NOTES for Dan 9:4-10
Everyone has moments when they realize that they are sinful. Daniel speaks of a shared guilt (Dan 9:5), neither denying it nor excusing himself on the grounds that he was not the only one who sinned. And he contrasts these sins not with some outsider, but with the holiness and beauty of God Himself. Daniel looks at the Lord and is purified beneath His merciful gaze, the gaze that will be revealed to the world in Jesus.
Jesus also speaks of God's mercy, reminding the Jews of Old Testament truths. But He goes further: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful,” calling them to action and imitation. Verse 38 may seem paradoxical, but this is what God's mercy, His law, looks like. In the second part of the verse we read of the eternal inequality of our relationship with God: He simply cannot give less—less than His Incarnation, Love, and Cross. It is by these gifts of His that we measure everything we do in the world.