Daniel 9:23 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 9:23
At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
to separate mentally (or distinguish) · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
matter
בַּדָּבָ֔רba.da.Var
H1697
a word · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
consider
וְהָבֵ֖ןve.ha.Ven
H995
to separate mentally (or distinguish) · conjunction + verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
vision
בַּמַּרְאֶֽהba.mar.'Eh
H4758
a view (the act of seeing) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Daniel 10:19 And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened…
Daniel 10:11-12 And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now…
Matthew 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him…
Luke 1:28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Ezekiel 24:16 Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy t…
Ezekiel 26:12 And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 9:20–end
We have here the answer that was immediately sent to Daniel's prayer, and it is a very memorable one, as it contains the most illustrious prediction of Christ and gospel-grace that is extant in all the Old Testament. If John Baptist was the morning-star, this was the day-break to the Sun of righteousness, the day-spring from on high. Here is,
I. The time when this answer was given.
1. It was while Daniel was at prayer. This he observed and laid a strong emphasis upon: While I was speaking (Dan 9:20), yea, while I was speaking in prayer (Dan 9:21), before he rose from his knees, and while there was yet more which he intended to say.
(1.) He mentions the two heads he chiefly insisted upon in p…
At the beginning of thy supplications, &c.--The promulgation of the divine decree was made in heaven to the angels as soon as Daniel began to pray.
came forth--from the divine throne; so Dan 9:22.
thou art greatly beloved--literally, "a man of desires" (compare Eze 23:6, Eze 23:12); the object of God's delight. As the apocalyptic prophet of the New Testament was "the disciple whom Jesus loved," so the apocalyptic prophet of the Old Testament was "greatly beloved" of God.
the vision--the further revelation as to Messiah in connection with Jeremiah's prophecy of seventy years of the captivity. The charge to "understand" is the same as in Mat 24:15, where Rome primarily, and Antichrist ul…
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.
John Gill on Daniel 9:23
At the beginning of thy supplications,.... As soon as ever he began to pray. This circumstance shows how ready the Lord is to hear the prayers of his people; and yet it was not owing to the prayers of the prophet, and to any intrinsic virtue or merit in them that the Lord did what he afterwards declares should be done; and, besides, more is revealed and promised than Daniel asked for:
the commandment came forth; either the order from the Lord to the angel, dispatching him on this errand to the prophet, to acquaint him with his mind and will; or the proclamation of Cyrus, to let the people of the Jews go free, and go up to Jerusalem to build their city and temple, published that morning, jus…
The Church Fathers
"So consider the word, which I will speak," that is, investigate and weigh carefully the meaning and the strength of the proposed vision; and in those things that I am about to tell you about it, contemplate a sort of expressed image of the future events.
The Lord … sent me to convey the future to you. For your part, give precise attention to what is said; what will be said is too profound for a human being (the meaning of "understand what is in the vision"), that is, what will be said in riddles, and requires of you precise attention for grasping it. Now, riddles occur when divine realities are spoken and written, the purpose being to prevent what is revealed to the holy ones becoming clear to everyone; after all, familiarity breeds contempt.
Verse 23. "'From the very beginning of thy prayers the word went forth and I myself have come to show it to thee, because thou art a man of desires.'" That is, at the time when thou didst begin to ask God, thou didst straightway obtain His mercy, and His decision was put forth. I have therefore been sent to explain to thee the things of which thou art ignorant, inasmuch as thou art a man of desires, that is to say a lovable man, worthy of God's love - even as Solomon was called Idida (var: Jedida) or "man of desires." (Song of Solomon 5:16) I have been sent because thou art worthy, in recompense for thine affection for God, to be told the secret counsels of God and to have a knowledge of things to come. "'Thou therefore pay heed to the word and understand the vision.'" Thus Daniel is told, "Pay diligent heed, in order that thou mayest hear and understand what thou seest." We too should do this, for our eyes have been blinded by the shadows of ignorance and the darkness of sins.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Daniel — God is my judge, or judge of God. (1.) David’s second son, “born unto him in Hebron, of Abigail the Carmelitess” (1 Chr. 3:1). He is called also Chileab (2 Sam. 3:3). (2.) One of the four great…
Gabriel — Champion of God, used as a proper name to designate the angel who was sent to Daniel (8:16) to explain the vision of the ram and the he-goat, and to communicate the prediction of the seventy weeks…
Angels · Communicate the will of God and Christ — Communicate the will of God and Christ
Confession Of Sin · God regards — God regards
Prayer, Answers To · Granted: Sometimes immediately — Granted: Sometimes immediately
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Daniel 9:23
23. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
23. Principio precationum tuarum exivit verbum, et ego veni ut annuntiarem, quia tu desideriorum vir, [110] itaque intellige in sermone, et intellige in visione.
Here the angel not only exacts docility from the Prophet, but also exhorts him to greater attention. We shall afterwards perceive that this singular and extraordinary prophecy needed no common study. This is the reason why the angel not only commands Daniel to receive his message with the obedience of faith, but also to pay greater att…
ויּבן, he gave understanding, insight, as Dan 8:16. The words point back to Dan 9:2. First of all Gabriel speaks of the design and the circumstances of his coming. עתּה יצאתי, now, viz., in consequence of thy morning prayer, I am come, sc. from the throne of God. להשׂכּילך בינה, to instruct thee in knowledge. This is more particularly declared in Dan 9:23. At the beginning of Daniel's prayer a word, i.e., a communication from God, came forth, which he brought. דּבר, not a commandment, or the divine commandment to Gabriel to go to Daniel, but a word of God, and particularly the word which he announced to Daniel, Dan 9:24-27. The sentence, "for thou art a man greatly beloved" (חמוּדות = חמוּדו…
a command was given (literally a word went forth): This command might have been God’s decree to end the Exile and return his people to Jerusalem and Judea, or it might have been the command to explain the future to Daniel (9:24-27). • you are very precious to God: Also in 10:11, 19. • It is unclear what your vision refers to: It could be the restoration of Jerusalem and God’s people that Daniel read about in Jeremiah and envisioned in his prayer (9:2-20), or one of the earlier visions (e.g., ch 8; cp. 8:27).
Rashi on Daniel 9:23
In the beginning of your supplications, a word came forth a true [word came] from the Holy One, blessed be He, to me to tell you.
for you have desirable qualities You have qualities that are desirable to the Holy One, blessed be He.
now contemplate the word Put your heart to understand the word.
