Daniel Chapter 9
The vision of chapter 9 occurs 12-13 years after the vision of chapter 8. Babylon has just been conquered by Persia. Daniel knows that the prophet Jeremiah had predicted the Babylonian exile would last 70 years, so he prays to God for guidance. The angel Gabriel appears and gives Daniel the 70-weeks prophecy, one of the most important prophecies in the Old Testament.
Annotated Commentary with Links
| 1In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the offspring of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, | While the identity of Darius the Mede is debated, Daniel identifies him as the ruler of Babylon immediately after the Persian conquest. Babylon fell in 539 BC, so the first year of Darius the Mede would have followed his accession year of 539 BC and would be 538 BC. This date places the vision of chapter 9 twelve to thirteen years after the vision of chapter 8. |
| 2in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the numbers of the years about which Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolation of Jerusalem, even seventy years. | Daniel is referring to Jeremiah 25:8-12, in which the prophet Jeremiah predicted Nebuchadnezzar would destroy Jerusalem and the Jews would serve Nebuchadnezzar for 70 years. After 70 years, God would punish Babylon. |
| 3I set my face to the Lord God, to seek prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. | Daniel wants to know if God will end the exile, now that Babylon had been defeated. He starts his request with a prayer of corporate confession. |
| 4I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said, “Oh lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and living kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, | |
| 5we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances; | Daniel acknowledges that all the people of Israel (and Judah) disobeyed God and sinned. Daniel states this 5 different ways to emphasize the point. |
| 6neither have we listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. | The prophets were used by God to urge Israel to repent. The message was sent to all the people: the rulers and the citizens, but they did not listen. |
| 7″Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespasses against you. | |
| 8Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. | |
| 9To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him. | |
| 10neither have we obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. | |
| 11Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice. “Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on use; for we have sinned against him. | |
| 12He has confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem. | |
| 13As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us: yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in your truth. | Daniel is referring the Deuteronomy 28, where God promised to reward Israel if they were faithful, but promised to punish them if they were disobedient. Among the promised punishments was exile from the land. |
| 14Therefore has Yahweh watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice. | |
| 15“Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as it is today; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. | After confessing the sins of Israel, Daniel now asks God to restore Israel and Jerusalem. |
| 16Lord, according to ask your righteousness, let your anger and please your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because of our sins, and for the inequities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us. | |
| 17“Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. | The sanctuary is the temple, which was destroyed, along with the city of Jerusalem, by Nebuchadnezzar in 385 BC. |
| 18My God, turn your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and see out desolations, and the city which is called by your name: for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake. | Daniel links the name, or reputation, of God to the city of Jerusalem and the temple. He asks God to restore His name, by restoring Jerusalem and the temple. |
| 19Lord, here; Lord, forgive; Lord, listen and do. Don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” | Daniel affirms that the people or Israel are God’s chosen people, linked to God’s name. |
| 20While I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God for the holy mountain of my God; | |
| 21yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening offering. | |
| 22He instructed me, and talked with me, and said, Daniel, “I have now come to give you wisdom and understanding. | |
| 23At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went out, and I have come to tell you; for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision. | |
| 24“Seventy weeks are decreed on your people, and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. | Gabriel tell Daniel that a period of time equaling “seventy weeks” has been appointed by God. At the end of those seventy weeks, sin will end and Israel will be reconciled. This language reflects that used elsewhere in the Old Testament when talking about the Day of the Lord and when God rules personally on Earth. |
| 25“Know therefore and discern, that from the going our of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times. | At the time of Daniel’s prayer, Jerusalem was still in ruins. Gabriel tells Daniel that after a decree is given to restore Jerusalem, the Anointed One, the prince will come after a total of 69 “weeks.” The Hebrew word for Anointed One is mashiach, which is transliterated into English as messiah. |
| 26After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined. | Cut off is a term that means to be killed or destroyed. Then the people of the “prince who will come” will destroy the city and the temple. |
| 27He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.” | The prince will make an agreement with many nations which will last one “week”, but in the middle of the agreement, he will desecrate the temple and cause the offerings to stop. |
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