"And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, _O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding_." Verse 22.
5. What previous instruction connected with the vision of Daniel 8 was thus being more fully carried out?
"And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, _Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision_." Dan. 8:16.
6. Why was further instruction concerning this vision necessary?
"And _I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days_; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and _I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it_." Verse 27.
7. To what did Gabriel now direct Daniel's attention?
"At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee: for thou art greatly beloved: therefore _understand the matter_, and _consider the vision_." Dan. 9:23.
NOTES.--There is abundant evidence that the instruction in the ninth chapter of Daniel supplements and interprets the vision of the eighth chapter. Note the following facts:--
(1) Daniel did not understand the vision concerning the treading down of his people and the sanctuary, and therefore searched the prophecies anew concerning the period of captivity.
(2) He evidently made a connection between the period of seventy years mentioned by Jeremiah and the twenty-three hundred days of the vision, and he at once began to pray earnestly for the restoration of the city and the sanctuary.
(3) The angel Gabriel, who appeared to him at the first, and interpreted all the vision with the exception of the twenty-three hundred days, now appears, and again directs his attention to the vision.
(4) The events of the vision begin with the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, the era of the restoration of the Jews to their own land. In the absence of any instruction to the contrary, this would be the natural time in which to locate the beginning of the period of twenty-three hundred days; and this is the very time given for the beginning of the seventy weeks, which are clearly a part of the twenty-three hundred days, and thus determine the time of their commencement.
(5) The seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety years, extend from the restoration of literal Jerusalem and the literal temple to the preaching of the gospel to all the world. See Acts 15:14-17. This special preaching of the gospel was completed in one generation, and was followed by the destruction of Jerusalem.
