Artaxerxes Restoring The Vessels Of The Temple. "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. 8:14.
1. Immediately after the vision of Daniel 8, what did Daniel learn from his study of the prophecy of Jeremiah?
“In the first year of Darius ... I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” Dan. 9:1, 2.
Note.—The first deportation to Babylon, when Daniel and his companions were carried captive, was in b.c. 606, and the seventy years of Jeremiah's prophecy would therefore expire in b.c. 536. The first year of Darius was b.c. 538, and the restoration period was therefore only two years distant from that time.
2. What did this nearness of the time of restoration from captivity lead Daniel to do?
“And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” Verse 3.
3. What urgent petition of the prophet connects this prayer with the vision of the taking away of the continual mediation and the desolation of the sanctuary recorded in Daniel 8?
“Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.” Dan. 9:17.
4. At the conclusion of Daniel's prayer, what assurance did Gabriel give him?
“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.