And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
Daniel has just seen a vision that drained his strength and left him face-down on the ground. A hand reaches him there, and three questions follow: whose hand it is, what the touch gives him, and what it says about receiving God's mind.
The moment in the sequence
The touch belongs to a chain of events. Daniel falls, sleeps, feels the hand, rises by stages, and only then can listen.
Hamilton SmithDaniel is left alone in the presence of the angel. He is overcome with fear and falls on the ground, finding relief in deep sleep. In this position the hand of the angel touches him and he is set on his knees and the palms of his hands. The angel then speaks, assuring Daniel that he is greatly beloved. Daniel is raised to stand upright, though trembling. So he is set free, in the presence of this heavenly being, to hear communications from God.
Another writer links Daniel's collapse to a later one.
A. J. PollockEvidently the vision, as in the case of Saul of Tarsus at a later date, had struck him to the ground.
Why a man like Daniel had no strength
Daniel's long record with God gave him nothing to stand on here.
William KellyLove rested on him. He knew God's ways well, and God had shown him favour in earlier visions. Yet Daniel is made fully conscious of his own utter weakness. All his strength crumbled into dust before the Lord of glory. And this has a lesson for us of no little importance. However great the value of what a saint has learnt, the past alone does not enable us to understand the new lesson of God. God Himself is necessary for this — not just what we have learnt already… He depends on God alone for power to stand up and enter into what the Lord was about to make known to him.
Whose hand it was
Commentators differ over who the glorious figure earlier in the chapter is. So they differ over whose hand touches Daniel. One reads him as more than an angel:
William KellyThe one described so magnificently in verse 6, whom Daniel alone sees, does not appear to have been a mere angel. He may have been seen with some features of angelic glory. But I take this to be One who often appears in both New and Old Testament history — the Lord of glory Himself. He appears now as a man — as One who had the deepest sympathy with His servant on the earth.
Another reads the same figure as an angel in his own glory, not in ordinary human dress:
Hamilton SmithHe does not see the angel wearing some plain dress put on to appear to man. He sees him in his own angelic glory, showing his majesty, holiness and power as a divine messenger.
What the touch gave him
The touch did more than change his posture. One writer counts three things that came before a single word of the message.
Edward DennettDaniel received three things before the angel went on with his message. First, "a hand touched me, which set me on my knees and on the palms of my hands." This gave him divine strength. Second, he receives the assurance that he was "a man greatly beloved," an object of the divine affections. Along with this, and in the power of it, he is commanded to understand the words spoken to him and to stand upright… Last, he is set at liberty.
Those quoted words follow an older translation of this verse.
Peace before prophecy
The order matters. Daniel is steadied first and taught second. The same order holds for anyone reading prophecy.
William KellyPeople cannot profit from prophecy until they are firmly established in peace, and until their hearts know the real source of strength. Here we find Daniel set on his feet, his mouth opened, his fears hushed, before the Lord can open out the future to him… Anxiety of spirit and the lack of settled peace hold people back more than they think. They explain much of the little progress people make in understanding many parts of God's word.
Summary
- Collapse first. Daniel is overcome, falls to the ground, and finds relief in deep sleep. The vision struck him down, as it later struck down Saul of Tarsus.
- Touch next. The hand reaches him where he lies. His own strength has crumbled; the strength that raises him is divine, and it comes with the touch.
- Strength, then love. First divine strength, then the assurance that he was greatly beloved, then the command to understand and stand upright.
- Past learning fails. All Daniel's earlier favour and knowledge crumbled here. The past alone does not teach anyone God's new lesson. God Himself is necessary.
- Peace before prophecy. Set on his feet, mouth opened, fears hushed — only then could the Lord open the future to him. Unsettled hearts still make little progress in God's word.