Troublesome Topic: Daniel Needed Encouragement

“confessing” comes from the word meaning “throwing.” Here it means to “throw down or to cast aside” What is being thrown down? It is his sin and the sins of his people. “Throwing down” your sin means to “confess” your sin, to repudiate it, to say, “I don’t want to hold on to that stuff any longer.”

In order to “throw down” (confess) his sins, he “fell down” or “threw himself down” on the floor as a sign of humility and contrition. Two different words are used, but the action involved is quite similar.

In my opinion a verb is missing here. Usually the combination of the participle “falling down,” which indicates one’s position, (i.e. being prostrate or face down before God which demonstrates humility) and the noun “supplication/request” is translated as “presenting one’s requests” before God. However, I wanted you to see that the only verb used here means “to fall down, to prostrate one’s self.” What you do with your requests once you are in the right position is left for the reader to assume.

This is a reference to Jerusalem. Daniel was praying for Jerusalem and the fulfillment of the restoration God had spoken about regarding Jerusalem.

The name “Gabriel” means “man of God,” but also denotes strength, hence, “the mighty and valiant warrior.” Preferably, “mighty man of God” or even “mighty warrior of God” or simply “THE MIGHT OF GOD” which happens to be personified in an angel.

There are two possible words this phrase could come from. One is from a root meaning “to cover,” and can be rendered, “to obscure, to cover with wings, to flee, to fly, to shine forth, to be weary or faint.” The other word means “to be weary, to be worn out,” and possibly “to fly.” Thus there appears to be some overlap between these two words although their root meanings point different directions. Therefore, it either means that the angel was “caused to fly to him swiftly,” or that Daniel had been “caused to become extremely worn out.” I think that the latter fits the context best. He had been involved in intense prayer for an unknown length of time and had become weary in the process. This a verb form shows intensity and it is followed by another form of the same word, which also means “weary.”  When Hebrew used two words from the same root back-to-back, it was a form of emphasis. He was totally worn out. It may be that Daniel, like Jacob, would not stop until he heard a response from God on this matter.

This word is used twice in this verse and means “word,” or in verb form “to speak.” In this case it seems to imply a command. God’s “word” to the angel (presumably “Go, explain this to Daniel”) was understood as a command that must be obeyed. Likewise, God had spoken the “word” of explanation as well (about future events), and it too would absolutely come to pass as God had spoken it.

Was there a delay? It appears that there was. Daniel 9:3 indicates that Daniel pleaded with God “through prayer, supplications, fasting, sackcloth and ashes.” Fasting implies that he was involved in this for days. The angel started out right away but did not get there till considerable time later. This may be an indication that the angel was delayed in his arrival which would imply some type of conflict between the angel and demons.

This appears to be a reference to the vision that the angel will now share with him, or it means that the angel came to him as part of that vision. At any rate, it does not refer to a vision he has already had previous to this time.