Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Thursday October 24, 2013

www.wenstrom.org

Daniel: Daniel 9:9-Daniel Acknowledges God is Compassionate and Forgiving with Israel Even Though They Rebelled Against Him

Lesson # 264

Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 9:1.

Review of Daniel 9:1-8

Daniel 9:1 During Darius’ first year, Ahasuerus’ son, who was from Median descent, who was made king over the Chaldeans’ kingdom.

(Author’s translation)

Daniel 9:1 tells the reader when Daniel received his third great prophetic revelation.

It was during the first year of Darius the Mede’s reign who was the son of Ahasuerus.

Then, he informs the reader that Darius was made king over the Babylonian kingdom.

This would be 538-539 B.C. immediately after the Medo-Persian Empire conquered and absorbed the Babylon Empire.

Darius was installed as king by Cyrus the Persian.

Daniel 6:28 (6:29) records that Daniel prospered during the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

In 539 B.C. Cyrus overthrew Babylon and established the Medo-Persian Empire.

This was Cyrus’ first year in control of Babylon.

His policy was to restore displaced peoples to their lands, which included the Jews.

He issued a decree in 538 B.C. that permitted Jews to return to Jerusalem if they wanted to (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4).

Fifty thousand Jewish exiles returned and began to rebuild the temple, which was an answer to Daniel’s prayer (Daniel 9:4-19).

The temple was completed in 515 B.C. (Ezra 6:15).

Seventy years had elapsed from the first deportation of Jews in 605 B.C. to the rebuilt foundation of the temple in 536 B.C.

This fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecy as well (Jeremiah 25:11-12).

The prophetic revelation that Daniel received during the first year of Darius the Mede’s reign over Babylon took place after the second great prophetic revelation he received from God in 551 B.C. during the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, which would be 551 B.C.

This prophetic revelation presented in chapter nine took place fourteen years after his first great prophetic revelation from God during the first year of Belshazzar’s reign as co-regent with his father Nabonidus.

This would be the year 553 B.C.

This first prophetic revelation took place fourteen years prior to Daniel’s experience in the lions’ den.

He was 68 years of age in 553 B.C. since he was taken captive about the age of 16 or 17 which was 52 years earlier in 605 B.C.

This revelation Daniel received from God as recorded in chapter eight also took place before the events of Daniel chapter five, which took place in 539 B.C. Thus, this revelation in chapter nine took place immediately after the fall of Babylon.

Daniel would also thus be eighty-four years of age when he received this third prophetic revelation in 539 B.C.

The Darius mentioned here in Daniel 9:1 is the same one mentioned in Daniel 5:31, which in the Aramaic is actually Daniel 6:1.

Darius is the same as Gubaru, who was the governor appointed over Babylon by Cyrus.

This interpretation is strongly supported by the biblical text because Daniel 5:31 (6:1) and Daniel 9:1 make clear that Darius the Mede was appointed king over Babylon.

This interpretation is also supported by the Nabonidus-Cyrus Chronicle where Gubaru (Gobryas) is called Cyrus’ governor.

Darius the Mede must not be confused with Darius I who began to rule in 522 B.C. since the latter was a about twenty-eight by 522 B.C. having been born in approximately 550 B.C. whereas the former was sixty-two when he began to rule according to Daniel 5:31 (6:1).

Furthermore, Darius I was of a Persian royal line because his father, Hystaspes, was of the Achaemenid dynasty whereas the father Darius the Mede was Ahasuerus who was of Median descent according to Daniel 9:1.

Darius I took the throne by a coup d’état whereas Cyrus appointed Darius the Mede to be king over Babylon according to Daniel 9:1.

Darius I is mentioned in Ezra 4:5, 24; 5:5-7; 6:1, 12, 15 as well as Haggai 1:1; 2:10; Zechariah 1:1, 7; 7:1 whereas Darius the Mede is only mentioned in the book of Daniel (6:1, 6, 9, 25, 28; 9:1; 11:1).

The royal houses of the kingdoms of Media and Persia were closely related by marriage, which the Median king, Astyages, had arranged.

He wed his daughter, Mandane to Cambyses, King of Anshan.

This union produced Cyrus the Great who later became king of Persia.

Astyages had a son as well, namely Darius Cyaxares (pronounced sigh AKS uh reez) II who is none other than Darius the Mede and uncle of Cyrus the Great.

The latter spent little time in Babylon after its capture.

Thus, he left Babylon in Darius’ hands, his uncle.

Cyrus eventually married the daughter of Darius.

Then approximately two years later, upon the death of Darius, Cyrus united the kingdoms of Media and Persia and assumed the title King of Persia.

Daniel’s statement here in Daniel 5:31 (6:1) that Darius the Mede received the Babylonian kingdom from Cyrus agrees with Xenophon who identifies Darius the Mede as Cyaxares II (Cyropaedia, 8.5, 19).

Nehemiah 12:22 mentions a Darius the Persian, who is not the same Darius mentioned in Daniel chapter six since the latter of course was a Mede according to Daniel 6:1.

This Darius was known as Darius Codomannus or Darius III.

He was the last king of Persia.

His empire was destroyed by Alexander the Great.

Daniel 9:2 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.

(Author’s translation)

Daniel informs the reader that during the first year of Darius the Mede’s reign as king over Babylon, he was studying the scrolls which constituted the Old Testament Scriptures in the sixth century B.C.

He was specifically studying prophecies by a contemporary of his, namely the prophet Jeremiah.

The specific prophecy Daniel was studying was that Jerusalem would lie in ruins for seventy years as a result of disobeying the Lord’s command to give the land a Sabbath rest every seven years.

This prophecy is recorded in Jeremiah 25:11-12 and 29:10-14.

2 Chronicles 36:21 speaks of Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning the Babylonian exile and it indicates quite clearly that the exile would last 70 years.

The seventy years of captivity were the specific penalty for violating seventy sabbatic years, which would be seventy sevens, a total of seventy years.

Seven days are in one week and every seventh year was a Sabbath rest and seventy sevens brought them to the year of Jubilee which is noted in Leviticus 25:8-12.

The provisions for the land’s Sabbath rest are recorded in detail in Leviticus 25:2-4, 26:32-35, 43 but in those 490 years, Israel had violated exactly seventy sabbatic years so they would go into captivity for seventy years to make amends (cf.

Exodus 23:10-13).

These seventy years of discipline from God began in 605 B.C. with Nebuchadnezzar’s first of three invasions of Israel.

The end of this discipline would be in 535 A.D. The beginning of this discipline also marked the Times of the Gentiles as we have noted in previous studies in the book of Daniel.

God discipline the nation in order to rid her of her idolatry.

Many false prophets in Israel said that Israel would return in a year or two but as the years passed it was quite evident to the surviving Jews that they were wrong and that Jeremiah was right.

The Jews like Daniel began studying the writings of Jeremiah.

So in Daniel 9:2, Daniel tells the reader that he was studying the prophecy of Jeremiah in which the prophet predicts that the Jews would return from Babylon to the land of Israel after seventy years of discipline.

It appears that the Medo-Persian victory over the Babylonian Empire meant the termination of this seventy year exile in Babylon.

Furthermore, Daniel knew that Cyrus had a policy of allowing exiles to return to their homeland.

He knew that in two short years the seventy years would be over and that a remnant would return to the land from Babylon.

Daniel knew first hand the starting time for this prophecy.

It began in 605 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar deported him as well as some of the royal family in Israel and some of the nobles.

Therefore, by knowing when the seventy years began and knowing that Jeremiah prophesied of a seventy year exile, Daniel could simply count the years and know the exact year when the Jewish exiles would return to Israel.

When Daniel received this vision, he says it was in the first year of Darius the Mede’s reign over Babylon which would be 538 or 539 B.C.

The seventy years was to be completed by 535 B.C. Thus, Daniel knew there were only a few shorts years left of the exile in Babylon.

Daniel 9:3 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.

(Author’s translation)

Daniel presents the result of understanding Jeremiah’s prophecy recorded in Jeremiah 25:11-12 and 29:10-14, which made clear that Jerusalem, would lie desolate and abandoned for seventy years and then go would bring back the Jewish exiles to the land of Israel.

So as a result of understanding this prophecy Daniel tells the reader that he devoted his full attention to his Lord whom he describes as the one and only God.

He does this by repeatedly presenting prayer request in the form of pleas for mercy while fasting and wearing sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel 9:4-19 make clear that Daniel’s prayer was on behalf of the Jewish exiles in Babylon.

So what Daniel is telling the reader is that as a result of understanding that the seventy years for the desolation of Jerusalem was almost complete, he devoted his attention to his God by repeatedly offering up an intercessory prayer request for the Jewish exiles in Babylon.

He understood that the reason why God delivered the Jews over to Nebuchadnezzar and allowed this king to destroy Jerusalem and send the surviving Jews into exile was that God was disciplining the nation of Israel for their apostasy.

Daniel knows that the majority of the Jewish exiles have not turned back to God by learning and obeying His Word.

Even though the book of Daniel up to this point has made clear that Daniel was not involved in this apostasy, he identifies with the nation so as to intercede on their behalf.

Daniel was faithful and yet he prays for those who are unfaithful in Israel that they would repent by returning to learning and obeying the Word of God.

This demonstrates the love of God in Daniel’s life in that he intercedes for others and specifically those who have rebelled against God.

God desired the Jewish exiles to repent and Daniel knew that God wanted this, thus Daniel prays for them.

His prayer request was a plea for mercy for these apostate Jewish exiles.

Daniel confesses the sins of the Jewish people and acknowledging to God that He was right to discipline the nation severely for their apostasy.

He appeals to God’s merciful character to forgiven the nation for its sin since the nation he acknowledges as no merit with God whatsoever.

The wearing of sackcloth and ashes by Daniel and his fasting while offering up this intercessory prayer for the Jewish people was on behalf of the Jewish people.

They should have been in sackcloth and ashes and fasting to demonstrate humility before God and repentance.

Yet Daniel does this for them.

Also, Daniel is obeying the Word of God.

In fact, he is applying 1 Kings 8:33-36 to his situation with the Jewish people.

Daniel is doing exactly what Solomon spoke to God at the dedication of the temple he built.

Israel was defeated by Babylon because they sinned against their God.