7.3 – Discussion of Daniel 9 verses 12-19

>>> Verses 12 and 13: Verse 12 explains that God punished Jerusalem more severely than any other city on earth.   It says in verse 13 that God gave them the punishment described in the Law of Moses. We can see what this means in Leviticus 26 verses 18, where it says: ……….”I will increase your punishment seven times”, verse 24: “……..and punish you seven times harder than before”, verse 28: “…………again make your punishment seven times worse than before”, verse 34/35: “Then the land will enjoy the years of complete rest that you would not give it; it will lie abandoned and get its rest while you are in exile in the land of your enemies”. Several times we see mentioned the term “seven times” This refers to the number of 7 times 70 not celebrated Sabbath rests, or 490 years.   See also Daniel 9 verse 24: “Seven times seventy years is the length of time God has set for freeing your people and your holy city from sin and evil”. God Himself brings the time of calamity over His disobedient people.

>>> Verse 14-19: Daniel recognizes that God’s justness is also in his punishment. He prays according to the will of God and in accordance with Leviticus 26 verse 40-42: “But your descendants will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, who resisted me and rebelled against me, and caused me to turn against them and send them into exile in the land of their enemies. At last, when your descendants are humbled and they have paid the penalty for their sin and rebellion, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham, and I will renew my promise to give my people the land”. Reading these verses, Daniel trusted that the Lord would remember the covenant He made. This is the same as Moses did in Exodus 32 verses 9-14, where it says: “I (the Lord) know how stubborn these people are. Now, don't try to stop me….. and I am going to destroy them…...”But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said, “Lord, …………..change your mind and do not bring this disaster on your people.   Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember the solemn promise you made to them to give them as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and to give their descendants all that land you promised would be their possession forever.” So the Lord changed his mind and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened”.

We see that the covenant God made with Abraham is being referred to repeatedly, as the bases for God’s decision to forgive his people.

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. 

7.1 – Discussion of Daniel 9 verses 1- 3

>>> Verse1: We are in 538 BC. Darius the Mede was the smaller horn from Daniel 8 verse 3. Darius the Mede ruled over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which began in 626 BC and ended in 539 BC.     

The last king of the Babylonian Empire (Belshazzar) is overthrown by the Median and Persian armies in 539BC by King Cyrus.

>>> Verse 2: What Daniel does is to search for insight in God’s plan with his people, Israel, and with Jerusalem. See Psalms 119 verse 24: “Your instructions give me pleasure; they are my advisers”. And verse 33: “Teach me, Lord, the meaning of your laws, and I will obey them at all times”. Also see verses 35, 57, 59, 105 and many more. Daniel understood from the “sacred books” that the reason of their exile was their sin. The direct reason is as described in 2 Chron. 36 verse 21: “And so what the Lord had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “The land will lie desolate for seventy years, to make up for the Sabbath rest that has not been observed.” And also Jer.25 verse 11: “This whole land will be left in ruins and will be a shocking sight, and the neighboring nations will serve the king of Babylonia for seventy years”. Together with this, Daniel understands also that, after the 70 years are over, the Lord will bring his people back to their country, as it is written in  Jer.29 verses 10-14: “The Lord says, ‘When Babylonia's seventy years are over, I will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home. I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for. Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you.   You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart. Yes, I say, you will find me, and I will restore you to your land. I will gather you from every country and from every place to which I have scattered you, and I will bring you back to the land from which I had sent you away into exile. I, the Lord, have spoken”.

The “Sabbath rest”, was the requirement of the Law of Moses that every seventh year the land was not to be farmed. This served as witness of their faith. Israel’s wish, to live in the same manner as the nations around them, (without the Sabbath rest) showed their unbelief.   The interruption of the “Sabbath rest” started in 1096BC, when Saul was anointed to be the first king over Israel. Since that time there is no indication of any Sabbath rest. And exactly 490 years later (490=70*7), occurs the first exile of the Jews to Babylon. This happens under king Jehoiakim, in 606 BC. It is now almost 536BC. It is with this view in mind, (the expectance of the end of the 70 years ), that Daniel directs his prayers to God.

>>> Verse 3: The sin of disbelief and separation from God by his people is now being confessed by Daniel, who takes the role of priest and intercessor for all his people. He begs for God's mercy. Similar intercessions can also be found in Nehemiah 9: 32-37, and in Ezra 9, verses 5-15: ……..  I got up from where I had been grieving, and still wearing my torn clothes, I knelt in prayer and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God. I said, “O God, I am too ashamed to raise my head in your presence. Our sins pile up higher than our heads; they reach as high as the heavens…. “ … And, of course, the example of our Great Intercessor: Jesus-Christ. 

7.0-  Daniel Prays for His People

In Daniel 9 verses 1 through 19 we read:

“1 Darius the Mede, who was the son of Xerxes, ruled over the kingdom of Babylonia. 2 In the first year of his reign I was studying the sacred books and thinking about the seventy years that Jerusalem would be in ruins, according to what the Lord had told the prophet Jeremiah. 3 And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.

4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed the sins of my people.

I said, “Lord God, you are great, and we honor you. You are faithful to your covenant and show constant love to those who love you and do what you command.

5 “We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our rulers, our ancestors, and our whole nation. 7 You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves. This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you. 8 Our kings, our rulers, and our ancestors have acted shamefully and sinned against you, Lord. 9 You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you. 10 We did not listen to you, O Lord our God, when you told us to live according to the laws which you gave us through your servants the prophets. 11 All Israel broke your laws and refused to listen to what you said. We sinned against you, and so you brought on us the curses that are written in the Law of Moses, your servant. 12 You did what you said you would do to us and our rulers. You punished Jerusalem more severely than any other city on earth, 13 giving us all the punishment described in the Law of Moses. But even now, O Lord our God, we have not tried to please you by turning from our sins or by following your truth. 14 You, O Lord our God, were prepared to punish us, and you did, because you always do what is right, and we did not listen to you.

 15 “O Lord our God, you showed your power by bringing your people out of Egypt, and your power is still remembered. We have sinned; we have done wrong. 16 You have defended us in the past, so do not be angry with Jerusalem any longer. It is your city, your sacred hill.  All the people in the neighboring countries look down on Jerusalem and on your people because of our sins and the evil our ancestors did. 17 O God, hear my prayer and pleading. Restore your Temple, which has been destroyed; restore it so that everyone will know that you are God. 18 Listen to us, O God; look at us and see the trouble we are in and the suffering of the city that bears your name. We are praying to you because you are merciful, not because we have done right. 19 Lord, hear us. Lord, forgive us. Lord, listen to us, and act! In order that everyone will know that you are God, do not delay! This city and these people are yours.”

6.3- Discussion of Daniel 8 verses 24-27.

>>> Verse 24: “Not by his own power”; this is because the dragon gives him the power. See Rev. 13 verse 2: “The beast looked like a leopard, with feet like a bear's feet and a mouth like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave the beast his own power, his throne, and his vast authority”.  Note: Also we are capable of being strong in the power of our Lord and not in our own power. See Ephesians 6 verse 10: “Finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power”. What Satan is for the godless to their destruction, is God for his people to their salvation.

>>> Verse 25: It says here that because he is sneaky, he will succeed in his devious ways. In Revelation 6 verse 2 it says: “I looked, and there was a white horse. Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown. He rode out as a conqueror to conquer”.  This shows the false peace: a white horse coming from the same stable as the other three horses bringing wars and destruction. A white horse gives the impression to be peaceful……But suddenly the truth is revealed. See also 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 3: “When people say, “Everything is quiet and safe, “then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape”.

… But he will but he will be destroyed without the use of any human power. See 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8: “Then the Wicked One will be revealed, but when the Lord Jesus comes, He will kill him with the breath from his mouth and destroy him with His dazzling presence”. Also see Dan. 2 verse 44: “At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last forever”, Dan. 7: 26, 27, Rev. 17 verse 14: “They will fight against the Lamb; but the Lamb, together with his called, chosen, and faithful followers, will defeat them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings” and more texts in the bible that refer to this such as: Rev. 19: 11-16, Psalms 2, Zech. 14: 5.

>>> Verse 26: Extra attention is given to the vision about the evening and morning sacrifices. For Daniel this time is still far away because it says: “…because it will be a long time before it does come true”. However for us it is thought to be very near.

>>> Verse 27: The depression of Daniel is very understandable, because it concerns his own people. 

6.2- Discussion of Daniel 8 verses 17- 23

>>> Verses 17-19: These verses talk about fear in the presence of the vision, which had to do not only with the ram and the goat, but primarily with the end of the world. The real understanding of the vision is not related to the temporary kingdoms of the ram and the goat, but to the end times, as it says in verse 19: “I am showing you what the result of God's anger will be. The vision refers to the time of the end”. The cause of the anger of God over all sin and, ungodliness are as mentioned in the following verses:

a) - verse 9: wars of the antichrist.

b) - verses10-12: rejection of any relation with the true God.

      (Ungodliness and occultism).

c) - verses 12 and 13: Desecration of the sanctuary.

d) – verse 12: People sinned instead of offering the proper daily

       sacrifices.

e) – verse 12: True religion was thrown to the ground. The lie is

       believed. See Rom. 1 verse 25: “They exchange the truth about

      God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created

      instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever”

f) – verse 24: He will cause terrible destruction….. on God's own

      people. Destruction in all aspects such as the environment, but

      also related to a degradation of the human values such as

      moral and ethics

g) – verse 25: It says: “He will even defy the greatest King of all” He

       will even compete against Jesus Christ. See also 1 John 2

       verse 18: “My children, the end is near! You were told that the

       Enemy of Christ would come; and now many enemies of Christ

       have already appeared, and so we know that the end is near”.

       But all these causes of the anger of God are at the same time

       the reason his downfall. See 2 Thessalonians 2

       verses 4 and 8: “He will oppose every so-called god or object of

       worship and will put himself above them all. He will even go in

       and sit down in God's Temple and claim to be God…… Then

       the Wicked One will be revealed, but when the Lord Jesus

       comes, he will kill him with the breath from his mouth and

       destroy him with his dazzling presence”.

>>> Verses 20-23: This is the same as what was mentioned before under verses 4-9.  See the discussion under the verses 4-9 before. 

6.1- Discussion of Daniel 8 verses 15-16

>>> Verse 15: To serve the human beings, God sends His angels. See also Hebrews 1 verse 14: “What are the angels, then? They are spirits who serve God and are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation”. These angels come also in the form of human beings. See for example Hebrews 13 verse 2: “Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it”. And many more places in the bible, such as: Gen. 18: 1-3, 22, Gen. 19: 1-3, Gen.28: 12, 1Kings 19: 5-7, 2 Kings 6: 16, 17, Dan. 9: 21, Dan. 12: 5-7…. Sometimes also the Lord Himself comes to us in the form of an angel: See Genesis 18 verses1and 2: “The Lord appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre. As Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day,   he looked up and saw three men standing there”.  (Other examples of this we can find in Gen. 32:1, 2, Jos. 5: 13-15…and more). This is because He has made us after His image, and therefore there exists certain equality. See John 4 verse 24: “God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is”. And also 1 John 3 verse 2: “My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is”. Therefore: God wants to relate to us not as a man with his servant, but as a man with his wife, as partners. The relation is based on equality.

>>> Verse 16: A voice was heard to tell Gabriel to explain the meaning of what Daniel saw. This appearance, the Lord Himself,  was of a higher rank than Gabriel to who He gives the order for the benefit of Daniel. This is because angels are lower in ranking than God’s children. See also, in Hebrews 1 verse 14: “What are the angels, then? They are spirits who serve God and are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation”, and 1 Cor. 6 verse 3: “¿Do you not know that we shall judge the angels?” 

And to us, similarly as to Daniel, God gives it us to understand the meaning of the vision. To have it explained to us is not necessary, because the explanation is given here already by the Angel Gabriel.