his vision

September 5, 2017

Gabriel comes (Dan 9:20-9:21)

“I was speaking.

I was praying,

I was confessing my sins,

As well as the sins

Of my people Israel.

I was presenting

My supplication

Before Yahweh

My God,

On behalf

Of the holy mountain

Of my God.

While I was speaking

In prayer,

The man Gabriel,

Whom I had seen before

In the vision,

Came to me

In swift flight,

At the time

Of the evening sacrifice.”

Daniel was continuing with his prayers and supplications to Yahweh. He was confessing his sins and the sins of his people Israel. He was praying for the holy mountain of God that had been desolated. Then a man called Gabriel came flying in. Daniel said that he was the same Gabriel that was in the preceding chapter that helped Daniel interpret his vision before. There, he had the appearance of a man. Here, he is referred to as a flying man who arrived at the time of the evening sacrifice. Was this the angel Gabriel?

September 2, 2017

Gabriel will explain (Dan 8:16-8:17)

“I heard a human voice

By the Ulai,

Calling.

‘Gabriel!

Help this man

Understand

The vision!’

So,

He came near

Where I stood.

When he came,

I became frightened.

I fell prostrate.

But he said to me.

‘Understand!

O son of man!

That the vision is

For the time

Of the end!’”

Then Daniel, in the first-person singular, heard a human voice or an angel speaking in a human voice. He was at the Ulai River, in Susa. This voice called for Gabriel to help him understand his vision. Then the archangel Gabriel came close to Daniel, but he was frightened and fell to the ground prostrate. Then Gabriel called him son of man. He told him that he should understand that this vision was for the end times.

August 16, 2017

The holy watcher from heaven (Dan 4:13-4:13)

“I continued looking

At the visions

Of my head,

As I lay in bed.

There was a holy watcher.

He came down

From heaven.”

As the king was still looking at this wonderful tree in his vision, while he was in bed, a holy watcher, something like an angel from heaven, came down to the king.

March 25, 2017

The great cloud (Ezek 1:4-1:4)

“As I looked,

A stormy wind

Came out

Of the north.

A great cloud,

With brightness,

Was around it.

Fire

Was flashing forth

Continually.

In the middle of it

Was something

Like gleaming amber.”

Ezekiel continued in the first person singular explaining what his vision looked like. He said that this vision was like a great cloud with a stormy wind that came from the north. Generally powerful but bad things came from the north. This cloud, however, was very bright and seemed to have fire flashes continually around it. In the middle of this cloud there was something like a glowing amber color. Thus this vision of Ezekiel was very stormy, colorful, and powerful.

August 3, 2016

The sentinel announces the attack (Isa 21: 6-21:10)

“Thus Yahweh said to me.

‘Go!

Post a lookout!

Let him announce

What he sees!

When he sees riders,

Horsemen in pairs,

Riders on donkeys,

Riders on camels,

Let him listen diligently,

Very diligently!’

Then the watcher cried out.

‘Upon a watchtower

I stand!

O Lord!

Continually by day!

At my post

I am stationed

Throughout the night.

Look!

There they come

Riders,

Horsemen in pairs!’

Then he responded.

‘Fallen!

Fallen is Babylon!

He has shattered on the ground

All the images of her gods!’

O my threshed one!

O my winnowed one!

What I have heard

From Yahweh of hosts,

The God of Israel,

I announce to you.”

Isaiah continues with what Yahweh had said to him. Yahweh wanted a lookout posted so that he could announce what he saw coming. This lookout person was to watch for riders on horses, camels, and donkeys as well as listen very carefully. He was to stand there during the day and the night. Then he saw the riders coming, as Babylon had fallen with all its gods shattered on the ground. This is what Isaiah had heard from Yahweh in his vision, as he announced this to all. The sentinel watchtower man was a main theme of the later 20th century Jehovah’s Witnesses with their Watchtower magazine.

July 21, 2016

Yahweh’s army (Isa 13:2-13:3)

“On a bare hill

Raise a signal.

Cry aloud to them.

Wave the hand

For them to enter

The gates of the nobles.

I myself have commanded

My consecrated ones.

I have summoned

My warriors,

My proudly exulting ones,

To execute my anger.”

Now Yahweh speaks to Isaiah in his vision. Yahweh was on a hill. He gave a signal to give a loud cry. He waved his hand for them to enter through the gates of the nobles. Interesting enough, the name of Babylon was derived from the term “gate of God.” Yahweh commanded his consecrated ones, his proud exulting warriors, to execute his anger. This appears to be a reference to the Persian soldiers in the 6th century BCE when they were to enter into Babylon through one of the gates. This was not an Israelite army, but a foreign army that Yahweh sent to attack Babylon.