John Gill Commentary Daniel 10:16

John Gill Commentary

Daniel 10:16

1697–1771
Reformed Baptist
John Gill
John Gill

John Gill Commentary

Daniel 10:16

1697–1771
Reformed Baptist
SCRIPTURE

"And, behold, one in the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by reason of the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I retain no strength." — Daniel 10:16 (ASV)

And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men
Not the man clothed with linen, or Christ; but either the same angel, Gabriel, who appeared more manifestly to him in a human form; or another of the attendants of Christ, who also had the similitude of a man:

touched my lips ;
with his hand, as the Prophet Isaiah's were, by a seraph, with a live coal from the altar, (Isaiah 6:7) , thereby restoring him to his speech, and giving him freedom and boldness to make use of it; and removing from him his impurity, and a sense of it, which occasioned his silence:

then I opened my mouth, and spoke
freely, and yet with all becoming modesty: and said unto him that stood before me, O lord ;

the angel that appeared in the likeness of a man, and stood before the prophet, and touched his lips, whom he calls "lord"; not because of sovereignty and dominion over him, which belong to Christ, as the Creator of all things, and Head of the church; but for honour's sake, being a noble and exalted creature:

by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me ;
on sight of the glorious object represented to him in the vision, pains seized his body in all parts of it, sharp and pungent, like those of a woman in travail.

Gussetius F25 interprets it of the knuckle bones, which turned in the pan of them, like the hinges of a door, of which the word is used, (Proverbs 26:14) , and this through the tendons being loosed by the dissipation of the spirits; and this sense the Vulgate Latin version gives countenance to, my joints are dissolved ;
the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, are, "my inward parts or bowels are turned in me: and I have retained no strength"; (See Gill on Daniel 10:8).


FOOTNOTES:

  • F25: Comment. Ebr. p. 713.