Tyndale Open Study NotesDaniel 10

This final vision spans from 536 BC to a future when Daniel will rise from the dead and receive his inheritance. All earthly kingdoms will be destroyed. The eternal kingdom of the Son of Man will arise. God's people will finally be rescued, and death, the ultimate enemy, will be defeated.

• In the third year of King Cyrus's reign, which was 536 BC, Cyrus allowed people to return to their ancestral homes (2 Chronicles 36:22–23; Ezra 1:1–2). Daniel’s prayer (Daniel 9:4–19) was answered, and the exile in Babylon ended.

• Belteshazzar: See Daniel 1:7.

Daniel seemed to be in mourning because of his earlier visions (Daniel 10:14, 16).

The man in linen clothing is an unknown messenger of the Lord (compare Daniel 10:16, 18; 12:6–7; see also Ezekiel 9:3).

Daniel reacted like most people do when they see heavenly beings (compare Joshua 5:14; Isaiah 6:5; Acts 9:7–9; Revelation 1:17).

highly precious: See also Daniel 9:23; 10:19.

• the prince of the kingdom: Spiritual forces behind different nations, like the spirit prince of Persia or Greece, blocked the way of God's messenger who responded to the prayers of God's people (see Daniel 10:20–11:1).

• one of the chief princes: An archangel is a chief among God's heavenly messengers.

• Daniel's world, and ours, has more than what we can see. Daniel learns that history's great events happen against a real spiritual backdrop. In this world, spiritual beings either support or hinder God's people, and age-old conflicts play out. Behind everything, the Ancient of Days guides all things and judges the process and its outcome.

  God's covenant with his people and their relationship with him through prayer are central. The world is not ultimately governed by angels and spirit princes, but by the Ancient of Days, who hears his people's prayers.

touched my lips: Compare Exodus 4:11–12; Isaiah 6:5–7.

God's word provides strength to his servants (compare Psalms 29:11; 68:35).

The messenger explained empires by describing the spirit prince that represented each one. The Persian Empire had just begun and would later be replaced by the Greek Empire (compare Daniel 8:3–7, 19–21).

• Book of Truth (literally writing of truth): The messenger spoke not of himself but from what was written in God’s Book of Truth. Compare God’s book in Daniel 7:9–10; Exodus 32:32–33. See also Daniel 12:1; Psalm 139:16. The Book of Truth contains what is revealed in Daniel 11:2–12:7.

• against these, except Michael your prince: God divided the nations and assigned them their princes (Deuteronomy 32:8). God was over Israel, and Michael was Israel’s spirit prince.