_DANIEL, CONSIDERING THE TIME OF THE CAPTIVITY, MAKETH CONFESSION OF SINS, AND PRAYETH FOR THE RESTORATION OF JERUSALEM. GABRIEL INFORMETH HIM OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS._ _Before Christ 538._ THIS chapter contains a most affecting and ardent prayer of Daniel, on a near view of the expiration of the se... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE FIRST YEAR OF DARIUS— This is the same Darius the Median spoken of before, chap. Daniel 5:31 and who succeeded Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans.... [ Continue Reading ]
I DANIEL UNDERSTOOD BY BOOKS— Daniel had with him in the captivity the holy Scriptures, and in particular the prophesies of Jeremiah, which he here calls so many _books:_ he refers more particularly to the 25th and 29th Chapter s of that prophet. We may hence observe, that the later prophets studied... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SET MY FACE—TO SEEK BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATIONS— _Wherefore, I set,_ &c. _that I might implore him by prayer,_ &c. Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, THE GREAT AND DREADFUL GOD— The emphatic ה is used before each of the epithets that follow, "the God, the great, the dreadful." This prayer, which is occasioned by the greatest and most sincere concern for the captive Jews, is the result also of the deepest humiliation, and expressive of the... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE SINNED, AND HAVE COMMITTED INIQUITY— Daniel here puts up the confession prescribed in Solomon's consecration-prayer, to be used by the Jews in the land of their captivity.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY DEPARTING, &C.— _By departing, so, as not to obey,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE HATH THE LORD WATCHED UPON THE EVIL— "After having for a long time slept, as it were, upon our faults, he hath at length awakened to punish us." Or, "While we slept, as it were, in our crimes, the Lord awaked to chastise us." Calmet. Houbigant renders it, _The Lord hath not deferred to bri... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CAUSE THY FACE TO SHINE, &C.— _And for thine own sake, O Lord, cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate._... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Daniel 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... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE INFORMED ME, &C.— _And standing with me, he spoke thus; O Daniel!_ &c. Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVENTY WEEKS ARE DETERMINED, &C.— The sum of Calmet's observations on this prophesy is as follows: Daniel is afflicted before the Lord, with a desire to know when the end of those seventy weeks' captivity shall appear, which are foretold by Jeremiah. But God reveals to him a much more sublime and i... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE MESSIAH THE PRINCE, &C.— That is, until the awful period when the business of his life was finished, until his hour was come, when he was to glorify his Father, or when he was to be cut off by a voluntary suffering for the sins of mankind; and thereby triumph as a prince, over death, and ov... [ Continue Reading ]