Daniel 10:1-21
INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCLUDING VISION
The remaining section of the Book of Daniel forms but one vision, of which this chapter is the Introduction or Prologue.
Daniel's Terrifying Vision of a Man
Daniel is here spoken of in the third person. It is dated in the third year of Cyrus B.C. 535. We have already been told that Daniel lived to see the first year of Cyrus. Dan. 1:21 This verse, if accepted historically, would show that at any rate Daniel did not return to Israel with the exiles. Age, high rank, and opportunities of usefulness in the Persian Court may have combined to render his return undesirable for the interests of his people. The date the last given in the life of Daniel is perhaps here mentioned to account for the allusions which follow to the kingdom of Persia. But with the great and moving fortunes of the Jews after the accession of Cyrus, and even with the beginning of their new national life in Jerusalem, the author is scarcely at all concerned. He makes no mention of Zerubbabel the prince, nor of Joshua the priest, nor of the decree of Cyrus, nor of the rebuilding of the Temple; his whole concern is with the petty wars and diplomacy of the reign of Anti, of which an account is given, so minute as either to furnish us with historical materials unknown to any other historian, or else is difficult to reconcile with the history of that king’s reign as it has been hitherto understood.
In this chapter, as in the two preceding, there are great difficulties and uncertainties about the exact significance of some of the verses, and textual emendations have been suggested.
The first and second verses are rendered partly by Ewald and partly by other scholars, Truth is the revelation, and distress is great; therefore understand thou the revelation, since there is understanding of it in the vision. The admonition calls attention to the importance of the word, and the fact that reality lies beneath its enigmatic and apocalyptic form.
The final vision
The Preparation of the Prophet
The occasion of the vision
The final vision given to Daniel came in the third year of the reign of Cyrus which was 536 b.c. Exiles had returned from Babylon and had begun rebuilding the temple. Perhaps Daniel had not returned with the exiles because of his age. Israel’s captivity had ended. Jerusalem was being reoccupied, and the nation seemed to be at peace. The revelation in the vision given to Daniel on this occasion shattered any hope the prophet might have had that Israel would enjoy her new freedom and peace for long. For God revealed that the nation would be involved in many conflicts a great war. Understanding the significance of the vision, Daniel fasted for three weeks lit., three sevens of days: cf. See Dan. 9:25. During this time of mourning he abstained from choice foods and apparently waited on God in prayer cf. Dan. 10:12 concerning his people’s destiny.
Daniel had been mourning for three full weeks, during which he ate no dainty bread, nor flesh, nor wine, nor did he anoint himself with oil. But in the Passover month of Abib or Nisan, the first month of the year, and on the twenty-fourth day of that month, he was seated on the bank of the great river, Hiddekel or Tigris, when, lifting up his eyes, he saw a certain man clothed in fine linen like a Jewish priest, and his loins girded with gold of Uphaz. His body was like chrysolite, his face flashed like lightning, his eyes were like torches of fire, his arms and feet gleamed like polished brass, and the sound of his words was as the sound of a deep murmur. Daniel had companions with him; they did not see the vision, but some supernatural terror fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves.
The heavenly messenger
After three weeks cf. Dan. 10:3 Daniel was visited by a messenger as the prophet was standing by the Tigris River cf. Dan. 12:5. The messenger was an angel from heaven, not a human being. He was dressed in linen cf. Dan. 12:7 and had a dazzlingly bright appearance. Since Gabriel previously had been sent by God to reveal truth to Daniel Dan. 8:16, probably Gabriel was also the visitor on this occasion. Angels, who dwell in the presence of God who is light, are themselves clothed with light, and Daniel saw something of heaven’s glory reflected in this one who visited him Dan. 10:5-6.
Some Bible students say that the man was the preincarnate Christ because of (a) the similarity of the description here to that of Christ in Rev. 1:13-16, (b) the response of Daniel and his friends Dan. 10:7-8, and (c) the fact that this Man may be the same as the Son of Man in Dan. 7:13 and the Man in Dan. 8:16. On the other hand, in favor of this messenger being an angel is the improbability of Christ being hindered by a prince demon of Persia Dan. 10:13 and needing the help of the angel Michael, and the fact that the person is giving a message from heaven.
Again Daniel’s companions evidently saw the brilliance of the light without seeing the visitor and they fled to hide from its shining. Daniel remained alone in the angel’s presence and, being weak, Daniel prostrated himself before the messenger. In that position Daniel fell asleep. He was then aroused from his sleep by the angel so he might receive the revelation the angel had come to deliver. Again the angel, calling the prophet highly esteemed cf. Dan. 9:23; 10:19, declared, I have now been sent to you by God, who had heard Daniel’s request for understanding.
At this great spectacle his strength departed, and his brightness was changed to corruption; and when the vision spoke, he fell to the earth face downwards. A hand touched him, and partly raised him to the trembling support of his knees and the palms of his hands, and a voice said to him, Daniel, thou greatly beloved, stand upright, and attend: for I am sent to thee. The seer was still trembling; but the voice bade him fear not, for his prayer had been heard, and for that reason this message had been sent to him. Gabriel’s coming had, however, been delayed for three weeks, by his having to withstand for twenty days the prince of the kingdom of Persia. The necessity of continuing the struggle was only removed by the arrival of Michael, one of the chief princes, to help him, so that Gabriel was no longer, needed to resist the kings of Persia. The vision was for many days, and he had come to enable Daniel to understand it.
The explanation by the heavenly messenger
Encouraging Daniel not to be afraid cf. Dan. 10:8, Gabriel explained the reason for the delay in God’s answer to Daniel’s prayer. When Daniel first began fasting and mourning in response to the vision of a great war Dan. 10:1-2, God had dispatched Gabriel with a message for him, but Gabriel was hindered by the prince of the Persian kingdom cf. the prince of Persia, Dan. 10:20. Since men cannot fight with angels Jacob’s wrestling was with God, not an angel; cf. See Gen. 32:22-32, the prince referred to here must have been a satanic adversary.
God has arranged the angelic realm in differing ranks referred to as rule, authority, power, and dominion Eph. 1:21. Gabriel and Michael have been assigned authority over angels who administer God’s affairs for the nation Israel cf. Michael in Dan. 10:21; 12:1; Jude 1:9. In imitation Satan has also apparently assigned high-ranking demons to positions of authority over each kingdom. The prince of the Persian kingdom was a satanic representative assigned to Persia. To seek to prevent Gabriel’s message from getting to Daniel, the demonic prince attacked Gabriel as he embarked on his mission. This gives insight into the nature of the warfare fought in the heavenlies between God’s angels and Satan’s demons to which Paul referred Eph. 6:12: Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world, and against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.
The battle between Gabriel and the prince demon of Persia continued for three weeks until Michael, one of the chief princes of the angelic realm cf. Dan. 10:21; 12:1, came to Gabriel’s assistance. Such angelic demonic conflict indicates something of Satan’s power. While the king of Persia was fighting Michael, Gabriel was able to bring a message to Daniel concerning the future of Israel, Daniel’s people cf. your people, Dan. 9:24. It was to be a revelation of the warfare Dan. 10:1 between Israel and her neighbors until Israel is given peace by the coming Prince of peace. This vision contains the most detailed prophetic revelation in the Book of Daniel.
The strengthening of the prophet
Daniel had been weakened at the appearance of the messenger Dan. 10:8; cf. Dan. 7:15; 8:27. Now he was also overwhelmed speechless, Dan. 10:15 at learning of the angelic demonic conflict that delayed the answer to his prayer. Moreover, he was overcome with anguish Dan. 10:16 at the content of the vision of Israel’s coming sufferings. He was left totally debilitated cf. Dan. 10:8 and gasping for breath.
In addressing the messenger as my lord cf. Dan. 10:19; 12:8 Daniel was using a title of respect something like the modern-day Sir.
To meet the prophet’s need, the angel first quieted the alarm in Daniel’s heart Do not be afraid; cf. Dan. 10:12, O man highly esteemed; cf. Dan. 9:23; 10:11, and strengthened him physically and emotionally. Daniel was then ready to receive the details of the message.
Again, once more Daniel was terrified, remained silent, and fixed his eyes on the ground, until one like the sons of men touched his lips, and then he spoke to apologize for his timidity and faintheartedness.
A third time the vision touched, strengthened, blessed him, and bade him be strong. Knowest thou, the angel asked, why I am come to thee? I must return to fight against the Prince of Persia, and while I am gone the Prince of Greece Javan will come. I will, however, tell thee what is announced in the writing of truth, the book of the decrees of heaven, though there is no one to help me against these hostile princes of Persia and Javan, except Michael your prince.
It may first be asked whether the splendid angel of the opening vision is also the being in the similitude of a man who thrice touches, encourages, and strengthens Daniel. It is perhaps simplest to suppose that this is the case, and that the Great Prince tones down his overpowering glory to more familiar human semblance in order to dispel the terrors of the seer.
The messenger then stated that when he returned to fight against the prince of Persia cf. the prince of the Persian kingdom, Dan. 10:13, the prince of Greece would come. These princes, as stated earlier see Dan. 11:11-14, were demons, Satan’s representatives assigned to nations to oppose godly forces. Persia and Greece were two major nations discussed in detail in Dan. 11:1-45 Persia, Dan. 11:2-4; Greece, Dan. 11:5-35.
What is the Book of truth? It was probably God’s record of truth in general, of which the Bible is one expression (John F. Walvoord, Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation, p. 250. The messenger was about to tell Daniel God’s plans for Israel under Persia and Greece Dan. 11:2-35 and later in the Tribulation Dan. 11:36-45 and the Millennium Dan. 12:1-4.
The messenger told Daniel he was supported by Michael in his struggle with demons cf. Dan. 10:13. Michael is your Daniel’s prince in the sense that he has a special relationship to Israel cf. Dan. 12:1, Daniel’s people. When Darius the Mede Dan. 11:1; see Dan. 6:1; cf. 9:1) began his rule over Babylon, the messenger supported Darius in some way. Or if him refers to Michael then the thought is that the messenger supported Michael in return for Michael supporting the messenger.
Again the general conception of the archangels as princes of the nations, and as contending with each other, belongs to the later developments of Hebrew opinion on such subjects. Some have supposed that the princes of Persia and Javan, to whom Gabriel and Michael are opposed, are not good angels, but demoniac powers, the world-rulers of this darkness subordinate to the evil spirit whom St. Paul does not hesitate to call the god of this world, and the prince of the powers of the air. This is how they account for this war in heaven, so that the dragon and his angels fight against Michael and his angels. Be that as it may, this mode of presenting the guardians of the destinies of nations is one respecting which we have no further gleams of revelation to help us.
Again the two last verses of the chapter as a sort of soliloquy of the angel Gabriel with himself. He is pressed for time. His coming had already been delayed by the opposition of the guardian power of the destinies of Persia. If Michael, the great archangel of the Hebrews, had not come to his aid, and so to speak for a time relieved guard, he would have been unable to come. But even the respite leaves him anxious. He seems to feel it almost necessary that he should at once return to contend against the Prince of Persia, and against a new adversary, the Prince of Javan, who is on his way to do mischief. Yet on the whole he will stay and enlighten Daniel before he takes his flight, although there is no one but Michael who aids him against these menacing princes. It is difficult to know whether this is meant to represents a struggle of angels against demons or is merely meant for a sort of parable which represents the to and fro conflicting impulses which sway the destinies of earthly kingdoms. In any case the representation is too unique and too remote from earth to enable us to understand its spiritual meaning, beyond the bare indication that God sitteth above the water floods and God remaineth a king for ever. It is another way of showing us that the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing; that the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together; but that they can only accomplish what God’s hand and God’s counsel have predetermined to be done; and that when they attempt to overthrow the destinies which God has foreordained, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn, the Lord shall have them in derision. These, apart from all complications or developments of angelology or demonology, are the continuous lesson of the Word of God, and are confirmed by all that we decipher of His providence in His ways of dealing with nations and with men.
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