Daniel 1:21 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And Daniel continued Hebrew, ויהי, he was, namely, in the court of Babylon, known, employed, and held in reputation, under Nebuchadnezzar and his successors; even unto the first year of Cyrus Till the monarchy passed from the Chaldeans to the Persians in the person of Cyrus, under whom also he maintained his authority. For the expression, unto, or till, the first year, is not intended to signify that he lived no longer; for it appears, from Daniel 10:1, that he lived at least till the third year of that monarch, in which year he had visions and revelations. He lived to see the promises of Isaiah and Jeremiah fulfilled, with respect to the deliverance of the Jews from their state of captivity in Babylon, which began to be accomplished in the first year of Cyrus, Ezra 1:1, and for the accomplishment of which we find Daniel very solicitous, Daniel 9:1-2. This being so remarkable a year, the text takes notice that Daniel lived to that time, but does not say how much longer he lived.