Daniel 9:16, commentary and pictures

Daniel was interceding for Jerusalem in the first year of Darius the Mede after Babylon fell, when he understood from the books that the seventy years of desolation foretold through Jeremiah were near accomplishment. He begged God on the ground of His own righteousness and great mercies, not Israel's, to turn His anger away from His city and holy mountain called by His name and to preserve His honor, because by their own sins and their fathers' iniquities Jerusalem lay desolate and His people had become a reproach to all around them. Though greatly beloved and commended, he came as a sinner identifying himself with guilty Israel, confessing departure, rebellion and refusal to hear the prophets, with sorrow, fasting, sackcloth, ashes and tears, seeking pardon rather than claiming purity or righteousness. His prayer was heard before it was finished, angels came with answer, and Gabriel explained the seventy weeks beginning with the command to restore Jerusalem, which hold the key to the commencement and termination of the 2300 days reckoned from 457 B.C. and supplied the time for the message that the appointed time was fulfilled while also foretelling the Messiah's death. That humble, earnest, wholehearted confession and supplication is given as the model for God's people today to make their own, confessing personal and shared guilt, putting away pride and self-confidence, keeping His commandments, and continuing in prayer until He manifests Himself with power.

Daniel's Plea for Jerusalem

Daniel was interceding for Jerusalem in the first year of Darius the Mede after Babylon fell, when he understood from the books that the seventy years of Jerusalem's desolation foretold through Jeremiah were near accomplishment. His prayer followed the true vision of the evening and the morning which shall be for many days, after which he fainted and was sick certain days, then rose and did the king's business, astonished at the vision with none understanding it. The great things to take place are still before the living to the end of the judgments, and the judgments witnessed in San Francisco stand as a warning to Oakland, opening what Daniel saw in vision.

He begs God according to all His righteousness and great mercies, not Israel's righteousness, to turn His anger and fury away from His city Jerusalem, His holy mountain and city called by His name. He pleads for God's honor to be preserved and for His promises to be fulfilled, because for their own sins and the iniquities of their fathers Jerusalem has become desolate and Jerusalem and His people have become a reproach to all around them. Israel's sins and fathers' iniquities brought misfortune upon them, and by not keeping God's law Israel lost its holy character as His chosen people. His plea rests on their need to repent and become humble, faithful, and obedient.

Though a longtime servant commended by God and greatly beloved, Daniel comes as a sinner, identifies himself with sinful Israel, and confesses both his own sin and the people's guilt, sin, departure from God's word, rebellion, and refusal to hear His prophets. He seeks pardon and deliverance rather than claiming personal purity, righteousness, faithfulness, or sinlessness, pleading out of love and a sense of the people's need. He seeks God with sorrow, humiliation, contrition, prayer and supplication, fasting, sackcloth, ashes, tears, and affliction of soul. The prayer is simple, deeply earnest, full, and complete, offered in deep contrition and sorrow as he witnessed Jerusalem's desolation.

All heaven is interested in the prayer for God's honor, it is heard before it is finished and is not for naught. Ministering angels come with communication from God, and Gabriel appears and explains the seventy weeks beginning with the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. God has mercy on His rebellious people by restoring Jerusalem, granting another probation, and providing for a second temple to be built.

Prophetic Time Connections

Daniel 9 belongs to a prophetic chronology connected with the prophetic periods of Daniel 8. It holds the key to the nature, commencement, and termination of the 2300 days. That chronology is reckoned from 457 B.C.

Its seventy-week prophecy supplied the time basis for the disciples' message that the appointed time had been fulfilled and God's kingdom was near. The same chapter also foretold the death of the Messiah. That part of the prophecy the disciples did not understand at the time.

The prophecy of Daniel 9 gives the time fulfilled when the kingdom of God was at hand at the end of the seventy weeks. The time was right, but the event at the end of the seventy weeks was mistaken for a kingdom to be set up then. That mistake came through adherence to popular errors that blinded the mind to the truth. Both the correct giving of the appointed message and the disappointment from misapprehending it fulfilled the will of God.

Pattern for Prayer Today

Daniel's prayer to which this plea belongs is given as a model to study, make one's own, and follow with humility and contrition, confession of sin, and earnest supplication. It is to test experience, and is given for instruction and encouragement, as a model of prayer through which the Holy Spirit may work on behalf of those who pray. To humble oneself before God as Daniel did is to confess sins and plead for mercy, putting away pride, self-esteem, and stubbornness, humbling self to be lifted up. It is to give God the glory due His name, while holding a true sense of worth measured by the infinite price paid for redemption.

Daniel's example teaches confession of both personal and shared guilt rather than stubborn denial, even by one greatly beloved. It provides the pattern for one who has walked in false paths, departed from the faith, or been reproved to read, learn true humility, and make a change. God's people today, especially Seventh-day Adventists, need to offer this prayer of confession and intercession, assembling together, confessing sins, repenting, and continuing in prayer until the Lord manifests Himself with power. It is needed because of self-confidence and presumption, unheeded light and testimonies of His Spirit, departure from His expressed commands and working contrary to long-given messages, selfish gathering of facilities to a few favored places, and neglect of other parts of the field, the large cities, and the Southern field, and that neglect will end when those who claim to believe the truth practise the truth.

As Daniel's humble, sincere, unfeigned, wholehearted prayer was heard, earnest prayer is heard, God is willing to help those who come to Him, and people may come in faith to ask for wisdom and help, trusting Him to answer and reveal His salvation. Prayer has power and efficacy: God gives victories and help to those who rely on Him and approach Him as Daniel did in weakness, unworthiness, trust, and communion. He enlightens the mind, gives clear conceptions of truth, softens and subdues the heart, quickens understanding to discern truth from error, establishes the wavering mind with knowledge and faith that will stand the test, and gives joy, assurance of Christ's love and care, and confidence that He will not leave them in weakness.

Those who pray as Daniel prayed confess sins and find pardon, live wholly for God's glory, and keep God's commandments as their only safety against the enemy's malignant devices. They keep a clear separation between commandment-keeping people and those with no respect for His law, value every capability and talent as God's precious endowment to use for His glory unto perfection and completeness in Christ in the strife for immortality and eternal life. They remain faithful, true, awake, watching, and ready for the last great controversy, the Lord's coming, and their lot and place, and are guarded and protected by heavenly intelligences and angels as ministering spirits. Without such prayer, confession, and thorough work there is no preparation for the Lord's coming and for eternity.