Daniel 12.5-Daniel Sees An Elect Angel on Both Sides of the Tigris River
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday September 3, 2014
Daniel: Daniel 12:5-Daniel Sees An Elect Angel on Both Sides of the Tigris River
Lesson # 377
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 12:5.
Daniel 12:5 Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river. (NASB95)
“Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing” presents the next event that took place after the elect angel had completed communicating the prophetic revelation to Daniel as well as giving him instructions regarding what he was to do with it.
It marks the next event that took place after the angel informed Daniel that this revelation recorded in Daniel 11:2-12:3 would be understood by his fellow Jews in future generations.
“I, Daniel” is stressing with the reader that this is Daniel’s personal account regarding the conversation between these two angels and the preincarnate Christ who is the man dressed in linen standing above the Tigris.
“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.
It refers to Daniel looking at two unidentified individuals with studious attention and with open mouth wonder and amazement.
These individuals were elect angels of God.
“And behold, two others were standing” presents the reason for the previous statement that Daniel was staring.
“Behold” is the interjection hin·nē(h) (הִנֵּה) (hin-nay´), which is used to introduce a description of what Daniel saw by the banks of the Tigris River after the angel finished communicating to him revelation regarding God’s prophetic program for Israel during the Times of the Gentiles and after it, implying emphasis.
Here the word is used to introduce with emphasis a description of who Daniel saw by the banks of the Tigris after receiving this revelation from God.
It draws the attention of the reader in order to mark that what Daniel saw was impressive and astounding to him.
Thus, these two unidentified individuals standing by the banks of the Tigris River were impressive and astounding to Daniel because they were elect angels of God.
“One on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river” indicates that there was an elect angel of God on both sides of the Tigris standing opposite each other.
Daniel 12:5 Then, I, Daniel was staring because, behold two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite side of the riverbank. (My translation)
After the unidentified elect angel finished communicating to Daniel the revelation regarding God’s prophetic program for the nation of Israel during and after the Times of the Gentiles, Daniel then tells the reader that he saw two individuals standing on both sides of the banks of the river.
These two individuals were impressive in appearance to Daniel and astounded him as indicated by the interjection hin·nē(h), “behold” and the verb rā∙ʾā(h), “was staring.”
Their appearance was so impressive to Daniel that it caused him to stare at them.
The angel that was standing on Daniel’s side of the Tigris was the angel who communicated to him the revelation recorded in Daniel 11:2-12:3 and who spoke to him in Daniel 10:11-11:1.
Daniel 10:4 tells the reader that this river was the Tigris which is located in modern eastern Iraq.
Daniel 10:4 Then, on the twenty-fourth day of the first month while I myself was beside that great river, namely the Tigris. (Author’s translation)
In Daniel 12:6-13, we have a dialogue between these two unidentified elect angels and a man dressed in linen who stood over the Tigris as He spoke to these angels.
The man dressed in linen is the preincarnate Christ.
The angels ask the Lord questions about the last three and a half years of the seventieth week.
Daniel 12:5 Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river. 6 And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders?” 7 I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. 8 As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” 9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. 10 Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. 11 From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! 13 But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.” (NASB95)
That the man dressed in linen is the preincarnate Christ is indicated by the fact that the apostle John’s description of Christ in Revelation 1:13-16 is very similar to Daniel’s description of the man dressed in linen 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 this man dressed in linen in chapter ten.
This implies that what Daniel is describing 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.
With regards to the two angels standing on either side of the river, we know that one of these angels is the unidentified angel who has been speaking to Daniel in 10:10-12:4 and had given him his fourth and final prophetic revelation from God in Daniel 11:2-12:3.
As we noted, he is standing on Daniel’s side of the Tigris.
Also, we noted in our study of Daniel 10:10 that after falling into a deep sleep with his face to the ground as a result of receiving a revelatory vision of the preincarnate Christ, Daniel tells the reader that a hand touched him.
Then, it set him trembling on his knees and the palms of his hands.
The hand belongs to the man speaking to Daniel in the rest of the chapter which makes clear this is an angel.
This is indicated by the fact that Daniel 10:11 connects the hand to the individual speaking to Daniel in the rest of the chapter.
In verse 11, the text say that “he” spoke to Daniel, which would indicate that this is telling us the hand belongs to the one speaking to Daniel.
Also, the individual appears to be an unidentified elect angel of God which is indicated by the conversation between Daniel and this angel recorded in Daniel 10:11-12:13.
In these verses, there is no mention of the angel Gabriel who appeared to Daniel in chapters 7, 8 and 9.
In fact, in Daniel 8:16, God orders Gabriel by name to interpret the vision He gave Daniel during the third year of Belshazzar’s reign.
Then, in Daniel 9:21, Daniel identifies Gabriel as the one whom he saw in the vision recorded in chapter eight which he received during the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede.
Therefore, if Gabriel is the one touching Daniel in Daniel 10:10, we would expect him to identify him by name as he does in Daniel 8:16 and 9:21.
However, he does not and there is nothing in Daniel 10:11-12:13 which would suggest Gabriel is speaking to Daniel in this passage and thus would be the one touching Daniel in Daniel 10:10.
The hand that touches Daniel does not belong to the man in the revelatory vision recorded in Daniel 10:4-9 whose presence caused Daniel to fall into a deep sleep with his face to the ground.
This again is indicated by the fact that the hand belongs to the man speaking to Daniel in the rest of the chapter which makes clear this is an angel.
This is indicated by the fact that Daniel 10:11 connects the hand to the individual speaking to Daniel in the rest of the chapter.
In verse 11, the text say that “he” spoke to Daniel, which would indicate that this is telling us the hand belongs to the one speaking to Daniel.
Therefore, in Daniel 10:10, the unidentified individual who touches Daniel and rouses him from his deep sleep and sets him on his hands and knees is an elect-angel but not Gabriel.
So he is one of the angels involved in the conversation recorded in Daniel 12:4-13.
Therefore, in Daniel 12:6-13 we have a conversation between the preincarnate Christ and two unidentified elect angels of God.
This angelic conversation in Daniel 12:6-13 is similar to the one recorded in Daniel 8:13-14.