WEEK 31 | Daniel 9:1–2
Days 1–2 Father, open my eyes to see the truth in Your Word that I may know and love you more deeply.
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Daniel 9:1–2
OBSERVE DETAILS
Ask and answer simple w-questions: when? where? who? what? how?
Background to Daniel’s Prayer (vv1–2)
Is book(s) singular or plural? (v2)
Daniel references the book of ___________________, but we will review texts from other books that pertain to Daniel 9 as well.
Who gave the word to this prophet?
What does Daniel learn when he reads the books”?
What will end?
How many years total did Jeremiah prophesy that the exile would last?
When does Daniel “perceive in the books the number of years” that the exile will last “according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet” seventy years? (v1)
How many times does Daniel give the time reference for Darius’ reign?
OBSERVE DICTION
Ask: Which words/phrases might provide clues to the author’s message? What do they literally mean?
Ex. LORD > When you see LORD in all capital letters in the Old Testament, this signifies that the author used God’s covenant name Yahweh. This is the first time that Daniel uses God’s covenant name in his book, and he will use this name for God a total of seven times in chapter 9. We will consider the significance of this as we proceed through this chapter. You will see “LORD” bolded in our texts so we can reflect on our covenant-keeping God.
Ex. end of the desolations > Daniel is echoing God’s word choice “desolation” regarding Israel’s failure to keep the Sabbath Law for the land. He also echoes Jeremiah’s language that describes the end of the exile and the beginning of restoration. We will review these texts for greater understanding.
Historical Context –– In light of his recent visions of prophetic events, Daniel has been studying the Old Testament books. Besides Jeremiah, these likely included Isaiah, Leviticua, 1 Kings, and Hosea. The year would be 539/538 BC, so 66–67 years have passed since the Babylonian Captivity began in 605 BC. Daniel was a youth when he was taken into exile; he would likely now be eighty or more years old. Babylon has just been overthrown, and Daniel is serving under Darius who serves under Cyrus the Great ruling the Medes Persian empire.
1. Put together what you learned from the details in Daniel 9:1–2 and the historical context. What is the situation?
definition of desolation ––According to dictionary.com, the primary meaning of desolation is “the destroying or devastating of land, population, and community.” But this site further lists moods or emotions that would certainly accompany a person or community experiencing such a desolation, such as dreariness, barrenness, sorrow, grief, woe.
2. Pause and consider Daniel’s emotions when he learned that the exile had an appointed end. Consider the years he has served, his age, his role, his recent visions. Write your thoughts below.
3. What might Daniel’s hope regarding what will happen next?
Days 3–4 Father, open my eyes to see the truth in Your Word that I may know and love you more deeply.
Directions –– For Daniel 1–6, we focused on Israel’s disobedience in relation to worshiping false gods and failing to administer justice. Now we are reviewing her failure to follow the law pertaining to the land’s Sabbath rest. Review the titles above each passage. Then mark up the text to trace the significance of each.
The Sabbath Law for the Land
The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 7 and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food. Leviticus 25:1–7 ESV
God’s Warning of Judgment If Israel Fails to Give the Land Its Sabbath Rest
And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
“Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it. 36 And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues. 37 They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues. And you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39 And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies’ lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.
“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”
These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai. Leviticus 26:33–46 ESV
Fulfillment of God’s Promised Judgment When Israel Failed to Give the Land Its Sabbath Rest
He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. 2 Chronicles 36:20–21
INTERPRET
Ask: Why did the author choose to include these details and use these words?
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Exodus 20:8–11 ESV
1. Consider the texts you read and Exodus 20:8–11 above.
What correlations to the land resting do you see in God’s command that men and women and animals rest?
How does this reflect the heart of the Lord for His creation? Consider not only the land but the people the land benefits.
2. How do you see in these texts that the land belonged to the Lord and Israel is merely its steward?
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? Romans 8:22–24 ESV
3. One day we will live on a new earth, so the Sabbath rest of the land had eschatological implications. Write a prayer to God sharing how you are anticipating living on His new earth under the reign of King Jesus.
Day 5 Father, open my eyes to see the truth in Your Word that I may know and love you more deeply.
Historical Context –– Jeremiah the prophet was a contemporary of Daniel; however, he remained in Jerusalem until after the city fell in 586 BC. Then he was taken to Egypt. Daniel describes Jeremiah’s writing as “according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet,” so it is clear he regarded them as the inspired Word of God.
Directions –– Now we are going to read Jeremiah’s two prophetic accounts regarding the end of Judah’s exile in Babylon after seventy years. Review the titles above each passage. Then mark up the text to trace the significance of each.
The LORD’S Just Desolation for an Unrepentant Judah
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 “For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. 4 You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, 5 saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. 6 Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ 7 Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.
8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.” Jeremiah 25:1–14 ESV
The LORD’s Merciful Restoration
For thus says the Lord: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:10–14 ESV
INTERPRET
Ask: Why did the author choose to include these details and use these words?
1. Jeremiah 25:1–14
In Day 1 we defined the word “desolation.” Consider this and describe how the land is portrayed in this text.
What evidence do you see in this text that God’s judgment is in keeping with His covenant with Judah?
2. Jeremiah 29:10–14
What will God restore to those returning from exile?
How is God’s restoration also in keeping with His covenant with Judah?
3. Jeremiah 29:10–14 Tone is often described as an author’s attitude toward His subject. How would you describe God’s tone toward His people? Note God’s diction & details and use of the first-person pronoun “I.”
TOGETHER IN PRAYER
Foundation: The early church demonstrated a shared devotion to God through prayer, fellowship, and unity. Their example reminds us that praying together involves more than gathering in one place; it calls us to seek God with hearts united in purpose. (Acts 1:14; 2:1,46; 4:32; 5:12).
Have you considered:
When we pray together, are we truly joining in one conversation with God, or are we simply waiting for our turn to pray? Agreeing in prayer means listening to one another, joining our hearts in what is being prayed, and building upon each other’s prayers as we seek God’s will together.
Prayer Principles
1. Seek God’s agenda.
Surrender your own priorities and seek God’s will as you pray together (1 John5:14).
2. Listen and build upon one another’s prayers.
Pay attention to what others are praying, agree with them internally, and contribute to the ongoing conversation with God (Acts 4:24-30).
3. Pray briefly and intentionally .
Keep your prayers simple and focused, allowing others to participate and contribute (Matthew 6:7-8).
Questions? Contact Hilda Gomez at hgomez@gracelaredo.org
Duos & Trios Share & Prayer Time –– Discuss with your duo/trio the November Prayer Requests. Then, in light of our lesson today, share a personal prayer request with your little group. Enjoy a time praying together.
November Prayer Requests for the Church
“For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy” Daniel 9:18
1. Our Spiritual Growth: Ask God to cultivate humble and repentant hearts within us, revealing our personal sins and our shared need for His mercy. Pray that He would deepen our dependence on Him, lead us to seek His forgiveness, and strengthen our trust in His faithfulness rather than our own righteousness
2. Christmas Services: Ask God to prepare hearts to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas – the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Ask Him to give us opportunities and boldness to invite others to our Christmas services, soften hearts to receive the gospel, and bring many to experience the joy and hope found in Christ alone.
3. The Persecuted Church: Ask God to comfort persecuted believers who experience loneliness and isolation. Pray that He would remind them they are not forgotten or alone, strengthen their sense of belonging to the global body of Christ, and encourage them through the prayers and support of fellow believers.
God’s joy and strength to you,