Bible Commentaries

Da 10:1-21.

DANIEL COMFORTED BY AN ANGELIC VISION.

The tenth through twelfth chapters more fully describe the vision in the eighth chapter by a second vision on the same subject, just as the vision in the seventh chapter explains more fully that in the second. The tenth chapter is the prologue; the eleventh, the prophecy itself; and the twelfth, the epilogue. The tenth chapter unfolds the spiritual worlds as the background of the historical world

(Job 1:7; 2:1, &c.; Zec 3:1, 2; Re 12:7),

and angels as the ministers of God's government of men. As in the world of nature

(Joh 5:4; Re 7:1-3),

so in that of history here; Michael, the champion of Israel, and with him another angel, whose aim is to realize God's will in the heathen world, resist the God-opposed spirit of the world. These struggles are not merely symbolical, but real

(1Sa 16:13-15; 1Ki 22:22; Eph 6:12).

1. third year of Cyrus--two years after Cyrus' decree for the restoration of the Jews had gone forth, in accordance with Daniel's prayer in

Da 9:3-19.

This vision gives not merely general outlines, or symbols, but minute details of the future, in short, anticipative history. It is the expansion of the vision in

Da 8:1-14.

That which then "none understood," he says here, "he understood"; the messenger being sent to him for this

(Da 10:11, 14),

to make him understand it. Probably Daniel was no longer in office at court; for in

Da 1:21,

it is said, "Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus"; not that he died then. See on

Da 1:21.

but the time appointed was long--rather, "it (that is, the prophecy) referred to great calamity" [MAURER]; or, "long and calamitous warfare" [GESENIUS]. Literally, "host going to war"; hence, warfare, calamity.

2. mourning--that is, afflicting myself by fasting from "pleasant bread, flesh and wine"

(Da 10:3),

as a sign of sorrow, not for its own sake. Compare

Mt 9:14,

"fast," answering to "mourn"

(Da 10:15).

Compare

1Co 8:8; 1Ti 4:3,

which prove that "fasting" is not an indispensable Christian obligation; but merely an outward expression of sorrow, and separation from ordinary worldly enjoyments, in order to give one's self to prayer

(Ac 13:2).

Daniel's mourning was probably for his countrymen, who met with many obstructions to their building of the temple, from their adversaries in the Persian court.

3. no pleasant bread--"unleavened bread, even the bread of affliction"

(De 16:3).

anoint--The Persians largely used unguents.

4. first month--Nisan, the month most suited for considering Israel's calamity, being that in which the feast of unleavened bread reminded them of their Egyptian bondage. Daniel mourned not merely for the seven days appointed

(Ex 12:18),

from the evening of the fourteenth to the twenty-first of Nisan, but thrice seven days, to mark extraordinary sorrow. His mourning ended on the twenty-first day, the closing day of the passover feast; but the vision is not till the twenty-fourth, because of the opposition of "the prince of Persia"

(Da 10:13).

I was by . . . the . . . river--in waking reality, not a trance

(Da 10:7);

when younger, he saw the future in images, but now when old, he receives revelations from angels in common language, that is, in the apocalyptic mode. In the patriarchal period God often appeared visibly, that is, theophany. In the prophets, next in the succession, the inward character of revelation is prominent. The consummation is when the seer looks up from earth into the unseen world, and has the future shown to him by angels, that is, apocalypse. So in the New Testament there is a parallel progression: God in the flesh, the spiritual activity of the apostles and the apocalypse [AUBERLEN].

Hiddekel--the Tigris.

5. lifted up mine eyes--from the ground on which they had been fixed in his mourning.

certain man--literally, "one man." An angel of the highest order; for in

Da 8:16

he commands Gabriel to make Daniel to understand the vision, and in

Da 12:6

one of the two angels inquires of him how long it would be till the end predicted.

linen--the raiment of priests, being the symbol of sanctity, as more pure than wool

(Ex 28:42);

also of prophets

(Jer 13:1);

and of angels

(Re 15:6).

girded with . . . gold--that is, with a girdle interwoven with gold

(Re 1:13).

6. beryl--literally, "Tarshish," in Spain. The beryl, identical with the chrysolite or topaz, was imported into the East from Tarshish, and therefore is called "the Tarshish stone."

7. they fled--terrified by the presence of the presence of the angel.

8. comeliness--literally, "vigor," that is, lively expression and color.

into corruption--"deadliness," that is, death-like paleness

(Da 5:6; 7:28).