Verse 2
I - was mourning three full weeks - The weeks are most probably dated from the time of the termination of the last vision. Calmet proves this by several reasons.
Verse 3
I ate no pleasant bread - This fast was rather a general abstinence; living all the while on coarse and unsavory food; drinking nothing but water; not using the bath, and most probably wearing haircloth next the skin, during the whole of the time.
Verse 4
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.
Verse 5
Clothed in linen - The description is intended to point out the splendor of the garments.
Gold of Uphaz - The same as Ophir.
Verse 6
His body also was like the beryl - The description of this person is very similar to that of our Lord in [Rev 1:13-15].
Verse 7
The men that were with me saw not the vision - An exactly parallel case with what occurred at the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, [Act 9:7]. There was a Divine influence which they all felt, but only Daniel saw the corporeal appearance.
Verse 9
Was I in a deep sleep - I fell into a swoon.
Verse 10
A hand touched me - Nothing was apparent or palpable but a hand. A hand had written Belshazzar's fate upon the wall; and the hand is frequently mentioned when the power or majesty of God is intended. Perhaps by hand God himself may be meant. It is remarkable that in a very ancient MS. of the Septuagint, more than a thousand years old, now in the imperial library of Vienna, adorned with paintings which have been engraved for the catalogue of Lambechius, and transferred to that of Nesselius, all the appearances of God are represented by a hand in the clouds.
Verse 12
I am come for thy words - On account of thy prayers I am sent to comfort and instruct thee.
Verse 13
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me - I think it would go far to make a legend or a precarious tale of this important place to endeavor to maintain that either a good or evil Angel Is intended here. Cyrus alone was the prince of Persia, and God had destined him to be the deliverer of his people; but there were some matters, of which we are not informed, that caused him to hesitate for some time. Fearing, probably, the greatness of the work, and not being fully satisfied of his ability to execute it, he therefore for a time resisted the secret inspirations which God had sent him. The opposition might be in reference to the building of the temple.
But lo, Michael - Gabriel, who speaks, did not leave Cyrus till Michael came to take his place. Michael, he who is like God, sometimes appears to signify the Messiah, at other times the highest or chief archangel. Indeed there is no archangel mentioned in the whole Scripture but this one. See [Jde 1:9]; [Rev 12:7].
Verse 14
For yet the vision is for many days - There are many things which remain yet to be revealed, and the time of their accomplishment is very distant.
Verse 15
I set my face toward the ground - He was standing upright, [Dan 10:11], and he now bent his body in reverence, and looked down upon the ground.
And became dumb - Found himself unable to speak.
Verse 16
Like the similitude of the sons of men - I think Gabriel is here meant, who appeared to Daniel in a human form; and so in [Dan 10:18], and see also [Dan 9:21].
Touched my lips - Before this he was unable to speak.
By the vision - The vision that I have already had, and of which I have not a proper knowledge has greatly afflicted me, because I see it intimates grievous calamities to my people. See [Dan 9:26].
Verse 17
Neither is there breath - He could not breathe freely; he was almost suffocated with sorrow.
Verse 19
O man, greatly beloved - איש חמדות ish chamudoth, man of delights; the most amiable of men.
Let my lord speak - I am now so strengthened and encouraged, that I shall be able to bear any revelation that thou mayest make.
Verse 20
Knowest thou wherefore I come - So high art thou in the favor of God, that he hath sent me unto thee to give thee farther satisfaction; though I was elsewhere employed upon a most important mission, and I must speedily return to accomplish it, viz.: -
To fight with the king of Persia - To remove all the scruples of Cyrus, and to excite him to do all that God designs him to do for the restoration of my people, and the rebuilding of the city and temple of Jerusalem. Nothing less than a supernatural agency in the mind of Cyrus can account for his decree in favor of the Jews. He had no natural, no political inclination to it; and his reluctance to obey the heavenly motions is here represented as a fight between him and the angel.
The prince of Grecia shall come - I believe this refers to Alexander the Great, who was to destroy the Persian empire. See [Dan 11:2-3] (note).
Verse 21
Noted in the scripture of truth - Perhaps this refers to what he had already written down. See the preceding visions, which Daniel did not fully understand, though a general impression from them had filled his heart with sorrow.
Michael your prince - The archangel mentioned before, [Dan 10:13], and who has been always supposed to be appointed by God as the guardian of the Jewish nation. It appears that God chose to make use of the ministry of angels in this work; that angels, as they could be only in one place at one time, could not produce influence where they were not; and that, to carry on the operation on the mind of the Persian king, it was necessary that either Gabriel or Michael should be present with him, and when one went on another commission another took his place; see [Dan 10:13]. But we know so little of the invisible world that we cannot safely affirm any thing positively.
Introduction
This chapter gives a more particular explanation of those events which were predicted in the eighth chapter. The prophet had foretold the partition of Alexander's kingdom into four parts. Two of these, in which were included Egypt and Syria, the one to the north, the other to the south, in respect of Judea, appear to take up the chief attention of the prophet, as his people were particularly concerned in their fate; these being the countries in which by far the greatest number of the Jews were, and still are, dispersed. Of these countries he treats (according to the views of the most enlightened expositors) down to the conquest of Macedon, A.M. 3836, b.c. 168, when he begins to speak of the Romans, vv. 1-30; and then of the Church under that power, [Dan 11:31-35]. This leads him to speak of Antichrist, who was to spring up in that quarter, [Dan 11:36-39]; and of those powers which at the Time of the end, or the latter days of the Roman monarchy, (as this term is generally understood), were to push at it, and overthrow many countries, [Dan 11:40-43]. By the king of the South, in the fortieth verse, the dominion of the Saracens, or Arabs, is supposed to be intended, which was an exceeding great plague to the Roman empire in the east, and also to several papistical countries, for the space of one hundred and fifty years, i.e. from a.d. 612, when Mohammed and his followers first began their depredations, to a.d. 762, when Bagdad was built, and made the capital of the caliphs of the house of Abbas, from which epoch the Saracens became a more settled people. By the king of the North in the same verse the prophet is supposed by some to design that great scourge of eastern Christendom, the Ottoman or Othman empire, by which, after about a hundred and fifty years of almost uninterrupted hostilities, the Roman empire in the east was completely overturned, a.d. 1453. The chapter concludes with a prediction of the final overthrow of this northern power, and of the manner in which this great event shall be accomplished, [Dan 11:44], [Dan 11:45]. But it should be observed that, notwithstanding the very learned observations of Bishop Newton and others upon this chapter, their scheme of interpretation presents very great and insurmountable difficulties; among which the very lengthy detail of events in the Syrian and Egyptian histories, comprising a period of less than two hundred years, and the rather uncouth transition to the incomparably greater transactions in Antichristian times, and of much longer duration, which are passed over with unaccountable brevity, are not the least. On all these subjects, however, the reader must judge for himself. See the notes.