John Gill Commentary Daniel 9

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes

This is the same with Darius the Median, that took the kingdom after the death of Belshazzar; so called, to distinguish him from Darius the Persian; and yet Porphyry has the gall to assert that this was Darius the Persian, under whom the temple was built, that Daniel might appear to live later than he did: Ahasuerus, whose son he was, is not he who was the husband of Esther, and was many years later than this; but the same with Astyages king of the Medes, and who is called Ahasuerus, in the Apocrypha:

``But before he died, he heard of the destruction of Nineve, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus: and before his death he rejoiced over Nineve.'' the father of Cyaxares, the same with this Darius, who was uncle to Cyrus that conquered Babylon, and made him king of it, and of the whole empire; for this was not the first year of his reign over Media, where he had reigned many years before, but over Chaldea, as follows:

who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans ;

by Cyrus his nephew; who, having taken Babylon, and settled his affairs, undertook a journey to Persia, and made Media in his way, where he met with his uncle Cyaxares, the same with this Darius, and delivered the kingdom of Babylon to him, and married his daughter, with whom he received as her dowry the kingdom of Media, as Xenophon ^F25 relates.

Now it was in the first year of his reign over the Chaldeans that Daniel had the following vision of the seventy weeks; which, according to Bishop Usher ^F26 and Mr. Whiston ^F1 , was in the year of the world 3467 A.M. and 537 B.C. Dean Prideaux ^F2 places it in the year 538; and Mr. Bedford ^F3 in the year 536.

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 36.
• F26: Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3467.
• F1: Chronological Tables, cent. 10.
• F2: Connexion part 1. p. 125, 128.
• F3: Scripture Chronology, p. 711.

In the first year of his reign
Which was also the first of Cyrus, who was partner with him in the kingdom; in which year ended the seventy years' captivity of the Jews, and proclamation was made to have their liberty to go up to Jerusalem, and build the temple, (Ezra 1:1Ezra 1:2) , reckoning from the third, or the beginning of the fourth, of Jehoiakim king of Judah, when the desolation of the land began, and Daniel himself was carried captive; and which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, during whose reign, and that of his son, and son's son, the Jews were to be detained captives, (Daniel 1:1) (Jeremiah 25:1) (27:1) .

I Daniel understood by books ;
the sacred Scriptures, which, though a prophet, he was not above reading; and, though a prime minister of state, yet found time to look into these divine oracles; which he read, studied, thoroughly considered, and well weighed in his mind; whereby he came to have knowledge of the number of the years of which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah
the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations
of Jerusalem ;

Daniel might possibly have heard this prophecy of Jeremiah from his own mouth, before he went to Babylon; since the first intimation of it was in the first year of Jehoiakim, (Jeremiah 27:1Jeremiah 27:7) , and after this the prophecy might be sent to Babylon for the use of the captive Jews there; and indeed a copy of all his prophecies was no doubt brought thither at the last captivity of the people; so that it is easy to account for it how Daniel came by it; and it is plain it was now before him; for he uses the very word, (twbrx) , "desolations", which Jeremiah does, (Jeremiah 25:9Jeremiah 25:11) , the prophecy of the seventy years' captivity, and of deliverance from it at the expiration of that term, stands in (Jeremiah 25:12) (29:10) , which Daniel carefully read over, thoroughly considered, and as he full well knew what was the epoch of them, or when they begun, he found that they were just ready to expire; and this set him to the work of prayer, as in the following verses.

From hence it is manifest that the law was not burnt, nor the Scriptures lost, in the Babylonish captivity; so that none knew what were or would be done by the Lord, as is falsely asserted in the Apocrypha: ``For thy law is burnt, therefore no man knoweth the things that are done of thee, or the work that shall begin. &c.''

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and
supplications
He set apart some time on purpose for this service, distinct from his usual stated times of prayer, as well as from his civil business and employment; and he not only set his face toward Jerusalem, as he used to do, (Daniel 6:10) , the more to affect his mind with the desolations the city and temple lay in; but towards the Lord God, the sovereign Lord of all, who does according to his will in heaven and in earth, the Governor of the universe, the one true God, Father, Son, and Spirit: and this denotes the intenseness of his spirit in prayer; the fixedness of his heart; the ardour of his mind; the fervency of his soul; his holy confidence in God; the freedom and boldness he used in prayer, and his constancy and continuance in it; which is a principal means, and a proper manner of seeking God.

The Septuagint version, agreeably to the Hebrew text ^F4 , renders it, "to seek prayer and supplications"; such as were suitable and pertinent to the present case; most beneficial and interesting to him and his people, and most acceptable to the Lord:

with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes ;
as was usual on extraordinary occasions, in times of public mourning; and this he did, to show his sense of the divine Being, and of his own unworthiness to ask or receive anything of him; his great humiliation for the sins of the people; and to distinguish this prayer of his from ordinary ones, and to affect his own heart in it, with the sad condition his nation, city, and temple were in; and therefore abstained from food for a time, put sackcloth on his loins, and ashes on his head, or sat in them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (Mynwnxtw hlpt vqbl) (tou ekzhthsai proseuchn kai dehseiv) , Sept; "ad quaerendum orationem et deprecationes", Montanus; "ad quaerendam orationem et supplicationem", Cocceius.

And I prayed to the Lord my God
Not to idols, nor to angels or saints departed; but to the Lord God of heaven and earth, who is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent: a God hearing and answering prayer; and to whom he directed his prayer, not only as the God of nature and providence, but as his own covenant God and Father; thereby encouraging his faith in him, and using his interest with him: and made my confession; of his own sins, and of the sins of his people; of the favours bestowed on him and them; of his justice in afflicting them, and his mercy in appointing a time for their deliverance; of his own faith in him, love to him, and submission to his will:

and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God ;
great in his being and perfections, and in all his works of nature, providence, and grace; "and dreadful" in his threatenings and judgments, in his wrath and vengeance: or, to be "feared" ^F5 ; and reverenced by all men, especially by his saints; and particularly when they draw near to him, as Daniel now did; and that because of his greatness and goodness: this Daniel observes to raise in his mind a proper awe and reverence of God, whose presence he was now approaching:

keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that
keep his commandments ;
faithful to his word of promise; large and liberal in the distribution of his grace and mercy to such that love him sincerely and heartily; and, as an evidence of it, observe his precepts from a principle of love, and with a view to his glory: respect seems to be had to (Exodus 20:6) , this is observed, by the prophet, to encourage his own faith, and that of others, as to the fulfilment of the promise of their deliverance from captivity at the end of the seventy years; and to raise, in his mind and theirs, love to God, who was thus merciful; and to show the obligations they lay under, in gratitude, to keep his commandments.

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: (arwnh) "reverendus", Vatablus; "summe reverende", Junius & Tremellius; "metuende", Cocceius.

We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done
wickedly, and have rebelled
Some think there is a gradation in these words; that they had committed some sins through error and ignorance; others through infirmity and obliquity, or in the perverseness of their spirits, and the crookedness of their ways; and others wilfully and in malice, in the wickedness of their hearts; and others were open acts of hostility against God, casting off his yoke, and refusing obedience to him, and obstinately persisting therein.

Jacchiades refers them to sins of actions, words, and thoughts, which they proudly and presumptuously committed.

This heap of phrases seems to be used to take in all kind of sin committed by them, and rather to exaggerate than to extenuate them, and to confess them with all their aggravated circumstances; and Daniel puts in himself among the body of the people, as being a member of it, and as well knowing he was not without sin; and therefore willingly took his part in the blame of it, in confession of it, and confusion for it:

even by departing from thy precepts, and from thy judgments ;
both of a moral and positive nature, which were enjoined by the law of Moses, as the rule of their conduct; but from this they swerved.