성경 주석서

Daniel 9:1-2. In the first year of Darius — That is, immediately after the overthrow of the kingdom of Babylon, which was the year of the Jews’ deliverance from captivity. This Darius was not Darius the Persian, under whom the temple was built, as some have asserted, to invalidate the credibility of this book; but Darius the Mede, who lived in the time of Daniel, and is called Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, by the heathen historians: see note on chap. Daniel 6:1. In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books, &c. — Namely, by the several prophecies of Jeremiah 25:11-12; Jeremiah 29:10, which are called so many books: see Jeremiah 25:13; Jeremiah 30:2. We may learn from hence, that the later prophets studied the writings of those prophets who were before them, especially for the more perfect understanding of the times when their prophecies were to be fulfilled. The same they did by several of their own prophecies. That he would accomplish seventy years, &c. — Concerning the time from whence these seventy years are to be dated, see note on Jeremiah 25:11-12. Daniel saw a part of Jeremiah’s prediction fulfilled, by the vengeance which the Lord had taken upon the house of Nebuchadnezzar; but he saw no appearance of that deliverance of the Jews which the prophet foretold. This was the cause of his uneasiness, and the motive of his prayers.

Daniel 9:3. I set my face unto the Lord God — This expression does not merely mean, that he directed his face to the place where the temple had stood: it signifies also his resolution to apply to God with the utmost seriousness, fervency, importunity, and perseverance, for the accomplishment of his promises respecting the restoration of his people. It denotes, says Henry, “the intenseness of his mind in this prayer, the fixedness of his thoughts, the firmness of his faith, and the fervour of his devout affections in the duty.” To seek by prayer and supplication, &c. — God’s promises, in general, are conditional, and intended, not to supersede, but to excite and encourage our prayers: this was especially the case with regard to God’s promise of restoring the Jews from captivity after seventy years, and this condition was particularly expressed when the promise was made by Jeremiah 29:10-14, where God says, Ye shall call upon me, and I will hearken unto you, &c., and will turn away your captivity, &c. Here we see Daniel complied with the condition; he sought unto the Lord with all his heart, (and undoubtedly excited others to do the same,) and the Lord was found of him. With fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes — In token of humiliation, sorrow for their sins, and grief for the duration of their captivity.

Daniel 9:4. I prayed unto the Lord my God — Daniel could approach God with confidence, knowing him to be his God in covenant, his reconciled God and Father. Observe, reader, we must know God to be our God, if we would pray in faith, and with success, when we apply to him for any blessing. And made my confession — Both acknowledging his justice and holiness, and my own and my people’s iniquity. The more pious men are, and the better they are acquainted with themselves and God, the greater is the sense they have of their past guilt and present unworthiness, and the deeper is their humiliation: see Job 42:6; and 1 Timothy 1:15. Observe, reader, in every prayer we must make confession, not only of the sins we have committed, (which is what we commonly call confession,) but of our faith in God, and dependance upon him; our sorrow for sin, and our resolutions against it. It must be our confession, the language of our own convictions, and what we ourselves do heartily subscribe to. And said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God — A God of whom it is our duty always to stand in awe, and who art well able to deal with the greatest and most terrible of thy churches enemies; keeping covenant and mercy to them that love him — Fulfilling his promises to his people, and showing them mercy and loving-kindness, even beyond what he hath promised.

Daniel 9:5. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity — Daniel uses the same confession here that is prescribed, in Solomon’s consecration prayer, to be used by the Jews in the land of their captivity; with a promise subjoined, of a favourable answer that God would make to their supplications presented to him on such an occasion: see the margin. And being one of the Jewish nation, he speaks of their sins as his own; and, though certainly a most holy man, puts himself among the greatest sinners. There seems to be a kind of gradation in the prophet’s confessions here, beginning with sins in general, and rising to rebellion and apostacy.

Daniel 9:7-10. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee — Thou hast done us no wrong in any of the calamities which thou hast brought upon us; but hast shown thyself to be just and holy, nay, merciful and gracious, punishing us far less than our iniquities deserved. But unto us confusion of faces — But ignominy and shame belong to us; and the contempt and ill treatment we have met with has been no more than we justly deserved. To the men of Judah, and unto all Israel that are near, &c. — To the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, that are near, by the rivers of Babylon; and to the ten tribes, that are afar off, in the land of Assyria. Confusion belongs not only to the common people of our land, but to our kings, our princes, and to our fathers, who ought to have set a better example, and to have used their authority and influence for the checking of the threatening torrent of vice and profaneness. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord — Though we were under infinite obligations to obey him; to walk in his laws — Which were all holy, just, and good; which he set before us by his servants the prophets — By Moses, and the succession of prophets that followed him; who re-enforced the law of Moses, and gave the people new instructions from God upon emergent occasions.

Daniel 9:11-14. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law — Not here and there one, but the generality of them; the body of the people have transgressed, by departing, and taking themselves out of the way, that they might not hear, and so might not obey thy voice: therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath, &c. — That is, the curse that was ratified by an oath in the law of Moses. This further justified God in their troubles, that he only inflicted the penalty of the law, of which he had given them fair notice. It was necessary for preserving the honour of God’s veracity, and saving his government from contempt, that the threatenings of his word should be executed; otherwise they would have looked but as bugbears, nay, they would have had no terror in them. And he hath confirmed his words against us — Because we broke his laws, And against our judges that judged us — Because they did not, according to the duty of their places, punish the breach of God’s laws. He informed them frequently, that if they did not execute justice, as terrors to evil-doers, he must and would take the work into his own hands; and now, says Daniel, he has confirmed what he said, by bringing upon us a great evil — In which the princes and judges themselves have deeply shared. For under the whole heaven hath not been done, &c. — See note on Lamentations 1:12; Lamentations 2:13; Ezekiel 5:9. As it is written, &c., all this is come upon us — This is a devout acknowledgment, that, from the very beginning of their state, they had been forewarned that such evils as they now suffered would come upon them, when they forsook the Lord their God, and turned aside from the observation of his law. And it is an humble confession of God’s justice and providence, in making his judgments exactly fulfil the threatenings denounced many ages before by Moses. Yet we made not our prayer before the Lord our God — Not in a right manner, as we should have made it, with a lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; we have been smitten, but have not returned to him that smote us; literally, we have not entreated the face, or, as Wintle translates it, have not deprecated the wrath, of the Lord our God. We have taken no care to make our peace with God, and reconcile ourselves to him. Daniel set his brethren a good example of praying continually, but he was sorry to see how few there were that followed his example; in their affliction it was expected they would seek God early, but they sought him not, so as to turn from their iniquities and understand his truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil — Hebrew, watched over the evil; namely, hath taken care that his threatenings should be fulfilled, as a just judge takes care that execution be done, according to the sentence pronounced; because we have not been melted, he hath kept us still in the furnace, and watched over it to make the heat yet more intense; for when God judges he will overcome, and will be justified in all his proceedings.

Daniel 9:15. And now, O Lord, who hast brought thy people forth, &c. — A form of supplication used in several places of Scripture, whereby devout persons entreat God to continue his favours, by recounting his former mercies toward them. And hast gotten thee renown, or, made thee a name, as at this day — That is, even to this day, namely, by bringing Israel out of Egypt; and wilt thou lose the credit of that, by letting them perish in Babylon? Didst thou get renown by that deliverance which we have so often commemorated, and wilt thou not now also get thee renown by this which we have so often prayed for, and so long waited for? We have sinned, we have done wickedly — Here Daniel confesses again God’s being just and good in all his ways; and that it was owing to themselves only that all these evils were come upon them.

Daniel 9:16-17. According to all thy righteousness let thine anger be turned away — The word righteousness here, as in many other places of Scripture, is equivalent to mercy; (see the margin;) from thy holy mountain — The place whereon thy temple stood. Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach — Our conquerors and others, who know into what a miserable condition we are brought, mock at us, and say, See to what a state the people are reduced, who boasted themselves to be the chosen people of the Lord of heaven and earth! Now, therefore, cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary — Return in mercy to us, and show that thou art reconciled to us, by repairing the desolations of thy sanctuary. For the Lord’s sake — That is, as some interpret the expression, for thine own sake; that is, do this that thou mayest do honour to thyself. Or rather, as most Christian interpreters understand the words, for the Lord Christ’s sake; for the sake of the Messiah promised, who is Lord. The Hebrew word, here rendered Lord, is אדני, Adonai, the word used for the Messiah Psalm 110:1, where David calls him his Lord. It is for Christ’s sake, and because of the atonement he has made for sin, that God causes his face to shine upon sinners, when they repent and turn to him. In all our prayers, therefore, that must be our plea; we must make mention of his righteousness, even his only. He himself has directed us to pray in his name.