In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks
By the third year of Cyrus the exile was over on paper: the decree had gone out, and a company of Jews had gone home. Yet Daniel stayed on in Babylon and mourned for three weeks, and the chapter never says why.
Chapter 9 measured out "seventy weeks," and readers carry that arithmetic into chapter 10. The Hebrew wording here is not the same.
In Scripture a week usually stands for seven ordinary days. That is plainly the case in Daniel 10:2, where the prophet mourns for "three full weeks" (margin, Hebrew: weeks of days). But Daniel 9:24 does not use this definite expression, "a week of days." There our English Bibles read "seventy weeks." In the Hebrew original that expression stands for "seventy sevens." It does not say whether these are days, years, or any other period of time. The context must decide that.
So the plain reading stands: twenty-one literal days. The ESV reads "three weeks"; older versions keep the Hebrew idiom, "three full weeks."
The timing makes this striking. The door out of Babylon stood open, and Daniel had every comfort at his command. He mourned instead.
Daniel was not among these. He was not now expecting only bright visions of immediate glory. Instead he is still found, more than ever, humbling himself before God.
There were two ways to see the partial return. Daniel did not take the popular one.
Human nature might have seen the partial return as a revival among God's people. It looked like a fresh start in their spiritual history, one that called for celebration, feasting and rejoicing. The man of God, however, feels the sorrowful past of God's people. He feels their present weakness, even though they are free to return to the land. Above all he foresees the further sorrows that await them before their final deliverance. Among those who returned, the younger generation "shouted with a great shout," but the old men "wept with a loud voice" (Ezra 3:12).
Daniel never states his reason. Where should a reader look for it?
The subject of his sorrow and fasting is not stated. But the chapter before shows that the condition of his people and of the holy city weighed on his heart. So we may well conclude that his mourning here was over the same thing. We can be all the surer of it, because his mourning led to a revelation of the future deliverance of his people.
Another writer points to the gap between what had happened and what God had promised.
The people were not in the state that the prophetic Spirit in Daniel could recognise as the promised blessings fulfilled... God's Spirit had taken Daniel over the whole period of the Gentiles. So he understood well what had happened. There had been a kind of deliverance — some relief through the goodness of God, a little refreshment from above. But none of God's promises had really come true.
The three weeks look like heaven ignoring him. Verse 12 says otherwise. That matters for anyone praying with no reply.
What is worth noting is this: the answer to Daniel's cry left the throne of God at the very start of his seeking, as we read in Daniel 10:12... "But" — how marvellous and mysterious this is! — "the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days."
The reason for the delay shows us more than the future.
When the reason for this long fast comes out, we are let into the link between the world we see and the world we do not see. All prophecy lifts the veil from the future, and this vision does more. It shows, in an interesting light, what is around us now, but unseen.
Two lessons follow from Daniel's mourning.
The one who most completely identifies himself with the sorrows of God's people is most in fellowship with the heart of God for them. And if we want God to share His mind with us, our soul must be in a state to receive it. What greater mistake could we make than to think we can enter God's secrets without a heart made ready? Or to think that hearing or reading alone can teach us divine things?
- Days, not years. The Hebrew reads "weeks of days." That sets these three weeks apart from the "seventy sevens" of chapter 9. Daniel fasted twenty-one literal days.
- Sorrow. The exile had ended and some Jews were home. Daniel mourned instead of celebrating: a partial recovery is not the promised deliverance.
- Silence. The answer left God's throne on day one. The twenty-one days were opposition on the way, not silence at the source.
- Unseen. The reason for the delay lifts the veil not only on the future but on the invisible powers at work around us right now.
- Readiness. God's secrets follow a prepared heart. Daniel's fasting was not a bargaining chip. It was the state of soul that could receive the vision.
I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three full weeks were fulfilled.
In the third year of Cyrus, the aged Daniel mourns for three weeks in the land of exile. The verse names what he gave up: rich food, meat, wine, even oil on his skin. It never says why. Commentators ask what could hold a man back from every pleasure for twenty-one days.
The chapter never names the cause of his grief. Writers read it from the chapter before, where Jerusalem and its people weighed on him.
The subject of his sorrow and fasting is not stated. But we know from the previous chapter that the state of his people and of the holy city lay heavily on his heart. So we may well conclude that his mourning here had the same cause. We are the more sure of it because it led to a revelation of the future deliverance of his people.
The timing is striking. The return home had already begun.
Though Daniel remained in the land of captivity, he was in no way indifferent to the condition of God's people. The state of his soul shows it clearly… Nature might have seen in the partial return a revival among God's people, a fresh start that called for celebration, feasting and rejoicing. The man of God, however, feels the sorrowful past of God's people. He feels their present weakness, even though they are free to return to the land. Above all, he foresees the further sorrows waiting for them before they reach their final deliverance… It would be well for God's people if every gracious revival among them became an occasion for confession and mourning. Remember that there will be no full and final deliverance until Christ comes.
Daniel could have had anything he wanted. Kelly notes that he did the opposite of what human nature does when good news arrives.
He was not enjoying himself in a foreign land, but mourning and fasting — and this in circumstances where he had everything at his command… The moment was near for the little remnant to leave Babylon and return to the land of their fathers. We can all understand why he humbled his own soul before God then, and reviewed the sin that had brought such a terrible chastening on the people from the Lord. Even then he was doing the exact opposite of what the flesh would have wanted. For when some great outward mercy is granted, that is the very time when a man naturally tends to give free rein to his enjoyment. Daniel did the reverse. He took the place of confession, confessing not only Israel's sins but his own. Only a holy man could have so deep a sense of sin.
What does fasting express? One writer answers, calling our natural self "the first man".
Prayer is the expression of complete dependence on God. Fasting shows the absolute refusal of ourselves and all human gratifications. In practice the first man is completely set aside, and we walk in simple dependence on God alone. This will mean death to myself as a man here, in every way. Faith connects our souls with another scene altogether, where the first man has no place.
The three weeks are not just background to the vision. They prepared Daniel to receive it.
First, the one who most fully identifies himself with the sorrows of God's people is most in fellowship with the heart of God for them… Second, if we want God to make His mind known to us, our soul must be in a state to receive it. What greater mistake could we make than to think we can enter God's secrets without a moral readiness of heart? Can we understand divine things merely by hearing or reading, or because we have gathered around certain leaders of God's people and eagerly upheld their teachings?
God did not delay the answer. Later verses in the chapter explain the twenty-one days.
One thing is especially worth noting. God sent the answer to Daniel's cry from His throne at the very beginning of his exercise. We read in Daniel 10:12: "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words." But — how marvellous and mysterious this is! — "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me."
- Burden. The verse never names his grief. The chapter before does: his people and their city lay heavily on his heart.
- Timing. The mourning comes after the good news of return. Where nature would celebrate, Daniel humbled himself.
- Fasting. Refusing food, wine and oil is the refusal of self. It sets the first man aside and ties the soul to an unseen scene.
- Fitness. The one who shares the sorrows of God's people stands nearest to God's heart. A prepared heart receives God's mind; reading and loyalty to teachers do not.
- Answer. The reply left the throne on day one. The twenty-one days were opposition, not silence.