DANIEL 10
the three chapters compose one unit
Chapter 10 leads into the vision of ch. 11 and Dan 12; the three chapters compose one unit. This final revelation in chs. 10–12 is a further elaboration upon the visions of chs. 7–9 (see passage overview in 9:24–27).
This chapter recounts Daniel’s encounter with an angelic figure. It describes his initial meeting and subsequent terror. The angel touches him and gives him strength before proceeding with the revelation, which is recounted in chs. 11–12.
Much of the language and content of ch. 10 is borrowed or repeated from other parts of Daniel and the rest of the OT.
the third year of Cyrus the king of the Persians 536 BC
A date of 536 BC results in a time approximately two years later than the length specified for Daniel’s career in 1:21. Further, Cyrus released an edict sponsoring restoration efforts in Jerusalem during the first year of his reign (see 2 Chr 36:22–23). Although many of the Jewish captives likely returned home, some remained in Babylon after having lived there for roughly 70 years. Due to his advanced age at this point, Daniel would probably not have made the harrowing trek back to Jerusalem. He likely retired from a position of prominence in the court and lived out his days in Babylon.
10:13 the prince of the kingdom of Persia
The notion of patron angels and gods is a derivative of the ancient Near Eastern understanding of a divine assembly or council that would periodically convene to decide the outcome of world events (see Deut 32:8 and note). The biblical authors use this same imagery. For example, in Job 1, Israel’s God sits as president over the assembly with all others subservient to Him. Other passages like 1 Kgs 22:19–23 and Psa 82:1 reference this motif as well. Here, the one speaking to Daniel acknowledges the reality of patron angels, a prominent theme in the Second Temple period (see Sirach 17:17).
DIVINE ASSEMBLY
Within the biblical materials, the concept of an assembly of divine beings is found throughout the OT as an expression of Yahweh’s power and authority. Yahweh is frequently depicted as enthroned over an assembly of divine beings who serve to dispense his decrees and messages. It is this mythological setting that provides the background, in part, for the development of the angelic hierarchy that occurs during the intertestamental period. This concept of divine authority and power also supplies the conceptual background for understanding the idea of prophetic authority within the Hebrew texts.
Extrabiblical. In the Mesopotamian materials
Extrabiblical.
Biblical
Biblical
The terminology used in Hebrew to denote the assembly is also diverse. Biblical Hebrew, while not using the term puḫru/pḫr to designate the assembly, does employ the terms ʿedâ, “assemblage” (Ps 82:1) and dôr, lit. “generation” (Amos 8:14; see also Pss 14:5; 49:20; 73:15; 84:11; 95:10; 112:2; Isa 53:8; Jer 2:31, 7:29; Prov 30:11–14; compare dr in KAI 26.III.19; 27.12), both of which are used of the council in Ugaritic materials. Additionally, Isa 14:13 employs the phrase har môʿēd, “mount of assembly” (cf. Ug pḫr mʿd), and qĕhal qĕdōšı̂m, “assembly of the holy ones” (Ps 89:6). The term sôd also occurs in the biblical materials as a designation for the council (Ps 89:8; Jer 23:18; 23:22; Job 15:8). Neither qāhāl nor sôd is attested in Ugaritic as a term designating the assembly of the gods.
DANIEL AND PAUL
Another passage in the Old Testament, Daniel 10, presumes the Deuteronomy 32 worldview. In Daniel 10 we read about a vision of the prophet. Daniel sees a “man” dressed in linen, whom he describes this way:
Now his body was like turquoise, and his face was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were like torches of fire, and his arms and his legs were like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words was like the sound of a multitude (Dan 10:6).
We’ve seen before that shininess or brilliant luminescence is a stock description for a divine being. The radiant figure, who is never identified in the passage, says to Daniel:
12 You must not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I myself have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia stood before me for twenty-one days. And look, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to assist me, and I left him there beside the king of the Persians. 14 And I have come to instruct you about what will happen to your people in the future, for there is a further vision here for the future (vv. 12–14).
The figure later adds, before ending the conversation:
20 And now I return to fight against the prince of Persia and I myself am going, and look, the prince of Javan will come. 21 However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth, and there is not one who contends with me against these beings except Michael, your prince (vv. 20 and 21).
Biblical scholars are in unanimous agreement that the “princes” referred to in Daniel 10 are divine beings, not humans. This is transparent from the mention of Michael in 10:13 and 10:21, who is called “prince” (cf. Dan 12:1). They are also agreed that the concept is based on Deuteronomy 32:8–9.
This passage, along with Deuteronomy 32:8–9, is the foundation for Paul’s theology of the unseen world. This is made clear in an overarching sense in Acts 17:26–27, where Luke records Paul’s speech at the Areopagus. In talking about God’s salvation plan, Paul says:
26 And he [God] made from one man every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining their fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation, 27 to search for God, if perhaps indeed they might feel around for him and find him. And indeed he is not far away from each one of us (Acts 17:26–27).
Paul quite clearly alludes to the situation with the nations produced by God’s judgment at Babel, the Deuteronomy 32:8–9 worldview. God had disinherited the nations as his people and made a new people for himself, Israel, his own “portion” (Deut 32:9). Immediately after the judgment at Babel (Gen 11:1–9), God called Abraham for that purpose, initiating a covenant relationship with Abraham and his yet unborn descendants. That covenant relationship included the idea Paul refers to in Acts 17:27, the drawing of the disinherited Gentile nations (Gen 12:3). Paul’s rationale for his own ministry to the Gentiles was that it was God’s intention to reclaim the nations to restore the original Edenic vision. Every person in every nation was given the opportunity to repent and believe in the risen Christ (Acts 17:30–31). Salvation was not only for the physical children of Abraham, but for anyone who would believe (Gal 3:26–29).
More pointedly, Paul’s terminology for the powers of darkness reflects the cosmic-geographical worldview arising from Deuteronomy 32:8–9. The Hebrew word for “prince” used throughout Daniel 10 is sar. In Daniel 10:13, where Michael is called “one of the chief princes,” the Septuagint refers to Michael as one of the chief archontōn. In another Greek translation of Daniel, a text many scholars consider even older than the Septuagint currently in use, the prince of Persia and Israel’s prince, Michael, are both described with the Greek word archōn. These are the terms Paul uses when describing the “rulers of this age” (1 Cor 2:6, 8), the rulers “in heavenly places” (Eph 3:10) and “the ruler of the authority of the air” (Eph 2:2).
Paul often interchanged these terms with others that are familiar to most Bible students:
• “principalities” (archē)
• “powers”/“authorities” (exousia)
• “powers” (dynamis)
• “dominions”/“lords” (kyrios)
• “thrones” (thronos)
These terms have something in common—they were used in both the New Testament and other Greek literature for geographical domain rulership. This is the divine dominion concept of Deuteronomy 32:8–9. At times these terms are used of humans, but several instances demonstrate that Paul had spiritual beings in mind.
The first three terms are found in Ephesians 6:12 (“Our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places”). Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:20–21 that when God raised Jesus from the dead, “he seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (ESV). It was only after Christ had risen that God’s plan was “made known … to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). These cosmic forces are “the rulers and the authorities” disarmed and put to shame by the cross (Col 2:15).
The incident at Babel and God’s decision to disinherit the nations drew up the battle lines for a cosmic turf war for the planet. The corruption of the elohim sons of God set over the nations meant that Yahweh’s vision of a global Eden would be met with divine force. Every inch outside Israel would be contested, and Israel itself was fair game for hostile conquest. The gods would not surrender their inheritances back to Yahweh; he would have to reclaim them. God would take the first step in that campaign immediately after Babel.