Whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel... touched me (ver. 21). Our subject is the prayer of Daniel, and the following points will demand full and careful consideration.
I. THE MOMENT IN TIME. This was most critical; for:
1. The moment had been anticipated in prophecy. (Jeremiah 25:11, 12; Jeremiah 29:10-14.) How Daniel reckoned the seventy years, and how others did so, must be carefully observed. The deportation to Babylon extended over twenty years; hence different men took a different starting-date whence to reckon the seventy. Daniel reckons from the first siege, the date of his own going into captivity ( B.C. 606). Zechariah from the third siege,
(1) from the beginning of it, B.C. 590 (Zechariah 1:12);
(2) from its close, B.C. 588 (Zechariah 7:1, 5). The prophets wrote each from his own standpoint, and there are no discrepancies, though the critical school tries to create them.
2. It was immediately after the fall of Babylon. (Ver. 1.)
3. The Cyrus of prophecy was on the throne of Persia. Darius was only vicegerent in Babylon (Isaiah 44:24-45:7). In the very next year Cyrus issued his decree (Ezra 2:1, 2).
4. It was offered at the exact moment of evening sacrifice. (Ver. 21.)
II. THE FOUNDATION OF THE PRAYER. The Word of God, as contained in "the Scriptures." We should read ver. 2 thus: "I Daniel understood by the Scriptures the number of the years." The expression is, indeed, most remarkable, and has been laid hold of to impugn Daniel's authorship. This is said in substance: The expression shows that the Old Testament was, when the Book of Daniel was written, complete. It must then have been written after the close of the Old Testament canon; not then by Daniel, but by some one very much later. The author, whoever he was, has inadvertently betrayed himself. The answer would be best given by showing historically the gradual formation of the canon all the way down from Moses, and particularly that from his time even "the Scriptures" had an acknowledged existence. (See Westcott, on 'The Canon,' specially p. 251, in Dr. Smith's 'Dict. of the Bible.' See also Pusey on Jonah 1:1.) Enough for us here to note that Daniel's prayer was founded on the prophecy and promise of Daniel's God. Enough for practical purposes.
III. ITS SOLEMN AND DELIBERATE CHARACTER. Imagine vividly the crisis. The first great world-power had already gone down. How long the second and third might last, who could tell? Then would appear the fourth, during whose existence "one like a Son of man" would come "with the clouds of heaven." The deliverer from captivity (Cyrus) had already appeared - was on the throne of power.
1. Such a prayer could not be breathed amidst life's business. Retirement, leisure, deliberateness, solemnity, were all essential.
2. There had been preparation for it. "Fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes," i.e. the withdrawal of the spirit from the realm of the sensuous, the assumption of the mourner's garb, the sign of abasement and grief, viz. casting ashes on the head.
3. Daniel's mode of speaking implies deliberation and solemnity. "I set my face," etc. "Unto the Lord God," with perhaps the lattice open "toward Jerusalem."
IV. ITS CONTENTS. In a sense we would analyze it; but not so as to dissipate the aroma of its sweetly plaintive devotional spirit.
1. The invocation. (Ver. 4.) In these words we trove:
(1) Some of the glorious attributes of God referred to. And:
(a) His majesty. All great in him.
(b) Fidelity to covenant. Whether the terms be written in the ordinances of heaven, the social constitution of man, the development of providence, the book of the Law, or the gospel of his Son. But "the covenant" specially.
(c) Mercy.
(2) An answering feeling. Dread. Not the abjectness of fear, but the prostration of reverent love.
2. The confession. In it there are the following specialities: The iniquity of the nation is set forth:
(1) In its greatness. Terms that to us are almost synonymous in Daniel's Hebrew set forth the nation's sin as failure, perversity, disturbance, rebellion, departure from all that is holiest and best, disobedience to the one supreme voice.
(2) In its aggravations. The Law disregarded. Prophets unheeded. See the history (2 Chronicles 36:14-16). Divine judgments in vain.
(3) In its universality. The ten tribes "afar off," and the two "near."
(4) In its effects. The fulfilment of oath and curse-in the desolations of temple and city, Church and nation.
3. The vindication of God. (Vers. 7, 8, 11-14.)
4. Complaint. The reproach of the people and the ruin of the sanctuary were the prophet's mighty griefs (vers. 16, 17, 18). "Our desolations."
5. The petition.
(1) The plea. It is for:
(a) The cherishing of anger. (Ver. 16.)
(b) The recognition of the desolation. (Ver. 18.)
(c) The favouring smile of God. (Ver. 17.)
(d) Pardon. (Ver. 19.)
(e) Divine action. (Ver. 19.)
(f) Instant and speedy relief. (Ver. 19.)
(2) Its ground. Observe:
(a) Daniel has never forgotten for a moment the covenant relation of God. Note: "The Lord my God;" "The Lord our God;"
(b) Toward the close all the argument is fetched, not from what man is, but from what God is. "According to all thy righteousness;" "For the Lord's sake;" "The city which is called by thy name;" "For thy great mercies;" "For thine own sake;" "Thy city and thy people are called by thy name."
V. THE ANSWER.
1. Instantaneous.
2. Most marked.
3. By angelic envoy.
In conclusion, observe:
1. The noble unselfishness of the prayer. All intercessory.
2. Its consequent prevalence. Every word was answered. Next year out came the edict of Cyrus for the restoration. - R.
And out of one of them came forth a little horn.
If we would know who he is that is signified by this horn, it is necessary that we have his characteristic features and qualities exhibited before us, that we may survey them at one view.
1. He arose out of one of the four horns which were on the he-goat, i.e., one of the kingdoms into which the Grecian empire was divided.
2. He arose in the latter time of their kingdom.
3. He was little at first.
4. But he afterwards waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
5. He fights immediately against God.
6. And the host of the saints.
7. This takes place at a time when the dally sacrifice is in use, while the sanctuary is yet standing, and when transgressions in Israel have come to the full. He takes away the sacrifice, and stamps upon and profanes the sanctuary.
8. This king prospers in his enterprises against God and the saints.
9. He is impudent and cruel.
10. Crafty and deceitful.
11. His power is great, yet there is another power concealed under it.
12. He is broken without hand, i.e., destroyed without the intervention of man. It is impossible for any who duly attends to these features and qualities to apply this prophecy to Mahomet, or to the kingdom of the Turks and Saracens. There does not appear to be any reason why we should depart from the ancient and commonly received interpretation, which applies this prophecy to Antiochus Epiphanes, especially as it speaks of a king, not of a kingdom, and specifies the personal qualities of this king, such as impudence, cruelty, cunning, and deceit, which are altogether inapplicable to a whole kingdom. He is a king raging with unexampled malignity against God and His people, and prefiguring an Antichrist who should not have his equal among all who had preceded him.
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People
Ahasuerus,
Daniel,
Darius,
Gabriel,
Jeremiah,
NahumPlaces
Egypt,
Greece,
JerusalemTopics
Ahasuerus, Ahasu-e'rus, Babylonian, Birth, Chaldaeans, Chaldeans, Chalde'ans, Chaldeans-, Darius, Descent, Kingdom, Mede, Medes, Median, Realm, Ruler, Seed, XerxesOutline
1. Daniel, considering the time of the captivity,3. makes confession of sins,16. and prays for the restoration of Jerusalem.20. Gabriel informs him of the seventy weeks.Dictionary of Bible Themes
Daniel 9:1 5509 rulers
Daniel 9:1-6
8431 fasting, reasons
Daniel 9:1-19
8611 prayer, for others
8618 prayerfulness
Daniel 9:1-23
4926 delay, human
5345 influence
Library
Daniel: a Pattern for Pleaders
"O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God; for thy city and thy people are called by thy name."--Daniel 9:19. DANIEL was a man in very high position in life. It is true he was not living in his own native land, but, in the providence of God, he had been raised to great eminence under the dominion of the country in which he dwelt. He might, therefore, naturally have forgotten his poor kinsmen; many have done so. Alas! we have known some that have …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915The Man and the Book.
In this and the following lectures I attempt an account and estimate of the Prophet Jeremiah, of his life and teaching, and of the Book which contains them--but especially of the man himself, his personality and his tempers (there were more than one), his religious experience and its achievements, with the various high styles of their expression; as well as his influence on the subsequent religion of his people. It has often been asserted that in Jeremiah's ministry more than in any other of the …
George Adam Smith—Jeremiah
Whether the Time of the Future Judgment is Unknown?
Objection 1: It would seem that the time of the future judgment is not unknown. For just as the holy Fathers looked forward to the first coming, so do we look forward to the second. But the holy Fathers knew the time of the first coming, as proved by the number of weeks mentioned in Daniel 9: wherefore the Jews are reproached for not knowing the time of Christ's coming (Lk. 12:56): "You hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the heaven and of the earth, but how is it that you do not discern …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica
That Whereas the City of Jerusalem had Been Five Times Taken Formerly, this was the Second Time of Its Desolation. A Brief Account of Its History.
1. And thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpeius [Elul]. It had been taken five [34] times before, though this was the second time of its desolation; for Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and after him Pompey, and after them Sosius and Herod, took the city, but still preserved it; but before all these, the king of Babylon conquered it, and made it desolate, one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight years and …
Flavius Josephus—The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem
From the Supplement to the Summa --Question Lxxii of the Prayers of the Saints who are in Heaven
I. Are the Saints cognizant of our Prayers? II. Ought we to appeal to the Saints to intercede for us? III. Are the Saints' Prayers to God for us always heard? I Are the Saints cognizant of our Prayers? On those words of Job,[267] Whether his children come to honour or dishonour, he shall not understand, S. Gregory says: "This is not to be understood of the souls of the Saints, for they see from within the glory of Almighty God, it is in nowise credible that there should be anything without of …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life
The Blessing of God.
NUMB. VI. 22-27. We have already seen the grace of GOD making provision that His people, who had lost the privilege of priestly service, might draw near to Him by Nazarite separation and consecration. And not as the offence was the free gift: those who had forfeited the privilege of priestly service were the males only, but women and even children might be Nazarites; whosoever desired was free to come, and thus draw near to GOD. We now come to the concluding verses of Numb. vi, and see in them one …
James Hudson Taylor—Separation and Service
Three Things Briefly to be Regarded in Christ --viz. His Offices of Prophet, King, and Priest.
1. Among heretics and false Christians, Christ is found in name only; but by those who are truly and effectually called of God, he is acknowledged as a Prophet, King, and Priest. In regard to the Prophetical Office, the Redeemer of the Church is the same from whom believers under the Law hoped for the full light of understanding. 2. The unction of Christ, though it has respect chiefly to the Kingly Office, refers also to the Prophetical and Priestly Offices. The dignity, necessity, and use of this …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion
General Account of Jesus' Teaching.
^A Matt. IV. 17; ^B Mark I. 14, 15; ^C Luke IV. 14, 15. ^a 17 From that time Jesus began to preach [The time here indicated is that of John the Baptist's imprisonment and Jesus' return to Galilee. This time marked a new period in the public ministry of Jesus. Hitherto he had taught, but he now began to preach. When the voice of his messenger, John, was silenced, the King became his own herald. Paul quoted the Greeks as saying that preaching was "foolishness," but following the example here set by …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel
Fifthly, as this Revelation, to the Judgment of Right and Sober Reason,
appears of itself highly credible and probable, and abundantly recommends itself in its native simplicity, merely by its own intrinsic goodness and excellency, to the practice of the most rational and considering men, who are desirous in all their actions to have satisfaction and comfort and good hope within themselves, from the conscience of what they do: So it is moreover positively and directly proved to be actually and immediately sent to us from God, by the many infallible signs and miracles …
Samuel Clarke—A Discourse Concerning the Being and Attributes of God
Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
The Fulfilled Prophecies of the Bible Bespeak the Omniscience of Its Author
In Isaiah 41:21-23 we have what is probably the most remarkable challenge to be found in the Bible. "Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." This Scripture has both a negative …
Arthur W. Pink—The Divine Inspiration of the Bible
"And There is None that Calleth Upon Thy Name, that Stirreth up Himself to Take Hold on Thee,"
Isaiah lxiv. 7.--"And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee," &c. They go on in the confession of their sins. Many a man hath soon done with that a general notion of sin is the highest advancement in repentance that many attain to. You may see here sin and judgment mixed in thorough other(315) in their complaint. They do not so fix their eyes upon their desolate estate of captivity, as to forget their provocations. Many a man would spend more affection, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning
The Sin-Bearer.
A COMMUNION MEDITATION AT MENTONE. "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."--1 Peter ii. 24, 25. THE SIN-BEARER. THIS wonderful passage is a part of Peter's address to servants; and in his day nearly all servants were slaves. Peter begins at the eighteenth verse: "Servants, be subject …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath Day and Defends his Act.
(at Feast-Time at Jerusalem, Probably the Passover.) ^D John V. 1-47. ^d 1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [Though every feast in the Jewish calendar has found some one to advocate its claim to be this unnamed feast, yet the vast majority of commentators choose either the feast of Purim, which came in March, or the Passover, which came in April. Older commentators pretty unanimously regarded it as the Passover, while the later school favor the feast …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel
The Being of God
Q-III: WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES PRINCIPALLY TEACH? A: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. Q-IV: WHAT IS GOD? A: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Here is, 1: Something implied. That there is a God. 2: Expressed. That he is a Spirit. 3: What kind of Spirit? I. Implied. That there is a God. The question, What is God? takes for granted that there …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity
The Manifestation of the Messiah
(JOHN I. 31.) "Before me, as in darkening glass, Some glorious outlines pass, Of love, and truth, and holiness, and power-- I own them thine, O Christ, And bless Thee in this hour." F. R. HAVERGAL. The Herald's Proclamation--The Meeting of John and Jesus--Christ's Baptism--"It Becometh Us."--"My Beloved Son." John's life, at this period, was an extraordinary one. By day he preached to the teeming crowds, or baptized them; by night he would sleep in some slight booth, or darksome cave. But the …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist
The Intercession of Christ
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us! T he Redemption of the soul is precious. Fools make mock of sin (Proverbs 14:9) . But they will not think lightly of it, who duly consider the majesty, authority, and goodness of Him, against whom it is committed; and who are taught, by what God actually has done, what sin rendered necessary to be done, before a sinner could have a well-grounded …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2
Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold.
^A Matt. XXIV. 1-28; ^B Mark XIII. 1-23; ^C Luke XXI. 5-24. ^a 1 And Jesus went out from the temple [leaving it to return no more], and was going on his way; and his disciples came to him ^b as he went forth ^a to show him the buildings of the temple. ^b one of his disciples saith unto him, Teacher, behold, what manner of stones and what manner of buildings! ^c 5 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, he said [The strength and wealth of the temple roused …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel
Christ's Priestly Office
Q-35: HOW DOES CHRIST EXECUTE THE OFFICE OF A PRIEST? A: In his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us. 'Now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.' Heb 9:96. What are the parts of Christ's priestly office? Christ's priestly office has two parts - his satisfaction and intercession. I. His Satisfaction; and this consists of two branches. [1] His active …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity
The Scriptures
Q-II: WHAT RULE HAS GOD GIVEN TO DIRECT US HOW WE MAY GLORIFY AND ENJOY HIM? A: The Word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. 2 Tim 3:16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,' By Scripture is understood the sacred Book of God. It is given by divine inspiration; that is, the Scripture is not the contrivance of man's brain, but is divine in its origin. The image of Diana was had in veneration …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity
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