Daniel 9:4
And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
As the seventy years foretold for Jerusalem's desolation neared their end in the first year of Darius the Median, Daniel understood from Jeremiah and set himself to seek the Lord by prayer with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. He opened by appealing to God as great and awe-inspiring, faithful to covenant and mercy toward those who love Him and keep His commandments. Though faithful, true and greatly beloved, he did not claim innocence but humbled himself and confessed the sins, rebellion and disobedience of his people as his own, pleading only God's righteousness and great mercies for pardon and restoration. His earnest, tearful wrestling for Jerusalem and for God's honor was heard before it was finished, when Gabriel was sent to give understanding of the seventy weeks and the coming of Messiah the Prince. That confession stands as the model for God's people now to humble themselves, confess and repent, and pray without ceasing with assurance of pardon, wisdom and heavenly guarding.
Setting and Wording
The prayer belongs to the first year of Darius the Median after Babylon fell, about two years before Cyrus succeeded him when the seventy years since the first Judean captives were taken to Babylon were completed, as the seventy years of captivity neared their end. After searching the books and understanding from Jeremiah that seventy years were appointed for the desolation of Jerusalem, Daniel set his face to seek the Lord by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. This seeking followed the true evening-morning vision for many days, which left him astonished, faint and sick and then risen to do the king's business with none understanding it.
He opens by addressing God as the great and dreadful or awe-inspiring God, keeping covenant and mercy to those who love Him and keep His commandments, appealing to His greatness, covenant faithfulness and mercy. Great and dreadful means holy and glorious, dwelling in unapproachable light whom no one can see and live and who will soon judge in the last day. His name is holy and reverend, and nearness to His encircling light makes the body tremble and shake as if struck out of existence, so He must be approached with reverence and awe.
Careless, thoughtless or irreverent use of His name, especially in prayer, displeases Him, shows no realizing sense of His greatness and majesty and of who He is, grieves the tender Holy Spirit and shuts petitions out of heaven. This reverence the church must understand and practice in order to prosper.
Daniel's Humble Intercession
Daniel was faithful and true in service, greatly beloved and brought near to God, yet he did not claim innocence or boast but felt his need, humbled himself, and identified himself with his people by confessing their sins as his own. Closeness to God led him to humility rather than self-exaltation, and even one so loved must confess sin and seek forgiveness. Such confession is necessary for cleansing from unrighteousness, for closeness does not remove the need to acknowledge sin.
His confession named sin, iniquity, wickedness and rebellion by departing from God's precepts and judgments and by not hearkening to His servants the prophets. It acknowledged disobedience to God's laws revealed through the prophets. His plea for pardon and restoration rested on God's righteousness and great mercies, not on the people's own righteousness.
The prayer was most earnest, full and complete, with fasting and affliction of soul, tears, humiliation, contrition of soul and deep sorrow over the desolation of Jerusalem. He wrestled with God and sought Him wholeheartedly, interceding for himself and Israel. It came from unfeigned lips in sincere confession, showing contrition and faithfulness rather than self-esteem. Such intensity and earnestness in prayer was humble supplication joined with confession.
It was intercession laying hold of the throne of infinite power for the restoration of Jerusalem and for God's honor and promises. It was offered because Israel had been humbled by idolatrous nations and had become a reproach, while he pleaded for the people he loved. He began with confession while appealing to God's greatness, covenant faithfulness and mercy toward those who love Him and keep His commandments.
The prayer was not in vain, for all heaven was interested in his supplication. It was heard before it was finished, and ministering angels came to him with a communication from God in vision. Gabriel was sent to give skill and understanding, revealing seventy weeks determined upon the people and the holy city and the coming of Messiah the Prince. Mercy was extended in a second temple built and another probation given to Jerusalem. Such intensity draws the praying one nearer and still nearer to God with assurance that God hears and will answer, showing that God hears the contrite, answers those who seek Him wholeheartedly, and gives wisdom, understanding and salvation. Even simple petitions uttered in broken sentences by a burdened soul casting itself on Christ the Burden-bearer receive mercy and pardon and peace with God.
Prophecy and Fulfillment
Daniel 9 belongs together with Daniel 8 by an unmistakable connection, and Daniel 9 holds the key to the commencement and termination of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14. It contains prophetic periods whose reckoning begins in the year 457 B.C., a starting point established by historical and chronological facts. Fulfillment extends to the date of the crucifixion.
The seventy-week prophecy of the chapter provided the basis for the first disciples' time-specific proclamation that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. That message rested on one portion of the same great prophetic period later used in the message about the 2300 days. The same scripture foretold the death of the Messiah and pointed to the kingdom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks.
Adherence to popular errors about that kingdom blinded minds to the foretold death. Those who gave the right message at the right time fulfilled the will of God in delivering it, yet through misapprehension of it suffered disappointment. In this they parallel those who preached from Daniel 8:14 and Revelation 14:7 yet were mistaken about the event at the expiration of the 2300 days.
Pattern for Prayer Today
Daniel's prayer of confession stands as the model for seeking God with humility, contrition, and earnest supplication, and for testing one's experience before Him while asking the Holy Spirit to work on one's behalf. It is full, earnest, and complete, showing contrition and faithfulness rather than self-esteem, and those who truly know God will humble themselves in this way and honor Him through obedience. God's people now are to make this prayer their own, assembling together, confessing sins, repenting, and continuing in prayer until the Lord manifests Himself with power. That confession includes self-confidence and presumption, failure to heed the light and testimonies of His Spirit, departure from His expressed commands and working contrary to messages given for years about the different features of the work, selfishly gathering facilities to a few favored places while neglecting other parts of the field, and great neglect of the large cities and the Southern field. It is prayed with pride, self-esteem, and stubbornness expelled by seeing what redemption cost at the cross, humbling themselves in God's sight that He may lift them up, while holding true worth from the infinite price paid for redemption and valuing every capability and talent as the Lord's precious endowment to use for His glory unto perfection and completeness in Christ, looking to a change in which those who claim to believe the truth practice the truth.
Praying as Daniel prayed brings the same results now, for God is willing to help all who come to Him, and those who approach as Daniel did with trust, personal communion of soul, and praying without ceasing will be heard. Such prayer confesses sin and finds pardon, since even one faithful and true and called greatly beloved felt his need to pray and confess. Those who so pray are not asleep but keenly alive to their exposure to the enemy's malignant devices, see keeping God's commandments as their only safety, and live wholly for God's glory. They are called greatly beloved, guarded by heavenly intelligences and ministering spirits sent to minister to heirs of salvation, kept under angels' protection, faithful in lot and place, and prepared for the Lord's coming.
Closeness to God does not remove the need to acknowledge sin, for although Daniel was greatly beloved he confessed that he and his people had sinned. Confession of wrongdoing is necessary for cleansing from unrighteousness as part of repentance and preparation to meet God, and those who refuse to confess will not enter the kingdom of heaven. The verse shows what it means to humble the heart in God's sight, and it is to be read to learn true humbling and to be followed even by one who has borne responsibilities and been reproved for walking in false paths, with the promise that God will speak peace to him and call him greatly beloved. Daniel so humbled himself in Babylon, giving God the glory due His name, while never erasing the line of demarcation between God's commandment-keeping people and those who have no respect for His law. His prayer, offered after the true evening-morning vision for many days that left him astonished with none understanding it, opens what he saw would be and stands as the response to God's judgments witnessed in San Francisco as a standing warning to Oakland, for great things are before the living who shall see these judgments to the end.