And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.

And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand.

And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I am now come forth to make thee skilful of understanding.

And he instructed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to make thee skilful of understanding.

And he giveth understanding, and speaketh with me, and saith, 'O Daniel, now I have come forth to cause thee to consider understanding wisely;

And teaching me and talking to me he said, O Daniel, I have come now to give you wisdom.

And he made me to understand, and talked with me, and said: 'O Daniel, I am now come forth to make thee skilful of understanding.

Et docuit me, et loquutus est mecum, et dixit, Daniel, nunc exivi ut te intelligere facerem intelligentiam. [109]

Here the angel prepares the Prophet's mind by saying, he came from heaven to teach him. I went forth, says he, to cause thee to understand. For Daniel ought to understand from this angel's duty, what he ought himself to do. As God had deigned to honor him so highly by setting before him one of his angels as his master and teacher, the Prophet ought not to neglect so singular a favor, lest he should seem ungrateful to God. We now understand why the angel testifies to his coming to teach the Prophet And we also ought to reflect upon this whenever we enter God's Temple, or read any passage of holy Scripture, and acknowledge teachers to be sent to us from God to assist us in our ignorance, and to interpret the Scriptures for us. We ought also to admit Scripture to be given to us to enable us to find there whatever would otherwise be hidden from us. For God opens, as it were, his own heart to us, when he makes known to us his secrets by means of the Law, and the Prophets, and his Apostles also. Thus, Paul shews the gospel to be preached for the obedience of the faith, (Romans 1:5;) as if he had said, we shall not escape with impunity, unless we obediently embrace the doctrine of the gospel; otherwise, we do our utmost to frustrate the designs of God and elude his counsels, unless we faithfully obey his word. It follows, --

And he informed me - Hebrew, Gave me intelligence or understanding. That is, about the design of his visit, and about what would be hereafter.
And talked with me - Spake unto me.
O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill - Margin, "make thee skillful of." The Hebrew is, literally, "to make thee skillful, or wise, in understanding." The design was to give him information as to what was to occur.

And he informed me, and talked with me,.... He informed him, by talking with him, of the will of God, to restore the captivity of his people, to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, and of the coming of the Messiah: or, "he caused me to attend" (n), "and talked with me"; he excited his attention to what he had to say, and caused him to advert to his discourse, in order to understand it:
and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth; just now come from heaven, from the presence of God, and by his order:
to give thee skill and understanding; or, "to instruct thee in understanding" (o); to teach thee the knowledge and give thee the understanding of secret things, which otherwise could not be known; such as particularly the time of the coming of Christ, which the angels themselves knew not till it was revealed; and being made acquainted with it, one of them is employed to make it known to Daniel; who is the only prophet that fixes the exact time of it, and was favoured with this divine and heavenly skill of knowing it, and of being the publisher of it to others.
(n) "attendere fecit", Michaelis. (o) "ad imbuendum te intelligentia", Piscator; "ad docendum te intelligentiam", Micaelis.

to give thee . . . understanding-- Daniel 8:16; Daniel 8:26 shows that the symbolical vision had not been understood. God therefore now gives "information" directly, instead of by symbol, which required interpretation.

ויּבן, he gave understanding, insight, as Daniel 8:16. The words point back to Daniel 9:2. First of all Gabriel speaks of the design and the circumstances of his coming. עתּה יצאתי, now, viz., in consequence of thy morning prayer, I am come, sc. from the throne of God. להשׂכּילך בינה, to instruct thee in knowledge. This is more particularly declared in Daniel 9:23. At the beginning of Daniel's prayer a word, i.e., a communication from God, came forth, which he brought. דּבר, not a commandment, or the divine commandment to Gabriel to go to Daniel, but a word of God, and particularly the word which he announced to Daniel, Daniel 9:24-27. The sentence, "for thou art a man greatly beloved" (חמוּדות = חמוּדות אישׁ, Daniel 10:11, Daniel 10:19, vir desideriorum, desideratissimus), does not contain the reason for Gabriel's coming in haste, but for the principal thought of the verse, the going forth of the word of God immediately at the beginning of Daniel's prayer. המּראה stands not for revelation, but is the vision, the appearance of the angel by whom the word of God was communicated to the prophet. מראה is accordingly not the contents of the word spoken, but the form for its communication to Daniel. To both - the word and the form of its revelation - Daniel must give heed. This revelation was, moreover, not communicated to him in a vision, but while in the state of natural consciousness.