"... The 'strong angel' who descends from heaven incorporates a combination of attributes suggesting the significance of his function. Similar to the Christ in the opening epiphany, 'his face (is) as the sun' (10:1; compare 1:16). The motif of a shining face occurs in several connections in biblical and early Christian tradition: Moses' face shines after his descent from Sinai (Exodus 34:29-35; compare 2 Corinthians 3:7); it will 'shine as the brightness of the firmament' (Daniel 12:3; LXX 'as the stars of heaven'). Though the angel's descent with the little scroll from heaven echoes Moses' descent with the Torah from Sinai, the element 'as the sun' links him, on the level of the text, more directly with the opening Christophany. While admitting that the language in 1:16c may have been influenced by the text in Judges 5:31, Collins ultimately derives the feature in 1:16c from the angelophany in Daniel 10:6 ('his face as the appearance of lightning'). This derivation would have particular support if the angel in Revelation 10 was being identified with Gabriel. In the phrase 'as the sun,' however, it seems that the angel's appearance is accommodated to that of the opening Christophany, and hence shows a less immediate dependence on Daniel 10:6. In the Apocalypse of Zephaniah 6:11, which like Revelation 1 shows some dependence on the angelophany in Daniel 10, the 'great angel' Eremiel has a face 'shining like the rays of the sun in its glory.' If we are correct in maintaining that the tradition represented in the Apocalypse of Zephaniah is not dependent on the Johannine Apocalypse, it becomes rather plausible to argue that the similar description of Christ and the 'strong angel' reflects a common (Jewish or Jewish-Christian) exegetical tradition which expanded on Daniel 10:5-6 as it continued to be applied within an angelophanic context. Remaining particular to the Christophany of the Apocalypse of John is ή οψις, which perhaps is best translated 'appearance' rather than 'face.' ..."