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 by the plea that Jerusalem is the city of God (Thy city). Compare Psa 79:4 and Psa 44:14.

Verse 17
In this verse the prayer is repeated in more earnest words. With פּניך האר (cause Thy face to shine) compare Psa 80:4 and Num 6:25. אדני למען, because Thou art Lord, is stronger than למענך. As the Lord κατ ̓ἐχοχήν, God cannot let the desolation of His sanctuary continue without doing injury to His honour; cf. Isa 48:11.

Verses 18-19
The argument by which the prayer is urged, derived from a reference to the desolations, is strengthened by the words in apposition: and the city over which Thy name is named; i.e., not which is named after Thy name, by which the meaning of this form of expression is enfeebled. The name of God is the revelation of His being. It is named over Jerusalem in so far as Jehovah gloriously revealed Himself in it; He has raised it, by choosing it as the place of His throne in Israel, to the glory of a city of God; cf. Psa 48:2., and regarding this form of expression, the remarks under Deu 28:10. The expression: and laying down my supplication before God (cf. Dan 9:20), is derived from the custom of falling down before God in prayer, and is often met with in Jeremiah; cf. Jer 38:26; Jer 42:9, and Jer 36:7. The Kethiv פּקחה (Dan 9:18, open) is to be preferred to the Keri פּקח, because it is conformed to the imperative forms in Dan 9:19, and is in accordance with the energy of the prayer. This energy shows itself in the number of words used in Dan 9:18 and Dan 9:19. Chr. B. Mich., under Dan 9:19, has well remarked: ”Fervorem precantis cognoscere licet cum ex anaphora, seu terna et mysterii plena nominis Adonai repetitione, tum ex eo, quod singulis hisce imperativis He paragogicum ad intensiorem adfectum significandum superaddidit, tum ex congerie illa verborum: Audi, Condona, Attende, reliqua.”

Verses 20-21
Dan 9:20-21''The granting of the prayer. - ''While Daniel was yet engaged in prayer (הר ק על, on account of the holy mountain, i.e., for it, see under Dan 9:16), an answer was already communicated to him; for the angel Gabriel came to him, and brought to him an explanation of the seventy years of Jeremiah, i.e., not as to their expiry, but what would happen after their completion for the city and the people of God. האישׁ, the man Gabriel, refers, by the use of the definite article, back to Dan 8:15, where Gabriel appeared to him in the form of a man. This is