Daniel tells us that, while he was yet speaking (Daniel 9:20), in fact he mentions it twice (Daniel 9:21; cp. Psalm 32:5; Isaiah 65:24), while he was yet speaking, confessing his sin and that of his people, Israel, while he was yet presenting his prayer to the Lord for the sake of Jerusalem, Gabriel came in answer to his prayer (Daniel 9:20).
We are reminded in Daniel’s record, here, that, it was Gabriel who had appeared to him in his previous vision, the one that concerned the ram and the goat. It was Gabriel, who explained what that vision meant, and it was he who now came to Daniel in answer to his prayer (Daniel 9:21; cp. 8:16). We are told that Gabriel touched (H5060) Daniel (verse-21), about the time of the evening sacrifice, meaning Daniel was at prayer in his house at the time of prayer corresponding to the time when prayer and sacrifice would have been offered in the Temple.
The word touched (H5060) has a spiritual meaning in the context of Gabriel’s appearance. When David attempted to gain victory over the Jebusites by taking Jerusalem, he told his men that the one who would climb up to the spring’s culvert inside Jerusalem’s walls and attack the Jebusites, even the lame and the blind whom David hates, would be rewarded. Thus, it became a saying or a truism: “The blind and the lame shall not come into the House” (2Samuel 5:8). Moreover, this same word, touched (H5060) is mentioned concerning the king of Nineveh, whereby the “word of God” touched him and he repented. The word has the sense of intimacy of joining with another person. Indeed, it has the sense of having intercourse between a man and a woman (Genesis 20:6). As it pertains to Daniel 9:21, it reveals a sense of enlightenment. In other words, the touch of Gabriel was to give Daniel the ability to see the mysteries that are about to be revealed, because “the blind and the lame,” vis-à-vis those who have no spiritual sight, nor do they walk (spiritually) with the Lord, shall not come into the House of God, meaning God’s Presence (cp. 2Samuel 5:8).
Therefore, Gabriel told Daniel he had come to give him skill (H7919) or success, that is to cause him to prosper and give him understanding (H998) or wisdom in the matter (Daniel 9:22), but in what matter was Daniel to have success and wisdom? I don’t believe, as is assumed by many, that verse-22 is a prelude to verse-23. Rather, I think verse-22 concerns the subject of Daniel’s prayer. How did Cyrus come to understand that it was he whom the Lord had chosen to release the Jews to return to their homeland, and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple that presently lay in waste and destruction? Nowhere in scripture is the thing revealed, whereby Cyrus had come to understand that the Lord anointed him to rebuild Jerusalem and his Temple (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1). It seems to me, that Daniel 9:22 refers not to the revelation of what is mentioned later in the chapter, but to the things that are mentioned prior to this verse. It refers to Daniel’s prayer that his people would be released to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple of God. Nothing else in this chapter expressly shows this prayer had been granted, except verse 22!
Having said this, however, at the very beginning of Daniel’s prayer, the commandment from the Lord came to Gabriel to go to Daniel and show him the prophecy he would soon be given (Daniel 9:23). In other words, Yes, Daniel, the Seventy Years Prophecy is complete, but now seven times those years, or 490 years are determined upon your people to bring them to the time of the end! (Daniel 9:23-24; cp. 8:17).
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