God Blesses Daniel

Lesson Summary

This week we saw how Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah refused to eat the king’s food, but instead obeyed the laws of God. As a result of the young men’s obedience and faithfulness, “God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17).

Daniel 2 records the king’s dream of a great statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay. Daniel 7 records a vision given to Daniel of four beasts. And Daniel 8 records a vision of a ram and a goat. All of these visions related to the future—to kings and kingdoms that would rise and fall.

In the first year of King Darius the Mede, Daniel was reading the prophet Jeremiah and noted that the 70 years of captivity and desolation of Jerusa- lem was coming to an end (Daniel 9:1–2). The captivity began in 607 BC and, according to Archbishop Ussher, the first year of King Darius was 539 BC. He would reign just two years and be followed by Cyrus, who would issue the decree allowing the Jews to return home—exactly 70 years after their captivity began.

No doubt as Daniel was reading these words, he was contemplating the reasons for Jerusalem’s destruction and the future of his people, the Jews. The first thing Daniel did was pray. Daniel 9 records one of the great prayers of the Bible from one of the great heroes of the faith. We’ll examine Daniel’s prayer this week.

Read and Discuss

Read the following passages and discuss the questions together.

Daniel 9:1–19

1.     What prompted Daniel to pray for God’s people and his holy city?

2.     How did Daniel show the serious nature of his prayer?

3.     What attributes of God does Daniel extol in this prayer (see vv. 4, 7, 9, 14, 15, 16, 18)?

4.     How many times does Daniel say that they have sinned, committed iniquity, rebelled, or done wickedly?

5.     Daniel mentions that “the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us” (v. 11). Read Deuteronomy 28:27–44. Which of these curses and promises from God came upon the people? Why did God send them to be destroyed and taken into captivity?

6.     What was Daniel’s petition in verses 16–17?

7.     Was Daniel asking for mercy based on the righteousness of God’s people? To what did Daniel appeal when he asked God to take action (vv. 18–19)?

8.     Have you ever spent time confessing your sin like Daniel? Do you ever appeal to God’s character and his reputation when you pray? How might that change your prayer life?