10:4 Daniel had gone to the Tigris (Hiddekel, AV) River perhaps to pray for the exiles who had returned, and he had probably gone there with other godly Jews. Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread fell on the fourteenth through the twenty-first days of the first month. The Jews did not observe these festivals in captivity as they had formerly in their own land. Three days after these important memorial days God gave Daniel a vision that he alone saw (cf. 12:5).
10:5-6 The man whom Daniel saw in this vision may have been the Son of God.385The Jewish interpreters and some modern Christian scholars preferred the view that he was an angel.386The similarities between this man and the one Ezekiel and the Apostle John saw argue for his being divine (cf. Ezek. 1:26-28; Rev. 1:13-16; 2:18). However what this man proceeded to say (esp. v. 13) inclines me to prefer the view that he was an angel.
Expensive linen dress is what the priests in Israel wore, and it set them off as God's special servants. Likewise the sash around this angel's waist, evidently embroidered with or made completely of the best gold, would have identified Him as a special person. The meaning of "Uphaz"is uncertain. It may be the same as Ophir since the translators of the Syriac version of Jeremiah substituted Ophir for Uphaz in Jeremiah 10:9. The location of Ophir is also uncertain. It may have been in southwestern or southeastern Arabia, on the northeast African coast, or in India.387Alternatively "Uphaz"may be a technical term for "refined gold."388The personal descriptions of this man resemble what John saw on the island of Patmos, namely, the Son of God (Rev. 1:13-16; cf. Ezek. 1:13-14). All these features picture a person of great glory and splendor.
"The impression given to Daniel was that the entire body of the man in the vision was like a gigantic transparent jewel reflecting the glory of the rest of the vision."389
10:7-9 Daniel's companions, sensing that something awesome was happening (cf. Acts 9:7; 22:9), hid themselves while Daniel viewed what God showed him (v. 7). His personal reaction to this vision was also similar to the Apostle John's (v. 8; cf. 8:27; Rev. 1:17). The words of the person Daniel saw along with his glorious appearance caused the prophet to faint (v. 9).
