Daniel 9:19, commentary and pictures

Daniel 9:19 is the closing, urgent cry of Daniel's prayer, asking the Lord to hear, forgive, listen and act without delay. The appeal rests not on the righteousness of the people but on God's great mercies, for His own sake and the honor of His name, because His city and His people are called by His name. Daniel offers it in full identification with his people, confessing their sin, iniquity, wickedness and rebellion as his own, though he himself was long in God's service and greatly beloved. Before the supplication was finished it was heard in heaven, and God sent Gabriel to give him skill and understanding of the seventy weeks determined upon the people and the holy city. It stands as the model of humble, earnest, effectual prayer from a sincere heart that feels its weakness and unworthiness, which God's people need to offer now in confession, repentance and continued intercession until He manifests Himself with power.

Prayer’s Historical Setting

The prayer to which the closing cry belongs was offered in the first year of Darius, after Babylon fell and before Cyrus succeeded Darius and completed the seventy years since the first Hebrews were taken from Judah to Babylon.

It arose as Daniel searched the seventy years of Jerusalem's desolation foretold to Jeremiah and set his face to seek God by prayer and supplications. That seeking was with fasting and affliction of soul, with sackcloth and ashes, with tears and humiliation and confession. The confession laid hold of Israel's sin, iniquity, wickedness and rebellion, and the earnest plea was for restoration, not for Israel's righteousness but for God's great mercies.

He grieved the desolation of Jerusalem, God's holy mountain, which with His people had become a reproach. His sorrow was marked by deep contrition, and he identified himself with the people in pleading for pardon. He prayed earnestly that anger and fury would be turned away from Jerusalem and that the city would be restored.

Meaning of the Plea

This is the closing, urgent plea of the prayer, asking the Lord to hear, to forgive, to hearken and do, and to defer not, but to act without delay. It presses the need before God with earnestness and a sense that help is necessary and cannot wait. The longing in it will not accept delay, but cries for immediate hearing and doing.

The appeal is made for God's own sake and for the honor of His name, because His city Jerusalem and His people Israel are called by His name. It is not grounded in the righteousness of the people but in God's great mercies, for their sin has been confessed and only mercy can restore them. It asks Him to turn away His anger and fury from Jerusalem His holy mountain, which with His people has become a reproach, and to grant speedy pardon and restoration.

Daniel identifies himself with the people, confessing their sin, iniquity, wickedness, and rebellion as his own. He does this though long in God's service and commended by Him, coming before God as a sinner in need of mercy. Though greatly beloved by God and loved by Him as a man, he confessed both his own sin and the sin of his people. He grieved the desolation and loved the people for whom he prayed, making their guilt and need for restoration his own.

The prayer is simple and deeply earnest, wonderful, full, earnest, and complete. It is marked by deep contrition, humility, and trust, offered from a sincere heart that feels its weakness and unworthiness without claiming goodness for itself. It expresses humble dependence on God and urgent longing for His wisdom. True knowledge of God produces such contrition and humbling awareness of weakness before Him, rather than pride or self-esteem.

Prophecy and Fulfillment

The prayer stands within the prophetic periods of Daniel 8 and 9, whose historical and chronological facts point to the year 457 B.C. as the proper time from which to begin reckoning them.

In answer to the intercessory plea for restoration grounded not in Israel's righteousness but in God's great mercies and the honor of His name, Jerusalem was restored with a second temple built and given another probation, and the seventy weeks were determined upon the people and the holy city. Before the prayer for God to hear, forgive, hearken and do without delay and to turn anger and fury from Jerusalem His holy mountain was finished, Gabriel was sent to give skill and understanding and to explain the seventy weeks. The plea for speedy restoration of the captive exiles rested on the sure word of prophecy concerning the seventy years of desolation foretold to Jeremiah.

The prophecy of Daniel 9 fixes the time for the first coming of Christ, with the seventy weeks ending in the setting up of the kingdom, and in the same scripture foretells the death of the Messiah. The first disciples based their preaching on this chapter that the time was fulfilled and the kingdom of God was at hand, giving the right message at the right time. Yet by holding popular errors they failed to perceive the foretold death and were mistaken about the kingdom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks. In delivering the message God desired while misapprehending its event they fulfilled God's will and then suffered disappointment, the pattern for Adventists mistaking the event at the expiration of the 2300 days.

Daniel's prophecies in chapters 7-12 were not fully understood by the prophet and were sealed until the time of the end. He was assured that he would stand in his appointed place at the end of the days.

God Hears and Answers

The spirit of intercession rested upon Daniel as he pleaded for Jerusalem, and all heaven was drawn to his supplication. Before he finished praying his earnest cry was heard, and God sent Gabriel and ministering angels to give him in vision a communication from God, with skill and understanding to explain the seventy weeks. He prayed with fasting and affliction of soul, with tears, humiliation, sackcloth and ashes, and confession of sin, iniquity, wickedness and rebellion, asking God to hear, forgive, hearken and do without delay for His own sake because His city and His people are called by His name. His prayer was not in vain, for heaven’s response showed his earnest supplication was heard, yet he remained humble when God communicated with him.

It was heard because it came from unfeigned lips, from a sincere and earnest heart. Even in communion with God he was deeply aware of his weakness before Him, and his humbling of himself left that sense upon him. True knowledge of God produces such contrition rather than pride or self-esteem, and his prayer is described as wonderful, full, earnest and complete.

The answer shows the Lord is ready to hear a contrite person and willing to help all who come to Him. When people seek Him with all their hearts and pray in faith He answers their petitions and opens the way for His work. Asking God in this way brings wisdom, greater ability, and power from heaven, for salvation comes from God. Daniel’s prayer and its result give a searching believer firm ground for following the truth, in humble dependence upon God who hears, forgives and acts.

Prayer itself is prompted by the Holy Spirit. The same God who heard Daniel’s trusting, earnest prayer will hear present prayers when offered as Daniel offered his. That means praying in reliance upon God, in communion of soul with Him, and praying without ceasing.

Model for Believers Today

The closing cry to hear, to forgive, to hearken and do without delay stands as the model of humble, earnest, effectual, fervent prayer from a sincere heart that feels its weakness and unworthiness. Though long in God's service and commended by Him, Daniel comes as a sinner in need of mercy, pleading not on the ground of personal goodness but for God's own sake because His city and people are called by His name. That simplicity, depth, urgency and earnestness teaches believers to seek God with Christlike fervor, humility, contrition, confession of mistakes and repentance, both for themselves and for others through faithful intercession.

It is held up as the prayer God's people need to offer now, assembling together, confessing sins, repenting before God, humbling themselves to test whether their experience is right, and continuing in prayer until the Lord manifests Himself with power. As prayed today it calls those who claim to believe the truth to practise the truth. It answers self-confidence and presumption, light sent but testimonies of His Spirit not heeded, departure from His expressed commands and working contrary to messages long given about the different features of the work, selfish gathering of facilities to a few favored places with neglect of other parts of the field, and great neglect of the needs of people in large cities and in the Southern field.

Praying as Daniel prayed means confessing sins and finding pardon, living wholly for God's glory in faithfulness and truth, keeping the commandments of God, and remaining awake and not asleep to the enemy's malignant devices. Such prayer brings guarding and protection by heavenly intelligences and ministering angels as ministering spirits, makes ministers and people faithful and true like Daniel who was greatly beloved, and prepares them to stand in their lot and place ready for the last great controversy and for the Lord's coming. Ministers are to press home the truth of the ministration of angels, and all are to pray as never before.

It is the model for one reproved for walking in false paths and departing from the faith to read, to humble the heart, confess sins, and make a change, for Daniel though called greatly beloved humbled his heart in confession and pleaded for God to hear, forgive, and act. In that humbling of self before God and giving God the glory due His name, the dividing line is never to be erased between God's commandment-keeping people and those who have no respect for His law.

The verse is a prayer for believers today to make their own, asking God to hear and act and asking the Holy Spirit to work in their behalf. Offered in reliance upon God, in communion of soul with God, and praying without ceasing, it asks Him to enlighten the mind so souls may understand truth. Such prayer is valued for its power and efficacy, bringing victories to those who rely upon Him, clear conceptions of truth, softened and subdued hearts, quickened understanding to discern truth from error, a wavering mind established with knowledge and faith that will stand the test, help for the weak and unworthy who put trust in Him, and Christian joy from Christ's love and care and the assurance He will not leave His own in weakness.

It is prayed in humility before God in view of what redemption cost, with a true sense of personal value measured by the infinite price paid for redemption, and with dedication of every capability and talent as a precious endowment from the Lord to be used to His name's glory. So it belongs to the struggle for immortality and eternal life, to making every gift a treasure of influence, and to reaching perfection and completeness in Jesus Christ. The prayer, set with fasting and sackcloth and ashes and confession, opens to the people what Daniel in vision saw would be, for the great judgments to take place are before the living now and shall be seen to the end, and the judgments witnessed in San Francisco and many places are a standing warning.