“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; 10 we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.
“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.
It would have been quite natural for Daniel and the rest of the exiles to feel sorry for themselves. After all, hadn’t they seen their country invaded, their beautiful capital city burned and looted, their temple gutted, and Israel’s finest killed in battle? And hadn’t they been forced to live as exiles in a foreign land, far away from their beloved homeland?
But you will not find a single note of whimpering or whining in Daniel’s prayer. Instead, he emphasized that God was right in judging the people and the city of Jerusalem. Instead of complaining “Lord, how can you do this?” Daniel declared, “Lord, you are righteous! We are covered with shame. You have scattered us. But you did this because of our unfaithfulness. We have sinned against you. We have rebelled against your gentle and good will, which throughout our history has sought to draw us close to you with bonds of love.”
God had not been unfair in dealing in anger and judgment with Israel. He had simply responded to their insolence. The destruction of Jerusalem should not have come as a surprise to the Jews. From the earliest times of their history, God had made it plain what curses would rest upon his people if they disobeyed his will. The exiles in Babylon had no reason to be surprised at the awful judgment they experienced. Against better knowledge they had transgressed God’s holy law.
“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses . . . have been poured out on us.” Read Leviticus 26:14-39 and Deuteronomy 28:15-68 to see how plainly God had warned his people of the curses that would come upon them if they ignored his loving invitation and evaded his loving arms reached out to bless them.