Daniel 9.5-On Behalf of Israel, Daniel Confesses Their Sin and Rebellion Against God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday October 9, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 9:5-On Behalf of Israel, Daniel Confesses Their Sin and Rebellion Against God
Lesson # 260
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 9:1.
Daniel 9:1 During Darius’ first year, Ahasuerus’ son, who was from Median descent, who was made king over the Chaldeans’ kingdom- 2 during the first year of his reign, I myself, Daniel understood by means of the scrolls the specific number of years which the word of the Lord communicated to Jeremiah the prophet for completing devastating Jerusalem-seventy years. 3 Therefore, I devoted my full attention to my Lord, the one and only God by repeatedly presenting prayer request in the form of pleas for mercy while fasting with sackcloth as well as ashes. 4 Indeed, I caused myself to enter into prayer to the Lord my God. Specifically, I caused myself to enter into confession and said, “O my Lord, the one and only God, the Great One yes the Awesome One, who is faithful to His covenant because of His unconditional love on behalf of those who love Him, namely on behalf of those who conscientiously observe His commands.” (Author’s translation)
Daniel 9:5 “we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.” (NASB95)
“We have sinned” is the verb ḥā·ṭā(ʾ) (חָטָא) (khaw-taw´), which means “to sin” in the sense of being guilty of committing an infraction of law or agreement, implying a penalty must be paid or forfeited.
It refers to the corporate sin of the nation of Israel in the sense that they were guilty as a corporate unit of disobeying the various commands and prohibitions in the Mosaic Law, which constituted sin against God and violating His perfect holy standards.
“Committed iniquity” presents the result of the previous verb ḥā·ṭā(ʾ).
“Committed iniquity” is the verb ʿā·wā(h) (עָוָה) (aw-vaw´), which means “to do wrong” in the sense of acting contrary to the holy standards of the Mosaic Law, which are reflected in its various commands and prohibitions.
“Acted wickedly” presents the result of the previous two verbs.
“Acted wickedly” is the verb rā·šǎʿ (רָשַׁע) (raw-shah´), which in the hiphil stem means “to condemn as wicked and guilty” in the sense of justly chargeable with a crime or responsible for a crime and deserving of punishment.
Here it is describing Israel’s sinful behavior as morally reprehensible in the sight of God who is holy so that they are condemned as wicked and guilty and deserving of punishment from God.
“And rebelled” presents the reason why Israel was condemned as guilty in the judgment of God.
“Rebelled” is the verb mā·rǎḏ (מָרַד) (maw-rad´), which means “to rebel” in the sense of disobeying, opposing and resisting one who is in authority.
Here it describes Israel’s sinning which constituted doing wrong against God as rebellion against God in the sense that their sinning constituted disobeying, opposing and resisting God’s authority over the nation of Israel.
“Even turning aside” identifies specifically how Israel rebelled against God’s authority.
“Turning aside” is the verb sûr (סוּר) (soor), which means “to turn away, to deviate” from a particular course of action or prescribed course of action.
Here it refers to Israel “deviating” from obedience to the various commands and prohibitions in the Mosaic Law.
It is a word that conveys the idea of apostasy since it implies that a person was obeying God but now no longer does so.
“Commandments” is the noun miṣ·wā(h) (מִצְוָה) (mits-vaw´), which is referring to that which God requires of those who entered into a covenant relationship with Him.
It refers to an authoritative directive either written or verbal, given as instruction or prescription to a subordinate.
Here it refers to the authoritative directives of the God of Israel which were communicated to His subordinate Moses who in turn communicated them to the nation of Israel.
“And ordinances” defines specifically the meaning of the previous prepositional phrase “from Your commands.”
“Ordinances” is the noun miš∙pāṭ (מִשְׁפָּט) (mish-pawt´), which denotes a law or regulation in the form of a spoken or written command or prohibition, which is to be obeyed and results in a penalty for non-compliance.
It is in the plural and means “laws” in the sense of a rule of conduct or action prescribed in written form recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority.
The word refers to the various “laws” in the Mosaic Law in the sense that it refers to various rules of conduct in the Mosaic Law which are prescribed by God for the nation of Israel and are binding and enforced by God who is the sovereign authority over the nation.
This noun speaks of the entire body of rules and regulations or commands and prohibitions in the Mosaic Law.
Daniel 9:5 “We have sinned, thus we have done wrong so that we have been condemned as guilty because we have rebelled. Specifically, we have deviated from Your commands, that is, from Your laws.” (My translation)
After beginning his prayer by addressing God while acknowledging His holy character and nature and faithfulness to His covenant with Israel because of His attribute of love, Daniel begins to confess the sins of his fellow countrymen.
Throughout this confession, Daniel uses the first person plural in order to identify with his people Israel as though he were personally responsible for sinning against God, which he was not.
He was one of the few people in Israel who conscientiously observed the commands and prohibitions of the Mosaic Law as demonstrated in Daniel chapter one.
If you recall, he refused to eat the food and drink prescribed by Nebuchadnezzar because this food and wine would have made him ceremonially unclean according to the dietary regulations of the Law.
The acknowledgement of the corporate sin of Israel by an individual interceding for the nation appears in several passages in the Old Testament (cf. Numbers 14:40; 21:7; Judges 10:10; 1 Samuel 7:6; 12:10; Jeremiah 3:25; 8:14; 14:7, 20; Nehemiah 1:6).
We must note and remember that when Daniel acknowledges Israel’s sin, he is acknowledging a habitual activity on the part of the nation.
It speaks of unrepentant habitual sin since if Israel had confessed their sin and then obeyed God, they would have not been disciplined.
Obviously Daniel is a sinner and committed many acts of sin in his life.
However, the difference between him and the majority of his fellow countrymen is that he confessed his sins so as to be restored to fellowship with God.
He maintained that fellowship through obedience.
Daniel’s lifestyle was obedience to God whereas the lifestyle of the majority of his fellow Israelites was disobedience.
Daniel repented by confessing to be restored to fellowship with God which he maintained by obedience to God’s law.
The majority in Israel however in contrast to Daniel were unrepentant sinners who did never made it their habit to confess their sins.
Daniel 9:4 presented to us one of the essential elements of a productive prayer life, namely worship of God whereas Daniel 9:5 presents another essential element which paves the way for other essentials, namely the confession of sin.
Without confession of sin, the believer’s worship of God will not be accepted by God and their prayers won’t be answered if they don’t confess their sins since sinning puts one out of fellowship with God.
Daniel is interceding for the nation of Israel.
One of the essential elements of prayer is that of intercession, which refers to praying for both the temporal and spiritual needs of believers and unbelievers, friends and enemies (Luke 23:34; Eph 1:16-23; 3:14-19; 6:18; 1 Ti 2:1-4).
Daniel’s intercessory prayer was an act of divine love meaning that it was an act motivated by the Holy Spirit which expresses God’s love for the nation of Israel.
His prayer reflected the heart of God who is love.
God was motivating Daniel to make this prayer because He, God wanted to forgive and restore the Jewish exiles to the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Daniel begins his intercessory prayer for Israel with confession of sin, which is another essential element to a healthy and productive prayer life and in fact it is the first essential element since, without it, the believer cannot have fellowship with God.
Fellowship with the Lord demands that the believer confess any known sin to the Father when necessary in order to be restored to fellowship (Psalm 66:18; 1 John 1:9).
Here in Daniel 9:5, Daniel makes clear that Israel was disciplined by God for their bad attitude toward His Word in the sense that they disobeyed the various commands and prohibitions in the Mosaic Law.
These various commands and prohibitions constituted the revelation of God’s will for the nation of Israel.
Thus, their disobedience to these commands and prohibitions constituted a rejection of God’s will for the lives.