Daniel 9:1-27

The Men who were Loyal to God

Daniel

Robert Bryce

Chapter 9

v1 This is what happened in the first year that Darius ruled the country. He was the son of Xerxes and he came from the country called Media. He became king of Babylon. v2 In the first year of his rule, I, Daniel, was studying the holy books. I read what the *Lord had told Jeremiah the *prophet. He told him that Jerusalem would continue to be in a terrible state for 70 years, without any inhabitants.

v3 So I started to pray very much to the *Lord God, and I stopped eating food. I put on rough clothes and I threw ashes over myself. I wanted to show how sad I felt.

Verses 1-3 Darius was the first king of the *kingdom of the *Medes and *Persians. Belshazzar was dead. The *kingdom of Babylon was finished (Daniel 5:29-30). We read about Darius in chapter 6. Daniel served the kings of Babylon. Then he served the *Medes and *Persians.

We know that Daniel prayed three times each day (Daniel 6:10). Now we read that he was studying God’s holy books. In the book of Jeremiah he read that the *Jews would return to Jerusalem after 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11-12; Jeremiah 29:10). Jeremiah was a *prophet. He lived in Jerusalem when Daniel was very young. Now almost 70 years had passed since Nebuchadnezzar took the *Jews away from Jerusalem. Daniel realised this but he was sad. There was a new *kingdom and a new king. But the king had not allowed the *Jews to go back to Jerusalem. Also the *Jews did not think about God much. Perhaps they would not want to go to Jerusalem even if the king allowed them to. Most of them had been born in Babylon. Only the old people like Daniel had been to Jerusalem.

Daniel says that he stopped eating food. Some people stop eating food for a short time if they are very sad. Usually not to eat food and to pray to God belong together. When people do not eat food for a short time, they have more time for prayer.

He also wore *sackcloth (clothing from very rough material). He put cold ashes on his head or he sat in ashes. People did this when they were sorry about their bad behaviour. Daniel was a good man, but his people, the *Jews, had forgotten God. They would not say sorry to God, so Daniel did.

God had made a promise to Jeremiah. The *Jews could return to Jerusalem after 70 years. Daniel believed that God would *keep his promise. He prayed that it would happen.

v4 I prayed to the *Lord my God. And I confessed that we had done wrong things. ‘*Lord, you are the great God and we give you honour’, I prayed. ‘You *keep your promises to those who obey your commands. You always love those who love you.’

Verse 4 So Daniel prayed. He did not start by asking for things. He started by giving honour to God. He thanked God that God always *kept his promises. Daniel thanked God for loving those who loved him.

v5 ‘We have been wicked’, I prayed. ‘We have done bad and evil things. We have not obeyed your commands. v6 We did not listen to the *prophets who are your servants. They told your message to our kings, to our rulers, to our fathers and to all the people. v7 *Lord, you always do what is right. We are people from Judah, from Jerusalem and from all Israel. We have done bad things and we are ashamed. We have not been loyal to you. So some of us are near here, but you have sent some of us to countries far away. v8 *Lord, we are ashamed because we have not obeyed you. Our kings, our princes and our fathers are ashamed. v9 *Lord our God, you forgive us, although we have not been loyal to you. v10 We have not obeyed you, the *Lord our God. You sent your servants, the *prophets with your message. They gave us your laws. But we have not obeyed those laws. v11 None of the people from Israel have obeyed your laws. We have turned away from you. We have refused to obey you. We read the book that your servant Moses wrote. We read about your punishments, but we took no notice. So now, you have punished us because we did not obey you. v12 You did what you promised to do to our rulers and to us. So you punished us. You punished Jerusalem more than anywhere else under heaven. v13 You have punished us as Moses wrote in his book. And still we have not tried to please you, the *Lord our God. We still do wrong things and we do not obey your laws. v14 So you remembered that you had warned us about the effect. Everything that you, the *Lord God, do is right. And we did not obey you.’

Verses 5-14 Then Daniel said sorry to God. He was sorry that he had done wrong things. He also said sorry for his people, because they had not obeyed God. He knew that God had punished the *Jews. God had sent *prophets to warn them. They did not listen to the *prophets. They did not obey the laws that God had given to them. God had allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take the people away from Jerusalem. He had said that he would punish them. Then God did what he promised to do. God always does what is right. He always does what he promises. Now the people were in Babylon because they did not obey God. Even the kings and rulers of the people were not loyal to God.

Daniel also knew that God would forgive the people. He knew that God loved them.

v15 ‘*Lord our God’, I continued, ‘you brought your people out of the country called Egypt by your power. You caused many people to know your name. But we still did bad things and we have been evil. v16 *Lord, you have always done what is right. Please stop being angry with Jerusalem. It is your city. It is your holy place. All the people that live round us hate Jerusalem. And they hate your people. They hate us because our fathers were evil. And we have been evil too. v17 So now, our God, listen to my prayer because I am your servant. Listen to my prayer! So then people will know that you are God. *Lord, look with kindness on your holy place, because nobody lives there now. v18 Listen to us, *Lord. Look at the city that belongs to you. Nobody lives there now. We do not pray for things because we are good. We pray to you because you are kind. v19 *Lord, listen. *Lord, forgive us. *Lord, listen because your city and your people are yours. Do not delay before you do something for us. Then people will know that you are God.’

Verses 15-19 Then Daniel asked God for things. He asked God to stop being angry with the *Jews. He asked God to forgive them. The *Jews did not deserve God’s love, because they had not obeyed him. Daniel knew that. Daniel also knew that God still loved them. Daniel gave God reasons why he should forgive the people.

•God had done it before. He had brought his people out of Egypt although they had not obeyed him there. (See Jeremiah 16:14-15.)

•God always does what is right and good. He is kind. He likes to forgive people.

•God is suffering. Jerusalem is his city. Nobody lives in his holy place. Other people hate God’s city and God’s people.

•People should know that the *Lord is God. They know it when he acts.

v20 I continued to pray. I was confessing that I and my people Israel had done wrong things. I was praying to the *Lord my God about his holy place.

v21 And while I was praying, Gabriel came to me. He was the same man that I had seen in the first dream. He flew quickly to me. It was about the time of the evening *sacrifice. v22 He came and he spoke to me. ‘Daniel, I have come in order to help you to understand’, he said. v23 ‘As soon as you started to pray, God answered you. I have come to tell you the answer because God really loves you. Now listen to me. I will explain what you have read.’

Verses 20-23 Daniel kept on praying. It was about the time of the evening *sacrifice. The *Jews could not give *sacrifices to God in Babylon. Instead, Daniel prayed at the time of the *sacrifice. (See Psalms 141:2.) While he was praying, Gabriel arrived. Daniel had seen Gabriel before in a dream (Daniel 8:16-17). Gabriel was flying quickly. He told Daniel that God had heard his prayer. As soon as he started to pray, God heard him. Then God sent Gabriel to give Daniel an answer. Gabriel told Daniel how much God loved him. Then he promised to explain what Daniel had read.

v24 ‘God has chosen a period of 490 years (in other words, 70 times 7)’, Gabriel continued. ‘This is about your people and the holy city. Then God will stop evil and bad things. He will forgive the wrong things that people have done. He will bring goodness that will last always. What the *prophets wrote about will happen. He will establish the very holy place.’

Verse 24 Daniel had been reading what God had told Jeremiah. The *Jews would return to Jerusalem after 70 years. The 70 years were almost over. The next king, Cyrus, allowed the people to return to Jerusalem.

However, Gabriel told Daniel that God had other plans. His plans were for a period of 70 times 7 years. At the end of that time, some important things would happen.

•God would stop evil and bad things.

•God would forgive people although they have done wrong things.

•God would start a good time that would last for always.

•God had told his *prophets what would happen in the future. These things would happen as God had promised.

•God would make a very holy place. We do not understand what this sentence means. It might mean that a very holy person would come.

These things were answers to Daniel’s prayers. Daniel was praying for his people. They had done wrong things and God had punished them.

v25 ‘I want you to know and understand’, Gabriel continued. ‘Someone will issue a command to build Jerusalem again. 49 years (in other words, 7 times 7) will pass. People will build Jerusalem city again. They will build streets and a wall. But God’s people will suffer trouble during this time. Then there will be 434 years (in other words, 62 times 7) more. Then, the special ruler that God has chosen will come. v26 After the 434 years, people will kill the special ruler that God has appointed. He will have nothing. Then a foreign prince will come with his army and he will destroy the city and the holy place. The end will be like a flood. God has ordered that people should destroy things. He has decided that there will be war until the end of that time. v27 The prince will make a strong agreement with many people for 7 years. In the middle of the 7 years he will stop all the *sacrifices. He will put an awful thing in the holy place. And it will stay there until God acts. God has decided to kill this prince, and his end will happen.’

Verses 25-27 Then Gabriel told Daniel more about what would happen.

A new king (Cyrus) would allow the *Jews to return to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1-4). Not many of the *Jews wanted to go to Jerusalem. Most of them had been born in Babylon. Only the old people like Daniel had been to Jerusalem. The people who did go to Jerusalem tried to build God’s holy house again. It was hard work. The other people in the country tried to stop them. Many years later, another king (Artaxerxes) allowed Nehemiah to go to build the walls of Jerusalem again (Nehemiah 2:4-6). This too was hard work. Again, the other people in the country tried to stop them.

This is probably the 7 times 7 years.

Then there is a period of 62 times 7 years. After this, Jesus came into the world. He taught and he cured people for about three and a half years. But then the people killed him. He was the man whom God had appointed. Later the *Romans came. They destroyed Jerusalem and God’s holy place.

When Jesus was born, some people were waiting for him (Luke 2:25-38). Perhaps they had read the book of Daniel.

God promised Daniel that he would remove evil things. He said that he would start a good time that would last for always. This has not happened yet. However, when Jesus died he defeated God’s evil enemies. Evil things will only last for a certain time. God has decided that time.

Some people think that the last part of Gabriel’s message has not happened yet. It will happen at the very end of the world. Then there will be no more evil things, as God has promised. Then he will start a good time that will last for always.

Lord ~ Lord is a special kind of name, and a title, for God. The Jewish people often use this title for God. It shows that he is over all. Or it may mean that he is always God.
lord ~ when this title does not mean God, it just means someone very important.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to a Jew.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes what Jews believe. It is also a name for people from Judah and Israel.
prophet ~ a person whom God sends to speak for him; a prophet tells people good and bad things that will happen. Prophets often tell people to change before bad things happen.
kingdom ~ the place or territory or land where a king rules.
Mede ~ a person from Media, a nation at the time of Daniel.
Persian ~ someone or something from a country called Persia in Daniel’s time; it is called Iran today.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes what Jews believe. It is also a name for people from Judah and Israel.
sackcloth ~ clothes that people make from very rough material. People would wear such rough clothes when they were very sorry or very sad.'keep a promise ~ do what you promised to do.
sacrifice ~ a gift, such as food or an animal; people often gave it as part of their worship of God or of a false god; a gift to God to ask him to forgive us; or to thank him for something.
worship ~ to show honour to someone superior; to respect God; to praise and serve God; to tell God that we love him very much; or, to serve and to show honour to a false god.
Roman ~ a person from Rome. Rome was the most famous city in the world by the time of Jesus. Their soldiers fought and defeated many countries. They made the people obey the rules of Rome. They made them pay taxes to Rome. The people could not rule themselves; they had to obey the laws of Rome.