Danielchapter 10
21 verses · BSBDaniel book hub →
Speaks with:Daniel 8×8Daniel 10×5Daniel 12×3Revelation 1×3Isaiah 6×2Isaiah 35×2
Summary
Chapter summary
In the third year of Cyrus, Daniel mourns three full weeks, eating no pleasant bread, and by the river Hiddekel sees a man clothed in linen, his body like beryl, his face as the appearance of lightning, his eyes as flaming torches, his arms and feet like burnished brass, the vision John reworks in Revelation 1. The men with him flee; his own strength fails; a hand touches him. Then the curtain lifts on the unseen realm: his words were heard from the first day he set his heart to understand, 'but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days,' until Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help. Prayer answered, delivery contested.
Context
Prophecy · Daniel — Daniel overview
- A. 1–9 Three weeks of mourning, then a man clothed in linen
- B. 10–14 The prince of Persia withstood me twenty-one days
- C. 15–21 Strengthened to hear the scripture of truth
The outline
A.Three weeks of mourning, then a man clothed in linenvv. 1 to 9
Read vv. 1 to 9 →B.The prince of Persia withstood me twenty-one daysvv. 10 to 14
Read vv. 10 to 14 →C.Strengthened to hear the scripture of truthvv. 15 to 21
Read vv. 15 to 21 →
The world behind this chapter
Daniel 10The history
By this year the first caravan of returnees had been back in Judah for a couple of seasons. They had rebuilt the altar and laid the temple foundation — and then the work stopped, jammed by local opposition and official complaints. It would stay stopped for about sixteen years.
Daniel is roughly eighty-five and did not go with them. He mourns for three full weeks, taking no rich food, no meat, no wine, and no oil for his skin. In that climate, going without oil was a visible mark of grief that anyone would notice.
The vision he receives pulls the curtain back on why prayers can seem to go unanswered. A messenger tells him his words were heard on the first day, and that he was delayed twenty-one days by "the prince of the kingdom of Persia" until Michael came to help. The empire had a power behind it that could resist a messenger from God.
That is the chapter's contribution to the whole Bible: a look at conflict in the unseen realm running parallel to politics. Daniel's fast and the delay lasted exactly the same three weeks.
What it meant to them
For readers whose national comeback had stalled at the foundation stage, this said the delay was not silence. The answer left heaven the first day; the holdup was a fight, not a refusal.
It also told them their small struggle in Judah was tied to something much bigger. What looked like a permit dispute with provincial officials had princes and archangels involved. Prayer, in this chapter, is not a wish. It is participation.
Sources cited
- Edwin Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible
- John Calvin, Commentaries on the Book of the Prophet Daniel
- Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Daniel 10. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.