SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/19/2013 9:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “Insight: Learning God’s Plan”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel 9:1-2
Message of the verses: “1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans- 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.”
We will look at the last sub-point under this first main
point from the 9th chapter of Daniel in today’s SD.
God’s Plan for His
People: That is the name of the
third sub-point that we will look at today which has its roots in the first two
verses of Daniel chapter nine.
Let us first look at the two passages that were in all probability what Daniel was reading from the book of Jeremiah: “11 ’This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 ’Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ’for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation (Jeremiah 25:11-12).” “"For thus says the LORD, ’When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place (Jeremiah 29:10).”
One of the reasons for Israel’s punishment is something
they did not do which was found in the Law in Leviticus chapter 25. This chapter explains about the Sabbath years
in that every 7th year the children of Israel were to give a rest to
the land and depend upon the Lord to give them the substance they needed to
live on. “20 Those who had escaped from
the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his
sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the
LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its
desolation it kept Sabbath until seventy years were complete (2 Chronicles 36:20-21).” For 490 years the children of Israel hand
missed the Sabbatical years, one every seven years, and so God said that He
would rest the land for seventy years in a row to make up for what they missed.
What date is to be being taken for the nation of Israel
to go into captivity to Babylon since there were actually three different years
that this happened? The first date was
605 and it is believed that Daniel was taken then, and that he probably was a
teenager at this time. There was dispersion
in 597 and then the last one was in 586 when the temple was destroyed. Dr. Wiersbe writes “In 538, Cyrus issued the
decree that permitted the Jews to return to their land and rebuild the temple
(Ezra 1:1-4), and in 537 about 50,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem under the
leadership of Zerubbable and Joshua the high priest (Ezra 1-2).”
“If we decide that the Captivity officially began in
606-05 with the attack on Jerusalem and the deporting of the first captives,
then seventy years later would take us to 537-36, when the first exiles
returned to their land and the foundations of the temple were laid. In other words, the first captives left Judah
in 605 and the liberated exiles returned to the land in 536-36, a time period
of roughly seventy years. However, some
students feel that the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple should be the
starting point (586), with the Captivity not officially ending until the second
temple had been built and dedicated (515), another period of approximately
seventy years. Since both
interpretations make sense, it shouldn’t be necessary to debate the issue.”
In the Law of Moses (Lev. 26) we find out that God had to
send the children of Israel into captivity to keep His Law, for it was written
in the Law that this must happen if Israel sinned, and the biggest sin that
they were committing was the worship of idols, which was taken care of when
they came back from captivity. The
worship of idols is very offensive to the Lord because when an idol is
worshiped they are taking the place of God.
We have read that the Lord wanted to rest the land every
seven years and Israel did not do that, but while in captivity the land got its
rest and it was good for the land. We
know that all of God’s creation belongs to Him and we read in Lev. 25:23 “’The
land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you
are but aliens and sojourners with Me.”
Deut. 11:12 says “a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of
the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the
year.” This of course is speaking of the
land of Israel.
It is my opinion that the clock to start this seventy
year period began in 605 BC, which was the year that Daniel was taken. Daniel may have discovered Jeremiah’s writing
concerning this seventy years of captivity around 539 so this would be 66-67
years into their captivity, and although he was an old man at this time,
probably in his eighties, he would not be able to return to Jerusalem, he could
rejoice that his countrymen would be able to return to the land, which I am
sure he did.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can see
humility in Daniel’s life along with a great confidence in the Lord, which are
two qualities that I which I had more of.
Another thing I see in Daniel’s life is no fear because of His great
trust in the Lord, another thing I wish I had more of.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Pray that these three qualities would grow in
my life as I walk with the Lord.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “The sign of Jonah the
prophet” (Luke 11:29.
Today’s Bible Question:
“Who said ‘The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not
eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has
accepted him.’”
Answer in our next SD.
11/19/2013 10:08 AM
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