Daniel 10.5-Daniel Sees a Vision of a Certain Man Dressed in Linen Wearing a Belt Made of Gold From Uphaz
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday February 12, 2014
Daniel: Daniel 10:5-Daniel Sees a Vision of a Certain Man Dressed in Linen Wearing a Belt of Gold From Uphaz
Lesson # 300
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 10:1.
Daniel 10:1 During Cyrus’s third year, king over Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel who was called by his name Belteshazzar. Specifically this message was truth and concerning a great conflict because he understood this message, yes he possessed understanding concerning this revelation. 2 During those days, I myself, Daniel caused myself to enter the state of mourning for three weeks. 3 I never ate expensive choice food or meat. Also, wine never entered into my mouth likewise I never anointed myself with oil until the end of the three weeks. 4 Then, on the twenty-fourth day of the first month while I myself was beside that great river, namely the Tigris. (My translation)
Daniel 10:5 I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. (NASB95)
“I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen” is a temporal clause indicating that “while” Daniel lifted up his eyes, he saw a certain unidentified man.
“Looked” is the verb rā∙ʾā(h) (רָאָה) (raw-aw), which means “to stare” in the sense of steadily looking at something with studious attention and with openmouthed wonder and amazement.
“And behold” is a temporal clause which indicates that “as” Daniel was in a trance like state, a certain unidentified man appeared.
The interjection hin·nē(h) means “behold” and is used to introduce with emphasis a description of a certain unidentified man who was revealed to Daniel.
It draws the attention of the reader in order to mark that what Daniel saw was impressive and astounding to him.
“A certain man” is composed of the noun ʾîš (אִישׁ) (eesh), “man” which is modified by the cardinal number ʾě∙ḥāḏ (אֶחָד) (ekh-aw), “certain.”
The noun ʾîš means “man” referring to an adult male in contrast to a female indicating that a person who looked like a man was revealed to Daniel.
The cardinal number ʾě∙ḥāḏ means “a certain” since it is used here as an indefinite article referring to a person whose is not unidentified by name to Daniel.
“Dressed in linen” is composed of the adjective lā·ḇûš (לָבוּשׁ) (leb-oosh´), “dressed in” which is followed by the noun bǎḏ (בַּד) (bad), “linen.”
The noun bǎḏ means “linen” referring to the garments which this unidentified man was wearing when he appeared to Daniel and the plural form of this word is a plural of extension meaning that the word refers to a single object that consists of several parts.
The adjective lā·ḇûš means “clothed, dressed” since it pertains to wearing clothing.
Therefore, these two words indicate that when Daniel lifted up his eyes while meditating in prayer by the banks of the Tigris, a certain unidentified man appeared to him who was dressed in linen clothing, which consisted of several parts.
“Whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz” is an epexegetical clause which begins to identified specifically the different parts of the clothing of this unidentified individual who appeared to Daniel by the banks of the Tigris river during the third year of the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Walvoord again writes “The reference to the ‘fine gold of Uphaz,’ has only one other similar reference in the Bible (Jer 10:9), and it is not clear whether Uphaz is geographic or poetic. No clear identification has ever been made, although some have equated Uphaz with Ophir (Is 13:12) on the basis that this word is substituted for Uphaz in a Syriac version of Jeremiah 10:9. It is sufficient to consider the girdle as being embroidered with fine gold of unusual quality.”
Daniel 10:5 While I lifted up my eyes, I then stared as behold there was a certain man dressed in linen. Specifically, his waist was girded with gold from Uphaz. (My translation)
Here in verse 5 Daniel begins to describe for the reader a unidentified individual who appeared to him by the banks of the Tigris river during the third year of the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
In verse 4, he told the reader that this revelation took place on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, which was the Jewish month of Nisan which corresponds to March-April.
Here in verse 5, he says that he lifted up his eyes and saw this man, which implies that his eyes were looking downward maybe indicating he was meditating or in prayer to God.
He then proceeds to describe specifically this man’s clothing by telling the reader that his waist was girded with gold from Uphaz.
Now many Bible scholars believe that Daniel 10:4-9 is what we call in theology, a “theophany” or “Christophany” which are theological terms used to refer to either a visible or auditory manifestation of the pre-incarnate Christ.
Others interpret this as a vision of an elect angel of God such as Gabriel.
However, if one compares the account in Daniel 10:4-11 with the account of the apostle John’s vision of the resurrected, glorified Christ in Revelation 1:13-16, it appears that Daniel saw a vision of the preincarnate Christ.
John’s description of the glorified resurrected Christ in Revelation 1:13-16 is similar to Daniel’s description of the supernatural being he saw.
Further indicating that Daniel saw the preincarnate Christ is the response of Daniel’s friends to this vision, which is similar to the response of those who saw the vision Paul saw of the resurrected Christ at his conversion recorded in Acts 9:1-7.
Another indication that Daniel saw the preincarnate Christ is that the man he saw could very well be “the Son of Man” in Daniel 7:13.
There are those who argue that it is unlikely that Daniel saw the preincarnate Christ since they see that this individual was hindered by a prince (fallen angel) of Persia (10:13) and that he needed the help from the arch-angel Michael.
But this has problems, since Daniel could have received this vision of Christ, then fell asleep and then was awakened by an elect angel.
After the vision, recorded in Daniel 10:4-8, Daniel tells the reader in verse 9 that he fell into a deep sleep.
Then in verse 10, an elect angel touches him.
That this is an angel speaking to Daniel throughout the rest of the chapter is clearly indicated.
Therefore, the man who appeared to Daniel in 10:4-7 is not the same individual who woke him up and spoke to him in 10:10-12:4.
So Daniel could have very well received a vision of the preincarnate Christ, then fell into a deep sleep but then was awakened by an elect angel.
Furthermore, in Daniel 12:6, Daniel says that an unidentified elect angel spoke to the very same man dressed in linen who appeared in Daniel 10:4-7.
This man dressed in linen was above the waters of the river.
This unidentified elect angel asked this man dressed in linen a question, namely how long it would be until the end of these wondrous events recorded in chapters 10-12.
Daniel 12:7 records the man dressed in linen answering the question of this unidentified elect angel.
The man dressed in linen possesses a knowledge that transcended that of the other angels such as this unidentified elect angel and he even takes a divine oath.
This man dressed in linen has an exalted position above the waters suggesting he is superior to this unidentified elect angel.
On the other hand, it could be argued that in Daniel 12 we have a conversation between two elect angels, namely this unidentified elect angel and an unidentified angel but is unlikely for the reason given above.
However, the apostle John’s description of Christ in Revelation 1:13-16 is very similar to Daniel’s description in Daniel 10:4-7.
The description of the response to Paul’s vision of Christ by his traveling companions in Acts 9:1-7 is similar to the response of Daniel’s companions to the vision he received.
Furthermore, in Daniel 10:4-7, Daniel was not describing Gabriel because he had already appeared to Daniel in chapters eight and nine and he did not describe this angel in the same way as he does here in chapter ten.
This implies that what Daniel is describing here in Daniel 10:4-9 is not a vision of Gabriel or any other elect angel but someone who is to be distinguished and is distinguished from the angels and is superior to them.
Interestingly, the gold belt around the waist of this unidentified man in Daniel 10:5 suggests that this person was a king or a judge since in the ancient world a gold belt was worn by wealthy and royal classes of people.