דניאל, פרק י׳, פסוק ד׳

Prophetic revelation often requires an extended period of spiritual preparation and a setting uniquely suited for the experience. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, during the third year of King Cyrus's reign, Daniel reached the culmination of his deep introspection. This exact date marked the end of his three weeks of mourning and fasting, where a specific method of calculation actually counts each of these weeks as eight days [מצודת דוד, יוסף אבן יחיא].

At this time, Daniel positioned himself directly along the banks [מצודת דוד] of the Tigris, a major river located a short distance from the city of Babylon [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. His presence by the water was no coincidence. A riverbank is a known, powerful environment conducive to drawing down divine visions and prophecy, mirroring the experience of the prophet Ezekiel who similarly received his prophetic sights beside a river [אבן עזרא].

Alternatively, the river can be understood entirely as a spiritual metaphor rather than a physical geographic location. In this view, the great river represents an overwhelming flow of heavenly influence, likened to a rush of living waters pouring out from the springs of heaven. This pure, prophetic abundance washed over Daniel as a direct result of his intense spiritual readiness and personal purity [יוסף אבן יחיא].