John Calvin Commentary Daniel 9:8

"O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee." — Daniel 9:8 (ASV)

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: