What does Daniel 9:13 mean?
Daniel understood that the people of Israel had been given clear warnings from the Law of Moses and many prophets. They were told of the disasters which would follow disobedience to God (Deuteronomy 28:15–24, 48–50; 29:25). And yet, the people betrayed their Lord and suffered exactly the consequences predicted (2 Kings 17:1–8; Jeremiah 25:7–11). Rather than learning from the Lord's Word, they chose idols and sin. Daniel's own life was part of this story (Daniel 1:1–7). He has been praying for Israel's forgiveness and the Lord's restoration (Daniel 9:1–3).Deuteronomy 28 includes chilling details of what would happen if the people turned away from God to pursue evil and false idols: "The LORD will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known" (Deuteronomy 28:36). That conquest was accomplished by Assyria (2 Kings 17:1–8) and Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:5–7). If Israel had listened to the warnings God gave them, she would have been blessed instead of cursed. Writing many years before Daniel, Isaiah describes Judah as a "sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged" (Isaiah 1:4). He also describes the nation under the Lord's hand of judgment: "Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire" (Isaiah 1:7).
