Dan 9:5-8 | KingComments | STEP | Daniel makes himself one with the people in their departure from God and His commandments by speaking of “we”. He confesses the sins of God’s people. It is striking that he expresses himself in all kinds of ways. It is as if his feelings need all these words to get a way out of the enormous burden that weighs on his heart. He does not get rid of it with a quick, meaningless, general “we are sorry”, but he speaks of “committed iniquity”, “acted wickedly” and “rebelled”. The cause of the misery in which God’s people find themselves is the departure from God’s commandments and ordinances. But not only that. When the people turned aside, God also sent His servants, the prophets, to His people. The wicked state of the people became all the more apparent then. This evil situation was present in all parts of the people, with kings, princes, fathers, yes, all the people of the land. To all is spoken by the prophets in the name of the LORD. But what does Daniel say? “We have not listened.” From the account in 2 Chronicles we know how much the LORD has made an effort to make the people return to Him, but that they have even despised and dishonored His prophets ( ). This confession of the sins of the people by Daniel also has something to tell us. We also have not only personal to do with God, but also as a community. If we call ourselves Christians, we bear the blame for the dishonor that Christians bring to the Name of Christ, after Whose Name we call ourselves. Even if we honor Christ as Lord in our personal lives, we are ashamed and confess our guilt for the injustice that occurred in the Name of Christ. We are to blame with all Christians together. This also applies to the faith community of which we are a part. There is weakness and unfaithfulness, worldliness, carnality, legalism. There is nothing to boast about, as if we were better Christians if in “our” faith community certain sins do not occur or are removed through discipline. It takes faith and a spiritual mind to come to such a confession. These are only present when there is knowledge of one’s own heart and when there is an awareness of the grace that must always save us. Who can say that he has always listened to God’s voice in His Word?

‏ Daniel 9:5-8

We Have Sinned

Daniel makes himself one with the people in their departure from God and His commandments by speaking of “we”. He confesses the sins of God’s people. It is striking that he expresses himself in all kinds of ways. It is as if his feelings need all these words to get a way out of the enormous burden that weighs on his heart. He does not get rid of it with a quick, meaningless, general “we are sorry”, but he speaks of “committed iniquity”, “acted wickedly” and “rebelled”.

The cause of the misery in which God’s people find themselves is the departure from God’s commandments and ordinances. But not only that. When the people turned aside, God also sent His servants, the prophets, to His people. The wicked state of the people became all the more apparent then. This evil situation was present in all parts of the people, with kings, princes, fathers, yes, all the people of the land. To all is spoken by the prophets in the name of the LORD. But what does Daniel say? “We have not listened.” From the account in 2 Chronicles we know how much the LORD has made an effort to make the people return to Him, but that they have even despised and dishonored His prophets (2Chr 36:15-16).

This confession of the sins of the people by Daniel also has something to tell us. We also have not only personal to do with God, but also as a community. If we call ourselves Christians, we bear the blame for the dishonor that Christians bring to the Name of Christ, after Whose Name we call ourselves. Even if we honor Christ as Lord in our personal lives, we are ashamed and confess our guilt for the injustice that occurred in the Name of Christ. We are to blame with all Christians together.

This also applies to the faith community of which we are a part. There is weakness and unfaithfulness, worldliness, carnality, legalism. There is nothing to boast about, as if we were better Christians if in “our” faith community certain sins do not occur or are removed through discipline. It takes faith and a spiritual mind to come to such a confession. These are only present when there is knowledge of one’s own heart and when there is an awareness of the grace that must always save us. Who can say that he has always listened to God’s voice in His Word?

The People and the Lord

After Daniel has confessed the sins of “all the people of the land”, he justifies God in that He has judged the people (cf. Lam 1:18). He is aware that when division and scattering occur, these evil things must be accepted from the hand of God. They are certainly also the consequences of man’s evil deeds, but above all we must see that God acts in holy discipline.

We see this clearly, for example, in the great division of Israel, when the people fall apart into ten tribes and two tribes. Rehoboam was the actual cause of this tearing. But if he wants to undo this tearing by himself and on his own initiative, God says: “This thing is from Me” (2Chr 11:4). 450 years later Daniel acknowledges this for the situation which he finds himself in. He confesses to the Lord that He has expelled His people to all the countries in which they are now.

Daniel does not mention any names and does not point a finger at a certain person. He does not speak of Zedekiah and his follies. Nor does he refer to Nebuchadnezzar and his brutal performance. He looks above people and circumstances upwards and sees in the division and scattering the hand of a righteous God. Thus, sometime later the LORD speaks through the prophet Zechariah: “But I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known” (Zec 7:14a).

A little later, Nehemiah recalls in his prayer the words of the LORD, Who said through Moses: “If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples” (Neh 1:7-8). We do not read that these men speak of a ‘permission’ to scatter. They say clearly that God has driven the people away and brought this evil upon them.

Contrary to justifying God in His dealings with them, Daniel speaks of open shame of the people. God did nothing other than what He said He would do if the people were unfaithful. The people have become unfaithful, and the only thing that suits them is shame because of their sins which they have committed against God. The only thing Daniel can still call upon is God’s mercy, for they depend on it.

He knows God as the righteous God, but also as the God of “compassion” and of “forgiveness”. Compassion means full of compassion and forgiveness means manifold forgiveness. This is a beautiful expression, which flows over with hope and trust. There is not just a little compassion in God, no, He is full of it. There is no need for a little bit forgiveness for a single sin, no, with God there is manifold forgiveness for a multitude of sins. God “will abundantly pardon” (Isa 55:7) and is “willing to forgive” (Psa 86:5). Nehemiah knew God as “a God of forgiveness”, which means that He forgives many times (Neh 9:17). Daniel clings to this as the only possibility, for the reality is that “we have rebelled against Him”, so that every right to blessing has disappeared.