Background

Around 538 BC Daniel came across a scroll of Jeremiah's prophecy concerning this Babylonian captivity.  Jeremiah indicated this captivity would last 70 years.  In Jeremiah 25:11-12 Daniel read,

Jeremiah 25:11-12 "This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon...."

Interpreting this prophecy literally, Daniel calculated the 70 years to be almost up; he began praying concerning this restoration of the Jews to their promised homeland.

His prayer is found in Daniel 9:3-19. Daniel prays specifically for

Daniel had no conception of church (in the sense of an assembly being the living body of Messiah on earth--incorporating both Jews and Gentiles as equals, encompassing believers separated by both time and space, sealed and indwelt by God himself)--that was still a mystery in Daniel's day.  The literal context for this prophecy is one Jewish prophet reading another Jewish prophet, interpreting it literally, then praying to the God of Israel for deliverance of that nation from it's Babylonian captivity and the restoration to their Jewish city and homeland--that land which the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had promised in no uncertain terms to them and their physical descendants forever.