Daniel 9.12-God Carried Out His Threat of Judgment Against Israel and Its Leaders By Bringing About an Unparalleled Great Calamity on the Nation
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 31, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 9:12-God Carried Out His Threat of Judgment Against Israel and Its Leaders By Bringing About an Unparalleled Great Disaster on the Nation
Lesson # 267
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. 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. 11 Indeed, all Israel has transgressed Your law. In other words, they deviated to their own detriment by never paying attention to Your voice. Consequently, the sworn judgment was poured out against us, which was written in the law given to Moses, the servant of the one and only God because we have sinned against Him.” (My translation)
Daniel 9:12 “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.” (NASB95)
“Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us” defines specifically Daniel’s statement in verse 11, which records him acknowledging to God that His sworn judgment was poured out against Israel which was written in the law of Moses.
“He has confirmed His words” means that God caused His threat of judgment against Israel for her unrepentant disobedience to be carried out or fulfilled.
“Great calamity” is composed of the noun rā·ʿā(h) (רָעָה) (ro-aw´), “calamity” which is modified by adjective gā·ḏôl (גָּדוֹל) (gaw-dole´), “great.”
The noun rā·ʿā(h) in Daniel 9:12 means “disaster, calamity” in the sense of God permitting an evil nation like Babylon to successfully attack Israel and cause her citizens to suffer death and for those who survive, great hardship.
This noun is modified by the adjective gā·ḏôl, which means “great” in the sense of being remarkable in magnitude and degree and intensity and describes the disaster God caused Israel to suffer at the hands of Babylon as being remarkable in magnitude, degree and intensity.
“To bring on us” indicates that God carried out His words of judgment in the Law which He spoke against Israel as well as against her rulers by bringing about or causing a great disaster to take place against the nation.
“For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem” indicates that Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Judah and Jerusalem was unparalleled up to that point in history.
Daniel 9:12 “Specifically, He carried out His words which He spoke against us as well as against our rulers who ruled us by causing a great disaster to take place against us, which has never taken place under all heaven like what has taken place against Jerusalem.” (My translation)
Daniel elaborates on his statement in verse 11 that God’s sworn judgment which was written in the Mosaic Law was poured out against Israel because they sinned against God.
Here in verse 12, he explains what He means by this statement in verse 11 by saying that God carried out His words, which He spoke against Israel and her rulers by causing a great disaster to take place against the nation.
God judged the nation just as He said He would if they unrepentantly disobeyed His laws.
This sworn judgment which Daniel speaks of is recorded in Leviticus 26:14-35 and Deuteronomy 28:15-68.
God had given Israel a choice between obeying Him resulting in blessing or cursing for disobedience (cf. Deuteronomy 11:26ff.).
The majority chose disobedience which resulted in God judging the nation by sending Assyria to destroy the northern kingdom and Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the southern kingdom.
Now, the great disaster Daniel is referring to were the three Babylonian invasions of Jerusalem which was the capital of the southern kingdom.
Thus, the mention of the city of Jerusalem here in verse 12 indicates that Daniel is referring to the Babylonian invasions rather than the Assyrian invasion because Jerusalem was the southern kingdom’s religious and political capital.
Daniel then describes in verse 12 this great disaster was unparalleled in the history of the world up to that point.
Never in history had such a disaster taken place against a nation as the one which God caused to take place against Israel in the sixth century B.C.
Up to that point in history, many nations had been destroyed and by Israel.
Many nations after Israel’s destruction were destroyed by war.
However, no other nation up to that point in history had suffered like Israel.
The three invasions of Nebuchadnezzar of Jerusalem and the magnitude of the suffering inflicted on Israel by these invasions were unparalleled in history up to that point in the sixth century B.C.
Nebuchadnezzar’s attack of Jerusalem in 605 B.C. during the third year of Jehoiakim, Judah’s king resulted in the first of three deportations of the Jewish people (Daniel 1:1; 2 Kings 24:1-2, 13; 2 Chronicles 36:5, 6, 7).
Nebuchadnezzar captured the city of Jerusalem in 597 B.C. and in 587 B.C. destroyed the city and the temple.
Amos 3:2 explains why God judged Israel more severely than all the nations for her unrepentant disobedience.
Amos 3:1 Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up from the land of Egypt: 3:2 “I have chosen you alone from all the clans of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.” (NET)
The point is that to whom much is given much is required.
Because of the great revelation of Himself in that God adopted Israel as His son, gave Israel His Law, the covenants, the Temple worship, covenant promises, priesthood, and the promise that the Savior of the world would be an Israelite (Romans 9:1-5), so much was required of the nation.
They were held accountable by God for their rejection of the great revelation they received from God and thus they were punished greatly and severely.
Not only was Israel destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and her people sent into exile but they no longer enjoyed the presence of God, which was manifested in the Holy of holies in the wilderness tabernacles and Solomon’s temple.
There was no greater disaster for the nation of Israel than when the glory of the Lord departed from Solomon’s temple.
To be the headquarters for God’s presence and His worship on earth but then to be left and destroyed like any other pagan city, was a great disaster.
The meaning of the word “Shekinah,” “the One Who dwells” emphasizes that God seeks to live with man and not vice versa (Exodus 25:8-9).
So the term “Shekinah” was used to describe the visible manifestation of God’s presence.
This visible manifestation of God’s presence appears in Israel’s wilderness wanderings through a pillar of cloud during the day and the pillar of fire at night, which was for guidance and assurance of God’s presence with Israel (Exodus 13:21-22).
Ezekiel 8-11 records the departure from Israel of the Shekinah glory.
The glory of God came into the temple of Solomon upon completion and consecration (1 Kings 8:10).
Then, it progressively departed the Temple, in preparation for the destruction of the nation of Israel which had turned irrevocably to the worship of abominable idols (First step: Ezekiel 8:3-4; Second: Ezekiel 9:3; Third: Ezekiel 10:18-19; Fourth: Ezekiel 11:22-23).
The Temple that was rebuilt after Judah’s seventy years of exile in Babylon did not possess the Shekinah glory of the LORD.
Many in Israel wept over this fact that the Shekinah glory had departed (Ezra 3:12).