Daniel 8:18

18 As he was speaking to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and set me on my feet.

Daniel 8:18 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 8:18

Now as he was speaking with me
Addressing him in the above manner: I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground;
through fear he fell prostrate to the ground, and swooned away, which issued in a deep sleep; and so was unfit to attend to the explanation of the vision the angel was sent to give him; and which was not through indifference to it, or neglect of it; but through human weakness, his nature not being able to bear up under such circumstances, which struck him with such fear and dread: but he touched me, and set me upright;
he jogged him out of his sleep, and took him, and raised him up, and set him on his feet; or, "on his standing" F13; which Ben Melech explains, as he "was standing at first"; and so in a better posture to attend to what was about to be revealed unto him.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (ydme le) "super stare meum", Montanus, Gejerus; "super stationem meam", Michaelis.

Daniel 8:18 In-Context

16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the U'lai, and it called, "Gabriel, make this man understand the vision."
17 So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened and fell upon my face. But he said to me, "Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end."
18 As he was speaking to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me and set me on my feet.
19 He said, "Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation; for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.
20 As for the ram which you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.