Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 9:21
Yea, while I [was] speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
21. even the man ] ‘even’ arises from an incorrect apprehension of the syntax, and should be omitted (as is done in R.V.).
in the vision at the beginning ] Dan 8:16.
being caused to fly swiftly ] The Hebrew is peculiar, and has been variously understood. The first word may be derived equally from two different verbs, meaning respectively to fly and to be weary; the second word, as it stands, could only be derived naturally from the latter verb: thus we get the two renderings, being made to fly in weariness (i.e. being exhausted by his flight), and (Ges., Keil, Meinh.) being made weary in weariness (cf. R.V. marg. ‘being sore wearied’), the words in the latter case being referred either (Ges.) to Gabriel, or (Keil, Meinh.) to Daniel (‘whom I had seen , when exhausted,’ &c.), in accordance with what is said in Dan 8:17 f. Neither explanation is satisfactory, but the present text admits of nothing better. ‘Swiftly’ (A.V.), though found in the ancient versions (LXX, , Vulg. cito volans), is a very questionable paraphrase. The second word might have arisen by an erroneous and incorrect repetition of the first. Of the first word, being made to fly is the more natural rendering. Angels are elsewhere in the O.T. represented as possessing human form, but not as winged (only seraphim, Isa 6:2, and cherubim, Eze 1:6, have wings): winged angels (unless one is presupposed here, or in Dan 12:6, 1Ch 21:16?) appear first in Enoch lxi. 1, ‘And I saw in those days how cords were given to those angels, and they took to themselves wings and flew, and they went towards the north’; cf. Rev 14:6.
touched me ] was approaching close to me.
the evening meal offering ] 2Ki 16:15; Ezr 9:4-5; Psa 141:2: cf. 1Ki 18:29; 1Ki 18:36.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer – How long the prayer continued we are not informed. It is probable that we have only the substance of it, and that Daniel has recorded only the topics on which he dwelt more at length. The subject was of great importance, and it is reasonable to suppose that a day had been devoted to an examination of the prophecies, and to solemn prayer.
Even the man Gabriel – Who had the appearance of a man, and hence, so called.
Whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning – That is, in a former vision. See the notes at Dan 8:16. It cannot refer to what is mentioned in this (the ninth) chapter, for
(a) he had as yet had no vision, but all that is recorded is a prayer;
(b) there is no intimation that Gabriel had appeared to him at the beginning of the prayer; and
(c) it is declared that at the beginning of the prayer, Gabriel, then evidently in heaven, had received commandment to go to Daniel, and to communicate the message to him, Dan 9:23.
The meaning undoubtedly is, that the personage who now appeared to him he recognized to be the same who had appeared in a former vision on the banks of the Ulai. The proper meaning of the Hebrew here is, in a vision at the beginning, as in our translation. So the Vulgate, a principio; and so Theodotion – en te arche. The Hebrew word techllah means, properly, beginning, Hos 1:2; Pro 9:10; but, in connection with the preposition, as here – battechllah – it means also, before, formerly, Gen 13:3; Gen 41:21; Gen 43:18, Gen 43:20; Isa 1:26.
Being caused to fly swiftly – Margin, with weariness, or flight. On the difficult Hebrew expression here – muap byap – Lengerke may be consulted, in loc. The words, according to Gesenius, are derived from yaap, to go swiftly, and then, to be wearied, to faint, either with running, Jer 2:24, or with severe labor, Isa 40:28, or with sorrows, Isa 50:4. If derived from this word, the meaning in Hophal, the form used here, would be, wearied with swift running, and the sense is, that Gabriel had borne the message swiftly to him, and appeared before him as one does who is wearied with a rapid course. If this be the idea, there is no direct allusion to his flying, but the reference is to the rapidity with which he had come on the long journey, as if exhausted by his journey. The Latin Vulgate renders it cito volans – quickly flying; Theodotion, petomenos – flying; the Codex Chisianus, tachei pheromenos – borne swiftly. The Syriac, with a swift flying he flew and came from heaven. It cannot be determined with certainty, from the words used here, that the coming of Gabriel was by an act of flying as with wings. The common representation of the angels in the Old Testament is not with wings, though the cherubim and Seraphim (Isa 6:2, following.) are represented with wings; and in Rev 14:6, we have a representation of an angel flying. Probably the more exact idea here is that of a rapid course, so as to produce weariness, or such as would naturally produce fatigue.
Touched me – Daniel was doubtless at this time engaged in prayer.
About the time of the evening oblation – The evening sacrifice. This was at the ninth hour of the day, or about three oclock in the afternoon.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Dan 9:21-27
Even the man Gabriel.
Words of the Angel
Daniels history is in every way profoundly interesting, and stands in connection with spiritual phenomena most startling and sublime. These verses are the words of an angel, whose name was Gabriel (the strength of God). Gabriel furnishes this intelligence in obedience to the command of another intelligence of the celestial order, one perhaps of a still higher rank in the angelic hierarchy. Daniel had seen this angel before (Dan 8:15-27). The object of the present visit was to answer Daniels prayer, and that answer we have in the words before us. The following thoughts are suggested by this angelic language in relation to human prayer.
I. THAT THAT GREAT GOD OF THE UNIVERSE IS ATTENTIVE TO THE GENUINE PRAYER OF GOOD MEN. We say genuine prayer, for such is the prayer before as. How intensely earnest it is! How profoundly humble! How thoroughly vicarious! God is never inattentive to such prayer; it always touches His great heart, He never fails to answer it.
II. GOD SOMETIMES ANSWERS TRUE PRAYER BY THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS. When Christ said to Peter, Thinkest thou not that I could pray to my Father, and he would send me twelve legions of angels, the doctrine is implied that angels are employed to render Divine relief to the earnest suppliant. Note:
1. This angel dealt with promptitude to the suppliant.
2. This angel dealt with the mind of the suppliant. He assured him of the Divine regard; and he threw light on the subject that pressed on his heart. Three epochs are discovered by interpreters in this passage.
(1) The return of the Jews to their own country.
(2) The advent of Messiah. At the close of this period we are told two things would take place. The departure of the worlds Deliverer; and the advent of the Jews destroyer.
(3) The establishment of Messiahs system upon earth, and the destruction of Jerusalem. Evidently, then, God answers prayer by acting on the mind of the suppliant. This is the true and effective answer to prayer. (Homilist.)
Ministry of Angels in Individual Life
Some time ago I visited a furniture dealers shop in West London. The man was a Jew, and, noticing my clerical dress, he began to talk on religious matters. We had an interesting conversation, and, as I mounted my bicycle and said Goodbye, the man called out in Hebrew, Peace be unto thee, using the pronoun in plural number. Why did you not use the singular? I asked. Who was the other one to whom you were wishing peace? Do you not know, replied the Jew, I said, Peace be to you, and to the angel over your shoulder. All poetry has not gone out of old London–no, not yet! (G. A. Johnston Ross.)
The Great Spirit-World
We are taken into a world of visions, and trances, and mystical imagery. The East has touched, us with its brooding dreams, with its vast symbolism. We move amid exaltations and hear strange voices. There is a world within a world; there is a life beyond life, and with this we hold communion. It is sketched in shadowy outlines, and peopled by figures that can be known and named. It is not simply gathered up into the all-sufficient name of the Eternal God, but there are mediating presences. There is organisation and rule, there are levels and degrees. This mysterious realm half discloses itself in glimpses that come and go. There is effort and patient purpose slowly worked out to ordained conclusions. There are activities, and principalities, and dominions. It is a host. It is a kingdom. It moves according to law. It has issues far away out of our reach: The Prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood me one-and-twenty days, but lo! Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the Kings of Persia. What are we talking about? Who can say? Who can tell what is symbolic and what is real? But in the Book of Daniel these rare presences pass under the control of the sole directive will of the Most High. They are not multiplied indefinitely. They do not fasten the imagination and interest and curiosity upon themselves. They are absorbed in moral acts. They are bent and treated as solemn instruments of spiritual destiny. And it is noticeable how close these presences are kept to man. They are no formless genii, but like unto a son of man. That is the shape that the vision receives. All excess, all exuberance is pruned. There is no fantastic fancy at work letting itself loose in airy and arbitrary imagination. They are not even winged. One like unto a man touched me, so runs the text. All through the book we have the insistence on human nature as the typical organ of the Divine manifestation. Man supplies the form through which God can he revealed. So, on this eve of St. Michael and All Angels, we may well reassure ourselves by noting how in our own later days this environing and mysterious life of mediating spirit, into which, the Books of Daniel and Ezekiel introduce us, has once again been brought near to us. We are being made aware again how little conscious and reflective knowledge has covered of the possibilities within which we move. We know how we have tried so hard and so long to isolate the field of known experience, to cut it absolutely off from disturbing elements that have been unexamined. We had set ourselves to secure complete and certain control over that which we have made our own, and to purge thoroughly out of it anything that traversed or perplexed our certified scheme of things. We were to be positive about whatever we did know, however much might be outside which we did not know. That was our old agnostic programme. What we did not know was to be left out of account in dealing with what we did know. And that is the programme which has been broken down. The facts have been too much for it. No such isolation is conceivable. In and out of the life that we can cover with our rationalised experience, there are influences, forces, powers, which are for ever playing and passing, which belong to a world beyond our scientific methods. We float in a mysterious ether to which no physical limitations apply. Sounds, motions transmit themselves through this medium, under conditions which transform our whole idea of what space or time may mean. Again and again through and beyond this semi-physical mystery, a world of spiritual activity opens upon us. It has capacities of which we have never dreamed; it allows of apparent contact of spirit with spirit, in spite of material distance and physical obstruction. Communications pass between those who are separated, without visible or tangible mediation. There are modes of communion which are utterly unintelligible to our ordinary scientific assumptions, yet which actual experience tends more and more to verify. If we would see the vision of the prophet we must be able to pray the prophets prayer. And what a prayer it is! It is one of the greatest of those prayers which gave the final form to the Jewish ideal of Supplication, and which has passed for ever in type into the Christian liturgy. As in some of the Psalms, as in the great prayer attributed to Solomon at the opening of the temple, so here it would seem as if it was impossible for mans outpourings to take a finer or purer form. The whole secret of the Jew speaks in that prayer; his constant sense that Gods good purpose for him never fails, even when the darkest evil falls upon him, for still it is that judgment, a judgment that leads on to forgiveness and to restoration. Nothing will break his belief in the faithful fatherhood which smites only in order that men may seek Him afresh. Therefore, he cries, hath the Lord watched over the evil and brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works. Yet may it be not our prayer unto Him that we might turn from our iniquities and understand the truth? So he confesses. And still, he says, the old covenant stands, the pledge given to the fathers. Back to that, as to an unfailing assurance. He turns to appeal. And now, O Lord our God Thou hast brought Thy people forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has gotten them renown, as at this day. We have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness I beseech Thee let Thy anger and Thy fury be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem, from Thy holy mountain. O my God, incline Thine ear and hear. Open Thine eyes and behold our desolation, and the city which is called by Thy name, for we do not present out supplications before Thee for our own righteousness, but out of Thy great mercy. O Lord hear; O Lord forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God, for Thy city and Thy people that are called by Thy name. There is the prayer, a prayer in which there is highest and purest intensity, and to such a prayer as, that in its passionate pleading the vision comes, the Presence is felt, the mystery discloses itself. The man Gabriel flies swiftly and touches him at the hour of the evening oblation. I repeat, in order to know what those visions meant, we must be first found so praying. And you will note that it is not for himself, but for his people, the prophet raised that prayer. He had understood, he tells us what was meant by the old prophecy of Jeremiah over the desolations of Jerusalem. It is the public sin for which he sets himself, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes, to pray unto his God. It is the national restoration of the Holy Mount for which he lifts his supplications. In view of that terrible desolation he can but turn to prayer. Can we look out over our Jerusalem as he looked out over it of old, and not turn with something of his poignant grief, with something of his burning shame, to do as he did when he set his face unto the Lord God and made his confession, saying, O my God, incline Thy ear and hear; open Thine eyes and behold our desolation; O Lord hear, O Lord forgive, O Lord hearken and do; defer not for Thine own sake, O my God, for Thy city and for Thy people who are called by Thy name. Pray as he prayed, Pray as he did, in the spirit of contrition and patience, for the indignities which are brought upon the Church of God. Pray in the heart of a great hope, as he did in the prophetic fashion of a victory which shall yet be won. Pray long, and hard, and humbly; it is our power of intercession and supplication that is now so weak. (H. S. Holland.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. The man Gabriel] Or the angel Gabriel, who had appeared to me as a man. ish is the same here as person – the person Gabriel.
Being caused to fly swiftly] God hears with delight such earnest, humble, urgent prayers; and sends the speediest answer. Gabriel himself was ordered on this occasion to make more than usual speed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
1. By this we see Daniel used vocal prayer, pouring out his soul.
2. That the saints in prayer do parley with God; it is a humble, and holy, and fervent unbosoming our soul to God.
3. That holy men, in confessing the sins of the nation, confess their own sins too, and that impartially, begging pardon for all.
4. That when a child of God sets himself in earnest to seek God by prayer, the Lord hears him. Compare Dan 9:20 with Dan 9:23.
5. As the angels are all ministering spirits, so the chiefest angels are sent in the chiefest messages relating to the church of God. Thus Gabriel before, Dan 8:16. Thus here. Also to Zacharias, and Mary, Luk 1:11,19,26, about the incarnation of Christ, and our salvation by him.
6. God herein gives a great encouragement to prayer, and fulfils his promises made of old to his people in this behalf, Lev 26:40-42 Deu 30:1-3; Isa 30:19; and Isa 65:24,
It shall come to pass, before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear.
7. The Lord is quick in hearing and helping his people. The angel was made
to fly swiftly, even unto weariness, as some translate it. Or, to fly with flight, Hab 1:8.
The time of the evening sacrifice was a solemn and set time of devotion. Then God heard Elijah and did wonders, 1Ki 18:36-38; and Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world was sacrificed for us at that time, about the ninth hour, Mat 27:46; Mar 15:34; Luk 23:44, &c.; all these three evangelists mention Christs giving up the ghost at the ninth hour, which was the time of the evening sacrifice. At this time Gabriel is sent to Daniel to tell him the time of the Messiahs death, and the consequence of it. See Dan 9:24, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. I had seen in the vision at thebeginningnamely, in the former vision by the river Ulai(Dan 8:1; Dan 8:16).
fly swiftlyliterally,”with weariness,” that is, move swiftly as one breathlessand wearied out with quick running [GESENIUS].English Version is better (Isa 6:2;Eze 1:6; Rev 14:6).
time of . . . eveningoblationthe ninth hour, three o’clock (compare 1Ki18:36). As formerly, when the temple stood, this hour was devotedto sacrifices, so now to prayer. Daniel, during the whole captivityto the very last, with pious patriotism never forgot God’stemple-worship, but speaks of its rites long abolished, as if stillin use.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer,…. Which is repeated, that it might be observed, that while he was in prayer, before he had finished it, or got off of his knees, an answer was sent him; see
Isa 65:24:
even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning; either at the beginning of Belshazzar’s reign, in the third year of it, Da 8:1, or rather “before”, as the Syriac version renders it; before this time, in the vision of the ram and he goat, Da 8:16, when he saw this angel Gabriel that appeared in a human form, and he knew this to be his name, by a man’s voice calling him by it; and now he knew him to be the same angel by his appearance and voice; at the sight of whom he does not seem to be terrified, as before, having had free conversation with him, and being made acquainted by him with many secrets; and no doubt inwardly rejoiced to see him again, as hoping and believing he had something to communicate to him:
being caused to fly swiftly; having an order from the Lord, and being strengthened by him to make quick dispatch to Daniel, which is signified by flying swiftly; and for which reason angels are represented as having wings, to denote their celerity and quick dispatch of business: or “flying with weariness” m, as some render it; he made such haste as to be weary with it; as he appeared in the form of a man, he looked like one out of breath, and panting for it, occasioned by his swift flight; and which expresses the haste he made, according to his orders, and his eagerness to bring to Daniel the welcome tidings of the coming of the Messiah, and the time of it, which angels desired to look into:
touched me about the time of the evening oblation; the time of offering the evening sacrifice; which, though not now offered, the altar being destroyed, and the Lord’s people in a foreign land; yet the time was observed by them, and which was the time of prayer, being about the ninth hour of the day, or three o’clock in the afternoon, see Ac 3:1, as the time of the morning sacrifice was another hour of prayer; at which time very likely Daniel began, and continued till now, since he was fasting, Da 9:3 and this was the time when Christ, the antitype of the daily sacrifice, was offered up; of the time of whose coming, sufferings, and death, the angel here brings an account: and, in order to excite the attention of Daniel to it, “touched him”; for he, being on his knees, and intent in prayer, might not at first observe him; and therefore gives him a gentle touch, to let him know he was present, and had something to say to him; and to suggest to him to break off his prayer, to which he had brought an answer, as well as to lift him up, and encourage familiarity with him.
m “volans in lassitudine”, Montanus; “cum lassitudine, [vel] fatigatione”, so some in Vatablus; “cum, lassitudine”, as others in Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the last Lecture we explained the appearance of the angel to Daniel, who satisfied the eagerness of his desires. For he prayed with great earnestness when he perceived the time to have elapsed which God had fixed beforehand by the mouth of Jeremiah, while the people still remained in captivity. (Jer 25:11.) We have shewn how the angel was sent by God to the holy Prophet, to alleviate his sorrow and to remove the pressure of his anxiety. He called the angel a man, because he took the form of a man, as we have already stated. One thing only remains — his saying, the vision was offered to him about the time of the evening sacrifice Already seventy years had passed away, during which Daniel had never observed any sacrifice offered; and yet he still mentions sacrifices as if he were in the habit of attending daily in the Temple, which was not really in existence. Whence it appears how God’s servants, though deprived of the outward means of grace for the present moment, are yet able to make them practically useful by meditating upon God, and the sacrifices, and other rites, and ceremonies of His institution. If any one in these days is cast into prison, and even prohibited from enjoying the Lord’s Supper to the end of his life, yet he ought not on that account to cast away the remembrance of that sacred symbol; but should consider within himself every day, why that Supper was granted us by Christ, and what advantages he desires us to derive from it. Such, then, we perceive were the feelings of the holy Prophet, because he speaks of these daily sacrifices as if then in actual use. Yet we know them to have been abolished, and he could not have been present at them for many years, although during that period the Temple was standing. Now let us go forward, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) Being caused to fly swiftly.A very difficult expression, occurring only here. The Authorised Version follows the LXX. and Theodotion. The rendering has been defended on the ground that the word translated swiftly comes from a root meaning to fly. and is literally rendered by flight. Thus caused to fly in flight means caused to fly swiftly. The marginal version with weariness finds supporters, and, if adopted, must be taken to refer to the bodily condition of Daniel (Dan. 8:17-27). The former translation is most in accordance with the context. The flight of angels is implied in Isa. 6:2, and should not be regarded as an idea foreign to the Old Testament.
Touched me.Literally, reached me. (Comp. this use of the word, Jon. 3:6.) The time of the evening sacrifice Isaiah 3 P.M., being the hour of evening prayer. (See Exo. 29:39; Num. 28:4.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Dan 9:21. The man Gabriel Literally, That man, named Gabriel, or rather, “That person or angel, &c. who appeared to me under a human form.” See chap. Dan 8:16. There were three hours of prayer among the Jews; but the most solemn seasons of it were at the morning and evening oblation; at the third and ninth hours of the day. But upon their solemn days of fasting and humiliation, they continued their devotions from the time of the morning sacrifice till that of the evening was finished. Daniel expresses himself in the country of his captivity, in the same manner as the Jews at Jerusalem when the temple subsisted. See Calmet. Instead of, at the beginning, we may read, before.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Dan 9:21 Yea, whiles I [was] speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
Ver. 21. Yea; whilst I was speaking in prayer. ] This he recogniseth and celebrateth as a sweet and singular mercy. God sometimes heareth his people before they pray; Isa 65:24 Psa 21:3 David was sure up early when he anticipated the Lord with his prayer; Psa 88:13 ; Psa 119:147 sometimes while they are praying, as he did those in Act 4:31 ; Act 12:5 ; Act 12:17 , and Luther, who came leaping oat of his study, where he had been praying, with Vicimus, Vicimus, in his mouth that is, we have gained the day, got the conquest; but if not so, yet certainly when they have now prayed. Isa 30:12 Jon 2:1 Jer 33:3 Mat 6:7 Luther a affirmeth that he often got more spiritual light by some one ardent prayer than ever he could do by the reading of many books, or by most accurate meditation thereupon.
Even the man Gabriel,
Whom I had seen in the vision.
Being caused to fly swiftly.
Touched me.
About the time of the evening oblation.
a Ipse ego in una aliqua ardenti oratione mea plura saepe didici quam ex multorum librorum lectione aut accuratissima meditatione consequi potuissem. – Tom. i.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gabriel. See note on Dan 8:16. This prophecy is not given by a “prophet”, but by an angel or hierophant (who shows sacred things) to a prophet. It is therefore a most transcendent prophecy.
about the time, &c. Compare similar important occasions: David (2Sa 24:15, note); Elijah (1Ki 18:29); Ezra (Ezr 9:5).
oblation = gift or donation offering. Hebrew. minchah. App-43.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the man: Dan 8:16, Dan 10:16, Luk 1:19
to fly: Psa 103:20, Psa 104:4, Isa 6:2, Eze 1:11, Eze 1:14, Heb 1:7
swiftly: Heb. with weariness, or flight
touched: Dan 8:18, Dan 10:10, Dan 10:16, Dan 10:18, Isa 6:6, Isa 6:7, Act 12:7, Heb 1:14
the time: 1Ki 18:36, Ezr 9:5, Mat 27:46, Act 3:1, Act 10:3, Act 10:9
Reciprocal: Exo 29:38 – two lambs Exo 29:41 – offer Num 28:4 – and the other 1Ki 19:5 – an angel 2Ki 3:20 – when the meat 2Ki 16:15 – the morning 1Ch 16:40 – To offer 2Ch 20:14 – Then upon Ezr 9:4 – until Psa 141:2 – the evening Eze 14:14 – Daniel Mat 17:7 – touched Mar 15:34 – at Luk 1:28 – Hail Act 10:30 – I was Heb 10:11 – daily Rev 1:1 – and he Rev 14:6 – another
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Dan 9:21. Daniel is about to receive an answer to his prayer, and the thing to be promised will be far greater or include more than he is asking. The favor the prophet is Beeking pertains to the restoration of the capital city of Jerusalem, That is going to be granted, and it also will be the dating place for an event concerning his people that will be without a parallel in all history. He is not going to be held waiting very long for the answer to his prayer, for even while he was praying the angel Gabriel came and contacted him Time of the evening oblation means the daily sacrifice that the Jews’ religion included when they were in their own land. The sacrifice was conducted twice daily, at 9 and 3 o’clock respectively. Daniel only refers to it by way of designating the hour when Gabriel contacted him, not that such an offering was being made, for the Jews were not permitted, even by the Lord, to perform their altar services in the strange land (Deu 28:36; Isaiah 43; Isaiah 24).