Daniel 10:6

Hebrew Bible

4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was beside the great river, the Tigris. 5 I looked up and saw a man clothed in linen; around his waist was a belt made of gold from Ufaz. 6 His body resembled yellow jasper, and his face had an appearance like lightning. His eyes were like blazing torches; his arms and feet had the gleam of polished bronze. His voice thundered forth like the sound of a large crowd. 7 Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men who were with me did not see it. On the contrary, they were overcome with fright and ran away to hide.

Apocalypse of Zephaniah 6:11

Pseudepigrapha

10 I was unable to stand, and I prayed before the Lord Almighty, “Thou wilt save me from this distress. Thou art the one who saved Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Thou saved Susanna from the hand of the elders of injustice. Thou saved the three holy men, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, from the furnace of burning fire. I beg you to save me from this distress.” 11 Then I arose and stood, and I saw a great angel standing before me with his face shining like the rays of the sun in its glory since his face is like that which is perfected in its glory. 12 And he was girded as if a golden girdle were upon his breast. His feet were like bronze which is melted in a fire.

 Notes and References

"... 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.' ..."

Stuckenbruck, Loren T. Angel Veneration and Christology: A Study in Early Judaism and in the Christology of the Apocalypse of John (pp. 229-230) Baylor University Press, 1995

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