In Daniel 10:20 the angel says he was sent by God immediately when Daniel began to pray, twenty-one days earlier, but he was hindered by the “prince of Persia” and the “prince of Greece.” Who is the “prince of Persia”?
For ma
ny interpreters, the prince of Persia is some kind of a national angel or territorial angel, in charge of the nation of Persia. In 12:1 Michael is the “prince” of God’s people, Israel. In 1 Enoch 20:1-8 for Michael as an archangel (cf., Jude 9).
The idea that nations had a particular angelic being ruling over it in the spiritual world may be behind the idea of local gods, or patron gods of the city-states. In 3 Enoch 35:12 identifies Samma’el as the “prince of Rome” and Dubbie’el as the Prince of Persia; both of these princes sit daily with Satan and write out the sins of Israel in order to deliver them to the seraphim.
3 Enoch 35:12 Why is their name called seraphim? Because they burn the tablets of Satan. Every day Satan sits with Sammaʾel, Prince of Rome, and with Dubbiʾel, Prince of Persia, and they write down the sins of Israel on tablets and give them to the seraphim to bring them before the Holy One, blessed be he, so that he should destroy Israel from the world.
In the Second Temple period the idea of an angelic “prince” developed into a mini-theology of angels. In Genesis 10 there are seventy nations and there were seventy sons of Abraham in Exodus 1:5. In addition, the Masoretic text of Deuteronomy 32:8 says God has fixed the borders of peoples “according to the number of the sons of God.” The Septuagint has “according to the angels of God” (κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων θεοῦ). From these texts developed the idea there is a divine council with as many as seventy angels in charge of the nations. A Jewish writer would not think the gods of the nations were real, but they would not deny spiritual beings played a role in international politics. Although the text does not specifically mention angels, Sirach 17:17 says:
Sirach 17:17 (NRSV) He appointed a ruler for every nation, but Israel is the Lord’s own portion.
Does the Bible really claim there is a divine council or “regional angels” in charge of the nations? As appealing as this tradition is, it must be emphasized it is only a tradition developed on the Second Temple Period.
If the prince of Persia is not an angelic or demonic being, then the phrase refers to human political leaders. William Shea, for example, argued the princes in Daniel 10 refers to the kings of the Persians and Greeks. The prince of Persia is either Cyrus the Great or Cambyses, not a powerful angelic being. Without identifying specific Persian or Greek kings, but may be the case the cosmic battle between the prince of Persia, the prince of Greece, and the prince of Israel foreshadows the earthly conflict between the Persians, Greeks and the Judeans described in Daniel 11.
The significant elements in Daniel 10 is that the prince of Persia was able to hinder the messenger from God and that messenger was unable to overcome the prince of Persia for three weeks. Even then, he needed help from Michael, the Prince of Israel to overcome. At the very least, the prince of Persia is an enemy of God who (for some unexplained reason) wants to prevent Daniel from receiving the message from God.
Bibliography: David E. Stevens, “Daniel 10 and the Notion of Territorial Spirits” BSac 157 (2000): 410-431; William H. Shea, “Wrestling with the Prince of Persia: A Study on Daniel 10,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 21 (1983); David E. Stevens, “Does Deuteronomy 32:8 Refer to ‘Sons of God’ or ‘Sons of Israel’” BibSac 154 (1997): 131-41.; Michael S. Heiser, “Deuteronomy 32:8 and the ‘Sons of God,’” BibSac 158 (2001). S. R. Driver, Daniel, 157 has a brief discussion of the “doctrine of tutelary angels.”
Re: “ … there were seventy sons of Abraham in Exodus 1:5“ — how are you reading “Abraham” where the text says “Jacob”?
Sorry. The family of Abraham…same as the sons of Jacob. Working from memory, I suppose.
Why is a prince, like Cyrus the Great or Cambyses, not a powerful angelic being? The prince represents the power of the state, and have an army, etc. I think of the later usage of ‘the angel of the church at X’ in Revelation. Surely that ‘angelic spirit or whatever’ is represented by the polity of the people assembled at that place.
This thinking gives us some concreteness to ‘the powers and principalities’ that we wrestle with. E.g. the fear of global warming to be addressed by the angel of the investors in the liquefied natural gas pipeline, (South Korean pension fund + NY film mogul + etc) who are to disable the angel of the coal fired electricity plants (resident under the prince of China and supplied by the princes of Australia) over the next 30 years, but who are prevented by the same angel of those who fear global warming (blockades etc). As well as not a few random spirits in the crowd.
My point depends on how you understand the prince of Persia hindering the messenger. I think Michael is a reference to an angelic defender of God’s people (at least that is what he is in Daniel 12). If the messenger needs the help of this angelic guardian against the power of the prince of Persia and Greece, this may be enough to imply the Prince of Persia is an angelic being as well.
You analogies are all perfectly fine, of course, and Cyrus might very well be the intended point; but then is the prince of Greece Alexander? If so, then the point of the passage is something like, “Persia and Greece are going to do a great deal to hinder God’s purposes, but ultimately God will overcome them and establish his kingdom.”
If Gabriel needed Michael’s help to overcome the Prince of Persia, there is no doubt he is a Demonic being.
No mere man could do such a thing as impede an Angel (Archangel).
The “prince of persia” is a demonic presence but never rule out the fact that mankind can be a force to be reckoned with, as revealed through the many advancements and accomplishments throughout HIStory. Satanic forces are merely the influence. Mankind wields the balance.
But mankind aren’t as powerful as the celestial or shiny men (angels) and way less powerful then God.
Im iranian.i must say it cannot be human why?cause firstly cyrus th great is God annointed in bible both in old and new teastement he cannot be against God and it is aaying about this cyrus cause prophet daniel pbuh was at his time and another king dariush the great and then no simple man can see angels rather than see the best angels and archangels which are so great and close to God rather than fight them and even archangels cannot defeat them?cause archangel can desteoy cities and even earth itself .so its 0 chance to be human.it can be gaurdians of persia i must admit u can see them in ancient persopolis building even nowadays.it is said in riligion of iranians which was zoroastianism at those time that king of grrifins protect mountains of iran he was sent by angel protector of iran or some other myths in riligion or .but the point is even that zoroastianism is riligion of God its monothiestic and even in it has fortold the coming of jesus christ word of God resulting in 3 magus finding out and watching stars and scriptures to find him cause magus are zoroastianism priests and…why should they be enemy?i wonder so much to find out.i must admit i dont know this topic is from christians or jews cause both have these in their books i think.so if it is christian bible i must say prince in greek dictionary is meaned as leader .so it may mean leader of these countries.