Daniel 10:20 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? Or, Thou knowest for what cause I am come, &c. “The angel, having strengthened the prophet, presumes that he also understood the general design of his errand. The Greek is, Ει οιδας, Surely thou knowest, according to a usual Hebrew idiom. And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia With the evil angel, who, under “the god of this world,” presides over Persia; or rather, with the present ruling prince of Persia, whether Cambyses or any other person then intrusted with the chief power, whose designs against the Jews this angel was employed in counteracting, and would continue to counteract, as also those of every future prince of that kingdom, till it should be overturned by the Greeks. And when I am gone forth Hebrew, ואני יוצא, and I going forth, namely, to execute my commission; or, when I am gone forth, having executed it, and their monarchy is brought down for their unkindness to the Jews, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come The Macedonian empire, under Alexander the Great and his successors, shall be established in Asia; and though favourable to the Jews at first, as the Persian was, yet will afterward become vexatious to them. “Such is the state of the church militant; when it has got clear of one enemy, it has another to encounter; and such a hydra's head is that of the old serpent; when one storm is blown over, it is not long before another rises.” Henry.