Catholic Commentary
Daniel Discerns Jeremiah's Prophecy of Seventy Years
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.
Daniel 9:1–2 describes how Daniel, during the first year of King Darius's reign over Babylon, carefully studied the books of Scripture and understood from Jeremiah's prophecy that Jerusalem's desolation would last seventy years. This moment illustrates Daniel's practice of interpreting Scripture through Scripture itself and recognizing God's sovereign control over the timing of both empires and divine promises.
Daniel reads a dusty scroll about judgment and becomes so undone by it that he turns reading into prayer—and changes the course of history through intercession.
Daniel 9:1 — Historical Anchoring and the Sovereignty of God
Daniel opens with meticulous precision: "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." The identification of Darius is historically complex and has occupied scholars for centuries. Most Catholic exegetes, following the tradition of St. Jerome's Commentary on Daniel, understand this Darius as either a Median viceroy installed by Cyrus the Great after the fall of Babylon (539 B.C.), or as Cyrus himself under an alternate designation. What is theologically critical is the phrase "who was made king" — the passive voice (in the Hebrew/Aramaic original, hamlukhah, "caused to reign") is no accident. Daniel characteristically insists that rulers do not seize thrones; they are installed by the God of heaven (cf. Dan 2:21; 4:17). The very year of this pagan king's accession is the moment God's servant turns to the sacred scrolls. Empire and prophecy are on a divine timetable.
The designation "realm of the Chaldeans" (Aramaic: malkut kasdaʾy) is loaded: this is Babylon, the great oppressor, now itself subjugated. The wheel of divine justice has already turned, and Daniel is watching it happen through the lens of Scripture.
Daniel 9:2 — Scripture Read as the Voice of the Living God
"I, Daniel, understood by the books." The Hebrew bīnōtî basspārîm — "I discerned by means of the writings" — presents Daniel not as a passive recipient of visions but as an active, attentive reader of the prophetic corpus. The phrase "the books" (hassp̄ārîm) suggests Daniel had access to a collection that included at minimum Jeremiah's prophecies, and possibly others (Isaiah, Leviticus 26, and Deuteronomy have been proposed as background texts). This is profoundly significant: prophecy is understood through prophecy. The Word of God interprets itself.
The specific text Daniel identifies is Jeremiah's oracle of seventy years (Jer 25:11–12; 29:10). Jeremiah had proclaimed that the LORD would bring Babylon against Judah and that the land would serve Babylon for seventy years, after which God would punish Babylon and restore his people. The phrase "accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem" (lemallōʾt ḥorbot Yerūšālayim) reflects the Hebrew malōʾt, to fill up or complete — the desolation has a measured, limited span. God's judgment is never arbitrary; it has a duration, a purpose, and an end.
The Typological and Spiritual Senses
At the typological level, Daniel's seventy years of Babylonian exile become, through Gabriel's subsequent interpretation in 9:24–27, a template for a vaster "seventy weeks of years" pointing toward the Messianic age. The literal exile from Jerusalem foreshadows the deeper exile of all humanity from the presence of God, which only the Messiah can end. The "desolations of Jerusalem" the earthly city prefigures the desolation of the human soul separated from its Creator.
At the moral/anagogical level, Daniel's act of reading Scripture with understanding and immediately turning it into prayer (vv. 3–19) is itself a spiritual model. He does not merely analyze the text academically; he lets it break his heart open before God. Understanding the "number of the years" produces not smugness but supplication.
Catholic tradition finds in these two verses a rich convergence of several doctrines.
Scripture and Tradition as an Integrated Whole. The Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum (§12) teaches that sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted "in the light of the same Spirit by which it was written," and within "the living Tradition of the whole Church." Daniel exemplifies this: he reads Jeremiah not as dead letter but as a living word that engages the present crisis of his people. The Church Fathers recognized this. St. Jerome, who wrote the most sustained patristic commentary on Daniel, notes that Daniel's engagement with Jeremiah demonstrates that the prophets understood and built upon one another — a principle at the heart of Catholic canonical exegesis.
The Unity of the Two Testaments. The Catechism (§128–130) teaches that the Old Testament prefigures the New, and typology is the "discernment of God's works in the Old Testament." Daniel discerning Jeremiah is itself a type of the Church reading the Old Testament in the light of Christ: both require spiritual attentiveness, historical sensitivity, and openness to depths beyond the literal sense.
God's Lordship Over History. The careful historical dating of verse 1 reflects what the Catechism (§269) calls God's universal providence: "God is the sovereign master of his plan." Empires rise and fall, but the seventy years proceed according to divine appointment. This undergirds the Catholic understanding of history as Heilsgeschichte — salvation history — a theme developed by Pope Benedict XVI in Jesus of Nazareth and rooted in the Fathers' reading of the prophets.
Prayer Rooted in Scripture. The Catechism (§2585–2589) presents the great intercessory prayers of the Old Testament as foundational models for Christian prayer. Daniel's reading of Scripture in verse 2 is the immediate cause of the magnificent prayer of confession and petition in verses 3–19, which the Catechism (§2616) implicitly honors as a prototype of Christological intercession.
For a contemporary Catholic, these two verses pose a quietly radical challenge: when did you last let Scripture change your prayer? Daniel does not read Jeremiah for information; he reads it until it becomes intercession. He notices that a prophesied deadline is near, and rather than simply updating his mental calendar, he falls to his knees.
Most Catholics today have access to more Scripture than Daniel ever did — in print, in apps, in daily liturgical readings — yet the move Daniel makes, from reading to understanding to anguished prayer, is comparatively rare. The practice of lectio divina, endorsed by Dei Verbum (§25) and repeatedly encouraged by recent popes, is precisely Daniel's method formalized: read, meditate, pray, contemplate.
Concretely: the next time a Catholic reads a passage from the psalms, the prophets, or the Gospels that touches on suffering, justice, or the promises of God, Daniel's example invites them not to close the book and move on, but to pause and ask: What does God want me to intercede for in light of what I have just read? Scripture read in this way becomes not a text about the past but a living summons into the present mission of the Church.