DAN 1-23Sophy. Were the children of Israel very sorrowful when they were carried away into Babylon?
Mamma. Yes. Those who loved God were very sorrowful indeed. If we read the Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah we shall see what he felt about it; how he prayed to God, and confessed the people's sin. For the words of Hosea the prophet had come to pass. God had called them "not my people," because they had forsaken Him, God had had great patience with them. He was always sending His prophets and messengers to warn them, but they mocked His messengers, and despised His words, so the wrath of the Lord rose against His people till there was no remedy. Now Jerusalem was left desolate, the throne of God was no longer there.
S. Was there no king any more?
M. No. God gave kingly power to the Gentiles from that time. It is called the times of the Gentiles. Now God has no king on earth—nor will He have again until the Lord Jesus Christ takes to Himself His great power and reigns. But God allows kingly power to be in the hands of the Gentiles, and His people have to obey and to be subject to them; for the powers that be are ordained of God. The captives were told to pray for the cities which they were carried away to, because if God kept the city in peace, they would have peace. It is touching to see how God thought of His people, even when they were in disgrace. Do you remember in Solomon's prayer at the consecration of the temple, what he said about captives praying in a strange land?
S. Oh yes. He said: If they prayed toward the house that he had built, God would hear in heaven and forgive His people.
M. Just so. And we find there were some, a godly, sorrowful remnant in Babylon, who prayed to the God of Jerusalem, and who counted the days of their captivity.
S. Did they expect God to bring them back to Jerusalem?
M. Yes, for the prophet Jeremiah (see Jer. 29:1010For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. (Jeremiah 29:10)) had sent them a letter, telling them the word of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel. God had said that when seventy years were accomplished in Babylon, God would visit them, and would cause them to return to their own land. For, when they sought the Lord they should find Him, This is why I read you the ninth chapter of Daniel, to show you that this Daniel remembered the letter of Jeremiah, and he understood by books the number of the years, and he found that seventy years had nearly passed; so he set his face unto the Lord his God, to seek Him by prayer and supplication, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. He said: We have sinned and done wickedly; we have not hearkened to Thy prophets; and to us belongs confusion of face. But he also said: To the Lord belong mercies and forgiveness, although we have rebelled against Him. Daniel owned that it was worthy of God to forgive, and to have mercy; but he confessed the rightness of God's judgment, for he said under the whole heaven there had not been such evil done as at Jerusalem. But as God had brought His people out of Egypt at first, Daniel besought Him that He would now bring them out of Babylon; and make His face to shine upon His sanctuary, for His own name's sake. He implored the Lord to hear, to forgive, and not to delay, because His city and His people were called by His name.
S. Was God pleased with Daniel's prayer?
M. Oh yes. God had said (Psa. 10) of the humble, that He would prepare their hearts, He would incline His ear to hear. Daniel was a humble man, of a broken and contrite spirit, with a heart prepared of God. So while he was speaking, the man Gabriel touched him, and said he was come to give him understanding, for at the very beginning of his prayer God had heard him, and he was greatly beloved.
S. Who was Gabriel?
M. He was God's special messenger to His own people. Sometimes he is called the angel Gabriel, He was always God's messenger, who came with good tidings. He told Daniel a great deal more about God's people by-and-by—about Jesus coming into the world, and about His being rejected by His own people: but we will not speak of this at present.
Now when the seventy years of Israel's captivity were fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of the Gentile king, and Cyrus king of Persia made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it in writing, saying: Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia: all the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given to me, and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people, the Lord God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God. And let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, and with beasts, besides the free-will offering for the house of God at Jerusalem.
S. Had the king of Persia any right to do that?
M. God gave him power to do it; and God put it into his heart to do it, that His own word might be fulfilled. Then all those whose spirit God had raised came up to build the house of the Lord. And all who were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, and with gold and precious things, besides all that the people, offered willingly.
Then Cyrus brought back all the vessels belonging to the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of Jerusalem, and had put in the house of his idols, Cyrus sent them all back and gave them to Sheshbazzah the prince of Judah; and he brought them to Jerusalem to be put in the house of the Lord.