Page 256 - Daniel

prophets. The word translated “laws” in verse 10 means literally
“instructions” (cf. Isa. 1:10ff.). The rebellion was not on the part of a
few, but “all Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside.” Because
of their persistent failure and rebellion against God, the prophesied curse
pronounced upon Israel as “written in the Law of Moses the servant of

God” was applied, referring specifically to the covenant curses
announced in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.

In Deuteronomy 28, for example, the conditions of blessing and
cursing are set forth before Israel in detail. If they obeyed, they would
have every blessing, temporal and spiritual, from God. If they disobeyed,
God would destroy them and scatter them over the earth. Moses had
made perfectly clear that Israel’s situation would indeed be desperate if
they disobeyed the Lord. Most of Deuteronomy 28 is devoted to
itemizing these curses, concluding with the prophetic warning of Israel’s

expulsion from the land (Deut. 28:63–67) and the resultant uncertainty
of life and future that would characterize individual Israelites. It was
these passages and warnings of God to which Daniel referred.

Mendenhall has shown that the Mosaic covenant has a close parallel to
certain suzerainty treaties (i.e., treaties between a Great King and his
vassals) of the Hittite Empire. Sanctions are typically supplied in these
treaties by a series of blessings and cursings as also illustrated in
Leviticus 26:14–39 and Deuteronomy 27. Such warnings are witnessed
by heaven and earth (cf. Deut. 4:26 and Isa. 1:2) and in their form are

similar to many passages in the Old Testament. 14
In verses 12–14, Daniel itemized the evil which God had brought upon

the people of Israel as a result of their sin. By this judgment God had
“confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers
who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity” (cf. Isa. 1:10–31;
Micah 3). The climax of God’s judgment was the destruction He brought
“against Jerusalem,” which was the final blow to Israel’s pride and
security.

Adding to all their earlier sins, Israel did not turn to the Lord in
prayer. Even in the midst of the terrible manifestation of God’s righteous
judgment, there was no revival, no turning to Him; rulers and people

alike persisted in their evil ways. Daniel was saying that God had no
alternative but to judge, even though He was a God of mercy, for when