Daniel 8:16

Dan 8:16 And I heard a man’s voice between [the banks of] Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this [man] to understand the vision.

Ver. 16. And I heard a man’s voice.] This was the man Christ Jesus, the great doctor of his Church, and commander of angels, viro similis, quia incarnandus.

Make this man to understand.] Angels and ministers make men to understand secrets, "give the knowledge of salvation to God’s people," {Luk 1:77} not by infusion, but by instruction.

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.

And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai - See the notes at Dan 8:2. The voice seemed to come from the river, as if it were that of the Genius of the river, and to address Gabriel, who stood near to Daniel on the shore. This was doubtless the voice of God. The speaker was invisible, and this method of explaining the vision was adopted, probably to make the whole scene more impressive.

Which called, and said, Gabriel - Gabriel is mentioned in the Scriptures only in Dan 8:16; Dan 9:21; Luk 1:19, Luk 1:26. In Luk 1:19, he is mentioned as saying of himself, “I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God.” The word means, properly, “man of God.” Nothing more is known of him, and he is mentioned only as bearing messages to Daniel, to Zacharias the father of John the Baptist, and to Mary.

Make this man to understand the vision - Explain it to him so that he will under stand its meaning.

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

This power to command the Angel, declared that he was God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Gabriel--meaning, "the strength of God."

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

He does not use the particle implying fitness, but says he heard the voice of a man, because he treats no longer of either a man or a figure, but of a voice. It is sufficient to say at once, he was like a man, not really so, but only under the image and appearance of one. Christ therefore appeared as a man, and is called one, since Scripture often records how angels often appeared under the form of men, and are called indiscriminately, either angels or men. (Judges 8:3, etc.) So in this place Daniel relates the appearance of a man, or the aspect of one, improperly indeed, but without any danger of mistake; for he afterwards admonishes the faithful, how this person was not clothed with the substance of flesh, but had only a human form and aspect. I heard then a human voice in the midst of the river We gather from this that the same person is here intended of whom mention was lately made, because he commands the angel; whence this can be referred to Christ alone.

Gabriel, says he, teach him. We observe the speaker from the midst of the river here commanding Gabriel, as if superior to him. For Gabriel as the name of an angel, is sufficiently known from other passages of Scripture; (Luke 1:19, 26;) and its etymology, “The strength of God,” is very suitable to this meaning. Without ally doubt, the angel here receives his commands from Christ. Thus, we see the supreme power and authority represented under the form and aspect of a man, as well as obedience portrayed in Gabriel, who discharges the duty enjoined upon him. From this Christ’s divinity is inferred, as he could not issue orders to angels, without either having special authority, or being God himself. But when the phrase “like a man” is used, we are taught his manifest superiority to man. And what does this imply? not angelic nature but divine. Christ by thus presenting himself under a human form, shews, by a kind of foreshadowing, how he would become a man, when the fullness of time arrived. Then he would really manifest himself as the head of the Church, and the guardian of the salvation of the pious. For he proves himself to have power over all angels, when he orders Gabriel to discharge the office of the Prophet’s instructor. We will put off the remainder.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(16) Between the . . . Ulai.—The city, as it would appear, stood between the two branches of the river. The two branches were the Eulæus and the Choaspes.

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

16. between Ulai] This singular expression can, it seems, mean only ‘between (the banks of) Ulai’ (Dan_8:2): the voice seemed to come to Daniel from above the waters of the river (cf. Dan_12:6-7).

Gabriel] mentioned also in Dan_9:21 as explaining to Daniel Jeremiah’s prophecy of the 70 years, and in Luk_1:19; Luk_1:26, as foretelling the birth of John the Baptist to Zacharias, and acting as the angel of the Annunciation to Mary. Gabriel is also often mentioned in non-canonical Jewish writings. In Enoch ix. 1 and xx. 7, he is one of the four (or seven) principal angels or ‘archangels’ (see their names on Dan_10:13); in xl. 3–7, 9, he is one of the four ‘presences’ (Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel; so liv. 6, lxxi. 8, 9, 13), who bless, or make intercession, or ward off the accusing ‘Satans,’ before God (comp. Luk_1:19, ‘I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God’); in Dan_10:9 he is commissioned to destroy the wicked giants. Gabriel is also mentioned not unfrequently in the later (post-Christian) Jewish literature (Weber, System der altsynag. Theologie, pp. 162, 163–4, 167–8, 306): so, for instance, in the Targ. of Pseudo-Jon. on Gen_37:15, he is the ‘man’ who shews Joseph the way to his brethren, and in the Targ. on Job_25:2 he is said to stand on God’s left hand, while Michael is at His right. See, further, on Dan_10:13.

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.

And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai,.... Near to which Daniel was, Dan 8:2 and it seemed to him as if the appearance of the man was in the midst of the river, between the banks of it, from whence the voice came; or between the arms of it, it bending and winding about; or rather between Shushan and the river; or between the prophet and that: this voice was the voice of the person that appeared as a man in the preceding verse:

which called, and said, Gabriel; the voice was loud, audible, and commanding; even to an angel, one of great note, Gabriel, the man of God, the mighty one; and shows, that the person that made this appearance, and spoke in this authoritative way, was the Lord, and head of angels, even of all principalities and power, at whose beck and command they are:

make this man to understand the vision; the above vision of the ram, he goat, and little horn; give him a full explanation of it; tell him what the several figures mean, represented in it; that he may have a clear understanding of all things contained in it; the saints and people of God are sometimes instructed by angels, and particularly the prophets of old were; and which was more common in the times of the former dispensation than now; for God has not put in subjection to angels the world to come, or the Gospel dispensation, Heb 2:5.

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

A man’s voice, i.e. of him but now before mentioned, namely, Christ.

To understand the vision, i.e. by declaring it more plainly to him: this shows Christ to be God, in commanding and sending his angel. Gabriel signifies the strength of God.

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

And I heard a man"s voice between the hanks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. The Septuagint has an addition, "And the man called out, saying, To that purpose is the vision. " This seems to be a gloss. Theodotion and the Peshita agree with the Massoretic, only that Theodotion does not indicate the difference of the word used for "man" in this verse from that in ver 15, and renders Ulai Oubeh" Between Ulai" is a singular phrase. The versions do not attempt any solution. The preposition bayin means usually "between." If we assume that the river Ulai is here meant, and that it divided into two branches, the thing is explicable. Only it would have been more in accordance with usage to have put "Ulai" in the plural. It may, perhaps refer to the marsh, in which case it might be between the citadel and the marsh. Daniel had seen the appearance of a man; now he hears a voice addressing the man, and naming him Gabriel, "Hero of God." It is to be noted that this is the earliest instance of the naming of angels in Scripture. In the tenth chapter Michael is also named. These are the only angelic names in the whole of Scripture. These two names, and these alone, recur in the New Testament, the first of them in the first chapter of Luke, and the second in Rev_12:7 and Jude. The Book of Tobit added another angelic name on the same lines, Raphael. When we pass to the Books of Enoch, we have moat elaborate hierarchies of angels, in all of which, however much they may otherwise differ, occur the two angels mentioned here and Raphael. The difference in atmosphere between the elaborate angelology of Enoch and the reticent accounts in the book before us is great. It is hardly possible to imagine so great a difference between the works of men that were all but contemporaries. The function assigned to Gabriel here is in accordance with that he fulfils in the New Testament he is to make Daniel "understand the vision."

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

A man's voice - Of him before mentioned, namely, Christ.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

in the midst of the Ulai in the midst of the river.

and he called i.e., the man.

and said to the angel, “You, Gabriel.”

enable this one to understand the vision explain the vision to this one.

this one Heb. לְהַלָּז, an expression of esteem, as he called him חֲמוּדוֹת, one of desirable qualities. Wherever it says הַלָז it refers to a person of form, and from here they learned in the Aggadah: Isaac resembled his father in form and in likeness, for he is called הָאִישּׁ הַלָז in the section commencing, “Now it came to pass when Isaac was old.” (Gen. 39:6): “...and Joseph was fair in form and fair in appearance.” This is the beauty enumerated among the five things that a father merits for his son.

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.