Daniel 9:17, commentary and pictures

Daniel pleads with God to hear his prayer and supplication and to let favor shine upon the ruined sanctuary for the Lord's own sake, seeking its restoration, the return of the exiles, and the vindication of God's honor while Jerusalem lies a reproach because of sin. He prays this in the first year of Darius as the seventy years of captivity near their end, with Jerusalem and its temple in ruins before him. He claims nothing from the righteousness or achievements of the people, but casts himself wholly on God's great mercy, numbering himself with the transgressors and confessing both his own sin and the sin of his people. His seeking is earnest and humble, with prayer and supplication, fasting and self-denial, tears and contrition, confession and unity, approaching God as a sinner with unfeigned lips though long in His service. His humiliation and confession are not in vain, for heaven hears and sends Gabriel to reveal the seventy weeks beginning with the command to restore Jerusalem, and his faithful intercession stands as the model for God's people today to wrestle with God in humility, confession, and unity for His help.

Daniel's Plea for Sanctuary

The prayer belongs to the first year of Darius, as the seventy years since the first Judean captives were taken to Babylon neared completion. With Jerusalem and its temple lying in ruins before him, Daniel faced that desolation and asked favor for the desolate sanctuary. He asked God to hear the prayer and supplications of His servant and to cause His face to shine upon the desolate sanctuary for the Lord's sake. The request sought the promised restoration and the return of the captive exiles, and the preservation of God's honor at a time when Jerusalem and its people had become a reproach because of sin.

The plea was made on no ground of the people's righteousness, faithfulness, or achievements, but only on God's great mercy. Daniel identified himself with the sinful people, confessing both his own sin and the sin of his people. Though greatly beloved by God, he did not claim holiness but acknowledged sin, and though long in God's service he approached humbly as a sinner. His seeking was earnest and humble, marked by prayer and supplication with fasting, self-affliction, tears, sackcloth and ashes, contrition, confession, simplicity, and unity with one another, and his prayer came from unfeigned lips.

He prayed as one who believed the 2300 days might end with the seventy years of Israel's servitude, and this belief prompted his prayer. The prayer followed his fainting and being sick and astonished at the true vision of the evening and the morning which is for many days but none understood. What he saw in that vision is the great judgments to take place, witnessed in San Francisco as a standing warning to Oakland.

Heaven's Answer and Prophecy

The fasting, self-affliction, tears, confession, and humility were not in vain, for the earnest prayer for hearing and for favor to be restored to the desolate sanctuary was heard, and a heavenly messenger came to bring God's communication. Before the request for pardon and restoration was even finished, Gabriel appeared and explained the seventy weeks, which begin with the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. The plea belongs to the prophetic periods of Daniel 8 and 9 that are reckoned from the year 457 B.C., a starting date fixed by historical and chronological facts. The chapter gives the seventy-week prophecy that provided the basis for the time-related message at Christ's first advent, and that same prophecy also foretold the Messiah's death, which was not recognized in that message.

The prayer and its answer show that God hears the contrite soul, and that when people seek Him with all their hearts and pray in faith He answers their petitions. God is willing to help those who come to Him, and asking Him can bring wisdom, increased ability, and power from heaven. Those who come to God as they are may see His salvation, and this willingness to help encourages prayer for God to open the way for His work. The appeal to turn His face toward the desolate sanctuary expresses dependence on God and concern for the sanctuary, grounded in a complete prayer of confession and supplication for God's favor and intervention.

As Daniel approached God with prayer and supplications, God heard his prayers, and the same God will hear present prayers if approached as Daniel approached Him. That approach is in trust and continual communion of soul with God, with prayer not neglected but offered without ceasing. It is offered with confidence that God can and will help all who put their trust in Him.

Pattern for Prayer Today

Daniel's earnest, faithful intercession for himself and for Israel stands as the model for seeking the Lord, calling believers to prayer and supplication with humility, contrition, confession of sin, and unity with one another, wrestling with God for His help. It is a prayer believers are to make their own, asking God to hear their supplications and to work on their behalf through the Holy Spirit. Made their own, it is offered in humility under the view of the cross and what redemption cost, with a true sense of human worth measured by the price paid for redemption. Every capability and talent is then valued as the Lord's precious endowment to be used to His name's glory, so that every advantage may be gained in the strife for immortality and eternal life unto perfection and completeness in Jesus Christ.

This is the prayer God's people need when they have become self-confident and presumptuous, have not heeded light and testimonies, have departed from expressed commands, have worked contrary to messages about the different features of the work, and have selfishly gathered facilities in a few favored places while neglecting other fields, the large cities, and the Southern field. It means assembling together, confessing sins, repenting before God, and continuing in prayer until the Lord manifests Himself with power, and then practicing the truth professed. It shows what it means to humble oneself before God, for though greatly beloved Daniel humbled his heart, confessing sins and pleading in supplication. It is the pattern for one who has walked in false paths, been reproved for not doing the Lord's will, and departed from the faith, to make a change by humbling the heart, confessing sins, repenting, and pleading with God, and it serves as a test of personal experience, with blessing, mercy, and grace promised to those who humble themselves.

God's people are to humble themselves as Daniel humbled himself and gave God the glory due His name, but never to obliterate the line of demarcation between God's commandment-keeping people and those who have no respect for His law. Longing for the restoration of the desolate sanctuary is bound to repentance for breaking God's law, whose prosperity can be restored only as the people become humble, faithful, and obedient. Praying as Daniel prayed, confessing sin and finding pardon, keeps believers awake and keenly alive to exposure to the enemy's malignant devices instead of asleep and unready, with safety found only in keeping the commandments of God and living wholly for His glory as faithful and true. Such prayer brings the protection and guarding of heavenly intelligences and ministering angels, so that the man himself determines whether good or evil angels win over him and those who will be heirs of salvation stand in their lot and in their place under angelic protection, prepared to stand in their lot and place and made ready for the last great controversy and the Lord's coming.