The Amazing Bible. Book Club
Daniel - Chapter 9
In this chapter Daniel reads from Scripture, Jeremiah, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years. If we interpret the first year of Darius as the first year of Cyrus, when the Persian's and Medes conquered Babylon, this places the time around 536-537 BC. That means that Daniel had been in Babylon around 67 years, which means their release would be soon. When Daniel understood that, he "turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and petition, in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes" (verse 3). His prayer started with praise of who God was, and then he confessed his sin and the sin of his people. It went back and forth between praise and confession. Daniel used the words "we," "our," or "us," around 33 times, and then his prayer ended with a requestion, "O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and Your people bear Your name" (vs. 19). While he was still speaking, he received an answer from Gabriel, which came with a vision. There is much discussion and many views of what and how this vision is fulfilled, but wherever there are words like "everlasting," it seems clear that this is talking about Jesus and His kingdom, because only His kingdom is everlasting. One thing about reading passages like this, we must not ignore the parts of the chapter that we do understand, and that is we are to humble ourselves before the Lord in prayer. We are to praise Him for His goodness, and confess our sins, and the sins of our people, and trust His word that we find in Scripture.
In this chapter Daniel reads from Scripture, Jeremiah, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years. If we interpret the first year of Darius as the first year of Cyrus, when the Persian's and Medes conquered Babylon, this places the time around 536-537 BC. That means that Daniel had been in Babylon around 67 years, which means their release would be soon. When Daniel understood that, he "turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and petition, in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes" (verse 3). His prayer started with praise of who God was, and then he confessed his sin and the sin of his people. It went back and forth between praise and confession. Daniel used the words "we," "our," or "us," around 33 times, and then his prayer ended with a requestion, "O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and Your people bear Your name" (vs. 19). While he was still speaking, he received an answer from Gabriel, which came with a vision. There is much discussion and many views of what and how this vision is fulfilled, but wherever there are words like "everlasting," it seems clear that this is talking about Jesus and His kingdom, because only His kingdom is everlasting. One thing about reading passages like this, we must not ignore the parts of the chapter that we do understand, and that is we are to humble ourselves before the Lord in prayer. We are to praise Him for His goodness, and confess our sins, and the sins of our people, and trust His word that we find in Scripture.