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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Daniel 9:1-3

We left Daniel, in the close of the foregoing chapter, employed in the king's business; but here we have him employed in better business than any king had for him, speaking to God and hearing from him, not for himself only, but for the church, whose mouth he was to God, and for whose use the oracles of God were committed to him, relating to the days of the Messiah. Observe, 1. When it was that Daniel had this communion with God (Dan. 9:1), in the first year of Darius the Mede, who was newly... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Daniel 9:4-19

We have here Daniel's prayer to God as his God, and the confession which he joined with that prayer: I prayed, and made my confession. Note, In every prayer we must make confession, not only of the sins we have been guilty of (which we commonly call confession), but of our faith in God and dependence upon him, our sorrow for sin and our resolutions against it. It must be our confession, must be the language of our own convictions and that which we ourselves do heartily subscribe to. Let us go... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Daniel 9:1

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes ,.... This is the same with Darius the Median, that took the kingdom after the death of Belshazzar; so called, to distinguish him from Darius the Persian; and yet Porphyry has the gall to assert that this was Darius the Persian, under whom the temple was built, that Daniel might appear to live later than he did: Ahasuerus, whose son he was, is not he that was the husband of Esther, and was many years later than this;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Daniel 9:2

In the first year of his reign ,.... Which was also the first of Cyrus, who was partner with him in the kingdom; in which year ended the seventy years' captivity of the Jews, and proclamation was made to have their liberty to go up to Jerusalem, and build the temple, Ezra 1:1 , reckoning from the third, or the beginning of the fourth, of Jehoiakim king of Judah, when the desolation of the land began, and Daniel himself was carried captive; and which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Daniel 9:3

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications ,.... He set apart some time on purpose for this service, distinct from his usual stated times of prayer, as well as from his civil business and employment; and he not only set his face toward Jerusalem, as he used to do, Daniel 6:10 , the more to affect his mind with the desolations the city and temple lay in; but towards the Lord God, the sovereign Lord of all, who does according to his will in heaven and in earth,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Daniel 9:4

And I prayed unto the Lord my God ,.... Not to idols, nor to angels or saints departed; but to the Lord God of heaven and earth, who is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, &c.;: a God hearing and answering prayer; and to whom he directed his prayer, not only as the God of nature and providence, but as his own covenant God and Father; thereby encouraging his faith in him, and using his interest with him: and made my confession; of his own sins, and of the sins of his people; of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Daniel 9:5

We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled ,.... Some think there is a gradation in these words; that they had committed some sins through error and ignorance; others through infirmity and obliquity, or in the perverseness of their spirits, and the crookedness of their ways; and others wilfully and in malice, in the wickedness of their hearts; and others were open acts of hostility against God, casting off his yoke, and refusing obedience to him,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 9:1

In the first year on Darius - This is the same Darius the Mede, spoken of before, who succeeded Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans. See Daniel 5:31 . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 9:2

I Daniel understood by books - The prophecy referred to here is found Jeremiah 25:12 ; Jeremiah 29:10 . The people must have been satisfied of the Divine inspiration of Jeremiah, or his prophecies would not have been so speedily collected nor so carefully preserved. It appears that there was a copy of them then in Daniel's hands. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 9:3

I set my face - to seek by prayer - He found that the time of the promised deliverance could not be at any great distance; and as he saw nothing that indicated a speedy termination of their oppressive captivity, he was very much afflicted, and earnestly besought God to put a speedy end to it; and how earnestly he seeks, his own words show. He prayed, he supplicated, he fasted, he put sackcloth upon his body, and he put ashes upon his head. He uses that kind of prayer prescribed by Solomon in... read more

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