Confession and Prayer. Daniel 9:1-20
THE portion now before us is filled with moral instruction of the most important character. For a right and intelligent understanding of its prophetic teaching, it is no doubt essential that we should study it from a correct dispensational standpoint. But it may safely be asserted that no exposition, however clear, no interpretation, however sound, will suffice unless accompanied by that attitude of soul so beautifully depicted in Daniel himself at the commencement of our chapter.
We have before observed that the chapters in the book of Daniel do not follow one another in strict chronological sequence. chs. 6. has already described what took place in the reign of Darius the Mede, whereas chs. 7. and 8. record visions of the prophet before the Babylonian dynasty had passed away. But here in chs. 9. we find ourselves once more in the time of Darius.
Babylon had been judged. But Daniel’s heart is still oppressed with a heavy burden. The “desolations of Jerusalem” still continued, Was there to be no end to this?
An expression repeatedly found in the Psalms and the Prophets will, no doubt, come to the reader’s recollection. How often do we read the words, “How long, O Lord” It is faith’s question amidst days of ruin. No matter what be the dispensation, the heart that fears the Lord can never be satisfied so long as the people of God are found in misfortune and distress.
Neither Media nor Persia was the land that God had promised to Abraham, any more than was Babylon; and yet a multitude of God’s people were still in captivity, and worse than that, the city of Jehovah’s choice was still a heap of rubbish and desolation.
Daniel was a man of faith. Years before (chs. 2) he had uttered his firm and solemn conviction that there was a God in heaven, that God was his God, and this captive people belonged to Him. Daniel knew enough of God to be assured that this desolation could not last forever, deliverance must come. This it was that produced in him that attitude of soul which finds expression in the language of acknowledged need, but of expected blessing, “How long?”
But further, Daniel finds comfort and relief in turning to the Word of the Lord, As with Jeremiah a short while previously (Jer. 15:16), so now with Daniel, “Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” He was a diligent student of the Scripture, and not only a prophet. At the close of the chapter he was inspired of God to give forth one of the most marvelous prophetic utterances of the Old Testament, but here at the commencement he is reading with deep and prayerful attention what had already been communicated through Jeremiah.
Away in Jerusalem with broken heart and streaming eyes (Jer. 9 I) had Jeremiah stood forth and faithfully declared the warnings of Jehovah in the midst of the rebellious nation. “The word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but ye have not hearkened” (Jer. 24:3). But now the threatened judgment is at the door, and Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, was Jehovah’s servant to carry this judgment into execution (Jer. 25:9, 27:6).
And yet amidst the desolations that were to follow, faith is not left without its consolation. “And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the King of Babylon” (Jer. 25:12).
Seventy years! The time had just come. We can well imagine the eager interest with which the captive in the Persian kingdom perused the letter sent by Jeremiah the prophet “from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon” (Jer. 29:1).
Did not Daniel see in that awful night of revelry in Babylon, when the finger of God wrote upon the walls of Belshazzar’s palace, “God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it” ―did he not see in that the fulfillment of this very prediction? The seventy years had come, and the stroke of judgment had fallen upon Babylon.
But Jerusalem was still desolate, and Daniel was still a captive. On he reads, ― “For 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. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord; and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to” be carried away captive” (Jer. 29:).
The immediate effect of this discovery upon Daniel’s spirit is most beautiful. Instead of springing to his feet in an ecstasy of joy, he falls upon his knees in confession and prayer. We may surely learn a deep lesson in all this. We might safely say that not a single captive Israelite was less guilty than was Daniel, and yet in the spirit of Christ he identifies himself with the sin and failure of the nation.
Our blessed Lord and Saviour identified Himself truly with our sin after a manner that no other could. Spotless Himself, He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. In redeeming love He identified Himself with His people’s sins in such a way that He bowed His head beneath the judgment of a holy God on their account. This none other could do.
“For none but He in heaven or earth Could offer that which justice claimed.”
“We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled,” says Daniel, confessing the sin of the nation as his own.” Neither have we hearkened unto Thy servants the prophets, which spake in Thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land” (vex. 6).
When God speaks He speaks to all. A principle lies here which in these days of ecclesiastical and sacerdotal pretension it is most important to hold fast. Not only did God send His message to the kings and princes, but to all the people of the land. When God speaks, every soul of man is responsible to listen and obey.
“Righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of face.” Not only does Daniel condemn himself and confess his own and the nation’s sins, but he justifies God.
But with the Lord were found “mercies and forgivenesses,” although not one of the people deserved them. “The law of Moses the servant of God” had been transgressed; against God they had sinned, and “yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God.” The judgment long since threatened (see Deuteronomy 28; Lev. 26) had now come, and Daniel in the energy of faith avails himself of the gracious provision of the Lord who had declared through His servant Moses, “If they shall confess their iniquity, . . . then will I remember My covenant” (Lev. 26:40-46).
Daniel pleads with Jehovah on the ground of redemption, “And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt,” &c. He pleads with Him too on the ground of righteousness,” O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away.” If God was righteous in taking vengeance, He was righteous too in fulfilling His promise of blessing.
Yet once more does Daniel plead, and this time on the ground that low as they had sunk, they nevertheless were the people of the Lord, “Thy city Jerusalem―Thy holy mountain―Thy people” (vs. 16). This is a beautiful climax to Daniel’s petition. He can claim nothing upon the ground of what the people are in themselves, but he does present an earnest petition on the ground that they are “Thy people” and “called by Thy name.”
It is beautiful, too, to see how if Daniel identified himself with the nation in their sin, he likewise links them with himself in confession, though possibly and most probably few were to be found ready to take that ground in actual fact, ― “we do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousness, but for Thy great mercies” (vs. 18).
(To Be continued.)