Daniel 9.14-The Lord Fulfilled His Promise to Bring Disaster Against Israel For Her Unrepentant Disobedience Because He is Righteous
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday November 6, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 9:14-The Lord Fulfilled His Promise to Bring Disaster Against Israel For Her Unrepentant Disobedience Because He is Righteous
Lesson # 269
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. 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. 13 As what is written in the law given to Moses, all this disaster has taken place against us. However, we never sought the Lord’s favor, our God by turning from our iniquity followed by giving heed to His truth.” (My translation)
Daniel 9:14 “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.” (NASB95)
“Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us” presents the result of Daniel’s last statement in verse 13, which records him acknowledging to God that the majority in Israel never sought the Lord’s favor by turning from their iniquity followed by giving heed to His truth.
“Has kept in store” is the verb šā·qǎḏ (שָׁקַד) (shaw-kad´), which means “to be vigilant” implying that God carefully observed the Israelites unrepentantly disobeying His laws so as to carry out His threat in the Mosaic Law to judge Israel for such behavior.
The verb expresses the idea of being in readiness to perform a particular action and alertness in acquiring information about a situation implying action to follow.
Here in Daniel 9:14 the verb šā·qǎḏ expresses the idea that God was carefully observing the situation in Israel and was ready to judge Israel for her unrepentant disobedience to His laws, which is how Jeremiah used the verb in Jeremiah 1:12 and 44:27.
“The calamity” is the noun rā·ʿā(h) (רָעָה) (ro-aw´), which 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.
The word refers to three Babylonian invasions in 605, 597 and 587 B.C. as well as the three subsequent deportations to Babylon.
This word contains the figure of metonymy where the disaster is put for God’s promise of causing it to take place against Israel.
“And brought it on us” presents the purpose of God being vigilant concerning fulfilling His promise to bring disaster upon Israel.
It teaches that God carried out His words of judgment in the Law which He spoke against Israel by bringing about or causing a great calamity to take place against the nation.
“For the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done” presents the reason for the previous statement that the Lord was vigilant concerning this promised disaster in order to cause it take place against southern kingdom.
This causal clause refers to God’s perfect integrity in that His character is perfectly sound, perfectly adhering to His own perfect holy standards and what He promises to men.
It describes God as always fulfilling His covenantal obligations with regards to Israel which stands in stark contrast with Israel’s failure to meet her covenantal obligations with regards to God.
When Daniel acknowledges that God is righteous, it means that God kept His promise to judge Israel for her unrepentant disobedience.
It refers to the Trinity’s perfect integrity in that their character is upright, honest, perfectly whole, undiminished, sound, unimpaired and in perfect condition.
It signifies the Trinity’s perfect virtue in that their character is perfect moral excellence, goodness, and their conduct is conformed perfectly to their own perfect holy standards and what they have promised to men or group of people like Israel and the church.
“But we have not obeyed His voice” stands in contrast with the previous statement that the Lord, Israel’s God is righteous with regards to all His actions, which He has performed.
Therefore, the contrast is between God who always fulfills His covenant responsibilities and Israel who does not.
This adversative clause teaches that the majority of Israel never paid attention to the voice of the Lord, their God.
Daniel is again identifying with his fellow countrymen as though he were personally responsible for sinning against 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 win prescribed by Nebuchadnezzar because this food and wine would have made him ceremonially unclean according to the dietary regulations of the Law.
Also, Daniel suffered capital punishment as a result of disobeying Darius’ decree that no one in his kingdom should pray to their god for a month.
Daniel 9:14 “Therefore, the Lord was vigilant concerning this promised disaster in order to cause it take place against us because the Lord, our God is righteous with regards to all His actions, which He has performed. However, to our own detriment, we never paid attention to His voice.” (My translation)
Daniel continues his intercessory prayer on behalf of the Jewish exiles in Babylon by acknowledging that God was righteous in judging the nation of Israel for her unrepentant disobedience.
As a result of never repenting of their disobedience to His laws, Daniel says that the Lord was vigilant concerning the promise to bring disaster against Israel in order to cause this disaster to take place.
The Lord was vigilant over Israel in order to fulfill His promise in the Mosaic Law to bring disaster upon the nation for her unrepentant disobedience to His laws.
Daniel acknowledges to God that He is righteous with regards to all His actions which He has performed.
Of course this would include the judgment of Israel for her unrepentant disobedience to His laws.
In contrast to God’s righteousness, Daniel confesses that Israel was unrighteous as demonstrated by her disobedience to God’s laws.
God fulfilled His covenantal responsibilities whereas Israel did not.
God was righteous and not Israel.
Again Daniel is placing the blame for the Babylonian invasions and deportations at the feet of the nation of Israel and not God.
This teaches us a eternal spiritual principle, namely that what God promises and warns, whether judgment or blessing, will surely come to pass.
Daniel is acknowledging that God is faithful to His promises, whether to bless for obedience or discipline for unrepentant disobedience.
A comparison of Daniel 9:13 with Daniel 9:14 reveals that God’s judgment of Israel was the direct result of Israel’s unwillingness to repent from their disobedience to God’s laws.
For those who were believers, this repentance would involve confession of sin to be restored to fellowship and obedience to God’s laws in order to maintain that fellowship.
For those who were non-believers, repentance would involve exercising faith in the Lord for eternal salvation.