Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 9-10.

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As I began reading this passage I noticed something I have never thought about before (If you have been regularly reading this Bible study you know that is something which happens often).  In his introduction to his prayer and the prophecy which followed, Daniel says that he “perceived in the books.”  The NIV translates that as “understood from Scriptures,” but the NASB agrees with the ESV by saying, “observed in the books.”  I want to note that this indicates the Daniel had the Book of Jeremiah and other books in addition to the Torah, which he considered worth studying in order to learn God’s will.  I will emphasize the point that Daniel considered the Book of Jeremiah to be worthy of regular study even though it had been completed in his lifetime (Jeremiah continued to prophecy in Jerusalem for another 12 or so years after Daniel was taken to Babylon).

Then having read Jeremiah’s prophecy and concluding that the seventy years of desolation for Jerusalem which Jeremiah had predicted were up, he did not “claim” God’s promise.  Instead, Daniel prayed and confessed the sins of his people, acknowledging that they deserved God’s punishment, that they deserved for their homeland to be desolate.  Further, Daniel prayed that God would listen to his pleas for mercy, and for His sake (not for Daniel’s sake, or for the sake of the people of Israel) restore the temple in Jerusalem.  Daniel asked God to hear his prayer, to forgive him and the people of Israel, and to act.  But Daniel did not ask God to act for the sake of himself, or to act for the sake of his people.  He asked God to act for His sake, because the people were called by His name and if God acted to restore them He would be glorified.

Daniel’s prayer, and the answer he received in the rest of this passage, allows us to understand what Jesus meant in John 14 when He said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  Asking for something in Jesus’ name means asking for something which will glorify God.  Anything which we ask in order to bring glory to God’s name, God will do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.