“You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. 14 The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.
15 “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.
When God brought judgment down on Jerusalem, he did something he had never done before. To appreciate what a unique judgment that was, it will be helpful to remember that God had never before chosen one nation out of all the world’s nations and given it the written message of his love. God had, however, done this for Israel, and that was a first in world history. Therefore, when God responded to Israel’s unbelief by sending judgment, this was another first. “Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.” For God to turn his back on the city he had chosen as his earthly dwelling place was something he had never done before.
Daniel’s prayer to God seems to grow more intense with each new sentence. This was no memorized prayer recited thoughtlessly; Daniel was pouring out his heart. Although the disaster God had sent upon Judah and Jerusalem had little effect on many of the Jewish exiles, it served a good purpose with Daniel. He was quick to recognize that the disaster which had overwhelmed Jerusalem was not an accident of history, a freak of international power politics. Daniel knew it was the heavy hand of God.
Even though God’s judgment on Jerusalem had brought horrible suffering and heartache to tens of thousands of people, yet Daniel declared that God was justified in doing what he had done. The calamity of exile had to come, because God is righteous. God, the Judge of all the earth, was not blind to the fact that his people, whom he had raised up for his own glory, were attempting to live without him. How could he tolerate that? God has decreed that life works only one way, and that’s his way. By destroying Jerusalem and permitting the Jewish nation to go into exile, a righteous God had served notice that he would not surrender his position as Lord of the universe.
Daniel’s humbled confession of sin is a refreshing contrast to the flippant attitude toward sin so common today. Many people in our day are quick to excuse their sin. Others deny it outright or try to forget about their sinful past, wanting to “let bygones be bygones.” Still others admit their sin but try to make up for it with special gifts or acts of kindness. Daniel knew these all were quack remedies for the terrible disease of sin. He knew there is only one sure remedy, and that is, first of all, to confess sin, to bring it out into the open, and then to ask God to wash it away.
“O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt . . .” This splendid evidence of God’s mercy stood in sharp contrast to the shabby treatment the people of Israel had returned to God. Israel’s ingratitude runs like a scarlet thread through her entire history, from the moment the young nation left Egypt to the time nine hundred years later when her people were evicted from their homeland and forced to live in exile. Here is the first part of God’s remedy for sin: “Don’t deny it; don’t excuse it. Confess it humbly and honestly!”
The second part of that divine remedy for sin is to ask God to pardon it and to cover it with his mercy. Daniel now proceeded to do just that.
16 “O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
17 “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
Throughout the history of Israel, God had shown himself to be a merciful God, and Daniel now appealed to that mercy. “Turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem! Look with favor on your desolate sanctuary! We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive!” Here is a simple but eloquent plea for God’s mercy.
Perhaps you detected a second emphasis in Daniel’s prayer. He urged God to consider what the ruins of Jerusalem were doing to his reputation among the heathen. In other words, Daniel pleaded for mercy not only for Israel’s sake, but for God’s sake.
To appreciate that emphasis of Daniel’s prayer, we must remember that Jerusalem had originally been the place where God took up residence and where God’s people met him with their confession of sins, their prayers, their praises, their thanksgiving. But Jerusalem was also the place where God met his people with his love, his pardon, his help, his assurance. But now, because of the sins of its inhabitants, Jerusalem was a laughingstock to the heathen. The city had become an object of scorn. In its present condition, the city and its famous temple were not a cause for honor to God. Israel’s heathen neighbors were laughing at the nation that claimed to be God’s chosen people but which God apparently had abandoned. For the nation’s capital and its temple to be so degraded reflected on God. “Can’t he even restore his sanctuary?” the heathen may well have been asking.
Daniel’s final plea to God was, “For your sake, O my God, do not delay! The time has come to deliver your people from exile. Don’t delay it a moment longer!” It was mentioned earlier that the prophet Jeremiah had predicted that although the Jewish homeland would lie desolate for 70 years, God would permit its inhabitants to return. Daniel asked God to keep that promise.
Daniel’s prayer is a model prayer for God’s children of all ages. Although it occupies a good two-thirds of chapter 9, it is often overlooked because commentators are more interested in the closing four verses of the chapter. That’s a pity. Daniel’s prayer can teach us humbly to confess our sins, to plead for God’s mercy, to hold God to his promises, and through it all to seek God’s glory.
God has promised that such prayer will be answered. Daniel found that out.