Daniel 10:10

"And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, thou man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were heard: and I am come for thy words' sake. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me: and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for many days. And when he had spoken unto me according to these words, I set my face toward the ground, and was dumb. And behold one in the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth and spake and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the reason of the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I retain no strength. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither was there breath left in me."

One of the things of very great interest in this passage is the glimpse of the work of the holy angels striving with the rulers of this world's darkness. This is the only passage in the Bible where this information surfaces. We are not informed just what the nature of such activity really entails; but according to Hebrews 1:14, we are certain that the mightiest of God's angels are diligent to bring about world conditions favorable to the achievement of the purposes of God.

The other principal factor in the passage is that of the weakness and helplessness of Daniel due to the awesome appearance of the celestial visitors who came unto him in this scene. It is idle to speculate upon the identity of the persons appearing to Daniel, as their names are not given. Some believe Gabriel was one of the angels, since he had appeared to Daniel earlier. Habakkuk also used words similar to these to mark his weakness when he heard "the voice":

"I heard, and my body trembled,

My lips trembled at the voice;

Rottenness entered into my bones, and I tremble in my place"

(Habakkuk 3:16).

"And stand upright; for unto thee am I sent ..." (Daniel 10:11). Thomson has this comment:

"In the Assyrian marbles, however lowly the obeisance made to the monarch by anyone admitted to his presence, he stands when he receives the monarch's commands. Standing implies attention."[9]

"Unto thee am I sent ..." Indicates that the messenger had the authority to command Daniel in the name of God Himself.

"In the latter days ..." (Daniel 10:14)." Many commentators deny that this is a reference to what is called eschatological events or to the final summation of all things. As Thomson said, "There seems no need to take `end of the days' as the end of the world."[10] However, we find that agreement with that view is most difficult. Throughout all of the prophets, especially the multiple references to this in the Minor Prophets, such words as "the latter days," "the end of the days," etc., invariably carry the implication that the final summation of the Adamic probation is in view. For example, "the last days" (Joel 2:28) was specifically declared by the apostle Peter to be a reference to Messianic times (Acts 2:16ff). The ASV weakened the passage by translating it "afterward," probably out of deference to the opinions of scholars denying its reference to eschatological events. In our own view, the mention of the resurrection of the dead in Daniel 12:2 makes it a practical certainty that the scenes of the Final Judgment itself are envisioned here. Such a view makes the events of the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes which, in a sense, are repeated in Daniel 11 with the inclusion of many details not cited earlier, a type of many of the final events. If this is not the case, this restatement of the Anticohus terror would seem to have no meaning whatever. It had already been prophesied with sufficient detail (Daniel 8).

"From the first day that thou didst set thy heart ... etc." (Daniel 10:12). Barnes cited this as proof that, "Prayer is heard at once, though the answer may be long delayed."[11]

In this whole paragraph, a feature of the teaching is that Daniel was raised up, somewhat gradually, and finally endowed with full strength and understanding, which actually did not occur until he had been "touched" for the third time (Daniel 10:18).