Daniel 9:8
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
Shame and disgrace of face belong to the people, to their kings and princes and fathers, because they have sinned against God, with reproach brought by their own sins and the wrongdoing of earlier generations reaching Judah and Jerusalem and Israel scattered among other countries. Though greatly beloved by God and faithful and true, Daniel does not claim innocence or merit but includes himself in that shared guilt, confessing his own sin along with the people's. He prayed this in the first year of Darius after the fall of Babylon as the seventy years of exile were nearing their end, setting his face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes, afflicting his soul and praying most earnestly in tears with confession and humiliation. It is a humble, earnest and complete prayer of contrition and sorrow in which he comes before God as a sinner and pleads for the people he loves while seeing Jerusalem desolate, given for study as an example of seeking God in humility, acknowledging guilt, and asking restoration through His righteousness and great mercy and not because they deserve it. His prayer was heard because it came from sincere lips, so ministering angels came to him to give him in vision the communication from God, and it is held up as the prayer God's people now need to make their own, assembling together, confessing sins and repenting until the Lord manifests Himself to them with power.
Setting and Prophetic Context
O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face — shame and disgrace before God because of sin against Him — resting not on one class alone but on the people together with their kings, their princes, and their fathers or ancestors. That disgrace reaches Judah and Jerusalem and Israel scattered among other countries, with reproach brought both by their own sins and by the wrongdoing of earlier generations. Daniel does not stand apart from this guilt to claim innocence, merit, or sinlessness, but includes himself with the people in shared confession. Though greatly beloved by God and faithful and true, he confesses his own sin along with the people's, showing that nearness to God leads to humble confession, not boasting.
The prayer was made in the first year of Darius, after the fall of Babylon and as the seventy years of exile were nearing their end. Then Daniel set his face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. He fasted and afflicted his soul and prayed most earnestly in tears with confession and humiliation because of sin.
The verse stands in the prophetic chapters Daniel 8 and 9 whose prophetic periods are reckoned from the year 457 B.C., with historical and chronological facts establishing that starting point and the date of the crucifixion. It belongs to the chapter whose seventy-week prophecy provided the basis for the first disciples' time-related preaching. They correctly proclaimed from Daniel 9 that the time was fulfilled but did not recognize that the same prophecy foretold the Messiah's death. The verse stands among the wonderful prophecies in chapters seven to twelve given to reveal the mysteries of ages to come, whose full meaning was not understood even by Daniel himself. The words were shut up and the book sealed even to the time of the end, to belong to the closing period of this world's history, with the blessed assurance that Daniel shall rest and stand in his lot at the end of the days.
This prayer opens what Daniel saw in vision would be, and the judgments witnessed in San Francisco stand as a warning to Oakland of the great things still to take place that all the living shall see to the end.
Humble Prayer Heard
Daniel 9:8 belongs to a humble, earnest, and complete prayer of contrition and sorrow in which Daniel comes before God as a sinner and pleads for the people he loves. In that prayer he confesses that shame of face belongs to the people, to their kings, princes, and fathers, because they have sinned against God, while he sees Jerusalem lying desolate and identifies himself with their guilt. The chapter is commended for study as an example of seeking God in humility and contrition and confessing sin. Its lesson is that recognizing transgression leads to a desire to acknowledge the truth and show repentance.
That prayer was not for naught but was heard because it came from sincere lips. Daniel fasted and afflicted his soul and prayed most earnestly in tears with confession and humiliation because of sin, and ministering angels came to him to give him in vision the communication from God. This shows that God is ready to hear the contrite and answer those who seek Him wholeheartedly. He is willing to help those who come to Him, and coming to Him in faith brings help and salvation.
God heard Daniel when he approached with a sense of weakness, unworthiness, and sin, trusting in God and asking Him. The God who heard Daniel will hear those who approach Him in the same way, in communion with Him and praying without ceasing. Then Christ's love and care will give joy and assurance that weakness will not be left alone.
Confession requires admitting one's own sin rather than stubbornly denying it, and refusing to confess prevents cleansing from unrighteousness. Although Daniel was greatly beloved of God, he acknowledged that he and the people had sinned. Daniel's humbling himself before God was followed by an experience showing how awareness of God's greatness leaves no room for pride or self-esteem. He acknowledges guilt and asks God to restore them through His righteousness and great mercy, not because they deserve it.
Daniel's earnest wrestling with God in prayer on behalf of himself and Israel is an example of intercession that helps keep people from foolish speech.
Model Prayer for Today
Daniel's prayer of confession is given for instruction and encouragement, held up as a prayer to make our own in asking the Holy Spirit to work on our behalf. It is presented as the example for our prayers and as a test of one's own experience in humbling oneself before God.
It is the prayer God's people now need to offer, assembling together, confessing their sins, repenting before God, and continuing in prayer until the Lord manifests Himself to them with power. Such prayer is needed when they are self-confident and presumptuous, have departed from God's expressed commands, and have failed to heed light sent and the testimonies of His Spirit. That present need includes working contrary to messages long given about the different features of the work. It includes selfishly gathering facilities to a few favored places while neglecting other parts of the field, with great neglect shown to the large cities and to the Southern field.
True safety is only in keeping the commandments of God and in watchful prayer that feels the need of praying and confessing sin, finds pardon, asks to be guarded by heavenly intelligences, lives wholly for God's glory faithful and true, and refuses to sleep. Those who pray as Daniel prayed are keenly alive to their exposure to the enemy's malignant devices and to the great conflict going on between loyal and disloyal angels over every person. They come under the protection of the angels of God and stand faithful in their lot and place, ready for the last great controversy and the Lord's coming.
God's people are to humble themselves in prayer as Daniel in Babylon humbled himself before God and gave God the glory due to His name. Even in doing so they are never to obliterate the line of demarcation between God's commandment-keeping people and those who have no respect for His law. Humbling ourselves in the sight of God means doing so under the view of the cross and what redemption cost, expelling pride, self-esteem, and stubbornness of soul so that God may lift us up. At the same time it means holding a true sense of our value as measured by the infinite price paid for redemption and valuing every capability and talent as the Lord's precious endowment to use to His name's glory. It means seeing ourselves as purchased at infinite cost to have every advantage in the strife for immortality and eternal life and to make every gift a treasure of influence by which to reach perfection and completeness in Jesus Christ.
The verse shows what it means to humble the heart before God. It calls one who has been reproved for not doing the Lord's will and for departing from the faith to read Daniel's prayer, humble his heart as Daniel did, confess sin, and make a change.