Daniel 9.10-Israel Did Not Obey the Voice of the Lord, Their God By Walking in His Teachings He Communicated Through the Prophets
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday October 29, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 9:10-Israel Did Not Obey the Voice of the Lord By Walking in His Teachings He Communicated Through the Prophets
Lesson # 265
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, 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. 6 Furthermore, to our own detriment, we never paid attention to Your servants, the prophets who spoke by Your authority to and for the benefit of our kings as well as our leaders and in addition our ancestors, yes, to and for the benefit of all the people belonging to the land. 7 You are righteous my Lord but we are publicly disgraced as is the case this very day. To the detriment of the Judean people as well as to the detriment of Jerusalem’s inhabitants likewise to the detriment of all Israel, those nearby as well as those far away in all the countries where You have driven them because of their unfaithfulness which they perpetrated against You. 8 We are publicly disgraced Lord, to the detriment of our kings, to the detriment of our leaders as well as to the detriment of our ancestors because we have sinned against You. 9 My Lord, our God is merciful as well as forgiving even though we have rebelled against Him.” (Author’s translation)
Daniel 9:10 “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.” (NASB95)
Verse 10 identifies specifically for the reader how Israel rebelled against God’s authority.
“Nor have we obeyed” means that Israel “never paid attention to” the voice of the Lord, their God or in other words, they were disobedient.
The first person plural is expressing the fact that Daniel is identifying with his fellow countrymen as though he were personally responsible for disobeying the Lord voice of his God, which he was not.
He was one of the few 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 the wine prescribed by Nebuchadnezzar because this food and wine would have made him ceremonially unclean according to the dietary regulations of the Law.
“The voice of the LORD our God” indicates that by disobeying the voice of the Lord, their God which was heard through the prophets He sent to them, Israel was opposing God.
“To walk in His teachings” is indicating that Israel never paid attention to the Lord, their God’s voice by living by means of His laws.
To their own detriment, the majority in Israel never paid attention to the Lord, their God’s voice by living by means of His laws.
“Teachings” is the noun tô·rā(h) which is in the plural and means “laws” referring to the 365 prohibitions and 248 commands which appear in the Mosaic Law.
These 613 laws were a revelation of the will of God for the Israelites in relation to the covenant He established with them through Moses at Mount Sinai.
They also revealed the holiness of God.
In addition, they revealed that like the Gentiles, the nation of Israel were sinners by nature and practice and thus in need of God’s grace, mercy, which flows from His attribute of love.
These laws revealed the infinite chasm which existed between sinful humanity and a holy God.
Thus, they revealed the human race’s need for a Savior.
“Which He set before us” refers to God giving Israel His laws through Moses in their presence at Mount Sinai.
“Through His servants the prophets” is indicating God gave Israel His laws through the hand of His servants, the prophets, namely Moses.
Daniel 9:10 “Specifically, to our own detriment, we never paid attention to the Lord, our God’s voice by living by means of His laws which He gave in our presence through His servants, the prophets.” (My translation)
Verse 10 continues the thought from verse 9 which records Daniel addressing God and acknowledging that He is merciful as well as forgiving even though Israel rebelled against Him.
Now, here in verse 10, Daniel identifies specifically how Israel rebelled against God, namely they rebelled by never paying attention to the Lord, their God’s voice by living by means of His laws, which He gave in their presence through His servants, the prophets.
“His laws” is a reference to the Mosaic Law which is indicated in verses 11-13.
Thus, “which He gave in our presence through His servants, the prophets” is a reference specifically to Moses receiving the Law from God on Mount Sinai in the presence of the Israelites.
Moses is the only one of the prophets who received from God the 613 laws on Mount Sinai, which regulated the lifestyle of the nation of Israel.
The prophets which followed Moses were used often to give new revelation and to call the Israelites back to repentance.
Specifically, the prophets after Moses would call apostate Israel back to obedience to the Mosaic Law.
Daniel 9:10 echoes Daniel 9:5.
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.”
Daniel 9:10 parallels Daniel 9:5 since in both verses, Daniel mentions Israel rebelling against the Lord, their God.
Also, in both verses he employs an epexegetical clause which defines specifically how Israel rebelled against God.
In each verse, Daniel tells the reader that Israel rejected His laws, which is again a reference to the Mosaic Law.
God sought to govern the conduct of the Israelites by means of His laws, which He communicated in the presence of Israel at Mount Sinai.
However, Israel rebelled against God’s authority over them by disobeying these laws.
This was not sporadic sinning on the part of the majority in Israel but rather this was a lifestyle of disobedience.
What angered God concerning Israel, was that the majority in Israel were unrepentant of their lifestyle of disobedience to Him.
The word “unrepentant” means that Israel did not confess their sins to be restored to fellowship and did not obey God to maintain that fellowship.
Those who were disciplined were in apostasy and were habitually out of fellowship with God.
All believers including Daniel sin.
However the difference between Daniel and his fellow countrymen was that when he sinned, he confessed it to be restored to fellowship with God and then he obeyed God to maintain that fellowship.
This was a habitual activity on the part of Daniel. His fellow countrymen had no respect for God like Daniel and did not imitate his example.
So the lesson for God’s people here in the twenty-first century in the church age is to keep short accounts with God by confessing any known sin in order to be restored to fellowship with God.
Once restored this fellowship is maintained by obedience to His commands and prohibitions.
Habitual failure to confess one’s sins as a believer results in a lifestyle governed by the sin nature and Satan’s cosmic system as well as apostasy.
Consequently, God must discipline the believer, which He does because of His love for the believer (Hebrews 12:4-11; Revelation 3:19).
Whether it is Old Testament Israel or the church, God wants the lifestyle of His people to be one of obedience to His Word and specifically obedience to His commands and prohibitions.
God regulates the conduct of His people by means of these commands and prohibitions and the ultimate objective for doing this is to glorify Himself and bring blessing to His people.
The nation of Israel was severely disciplined by God for their unrepentant attitude.
Thus, His people here in the church age must learn the lesson, namely, that the refusal to repent of one’s sins results in God severely disciplining His people.
Repentance again involves the confession of sin (1 John 1:9; Psalm 32:1-4) in order to be restored to fellowship and which fellowship is maintained by obedience to the commands and prohibitions which appear in the Word of God.