There are some clues in these verses [Daniel 10:2-4] that may
make it possible for us to estimate rather precisely when this appearance of
God came to Daniel. He says that he had been mourning and fasting for three
“full” weeks and that then God appeared to him on the twenty-fourth day of the
first month–Nisan (10:4). Given the close proximity of these statements, the
implication is that the twenty-fourth day of the first month took place
immediately at the end of the three weeks of fasting. The original language
uses an idiom here to indicate that the weeks were “full.” Full weeks come to
an end after seven days; they end on Sabbath, the seventh day. Since this
vision appeared to Daniel at the end of three full weeks, it must also have
come to him on a Sabbath day. That means that this final prophecy of the book
of Daniel was most likely given on a Sabbath. This is the only vision in the
book that we can date with such precision.
Shea, William H., Daniel,
2 vols., Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1996, vol. 2, p. 172.
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