7.2 – Discussion of Daniel 9 verses 4 – 11

>>> Verses 4-6: Daniel prays for Israel on the basis of God’s covenant with them: The covenant with Abraham, see Gen. 12verse 7: “The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “This is the country that I am going to give to your descendants.” Then Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him”, and Gen. 15 verse 18: “Then and there the Lord made a covenant with Abram. He said, “I promise to give your descendants all this land from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates River”. This covenant was broken by the people from Israel.

>>> Verses 7-11: Daniel recognizes that God always does what is right and that all of Israel refused to listen to what He said.  It should be noted that Daniel includes all of Israel, comprising the ten tribes. They had been deported to Assyria already in around 722 BC, and they have never returned until today. See 2 Kings 17 verses 22 and 23: “They followed Jeroboam and continued to practice all the sins he had committed, until at last the Lord banished them from his sight, as he had warned through his servants the prophets that he would do. So the people of Israel were taken into exile to Assyria, where they still live”.

The end of their exile will be at the same time as the time of the conversion of Judah. See Ezekiel 37 verses 15-24: “…….I will unite them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. They will have one king to rule over them, and they will no longer be divided into two nations or split into two kingdoms………… “ And also 1 Kings 11 verses 1-13: “…...And I will not take the whole kingdom away from him; instead, I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have made my own”. We see that the division, as decided by God, will be over at the end of times, simultaneously with the conversion of Judah.  Also we can conclude that Daniel knew of this division of the 10 tribes and Judah with Benjamin, in two parts.