The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 307

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-21.-The nation's advocate at God's bar. "Whiles I WBS speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel . , . touched me" (ver. 21), Our subject is the prayer of Daniel, and the following points will demand full and careful consideration, I. 'l'HE MOMENT IN TIME, This was most critical; for: 1. The moment had been anticipated in prophecy. (Jer. xxv. 11, 12; xxix. 10-14.) How Daniel reckoned the seventy years, and how others did so, nlllst be carefully observed. The depor- tation to Babylon extended over twenty years; hence different men took a. different starUng-date whence to reckon the seventy. Daniel reckons from the first siege, the dnte of his own going into captivity (».c. 606). Zechariah from the third siege, (1) from the beginning of it, n.o. 690 (Zech. i. 12); (2) from its close, B.c. 588 (Zech. vii. 1, 5). Tbe prophets wrote each from his own standpoint, and there are no discrepancies, though the critical school tries to create them. 2. It was imme- diately after the fall of Babylon. (Ver. 1.) 3. The Cyrus of prophecy was on the throne of Persia. Darius was only vicegerent in Babylon (Isa. xliv. 24-xlv. 7). In the very next year Cyrus issued his decree (Ezra ii. 1, 2), 4. It was offered at the exact moment of evening sacrifice. (Ver. 21.) II. THE FOUNDATION OF THE PRAYER, The Word of God, as contained in "the Scriptures," We should read ver. 2 thus: "I Daniel understood by the ScripturM the number of the years." The expression is, indeed, most remarkable, and has been laid hold of to impugn Daniel's authorship. This is said in substance : The expres- sion shows that the Old Testament was, when the Book of Daniel was written, complete. It must then have been written after the close of the Old Testament canon; not then by Daniel, but by some one very much later. The author, whoever he was, has inadvertently betrayed himself. The answer would be best given by showing historically the grndual formation of the canon all the way down from Moses, and particularly that from his time even "the Scriptures" had an acknow- le,lged existence. (See Westcott, on 'The Canon,' specially p. 251, in Dr. Smith's • Diet. of tho Bible.' See also Pusey on Jonah i. 1.) Euough for us here to note that Drmiel's prayer was founded on the prophecy and promise of Daniel's G,d. Enough for practical purposes. 280 TRE BOOK OF DANIEL, [ou. 1x. 1-27.