Daniel 9:1-3: Edit history

Context

Daniel 9 is narrated in the first person by Daniel, and these three verses form its introduction. The setting is the first year of "Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans" (Babylon), the period when Babylon had fallen and the Persian era was beginning. Daniel, now elderly after long years in exile, "understood by books," that is, by the writings of Jeremiah, the prophecy that the desolations of Jerusalem would be accomplished in seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10). He resolved to pray with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. In ancient Israel, sackcloth and ashes were customary signs of grief and repentance. Verses 4-19 contain a long prayer confessing the sins of the nation, and verses 20-27 record the revelation of the "seventy weeks" delivered by Gabriel.

Interpretation

• Devotional reading: Many evangelical preachers note that Daniel, knowing the prophecy would soon be fulfilled, did not wait passively but devoted himself all the more to prayer. On this reading, God's promises do not replace prayer but provide its basis.
• Scripture interpreting Scripture: Because the Book of Daniel reads and interprets the writings of the earlier prophet Jeremiah as "books," many scholars regard this passage as an early example of biblical interpretation within the Old Testament itself.
• Reckoning the seventy years: The calculation depends on the starting and ending points chosen. One view counts from the first deportation around 605 BC to the decree of Cyrus permitting the return around 538 BC; another counts from the destruction of the temple in 586 BC to its rebuilding around 516 BC. Still others take the number as a symbol of a long period of judgment spanning a generation.

Debates and Issues

• The identity of "Darius the Mede": No king by this name is attested in Babylonian or Persian historical records. Conservative scholars identify him either as another name for Cyrus or as a governor (such as Gubaru) who ruled Babylon under Cyrus. In support of this view, they also point to the passive form "was made king" in verse 1, taking it to mean that someone else installed him as king. Historical-critical scholars, who hold that the Book of Daniel was completed in the second century BC, explain the expression as reflecting the historical understanding of a later author.
• Use out of context: This passage is frequently used in sermons encouraging fasting and prayer. Some caution that the fasting in the text was not undertaken to obtain personal wishes but accompanied a prayer confessing the nation's sins and seeking the fulfillment of God's promise, and that this context should be kept in view.

In the Korean Church

The prayer of Daniel 9 is often cited as a model in sermons on fasting prayer and on prayers of repentance for the nation and its people. In such sermons, these three verses are frequently presented as the scene that links the reading of Scripture with prayer.

Related Passages

• Jeremiah 25:11-12
• Jeremiah 29:10
• 2 Chronicles 36:21-23
• Ezra 1:1-4
• Daniel 9:24-27