Daniel 10:3

3 Choice lechem I did not eat, neither came basar nor yayin into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, until the completing of the full shloshet shavu’im.

Daniel 10:3 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 10:3

I ate no pleasant bread
Or, "bread of desires" F4; 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 ( Matthew 6:17 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (twdmx Mxl) "panem desideriorum", Pagninus, Montanus; "desiderabilium", Junius & Tremellius; "desiderabilem", V. L. Vatablus, Piscator.

Daniel 10:3 In-Context

1 0 In the shnat shlosh of Koresh (Cyrus) melech Paras (Persia) a davar (word) was revealed unto Daniel, shmo (his name) called Beltshatzar; and emes was the davar, and of a tzava gadol (great conflict, affliction); and he understood the davar, and had binah of the vision.
2 In those days I Daniel was mourning a full shloshah shavu’im (three weeks).
3 Choice lechem I did not eat, neither came basar nor yayin into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, until the completing of the full shloshet shavu’im.
4 And in the four and twentieth yom of the chodesh harishon (first month), as I was on the bank of the nahar hagadol (the great river) which is the Tigris;
5 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, hinei, there before me was as an ish clothed in linen, around whose waist was a belt of the finest gold of Uphaz.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.