The Book of Daniel · The Seventy Years and the River
He thought nobody had heard.The answer left on the first day.
Daniel is past eighty when he finds a number in Jeremiah's scroll and counts it out on his fingers — and the seventy years are nearly done. What he does with that good news is go down on the floor and confess. Then, years later, three weeks of silence by a river, and something standing up out of the water. Every scene below is a real frame from our animated film.
He is a very old man now, and he still reads. And one night, working through the scrolls of Jeremiah, he finds a number: the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. Not forever. Seventy. It is the first hard promise anyone in this book has been given about going home, and he has been carrying the exile so long that he has to read it twice. Daniel 9 : 1–2
So he counts, on his fingers, like anybody would. The year the soldiers came. The years in the training house. The lions, the kings, the dreams, all of it. And the number comes out at now — the seventy years are nearly done, and it is going to happen in his lifetime. He is somewhere past eighty. He has been waiting since he was a boy, and it has arrived while he was still here to see it. Daniel 9 : 2
And here is the thing nobody expects. He has just found out that God is about to keep His word — and his response is not celebration. He puts on sackcloth and goes down on the floor and confesses, for hours, using the word we the whole way through. Daniel, of all people, who as far as the book records never once compromised. Daniel 9 : 3–19
I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
He prays at the hour of the evening sacrifice — which is a small detail with a lot inside it. There has been no evening sacrifice for decades. The temple is rubble a thousand miles west. He has kept the clock of a building that does not exist, every day, for a lifetime, because one day it will exist again. And that is the hour, precisely, at which he is interrupted. Daniel 9 : 20–21
And the answer is already on its way before he has finished the sentence. At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went out, and I have come to tell you — for you are greatly beloved. Some translations say highly treasured. That is said to a man marched out of Jerusalem as a boy and renamed by a foreign court. Daniel 9 : 21–23
Years later he is standing on the bank of the Tigris, worn thin — three weeks of mourning, no pleasant bread, no meat, no oil, no reason given. He is an old man grieving something he will not name. And the light on the water changes, and it is not the sun, because the sun is already up. Something else is arriving. Daniel 10 : 1–4
I lifted up my eyes, and behold, a man clothed in linen, whose waist was adorned with pure gold… his face like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches. The light comes across the water in ribbons, gathers, and stands up — linen, a belt of fine gold, and where a face should be, only burning. No face is drawn anywhere in this act, because the text does not give him one. Daniel 10 : 5–6
His face was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches.
Only Daniel sees it. The men with him see nothing at all — and a great trembling falls on them anyway, and they run and hide themselves. That is one of the most interesting sentences in the book: whatever is standing in that river is real enough to terrify people who cannot see it. The grass goes flat. The water goes quiet. And the only man left on the bank is the one who has been fasting for three weeks. Daniel 10 : 7
I was left alone, and saw this great vision. There remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. He does not describe fear. He describes being emptied — every bit of what held him upright going out of him at once, until he is face down in the grass by the water with nothing left. This is a man who once walked into a den of lions and slept. Daniel 10 : 8–9
And then, in the middle of all that unbearable brightness, the smallest and most ordinary thing in the chapter happens: a hand touches him. Not a voice from the sky — a hand, on the shoulder, the way you would wake someone. It sets him trembling on his hands and knees, and then steadies him onto his feet, and waits while he finds his balance. Glory that stops to help you stand up. Daniel 10 : 10–11
And then the sentence this whole episode exists for. Do not be afraid, Daniel; for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, your words were heard — and I have come for your words. He had spent three weeks assuming nothing was happening. The answer had left on the first day. Daniel 10 : 12
From the first day that you set your heart to understand, your words were heard, and I have come for your words.
Then the reason for the silence, and it is not indifference. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. There was a war going on over the answer the whole time he wondered whether anyone had heard. The book does not explain it — it only says the silence was not absence. Daniel 10 : 13–19
After the story
The silence was not indifference. It was a war you could not see.
Two things in this episode are worth carrying around. The first is what Daniel does with good news: he learns that God is about to keep His promise, and instead of celebrating he puts on sackcloth and says "we have sinned" — a man with no recorded compromise refusing, for a second, to stand apart from his own people. The second is the answer he gets. He had been praying for three weeks into what felt like an empty sky, and was told that the reply had been dispatched on the first day and delayed by something he was never going to see. The book does not explain the hidden war. It only insists that the silence was not absence — and that not one prayer, in seventy years of them, had gone missing.
Voices of the river · hover or tap to turn
Daniel
"Lord, hear. Lord, forgive. Lord, listen and do. Don't defer, for your own sake, my God."
— Daniel 9:19
Gabriel
"At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went out… for you are greatly beloved."
— Daniel 9:23
The Man in Linen
"From the first day that you set your heart to understand… your words were heard."
— Daniel 10:12The Book of Daniel
How closely were you watching?
1. What does Daniel find in the scroll of Jeremiah?
Daniel 9:2. He counts it out and realises the seventy years are nearly finished — in his own lifetime.
2. How does he respond to that good news?
Daniel 9:3–19 — and he says "we" the whole way through, though the book never accuses him of anything.
3. What is he told about his prayers?
Daniel 9:23 and 10:12. Some translations render it "highly treasured" — said to a man taken from Jerusalem as a boy.
4. Why was the answer at the river delayed?
Daniel 10:13. It is the furthest this book ever pulls the curtain back, and it does not explain itself.
What this story teaches
Read the promise, then pray it.
Daniel found God's stated intention in a scroll and did not treat it as settled. He prayed it back. Knowing what God has said is the beginning of asking, not a reason to stop.
"I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years… even seventy years." Daniel 9:2Say "we".
He confessed sins the record never accuses him of, using the first person plural throughout. He would not separate himself from his people even when he could have. That is what intercession looks like.
"We have sinned… and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts." Daniel 9:5Delay is not silence.
Three weeks of nothing, and the answer had gone out on day one. Most of what determines whether a prayer is heard happens somewhere you cannot watch, and the waiting proves nothing at all about it.
"The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but, behold, Michael… came to help me." Daniel 10:13Read the scripture itself. Daniel 9–10 · World English Bible
Daniel 9
1In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the offspring of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,
2in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years about which Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.
3I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
4I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said, “Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments,
5we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances.
6We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7“Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
8Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
9To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him.
10We haven’t obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice. “Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us; for we have sinned against him.
12He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem.
13As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet have we not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in your truth.
14Therefore Yahweh has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice.
15“Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as it is today; we have sinned. We have done wickedly.
16Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and please let your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.
17“Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
18My God, turn your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake.
19Lord, hear. Lord, forgive. Lord, listen and do. Don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
20While I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening offering.
22He instructed me, and talked with me, and said, Daniel, “I have now come to give you wisdom and understanding.
23At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went out, and I have come to tell you; for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.
24“Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
25“Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.
26After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined.
27He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.”
Daniel 10
1In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, even a great warfare. He understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.
2In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks.
3I ate no pleasant bread. No meat or wine came into my mouth. I didn’t anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.
4In the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel,
5I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and behold, there was a man clothed in linen, whose thighs were adorned with pure gold of Uphaz.
6His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches. His arms and his feet were like burnished brass. The voice of his words was like the voice of a multitude.
7I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; for the men who were with me didn’t see the vision; but a great quaking fell on them, and they fled to hide themselves.
8So I was left alone, and saw this great vision. No strength remained in me; for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.
9Yet I heard the voice of his words. When I heard the voice of his words, then I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground.
10Behold, a hand touched me, which set me on my knees and on the palms of my hands.
11He said to me, Daniel, you greatly beloved man, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright; for I have been sent to you, now. When he had spoken this word to me, I stood trembling.
12Then he said to me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel; for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come for your words’ sake.
13But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but, behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I remained there with the kings of Persia.
14Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for many days.”
15When he had spoken these words to me, I set my face toward the ground, and was mute.
16Behold, one in the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth, and spoke and said to him who stood before me, “My lord, by reason of the vision my sorrows have overtaken me, and I retain no strength.
17For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? For as for me, immediately there remained no strength in me. There was no breath left in me.”
18Then one like the appearance of a man touched me again, and he strengthened me.
19He said, “Greatly beloved man, don’t be afraid. Peace be to you. Be strong. Yes, be strong.” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak; for you have strengthened me.”
20Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia. When I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come.
21But I will tell you that which is inscribed in the writing of truth. There is no one who holds with me against these, but Michael your prince.
World English Bible (WEB) — a public-domain modern English translation. Read it freely, share it freely.
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