingdom (Isaiah 65:22-25)
The Lord commissions "the man Gabriel" (Daniel 9:21)
to give Daniel "skill and understanding" (Daniel 9:22) concerning "the matter", i.e. "the vision" (Daniel 9:23) of the "the TIME of the END" (Daniel 8:16-17)
Angels appeared as men clothed in "white" raiment
at the Lord's resurrection (Luke 24:3-5) and at His ascension (Acts 1:9-11)
Israel's prophesied servitude to the Gentiles measured
via seven year periods (Daniel 9:24) can be seen in type by Israel's (Jacob's) servitude to Laban for each
of Laban's daughters (Genesis 29:27-28) - the "week" (Hebrew, "Shabuwa") specifically
stated in the context to be a seven year period
Israel's suffering during this prophetic (70 times 7) time period until her eternal release by Messiah (Ezekiel 39:25-29) is typified historically
by each (7 times 7) time period leading up to a Jubilee year of release (Leviticus 25:8-10)
Note Peter's question concerning forgiveness in reference
to the (7 times 7) time period leading up to the Jubilee year of release (Matthew 18:21) and Messiah's response
referencing the (70 times 7) time period until Israel's eternal release by her Messiah (Matthew 18:22)
This was accomplished by God laying Israel's iniquity
upon her Messiah at His First Coming (Isaiah 53:4-6)
This accomplishment of Messiah for His people will be
realized by Israel at His Second Coming (Jeremiah 33:6-8) when she will mourn for Him as in the days when she mourned for the
"good" king Josiah at his death (Zechariah 12:8-14 cf.II Chronicles 35:22-27)
Everlasting righteousness will be brought in by Israel's
Righteous Divine King (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
Of His Kingdom there "will be NO end" (Luke 1:32-33) and it will be the fulfillment
of God's promise to David of an "eternal throne" (II Samuel 7:12-13)
When the "Prince of Peace" establishes His Kingdom
(Isaiah 9:6-7) - then will be the time
when God will "exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth" (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
"to seal up (close up) the vision and prophecy"
The expression "to seal up" (Hebrew, "chatham")
means to literally "close up" as in the sense of "making complete" (Ezekiel 28:12)
Daniel's vision and prophecy of the 70 "weeks"
("sevens") will be "finished", i.e. "accomplished" (Greek, "teleo") "in
the days of the voice of the seventh angel" (Revelation 10:7)
When "the seventh angel sounded" - then it will
be that the "kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ" (Revelation 11:15) - being "smashed"
and "swept away" and replaced with Messiah's Eternal Kingdom (Daniel 2:34-35,44-45)
Then will be completed the "mystery" revealed
to God's servants the prophets (Revelation 10:7) just as God revealed that "secret" to king Nebuchadnezzar
through His prophet Daniel (Daniel 2:18-19,22,27,30,47)
"to anoint the Most Holy"
Israel's Holy King is the Lord (Psalms 89:18;Isaiah 43:15) - Whom God will set upon His "Holy Hill of Zion" (Psalms 2:6) and grant Him the "uttermost
parts of the earth" as an inheritance for His possession (Psalms 2:8)
His coronation will be on the "Feast of Tabernacles"
and the nations will annually commemorate it as the beginning of when ALL shall be "HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD"
(Zechariah 14:16-20)
The starting point of this period WAS
the "command to restore and build Jerusalem" (Daniel 9:25), which was issued by the Persian king at Nehemiah's request (Nehemiah 2:1-8)
The ending point of this period WAS the last words of
the last OT prophet to Israel: Remember "the Law and the Prophets" (Luke 16:16 cf.Malachi 4:4-5)
62 "weeks" ("sevens") - 62 x 7 (434
years)
The starting point of this period WAS
the ending point of the previous period
The ending point of this period WAS the royal entry of
Israel's Messiah into Jerusalem "sitting upon an ass" (Matthew 21:5-9 cf.Zechariah 9:9)
1 "week" ("seven") - 1 x 7 (7 years)
The starting point of this period WILL BE Israel's "covenant with death, and with hell" (Isaiah 28:15-18) to "confirm"
("strengthen" or "lend support to") the Mosaic covenant via the restoration of Temple worship
in Israel (Daniel 9:27)
The ending point of this period WILL BE the "consummation"
(Daniel 9:27) and "then shall the
sanctuary be cleansed" (Daniel 8:13-14 cf. Revelation 10:7), i.e. after the sounding of the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15-19) when the final seven "vial"
("bowl") judgments are "fulfilled" (Revelation 15:5-8)
The Lord closed the Book in the middle of a verse (Isaiah 61:2) to "rightly divide" His First Coming ("the acceptable
year of the Lord") from His Second Coming ("the day of vengeance of our God") when He was "delivered
the Book" to read (Luke 4:17-21 cf.Isaiah 61:1-2)