Daniel 10:13,14 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me Hebrew, עמד לנגדי, stood before me. Purver. And so Jun. and Tremel., referring it to an earthly prince. This is thought by some to be Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, intrusted with the management of affairs in the court of Persia when his father was absent on some expedition, and set against the Jews by their enemies, and now endeavouring to embarrass their affairs: over his designs the angel had been watching, in order to defeat them. Others have thought there is an allusion in this verse, and at Daniel 10:20, to the guardian, or tutelary angels, of different countries; which doctrine seems to be countenanced by some passages in Scripture, and especially by Zechariah, chap. Daniel 6:5. Grotius is of this opinion; and Bishop Newcome, on the last-mentioned place, refers to the passage before us. “That there were such tutelar angels,” says Lowth, “not only over private persons, Acts 12:15, but likewise over provinces and kingdoms, was an opinion generally received. The four spirits, mentioned Zechariah 6:5, seem to be the guardian angels of the four great empires.” This opinion supposes the presiding angels, here mentioned, to be good angels, but it is surely absurd to think that the holy angels are ever engaged in contending with each other; or that “one holy angel is set to oppose another holy angel.” Scott. Others suppose the contest to be between a good and an evil angel, as in Zechariah 3:1, and Jude, Daniel 10:9, “which latter opinion,” says Wintle, “is perhaps the most just, as there should seem to be no dispute, or contest, between the ministering spirits of heaven, who are always obedient to the pleasure of their Lord. And when the Almighty sent a superior angel, Michael, whose name is sometimes given to Christ himself, Revelation 12:7, his office probably was to assist Gabriel in subduing the prince of the power of the air, the powers of this darksome world, or the spirits that rule over the children of disobedience, Ephesians 2:2. The opposition was made twenty-one days; and as this was exactly the number of days that Daniel fasted, the contest may possibly have some allusion to this struggle. Daniel was certainly highly favoured, and the Almighty, who delights in hearing and answering the prayers of his servants, directs the angel to apologize (if I may so speak) for his delay in attending to the patient solicitations of the prophet: the angel also is represented as pleading the difficulty of his task, and another higher power, or chief, in the regal court of heaven, favours his business, and comes in to his assistance. In whatever light this is to be understood, it is a strong and affecting, though less gross, instance of the anthropopathia, or of the Deity's accommodating himself and his measures to the manners of men.” See De Sacra Poes. Hebrews, Præl. 6. Houbigant is of opinion, that this prince of the kingdom of Persia was an evil angel, and in agreement with it renders the last clause of the verse, and I have now left him on the side of the kings of Persia. But it seems most proper to understand Cambyses as meant. Now I am come to make thee understand, &c. I am now come to inform thee of what shall befall thy people hereafter; for yet the vision is for many days For it will be a long course of time before the things I shall inform thee of shall come to pass. Daniel, we find, was informed by this vision, that the empire should be translated from the Persians to the Greeks, Daniel 11:3; and then what should be the condition of the Jews under Alexander's successors, the kings of Syria and Egypt.