How does Daniel 9:12 connect with Deuteronomy 28's covenant blessings and curses? Setting the Scene • Daniel 9 is prayed late in the Babylonian exile (about 539 BC). • Daniel is reading “the books,” especially Jeremiah’s prophecy of seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11–12), but his wording shows his mind is also on the Torah. • Daniel 9:12 acknowledges that the disaster which befell Jerusalem is exactly what the LORD pledged in His covenant with Israel. Deuteronomy 28—The Covenant’s Two Paths • vv. 1-14: Blessings promised for wholehearted obedience—fruitfulness, victory, abundance, international esteem. • vv. 15-68: Curses promised if Israel “will not obey” (v. 15)—drought, disease, siege, exile, worldwide scorn. • Key curse statements: – v. 15 “all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” – v. 49 “The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away.” – v. 52 “They will besiege you in all your cities.” – v. 63 “He will delight to destroy and annihilate you. You will be uprooted from the land.” Daniel 9:12 in Context “ He has carried out His words, which He spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great calamity. Under all heaven nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done.” (Daniel 9:12) • Daniel confesses that the Babylonian conquest was no accident—it was God “carrying out His words.” • Those “words” are the covenant warnings given through Moses (cf. Daniel 9:11, 13). Side-by-Side Parallels • Foreign Nation Invades – Deuteronomy 28:49 “The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away.” – Daniel 1:1-2; 9:12 Babylon arrives, temple vessels taken. • City Besieged and Walls Toppled – Deuteronomy 28:52 “They will besiege you… until your high fortified walls… fall down.” – 2 Kings 25:1-10; Daniel 9:12 “great calamity… to Jerusalem.” • Exile and Dispersion – Deuteronomy 28:64 “The LORD will scatter you among all nations.” – Daniel 9:7 “To the men of Judah and Jerusalem… and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven them.” • Worldwide Reproach – Deuteronomy 28:37 “You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations.” – Daniel 9:16 “Jerusalem and Your people have become an object of scorn to all those around us.” Why Daniel Reaches Back to Deuteronomy 28 • The covenant document explained not only the disaster but also the route back—repentance and mercy (Deuteronomy 30:1-3). • By confessing, Daniel aligns himself with that pathway, pleading for the promised restoration (Daniel 9:17-19). • His prayer shows that God’s covenant curses are real, but so is His covenant faithfulness to forgive (Lamentations 3:22-23). Key Takeaways for Today • God keeps His word—to bless and to judge (Numbers 23:19). • Sin has corporate consequences; obedience and repentance must be corporate as well (Ezra 9; Nehemiah 9). • Scripture interprets history: Daniel understood current events by reading Moses. We read our times by reading the Word. • Covenant judgment is not God’s last word—grace waits on the other side of repentance (Deuteronomy 30:1-6; Daniel 9:18-19; Romans 11:29). |
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