Daniel 10:17
How can I, your servant, speak with you, my lord? Now I have no strength, nor is any breath left in me."
How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord?
This phrase reflects Daniel's humility and reverence in the presence of a divine messenger. The Hebrew word for "servant" is "עֶבֶד" (eved), which denotes a position of submission and service. Daniel acknowledges his own limitations and unworthiness to engage in conversation with such a majestic being. Historically, this reflects the ancient Near Eastern practice of recognizing one's lower status before a superior, especially in a divine context. Daniel's use of "my lord" (אֲדֹנִי, adoni) further emphasizes his respect and recognition of the messenger's authority. This phrase inspires believers to approach God with humility, acknowledging His greatness and our dependence on Him.

Now I have no strength
The Hebrew word for "strength" is "כֹּחַ" (koach), which can refer to physical, mental, or spiritual power. Daniel's encounter with the divine has left him physically and emotionally depleted. This reflects a common biblical theme where human frailty is highlighted in the presence of God's glory. In the broader scriptural context, this weakness underscores the need for divine empowerment. It serves as a reminder that in our own strength, we are insufficient, but through God, we find the strength to fulfill His purposes.

nor is any breath left in me
The word "breath" in Hebrew is "נְשָׁמָה" (neshamah), which is often associated with life and spirit. Daniel's experience is so overwhelming that it feels as though his very life force is drained. This phrase can be seen as a metaphor for the awe and reverence that the presence of God or His messengers can inspire. In the historical and scriptural context, breath is a symbol of life given by God, as seen in Genesis 2:7. Daniel's lack of breath signifies the profound impact of divine encounters, reminding believers of the transformative power of God's presence and the renewal that comes from His Spirit.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Daniel
A prophet and servant of God, known for his unwavering faith and integrity. In this chapter, he is receiving a vision and is overwhelmed by the presence of a heavenly being.

2. Heavenly Being
Often interpreted as an angel or a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, this figure delivers a message to Daniel and strengthens him.

3. Vision by the Tigris River
Daniel receives this vision while he is by the Tigris River, a significant location that underscores the importance of the revelation.

4. Persian Empire
The setting of Daniel's vision, as he is in exile under Persian rule, which is relevant to the historical and prophetic context of the book.

5. Spiritual Warfare
The chapter reveals the unseen spiritual battles that occur, as the heavenly being mentions being delayed by the "prince of the Persian kingdom."
Teaching Points
Human Frailty in Divine Presence
Recognize our limitations and need for God's strength when faced with overwhelming spiritual experiences.

The Role of Angels
Understand the role of angels as messengers and ministers to believers, providing strength and guidance.

Spiritual Preparedness
Be spiritually prepared for divine encounters through prayer and fasting, as Daniel was.

Dependence on God
Emphasize the importance of relying on God's strength in times of personal weakness and spiritual battles.

Humility Before God
Approach God with humility, acknowledging our unworthiness and His greatness.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Daniel's reaction to the heavenly being's presence reflect our own responses to God's holiness and majesty?

2. In what ways can we prepare ourselves spiritually to receive and understand God's messages, as Daniel did?

3. How does the concept of spiritual warfare in Daniel 10 encourage us to pray for strength and protection in our own lives?

4. What can we learn from Daniel's humility and dependence on God when we face situations that seem beyond our strength?

5. How do other biblical accounts of divine encounters (e.g., Isaiah, John) enhance our understanding of Daniel's experience in this chapter?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Isaiah 6
Similar to Daniel, Isaiah experiences a vision of the Lord and feels unworthy and overwhelmed, highlighting the common human response to divine encounters.

Revelation 1
John, like Daniel, falls as though dead when he encounters the glorified Christ, illustrating the awe and fear that accompany divine revelations.

2 Corinthians 12
Paul speaks of his own weaknesses and the sufficiency of God's grace, paralleling Daniel's experience of being strengthened by divine presence.
The Vision of the ChristH.T. Robjohns Daniel 10:1-12, 14-19
The Vision on the Banks of the HiddekelsWilliam M. Taylor, D.D.Daniel 10:1-21
Variety of Angelic ServiceJ.D. Davies Daniel 10:11-21
War in the Realm SupernaturalH.T. Robjohns Daniel 10:13, 20
People
Belteshazzar, Cyrus, Daniel, Javan, Michael
Places
Greece, Persia, Tigris River, Uphaz
Topics
Able, Body, Breath, Breathe, Hardly, Henceforth, Immediately, Lord's, Power, Remains, Servant, Speak, Straight, Straightway, Strength, Talk, Yea
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Daniel 10:14-21

     4112   angels, messengers

Daniel 10:15-17

     5136   body

Daniel 10:15-19

     6703   peace, divine OT

Library
November 15. "Oh, Man of Desires" (Margin) (Dan. x. 11).
"Oh, man of desires" (margin) (Dan. x. 11). This was the divine character given to Daniel of old. It is translated in our version, "O man, greatly beloved." But it literally means "O man of desires!" This is a necessary element in all spiritual forces. It is one of the secrets of effectual prayer, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them." The element of strong desire gives momentum to our purposes and prayers. Indifference is an unwholesome condition; indolence and
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Daniel's Band
"O Daniel, a man greatly beloved."--Daniel 10:11. It did not do Daniel any harm to know that he was greatly beloved of God; or else he would not have received that information from heaven. Some people are always afraid that, if Christian people obtain full assurance, and receive a sweet sense of divine love, they will grow proud, and be carried away with conceit. Do not you have any such fear for other people, and especially do not be afraid of it for yourselves. I know of no greater blessing that
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

Elucidations.
I. (Greater licence, p. 104.) In this treatise, which is designed to justify the extremes of Montanistic fasts, Tertullian's genius often surprises us by his ingenuity. This is one of the instances where the forensic orator comes out, trying to outflank and turn the position of an antagonist who has gained an advantage. The fallacy is obvious. Kaye cites, in comparison, a passage [1125] from "The Apparel of Women," and another [1126] from "The Exhortation to Chastity." He remarks, "Were we required
Tertullian—On Fasting. In Opposition to the Psychics

Youthful Confessors
'But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 9. Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. 10. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink; for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Difference Between Union and Rapture. What Rapture Is. The Blessing it is to the Soul. The Effects of It.
1. I wish I could explain, with the help of God, wherein union differs from rapture, or from transport, or from flight of the spirit, as they speak, or from a trance, which are all one. [1] I mean, that all these are only different names for that one and the same thing, which is also called ecstasy. [2] It is more excellent than union, the fruits of it are much greater, and its other operations more manifold; for union is uniform in the beginning, the middle, and the end, and is so also interiorly.
Teresa of Avila—The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus

How to Make Use of Christ as the Truth, when Error Prevaileth, and the Spirit of Error Carrieth Many Away.
There is a time when the spirit of error is going abroad, and truth is questioned, and many are led away with delusions. For Satan can change himself into an angel of light, and make many great and fairlike pretensions to holiness, and under that pretext usher in untruths, and gain the consent of many unto them; so that in such a time of temptation many are stolen off their feet, and made to depart from the right ways of God, and to embrace error and delusions instead of truth. Now the question is,
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

A Sight of the Crowned Christ
(Revelation, Chapter i.) "Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus, I've lost sight of all beside, So enchained my spirit's vision, Looking at the Crucified." "The Lord Christ passed my humble cot: I knew him, yet I knew him not; But as I oft had done before, I hurried through my narrow door To touch His garment's hem. "He drew me to a place apart From curious crowd and noisy mart; And as I sat there at His feet I caught the thrill of His heart-beat Beyond His garment's hem. "Rare was the bread He broke
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

Departed Saints Fellow Servants with those yet on Earth.
"I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets." That the saints do not remain insensible, while their bodies are in the dull, but become angels, * see and serve God and bear his messages, and minister to the heirs of salvation, hath been argued from several considerations, in the preceding discourse; but we chiefly depend on revelation. The text and several other scriptures, we conceive to be our purpose, and sufficient to establish our theory, and that the same is illustrated and confirmed
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

The Doctrine of Satan.
I. HIS EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 1. EXISTENCE. 2. PERSONALITY. II. HIS PLACE AND POWER. 1. A MIGHTY ANGEL. 2. PRINCE OF POWER OF THE AIR. 3. GOD OF THIS WORLD. 4. HEAD OF KINGDOM OF DARKNESS. 5. SOVEREIGN OVER DEATH. III. HIS CHARACTER. 1. ADVERSARY. 2. DIABOLOS. 3. WICKED ONE. 4. TEMPTER. IV. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS SATAN. 1. LIMITED POWER OF SATAN. 2. RESIST HIM. V. HIS DESTINY. 1. A CONQUERED ENEMY. 2. UNDER ETERNAL CURSE. VI. DEMONS. THE DOCTRINE OF SATAN. Throughout the Scriptures Satan is set
Rev. William Evans—The Great Doctrines of the Bible

Annunciation to Zacharias of the Birth of John the Baptist.
(at Jerusalem. Probably b.c. 6.) ^C Luke I. 5-25. ^c 5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa [a Jewish proselyte, an Idumæan or Edomite by birth, founder of the Herodian family, king of Judæa from b.c. 40 to a.d. 4, made such by the Roman Senate on the recommendation of Mark Antony and Octavius Cæsar], a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course [David divided the priests into twenty-four bodies or courses, each course serving in rotation one week in the temple
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Of a Private Fast.
That we may rightly perform a private fast, four things are to be observed:--First, The author; Secondly, The time and occasion; Thirdly, The manner; Fourthly, The ends of private fasting. 1. Of the Author. The first that ordained fasting was God himself in paradise; and it was the first law that God made, in commanding Adam to abstain from eating the forbidden fruit. God would not pronounce nor write his law without fasting (Lev. xxiii), and in his law commands all his people to fast. So does our
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

A Treatise of the Fear of God;
SHOWING WHAT IT IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM THAT WHICH IS NOT SO. ALSO, WHENCE IT COMES; WHO HAS IT; WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS; AND WHAT THE PRIVILEGES OF THOSE THAT HAVE IT IN THEIR HEARTS. London: Printed for N. Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, over against the Stocks market: 1679. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and "a fountain of life"--the foundation on which all wisdom rests, as well as the source from whence it emanates. Upon a principle
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Jesus' Feet Anointed in the House of a Pharisee.
(Galilee.) ^C Luke VII. 36-50. ^c 36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. [We learn from verse 40 that the Pharisee's name was Simon. Because the feast at Bethany was given in the house of Simon the leper, and because Jesus was anointed there also, some have been led to think that Luke is here describing this supper. See Matt. xxvi. 6-13; Mark xiv. 3-9; John xii. 1-8. But Simon the leper was not Simon the Pharisee. The name Simon was one of the most common among the Jewish
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Jesus Calls Four Fishermen to Follow Him.
(Sea of Galilee, Near Capernaum.) ^A Matt. IV. 18-22; ^B Mark I. 16-20; ^C Luke V. 1-11. ^a 18 And walking ^b 16 And passing along by the sea of Galilee [This lake is a pear-shaped body of water, about twelve and a half miles long and about seven miles across at its widest place. It is 682 feet below sea level; its waters are fresh, clear and abounding in fish, and it is surrounded by hills and mountains, which rise from 600 to 1,000 feet above it. Its greatest depth is about 165 feet], he [Jesus]
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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