Daniel 10 is speaking of the angel Gabriel, not the messiah. Daniel had a vision (visions / dreams are not literal -- they are DREAMS meant to relay a message and are not literal). "I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold a man clad in linen, and his loins were girded with a girdle of gold studded with jewels. And his body was like tarshish, and his face was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were like firebrands, and his arms and his legs were like the appearance of brandished copper, and the sound of his words was like the voice of a multitude.And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, but the men who were with me did not see the vision, , ,:" Daniel 10: 5- 7. VISION. Gabriel is the one who has given Daniel earlier visions, so it is logical to infer that this is again Gabriel. . . There is absolutely nothing to even infer that the one in the vision was a messiah, let alone "the" messiah. Daniel has fasted for several days and he has a vision that only he sees. . . the men with him do not see what he sees. The men with him were the prophets Chaggai (Haggai), Zechariah and Malachi per the Talmud, Megillah 3a. They did not see what Daniel saw. Prophecy is direct communication from G-d or an angel of G-d (via dreams and / or visions for all prophets with the exception of Moses with whom G-d communicated directly) with a message for the current (then living) generation. A prophet always understands the meaning of the vision or dream. Daniel did not understand the meaning of the visions that he saw. His visions had to be explained to him by an angel. Thus Daniel's visions were from G-d (via an angel) but were not prophecy -- because a prophet always understands how to interpret a prophecy. So what would we call the visions of Daniel which are recorded in the Hebrew Bible in Ketuvim (Writings)? רֽוּחַ הַקּֽוֹדֶשׁ / Ru'aḥ hakodesh -- often mistranslated as "holy spirit" (translated it would be a spirit of the holiness), but it means divinely inspired by G-d. A person so inspired is still their own person and physically is not impacted in any way. A prophet receiving prophecy is physically impacted by it (with the exception of Moses). Experiencing prophecy was physically exhausting: their limbs would tremble, they became weak and would lose control of their senses. In this state they would receive prophecy and they would immediately comprehend its meaning: "And a great, dark dread fell over him." (B'reshit / Genesis 15:12). The Rambam lists eleven levels of prophecy -- and the first two are not really prophecy at all, but are rather stepping stones to prophecy -- רֽוּחַ הַקּֽוֹדֶשׁ / ru'aḥ hakodesh, a spirit of holiness... This applies to Daniel in the vision recorded in the Book of Daniel. רֽוּחַ הַקּֽוֹדֶשׁ / Ru'aḥ hakodesh is what we refer to as being divinely inspired by G-d. The Orthodox Union puts it this way: "However, while they are all degrees of prophecy, not all of these levels necessarily qualified one to be considered a prophet. The lowest two are merely steps on the way to attaining that status.... Imagine a person who goes to medical school and earns an MD but he does not go on have a residency or take his medical board exams. Such a person is a "doctor" but not a doctor.) Just as a prophet could receive more than one form of prophecy during their tenures, they could also receive prophecies on different levels... "The first degree of prophecy is the divine inspiration that a person might receive encouraging him in some noble endeavor. This influence is called "ruach Elohim," "the spirit of G-d." When it comes to people affected by this phenomenon, Scripture commonly uses such expressions as "the spirit of G-d rested on so-and-so," or "G-d was with so-and-so." The Judges, who led the nation before any kings of Israel were anointed, typically enjoyed this level of divine attention. (See, for example, Judges 2:18, 11:29, 14:19, et al.)... "David, Solomon and Daniel belong in the category of people motivated by ruach hakodesh rather than among such full-fledged prophets as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel..." Other examples of this type of inspired holiness would be King David who wrote the psalms speaking from his heart, his thoughts, his words. He was not prophesying. This is also true for King Solomon who wrote of wisdom he wrote from his heart, his thoughts, his wisdom, his words... Thus the Book of Daniel is not prophecy -- although the question as to whether Daniel himself (a great man) was a prophet is debated by our sages. But back to the claim at hand: Daniel 10. Daniel describes a glorious man in his vision: "behold a man clad in linen, and his loins were girded with a girdle of gold studded with jewels. And his body was like tarshish, and his face was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were like firebrands, and his arms and his legs were like the appearance of brandished copper, and the sound of his words was like the voice of a multitude." Daniel 10:5-6. Rashi says: "Our Sages of blessed memory explained in Tractate Hullin (9lb): “His body was two thousand parasangs large, like the measurement of the sea named Tarshish, and that is the sea of Africa (the Mediterranean).”" Huge. Who is this being that Daniel sees in a vision? Not Jesus. It is the angel Gabriel. Daniel falls asleep and in his dream / vision the angel Gabriel tells him he is loved. The angel will explain what will happen to the Jewish people in the messianic era. The angel is not a man -- Daniel 10 says he was "like the image of the sons of man." Daniel 10:16. LIKE THE IMAGE of the SONS (plural) OF MAN (son of man = human). We are told again that the angel is LIKE a human (but isn't a human). "he one having the appearance like that of a man " Daniel 10:18. THE APPEARANCE LIKE. . .a MAN. We know this is Gabriel and not Jesus because the angel tells Daniel that he will "return to battle with the prince of Persia; then I shall leave, and behold the prince of Greece is coming." RETURN to battle Persia. Jesus had nothing to do with Persia. Jesus had nothing to do with the Greek Empire either. Jesus didn't live until the Roman Empire, much later. . . Gabriel, as the protector of Israel, had to "battle" to protect the Jews in Persian and Greek oppression (most likely allegorical). . Gabriel is the guardian angel of Israel (the Jewish people) and the one in the vision speaks of doing battle with Persia and then Greece, being helped by Michael (the other angel who protects Israel). Michael as a sar, which means “prince” or “minister.” In stories meant to make a moral point (midrash aggadot) Michael the “prince of kindness (chessed) and water” and Gabriel is “the prince of severity (gevurah) and fire.” . Some missionaries will state that Gabriel was a pre-human Jesus. Based on what fact in the T'nach (bible) pray tell? Gabriel is a servant of G-d, an angel -- which means "messenger." The Hebrew word is מַלְאָךְ -- mal'ach. It means "messenger" -- angels relay G-d's messages, they do nothing "on their own." "Bless the L-rd, His angels, those mighty in strength, who perform His word, to hearken to the voice of His word." T'hillim / Psalm 103:20. Angels do everything by G-d's command - they always do what G-d commands them to do and are always ready to hear what He has to command. If Jesus were G-d (G-d forbid) then he could not be an angel. The one in Daniel's vision was there to relay information to Daniel -- the angel was not Jesus.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Photos used under Creative Commons from dionhinchcliffe, paulasenciogonzalez, paulasenciogonzalez, amy32080, petersbar, Aaron Stokes, amboo who?, Damian Gadal, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, SharonaGott, Udo Schröter, paulasenciogonzalez, Joybot, zeevveez, ianmunroe, freeqstyler, quinn.anya, Ivy Nichols, Groman123, UnknownNet Photography, torbakhopper, “Caveman Chuck” Coker, CarbonNYC [in SF!], dgoomany, Lion Multimedia Production U.S.A., oldandsolo, dbeck03