Daniel 10:4
in Daniel 10On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel,
KJV
And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel;
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This verse in Daniel 10
Commentary
10 notes on this verseVerse 4. "And in the twenty-fourth day of the first month, I was beside the great river which is the Tigris." Ezekiel also had seen a great vision beside a river, the Chebar (Ezekiel 1:1). And it was by the stream of the Jordan that the heavens were opened to the gaze of our Lord and Savior and also to John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-17).
This site's exposition
the great river, which is Hiddekel
on Daniel 10:4-6
By the great river Hiddekel, the Tigris, a man clothed in linen appears, girded with gold, his body like beryl, his face as lightning, his eyes as lamps of fire, his arms and feet like polished brass, his voice like a multitude, a description the bench reads as the most exalted angelic appearance in the book. The commentators divide on his identity: many, Calvin and Keil among them, read him as Gabriel continuing the angelic ministry of chapters eight and nine, while others weigh the sheer glory of the description against a lesser messenger and hold the question open. The same vocabulary of eyes like fire and feet like burning brass returns for the glorified Christ at Rev 1:14-15, a parallel the older commentators note without claiming Daniel's man in linen and John's risen Lord are one and the same figure.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening the divine law commanded them to celebrate the Passover, but blessed Daniel maintained his fast until the twenty-fourth day.… Daniel did not celebrate the Passover in obedience to the law, which expressly commands Israel to …
In this way, after speaking these things, the prophet describes to us again another vision. For the blessed Daniel meditated on no other vision, lest he not be accurately taught all the things to come and he not teach and reveal these things to us again. Indeed he says, "In the third year of Cyrus king of the Persians a word was revealed to Daniel, who was called the name Baltasar, and the word was true and great power and understanding was given to him in the vision. 'In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three weeks of days, I did not eat desirable bread and meat and wine did not enter my mouth and I did not anoint myself with oil for three full weeks of days. On the twenty and fourth day of the first month.'" [Daniel 10:1-4] "I was humbled," he says, "twenty one days praying to the living God requesting from him the revealing of mysteries." And then, after the Father heard, he sent his Word, thus pointing out what is about to happen through him and then that it would happen along the Great River. For the event is necessary to have happened there where the Son was demonstrated, where also he was about to forgive sins.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
His dress was priestly, for he is the high priest of our profession, clothed in linen, as the high priest himself was on the day of atonement, that great day; his loins were girded (in St. John's vision his paps were girded) with a golden girdle of the finest gold, that of Uphaz, for every thing about Christ is the best in its kind.
And in the four and twentieth day of the first month,....
The encouragement that was given him to expect such a discovery of future events as should be satisfactory and useful both to others and to himself, and that he should be enabled both to understand the meaning of this discovery, though difficult, and to bear up under the lustre of it, though dazzling and dreadful,
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
By the side of - Hiddekel - The same as the Tigris. the great river of Assyria; as the Euphrates of Syria, and the Nile of Egypt.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
I was by . . . the . . . river--in waking reality, not a trance (Da 10:7); when younger, he saw the future in images, but now when old, he receives revelations from angels in common language, that is, in the apocalyptic mode. In the patriarchal period God often appeared visibly, that is, theophany.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And in the four and twentieth day of the first month - At the close of his season of fasting. Though he had not set apart this season of fasting with any view or expectation that it would be followed by such a result, yet there was a propriety that an occasion like this should be selected as that on which the communication which follows should be made to his mind, for (a) his mind was in a prepared state by this extraordinary season of devotion for such a communication; and (b) his attention during that period had been turned toward the condition of his people, and it was a fit opportunity to impart to him these extraordinary views of what would occur to them in future days. It may be added, that we shall be more likely to receive Divine communications to our souls at the close of seasons of sincere and prolonged devotion than at other times, and that, though we may set apart such seasons for different purposes, the Spirit of God may take occasion from them to impart to us clear and elevated views of Divine truth, and of the Divine government. A man is in a better state to obtain such views, and is more likely to obtain them, in such circumstances than he is in others, and he who desires to understand God and his ways should wait upon him with intense and prolonged devotion. The “time” here specified is the “first month” - the month Nisan, answering to a part of our month April. This was the month in which the Passover was celebrated, and was a time, therefore, which a Jew would be likely to select as a season of extraordinary devotion. It was, for some reason, very common for the prophets to record “the very day” on which the visions which they saw appeared to them, or on which Divine communications were made to them. […]
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּבְי֛וֹם | uveyom | and on day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| עֶשְׂרִ֥ים | ʾesrim | twenty | H6242 → | |
| וְאַרְבָּעָ֖ה | vearbaah | and four | H702 → | 318 times |
| לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ | lachodesh | of the month | H2320 → | |
| הָרִאשׁ֑וֹן | harishon | <the> first | H7223 → | 182 times |
| וַאֲנִ֗י | vaani | and I | H589 → | 874 times |
| הָיִ֛יתִי | hayiti | I was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| עַ֣ל | ʾal | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יַ֧ד | yad | [the] side of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| הַנָּהָ֛ר | hanahar | the river | H5104 → | |
| הַגָּד֖וֹל | hagadol | <the> great | H1419 → | 526 times |
| ה֥וּא | hu' | that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| חִדָּֽקֶל׃ | chidakel | [is] [the] Tigris | H2313 → |
וּבְי֛וֹםand on day
uveyomH3117 →2304 times
עֶשְׂרִ֥יםtwenty
ʾesrimH6242 →
וְאַרְבָּעָ֖הand four
vearbaahH702 →318 times
לַחֹ֣דֶשׁof the month
lachodeshH2320 →
הָרִאשׁ֑וֹן<the> first
harishonH7223 →182 times
וַאֲנִ֗יand I
vaaniH589 →874 times
הָיִ֛יתִיI was
hayitiH1961 →3559 times
עַ֣לon
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
יַ֧ד[the] side of
yadH3027 →1618 times
הַנָּהָ֛רthe river
hanaharH5104 →
הַגָּד֖וֹל<the> great
hagadolH1419 →526 times
ה֥וּאthat
hu'H1931 →1879 times
חִדָּֽקֶל׃[is] [the] Tigris
chidakelH2313 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Daniel 8:2And in the vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal.
it leads to
- Genesis 10:22
The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Esther 1:2
In those days King Xerxes sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa.
- Nehemiah 1:1
These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,
- Genesis 10:22
Through
Ezekiel 1:3the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 3:14
So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.
- Ezekiel 3:22
And there the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”
- 2 Kings 3:15
But now, bring me a harpist.” And while the harpist played, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha
- 1 Kings 18:46
And the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
- Ezekiel 8:1
In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord…
- Ezekiel 3:14
Where this verse is studied
About Daniel
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel; Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 4.36.1-4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TEN; John Calvin, Commentary on the Prophet Daniel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 10:4.