and we have not hearkened unto the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us through his servants the prophets.
Daniel's prayer reaches its lowest point here. After naming sin, rebellion and shame, he names the root of it all. Israel would not listen to the voice of its God. They would not walk in the laws He gave them through prophet after prophet. The strange thing is who says this. Daniel had done none of it, yet he says "we".
Everything Daniel has confessed gathers into this one line. One writer sets out its three parts.
Here Daniel sums up the sin of Israel. The nation had not obeyed the voice of the LORD; they had broken His laws and disregarded the prophets.
The verse ties the laws to the prophets. One writer explains why God sent them.
Israel failed, as all have failed except Christ, who was perfect in every way. God still tests man, however. He sends prophets to call the people back to the law. So "the Law and the Prophets were until John." Under God's government of the world, obedience was the way of happiness for man. That is why the prophets called them back to obedience as the way of man's happiness.
Israel refused to hear the messengers. One writer traces that refusal to something still with us.
Daniel does not try to soften their sin. On the contrary, he owns that they made it worse. They refused to listen to the prophets. God had sent those prophets from time to time to call them back to Himself. Nothing is more striking than to see how the people of God, in that day as in this, have kept on persecuting the prophets. We do not like our conscience disturbed by hearing of our failures. Admitting that we are wrong, or have done wrong, is too humbling for religious flesh — unless we keep it vague and general. So the prophet who tries to reach the conscience, who reminds God's people of their sins, is never popular. People welcome the mere "teacher" with applause. Gaining knowledge at a teacher's feet is rather pleasant to the flesh.
Daniel had the least to confess of anyone in Babylon. Yet he never says "they".
He took the place of humble confession before God. He became the voice of the people, their representative, spreading out their sins before God. Perhaps there was not another soul who did so; certainly there were not many. It is rare indeed to find many souls taking the place of real confession before God. In Babylon, those who were most guilty felt it least, while the man who was most free from guilt was the one who spread it out most honestly before God.
Another writer adds that a confession trimmed down to what suits us would insult the God we are confessing to.
The act may well be imperfect. But on the principles of faith there must be identification with the people — a full confession before God. Suppose I thought a partial confession could get my sins forgiven, in the sense of lifting God's chastening. Or suppose I thought I could have that without ever feeling how serious the sins were. It is plain I would be mocking the just government of God.
Verse 10 stands right next to the confession that mercy and forgiveness belong to God. One writer shows why that order matters for anyone who prays like this.
Daniel confesses again that shame belonged to every class of the people because of their sins. Yet, he goes on to say, "to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness" — even though they had rebelled against Him, even though they had not obeyed His voice through the prophets. In that one sentence Daniel had reached the only ground on which he could rest his intercession. Had he known nothing but the law, he could have had no hope of being heard. But he also knew his God in grace, and only grace lets the heart pour out its sins and sorrows before God.
One writer points to this prayer as the pattern for our own confession.
The marks of true confession come clearly to light here. Daniel acknowledges the evil and does not try to excuse it or soften it. He fully owns that God's judgments and discipline are right. He asks God to deliver His people, according to His word, "not because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy." Let us cultivate these fine features in our own day. We too can ask for nothing on the ground of merit, only on the ground of mercy.
- Voice — The failure named here is not first idolatry or politics; it is a refusal to obey the voice of the LORD.
- Prophets — The prophets were the repeated call back to that voice, holding out obedience as the way of blessing.
- Conscience — Rejecting them was the aggravation, and the reason is still with us: a teacher who informs is welcomed, a prophet who disturbs the conscience is not.
- "We" — The man with the least to confess confessed the most, refusing partial confession as a mockery of God's righteous government.
- Mercy — Owning disobedience is only bearable next to the truth that mercy and forgiveness belong to God; that, not merit, is the ground of every plea.
And all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside so as not to listen unto thy voice. And the curse hath been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God for we have sinned against him.
Daniel is praying for a ruined nation, and he never once argues that God has been unfair. Here he admits the charge in full: the whole nation broke God's law, and the curse Moses had written down has fallen on them.
One commentator maps out the prayer, then points out something surprising about the man praying it:
It has three parts. Verses 4-10: confession of the failure of his people and acknowledgment of God's covenant mercies. Verses 11-14: the deserved curse as written in the law of Moses. Verses 15-19: pleading for mercy, that God would turn away His anger and remember His city, Jerusalem, and His people. Throughout this prayer we read how completely he identified himself with the sins, the failure, the shame and the judgment of the people of God. This is remarkable. He was brought to Babylon when quite young, and even then he belonged to the believing, God-fearing part of the nation. Yet he speaks of the nation's sins, their rebellion, their transgressions of the law and their wicked deeds as if they belonged to him.
Daniel could have based his plea on the promises made to Abraham. He did not:
Nowhere in the Bible do we find a finer example of thorough confession and prayer. Ezra's prayer in Ezra 9 closely resembles it. Daniel made no reference to the covenant of promise made with Abraham. Instead he placed himself before God on the ground of the covenant of the law of Moses, and of the later ministry through the prophets. On this ground he confessed complete breakdown and disaster. Yet he himself was less involved in it than anyone in his day.
Moses had written the curse down long before it fell. One commentator shows where to find it:
It is pointless to say that we receive the blessing which belongs to Deuteronomy 27. We do not. There we get the curse and no blessing. But in Deuteronomy 28 we get certain blessings and then curses. So this chapter shows the state Israel would be in right up to the present day. It lists the details: "And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away." So this is not a question of God dealing according to His nature. It is a matter of His ways with a nation in this world, and nothing more.
If the law had been all Daniel knew, his prayer could have stopped there. He had more to appeal to:
Shame belonged to every class of the people because of their sins, as Daniel again confesses. Yet "to the Lord our God," he goes on to say, "belong mercy and forgiveness." This was true though they had rebelled against Him, though they had not obeyed His voice through the prophets, and though all Israel had transgressed the law of the Lord their God. They had therefore fallen under the curse and penalty of their sins, as written in the law of Moses the servant of God. In that one sentence, "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness," Daniel had found the only ground he could rest on as he prayed for his people. Had he known only the law, he could not have hoped to be heard.
One commentator follows the curse of the law to its end. It was not cancelled. It was carried:
Above all, Christ has redeemed us from the curse. He was made a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree" (Deut. 21:23). Christ bears our curse so that we might receive blessing, and the promise of the Spirit, through faith in Christ.
Daniel was the least guilty man of his day. He was also the most troubled by his nation's guilt:
So it always is. Those deeply involved in failure and sin are made blind by that very fact. They cannot see how far they have sunk. Those less involved feel the state of things painfully.
- Cause. Israel broke the law and refused to listen. The ruin was no accident. It was the written penalty of a broken covenant.
- Curse. Deuteronomy named the sentence in advance: Israel would become a byword among the nations. Daniel admits it has now fallen.
- Confession. Daniel stands on the law's ground, not Abraham's promise. He says "we" though he was the least involved man of his day.
- Mercy. The law alone would have silenced him. He could pray at all only because "to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness."
- Christ. Christ did not set the curse aside. He carried it, being made a curse so that blessing could come.
And he hath performed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; so that there hath not been done under the whole heaven as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
Daniel prays as an exile in Babylon, looking back on a ruined city and a scattered nation. He traces that ruin to God Himself, which raises a hard question: can the fall of God's own city be God keeping His word?
The earlier verses confess the sin. This verse states what came of it, for the people and for the rulers over them.
Verses 11, 12. So the curse announced in the law had fallen on them. God had confirmed the words He had spoken against the nation by bringing this great evil upon them.
If God is this exact with a threat, what does that say about a promise?
Oh, what foolishness is ours that could ever doubt a word of God! And what has God given us all this for? Only that we may know that if that word stands in what is evil, how much more in what is good. If God carries out His threats to the letter, can His promises fail for an instant?
Daniel had guilty kings and a violent conqueror he could have blamed. He names none of them.
He speaks of "the Lord our God… bringing upon us a great evil"; and again, "the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us." So Daniel loses sight of the folly and wickedness of individual men. He mentions no names. He does not speak of Jehoiakim, or of "his abominations which he did." He does not speak of Zedekiah and his folly. He does not point to the ruthless violence of Nebuchadnezzar.
Nor does he soften the language, and the same commentator notes this is not unique to Daniel.
These men of God do not soften their strong statements about God's dealings in discipline. They do not even say that God has "allowed" His people to be scattered, or "permitted" them to be driven away. They say plainly that God Himself has driven the people away and brought the evil.
The verse ends by measuring the disaster against everything else under heaven.
Daniel will hide nothing. God had only confirmed His words in bringing so great an evil on His people, and there was never a greater evil under the whole heaven than what fell on Jerusalem. The evil came on them exactly as written in the law of Moses.
Daniel says "we" all the way through the prayer. The sins he confesses were the nation's, not his own.
Verses 11-14 set out the deserved curse as written in the law of Moses. Throughout this prayer we see how fully he identified himself with the sins, the failure, the shame and the judgment of the people of God. This is remarkable. He speaks of the nation's sins, their rebellion, their transgressions of the law and their wicked deeds as if they belonged to him.
The "great evil" of verse 12 was meant to turn the nation back. Verse 13 says it did not. (The quote below uses an older wording of verse 14: "the Lord watched upon the evil.")
"Yet we have not entreated the favour of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by Your truth" (v. 13). That is, we have not only transgressed. When the chastening came, we did not turn to the Lord with a true heart, to turn us from our iniquities. Here sin reached its height. "Therefore the Lord has watched upon the evil and brought it upon us" (v. 14), as He watched over the good to bless. How terrible, when the government of God watches over evil to make it come upon His people!
- Word. God had spoken against the nation. The fall of Jerusalem confirmed His own words — and the God who keeps a threat keeps a promise.
- Hand. Daniel names no king and no invader. He traces the scattering to God Himself, and refuses even the softer words "allowed" and "permitted".
- Weight. The judgment on Jerusalem was without equal under heaven. It landed exactly as the law of Moses had written it.
- Owner. Daniel says "we" for sins that were not his, taking the nation's sin, shame and judgment as his own.
- Warning. God sent the evil to turn them back. They did not turn — and there sin reached its height.