Prayer, Prophecies and Angels
God had promised a 70 Year exile because of their sin (Jer. 25:11-12)
Captivity began in 605 BC
This chapter occurs in approximately 539-538 BC.
Daniel realizes the 70 year time is about up, three or four years left to go.
Time to pray!!
1. Praise (9:4, 7, 9, 15a)
2. Confession (5, 6, 7, 8, 10,11, 13, 16)
3. Recalling God’s promises (11, 12, 13)
4. Request for deliverance (17-19)
Humility and Boldness
He numbers himself in the midst of God’s sinful people
9:21 the answer – Gabriel came in “Swift flight’
v. 23 “As soon as you began to pray”
- 23 “you are highly esteemed”
“Seventy sevens,” 70 x 7 years = 490 years
There are three decrees that sent the Jews back to Jerusalem:
1) Cyrus – 539 BC (Ezra 1:2-3) – rebuild temple, not city. The work was begun but was short-lived, had to restarted under preaching of Haggai – this is probably not the decree referred to by the promise
2) Artaxerxes – (Ezra 7:8, 13-26) – 458 or 459 BC
3) Artaxerxes – (Neh. 2:1) – 445 BC
Decree # 3 is a reiteration and renewal of decree #2, so decree #2 is best choice
458-459 BC + 490 years = approx. 31-32 AD, the time of completion of the ministry of Christ
Daniel 9:26-27 refers to the destruction of the temple in AD 70 by the Romans, when the sacrificial system ended forever.
Titus offered sacrifices (this is the “abomination of desolation”) to the ensigns of his legions on the temple ruins when he destroyed it
Jesus refers to this prophecy – Luke 21:20-24, Matt. 24:15-16
According to Dan. 9:24, Matt. 24:22, God gave a time period of about 40 years between the crucifixion of Christ and before the destruction of the temple in AD 70 to give the Jews a chance to hear the gospel and come to believe in Christ.
Chapter Ten
We learn about angels:
1) Angels are referred to throughout the OT: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Zechariah.
4) they are messengers (deliver messages from God)
5) they do the good work of God (delivered Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego)
6) They can carry out God’s judgment on sin (i.e. the first-born of Egypt)
7) they are not bound by normal physical laws (flight, size, appearance)
8) nations have angels
9) children have angels
10) they have personality, names (see Luke 1)
11) they are powerful, can strengthen us with a touch (Daniel, Jesus in the garden)
12) can be spectacular in appearance
13) they are involved in spiritual warfare with angels of darkness — there is lots of stuff going on in the unseen world that we only have a glimpse of!