7 I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; for the men who were with me didn't see the vision; but a great quaking fell on them, and they fled to hide themselves.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
He pursues his own narrative in which he appears prolix, but not without design. This prophecy required all kinds of sanction for the purpose of inspiring unhesitating confidence in it, not only with those Jews of that generation, but with all posterity. Although the predictions of the eleventh chapter have been fulfilled, yet their utility is manifest to us as follows: first, we behold in them God's perpetual care of his Church; secondly, we observe the pious never left destitute of any necessary consolation; and lastly, we perceive, as in a glass or in a living picture, the Spirit of God speaking in the prophets, as I have observed before, and shall have occasion to remark again. Daniel, therefore, has good reasons for impressing us with the certainty of the vision, and with whatever tends to prove its reality. He says, I alone saw the vision; but the men who were with me did not see it; just as the companions of Paul did not hear Christ's voice, but only a confused sound: they did not understand his language, as Paul alone was permitted to comprehend it. (Acts 9:7) This is related to promote belief in the prophecy. Daniel's power of hearing was not superior to his companions, but God intended to address him alone. Thus the voice, although like the voice of a multitude, did not penetrate the ears of those who were with him. He alone was the recipient of these prophecies, as he alone was endued with the power of predicting future events, and of consoling and exhorting the pious to live them a knowledge of futurity even to the last day. Should any one inquire how he carried his companions with him while he was probably lying on his bed at a distance from the bank of the river, the answer is easy. He had his domestics with him; the river's bank only existed in the vision, and he was carried completely out of himself, and thus his family would be acquainted with the ecstasy without being aware of the cause. Daniel then continued at his own home, and only visited the bank of the river during the vision; although many witnesses were present, God struck them all with astonishment, while Daniel only perceived what is afterwards narrated. God deemed him worthy of this singular honor to fit him to become a teacher and instructor to others. The men who were with me, says he, saw not the vision; but a great terror fell upon them This distinction, as I have stated, shews Daniel to have been selected as the sole listener to the angel's voice, and as receiving the information which he was afterwards to convey to others. Meanwhile, God intended many witnesses to notice Daniel's entire freedom from any delusion through either a dream or a passing imagination. His companions, then, were fright-eyed This terror proves the Prophet to have been divinely instructed and not to have labored under any delirium. They fled, therefore, into hiding-places It afterwards follows: --
And I Daniel alone saw the vision - That is, he only saw it distinctly. The others who were with him appear to have seen or heard something which alarmed them, and they fled. Who those men were, or why they were with him, he does not say. They may have been his own countrymen, engaged with him in the act of devotion, or they may have been Babylonians occupied in the public service; but whoever they were, or whatever was the reason why they were there, they became alarmed and fled. The case was somewhat different with the companions of Saul of Tarsus when the Saviour appeared to him on his way to Damascus. These saw the light; they all fell to the earth together, but Saul only heard the voice of him that spake. Acts 22:9.
The men that were with me saw not the vision - An exactly parallel case with what occurred at the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9:7. There was a Divine influence which they all felt, but only Daniel saw the corporeal appearance.
And I Daniel alone saw the vision,.... The object or person described; though he was not alone when he saw it, yet he alone saw it; the eyes of his body and mind being quicker than the rest, the Lord strengthening and enlightening both; for this was a peculiar and distinguishing favour granted to him:
for the men that were with me saw not the vision; at least not so clearly and distinctly as Daniel did; they might have some confused sight of an object that appeared very terrible; but, being struck with consternation, they had not presence of mind to look at it; and so could neither form nor retain scarce any idea of it: or their eyes might be held, and their sight clouded; or be stricken with a kind of blindness, or want of sight for a time, as the men of Sodom were; or the object was of such a nature, that without special illumination it could not be seen: the like happened to Elisha's young man, who saw not the chariots and horses of fire the prophet did, and to the men that were with the Apostle Paul, 2-Kings 6:17, who these men were, that were with Daniel, is not material to know; whether they were his three companions, who had been cast into the fiery furnace; or the Prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, as Jarchi and Saadiah say from their Rabbins (r); neither of which are likely, since these, being good men and prophets, would doubtless have been favoured with the same vision: but rather they were the servants of Daniel, who waited upon him, he being now a great man in the Persian court; and these men being very likely Heathens, profane and unregenerate men, were not fit and prepared to see such a vision:
but a great quaking fell upon them: or "for", so Noldius; giving a reason why they saw not, because or the great fear and trembling upon them; either at the glimmering sight of this strange appearance, which they knew not what to make of; or rather at the sound of his voice, which was so very loud and terrible:
so that they fled to hide themselves; among the trees that grew upon the banks of the Tigris, as Adam among the trees of the garden; or in some wood or forest hard by; or in some caves and dens, which might be near at hand: this not only shows the confusion and consternation they were in, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it,
they fled with terror; or
through it, as the Syriac version; but serves to confirm the truth of the vision, that it was not a mere fancy and imagination of Daniel.
(r) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 93. 2.
they fled--terrified by the presence of the presence of the angel.
According to this verse, the form described in Daniel 10:5 and Daniel 10:6 was visible to Daniel alone. His companions saw not the appearance, but they were so alarmed by the invisible nearness of the heavenly being that they fled and hid themselves. What is here said resembles Acts 9:3., where Christ, after His exaltation, appeared to Paul and spoke to him - Paul's companions hearing only the voice, but seeing no one. In order to account for the flight of Daniel's companions, it is not necessary to suppose the existence of thunder and lightning, of which the text makes no mention. The supposition also of Theodor. and Hitzig, that the men indeed saw not the angel, but that they heard his voice, is incorrect; for the voice was not heard till after his companions had fled. המּראה, pointed as fem., that which was seen, the appearance, seems to be a more limited conception than מראה, visio. בּהחבא יברחוּ: they fled, for they hid themselves; so that the hiding is not to be regarded as the object of the fleeing, but the fleeing is made known in their hiding themselves.
*More commentary available at chapter level.