Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 9:13
As [it is] written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
13. As it is written, &c.] Cf. Deu 28:15 b, Deu 30:1.
yet have we not intreated the favour of (R.V.)] lit. made the face sweet (i.e. gracious), the idiom used with reference to a human object in Job 11:19; Psa 45:12; Pro 19:6, and frequently with reference to God, as Exo 32:11; 1Sa 13:12; Jer 26:19, al. Cf. Bar 2:8 .
understand thy truth ] better (R.V.), have discernment in thy truth, ‘truth’ being used in the objective sense which it has in Dan 8:12, and the meaning being (Keil, Prince) to acquire insight into God’s revealed will, and to think and act in accordance with it. The words might, however, also be rendered (R.V. marg.) deal wisely (viz. in amending our ways) through [332] thy truth (v. Lengerke, Behrm.), i.e. through Thy revealed word. The verb has the former meaning ( understand, discern) in Dan 9:25; and the latter in Dan 11:33; Dan 11:35, Dan 12:3; Dan 12:10.
[332] There is a similar ambiguity in the verb and accompanying prep. in Psa 101:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
As it is written in the law of Moses – The word law was given to all the writings of Moses. See the notes at Luk 24:44.
Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God – Margin, entreated we not the face of. The Hebrew word used here ( chalah) means, properly, to be polished; then to be worn down in strength, to be weak; then to be sick, or diseased; then in Piel (the form used here), to rub or stroke the face of anyone, to soothe or caress, and hence, to beseech, or supplicate. See Gesenius, Lexicon Here it means, that, as a people, they had failed, when they had sinned, to call upon God for pardon; to confess their sins; to implore his mercy; to deprecate his wrath. It would have been easy to turn aside his threatened judgments if they had been penitent, and had sought his mercy, but they had not done it. What is here said of them can and will be said of all sinners when the Divine judgment comes upon them.
That we might turn from, our iniquities – That we might seek grace to turn from our transgressions. And understand thy truth. The truth which God had revealed; equivalent to saying that they might be righteous.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
As it is written in the law of Moses: see Lev 26:14-39. The sum of all is, As the Lord threatened and forewarned us long ago, so it is come to pass this day upon us, because we took no warning, we understood not, but sinned and returned not. The Lord is true and just in all that is come upon us; chiefly because we have not made our prayer unto God to prevent our misery before it came upon us, nor to remove it when it lay heavy on us. See it in Ezekiel, who prophesied in the captivity, and how they received him; and though they kept a formal fast, yet what did that signify? Zec 7:5-7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. yet made we not our prayerbeforeliterally, “soothed not the face of.” Not evenour chastisement has taught us penitence (Isa 9:13;Jer 5:3; Hos 7:10).Diseased, we spurn the healing medicine.
that we might turn,c.Prayer can only be accepted when joined with the desire to turnfrom sin to God (Psa 66:18Pro 28:9).
understand thytruth“attentively regard Thy faithfulness” infulfilling Thy promises, and also Thy threats [CALVIN].Thy law (Da 8:12),[MAURER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us,…. As it is there threatened it should, and as it is there foretold it would come upon them, so it has; even the selfsame things, in the same manner, and with the same circumstances, as there foretold; which is a proof of the omniscience, omnipotence, and faithfulness of God, and an evidence of the truth of divine revelation; see
Le 26:1:
yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God; during the seventy years captivity, they might have prayed, and doubtless did, in a lifeless, formal manner; but not sincerely and heartily, in faith and with fervency, under a sense of sin, with confession of it, and true repentance for it, and so as to forsake it, as follows:
that we might turn from our iniquities; for since they did not pray against sin, and entreat the Lord to enable them to turn from it, and forsake it, but continued in a course of disobedience, their prayer was not reckoned prayer:
and understand thy truth; either the truth and faithfulness of God, in fulfilling both his promises and his threatenings; or his law, which is truth, as Jacchiades interprets it; for, had they prayed aright, they would have had an understanding given them of divine truths, both with respect to doctrine and practice; of which they were ignorant, as prayerless persons usually are.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He repeats what he had already said, without any superfluity, shewing how God’s judgments are proved by their effects, as the law of Moses contains within it all the penalties which the Israelites endured. As, therefore, so manifest an agreement existed between the law of God and the people’s experience, they ought not to become restive and to have sought every kind of subterfuge without profit. By this alone God sufficiently proved himself a just avenger of their crimes, because he had predicted many ages before what he had afterwards fully carried out. This is the object of the repetition, when Daniel says the people felt the justice of the penalties denounced against them in the law of Moses, for in the meantime he adds, we have not deprecated the face of God. Here he severely blames the people’s hardness, because even when beaten with stripes they never grew wise. It is said — fools require calamities to teach them wisdom. This, therefore, was the height of madness in the people to remain thus stubborn under the rod of the Almighty, even when he inflicted the severest blows. As the people were so obstinate in their wickedness, who does not perceive how sincerely this conduct was to be deplored? We have not deprecated, therefore, the face of our God This passage teaches us how the Lord exercises his judgments by not utterly destroying men, but holding his final sentence in suspense, as by these means he wishes to impel men to repentance. First of all, he gently and mercifully invites both bad and good by his word, and adds also promises, with the view of enticing them; and then, when he observes them either slow or refractory, he uses threatenings with the view of arousing them from their slumber; and should threats produce no effect, he goes forth in arms and chastises the sluggishness of mankind. Should these stripes produce no improvement, the desperate character of the people becomes apparent. In this way, God complains in Isaiah of their want of soundness; the whole body of the people is subject to ulcers from the head to the sole of the foot, (Isa 1:6😉 and yet he would lose all his labor, through their being utterly unmanageable. Daniel now asserts the existence of the same failing in the people, while he states the Israelites to be so untouched by a sense of their calamities, as never to supplicate for pardon. I cannot complete the remainder today.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Made we not our prayer.The reference is, as in Dan. 9:6, to the conduct of the nation from the first. There had been plenty of external show of praying, as appears from Isaiah 1 and elsewhere, but these prayers were of no effect on account of their formalism. The conditions of acceptable prayer are implied in the closing words of the verse turning from iniquity, and wisdom in the truth, i.e., in the revelation of God. On the phrase make prayer, see Exo. 32:11.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“In accordance with what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, all this evil has come on us, yet have we not appeased (begged the favour of) YHWH our God, that we should turn from our iniquities and have discernment in your truth. Therefore has YHWH watched over the evil and brought it on us. For YHWH our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice.”
Daniel acknowledged that all that had come on Israel was exactly what had been promised in God’s covenant, in the Book of the Law of Moses (compare Jos 8:31; Jos 23:6; 2Ki 14:6) . He also acknowledged that they could have turned from their sin and sought God’s favour (for the meaning of the verb see 1Ki 13:6; Jer 26:19), but had failed to do so. They had refused to receive discernment and understanding through His truth. Thus YHWH had Himself seen all that they had done and had brought His judgment on them, something revealed in the evils that they faced (see Jer 1:12; Jer 31:28; Jer 44:27). And he summed up the situation by acknowledging that YHWH was righteous in all that He had done and does, and that Israel’s fate was simply due to their own disobedience.
Note that it was not a question of them earning their deliverance. Deliverance required the favour and mercy of God, but it would always be available if they sought Him in repentance. But nevertheless without an obedient response there could be no deliverance. Responsive faith and obedience always go together.
Daniel’s Final Plea.
Daniel again begins to speak directly to God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Dan 9:13 As [it is] written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
Ver. 13. All this evil is come upon us. ] But unless God set in and sanctify, his hammers (afflictions) do but beat upon cold iron. Jer 2:30
Yet made we not our prayer.
That we might turn from our iniquities.
And understand thy truth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
As = According as.
it is written, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 26:14, &c. Deu 28:15, &c, as above). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Dan 9:13
Dan 9:13 AsH834 it is writtenH3789 in the lawH8451 of Moses,H4872 (H853) allH3605 thisH2063 evilH7451 is comeH935 uponH5921 us: yet made we not our prayerH2470 H3808 (H853) beforeH6440 the LORDH3068 our God,H430 that we might turnH7725 from our iniquities,H4480 H5771 and understandH7919 thy truth.H571
Dan 9:13
“As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.”
The curse in the law of Moses written in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 carries with it the remedy for the ending of their suffering. Lev 26:40-42 quoted earlier is their remedy. The remedy starts with the word “If”. If the Israelites want to go home and end their captivity and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple then they have certain things that they must do first. And to date, they had not done this and Daniel was diligently in prayer concerning this matter and doing to the best of his ability all those things which had to be done if their captivity was to come to an end. This entire prayer that Daniel is offering to God is in response to what was written in Lev 26:40-42.
Daniel earlier said in his prayer, “for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.” A reading of the curse in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 reveals just how bitter the punishment of the curse would be. We have every reason to believe that everything described in that curse befell the Israelites during their captivity.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
As it is: Thus every succeeding part of the Sacred writings attests and prove the Divine authority of the preceding. The history relates the fulfilment of former predictions; and then new prophecies are add, which future events accomplish, and thus demonstrate their inspiration to the latest ages. Dan 9:11, Lev 26:14-46, Deu 28:15-68, Isa 42:9, Lam 2:15-17, Joh 10:35
made we not our prayer before: Heb. intreated we not the face of, Job 36:13, Isa 9:13, Jer 2:30, Jer 5:3, Hos 7:7, Hos 7:10, Hos 7:14
that we: Deu 29:4, Psa 85:4, Psa 119:18, Psa 119:27, Psa 119:73, Isa 64:7, Jer 31:18, Jer 44:27, Lam 5:21, Luk 24:45, Joh 6:45, Joh 8:32, Eph 1:17, Eph 1:18, Eph 4:21, Jam 1:5
Reciprocal: Deu 31:9 – Moses 1Ki 8:48 – And so return Neh 1:7 – which thou Psa 44:17 – All this Isa 31:1 – neither Isa 43:22 – thou hast not Isa 59:20 – unto Jer 36:7 – It may Eze 18:30 – Repent Eze 24:12 – her great Eze 33:11 – turn ye Act 3:19 – be
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Dan 9:13. This verse indicates the thought expressed at verse 11, that the people had been given plenty of opportunity for knowing the law of God, but they had turned from it unto their own wicked ways.