God began responding to Daniel's prayer as soon as he began praying (cf. v. 19; Luke 11:10-13). Clearly the prayer recorded in the preceding verses was only a summary of what the prophet prayed since he prayed long and hard (v. 21).
9:20-21 Daniel again saw Gabriel, whom he had met previously (8:16). He was obviously an angel. The description "the man Gabriel"is a play on words and probably means "the servant, the strong one of the strong God."The Hebrew word ish(man) often appears as a description of a servant.356
"Note that the term ha'is(the man') does not signify man' in contradistinction to angels or other spiritual powers residing in heaven; that would have been adamor enosin Hebrew. It rather indicates that this mighty archangel had appeared in a humanlike form and had spoken to Daniel intelligibly as one man speaks to another [cf. Luke 24:4; Acts 1:10]."357
Evidently Daniel had become weary because of his praying and fasting. The time of the evening offering was 3:00 p.m. The Jews were not able to offer the regular morning and evening sacrifices after the Babylonians destroyed their temple. However pious Jews such as Daniel still prayed at these customary times (cf. 6:10).
9:22-23 Daniel's concern for God's reputation (vv. 4-14) doubtless made him special to God (v. 23). The vision that God had sent Gabriel to convey constituted an answer to Daniel's prayer. It revealed what would happen to the Jews.
"For the first time in the book Daniel's initiative occasions a revelation."358
