Although the Lord had promised deliverance to His people at the time appointed, Daniel knew of the conditional nature of many of God’s promises (see Jer. 18:7-10). He may have feared that the impenitence of his people might postpone the fulfillment of the promise (see SL 48). Moreover, the vision of Dan. 8 had predicted further desolation for the sanctuary and the city. His lack of understanding of “the vision of the evening and the morning” (v. 26) must have left him in deep perplexity.