Righteousness certainly belongs to the Lord. He is truly in his right. So when Daniel recalls the history of his own people, he is ashamed. This is not shame that causes him to distance himself from the people. He does not separate himself from the people, nor does he elevate himself above them. He regards himself as one of the people who are now in exile because of God’s deserved wrath. This guilt is with every person who lives as part of God’s people somewhere on earth. No one can separate themselves from it.
7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.