Daniel Class 8 - Ch. 10 Vision of the last days, pt. 1: Daniel is strengthened by an angelic being

(1) In the third year of King Cyrus of Persia, an oracle was revealed to Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar. That oracle was true, but it was a great task to understand the prophecy; understanding came to him through the vision.

(26) What was said in the vision about evenings and mornings is true. Now you keep the vision a secret, for it pertains to far-off days.”

Judith's mourning practices

(5) And she made her a tent on the top of her house; and she put sackcloth on her loins and wore her widow's clothing. And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, except for the eves of the sabbaths and the sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons and the new moons, and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel.

(5) that I looked and saw a man dressed in linen, his loins girt in fine gold. (6) His body was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and legs had the color of burnished bronze, and the sound of his speech was like the noise of a multitude.

(3) the word of GOD came to the priest Ezekiel son of Buzi, by the Chebar Canal, in the land of the Chaldeans. And the hand of GOD came upon him there.) (4) I looked, and lo, a stormy wind came sweeping out of the north—a huge cloud and flashing fire, surrounded by a radiance; and in the center of it, in the center of the fire, a gleam as of amber. (5) In the center of it were also the figures of four creatures. And this was their appearance:
They had the figures of human beings.

(7) the legs of each were [fused into] a single rigid leg, and the feet of each were like a single calf’s hoof and their sparkle was like the luster of burnished bronze.

(16) As for the appearance and structure of the wheels, they gleamed like beryl. All four had the same form; the appearance and structure of each was as of two wheels cutting through each other.

(24) When they moved, I could hear the sound of their wings like the sound of mighty waters, like the sound of Shaddai, a tumult like the din of an army. When they stood still, they would let their wings droop.

(2) And six figures entered by way of the upper gate that faces north, each with his club in his hand; and among them was another one, clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. They came forward and stopped at the bronze altar. (3) Now the Presence of the God of Israel had moved from the cherub on which it had rested to the platform of the House. The figure clothed in linen with the writing case at his waist was summoned; (4) and GOD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the persons who moan and groan because of all the abominations that are committed in it.”

(15) While I, Daniel, was seeing the vision, and trying to understand it, there appeared before me one who looked like a man/gever. (16) I heard a human voice from the middle of Ulai calling out, “Gabriel, make that man understand the vision.”

Many commentators, both traditional and modern, identify the "man" of chapter 10 with the angel Gabriel.

He [= the angel Gabriel] said before Him: Master of the Universe, if all the wise men of other nations were placed on one side of the scale, and Daniel the beloved man were on the other side, would he not outweigh them? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Who is the one who teaches the virtue of My children? They said to Him: Master of the Universe, it is Gabriel. He said to them: Let him come from behind the partition, as it is stated: “And I have come due to your words” (Daniel 10:12), meaning that Gabriel was permitted to enter from behind the partition because he mentioned Daniel’s name.

God then said to the other angels: Let him ascend. They brought him up. He came and found Dubiel the ministering angel of the Persians holding the letter in his hand. Gabriel wanted to take the letter from him, but Dubiel swallowed it. Some say the letter was written, but it was not signed. Some say it was also signed, but when he swallowed it, the signature was erased. The Gemara comments: This is why, in the kingdom of Persia, there are those who pay taxes and there are those who do not pay taxes, as the decree was not finalized. It also states there: “And when I depart from him, the prince of Greece comes” (Daniel 10:20). Gabriel screamed and screamed that the kings of Greece should not rule over the Jews, but no one listened to him.

(1) I NEED not explain what a dream is, but I will explain the meaning of the term mareh, “vision,” which occurs in the passage: “In a vision (be-mareh) do I make myself known unto him” (Num. 12:6). The term signifies that which is also called mareh ha-nebuah, “prophetic vision,” yad ha-shem, “the hand of God,” and maḥazeh, “a vision.”

It is something terrible and fearful which the prophet feels while awake, as is distinctly stated by Daniel: “And I saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength” (Dan, 10:8). He afterwards continues, “Thus was I in deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground” (ibid. ver. 9). But it was in a prophetic vision that the angel spoke to him and “set him upon his knees.”

(2) Under such circumstances the senses cease to act, and the [Active Intellect] influences the rational faculties, and through them the imaginative faculties, which become perfect and active. Sometimes the prophecy begins with a prophetic vision, the prophet greatly trembles, and is much affected in consequence of the perfect action of the imaginative faculty: and after that the prophecy follows. ... You must know that whenever Scripture relates that the Lord or an angel spoke to a person, this took place in a dream or in a prophetic vision.

(1) So the young man went on his way, and the angel Raphael with him. And he came in the evening to the river Tigris, and they passed the night there. And Tobiyyah went down to the river to wash his feet.

(2) And a fish came suddenly out of the river, and devoured the young man’s bread. And he cried out. Then the angel said to him, Lay hold of the fish, and do not let it go. So the youth laid hold of the fish. Then the angel said to the young man, Open the fish in the middle, and take the heart and the gall, and put them by thee, for they are good for healing. And the young man did so. And he cooked the fish, and ate, and the remainder he left.

Michael, Gavriel, etc.

(9) “He lifted his eyes and he saw, and, behold, three men were standing over him; he saw and ran toward them from the entrance of the tent, and prostrated himself to the ground” (Genesis 18:2).
...Rabbi Ḥanina said: The names of the months [19Nisan, Iyar, etc.] ascended from Babylon. [20Before the Jews were exiled to Babylonia, the months were referred to as first month, second month, etc., and had no proper names. These names are mentioned only in the post-exilic books of the Bible.]

Reish Lakish said: The names of the angels, Mikhael, Refael, and Gavriel, as well. [21Before the Babylonian exile, personal names for angels were never used. They first appear in the book of Daniel.]

In the Name of Adonoy, God of Israel: at my right [hand] Michael, at my left [hand] Gabriel, before me Uriel, behind me Raphael, and above my head, the Presence of Almighty.

NJPS Translation

(8) When the Most High gave nations their homes
And set the divisions of humanity,
[God] fixed the boundaries of peoples
In relation to Israel’s numbers. (9) For ה’s portion is this people;
Jacob, God’s own allotment.

Bernard V. Levinson, Jewish Study Bible, comment to Deut. 32:8 (p. 419) cites a

"variant attested by the [Septuagint] and at Qumran, 'according to the sons of El'..."

from the speech of the Assyrian official Ravshakeh to the officers of King Hezekiah of Judah:

(18) Beware of letting Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘GOD will save us.’ Did any of the gods of the other nations save their land from the king of Assyria? (19) Where were the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where were the gods of Sepharvaim? And did they [NJPS note: I.e., the gods of Samaria] save Samaria from me? (20) Which among all the gods of those countries saved their countries from me, that GOD should save Jerusalem from me?”

From the poetic Song of Deborah describing the battle of Barak versus the Canaanite general Sisera.

(20) The stars fought from heaven,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.