Daniel 10 Part 1

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

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Daniel 10 is essentially the prelude or introduction to what follows in Daniel 11, with respect to the vision presented to the prophet Daniel, by the visiting celestial being. Daniel 10 literally goes through the very first verse of Daniel 11. Let’s take a quick look at Daniel 10.

1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he understood the message, and had understanding of the vision. 2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 3 I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. (Daniel 10:1-3 NKJV)

Daniel 10 begins Daniel’s final vision about the future. Previously, God had first given Daniel a general overview of the future events (cf Daniel 2, etc.). After this, God began to fill in the gaps with more facts concerning exact events that would occur. Daniel 10 up to verse 1 of Daniel 11 introduce the vision that follows.

There are two parts to this vision presented to Daniel:

• the immediate future from Darius through Antiochus (11:2-35)
• and the distant future, namely, the seventieth “seven” (9:27), or Tribulation Period (11:36—12:4).

The remainder of Daniel 12 provides a conclusion to this revelation and also ends the book of Daniel. The third year of Cyrus’ rule as king over Babylon was 536 B.C. The message that came to Daniel was a revelation from God that included a vision and this vision came primarily as a spoken message, evidently from an angel (though some commentators believe the being was Jesus Himself.

Daniel claimed that the message was true and that it involved a revelation of great conflict to come (“time appointed was long,” meaning the fulfillment of it was way into the future).

2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 3 I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

Daniel had mourned and fasted for three weeks before he received the vision, which was a literal period of 21 days of time.

On the 24th day (v 4), Daniel was by the Tigris River when he saw a celestial being. This scene is reminiscent of what the Apostle John saw on the island of Patmos, namely, the Son of God (Rev. 1:13-16; cf. Ezek. 1:13-14).

“The impression given to Daniel was that the entire body of the man in the vision was like a gigantic transparent jewel reflecting the glory of the rest of the vision.“ (Walvoord)

Daniel’s companions, sensing something wrong, hid themselves (vv 7-9). The being’s words along with his appearance causes Daniel to faint.

Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands.  And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. (vv 10-11)

Here, the term “greatly beloved” or “greatly treasured” in the Hebrew literally means, “man of preciousness.” Daniel was precious to God not only because Daniel was one of God’s chosen people but because God had been precious to Daniel. It was only appropriate for Daniel to stand in order to receive a message from this impressive messenger from God (v 11).

Verse 12 confirms that we should not give up in prayer because we do not know what may delay a response to our prayers. The angel tells Daniel he was dispatched the first day Daniel began to pray. The term “withstood” can mean ~ “be in the way” or “prevent by force.” In essence, the angel was telling Daniel that there was some sort of battle being waged in the heavenly realm between the angel and likely a fallen angel or demon who was fighting against Cyrus to keep God’s will from unfolding with respect to Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning the end of the 70 year captivity.

What this means is that a demon “prince of Persia” wanted to overthrow the King of Persia to nullify prophecies from Jeremiah. The angel could not just leave, allowing the demon to do what he wanted to do, so Michael came to help him so the angel could continue to Daniel with the vision/message. The malignity of Satan is never allowed to go beyond the due limit set by God, who will not allow the believer to be tested beyond his limit (1 Cor 10:13).

This situation likely proves that this was an angel and not the Son of God who was “prevented” from going to Daniel because the Son of God would not have needed help from Michael. We know that demons work through fallen people to thwart God’s plans as we learn in Ezra regarding the rebuilding of the Temple and city walls of Jerusalem. This is a continuing theme throughout Scripture.

(Verse 14) – the angel came to Daniel with news about the far future: “Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”

This vision is about Israel and the Jews, not the Church! It occurs during the coming Tribulation period of seven years (or, the 70th “week”).

We will conclude Daniel 10 in our next installment.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective