Daniel 9:21

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

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.

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 with . 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, . Thus here. Also to Zacharias, and Mary, ,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, ; and , 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, . The time of the evening sacrifice was a solemn and set time of devotion. Then God heard Elijah and did wonders, ; and Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world was sacrificed for us at that time, about the ninth hour, , &c.; all these three evangelists mention Christ’ s 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 Messiah’ s death, and the consequence of it. See , &c.

Daniel 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; David was sure up early when he anticipated the Lord with his prayer; sometimes while they are praying, as he did those in Acts 4:31; Acts 12:5; Acts 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. Luther 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,] i.e., The angel Gabriel in man’ s shape. Whom I had seen in the vision.] And whom I had good cause to remember the longest day of my life for the good offices he had done me formerly. Being caused to fly swiftly.] Heb., With weariness of flight. Not that the angels flee as fowls - though a certain friar, a liar certainly, undertook to show to the people a feather of the angel Gabriel’ s wings - or that they are ever wearied with speeding God’ s commissions and commands for the Church’ s good; Sed datur hoc assumptae speciei, but these things are spoken to our apprehension. According to the account of astronomers, it must be above a hundred and sixty millions of miles from heaven to earth. All this space the angel came flying to Daniel in a little time. Touched me.] With a familiar touch, in token of encouragement; prensando mimirum, ut solent qui contactu familiari promptam benevolamque mentem indicant. About the time of the evening oblation.] When the joint prayers of God’ s people were wont to come up before him, quasi manu facta; and Daniel hopeth they may do so again. Qui nihil sperat, nihil orat. He who hopes for nothing, asks for nothing. Ipse ego in una aliqua ardenti oratione mea plura saepe didici quam ex multorum librorum lectione aut accuratissima meditatione consequi potuissem. - Tom. i.

(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 (Daniel 8:17-27). The former translation is most in accordance with the context. The “flight” of angels is implied in Isaiah 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, Jonah 3:6.) The time of the evening sacrifice Isaiah 3 P.M., being the hour of evening prayer. (See Exodus 29:39; Numbers 28:4.)

Verse 21. The man Gabriel] Or the angel Gabriel, who had appeared to me as a man. איש 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.

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] Daniel 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 Daniel 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, τάχειφερόμενος, 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, Isaiah 6:2, and cherubim, Ezekiel 1:6, have wings): winged angels (unless one is presupposed here, or in Daniel 12:6, 1 Chronicles 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. Revelation 14:6. touched me] was approaching close to me. the evening meal offering] 2 Kings 16:15; Ezra 9:4-5; Psalms 141:2 : cf. 1 Kings 18:29; 1 Kings 18:36.

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.

20, 21. The answer to the prayer comes even while the words are still upon his lips. For Gabriel see notes Daniel 7:16; Daniel 10:13.