Commentary - Daniel 9:1-19

Bird's-eye view

Daniel 9 gives us one of the most profound prayers in all of Scripture, and it serves as a paradigm for every believer. This is not a prayer shot from the hip; it is a prayer saturated in the Word of God. Daniel, an aged and faithful servant of God living in exile, has been studying the prophet Jeremiah. He understands that the prophesied seventy years of desolation are nearing their end. This discovery does not lead him to passive observation, but rather drives him to his knees. What follows is a master class in covenantal prayer. It begins with a right understanding of God, moves to a devastatingly honest confession of corporate sin, and culminates in a humble supplication for mercy, based not on the merits of the people, but entirely on the character and glory of God Himself. Daniel identifies himself completely with the sins of his people, demonstrating that true righteousness does not stand aloof from the sins of the covenant community, but rather bears them in confession before the throne of grace.

This prayer is the necessary prelude to the stunning prophecy of the seventy weeks that follows. Before God reveals the timeline of redemption through His Son, He first elicits from His servant a prayer that fully acknowledges the reason why such a redemption is necessary. The problem is sin, deep and pervasive, and the only solution is the sovereign mercy of a covenant keeping God. Daniel’s prayer is therefore a foundational element of the gospel. It shows us how to approach God: on the basis of His Word, with a heart broken over sin, and with a plea directed to His glory alone.

Outline

Commentary

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, from the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans,

The prayer is anchored in history. Daniel is not floating in some ethereal spiritual space; he is a statesman, and he knows what time it is. The Babylonian empire has fallen, and the Medes and Persians are now in charge. This is the new political reality. Daniel notes the specific year and the specific ruler. This matters because God works out His sovereign purposes on the stage of real human history, with all its political upheavals and changing of the guard. The shift in power from Babylon to Persia is the very thing that will make the return from exile humanly possible. God is the one who raises up kings and brings them down, and Daniel, a man who has served multiple pagan emperors, knows this firsthand.

2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the number of the years concerning which the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

Here is the catalyst. Daniel is a man of the Book. He is not just reading, he is discerning, understanding, putting two and two together. He is studying the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10) and the Holy Spirit illuminates the text for him. The seventy years of desolation are almost up. This is a crucial lesson for us. True prayer, effectual prayer, is not born out of our own bright ideas or emotional whims. It is born out of a serious engagement with the Word of God. God has revealed His will in Scripture, and our prayers should be shaped by His promises. When we pray in accordance with what God has already said He will do, we are praying on the firmest possible ground. Daniel sees the promise, and this knowledge does not make him sit back and wait. It drives him to his knees to plead for its fulfillment.

3 So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

Daniel’s response is one of utter seriousness. He "gave his face" to the Lord, a Hebraism that means he set his purpose with intense determination. This is not a casual, "if I have time" kind of prayer. This is a deliberate, focused, all-in spiritual effort. The external signs, fasting, sackcloth, and ashes, are not for show. Daniel is in the court of a pagan king; this is likely a private act of devotion. These are the outward expressions of an inward reality: humility, mourning for sin, and utter dependence on God. He is approaching the King of the universe, and he is doing so with the gravity that such an audience deserves. He is seeking God Himself, not just a change in circumstances.

4 And I prayed to Yahweh my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

The prayer begins where all true prayer must begin: with God. Before Daniel says a word about Israel’s sin or their desperate situation, he extols the character of God. He is Yahweh, the personal, covenant God of Israel. He is "my God," an expression of personal faith. He is the "great and awesome God," worthy of all fear and reverence. And crucially, He is a God who "keeps His covenant and lovingkindness" (hesed). This is the bedrock of Daniel’s entire appeal. God is faithful. He keeps His promises. But notice the qualifier: "for those who love Him and keep His commandments." Daniel is not a universalist. He knows that the covenant has two sides. God is faithful to His promises, but the people have been faithless in their obligations. This opening sets the stage for the confession that must follow. He is approaching a faithful God on behalf of a faithless people.

5 we have sinned and committed iniquity and acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and judgments.

Notice the immediate shift to "we." Daniel, a man of exceptional righteousness, does not separate himself from his people. He identifies with them completely. This is covenantal thinking. He piles up the synonyms for sin, leaving no room for excuses. They have sinned (missed the mark), committed iniquity (twisted what is right), acted wickedly (were morally wrong), and rebelled (a political and personal treason against their King). The root of it all was turning aside from God's explicit Word, His commandments and judgments. This is a comprehensive confession. It is not a vague "sorry for whatever we did." It is a specific acknowledgment of high-handed rebellion against the known will of God.

6 Moreover, we have not listened to Your slaves the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

The rebellion was compounded by their refusal to listen to correction. God did not leave them in the dark. He sent His messengers, the prophets, who spoke with divine authority ("in Your name"). And the deafness was universal. It infected every level of society, from the top down: kings, princes, fathers, and all the people. No one could claim ignorance. The Word of God came to them, and they collectively plugged their ears. This is the height of arrogance, to ignore the direct speech of the living God.

7 “To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as it is this day, to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have banished them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.

Daniel draws the great contrast. God is righteous, and because He is righteous, He was just in everything He did. The exile was not an accident or a miscarriage of justice. It was the righteous sentence for their sin. The result for the people is "open shame," or as some translations have it, "confusion of face." Their sin is public, their disgrace is evident to all, and they have no defense. This shame extends to the entire covenant people, wherever they have been scattered. The reason is stated plainly: their "unfaithful deeds," their treachery against their covenant Lord.

8 O Yahweh, to us belongs open shame, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

He repeats the theme of shame for emphasis, again implicating the leadership and the foundational family structures ("our fathers"). When leaders sin, the people suffer. When fathers fail to lead in righteousness, the nation crumbles. The shame is corporate because the sin was corporate. This is a direct repudiation of the modern individualistic mindset that says, "that was them, this is me." In a covenant, the members are bound together for blessing or for curse.

9 To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;

Here is the turn. Having established God's righteousness in judgment, Daniel now appeals to another aspect of God's character: His compassion and forgiveness. And notice the stunning logic. He does not say, "forgive us, for we are sorry" or "forgive us, for we will do better." He says compassion and forgiveness belong to God, "for we have rebelled against Him." The greatness of our sin is the very occasion for the greatness of His mercy. Our rebellion does not obligate God to forgive, but it does provide the backdrop against which His forgiveness shines most brightly. This is gospel logic. God justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5).

10 nor have we listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in His laws which He put before us through His slaves the prophets.

He returns to the root sin again. Repentance means circling back to the offense and calling it what it is. They had God's laws. They were not a secret. God "put before us" His ways, making them plain and clear through the prophets. And they refused to walk in them. Their sin was not one of ignorance but of willful disobedience.

11 Indeed all Israel has trespassed against Your law, even turning aside, not listening to Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.

The indictment is total: "all Israel." This is a nationwide apostasy. And because of this, the consequences stipulated in the covenant have come upon them. The "curse" and the "oath" refer directly to the covenant sanctions laid out in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. The exile was not a surprise. God had told them centuries before, through Moses, exactly what would happen if they persisted in disobedience. The calamity they were experiencing was, in fact, a sign of God's terrible faithfulness. He keeps His word, both the promises of blessing and the warnings of curses.

12 Thus He has established His words which He had spoken against us and against our judges who judged us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.

God confirmed His Word by bringing it to pass. The destruction of Jerusalem was a unique and catastrophic event, a testament to the severity of their sin. They were the people of God, the city was the city of God, and so their judgment was a spectacle for the whole world. When a covenant nation falls, it falls hard, because to whom much is given, much is required.

13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God by turning from our iniquity and acting wisely in Your truth.

Here is the most damning part of the confession. The judgment came, just as Moses said it would. But even in the midst of the discipline, the people remained stubborn. They did not "entreat the favor" of God. The Hebrew is literally "soften the face" of Yahweh. They did not repent. The purpose of the judgment was to bring them to their senses, to cause them to turn from their iniquity and seek God's truth. But it hadn't worked. Their hearts were still hard.

14 Therefore Yahweh has watched over the calamity and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not listened to His voice.

The language here is striking. God "watched over" the calamity. The word means to be alert, to be vigilant. God was not a passive observer. He was actively, sovereignly orchestrating their downfall for His righteous purposes. Again, Daniel vindicates God completely. God is righteous in all His deeds. The fault lies entirely with the people: "we have not listened to His voice." There is no ambiguity, no blame-shifting.

15 “So now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day, we have sinned; we have acted wickedly.

The prayer now transitions to direct supplication. Daniel appeals to God on the basis of His past redemptive acts. He reminds God of the Exodus, the foundational act of salvation for Israel. In bringing them out of Egypt, God made a "name for Himself." His reputation is tied up with this people. This is a shrewd and biblical way to pray. He is not saying, "Look how good we were back then." He immediately follows it with another confession: "we have sinned; we have acted wickedly." The argument is this: "Lord, You are a redeeming God who makes a name for Yourself by saving sinners. We are still sinners. Do it again."

16 O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteousness, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.

This is a brilliant appeal. He asks God to act "in accordance with all Your righteousness." We would expect him to say, "in accordance with Your mercy." But Daniel understands that God's righteousness is multifaceted. It demands judgment on sin, yes, but it also demands faithfulness to His own covenant promises. Forgiveness is an act of divine righteousness because of the provision God would make for sin. The plea is for Jerusalem, God's city. The reason is that their state of reproach is a black eye on God's name. The surrounding nations look at the ruined city and the exiled people and they mock not just Israel, but Israel's God.

17 So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your slave and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.

The appeal becomes intensely personal. "Listen to the prayer of Your slave." And the ultimate motivation is stated plainly: "for Your sake, O Lord." Not for our sake. Not because we deserve it. But for the sake of Your own name and glory. Let Your face shine, a direct echo of the Aaronic blessing (Num. 6:25), on the Temple, the place where God’s name dwelt, which now lies in ruins.

18 O my God, incline Your ear and listen! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any righteousness of our own, but on account of Your abundant compassion.

Daniel presses his case with urgent, anthropomorphic language. "Incline Your ear... Open Your eyes." Look at our mess. Look at the city that bears Your name. And here he states the central premise of all acceptable prayer, the very heart of the gospel. We do not come based on our righteousness. We have none. If this prayer were based on merit, it would be dead on arrival. We come based on one thing and one thing only: God's "abundant compassion." Our only claim is on His character.

19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

The prayer concludes with a rapid-fire series of petitions. The urgency is palpable. Listen! Forgive! Act! Do not delay! And the reason is repeated one last time, for maximum emphasis. "For Your own sake." Why should God act? Because His name is at stake. His city is called by His name. His people are called by His name. Their restoration is not ultimately about them; it is about the vindication of the glory and reputation of Yahweh before a watching world. This is the highest and best motive for prayer, and it is the one that God is always pleased to answer.