Daniel 9:1-27 • Daniel's Prayer and Seventy Sevens

Steve Schott
May 28
10 min read

► Great change has come over Babylon. The rule of the Chaldeans is over. The land is now ruled by the Medo-Persians, and their power is great. They have conquered lands as far to the west as Greece, and to the east as far as India.

► The dynamic has changed forever. Yet in the middle of all of this one thing remains unchanged.

► God, specifically the true God of Israel, is, and has always been, at work.

► And the future, as we will see, is through the nation of Israel.

► In chapter 9, we will see Daniel, discovering some truths both about how Israel got into their current predicament, and how the future will play out.

► Daniel 9:1-27 →

Daniel's Prayer for His People

¹ In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

► "Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans..."

→ Historically, we really know nothing about this person.

→ He is not the Darius who will take charge of the country in 522BC, which is 17 years away.

→ The "Ahasuerus" mentioned is not the same one as is found in the book of Esther, who ruled from 486BC to 465BC.

→ There are 3 prevailing theories by commentators as to who this might really be...

1st - this is actually a title, that means "royal one", and could be applied to several different people.

2nd - this is applied to a person named Gubaru, the governor of Babylon.

3rd - this is the Median name for Cyrus, who we know historically took control of Babylon in 539BC. Cyrus would be his Persian name.

→ Whomever it actually is, all of the recorded events in Daniel referencing "Darius" would have had to take place in 539BC, unless he was in fact Cyrus.

► "observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years."

→ So Daniel is reading the book of Jeremiah, and has discovered this 70 year judgment on the nation of Israel.

• 1st, a couple of things to mention about Jeremiah...

♦ Jeremiah was forced to flee to Egypt after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC.

♦ He was most probably taken captive to Babylon in about 568BC after Babylon invaded Egypt.

♦ He was most probably in Babylon to witness the consideration shown to Jehoiachin, former King of Judah, by Babylonian king Evil-merodach (562BC to 560BC), who is also known as Amel-Marduk, who was a son of Nebuchadnezzar.

♦ Jeremiah would have been about 85-90 years old at this time.

• So some 22 years later, Daniel is reading from Jeremiah's writings.

→ The portion Daniel was reading was most likely Jeremiah 25:11-12 and Jeremiah 29:10.

• Jer 25:11-12 "¹¹ This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ¹² ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation."

• Jer 29:10 "¹⁰ “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place."

→ 70 years from 605BC (the first of 3 exiles from Jerusalem) would mean that the 70 years of "desolations" were almost over.

→ If the dates were compared to the 586BC, third and final exile, then the 70 years would have been complete in 515BC, at the time of the completion of the rebuilding of the temple.

³ So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the Lord 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,

► Daniel prepared himself for this period of internal reflection with "fasting, sackcloth and ashes."

→ He fully understands the serious nature of what needs to be dealt with.

► He also begins his prayer with an acknowledgement of God's faithfulness and lovingkindness, toward those who walk in God's truth.

► But we shall soon see that the people of Israel are not those people.

⁵ we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. ⁶ Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.

⁷ “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, 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 driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. ⁸ Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; ¹⁰ nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying 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. ¹² Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. ¹³ As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.

¹⁵ “And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked. ¹⁶ O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, 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. ¹⁷ So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear! 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 merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

► In this lengthy prayer, I see a common thread - Daniel reiterates numerous times that the exile that the people of Israel are now facing is their own fault.

→ we have sinned x5 → committed iniquity x2 → acted wickedly x2

→ rebelled x2 → turning aside x2 → we have not listened

→ unfaithful deeds → nor have we obeyed → transgressed Your law

→ not obeying

► At the same time, Daniel also keeps reminding us of God's holy character.

→ great and awesome → keeps His covenant → lovingkindness

→ sent us prophets → righteousness x3 → compassion x2

→ forgiveness x2

► In this lengthy prayer, Daniel is asking for forgiveness and compassion.

Gabriel Brings an Answer

²⁰ Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, ²¹ while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. ²² He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. ²³ At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.

► So during this time of prayer, a prayer of contrition and repentance, the "man Gabriel" comes to visit Daniel.

→ We know, of course, that Gabriel is not a man, but is in fact, an angel.

→ When Daniel mentions that he had seen Gabriel "in the vision previously", I'm sure he's referring to the angelic visitation by Gabriel in Daniel 8:15-26, where Gabriel explains the vision Daniel had of a ram and a goat.

→ Gabriel tells Daniel plainly that he was sent "at the beginning of your supplications", meaning that before he was even finished with his prayer, Gabriel was on his way.

→ He also tells Daniel that he was sent "to give you insight and understanding".

→ Daniel is also rewarded (for lack of a better word) with the statement "you are highly esteemed". God must have been highly pleased with Daniel's response of confession.

► When the text mentions "the holy mountain of my God", he is referring to Jerusalem, and more specifically, the hill of the temple mount.

Seventy Weeks and the Messiah

²⁴ “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. ²⁵ So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. ²⁶ Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. ²⁷ And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

► At the beginning of this chapter of Daniel, he talks about the "70 years" that Jeremiah had prophesied in regards to the length of time that the Jewish people would be in exile.

► Now that number 70 is tossed out again, but this time the reference is to "70 weeks". And prophetically, it's actually a reference to 70 "sevens" of years, or more plainly, 490 years.

► There are several viewpoints on how these 490 years play out. Rather than discussing them all, I'll just show one view, but keep in mind that all but the last week have been fulfilled, regardless of which historical markers are used to define them.

► In this view, the first 483 years would represent the time from Artaxerxes' decree to rebuild Jerusalem (about 445BC) to the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in 30AD.

► And the 70 weeks of years are broken into 3 groups...

1st - 7 weeks of years - 49 years

• From the issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the completion of the walls, temple, etc. This would also include the completion of the recorded events in the Old Testament.

2nd - 62 weeks of years - 434 years

• This would include the intertestamental period and up to the point just before Jesus' death and resurrection, marked by the triumphal entry.

3rd - 1 week - 7 years

• It is commonly believed that this will be the time of the tribulation, when the antichrist sets himself up to be the object of worship.

• The first half of this period will be somewhat calm, but at the mid point, he will attempt to destroy worship of the true God and will profane the rebuilt temple.

• And just to note, there is a gap - a sizeable gap - between the end of first 69 weeks and the 70th one. We commonly call this period "the Church Age".

So What?

► One can't help but think that Daniel was overwhelmed by the scope of this information. He had lived in Babylon now for almost 70 years, making him about 85 years old. After so many chapters detailing various dreams and visions describing future events, some that have come true by this time in Daniel's life, now he's given somewhat specific information, maybe not all the minute details, but enough to know that Israel, while moving back to the promised land, and even with Jerusalem and the temple being rebuilt, will yet again (and again, and again...) face death and destruction at the hands of those opposed to the God of Israel.

► Yet we should be reminded that God is still in control. While it may seem that this world is in utter chaos, none of it is beyond God's reach. So we can rest, knowing that even in the midst of turmoil, God, through His Son Jesus, has provided the way for each of us to be freed from the punishment of our sin, and are only waiting for the time when He will bring us to our new home in heaven.

Posts in this series

► An introduction to the book of Daniel

► Daniel 1:1-21 • Daniel & Friends Tested and Enter the King's Service

► Daniel 2:1-49 • Nebuchadnezzar's First Dream and Promotion of Daniel

► Daniel 3:1-30 • The Image of Gold and the Fiery Furnace

► Daniel 4:1-37 • Nebuchadnezzar Dreams, Goes Insane, and Comes to His Senses

► Daniel 5:1-30 • The Handwriting on the Wall

► Daniel 6:1-28 • Daniel in the Lion's Den

► Daniel 7:1-28 • Daniel's Dream and Visions of Four Beasts

► Daniel 8:1-27 • Daniel's Vision of a Ram and a Goat

► Daniel 9:1-27 • Daniel's Prayer and Seventy Sevens

► Daniel 10:1 to 11:1 • Daniel's Mourning and Terrifying Vision