The worst temper would be the proud, self-sufficient, and dogmatic. Messiah the Prince should in due time appear; but Messiah should be cut off. "And its end with inundation, and to the end, war; decree of desolations." 538, we reach a.d. 2. There is, whichever is preferred, not the slightest justification for the suggestion of Kuenen that we should read כּנּוֹ instead of כְּנַף Professor Bevan thinks "this emendation is well-nigh certain." He is, moreover, the representative of a Heavenly court, and he ought to proclaim the glories of Him who brought him out of darkness, into his marvelous light. Were they then formed into a people, and shall they not now be reformed and new-formed? He began with the Jews, then moved to the Gentiles and finally created the Church out of the Gentile nations. 1. The natural meaning, according to the Hebrew, if we do not pass beyond the clause before us for the subject of the verb, is בְּרִית, (bereeth), "covenant." If his nation may find comfort and encouragement in these disclosures at a later day, it is to know to whom it is indebted for them, and to learn that a man upon whom rests the favor of God may be a blessing to his people during subsequent centuries. 123, that is to say, twelve or thirteen years after the death of Simon the Maccabee. The best prayer is that in which we seek to be reconciled to the will of God (Matthew 26:39). Wilt thou not be as true to thy promises as thou hast been to thy threatenings and accomplish them also?" The manner in which the answer is made does not imply any breach in the order of providence. v. 12. That the difficulty was felt is shown by the fact that the Epistle of Jeremy (Daniel 9:2) extends the epoch of captivity to two-hundred and ten years (7 X 30), whereas in Jeremiah 29:10 "seventy years" are distinctly mentioned. Daniel, coming to understand for the first time the real meaning of Jeremiah’s "seventy years," "set his face unto the Lord God, to seek prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.". O Lord, hearken and do. All, however, derive the word from יָעַף, "to fly;" another etymology is possible from יָעַף. The very awkwardness of the construction is an evidence in favour of the received reading, "As it is written in the Law of Moses." The reason for The latter two chapters, which are certainly by a hand other than the first three, and probably later, have signs in them that make them late. The use of the Hebrew word (××ר ~ Devar) in both Daniel 9:25 and Daniel 9:2 also establishes that they share the same beginning point, the destruction of Jerusalem. It is talking to a God who hears, attends, and sympathizes (Isaiah 41:17). In the rest of his prephecy it is usually called יִרְמְיָהוּ (Yir'myahoo); in the section of which the 'letter forms part, as in this verse in Daniel, he is called יִרְמְיָה (Yir'myah). Hitzig would make the first seven years run parallel with the first seven weeks of the sixty-two. 15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly. earned a severe penalty by disobeying Him, violating their treaty Daniel 9:14-21. 2. ", "after the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off and shall have nothing", "They (the Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled", "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit", "He shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week", "he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. [Leviticus 26:34, Ezekiel 4:6] Not until the four hundred and ninety years- the seventy weeks of years- are ended will the time have come to complete the prophecy which only had a sort of initial and imperfect fulfilment in seventy actual years. God is dishonoured in the humiliation of his people, and he is glorified in their restoration (Numbers 14:13-16). Daniel prayed: "O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem." He acts as man and as God. For scarcely any two leading commentators agree as to details; -or even as to any fixed principles by which they profess to determine the date at which the period of seventy weeks is to begin or is to end; -or whether they are to be reckoned continuously, or with arbitrary misplacements or discontinuations; -or even whether they are not purely symbolical, so as to have no reference to any chronological indications; -or whether they are to be interpreted as referring to one special series of events, or to be regarded as having many fulfilments by "springing and germinal developments." Jerome's interpretation points to the end of the world, and the reading we adopt points also to the same terminus ad quem, the more indefinitely. In prayer we take the place of others, bear their burdens, and make intercession for them. Only rarely had even the Ninevite monarchs taken such terrible vengeance on rebellious subjects. The desolations of the sanctuary are grief to all the saints. The archangel tells him: that no sooner had his supplication begun than he sped on his way, for Daniel is a dearly beloved one. Against this is the fact that Paulus Tellensis renders lemaz‛or, "to bring to nothing" (Jeremiah 10:24, Peshitta). It is marked by several important characteristics. 3. Here are several pleas and arguments to enforce the petitions. Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people, and upon thy holy city-. When we compare the Psalter of Solomon, we find the only King of Israel is God: yet Alexander Jannseus, who was not long dead when that Psalter was written, had assumed the crown; and his sons had competed for the possession of it. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. Our God is a holy God and cannot receive the unholy into His guest chamber. In Egypt, Godâs We admit there are great difficulties. "Whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel … touched me" (Daniel 9:21). We carry this burden with us (verse 7). If we reckon these years from the decree of Cyrus, b.c. This is why Daniel prays in Trodden beneath the feet of invading armies. "Determined" is also a word that occurs only Lore; it is Aramaic, but not common even in that language. "And thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." No law is worth the paper on which it is written unless there is, with the law, the penalty for disobedience. ", "Hey, God, it"s my fault. He acknowledges that it was sin that plunged them in all these troubles. (, ), But not for himself] RV 'and shall have nothing,' an obscure phrase, meaning perhaps,' shall have no legitimate successor.' When Christ wept over the city, the nation in heart had rejected him. Altogether, there seems no support for the date or origin assigned by Ewald to this book. relationship between them. This expansion and paraphrasing prove the dependence of Baruch upon Daniel, and therefore the priority of the latter. But Daniel makes this the finishing and unanswerable argument, his own sake, as God in covenant in Christ. The reading of Jerome in the Vulgate, as we have seen, seems to have read תַּשֵׁב (tayshayb), "to dwell," "to remain," for he renders persecerabit; and must not have had the preposition עַל, (‛al), "upon," for he makes desolation the nominative of the verb. ], FN#72 - This assertion is often made by expositors, but it is directly contradicted by Pauls emphatic language in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 seq. R. A. Torrey. Daniel tells God He The rendering of the Septuagint in the last clause is better than that in our Authorized Version, and is in accordance with our Revised, "to make thee skilful of understanding." 536), and if these seventy years could be made out, still the hopes of the Jews were on the whole miserably frustrated. 2. prayer builds to a passionate conclusion. for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." The only point to be noted in regard to Theodotion is that he gives the late, and in this case inapplicable, meaning to "righteousness" of ἐλεημόσυνη, "almsgiving." He asks for forgiveness so God Himself could be glorified by His peopleâbecause, as we are, we are not in a state to glorify Him. The practical help of God. 171). The Greek versions agree with this, save that the LXX. translator a transposition of words; for one of them must have read לְחֻתַן (lehoothan) instead of לְחָבִיא, since he renders δοθῆναι. ". Most of them have read תֻּתַּן. And now, though learned chronological arguments may not be within reach of the many, yet plain people may come to that simple knowledge of history which shall teach that prophecy has been fulfilled in Christ.—R. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. When Darius Hystaspis founded his permission to build the temple on the decree of Cyrus, there was no word of permitting them to rebuild the city walls. Their confusion was caused because they had sinned against Him. If now and then God should lift us up to some spiritual height, and give us a wider vision of human destiny, we should be amused and saddened at the littleness of our petitions. Then comes the word, "Ye are cursed with a curse.". For thine own sake, he saith, defer not, O my God. The prophet writes in the first person—"we." Famous to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who wrote If so, then he must be the subject all through. Daniel 9:5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Luke 15:18,19,21 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, ⦠Luke 18:13 At the actual time of his writing that era of restitution had not yet begun. Subtract 483 from either of these, and we have the utterly inconspicuous years b.c. confessing sin and praising God for His righteousness, Daniel asks "Therefore, because we have not improved the affliction, the Lord has watched upon the evil, as the judge takes care that execution be done according to the sentence. 1:8), nor on the date in the first verse, "the fifth year in the seventh day of the mouth;" they are in perfect harmony with the general non-historical tone of the whole book. 1. O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. Verse 12 These men of old were holy men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. As to the meaning of this word, there is a difference of opinion, Gesenius holding that it means "wearied out"—a meaning unsuited to the subject or to the context, though in accordance with the use of the word elsewhere. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him 10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. The Peshitta renders "wings," the Vatican and Alexandrian scribes render πτερύγιον, the word used (Matthew 4:5) for a pinnacle of the temple. And in harmony with this there is no stress laid in the prayer in Baruch, as there is in the prayer in Daniel, on the absoluteness of the desolation of Zion. Confession must be individual. 1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; 2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years ⦠The seventy-year prophecy given by Jeremiah is recorded in, . 15.By Jehovah’s marvelous deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage he had gotten for himself “a name even for this day” (an exact quotation from Jeremiah 32:20). One is tempted to adopt the reading of Michaelis הזיי חנביא, "the vision of the prophet," which has some manuscript authority. Darius now mainly serves as a landmark on the course of time to indicate a date; Daniel is still the teacher and moulder of men. It is imitated in Daniel 11:31, but the preceding word, שִׁקּוּץ (shiqqootz), is in the singular, and agrees with meshomaym. The comparison more naturally stands with the prayers of Ezra and Nehemiah, as the subject of their supplication is similar to that of the prayer before us. Gabriel interpreted the vision to Daniel. Never, so long as "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. we have the prayer that Daniel prayed to God when Jeremiah's prophecy of the seventy-year captivity of Israel was to him. "The going forth of the word to restore." Of course, the refuge is the ignorance of our author; he didn't know any better. Other The last clause is very much a repetition of the opening of verse 5, "we have sinned," missed the mark; "we have done wickedly," violently trangressed. Note, The desolations of the church must in prayer be laid before God and then left with him. 3. Further, Theodotion omits the second statement of the year of Darius, with which, both in the LXX. They did this. Not often in the history of our race had such a favour been shown. "Thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain," forms a further argument: "The mountain of thy holiness" (Psalms 2:6). ). V. Here is a pathetic complaint of the reproach that God's people lay under, and the ruins that God's sanctuary lay in, both which redounded very much to the dishonour of God and the diminution of that name and renown which God had gained by bringing them out of Egypt. Daniel instead appeals to God that He Thine as well as mine. ", "Go over into the city and on a corner you"ll find a colt that is tied. There seem here to be some instances of doublet: τὰς ἀδικίας σπανίσαι and ἀπαλεῖψαι τὰς ἀδιλίας are different renderings of לְחָתֵם (leḥathaym ḥaṭṭaoth), or as it is in the Q'ri, leahthaym hattath ( לְחָתֵם חַטָּאוח). 17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. ), 4. Furst suggests a transposal from יָפַע. IV. to the decree of Cyrus (B.C. If God has purposed to bless, we can plead with confident expectation. 5:1), and in Daniel 11:22. In Job 41:22 (30) it is translated "a threshing-wain," whereas in Proverbs 3:14 it means "fine gold." "Ask, and it shall be given you." Though we are ourselves unrighteous before God, yet with reference to them we have a righteous cause, which we leave it with the righteous God to appear in the defence of." eyes and see our desolations Without cause. It is singular that critics will not give the obvious meaning to the persistent indications that the author of this book gives, that he regards Darius, not as an independent sovereign, but as in some sort a vassal of a higher power, on whom he is dependent. 6. That date for the termination of Israel's bondage took into account, through the Divine presence, the temper and feeling prevalent among the Jews—took into account even this very prayer of Daniel. (6:4:8) he says that there were six hundred and thirty-nine years between the second year of Cyrus and the destruction of the Temple by Titus (A.D. 70). They are thine, save them," Psalm 119:94. The condemnation will not be sin, but rejection, or neglect of the sinner's Saviour (John 3:18). According to the critical assumption, that this date is to be reckoned from the captivity of Jehoiachin, there were yet ten years to run, and if it reckoned from the capture of Jerusalem during the reign of Zedekiah, there were twenty years. {#/RAPC 1 Maccabees 1:10-15}. It will be seen then that, despite all uncertainties in the text, in the translation, and in the details, we have in these verses an unmistakably clear foreshadowing of the same persecuting king, and the same disastrous events, with which the mind of the writer is so predominantly haunted, and which are still more clearly indicated in the subsequent chapter. Its place. Note: "The Lord my God;" "The Lord our God;", (b) Toward the close all the argument is fetched, not from what man is, but from what God is. Professor Bevan is right in maintaining that, despite the accents, this clause is to be connected with the next. The hopelessness of this attempt of the so-called "orthodox" interpreters is proved by their own fundamental disagreements. And I prayed unto the Lord, my God, and made my confession. II. After giving praise to God, confessing sin, and 2. We know now that Belshazzar was not the son of Nebuchadnezzar, but of Nabunahid. This is an obvious allusion to the destruction and massacre inflicted on Jerusalem by Apollonius and the army of Antiochus Epiphanes (B.C. The blessings and cursings of the Mosaic Law are found in. It is true that from B.C. What is the subject of the verb here? After confessing that all the interpretations were individual guesswork, he leaves every reader to his own judgment, and adds: "Dicam quid unusquisque senserit, lectoris arbitrio derelinquens cujus expositionem sequi debeat.". Theodotion is in yet closer agreement with the received text. This agrees with the first version we find in the Septuagint, The covenant—God's covenant with Israel, and this it must be here—"prevails with many;" his covenant to send a Messiah, a part of the eternal covenant with Israel, would prevail with the hearts of many of Israel during one week. A prayer plea based on past blessings. It is now received by critical commentators that to our Lord this prophecy cannot refer. The third section (Daniel 9:15-19) appeals to God by His past mercies and deliverances to turn away His wrath and to pity the reproach of His people. All our greatest evil comes from sin, and can only be removed when our sin is forgiven. Abraham "drew near," when he spake to the Lord in behalf of Sodom. The influence of the Psalter is to be seen in this verse. So the setting up of a heathen altar is not what would naturally be thought of in this connection. Ezekiel 15:8; Ezekiel 20:27. "I prayed unto the Lord my God." Read Daniel 9 commentary using Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. PRAYER AND OBEDIENCE TO THE VOICE OF THE PROPHETS (Daniel 9:6 ). The writer saw it in a mystic or allegorical interpretation of Jeremiah’s seventy years. This, too, is clear and easy of comprehension. It is not always an evil watching; in Jeremiah 31:28 the two meanings are contrasted. But take them together—study the prophecy in the light of its historical development. Commentary on Daniel: Chapter 9 Daniel 9. 122 and b.c. 'the anointed one, the prince.' Christians should pray because God hears and answers prayer. O lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, lilly holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. our families? Further, we have, in the end of Jeremiah 31:26, the "end of the war" referred to. Israel is dispersed through all the countries about, and so weakened, impoverished, and exposed. Furst suggests that it means "shining in splendour"—a meaning perfectly suited to the circumstances, but for which there seems little justification in etymology from cognate tongues. He imputes the continuance of the judgment to their incorrigibleness under it (Daniel 9:13,14): "All this evil has come upon us, and has lain long upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, not in a right manner, as we should have made it, with a humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart. If כְּנָף. Imagine vividly the crisis. own. A skilled and spiritual mind necessary. This was most critical; for: 1. Though we have rebelled against him, yet with him there is mercy, pardoning mercy, even for the rebellious. So also industry, pains, care. as well as the city which is Thus as the Levitical rites approached their end, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel⦠Why, then, should they reap a greater punishment than any other people? Christians should pray because God asks it of them. This is the interpretation of the Septuagint, "The kingdom of the heathen shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the Messiah," identifying "prince" with "Messiah," and his end shall come with wrath." Which is called by thy Name. we have Daniel's prayer of intercession for his people Israel and the vision of the angel who came to reveal to him a greater depth of Jeremiah's prophecy of the seventy-year captivity of Israel. Unquestionably, if we apply this test, the prayer in the Book of Baruch is later than the parallel prayer in Daniel 9:1-27. He appeals to Godâs reputation in doing this. Commencement of the four hundred and ninety. Starting from the first date, the end of the 490 years is a.d. 32, and the end of the 69 weeks is a.d. 25. I beseech thee, Daniel 9:16. II. Daniel 9:15 (American Standard Version) ... Matthew Henry People's Commentary (NT) Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) Scofield: Definitions: Interlinear: Library: Topical Studies: X-References: Daniel 9:14 : Daniel 9:16 >> Definitions of words in Daniel 9:15: As {International Standard Bible Encyclopedia} Day {Easton's Bible Dictionary} (f) A grand act of self-sacrifice, which should awake for virtue the enthusiasm of mankind. As the circumstances in which the Baruch version purports to be written do not so naturally suit the words used, we can, we think, have no difficulty in recognizing that it is not the primitive recension. The king, being angry with him, gave it to his youngest brother Onias." Whenever we pray we must come to God with clean hands and a pure heart. "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.". 647—a date that falls within the reign of Manasseh. After speaking of the cessation of sacrifice, attention is fixed on the temple, some high point of it, soaring portion, "wing." The R. V renders it, "and shall have nothing." The generality of the phenomenon is due to the normal structure of the Hebrew clause. Daniel reckons from the first siege, the date of his own going into captivity. Consequently most modern scholars, including even such writers as Keil, and our Revisers follow the Masoretic punctuation, and put the stop after the seven weeks, separating them entirely from the following sixty-two. As to the terminus ad quota, it is open to any commentator to say that the prediction may point to many subsequent and analogous fulfilments; but no competent and serious reader who judges of these chapters by the chapters themselves and by their own repeated indications can have one moment’s hesitation in the conclusion that the writer is thinking mainly of the defilement of the Temple in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, and its reconsecration (in round numbers) three and a half years later by Judas Maccabaeus (December 25th, B.C. (Jerusalem). 2. He must have meant, not "years," but weeks of years-Sabbatical years. Note, The shining of God's face upon the desolations of the sanctuary is all in all towards the repair of it and upon that foundation it must be rebuilt. Jeremiah 32:11; Jeremiah 32:44}-. Hengstenberg, Hitzig, and yon Lengerke make the one week the nominative of the verb. out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, The Peshitta refers to the king that cometh. Jerome has finis eius vastitas, his reference being to the city. As yet Cyrus had given no sign that he was about to treat the Jews differently from the other nations. The Peshitta has, "our supplication," and avoids the awkward change of person by reading, "for thy Name's sake." 2. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth. The further assumption has to be made that, in the opinion of the pious, they were not successors of Onias. The turning away of God's anger. That the statement contradicts the text, which dates "from the going forth of a promise to people and build again Jerusalem," according to Professor Bevan's own translation, not from the destruction of Jerusalem, is looked upon evidently as of no importance. open Thine eyes and behold our desolations. Consider the poor publican who prayed, "God be merciful to me a sinner." the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet. The uncertainty of the text renders one chary of suggesting meanings. 1. for we do not present our supplications before Thee. We have sinned, we have done wickedly — Here Daniel confesses again God’s being just and good in all his ways; and that it was owing to themselves only that all these evils were come upon them. Each of the groups of people plays an important role in man's redemption. This period extends to the baptism of Jesus; i.e. Neither of these seems to be the original of the Greek. "And after three score and two weeks," etc. The noble unselfishness of the prayer. Defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God; for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name. ", VI. Daniel hopes and prays it is finally These ideas are connected in regard to Solomon (1 Chronicles 29:22). Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary has a close resemblance to Psalms 80:3, Psalms 80:7, Psalms 80:19. His soul is mantled in just shame. And now, O Lord, our God, that hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand. and in the Massoretic, the second verse begins. So pray when we will, we may expect an answer. Antiochus is called "the prince that shall come," because he was at Rome when Onias III was murdered (B.C. 2. "And the people of a prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. The meaning of kalah is assumed to be "end," not "ruin," as asserted by many commentators. “And now, O Lord our God, you have brought your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made for yourself a name as at this day. "Do it for the Lord's sake, that is, for the Lord Christ's sake," for the sake of the Messiah promised, who is the Lord (so the most and best of our Christian interpreters understand it), for the sake of Adonai, so David called the Messiah (Psalm 110:1), and mercy is prayed for for the church for the sake of the Son of man (Psalm 80:17), and for thy Word's sake, he is Lord of all.