Daniel 10:3

Dan 10:3 I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

Ver. 3. I ate no pleasant bread.] Bread he ate, for animantis cuiusque vita in fuga est, life will fail if not maintained by food, but coarse bread panem cibarium, atrum, et siligineum, and no more of that either than needs must. He voluntarily abridged himself of lawful delights, macerating and mortifying his flesh, that he might communicate with his poor afflicted brethren, and pray the harder for them. Fasting inflameth prayer, and prayer sanctifieth fasting.

Neither did I anoint myself at all.] All delights of sense must be laid aside in a time of solemn humiliation, but yet without annoyance and uncomeliness, as music, mirth, perfumes, brave apparel; {2Sa 12:20 Joh 3:8 Exo 33:4-6 1Ki 21:27} cheerfulness, outward joy, and pleasure (Mar 2:20 Luk 5:35 cf. Mat 9:15 Jdg 20:26 1Sa 7:6). It is spoken of as a foul sin; Isa 58:3, "Behold in the day of your fast ye find pleasure."

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Dan_10:3

I ate not pleasant bread.

Intense religion

About a hundred years ago, a man of God thus wrote in his diary: I was enabled to persevere in prayer till I saw so much need of Divine help, that I knew not how to leave off, and had forgot I needed food.

D. Brainerd. Strange intensity of desire! He who felt it must have been far above most Christians of our age. Who of us could thus record the longings of his soul? We feel that this is reality. There is no insobriety or wild excitement here. All is calm and deep. We are listening to the utterances of a soul that has got into conscious contact and vital fellowship with God; and who, in the profound enjoyment thus entered on, has lost the consciousness of this outer world in which he is still a dweller. Happy saint! Who would not tread thy footsteps, and thus get as competely within the veil as thou! All thy religion was amid realties and certainties. There was no distance, no dimness, no vagueness in thy intercourse with the Father of Spirits. How much of our religion is made up of shadows and incoherencies! how much of our intercourse with God is vague and distant; a groping after something which we seem never to reach, instead of being living, personal, conscious intercourse between our souls and God! (The Study.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

no pleasant bread--"unleavened bread, even the bread of affliction" (Deu 16:3).

anoint--The Persians largely used unguents.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. I ate no pleasant bread] This fast was rather a general abstinence; living all the while on coarse and unsavoury food; drinking nothing but water; not using the bath, and most probably wearing haircloth next the skin, during the whole of the time.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) Pleasant bread—i.e., delicate food. Abstaining from this as well as from the use of oil (comp. 2Sa_12:20; Amo_6:6) were the outward signs of Daniel’s grief.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. pleasant bread] lit. bread of desirablenesses (Dan_9:23). Daniel did not fast absolutely; he only abstained from ‘pleasant’ food. Flesh and wine would, in the East, not be indulged in except at a festivity, or on other special occasions (e.g. Gen_27:25, 1Sa_25:11 [where LXX. followed by many moderns, has wine for water]; Isa_22:13).

neither did I anoint myself at all] The practice of anointing the body with oil or other unguents was common among the Jews, as among other ancient nations: it soothed and refreshed the skin, and was a protection against heat. It was customary after washing, especially in anticipation of a visit, a feast, &c. (Rth_3:3); and so to be anointed was a mark of contentment and joy (Isa_61:3, Ecc_9:8; cf. Mat_6:17), while, conversely, during mourning it was usual not to anoint oneself (2Sa_14:2; cf. 2Sa_12:20).

three whole weeks] The same expression which in Dan_10:2 is rendered full weeks.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I ate no pleasant bread,.... Or, "bread of desires" (d); such as was made of the finest of the wheat, and was eaten in the courts of princes where Daniel was: according to some Jewish Rabbins in Ben Melech, hot bread is meant; but in general it means the best of bread, such as had good qualities to make it desirable; and this Daniel refrained from, while he was humbling and afflicting himself on this sorrowful occasion, but ate coarse bread, black and grainy:

neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth; not delicate meat, as of fish, fowl, deer, and the like, as Saadiah observes; but contented himself with meaner fare; nor did he drink generous wine, as he had used to do, living in a king's court, and which his old age made necessary for him, since he could come at it; but he abstained from it, and other lawful pleasures of nature, the more to give himself up to acts of devotion and contemplation:

neither did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled; which was wont to be frequently done by the Jews, especially at feasts; and by the Persians every day, among whom he now was; but this he refrained from, as was usual in times of fasting and humiliation; see Mat 6:17.

(d) "panem desideriorum", Pagninus, Montanus; "desiderabilium", Junius & Tremellius; "desiderabilem", V. L. Vatablus, Piscator.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I ate no pleasant bread - Margin, “bread of desires.” So the Hebrew. The meaning is, that he abstained from ordinary food, and partook of that only which was coarse and disagreeable.

Neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth - That is, he lived on bread or vegetables. It is not to be inferred from this that Daniel ordinarily made use of wine, for it would seem from Dan. 1: that that was not his custom. What would appear from this passage would be, that he practiced on this occasion the most rigid abstinence.

Neither did I anoint myself - The use of unguents was common in the East (see the notes at Mat 6:17), and Daniel here says that he abstained during these three weeks from what he ordinarily observed as promoting his personal comfort. He gave himself up to a course of life which would be expressive of deep grief. Nature prompts to this when the mind is overwhelmed with sorrow. Not only do we become indifferent to our food, but it requires an effort not to be indifferent to our dress, and to our personal appearance.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Fasting and feasting are very inconsistent; Daniel at other times lived magnificently, according to the dignity of his place, he had the best bread, flesh, wine, and anointing after the manner of the East, all which he laid aside, that by austerity he might afflict his body, and quicken his soul suitably to the time of Jacob’s trouble and to a true fasting frame.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. The versions are in perfect agreement with the Massoretic text. Pleasant bread; "bread of desires" is the rendering of the Septuagint and of Theodotion; the word is the same in Hebrew and Greek as that applied to Daniel. Neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth. This shows that the practice adopted by Daniel and his fellows during their training was not regarded by Daniel, at least as incumbent on him after he could regulate his own affairs. His ordinary habit was to eat flesh and to drink wine; but during these weeks of fast, he denied himself these dainties. Neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. The pleasure of anointing the body with oil was highly esteemed among the ancients. It is impossible to fail to recognize, in this passage, the origin of the Essenian discipline. The Essenes abstained, from flesh, from wine, and from anointing themselves. Daniel thus abstained, as a sign of sorrow for the sin of his people; they made this fast a perpetual discipline. They waited for the salvation of Israel, and endeavoured, by fasting, to hasten the coming of the Lord. The converse of this, that Daniel"s fast is derived from the Essene discipline, is not to be thought of. It is a sign of a later development, when such practices of self-denial, from being the incidents of a life which occur on special occasions, become its rule. As early as B.C. 106 an Essene is mentioned teaching in the temple, and mentioned with no evidence that his sect was a thing of recent origin. The limits are narrow between the critical date of Daniel and this date that within them so prominent a sect as the Essenes should spring up.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

white bread Heb. לֶחֶם חֲמֻדֹת, white (lit. clean) bread, as Onkelos rendered (Gen. 27:15): “Esau’s clean clothes (הַחֲמֻדֹת),” דַּכְיָתָא, clean.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.