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<p>We left Daniel, in the close of the foregoing chapter, employed in the <i>king’s business</i>; but here we have him employed in better business than any king had for him, speaking to God and hearing from him, not for himself only, but for the church, whose mouth he was to God, and for whose use the <i>oracles</i> of God were <i>committed to him</i>, relating to the days of the Messiah. Observe, 1. When it was that Daniel had this communion with God (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.9.1" href="/passage/?search=Dan.9.1">Dan. 9:1</a>), <i>in the first year of Darius the Mede</i>, who was newly made king of the Chaldeans, Babylon being conquered by him and his nephew, or grandson, Cyrus. In this year the seventy years of the Jews’ captivity ended, but the decree for their release was not yet issued out; so that this address of Daniel’s to God seems to have been ready in that year, and, probably, before he was cast into the lions’ den. And one powerful inducement, perhaps, it was to him then to keep so close to the duty of prayer, though it cost him his life, that he had so lately experienced the benefit and comfort of it. 2. What occasioned his address to God by prayer (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.9.2" href="/passage/?search=Dan.9.2">Dan. 9:2</a>): He <i>understood by books</i> that seventy years was the time fixed for the continuance of <i>the desolations of Jerusalem</i>. <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.9.2" href="/passage/?search=Dan.9.2">Dan. 9:2</a>. The <i>book</i> by which he understood this was the book of the prophecies of Jeremiah, in which he found it expressly foretold (<a class="bibleref" title="Jer.29.10" href="/passage/?search=Jer.29.10">Jer. 29:10</a>), <i>After seventy years be accomplished in Babylon</i> (and therefore they must be reckoned from the first captivity, in the <i>third year</i> of Jehoiakim, which Daniel had reason to remember by a good token, for it was in that captivity that he was carried away himself, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.1.1" href="/passage/?search=Dan.1.1">Dan. 1:1</a>), <i>I will visit you, and perform my good word towards you</i>. It was likewise said (<a class="bibleref" title="Jer.25.11" href="/passage/?search=Jer.25.11">Jer. 25:11</a>), <i>This whole land shall be seventy years a desolation</i> (<i>chorbath</i>), the same word that Daniel here uses for the <i>desolations of Jerusalem</i>, which shows that he had that prophecy before him when he wrote this. Though Daniel was himself a great prophet, and one that was well acquainted with the visions of God, yet he was a diligent student in the scripture, and thought it no disparagement to him to consult Jeremiah’s prophecies. He was a great politician, and prime-minister of state to one of the greatest monarchs upon earth, and yet could find both heart and time to converse with the word of God. The greatest and best men in the world must not think themselves above their Bibles. 3. How serious and solemn his address to God was when he understood that the seventy years were just upon expiring (for it appears, by Ezekiel’s dating of his prophecies, that they exactly computed the years of their captivity), then he <i>set his face to seek God by prayer</i>. Note, God’s promises are intended, not to supersede, but to excite and encourage, our prayers; and, when we see the day of the performance of them approaching, we should the more earnestly plead them with God and put them in suit. So Daniel did here; he prayed three times a day, and, no doubt, in every prayer made mention of the desolations of Jerusalem; yet he did not think that enough, but even in the midst of his business set time apart for an extraordinary application to Heaven on Jerusalem’s behalf. God had said to Ezekiel that though Daniel, among others, stood before him, his intercession should not prevail to prevent the judgment (<a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.14.14" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.14.14">Ezek. 14:14</a>), yet he hopes, now that <i>the warfare is accomplished</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Isa.40.2" href="/passage/?search=Isa.40.2">Is
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