Search Engine

Provide a keyword or phrase below to find blog entries relevant to your search:

Results For

No Results
©Shannon Gist

Chapter 9:1-3 (ESV)

Posted on January 24, 2025  - By Chris LaBelle  

Chapter 9:1-3 (ESV) - In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 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.

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 

Question to consider: Why does Daniel fast with sackcloth and ashes after reading Jeremiah?

Just as the word Darius (which meant: one who holds the scepter) seemed to be used as a title or nickname for Cambyses II (529-522 BC), so Ahasuerus was used here as a title or nickname for his father, Cyrus II “the Great” (550-529 BC). Ahasuerus was a Hebrew transliteration of the Persian word for mighty man. I wrote more about this in my opening study of the book of Esther (chapter 1:1-4) since the name was also used for king Xerxes.

Because these nicknames were given to multiple kings of the Medes and Persians, it can be confusing, but this would be the same Darius of chapter six who was responsible for making the foolish worship law that sent Daniel into the den of lions. While he may have ruled the Medo-Persian empire from 529-522 BC, the time in which he was set as ruler over the realm of the Chaldeans (Babylon) was about ten years earlier.

This would put the time of this prayer of Daniel at 539 BC. Daniel had been part of the exile of nobles which came to Babylon in 597 BC, but the initial exile was more like 606 BC. Daniel considered the prophecies given by Jeremiah to be the word of the LORD. In Jeremiah 25:11-12, the LORD said of Judah’s exile, “This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 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.”

As soon as Darius took the throne, Daniel knew that the LORD would soon deliver them from their captivity. I think it is worth noting that Daniel’s faith stirred up in him a spirit of repentance. Turning his face to the Lord God could have been what was described in chapter six as kneeling in front of the windows in his upper chamber which were open toward Jerusalem. Rather than giving his usual prayers of thanksgiving, Daniel fasted, dressed in sackcloth, and covered himself in ashes to plead for God’s mercy.

I would argue that sackcloth and ashes were a recognition of the first three chapters of Genesis. The ash was a recognition that we were formed from the dust and to dust we shall return, and the sackcloth was a reference to the first clothes that the LORD gave to Adam and Eve which required the death of an animal. Wrapped between these two events was God’s promise that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the seed of the serpent.

When we love someone, we desire to be reconciled to that person if we have caused harm. We desire to do the things that bring joy to that person. Daniel’s relationship with God was not like that of the nations and their gods. They punished themselves in an effort to appease their gods. Daniel’s desire was for the shalom of God which passes all understanding.

Daniel’s cries for mercy were not just for himself but for all of Israel. We will go through his wonderful prayer tomorrow, but I will introduce it by pointing out that Daniel was praying according to Leviticus 26:40-42, “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, 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, 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.”

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, have mercy on us, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy, blot out our transgressions. Wash us thoroughly from our iniquity, and cleanse us from our sin! For we know our transgressions, and our sin is ever before us. Against You, You only, have we sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment. Wash us, and we shall be whiter than snow. Let us hear joy and gladness; let the bones that You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from our sins, and blot out all our iniquities. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. Cast us not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of Your salvation, and uphold us with a willing spirit. Amen.