John Calvin Commentary Daniel 9

In this chapter, Daniel will explain to us two things. First, how very ardently he was accustomed to pray when the time of redemption, specified by Jeremiah, drew near; and next, he will relate the answer he received from God to his earnest entreaties. These are the two divisions of this chapter. First, Daniel informs us how he prayed when he understood from books the number of the years. From this we gather that God does not here promise his children earthly blessings, but eternal life, and while they grow sluggish and set aside all care and spiritual concern, he urges them the more earnestly to prayer. For what benefit do God’s promises bestow on us, unless we embrace them by faith? But prayer is the chief exercise of faith. This observation of Daniel’s is worthy of notice: He was stimulated to prayer because he knew from books the number of the years. But I will defer the rest until tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, as in these days you have called us to a similar lot to that which the fathers under the Law formerly experienced, and as you confirmed them in patience, armed them for constancy in warfare, and rendered them superior in all conflicts with Satan and the world; grant, I pray you, that we at this day, whom you wish to be joined to them, may become proficient in your word. May we look forward to bearing the cross throughout our whole life. May we be prepared for the contest, and prefer miserable affliction under the standard of the cross to spending a secure and luxurious life in our own enjoyments, and thus becoming deprived of that hope of victory which you have promised us, and whose fruit you have laid up for us in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. — Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We began to say yesterday that the faithful do not so acquiesce in the promises of God as to grow sluggish, and become idle and slothful through the certainty of their conviction that God will perform his promises, but are rather stimulated to prayer. For the true proof of faith is the assurance when we pray that God will really perform what he has promised us.

Daniel is here set before us as an example of this. For when he understood the time of deliverance to be near, this knowledge became a stimulus to him to pray more earnestly than he was accustomed to doing. It is clear then, as we have already seen, that the Prophet was diligent and earnest in this particular.

He did not deviate from his usual habit when he saw the greatest risk of being put to death; for while the king’s edict prohibited everyone from praying to God, he still directed his face towards Jerusalem. This was the holy Prophet’s daily habit. But we shall perceive the extraordinary nature of his present prayer when he says he prayed in dust and ashes.

From this it appears how God’s promise stirred him up to supplication, and from this we gather what I have recently touched upon—that faith is no careless speculation, satisfied with simply assenting to God. For the foolish seem to assent by outward hearing, while true faith is something far more serious.

When we really embrace the grace of God which he offers us, he meets us and precedes us with his goodness, and thus we in turn respond to his offers and bear witness to our expectation of his promises. Nothing, therefore, can be better for us than to ask for what he has promised.

Thus in the prayers of the saints these feelings are united, as they plead God’s promises in which they entreat him. And we cannot possibly exercise true confidence in prayer, except by resting firmly on God’s word. An example of this kind is here presented to us in Daniel’s case. When he understood the number of the years to be near of which God had spoken by Jeremiah, he applied his mind to supplication.

It is worthwhile to notice what I have mentioned: Daniel is not here treating of his daily prayers. We may easily gather from his whole life how Daniel had exercised himself in prayer before Jeremiah had spoken of the seventy years. Because he knew the time of redemption to be near, he was then stimulated to more than his usual entreaties.

He expresses this by saying, in fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. For the saints were not accustomed to throw ashes over their heads every day, nor to set themselves apart for prayer by either fasting or putting on sackcloth. This action was rare, used only when God gave some sign of his wrath, or when he offered some rare and unique benefit.

Daniel’s present prayer was not according to his usual habit; but when he put on sackcloth and sprinkled himself with ashes, and endured fasting, he prostrated himself suppliantly before God. He also pleaded for pardon, as we shall see later, and begged for the fulfillment of what the Almighty had surely promised.

From this we should learn two lessons:

1. We must perseveringly exercise our faith by prayers.
2. When God promises us anything remarkable and valuable, we ought then to be more stirred up, and to feel this expectation as a sharper stimulus.

With reference to the fasting, sackcloth, and ashes, we may briefly remark how the holy fathers under the Law were accustomed to adding extraordinary ceremonies to their prayers, especially when they wished to confess their sins to God, and to cast themselves before him as thoroughly guilty and convicted, and as placing their whole hope in their supplication for mercy.

And in the present day the faithful are justified in adding certain external rites to their prayers, although no necessity either can or ought to be laid down beforehand in this case. We know also, the Orientals to be more devoted to ceremonies than we are ourselves. And this difference must be noticed between the ancient people and the New Covenant church, since Christ by his advent abolished many ceremonies.

For the fathers under the Law were, in this sense, like children, as Paul says (Galatians 4:3). The discipline which God had formerly instituted involved the use of more ceremonies than were later practiced. As there is this important difference between our position and theirs, whoever desires to copy them in all their actions would rather become the ape than the imitator of antiquity.

Meanwhile, we must notice that the reality remains for us, although external rites are abolished. Two kinds of prayer, therefore, exist:

1. One which we ought to practice daily, in the morning, evening, and if possible, every moment; for we see how constancy in prayer is commended to us in Scripture (Luke 18:1; Romans 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:17).
2. The second kind is used when God denounces his wrath against us, or we have need of his special aid, or seek anything unusual from him. This was Daniel’s method of praying when he put on sackcloth and sprinkled himself with ashes. But as I have treated this subject elsewhere, I am now more brief.

When Daniel perceived the period of deliverance near, he not only prayed as usual, but left all his other occupations for the purpose of being quite at ease and at leisure, and thus he applied his mind exclusively to prayer and made use of other aids to devotion. For the sackcloth and the ashes achieved far more than mere outward testimony; they are helps to increase our ardor in praying when anyone feels sluggish and languid.

It is true, indeed, that when the fathers under the Law prayed with sackcloth and ashes, this appearance was useful as an outward mark of their profession. It testified before men how they came before God as guilty suppliants and placed their whole hope of salvation in pardon alone. Still, this conduct was useful in another way, as it stirred them up more eagerly to the desire to pray.

And both these points are to be noticed in Daniel’s case. For if the Prophet had such need of this assistance, what shall be said of our necessities? Everyone ought surely to understand how dull and cold he is in this duty. Therefore, nothing else remains except for everyone to become conscious of his infirmity, to collect all the aids he can command for the correction of his sluggishness, and thus stimulate himself to ardor in supplication.

For when Daniel, according to his daily custom, prayed so as to run the risk of death on that very account, we ought to gather from this how naturally alert he was in prayer to God. He was conscious of his own insufficiency, and therefore he added the use of sackcloth, ashes, and fasting.

I pass by what might be treated more extensively—how fasting is often added to extraordinary prayers. We conclude also how works by themselves fail to please the Almighty, according to the fictions of the Papists of these days, and also to the foolish imaginations of many others. For they think fasting a part of the worship of God, although Scripture always commends it to us for another purpose. By itself it is of no consequence whatever, but when combined with prayers, with exhortations to penitence, and with the confession of sinfulness, then it is acceptable, but not otherwise. Thus, we observe Daniel to have made use of fasting correctly, not as wishing to appease God by this discipline, but to make him more earnest in his prayers.

We must next notice another point. Although Daniel was an interpreter of dreams, he was not so elated with confidence or pride as to despise the teaching delivered by other prophets. Jeremiah was then at Jerusalem when Daniel was dragged into exile, where he served as a teacher for a long period afterwards, so that Babylon became a kind of pulpit.

And Ezekiel names him the third among the most excellent servants of God (Ezekiel 14:14), because Daniel’s piety, integrity, and holiness of life were even then celebrated. As to Jeremiah, we know him to have been either just deceased in Egypt, or perhaps to be still living, when this vision was offered to Daniel, who had perused his prophecies previously to this occasion.

We observe also the great modesty of this holy man, because he exercised himself in reading the writings of Jeremiah and was not ashamed to admit how he profited by them. For he knew this prophet to have been appointed to instruct himself as well as the rest of the faithful.

Thus he willingly submitted to the instruction of Jeremiah and ranged himself among his disciples. And if he had not deigned to read those prophecies, he would have been unworthy to share in the promised deliverance. As he was a member of the Church, he ought to have been a disciple of Jeremiah; so in the same way, Jeremiah would not have objected to profit in his turn, if any prophecy of Daniel’s had been presented to him.

This spirit of modesty ought to flourish among the servants of God, even if they excel in the gift of prophecy, inducing them to learn from each other, while no one should raise himself above the common level. While we are teachers, we ought at the same time to continue learners. And Daniel teaches us this by saying, he understood the number of years in books, and the number was according to the word of Jehovah to the prophet Jeremiah. He shows why he exercised himself in the writings of Jeremiah—because he was persuaded that God had spoken by his voice. Thus it caused him no trouble to read what he knew to have proceeded from God.

We must now remark the time of this prophecy—the first year of Darius. I will not dwell upon this point here, because I would rather discuss the years when we come to the second part of the chapter. I stated yesterday that this chapter embraced two principal divisions. Daniel first records his own prayer, and then he adds the prediction which was brought to him by the hand of the angel.

We shall next speak of the seventy years, because the discussion will then be long enough. I will now touch only briefly upon one point—the time of redemption was near, as the Babylonian monarchy was changed and transferred to the Medes and Persians. In order to render the redemption of his people the more conspicuous, God desired to wake up the whole East after the Medes and Persians had conquered the Babylonians.

Cyrus and Darius published their edict about the same time, by which the Jews were permitted to return to their native country. In that year, therefore, meaning the year in which Darius began his reign. Here it may be asked, why does he name Darius alone, when Cyrus was far superior to him in military prowess, prudence, and other endowments?

The ready answer is this: Cyrus set out immediately on other expeditions, for we know what an insatiable ambition had seized upon him. He was not stimulated by avarice but by an insane ambition, and never could rest quietly in one place. So, when he had acquired Babylon and the whole of that monarchy, he set out for Asia Minor and harassed himself almost to death by continual restlessness.

Some say he was slain in battle, while Xenophon describes his death as if he was reclining on his bed, and at his ease was instructing his sons in what he wished to have done. But whichever is the true account, all history testifies to his constant motion from place to place.

Hence we are not surprised at the Prophet’s speaking here of Darius only, who was more advanced in age and slower in his movements throughout his whole life. It is sufficiently ascertained that he was not a man fond of war. Xenophon calls him Cyaxares and asserts him to have been the son of Astyages.

We know, again, that Astyages was the maternal grandfather of Cyrus; and thus this Darius was the uncle as well as father-in-law of Cyrus, as the mother of Cyrus was his sister. When the Prophet calls his father Ahasuerus, it need not occasion us any trouble, as the names vary very much when we compare the Greek with the Hebrew.

Without the slightest doubt, Astyages was called Ahasuerus, or at least one was his name and the other his surname. All doubt is removed by the expression, Darius was of the seed of the Medes. He distinguishes here between the Medes and Persians, because the Medes had seized upon rich and splendid territories, stretching far and wide on all sides, while the Persians were confined within their own mountains and were more austere in their manner of life.

But the Prophet here states the Median origin of this Darius and adds another circumstance: namely, his obtaining the kingdom of the Chaldees. For Cyrus allowed him to be called king, not only on account of his age and of his being both his uncle and father-in-law, but because he would not attempt anything against his authority. He knew he had no heir who might in future become troublesome to him. Cyrus therefore yielded the empty title to his father-in-law, while the whole power and influence remained completely within his own grasp.

He says, then, When I understood in books the number of the years for filling up the desolation of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. This prophecy is found in Jeremiah 25 and is repeated in Jeremiah 29. God fixed beforehand seventy years for the captivity of his people, as it was a grievous trial to be cast out of the land of Canaan, which had been granted them as a perpetual inheritance. They remembered those celebrated sentences:

This shall be my rest for ever, and
Ye shall possess the land for ever (Psalms 132:14).

When they were cast out and dispersed throughout the various countries of the earth, it seemed as if the covenant of God had been abolished, and as if there was no further advantage in deriving their origin from those holy fathers to whom their land had been promised. For the purpose of meeting these temptations, God fixed beforehand a set time for their exile, and Daniel now returns to this prediction.

He adds, Then I raised my face. It is properly אתנה, ath-neh, I placed; but as some interpreters seem to interpret this word too fancifully, as if Daniel had then looked towards the sanctuary, I prefer rendering it, He raised his face to God. It is quite true that while the altar was standing, and the ark of the covenant was in the sanctuary, God’s face was there, towards which the faithful ought to direct both their vows and prayers; but now the circumstances were different because the temple had been overthrown.

We have previously read of Daniel’s praying and turning his eyes in that direction, towards Judea, but his object was not a desire to pray after the manner of his fathers, for there was then neither sanctuary nor ark of the covenant in existence (Daniel 6:10). His object in turning his face towards Jerusalem was openly to show his profession, in this way mentally dwelling in that land which God had destined for the race of Abraham.

By that outward gesture and ceremony the Prophet claimed possession of the Holy Land, although still a captive and an exile. With regard to the present passage, I simply understand it to mean he raised his face towards God. That I might inquire, says he, by supplication and prayers. Some translate, that I might seek supplication and prayer. Either is equally suitable for the meaning, but the former version is more natural, because the Prophet sought God by supplication and prayers. And this form of speech is common enough in Scripture, as we are said to seek God when we testify our hope that he will perform what he has promised. It now follows: —

Here Daniel recounts the substance of his prayer. He says, He prayed and confessed before God. The greatest part of this prayer is an entreaty that God would pardon His people. Whenever we ask for pardon, the testimony of repentance ought to precede our request. For God announces that He will be gracious and easily entreated when men seriously and heartily repent (Isaiah 58:9).

Thus, confession of guilt is one method of obtaining pardon; and for this reason, Daniel fills the greater part of his prayer with the confession of his sinfulness. He reminds us of this, not for the sake of boasting, but to instruct us by his own example to pray as we ought.

He says, therefore, he prayed and made confession. The addition of “my God” to the word Jehovah is by no means superfluous. I prayed, he says, to my God. He here shows that he did not utter prayers with trembling, as men too often do, for unbelievers often flee to God, but without any confidence.

They dispute with themselves whether their prayers will produce any fruit. Daniel, therefore, shows us two things openly and distinctly, since he prayed with faith and repentance. By the word confession, he implies his repentance, and by saying he prayed to God, he expresses faith, and the absence of all rashness in throwing away his prayers, as unbelievers do when they pray to God confusedly, and are all the while distracted by a variety of intruding thoughts.

I prayed, says he, to my God. No one can use this language without a firm reliance on the promises of God, and assuming that He will prove Himself ready to be entreated. He now adds, I entreat You, O Lord. The particle אנא, ana, is variously translated; but it is properly, in the language of grammarians, the particle of beseeching.

O Lord God, says he, great and terrible. Daniel seems to place an obstacle in his own way by using this language, for such is the sanctity of God that it repels us to a distance as soon as we conceive it in the mind. Therefore, this terror seems to be removed when we seek a familiar approach to the Almighty. One might suppose this method of prayer by no means suitable, as Daniel places God before his eyes as great and formidable.

It seems something like frightening himself; yet the Prophet maintains a due moderation. On the one hand, he acknowledges God to be great and terrible; on the other, he affirms that He keeps His covenant towards those who love Him and obey His statutes. We shall later see a third point added: God will receive the ungrateful and all who have departed from His covenant. The Prophet joins these two things together.

With reference to the epithets great and terrible, we must maintain what I have already stated: namely, the impossibility of our praying rightly unless we humble ourselves before God. This humility is a preparation for repentance. Daniel, therefore, sets before himself the majesty of God to urge both himself and others to cast themselves down before the Almighty, that, following his example, they may truly feel penitent before Him.

God, therefore, says he, is great and terrible. We shall never attribute just honor to God unless we become cast down, as if dead, before Him. And we ought diligently to notice this, because we are too often careless in prayer to God, and we treat it as a mere matter of outward observance.

We ought to know how impossible it is to obtain anything from God unless we appear in His sight with fear and trembling, and become truly humbled in His presence. This is the first point to be noticed. Then Daniel mitigates the asperity of his assertion by adding, keeping His covenant, and taking pity upon those who love Him.

Here there is a change of person: the third is substituted for the second, but there is no obscurity in the sense, as if he had said, You keep Your covenant with those who love You and observe Your statutes. Daniel does not yet fully explain the subject here, for this statement is too weak for gaining the confidence of the people. They had perfidiously revolted from God, and as far as He was concerned, His agreement had come to an end.

But Daniel descends by degrees and by sure steps to lay a foundation for inspiring the people with assured trust in the lovingkindness of God. Two points are embraced in this clause: first of all, it shows us there is no reason why the Jews should expostulate with God and complain of being too severely treated by Him.

Daniel, therefore, silences all expressions of rebellion by saying, You, O God, keep Your covenant. We must here notice the real condition of the people: the Israelites were in exile. We know how hard that tyranny was—how they were oppressed by the most cruel reproaches and disgrace, and how brutally they were treated by their conquerors.

This might impel many to cry out, as doubtless they really did, “What does God want with us? How are we better for being chosen as His peculiar people? What is the good of our adoption if we are still the most miserable of all nations?” Thus the Jews might complain with the bitterest grief and weariness of the weight of punishment which God had inflicted upon them.

But Daniel here asserts his presenting himself before God, not to cavil and murmur, but only to entreat His pardon. For this reason, therefore, he first says, God keeps His covenant towards all who love Him; but at the same time, he passes on to pray for pardon, as we shall later perceive. We shall treat of this covenant and the Almighty’s lovingkindness in the next Lecture.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, as at the present time You do deservedly chastise us for our sins, according to the example of Your ancient people, that we may turn our face to You with true penitence and humility. May we throw ourselves suppliantly and prostrately before You; and, despairing of ourselves, place our only hope in Your pity which You have promised us. May we rely on that adoption which is founded on and sanctioned by Your only-begotten Son, and never hesitate to come to You as a Father whenever we fly to You. Meanwhile, do You so thoroughly affect our minds, that we may not only pray to You as a matter of duty, but truly and seriously take refuge in You, and be touched with a sense of our sins, and never doubt Your gracious disposition towards us, in the name of the same Your Son our Lord. — Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

In the last Lecture, Daniel said that he prayed and confessed. Now, in narrating the form of his prayer, he begins by confession. We must notice this to enable us to understand the scope Daniel had in view, as well as the special object of his prayer. This is the kind of beginning which he makes—the people are guilty before God and suppliantly pray for pardon. But before the Prophet comes to this entreaty, he confesses how the people were most severely and justly chastised by the Lord, as they had so grievously and variously provoked His anger.

First of all, he calls God terrible, for I have recited and translated his words. When the Prophet desires to attract God’s favor towards himself, he begins by bringing forward His majesty. By these words, he stirs up himself and the rest of the faithful to reverence, urging them to approach the presence of God with submission, to acknowledge themselves utterly condemned, and to be deprived of all hope except in the mere mercy of God.

He calls Him, therefore, great and terrible, in order to humble the minds of all the pious before God, to prevent their aspiring to any self-exaltation or being puffed up with any self-confidence. For, as we have said elsewhere, the epithets of God are at one time perpetual, and at another variable, with the circumstances of the subject in hand.

God may always be called great and terrible; but Daniel calls Him so here to stir up himself and all others to humility and reverence, as I have previously remarked. Then he adds, He is faithful in keeping His covenant and in showing pity towards all His true worshippers. I have referred to a change of person in this clause, but it does not obscure the sense or render it in any way doubtful.

I have explained how these words also testify to the absence of all cause why the people should murmur or complain of being treated too harshly. For where the faithfulness of God to His promises has once been laid down, men have not the slightest reason to complain when He treats them less clemently, or frustrates them because they are found fallacious and perfidious; for God always remains true to His words (1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Thessalonians 3:3).

In this sense, Daniel announces that God keeps His covenant towards all who love Him. We must next notice how he adds the word “pity” to “covenant.” He does not put these two words as differing from each other, ברית, berith, and חסד, chesed, but unites them together, and the sentence should be understood by a common figure of speech, implying that God made a gratuitous covenant which flows from the fountain of His pity.

What, therefore, is this agreement or covenant and pity of God? The covenant flows from God’s mercy; it does not spring from either the worthiness or the merits of men. It has its cause, stability, effect, and completion solely in the grace of God.

We must notice this, because those who are not well versed in the Scriptures may ask why Daniel distinguishes mercy from covenant, as if there existed a mutual stipulation when God enters into covenant with man, and thus God’s covenant would depend simply on man’s obedience.

This question is solved when we understand the form of expression used here, as this kind of phrase is frequent in the Scriptures. For whenever God’s covenant is mentioned, His clemency, or goodness, or inclination to love is also added. Daniel therefore confesses, in the first place, the gratuitous nature of the covenant of God with Israel, asserting it to have no other cause or origin than the gratuitous goodness of God.

He next testifies to God’s faithfulness, for He never violates His agreement nor departs from it, as in many other places God’s truth and faithfulness are united with His clemency (Psalms 36:6, and elsewhere). It is necessary for us to rely on God’s mere goodness, as our salvation rests entirely with Him, and thus we render to Him the glory due to His pity.

Thus it becomes necessary for us, in the second place, to obtain a clear apprehension of God’s clemency. The language of the Prophet expresses both these points when he shows how God’s covenant both depends upon and flows from His grace, and also when he adds the Almighty’s faithfulness in keeping His agreement.

He adds, Towards those who love You and keep Your commandments. We must diligently notice this, because Daniel here cuts off the whole people from the defense which many might put forward: hypocrites willingly become angry with God; indeed, they boldly reproach Him because He does not either pardon or indulge them.

Daniel, therefore, to check this pride and to cut off every pretense for strife on the part of the impious, says, God is faithful towards all who love Him. He admonishes us thus: God is never severe unless when provoked by the sins of men. It is as if he had said, God’s covenant is firm in itself; when men violate it, it is not surprising if God withdraws from His promises and departs from His agreement, on perceiving Himself treated with perfidy and distrust.

The people, therefore, are here indirectly condemned, while Daniel testifies to God’s constancy in keeping His promises, if men on their part act with good faith towards Him. On the whole, he shows how the people were in tumult when God altered His usual course of kind and beneficent treatment and put in force instead His severest vengeance, when the people were expelled from the land of Canaan, which was their perpetual inheritance.

Daniel here explains how all blame must be removed from God, as the people had revolted from Him, and by their perfidy had violated their compact. We see, therefore, how he throws the blame of all their calamities upon the people themselves, and thus absolves God from all blame and all unjust censure.

Besides, the Prophet shows how the special object of the worship of God is to induce us to love Him. For many observe God’s law after the manner of slaves; but we ought to remember this passage, God loveth a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). When, therefore, hypocrites are violently drawn towards obedience, the Prophet here distinguishes between the true worshippers of God and those who discharge their duty only in a perfunctory manner, and not from the heart.

He asserts the principle of worshipping God to be a diligent love of Him, and this sentiment frequently occurs in the writings of Moses (Deuteronomy 10:12). We must hold, therefore, the impossibility of pleasing God by obedience, unless it proceeds from a sincere and free affection of the mind. This is the very first rule in God’s worship.

We must love Him; we must be prepared to devote ourselves entirely to obedience to Him, and to the willing performance of whatever He requires from us. As it is said in the Psalms, Thy law is my delight (Psalms 119:24). And again, in the same Psalm, David states God’s law to be precious to him beyond gold and silver, indeed, pleasing, and sweet beyond even honey (Psalms 119:72, 103).

Unless we love God, we have no reason for concluding that He will approve of any of our actions: all our duties will become corrupt before Him unless they proceed from the fountain of liberal affection towards Him. Hence the Prophet adds, To those who keep His statutes. External observance will never benefit us unless the love of God precedes it.

But we must notice this also in its turn—God cannot be sincerely loved by us unless all our outward members follow up this affection of the soul. Our hands and all that belong to us will be kept steady to their duty if this spontaneous love flourishes within our hearts. For if anyone asserts his love of God a thousand times over, all will be discovered to be vain and fallacious unless the whole life corresponds with it.

We can never separate love and obedience. It now follows:—

Daniel here continues his confession of sin. As we have already stated, he ought to begin here, because we must remark in general the impossibility of our pleasing God by our prayers, unless we approach Him as criminals and place all our hopes in His mercy. But there was a special reason for the extraordinary nature of the Prophet’s prayers, and his use of fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

This was the usual method of confession by which Daniel united himself with the rest of the people, for the purpose of testifying throughout all ages the justice of the judgment that God had exercised in expelling the Israelites from the promised land and totally disinheriting them. Daniel, therefore, insists upon this point.

Here we may notice, in the first place, how prayers are not rightly conceived unless founded on faith and repentance, and thus, not being according to law, they cannot find either grace or favor before God. But great weight is to be attached to the phrases where Daniel uses more than a single word in saying the people acted impiously.

He puts חטאנו, chetanu, we have sinned, in the first place, as the word does not imply any kind of fault, but rather a serious crime or offense. We, therefore, have sinned; then we have done wickedly; afterward we have acted impiously; for רשע, reshegn, is stronger than חטא, cheta. We have done wickedly, we have been rebellious, says he, in transgressing Your statutes and commandments. Why this abundance of expression, if not because Daniel wished to stimulate himself and the whole people to penitence?

For although we are easily induced to confess ourselves guilty before God, scarcely one in a hundred is affected with serious remorse. Those who excel others, and purely and reverently fear God, are still very dull and cold in recounting their sins.

First of all, they acknowledge scarcely one sin in a hundred. Next, of those sins that do come into their minds, they do not fully estimate their tremendous guilt but rather lessen their magnitude. Although they perceive themselves worthy of a hundred deaths, they are not touched with their bitterness and fear to humble themselves as they ought; indeed, they are scarcely displeased with themselves and do not loathe their own iniquities.

Daniel, therefore, does not accumulate so many words in vain when he wishes to confess his own sins and those of the people. Let us learn, then, how far we are from penitence while we only verbally acknowledge our guilt; then let us perceive the need we have of many incentives to rouse us up from our sloth. For although anyone may feel great terrors and tremble before God’s judgments, yet all those feelings of dread vanish away too soon.

It therefore becomes necessary to fix God’s fear in our hearts with some degree of violence. Daniel shows us this when using the phrase, The people have sinned; they have acted unjustly; they have conducted themselves wickedly and become rebellious, and declined from the statutes and commandments of God. This doctrine, therefore, must be diligently noticed, because, as I have said, all men think they have discharged their duty to God if they mildly profess themselves guilty before Him and acknowledge their fault in a single word.

But as real repentance is a sacred thing, it is a matter of far greater moment than a fiction of this kind. Although the multitude do not perceive how they are only deceiving themselves when they confess a fault, in the meantime they are only trifling with God like children, while some say they are but men, and others shelter themselves in the crowd of offenders: “What could I do? I am but a man; I have only followed the example of the many.”

Lastly, if we examine carefully the confessions of men in general, we shall always find some latent hypocrisy, and that there are very few who prostrate themselves before God as they ought. We must understand, therefore, this confession of Daniel’s as stimulating himself and others to the fear of God, and as laying great stress upon the sins of the people, so that everyone may feel for himself real and serious alarms.

Then he shows how impiously, and wickedly, and perfidiously the Israelites had rebelled, and how they had declined from God’s statutes and commandments. Daniel enlarges upon the people’s fault, as they had no pretext for their ignorance after they had been instructed in God’s law. They were like a man who stumbles in broad daylight.

He surely is without excuse who raises his eyes to heaven or closes them while he walks, or casts himself forward with blind impulse, for if he falls he will find no one to pity him. So Daniel here enlarges upon the people’s crime, for the law of God was like a lamp pointing out the path so clearly that they were willfully and even maliciously blind (Psalms 119:105).

Unless they had closed their eyes, they could not err while God faithfully pointed out the way in which they ought to follow and persevere. This is the first point.

But we ought to gather another doctrine from this passage: namely, there is no reason why men should turn away entirely from God, even if they have transgressed His commands. Although they please both themselves and others, and think they have obtained the good opinion of the whole world, yet this will avail them nothing if they decline from God’s commandments and statutes.

Whoever, therefore, has the law in his hands and turns aside in any direction, although he may use the eloquence of all the rhetoricians, yet no defense will be available. This perfidy is surely without excuse—to disobey the Almighty as soon as He shows us what He approves and what He requires.

Then, when He forbids anything, if we turn aside ever so little from His teaching, we are perfidious and wicked, rebellious and apostate. Lastly, this passage proves that there is no rule of holy, pious, and sober living except a complete performance of God’s commandments. For this reason he puts statutes and judgments to show that the people did not sin in ignorance.

He might have concluded the sentence in one word: we have departed from Your commandments; but he joins judgment to commands. And why? To point out how easy and clear and sufficiently familiar was God’s institution, if the Israelites had only been teachable. Here we may notice the frequent recurrence of this repetition.

The unskillful think these synonyms are heaped together without a purpose, when statutes, judgments, laws, and precepts are used, but the Holy Spirit uses them to assure us that we will lack nothing if we inquire at the mouth of God. He instructs us perfectly in regulating the whole course of our lives, and thus our errors become knowing and willful, when God’s law has been clearly set before us, which contains in itself a perfect rule of doctrine for our guidance.

He adds afterward, We have not obeyed Your servants the Prophets who have spoken in Your name. We ought also diligently to notice this, because the impious often wickedly fail to discern the presence of God whenever He does not openly descend from heaven and speak to them by angels; and so their impiety is increased throughout all ages.

Thus, in these days, many think themselves to have escaped by boasting in the absence of any revelation from heaven: the whole subject, they say, is full of controversy; the whole world is in a state of confusion; and what do the teachers of the Church mean by promoting such strife among each other?

Then they boast and think as they please, and are blind of their own accord. But Daniel here shows how no turning to God is of the slightest avail, unless He is listened to when He sends His prophets, because all who despise those prophets who speak in the name of the Lord are perfidious and apostate, wicked and rebellious.

We see, then, the suitability of this language of Daniel, and the necessity of this explanation: The people were wicked, unjust, rebellious, and impious, because they did not obey the prophets. He does not assert that this wicked, impious, contumacious, and perfidious character of the people arises from their not listening to God thundering from heaven, or to His angels when sent to them, but because they did not obey His prophets.

Besides this, He calls the prophets servants of God who speak in His name. He distinguishes between true and false prophets; for we know how many impostors formerly abused this title in the ancient Church; as in these days the disturbers of our churches falsely pretend to the name of God, and by this audacity many of the simple are deceived.

Daniel, therefore, distinguishes here between the true and false prophets, who everywhere boast in their divine election to the office of teachers. He speaks here of the effect, treating all these boastings as vain and foolish, for we are not ignorant of how all Satan’s ministers transform themselves into angels of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Thus the evil as well as the good speak in God’s name; that is, the impious no less than the righteous teachers put forth the name of God; but here, as we have said, Daniel refers to the effect and the matter itself, so to speak.

Thus when Christ says, When two or three are gathered together in my name (Matthew 18:20), this is not to be applied to such deceptions as are observable in the Papacy, when they proudly use God’s name as approving certain assemblies of theirs. It is no new thing, then, for a deceiving Church to hide its baseness under this mask.

But when Christ says, Where two or three are assembled in my name, this refers to true and sincere affection. So also Daniel in this passage says, True prophets speak in God’s name; not only because they shelter themselves under this name for the sake of its authority, but because they have solid proofs of the exercise of God’s authority and are really conscious of their true vocation.

Afterward, he adds, To our kings, our nobles, our fathers, and all the people of the land. Here Daniel lays prostrate every high thing in this world in order to exalt God only, and to prevent any pride from rising in the world to obscure His glory, as it otherwise would do.

Here, then, he implicates kings, princes, and fathers in the same guilt; as if he had said, all are to be condemned without exception before God. This, again, must be diligently noticed. For we see how the common people think everything is permitted to them that is approved by their kings and counselors.

For in the common opinion of men, on what does the whole foundation of right and wrong rest, except on the arbitrary will and lust of kings? Whatever pleases kings and their counselors is esteemed lawful, sacred, and beyond all controversy; and thus God is excluded from His supreme dominion.

As, therefore, men thus envelop themselves in clouds, and willingly involve themselves in darkness, and prevent their approach to God, Daniel here expresses how inexcusable all men are who do not obey the Prophets, even if a thousand kings should obstruct them, and the splendor of the whole world should dazzle them.

By such clouds as these God’s majesty can never be obscured; furthermore, this cannot offer the slightest impediment to God’s dominion or hinder the course of His doctrine. These points might be treated more fully: I am only briefly explaining the Prophet’s meaning, and the kind of fruit that ought to be gathered from his words.

Finally, it is a remarkable testimony in favor of the Prophet's doctrine when kings and their counselors are compelled to submit, and all the loftiness of the world is brought under subjection to the prophets. As God says in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:10), Behold! I have set you above kingdoms, and above the empires of this world, to destroy and to build up, to plant and to root out. There God asserts the authority of His teaching and shows its superiority to everything in the world, so that all who wish to be free from it, as if endowed with some peculiar privilege, are both foolish and ridiculous.

This, then, must be noticed in the Prophet's words, when he says, God spoke by His prophets to kings, princes, and fathers. Regarding the “fathers,” we see how frivolous is the excuse of those who use their fathers as a shield in opposing God. For here Daniel unites both fathers and children in the same guilt and shows how all equally deserve condemnation when they do not listen to God’s prophets, or rather to God speaking by means of His prophets.

He next adds, To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, and to us confusion of face, as it is at this day. The meaning is, God’s wrath, which He manifests towards His people, is just, and nothing else remains but for the whole people to fall down in confusion and candidly acknowledge themselves deservedly condemned.

But this contrast that unites opposite clauses ought also to be noticed, because we gather from the Prophet's words that God can neither be esteemed just nor His equity be sufficiently illustrious, unless when the mouths of men are closed, and all are covered and buried in disgrace, and confess themselves subject to just accusation, as Paul also says, Let God be just, and let all men’s mouths be stopped (Romans 3:4, 26); that is, let men cease to cavil and to seek any alleviation of their guilt by their subterfuges.

While, therefore, men are thus cast down and prostrate, God’s true glory is illustrated. The Prophet now utters the same instruction by joining these two clauses of opposite meanings. Righteousness is to You, but shame to us. Thus we cannot praise God, and especially while He chastises us and punishes us for our sins, unless we become ashamed of our sins and feel ourselves destitute of all righteousness.

Lastly, when we both feel and confess the equity of our condemnation, and when this shame seizes upon our minds, then we begin to confess God’s justice; for whoever cannot bear this self-condemnation displays his willingness to contend against God. Although hypocrites apparently bear witness to God’s justice, yet whenever they claim anything as due to their own worthiness, they at the same time derogate from their judge, because it is clear that God’s righteousness cannot shine forth unless we bury ourselves in shame and confusion.

According as at this day, says Daniel. He adds this to confirm his teaching; as if he had said, the impiety of the people is sufficiently conspicuous from their punishment. Meanwhile, he holds the principle that the people were justly chastised; for hypocrites, when compelled to acknowledge God’s power, still cry out against His equity.

Daniel joins both points together: thus, God has afflicted His people, and this very fact proves them to be wicked and perfidious, impious and rebellious. As it is at this day, meaning, I will not complain of any immoderate rigor, I will not say You have treated my people cruelly; for even if the punishments which You have inflicted on us are severe, yet Your righteousness shines forth in them: I therefore confess how fully we deserve them all.

To a man of Judah, says he. Here Daniel seems to wish purposely to strip the mask off the Israelites, under which they thought to hide themselves. For it was an honorable title to be called a Jew, an inhabitant of Jerusalem, an Israelite. It was a sacred race, and Jerusalem was a kind of sanctuary and kingdom of God.

But now, says he, though we have until now been elevated high so as to surpass the whole world, and though God has deigned to bestow upon us so many favors and benefits, yet confusion of face is upon us: let our God be just. Meanwhile, let all these empty boastings cease, such as our deriving our origin from holy fathers and dwelling in a sacred land. Let us no longer cling to these things, says he, because they will profit us nothing before God. But I see that I am already too prolix.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, as no other way of access to You is open for us except through unfeigned humility, that we may often learn to abase ourselves with feelings of true repentance. May we be so displeased with ourselves as not to be satisfied with a single confession of our iniquities; but may we continue in the same state of meditation, and be more and more penetrated with real grief. Then may we fly to Your mercy, prostrate ourselves before You in silence, and acknowledge no other hope but Your pity and the intercession of Your only-begotten Son. May we be so reconciled to You, as not only to be absolved from our sins, but also governed throughout the whole course of our life by Your Holy Spirit, until at last we enjoy the victory in every kind of contest, and arrive at that blessed rest which You have prepared for us by the same our Lord Jesus Christ. — Amen.

In this verse, Daniel completes his own confession. We have stated that the beginning of his prayer was this: he threw himself before God as a criminal, along with the whole people, and prayed earnestly for pardon. It was his duty to begin in this way. He had previously named the whole people; he now speaks of kings, princes, and fathers, and thus includes the common people.

Besides, kings are accustomed to absolve themselves and those who approach their presence from all ordinary laws; therefore, Daniel uses the phrase kings, princes, and fathers. While he spoke of the people, he showed how those at a distance, as well as those at home, were equally subject to God’s wrath, because, if God had executed His vengeance equitably on all, no one was so free from wickedness as to be free from punishment.

God had not driven all the Jews into either Chaldea or Assyria, and many had remained in the neighboring nations. Yet Daniel denies them any reduction of their guilt, although they had been treated more humanely by God, who had spared them some portion of their suffering. We are taught by this passage that the crimes or guilt of men are not always to be estimated by the amount of their punishment.

For God acts very mildly with some who deserve even greater severity. If He does not entirely spare us, He partially lessens His harshness towards us, either to draw us to repentance or for some reasons unknown to us until now. Whatever the reason may be, even if God does not openly punish us all, this ought neither to lead us to excuse ourselves nor to permit self-indulgence, simply because we do not experience the same severity from God.

The conclusion to be drawn is this: all the Israelites are justly afflicted because, from first to last, all have conducted themselves impiously. For Daniel repeats the word that signifies not merely a decline, but acting with gross wickedness; as if he had said that the Israelites deserved no common punishment, and thus it should not surprise us when God executes such dreadful vengeance against them. It follows:

Daniel here resorts to God’s mercy as to a sacred refuge, for it is not enough to acknowledge and confess our sins unless we are supported by confidence in obtaining pardon from God’s mercy. We see many who speak at great length, testifying to the truth that they richly deserve all kinds of punishment; but no good comes from this, because despair overwhelms them and plunges them into an abyss.

Recognizing a fault is, in truth, entirely unprofitable unless accompanied by the hope of pardon. Daniel, therefore, after candidly confessing that the treatment the whole people had received from God was deserved, even though it was so severe and harsh, still embraces His pity. According to the common saying, this is like a drowning man catching at a straw.

We also observe how David makes use of the same principle: There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared (Psalms 130:4). And this moderation must be diligently noted, because Satan either lulls us into sluggish security or else so agitates us as to completely absorb our minds in sorrow.

These two strategies of Satan are well known to us. Therefore, the moderation I have mentioned must be maintained, lest we should grow sluggish in the midst of our vices and so indulge in contempt of God as to cause forgetfulness of Him. Then, on the other hand, we ought not to be frightened and thus close the gate of hope and pardon against ourselves.

Daniel, therefore, here follows the best approach and prescribes the same rule for us. For, in confessing the people’s wickedness, he does not entirely abandon the hope of pardon but supports himself and others with this consolation: God is merciful.

He rests this hope of pardon on the very nature of God, as if he had said that nothing is so characteristic of God as pity, and therefore we ought never to despair. To God, he says, belong mercies and forgiveness. No doubt Daniel took this phrase from Moses, especially from that remarkable and memorable passage where God proclaims Himself a severe avenger, yet full of mercy, inclined to clemency and pardon, and exercising much forbearance (Exodus 34:6).

Therefore, since Daniel believed it impossible for God to set aside His affectionate feelings of pity, he takes this as the main point of his teaching, and it becomes the chief foundation for his hopes and his petition for pardon. He argues thus: To God belong loving kindnesses; therefore, as He can never deny Himself, He will always be merciful. This attribute is inseparable from His eternal essence; and however much we have rebelled against Him, He will never cast away or disdain our prayers.

We may conclude from this passage that no prayers are lawful or rightly composed unless they consist of these two parts:

1. All who approach God ought to cast themselves down before Him and acknowledge themselves deserving of a thousand deaths.
2. To enable them to emerge from the abyss of despair and to raise themselves to the hope of pardon, they should call upon God without fear or doubt, and with firm and steadfast confidence.

This reliance upon God can have no other support than the nature of God Himself, and to this He has borne ample testimony. With respect to the end of the verse, it may be explained in two ways: Because, or although, we are rebellious against Him. I have stated that I rather prefer taking the particle כי, ki, in the sense of opposition. Although we have rebelled against God, still He will be entreated and will never be unmindful of His pity.

If anyone prefers taking it in a causal sense, it will also fit reasonably well, as if Daniel had said that the people have no other hope left but the mercy of God, as they have been convicted of sin repeatedly. Because we have acted wickedly towards Him, what is left for us but to throw ourselves with all our trust upon the clemency and goodness of God, since He has borne witness to His being propitious to sinners who truly and sincerely implore His favor? It now follows: