God’s Word for You

Daniel 9:21 Gabriel reached me

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, December 20, 2025

21 And while I was saying the prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen before in a vision, reached me. I was very weary. It was the time of the evening sacrifice.

This verse has some translation issues that need to be addressed. But let’s look at the verse as it unfolds. First, Daniel reports for the second time (see verse 20) that what happens here happened, or began to happen, while he was still saying the prayer. We need to take the verb “saying, speaking” as acting and truthful, which means he was not praying to himself in silence, but praying out loud. This was during the reign of the king Daniel calls Darius the Mede (5:31, 9:1). Now, chapter 9 takes place in the very first year of this king, either 539 or 538 BC. The other incident related to this king involves Daniel being caught praying at his window, and being thrown to the lions (Daniel 6:16). It would seem that the account here in chapter 9 precedes what happened in chapter 6. Chapter 11:1 also refers to this time, during the first year of Darius the Mede. Therefore it is more than reasonable to assume that Daniel was praying here at his favorite windows, the ones that were “open windows that faced toward Jerusalem” (Daniel 6:10).

Once again Gabriel comes. He “reaches” Daniel because he had been traveling. Angels are not omnipresent the way that God is. They must travel. To be sure, they are quick. “Here they come, swiftly and speedily!” (Isaiah 5:26). Yet travel they must.

There is no doubt about the identity of Gabriel. He is the same angel Daniel saw before; angels to not take on the appearance of other angels, and although they are usually invisible, when one appears, he has his own appearance. This much we learn from Daniel’s explanation in this verse. A point here that seems to need repeating as our culture becomes less and less well educated is that human beings do not become angels after death. “Angel” is the title of an office, just as “teacher” or “mother” is a title for human beings. “Spirit” is the nature of God’s noblest creatures, and “human” or “man” is the nature of God’s fallen creatures. But just as there is a difference between males and females among humans, and a difference between horses and cows among animals, so also there is a difference between angels and the souls of humans who are awaiting the resurrection. I have too often encountered parents, grieving for a dead child, who insist on calling their child an angel. Pastoral tact has led me to either hold my tongue about this or, if asked, I have learned to say, “Oh, no, your child is better than an angel, for an angel will never have a physical body, but your child will have his or her fleshly body back in the resurrection, and you will once again hold them, hug them, kiss them, in the flesh once again, in the resurrection,” or words to that effect. But as to what Ignatius calls “the location of the angels” (Letter to the Trallians 5:2), man does not have any insights into the invisible realm, for the angels of God are constantly being sent out by God and returning to him by the word of the Son of Man (John 1:51), and not for us to catch sight of the way that my sons and I look for hawks and eagles on the roads outside our city.

But here we come to many translations that say that Gabriel was “flying swiftly.” The NIV, ESV, King James, Greek Septuagint and others have a translation here similar to that. But I strongly think that they have confused the verb ya’eph for the verb ya’oph, which in 2 Samuel 22:11 means to “fly”: “He rode upon a cherub, and he flew. He soared on the wings of the wind.” Angels are sometimes depicted in the Bible with wings, such as there in 2 Samuel, Psalm 18:11, and in Zechariah 5:9 where “the wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a stork.” However, in this case the text is not that Gabriel was “in swift flight,” but that this happened “with great weariness.” This is not a description of Gabriel, as if an angel might become physically weary, but of Daniel, who was exhausted. When Gabriel came to him before, he strengthened the prophet and brought him to his feet (Daniel 8:18).

All of this happened “at the time of the evening sacrifice.” This was at the time of day when the sun would not yet be setting, since that would be the beginning of the new day. The evening sacrifice seems to have fallen sometime between three and four o’clock in the afternoon. This was the usual time of prayer for the people (Malachi 1:13, 3:4; Psalm 141:2).

This passage about Daniel’s prayer being heard and answered even while he was still saying the prayer is something well worth noting. Luther says: “Among all the examples of prayers the one described in Daniel 9:20-21 is outstanding and a jewel, so to speak. I earnestly commend it to all godly people. Daniel says, ‘While I was still speaking and praying, behold, the man Gabriel, etc.’ All this is described, not in order that we should read it only once in passing, the way we are accustomed to become acquainted with secular examples, but that we may be instructed, and in such a manner that we maintain that it pertains to us. Nor should we have any doubt about being heard; be we should leave the place, the time, and all particulars to the will and counsel of God” (LW 4:268).

Dr. Luther is encouraging us to study this passage and to take it to heart; to trust what God is saying about prayer in general and not just Daniel’s prayer on this occasion. We all know (because we have experienced it) that some of our prayers do not receive an immediate answer from God. And we all know that some of our prayers are answered with a “no” from God, as Jesus received a “no” in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36) and Paul received a “no” when praying about his thorn (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). But we should not give up and think, “He will just say ‘no’ to whatever I ask.” For God says “Yes” to far more of our prayers, such as every time we ask him to bless our meal, our day, our loved ones, and whenever we ask him to forgive our sins.

Again, we have a word from Dr. Luther, this time from his dinner table. Somebody asked him, “How do we know when God intends to hear our prayer?” And he replied: “We don’t have a command that we shouldn’t pray. If we had such a command we ought not to pray, but we do have a command to pray.” Therefore, if you have something urgent to pray about, whether it is physical or spiritual or anything else you might ask God about, pray without hesitating, and believe that he will answer quickly. He loves you. He wants what is best for you and for his eternal kingdom. So pray!

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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