Daniel 9.16-Daniel Asks God to Turn Away His Righteous Indignation from Jerusalem
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday November 13, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 9:16-Daniel Asks God to Turn Away His Righteous Indignation from Jerusalem
Lesson # 271
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. 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. 15 Indeed, now my Lord, our God who caused Your people to be brought out from Egypt by means of great power so that You made a name for Yourself as to this day, we have sinned, we have acted wickedly.” (My translation)
Daniel 9:16 “O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.” (NASB95)
“O Lord” is composed of the noun ʾǎḏō·nāy (אֲדֹנָי) (ad-o-noy´), “O Lord” which is modified by the first person singular pronominal suffix ʾǎnî (אֲנִי) (an-ee), which is not translated.
The noun ʾǎḏō·nāy means “Lord” referring to the God of Israel expressing His sovereign authority over Israel and all of creation.
The noun is modified by the first person singular pronominal suffix ʾǎnî, which again means “my” expressing the personal covenant relationship between Daniel and the God of Israel.
We have the vocative use of this word since Daniel is directly addressing the Lord according to this title and is expressing his great emotion.
“In accordance with all Your righteous acts” is describing the function or exercise of an attribute of God which refers to His perfect integrity in that His character is perfectly sound, perfectly adhering to His own perfect holy standards and what He promises to men.
Daniel’s statement in verse 15 makes clear that the righteous acts Daniel has in mind were the miracles He performed on behalf of the Exodus generation under Moses when He delivered them from Pharaoh and Egyptian army with the exercise of His great power.
“Your anger and Your wrath” is referring to God’s righteous indignation towards the sin of the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem.
“Let now turn away” is a request that God would refrain from exercising His righteous indignation against Jerusalem.
“For because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers” presents the reason why Daniel is requesting that God would turn away His anger, yes His righteous indignation from Jerusalem.
“Because of our sins” is indicating that Jerusalem and the Israelites were a reproach to the surrounding nations by means of or through the sins of the Israelites.
“Because of the iniquities of our fathers” is indicating that Jerusalem and the Israelites were a reproach to the surrounding nations by means of or through the sins of their ancestors.
“Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us” refers to the disgrace Israel suffered as a result of being defeated on the battlefield by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of her people to Babylon.
Daniel 9:16 “O Lord in keeping with all Your righteous acts, please, I beg of You, turn away Your anger, yes, Your righteous indignation from Your city, Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. For by means of our sins as well as by means of our ancestors’ iniquities, Jerusalem as well as Your people are a disgrace among all those around us.” (My translation)
After confessing the sins of the Jewish exiles as well as their leaders and ancestors and acknowledging to God that He was righteous in disciplining the Israelites for their unrepentant disobedience to His laws, Daniel presents his request to God.
Daniel begs that God would no longer exercise His righteous indignation against Jerusalem, which would be in keeping with His righteous acts.
He then tells God the reason why he is making this request, namely that Jerusalem as well as His people were a disgrace among all those around them.
Daniel acknowledges to God that it was by means of the sins of the Israelites as well as the iniquities of their ancestors, which brought about this disgrace among the surrounding nations.
So notice that Daniel attributes the Jewish exiles present status in Babylon to her past sin when he makes reference to the iniquities of their ancestors.
Daniel’s statement in verse 15 makes clear that the righteous acts Daniel has in mind were the miracles He performed on behalf of the Exodus generation under Moses when He delivered them from Pharaoh and Egyptian army with the exercise of His great power.
He is appealing to the Lord on behalf of the Jewish exiles in Babylon that He would deliver them from Babylon with His great power as He delivered the Exodus generation from Egypt with His great power.
“Your city” and “Your holy mountain” indicates that Daniel is appealing to God’s reputation among the nations since Jerusalem was set apart exclusively to be place where He could be worshipped by men.
Thus, Daniel wants God to restore the Jewish exiles to Jerusalem and the land which He promised their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob since Jerusalem is the city in which He chose to rule from and Israel is the only nation which He chose to rule through.
Each of these expressions “Your city,” “Your holy mountain” and “Your people” emphasize that Jerusalem and the Jewish exiles in Babylon were God’s possession indicating that Daniel is appealing to God’s mercy and compassion which flows from His attribute of love.
He is appealing to God to be merciful and compassionate with Israel by restoring the nation to the land of promise in accordance with the word which He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.
They also express the fact that Daniel is attempting to view the situation with the Israelites and Jerusalem from God’s perspective and is concerned about God being honored among the nations of earth when he uses these two expressions.
The sins of the Jews caused the Gentile nations to blaspheme God (Isaiah 52:1-5; Romans 2:24).
The Babylonian exile of the Jews and the city of Jerusalem lying in ruins gave God a bad reputation among the Gentile nations of the earth since God chose Jerusalem as the city where He would be worshipped and the Israelites as the people who represent Him.
Daniel’s request makes clear that he wants the Gentiles to stop blaspheming God because of the sins of the Jews by God restoring the Jews to the land of promise as well as rebuilding Jerusalem so that she once again becomes the city in which He is worshipped by the Jewish people.
So Daniel is making this request of God here in Daniel 9:16 that He act because of His reputation among the nations of the earth and not because of any merit on the part of the Jewish exiles.
Also, the pagan mind in Daniel’s day believed that the God of the Jews was not strong as the gods of the Babylonians and other nations since they believed that when one nation defeated another, the god of the conquering nation was stronger than the god of the nation which was defeated in battle.
Daniel wants this thought to end among the Gentiles by God restoring the Jews to their homeland which would demonstrate His great power.
If you notice, Daniel is again contrasting God’s righteous acts on behalf of Israel with Israel’s sin.
This again expresses the fact that Daniel is placing the blame for the Babylonian exile and the destruction of Jerusalem at the feet of the Jewish exiles and their ancestors and that God was never fault at any time.