Diving Into Daniel: Daniel is Comforted
Daniel 10:10-21 - You are beloved! There is a spiritual battle going on that we cannot perceive but persistence in prayer helps to get an answer.
“Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said to me, “O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.”
When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless. And behold, one who resembled a human being was touching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, “O my Lord, as a result of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can such a servant of my Lord talk with such as my Lord? As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me.” Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me. He said, “O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!” Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, “May my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” Then he said, “Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come. However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.”
Daniel 10:10-21 NASB1995
Daniel is overwhelmed with his vision and is trembling on his hands and knees. A gentle hand touches him and calls him a man of “high esteem” and tells him to have Peace and be courageous. Here are the various translations of this phrase, as noted in the Blue Letter Bible:
KJV: And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved,…
ESV: And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved..
NASB2020: And he said to me, “Daniel, you who are treasured,…
Original Hebrew: חָמַד or ḥāmaḏ (Strong’s H2530) meaning preciousness
This is not the first time that Daniel has heard these beautiful words (see also Daniel 9:23). He is favored by God and attended to by angels. Oh, what a wonderful thing! Here is a marvelous quote to keep in mind from Charles Spurgeon found in Precept Austin:
Child of God, do you hesitate to appropriate this title? Ah! has your unbelief made you forget that you are greatly beloved too? Must you not have been greatly beloved, to have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot? When God smote his only begotten Son for you, what was this but being greatly beloved? You lived in sin, and rioted in it, must you not have been greatly beloved for God to have borne so patiently with you? You were called by grace and led to a Saviour, and made a child of God and an heir of heaven. All this proves, does it not, a very great and superabounding love? Since that time, whether your path has been rough with troubles, or smooth with mercies, it has been full of proofs that you are a man greatly beloved. If the Lord has chastened you, yet not in anger; if he has made you poor, yet in grace you have been rich.
The more unworthy you feel yourself to be, the more evidence have you that nothing but unspeakable love could have led the Lord Jesus to save such a soul as yours. The more demerit you feel, the clearer is the display of the abounding love of God in having chosen you, and called you, and made you an heir of bliss. Now, if there be such love between God and us let us live in the influence and sweetness of it, and use the privilege of our position. Do not let us approach our Lord as though we were strangers, or as though he were unwilling to hear us—for we are greatly beloved by our loving Father. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Come boldly, O believer, for despite the whisperings of Satan and the doubtings of thine own heart, thou art greatly beloved. Meditate on the exceeding greatness and faithfulness of divine love this evening, and so go to thy bed in peace. (Morning and Evening)
There are many times where I have slipped into a bad habit or sin or have stumbled backwards in my faith journey that I have lamented to myself that Jesus saved many but I’m personally not worthy. If you ever feel this way about your salvation or feel you are unworthy, read this from Spurgeon and know that God’s love is beyond understanding and is faithful! Go forward in peace! The enemy loves to see believers with doubt and self-loathing.
The supernatural man-like being (most commentators believe this was an angel) tells Daniel that from his first day of humbly seeking understanding, he was heard and the being has come in response to those prayers. However, this heavenly messenger was detained by the prince of Persia for twenty-days and needed the help of one of the chief princes Michael. This certainly substantiates the idea that this heavenly messenger is not a pre-incarnate Christ, as God would not be detained. But I still think the first part of the vision could indeed have been a vision of the Christ and the angel was also there.
Ok, there’s a lot to unpack in this. The “prince of Persia” was able to detain a heavenly messenger and help was needed in this situation from a higher prince Michael. This Michael is also described as the prince of Israel. Let’s consult Gotquestions.org first on the “prince of Persia”:
Taking this passage at face value, it seems that the prince of Persia is a fallen angel who in some sense had authority or influence over the physical kingdom of Persia. In Daniel 10, the prophet is praying about the future of his people and their exile in Persia. A heavenly angel is dispatched with the answer, but a demonic “prince of Persia” obstructs the messenger. This action would make sense, as the divine answer involves the overthrow of the Persian Empire. The angelic messenger finally gets some help from the archangel Michael, who is apparently the prince (or one of the princes) of Israel in the angelic realm (Daniel 10:13, 21).
Then the angelic messenger says he will face even more spiritual warfare, returning to fight against the prince of Persia. After that, he will face another spiritual enemy, the prince of Greece (Daniel 10:20). We know from history (and as was prophesied in Daniel) that Greece would be the next world power after Persia, and that Greece would dominate Israel for a time. In this passage, three spiritual entities are mentioned in relation to three earthly nations: the prince of Persia, the prince of Greece, and the prince of Israel (Michael). As the New Testament reminds us, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). The battle is real.
So what does Gotquestions.org say about Michael?
Michael the archangel is described in the Bible, in the books of Daniel, Jude, and Revelation, as a warrior angel who engages in spiritual combat. The word archangel means “angel of the highest rank.” Most angels in the Bible are portrayed as messengers, but Michael is described in all three books as contending, fighting, or standing against evil spirits and principalities (Daniel 10:13; 21; Jude 1:9; Revelation 12:7). We do not have a full picture of any angel, and only two are named in the Bible (Gabriel is the other). Scripture only gives us hints of their movements during human events, but it is safe to say that Michael the archangel is a powerful being.
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The prophet Daniel is told that Michael the archangel is “the great prince who protects your people” (Daniel 12:1). Daniel’s people are the Jews, and the fact that Michael “protects” them suggests that God has set various holy angels over various countries or people groups. The demons seem to have a similar hierarchy (see Daniel 10:20). The fact that Michael is a “great prince” indicates that he has authority in the spiritual realm. There are others—Daniel 10:13 says that Michael is “one of the chief princes.”
This unseen spiritual battle going on behind the scenes of our lives on this planet is difficult to fathom. People are more and more materialistic and driven by wanting only concrete, measurable results from science. Yet we can also see that there are agents of evil at work and also good things and blessings that cannot be random occurrences.
Daniel has no strength and is touched on the lips by this being. He speaks and describes his anguish and the fact that he can barely breathe. He is touched again and has his strength returns; the messenger tells Daniel to have courage and peace. The messenger must go back to the situation with the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece is also coming, but he will first tell Daniel what is in the writing of truth (coming in Daniel 11).
I think this commentary from Enduring Word on this passage is worth noting:
From the first day… your words were heard: God responded to Daniel’s prayer the very moment he made his request known. Daniel had been in great and serious prayer for three full weeks (Daniel 10:2).
I have come because of your words: We can’t pass this over lightly. An angel was dispatched because of Daniel’s prayer. This is another of many reminders in the Book of Daniel that prayer matters. It isn’t merely a therapeutic exercise for the one who prays.
The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me: Since this prince was able to oppose the angelic messenger to Daniel, we know this was more than a man. This prince was some kind of angelic being, and we know he was an evil angelic being because he opposed the word of God coming to Daniel and stood against the angelic messenger.
The word prince has the idea of a ruler or authority. This fits in well with the New Testament idea that angelic ranks are organized and have a hierarchy (Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 6:12, Colossians 1:16, Colossians 2:15). These angelic ranks seem to include both faithful angels and fallen angels.
Apparently, this was a demon of high rank that opposed the answer to prayer. On three occasions, Jesus referred to Satan as the prince of this world (John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11).
Withstood me twenty-one days: Since the angel was dispatched immediately and Daniel’s period of prayer and self-denial was 21 days (the three full weeks of Daniel 10:2), we see that the answer to the prayer was delayed by the prince of the kingdom of Persia.
The correlation between Daniel’s time of self-denial and prayer and the duration of the battle between the angels and the prince of the kingdom of Persia establishes a link between Daniel’s prayer and the angelic victory. Since the angelic victory came on the 21st day, we can surmise that if Daniel would have stopped praying on the 20th day, the answer may not have come.
“There may be hindering factors of which a praying Christian knows nothing as he wonders why the answers to his requests are delayed. Nevertheless, he is to keep on praying. It may be that he will not receive an answer because he has given up on the twentieth day when he should have persisted to the twenty-first day.” (Gleason Archer)
Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me: In other passages Michael is associated with the battle between good angels and evil angels (Revelation 12, Jude 9).
Came to help me: This phrase may be the most compelling reason to think that this “me” is not Jesus, despite the remarkable similarity between the certain man of Daniel 10 and the vision of Jesus in Revelation 1. Though Jesus received angelic assistance as an incarnate man (Mark 1:13and Luke 22:43), it is difficult to think of Him needing or receiving angelic help before the incarnation.
Now I have come: God allowed this kind of conflict because He had a purpose in allowing it. He certainly could have blasted away in a moment any demonic opposition. God’s plan probably was to use the time of delay to develop Daniel as a man of persistent prayer.
Persistence in prayer is necessary, but not because God is reluctant and needs to be overcome; rather, it is necessary to train us.
Daniel’s success makes us reflect on our failures. How much angelic assistance or insight has never been realized, or greatly delayed, because of a lack of persistence in prayer?
What will happen to your people in the latter days: The vision of Daniel 11 and 12 was focused on the latter days, though it also relates to the closer time of Antiochus Epiphanes.
Persistence in prayer is the key from this passage. Daniel prayed and abstained from certain foods and wine for 21 days. If he had stopped on the 20th day, would the heavenly messenger not have arrived with the answer? Since we have no good insights into this spiritual battle that is playing out all of the time behind the scenes, when we are not persistent or humble in prayer then some forces may temporarily win out and keep us from an answer. But we all know how the story eventually ends!
Daniel 11 is very challenging, so I’m going to take it one little piece at a time. My next devotional examines Daniel 11:1-3.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I am in awe of the fact that there is much more to the spiritual realm than we can imagine. Thank You for sending Your messengers and for loving us beyond our understanding. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 5/19/2025 to review different translations for “high esteem” and reveal the Hebrew root word.
Precept Austin was accessed on 5/19/2025 to review commentary for Daniel 10:10-21.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 5/19/2025 to answer the questions, “Who was the Prince of Persia?” And “Who is the Archangel Michael?”.
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission. Minor format changes have been made to the text to increase its readability (no changes to the words).
Thanks, Barb as usual beautifully written and thanks extra for the Spurgeon quote I needed that🙌👊