The Word Made Fresh
1Darius was the son of Ahasuerus, who was a Mede by birth, but became king over the Chaldeans. 2In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from the records of the prophet Jeremiah that the LORD told him seventy years must pass until the destruction of Jerusalem. 3I sought an answer from the LORD God through prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4I made this confession to the LORD my God:
“Oh, great and awesome God who keeps agreements and responds with steadfast love to those who love you and obey your commandments, 5we have sinned. We have done wrong, acting wickedly and rebelling against your commandments and laws. 6We have paid no attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings and to our princes and to our ancestors, and even to the people of the land. 7You, O God, are righteous, but we are ashamed this day, all of us – the people of Judah, those who live in Jerusalem, all of Israel, including those who are near and those who are far away in the lands to which you have driven them, all because of their treacherous behavior towards you. 8Naked shame falls upon us, LORD, and upon our kings, officials, and all our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. 9You are the LORD our God to whom belongs mercy and forgiveness. But we have sinned against you, 10and we have disobeyed your voice and did not follow the laws of the LORD our God which you gave to us through your servants the prophets.
11“All Israel has disobeyed your law and turned away, refusing to listen to you. That is why the curse and the oath written in the law of your servant Moses have been poured over us. 12You have made your words which you spoke against us and our rulers come to pass, bringing punishment over us so terrible that what has been done against Jerusalem has never been done in the whole world. 13This calamity that has befallen us has come about just as it is written in the law of Moses. We did not deserve the favor of our God, for we didn’t turn from our sins and reflect your goodness. 14So you kept watch over us until you brought destruction upon us. In this the LORD our God is right, for we disobeyed your voice.
15“O LORD our God, who brought us out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made your name famous even to this very day, we have sinned. Our behavior has been filled with wickedness. 16And so, LORD, considering all the righteous deeds you have performed, we pray that you will turn your anger away from your city Jerusalem and your sacred mountain. It is because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors that Jerusalem and your people have been disgraced in the sight of all our neighbors. 17And so, O God, we ask you to listen to this prayer of your servant; hear my request and let your face shine upon your forsaken sanctuary. 18Listen, LORD. Hear me. Open your eyes and see the destruction of the city that bears your name. This request is not presented to you because we are righteous, but because you are merciful. 19Hear, LORD! Forgive! Listen and act without hesitating! Do this for your own sake, O God, because your city and your people bear your name!”
20While I was praying, confessing my sins and the sins of my people Israel, and placing my requests before the LORD my God on behalf of the sacred mountain of my God, 21the man Gabriel whom I had seen before in a vision, came quickly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice 22and said, “Daniel, I have come to bring you wisdom and understanding. 23When you began your prayer the word went out, and I have come to tell you because you are greatly beloved. Receive this word, and understand the vision:
24“Seventy weeks have been set aside for your people and your holy city to be done with your transgressions and put an end to sinning, to make atonement for your sinfulness and bring in everlasting righteousness; to preserve the vision and the prophesy and anoint the most holy place. 25This is what you need to know: from the time word went out to restore Jerusalem, until the time when a prince is anointed there will be seven weeks. Then, for sixty-two weeks the city will be rebuilt with streets and a moat even though this will be a troubled time. 26When the sixty-two weeks have passed, the one who is anointed will be cast aside and everything taken away from him. The army of the prince who is yet to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. To its end there will be war, and its end will come with a flood. These damages have been decreed. 27He will make agreements with many others for a week; for half of that week, he will make sacrifices and offerings cease. In their place will be the sin that destroys all, until the declared end is poured over the one who brought the destruction.”
Commentary
1: Darius was the son-in-law of Cambyses II and the grandson-in-law of Cyrus the Great. His father was Hystaspes, a Persian prince. It appears from other historical sources that Ahasuerus (aka Xerxes) was the son of Darius, not his father. This is all in keeping, of course, with Daniel’s curious chronology found throughout the book.
2: Daniel ascertains from reading the book of the prophet Jeremiah that Jerusalem must lie in ruins for 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11-12, also 29:10). Jeremiah’s prophesy of 70 years is of course a reference that indicates roughly a lifetime, not a specific number of days. The first exile accompanying King Jehoiachin took place in 597 B.C. The primary exile took place in 587 B.C. However, Cyrus became ruler of Babylon in 539 B.C. and allowed the exiles to begin returning to Jerusalem — less than 60 years after the first exile and less than 50 years after the second. The temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt sometime between 520 and 515 B.C., which coincides with the beginning of the reign of Darius.
3-6: Daniel donned sackcloth and ashes and turned to God in prayer. First, he confesses the sins of Israel.
7-14: Next he acknowledges that God’s judgment was fair, because God had told them what would happen if they were disobedient. See Deuteronomy 9 for the curse Daniel mentions in verse 11.
15-19: Since the 70 years have passed, more or less, Daniel prays for God to restore Jerusalem and its people.
20-23: Gabriel makes his second appearance in the book (see 8:16), and tells Daniel his prayer is being heard throughout the heavenly realms.
24-27: Had Gabriel stopped there we would be just as well informed, but he continues on to give an unsolvable riddle of the passage of days and the end of time and the rise of the “prince” who is to come. The only part of the puzzle that can be identified with any confidence comes toward the end. The “anointed one” in verse 26 is probably a reference to the murder of the high priest Onias III who was killed because he opposed the Hellenization process forced upon the Jews by the tyrant Antiochus IV Epiphanes around 165 B.C. “The abomination that desolates” is almost certainly a reference to Antiochus profaning the temple with the installation of pagan statuary in the Holy of Holies.
Takeaway
Sinning is like building a brick wall between us and God.