10:20 The angel asked if Daniel knew why he had come to him. He apparently did this to focus the prophet's attention on the vision to follow anew since Daniel was quite weak.
The angel informed Daniel that he needed to return to resume fighting against the demon who was influencing Persia (v. 13) and then the one that would be influencing Greece.402These, of course, are two of the kingdoms that have been the focus of prophecy in this book (chs. 2; 7; 8; 9; 11:2-4, 5-35).
"From this we can learn that, behind the many details of prophecy relating to the history of this period, there is the unseen struggle between angelic forces that the will of God may be accomplished."403
10:21 The "writing of truth"seems to refer to all that God has recorded as truth. This includes Scripture, but it also includes all that is true that God has not revealed. The angel would make part of what God had established as truth known to Daniel. The angel intended this fact to encourage Daniel in view of his having to leave the prophet to return to spiritual warfare. Likewise the fact that Michael stood with this angel in his warfare would have encouraged Daniel even though Michael was apparently his only other angelic comrade in battle. "Your prince"links Michael with Daniel as a good angel whom God had commissioned to help him and his Jewish brethren (12:1; cf. Rev. 12:7; 20:2).
"It is encouraging for God's people to know that he has mighty champions among the holy angels whose task is to defend the saints against the attacks of the evil one."404
11:1 This verse really concludes the tenth chapter. The NASB, NIV, and NKJV translators have sought to clarify this fact by making this verse the last part of the parenthetical statement begun in 10:21. Without observing this we might conclude that another reference to a king introduces a different incident from the one already introduced in 10:1 (cf. 1:1; 2:1; 3:1; 4:1; 5:1; 6:1; 7:1; 8:1; 9:1).
The angel concluded his encouragement of Daniel by adding that he had been responsible for encouraging and protecting Darius the Mede from the beginning of his reign over Babylon. Another less likely interpretation is that the antecedent of "him"is Michael rather than Darius. I think it is less likely in view of the apparent point of this verse explained below.
As mentioned previously (see 5:31), "Darius"was probably a title for Cyrus. The angel may have used it here because it was a title that Daniel preferred (cf. 5:31; 6:1, 6, 9, 25, 28; 9:1). The first year of Darius in view was the first year of his reign as king of Babylon, namely, 539 B.C. Almost immediately, in 538 B.C., Darius (Cyrus) had issued his decree allowing the Jews to return from exile. Obviously this angel's ministry had been effective and had resulted in blessing for the Jews. This king had also issued a decree commanding everyone in his kingdom to honor Yahweh (6:26-27), assuming that incident happened before the events of chapters 10-12. Thus the point of this verse is that the success that the Israelites had experienced under Darius had been the result of successful angelic warfare in the heavenlies. This success was to encourage Daniel as he pondered the future revelation of Israel's fortunes that he was about to receive. Three antagonists of Israel would seek to implement the plan of Satan and his angels to eliminate the Jews: Haman, Antiochus, and Antichrist. Nevertheless holy angels, though invisible, would resist them effectively.
