John Calvin Commentary Daniel 9:15-17

"And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and thy wrath, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us. Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord`s sake." — Daniel 9:15-17 (ASV)

After Daniel has sufficiently confessed the justice of those judgments which God had inflicted upon the people, he again returns to beg for pardon. First, he would conciliate favor for himself; next, he would stir up the minds of the devout to confidence, and so he sets before them that proof of grace which ought to serve to support the minds of the devout even to the end of the world.

For when God led his people out of Egypt, he did not set before them merely a momentary benefit, but he bore witness to the adoption of the descendants of Abraham on the condition that he would be their perpetual Savior. Therefore, whenever God wishes to gather together those who have been dispersed, and to raise their minds from a state of despair to cheerful hope, he reminds them that he is their Redeemer.

I am that God, he says, who led you out of Egypt (Leviticus 11:45, and often elsewhere). God not only commends his own power in such passages, but denotes the object of their redemption; for he then received his people under his care on the very basis of never ceasing to act towards them with the love and care of a father.

And when in their turn such concern seized upon the faithful as to lead them to fear their own utter desertion by God, they usually seize upon this shield—God did not lead our fathers out of Egypt in vain. Daniel now follows up this reasoning: Thou, O Lord our God, he says, who hast led forth thy people; as if he had said, he called upon God, because by one single proof God had testified to all ages the sacred character of the descendants of Abraham.

We observe, then, how he stirs up himself and all the rest of the devout to prayer, because by laying this foundation, he could both appeal intimately and fearlessly ask God to pity his people and to put an end to their calamities. We now understand the Prophet’s meaning when he says, the people were led forth from Egypt.

He afterwards adds another cause, God then acquired renown for himself, as the event clearly displayed. Here he joins God’s power with his pity, implying that when the people were led forth, it was not only an example of paternal favor towards the family of Abraham but also an exhibition of divine power.

From this it follows, his people could not be cast off without also destroying the memory of that mighty power by which God had gained renown for himself. And the same sentiment often occurs in the prophets when they use the argument: If this people should perish, what would prevent the extinction of your glory, and thus whatever you had conferred upon this people would be buried in oblivion?

So, therefore, Daniel now says, By bringing thy people from the land of Egypt, thou hast made thyself a name; that is, you have procured glory for yourself, which ought to flourish through all ages until the end of the world. What, then, will happen if all your people are now destroyed? He next adds, We have done impiously, and have acted wickedly. In these words, Daniel declares that nothing was left except for God to consider himself rather than his people, as by looking to them he would find nothing but cause for vengeance. The people would necessarily perish if God were to deal with them as they deserved. But Daniel here, by some means, turns God’s attention away from the people’s sins, intending to fix his focus on himself alone and his own pity, and on his consistent faithfulness to that perpetual covenant he had made with their fathers.

Lastly, he would not permit that redemption to fail which was an illustrious and eternal proof of his virtue, favor, and goodness. Thus, he adds, O Lord, may thine anger be averted according to all thy righteousness, and thine indignation from thy city Jerusalem, the mountain of thy holiness. We observe how Daniel here excludes any merit the people might have.

In reality, they did not possess any merit, but I speak according to that foolish notion which people can scarcely abandon. They always take credit for themselves, even though they are convicted of their sins a hundred times over, and still desire to win God’s favor by pleading some merit before God.

But here Daniel excludes all such considerations when he pleads God’s own justice, and uses the strong expression, according to all thy righteousness. Those who interpret this word “righteousness” to mean “judgment” are in error and inexperienced in interpreting the Scriptures; for they suppose God’s justice is opposed to his pity.

But we are familiar with God’s righteousness as manifested, especially in the benefits he confers on us. It is just as if Daniel had said that the people's only hope consisted in God’s considering himself alone, and not their conduct at all. Therefore, he understands God's righteousness as his liberality, gratuitous favor, consistent faithfulness, and protection, which he promised his servants: O God, therefore, he says, according to all your promised mercies; that is, you do not fail those who trust in you, you promise nothing rashly, and you are not accustomed to desert those who flee to you; oh! by your very justice, help us in our distress.

We must also notice the universal term “all,” because when Daniel brings together so many sins that might drown the people in an abyss a thousand times over, he sets against this all God’s promised mercies. As if he had said, although the number of our iniquities is so great that we would perish a hundred times over, yet your promised mercies are far more numerous, meaning, your justice surpasses whatever guilt of the deepest dye you may find in us.

He says, again, Let thine anger be turned away, and thy burning wrath from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. In joining together anger and burning wrath, the Prophet does not imply any excess on God's part, as if he avenged the people's sins too severely, but he again represents the severity of their wickedness, which caused God to become so angry with them as to lay aside his usual character and treat their adoption as vain and fruitless.

Daniel does not complain in this case of the severity of the punishment, but rather condemns himself and the rest of the people for making such severe measures necessary. Once more, he presents before God the holy mountain which he had chosen, and in this way turns God's attention from judgment, lest God should reckon with them for so many sins, by which God was deservedly angered.

Here, therefore, God’s election is brought forward, because he had consecrated Mount Zion to himself and desired to be worshipped there, where also his name should be celebrated and sacrifices offered to him. In this respect, therefore, Daniel gains favor for himself before God, and, as I have said, he excludes all other considerations.

He next adds, Because on account of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are a reproach to all our neighbors. By another argument, the Prophet desires to move God to pity; for Jerusalem, as well as the people, were a disgrace to the nations; yet this also caused disgrace to fall upon God himself.

Therefore, as the Gentiles made a laughing-stock of the Jews, they did not spare the sacred name of God; indeed, the Jews were so despised that the Gentiles scarcely condescended to speak of them, and the God of Israel was contemptuously slandered, as if he had been conquered, because he had allowed his temple to be destroyed and the entire city of Jerusalem to be consumed by fire and cruel slaughter.

The Prophet, therefore, now takes up this argument, and in speaking of the sacred city, undoubtedly refers to the sacredness of God’s name. His language implies: You chose Jerusalem as a kind of royal residence; it was your wish to be worshipped there, and now this city has become an object of the greatest reproach to our neighbors.

Thus he declares how God’s name was exposed to the reproaches of the Gentiles. He afterwards asserts the same regarding God’s people—not as a complaint that the Jews suffered these reproaches, for they deserved them because of their sins, but the language is emphatic: they were still God’s people.

God’s name was intimately bound up with that of his people, and whatever infamy the profane cast upon them, reflected chiefly on God himself. Here Daniel places before the Almighty God's own name; as if he had said, 'O Lord! Be the vindicator of your own glory. You once adopted us on this condition; may the memory of your name be ever inscribed upon us. Do not permit us to be so reproachfully slandered; do not let the Gentiles insult you on our account.' And yet he says this was done on account of the iniquities of the people and of their fathers; by which expression he removes all doubt. Oh! How can it happen that God would so lay his people prostrate? Why has he not at least spared his own name! Daniel, therefore, here testifies that God is just, because the iniquity of the people and their fathers had risen so high that God was compelled to exercise such vengeance against them.

His next prayer is, Do thou who art our God hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine forth. In these words, Daniel wrestles with distrust, not for his own private sake, but for that of the whole Church, for whom he set forth the true method of prayer.

And experience teaches all the devout how necessary this remedy is in those doubts which break into all our prayers and make our earnestness and passion in prayer grow dull and cold within us, or at least we pray without any composed or tranquil confidence, and this trembling corrupts whatever we had formerly conceived. Therefore, as this daily happens to all the devout when they cease the duty of prayer for even a short time, and some doubt distracts them and shuts the door of intimate access to God, this is the reason why Daniel so often repeats the sentence, Do thou, O Lord, hear the prayer of thy servant. David also instills such sentiments in his prayers and has the greatest need to do so. And those who are truly practiced in praying feel how God’s servants have good reason for such language whenever they pray to him. But I will complete the rest to-morrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, as you have deigned to gather us once among your people, and have also wished us to bear your name, and that of your only-begotten Son; although we so often provoke your anger by our sins, and never cease to heap evil upon evil: Grant that we may never be exposed as a laughing-stock and spectacle, to the disgrace of your sacred name. As, therefore, you now see the impious seizing all occasions of grossly slandering yourself, and your sacred gospel, and the name of your only-begotten Son, do not permit them, I pray you, petulantly to insult you. May your Spirit so govern us, that we may desire to glorify your name. May it be glorified in spite of Satan and all the impious, until we are gathered into that celestial kingdom which you have promised us in the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We yesterday began our comment on the passage in which Daniel asks the Almighty to make his face to shine upon his own sanctuary. We are well aware how often this expression occurs in the Scriptures, where God is said to show his opposition by hiding his face when he does not help his own people but hides himself as if he were forgetful of them.

Since Scripture everywhere compares our calamities and adversities to darkness, therefore God, in whose favor our happiness lies, is said to hide his face when he does not help us; and again, he is said to make his face bright and visible when he gives us some sign of his paternal favor.

God seemed for a long time to have deserted his sanctuary, and therefore the Prophet prays for him to make his face to shine. We must note his expression: upon thy sanctuary which is laid waste. We gather from this that although the Prophet saw all things lost in a worldly sense, yet he neither despaired nor stopped his prayers.

And this rule must be noted: God’s grace is not to be estimated by the present appearance of things, because he often shows himself angry with us. Our worldly reasoning must be overcome if we wish to pray to God in adversity, as the Prophet here teaches us by his own example.

For the sanctuary was desolate; its very devastation might have given Daniel and all the devout an excuse to stop offering their prayers. What success could be hoped for in such a deplorable state of affairs? Daniel, by this circumstance, shows how he struggled on without allowing any obstacle to interrupt the course of his prayer.

He adds, for the Lord’s sake; all the Hebrew scholars agree that the word אדני, Adoni, when written with the great point karnetz, refers to God alone; but in certain passages of Scripture it is as clearly used for the Mediator also. And it very probably has this meaning here. Although the Hebrews use this form, for God’s sake, or for thy sake (when they make a direct appeal to the Deity), I confess they often use the third person. But what need is there to resort to this harsher form of speech when the other meaning seems more appropriate to the passage? He will afterwards say, 'on account of you, my God'; but he says here, for the Lord’s sake. If, however, I had to argue with a contentious person, I confess I could not convince him from this passage; but if we weigh the Prophet’s words without contention, we will more likely lean towards this view. Here, therefore, he presents the Mediator before God, by whose favor he hopes to obtain his request. Still, if any one prefers to apply this to God, let him retain his opinion.