Daniel 9:13

yet made we not our prayer before--literally, "soothed not the face of." Not even our chastisement has taught us penitence (Isa 9:13; Jer 5:3; Hos 7:10). Diseased, we spurn the healing medicine.

that we might turn, &c.--Prayer can only be accepted when joined with the desire to turn from sin to God (Psa 66:18; Pro 28:9).

understand thy truth--"attentively regard Thy faithfulness" in fulfilling Thy promises, and also Thy threats [CALVIN]. Thy law (Dan 8:12), [MAURER].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Dan 9:13 As [it is] written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

Ver. 13. All this evil is come upon us.] But unless God set in and sanctify, his hammers (afflictions) do but beat upon cold iron. {Jer 2:30}

Yet made we not our prayer.] Little or no right prayer was made by the captives all those seventy years (and yet they had their set yearly fasts, Zec 7:1-5), because they failed therein both quoad fontem et quoad finem. {See Trapp on "Zec 7:5"}

That we might turn from our iniquities.] This they had no mind to, therefore they lost those prayers they made; they fasted to themselves and not to God (Zec 7:5. See on Joh 3:10).

And understand thy truth.] Those that turn from their iniquities shall know more of God’s truth. The pure in heart shall see God. {Mat 5:8}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:13 Every curse written against us in the Law of Moses is summarized in Lev 26 and Deut 27–28. When the people entered into the covenant they swore to be obedient, calling down curses on themselves if they failed (see Exod 24:7-8; Josh 8:34-35).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He repeats what he had already said, without any superfluity, shewing how God’s judgments are proved by their effects, as the law of Moses contains within it all the penalties which the Israelites endured. As, therefore, so manifest an agreement existed between the law of God and the people’s experience, they ought not to become restive and to have sought every kind of subterfuge without profit. By this alone God sufficiently proved himself a just avenger of their crimes, because he had predicted many ages before what he had afterwards fully carried out. This is the object of the repetition, when Daniel says the people felt the justice of the penalties denounced against them in the law of Moses, for in the meantime he adds, we have not deprecated the face of God. Here he severely blames the people’s hardness, because even when beaten with stripes they never grew wise. It is said — fools require calamities to teach them wisdom. This, therefore, was the height of madness in the people to remain thus stubborn under the rod of the Almighty, even when he inflicted the severest blows. As the people were so obstinate in their wickedness, who does not perceive how sincerely this conduct was to be deplored? We have not deprecated, therefore, the face of our God This passage teaches us how the Lord exercises his judgments by not utterly destroying men, but holding his final sentence in suspense, as by these means he wishes to impel men to repentance. First of all, he gently and mercifully invites both bad and good by his word, and adds also promises, with the view of enticing them; and then, when he observes them either slow or refractory, he uses threatenings with the view of arousing them from their slumber; and should threats produce no effect, he goes forth in arms and chastises the sluggishness of mankind. Should these stripes produce no improvement, the desperate character of the people becomes apparent. In this way, God complains in Isaiah of their want of soundness; the whole body of the people is subject to ulcers from the head to the sole of the foot, (Isaiah 1:6;) and yet he would lose all his labor, through their being utterly unmanageable. Daniel now asserts the existence of the same failing in the people, while he states the Israelites to be so untouched by a sense of their calamities, as never to supplicate for pardon. I cannot complete the remainder today.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(13) Made we not our prayer.—The reference is, as in Dan_9:6, to the conduct of the nation from the first. There had been plenty of external show of praying, as appears from Isaiah 1 and elsewhere, but these prayers were of no effect on account of their formalism. The conditions of acceptable prayer are implied in the closing words of the verse “turning from iniquity, and wisdom in the truth,” i.e., in the revelation of God. On the phrase “make prayer,” see Exo_32:11.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. As it is written, &c.] Cf. Deu_28:15 b, Deu_30:1.

yet have we not intreated the favour of (R.V.)] lit. made the face sweet (i.e. gracious), the idiom used with reference to a human object in Job_11:19; Psa_45:12; Pro_19:6, and frequently with reference to God, as Exo_32:11; 1Sa_13:12; Jer_26:19, al. Cf. Bar_2:8.

understand thy truth] better (R.V.), have discernment in thy truth, ‘truth’ being used in the objective sense which it has in Dan_8:12, and the meaning being (Keil, Prince) to acquire insight into God’s revealed will, and to think and act in accordance with it. The words might, however, also be rendered (R.V. marg.) deal wisely (viz. in amending our ways) through[332] thy truth (v. Lengerke, Behrm.), i.e. through Thy revealed word. The verb has the former meaning (understand, discern) in Dan_9:25; and the latter in Dan_11:33; Dan_11:35, Dan_12:3; Dan_12:10.

[332] There is a similar ambiguity in the verb and accompanying prep. in Psa_101:2.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us,.... As it is there threatened it should, and as it is there foretold it would come upon them, so it has; even the selfsame things, in the same manner, and with the same circumstances, as there foretold; which is a proof of the omniscience, omnipotence, and faithfulness of God, and an evidence of the truth of divine revelation; see Lev 26:1,

yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God; during the seventy years captivity, they might have prayed, and doubtless did, in a lifeless, formal manner; but not sincerely and heartily, in faith and with fervency, under a sense of sin, with confession of it, and true repentance for it, and so as to forsake it, as follows:

that we might turn from our iniquities; for since they did not pray against sin, and entreat the Lord to enable them to turn from it, and forsake it, but continued in a course of disobedience, their prayer was not reckoned prayer:

and understand thy truth; either the truth and faithfulness of God, in fulfilling both his promises and his threatenings; or his law, which is truth, as Jacchiades interprets it; for, had they prayed aright, they would have had an understanding given them of divine truths, both with respect to doctrine and practice; of which they were ignorant, as prayerless persons usually are.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

As it is written in the law of Moses - The word law was given to all the writings of Moses. See the notes at Luk 24:44.

Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God - Margin, “entreated we not the face of.” The Hebrew word used here (חלה châlâh) means, properly, “to be polished;” then to be worn down in strength, to be weak; then to be sick, or diseased; then in Piel (the form used here), to rub or stroke the face of anyone, to soothe or caress, and hence, to beseech, or supplicate. See Gesenius, “Lexicon” Here it means, that, as a people, they had failed, when they had sinned, to call upon God for pardon; to confess their sins; to implore his mercy; to deprecate his wrath. It would have been easy to turn aside his threatened judgments if they had been penitent, and had sought his mercy, but they had not done it. What is here said of them can and will be said of all sinners when the Divine judgment comes upon them.

That we might turn from, our iniquities - That we might seek grace to turn from our transgressions. “And understand thy truth.” The truth which God had revealed; equivalent to saying that they might be righteous.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Truth, in executing thy promises and menaces.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As it is written in the law of Moses: see Lev 26:14-39. The sum of all is, As the Lord threatened and forewarned us long ago, so it is come to pass this day upon us, because we took no warning, we understood not, but sinned and returned not. The Lord is true and just in all that is come upon us; chiefly because we have not made our prayer unto God to prevent our misery before it came upon us, nor to remove it when it lay heavy on us. See it in Ezekiel, who prophesied in the captivity, and how they received him; and though they kept a formal fast, yet what did that signify? Zec 7:5-7.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. The LXX renders "laws," diaqhkh, "covenant," which is applied to the "Law" Heb_9:20, quoting from Exo_24:8; Deu_29:1. Theodotion agrees in the main with the Massoretic text. The Peshitta differs only in joining the first clause of the next verse to this. Ewald makes the prenominal suffix at the end of the verse third person, not second. The very awkwardness of the construction is an evidence in favour of the received reading, "As it is written in the Law of Moses." The passages referred to are those denoted previously. (Le 26 De 28) All this evil is come upon us the curses referred to there. Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God; literally, entreat the face. The face being the sign of favour, "entreated not the favour of the Lord" would be really what is meant; therefore not quite as Ewald renders, "appeased not Jahve." Understand thy truth. Hitzig thinks here the reference is to God"s faithfulness, either in promises or in threats. Keil objects to this, contending that baamitheka with the preposition be cannot mean "faithfulness," but" truth." This is a mistake; the preposition might alter the significance of the verb it follows, but not that of the noun it governs. The truth is that the word here is extended to its fullest meaning, "God"s supreme reality." God"s being God implies necessarily that every word he utters of promise or threatening is true; veracity and faithfulness are equally involved in Jehovah being God. At the same time, from the connection it is the evil the judgments he had threatened that bulk most largely in the prophet"s mind.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As is written in the Law of Moses a hint that He warned us that if we transgress the oath, all this evil will befall us.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.