The question has been asked: If there is only one archangel or one chief messenger why does Daniel 10:13 say he is "one of the chief princes" instead an absolute: "the chief prince"?
This question has already been answered on the RL website, so I will present what has already been stated.
http://godandson.reslight.net/michael.html=====>
Daniel 10:13 - But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one(1) of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. (1) Margin: or, the first King James Version.
Daniel 10:13 - `And the head of the kingdom of Persia is standing over-against me twenty and one days, and lo, Michael, first of the chief heads, hath come in to help me, and I have remained there near the kings of Persia; -- Young's Literal Translation.
There is nothing in this scripture that proves that Jesus is not Michael, the chief messenger. His being one of the chief princes, only shows that there are chief princes (rulers, leaders, Captains, Generals, Commanders*), and that here Michael is classified as one of these "chief princes" -- Commanders-in-Chief, as we might say today. It is a military classification, not a classification of rank of being. Nothing is said about these "chief princes" all being equal in
being. Nor is there anything here that would make all the angels "chief princes". What brings the classification together, however, is that these are chief rulers -- Commanders, Generals, not that they are angels.
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*Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius. "Hebrew Lexicon entry for Sar".
"The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon".
http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=8269Tiny URL for above:
http://tinyurl.com/9rz64The Gentiles have their rulers, princes, who rule over them. Thus we read that the prince, ruler, of the kingdom of Persia withstood the angel speaking to Daniel fror for 21 days. (Daniel 10:13) Michael, however, is not the prince or ruler of one of the Gentile Kingdoms, but Michael is said to be "Michael your prince [ruler]," (Daniel 10:21) "the prince of the covenant", (Daniel 11:22) "the great prince who stands for the children of your people." (Daniel 12:1) These expressions are prophetic. Michael, in other words, in prophecy, is the chief prince who is ruler over Daniel's people, that is, Israel, God's people, and by extension, the Israel of faith. (Galatians 3:7,9,26-29; 6:16) This ruler is identified in the NT as Jesus, who is King of Israel. (John 1:49; 12:13) Jesus is the promised "prince" of Israel. Jesus is the "Commander-in-Chief" -- Read Ephesians 1:20-23 and Revelation 19:11-16.
The princes -- rulers -- over the Gentile Kingdoms are not identified by name in Daniel, and only two are mentioned in Daniel, that is, the prince of Persia, and the prince of Greece. -- Daniel 10:20.
Jesus is also called "prince of princes". (Daniel 8:25) In the kingdom age to come, Jesus will have associate kings and princes -- that saints -- who will rule with him, and yet will under him. (Daniel 7:22,27; 1 Corinthians 7:2; Hebrews 1:9; Revelation 5:10) Some will be joint-heirs with him (Romans 8:17), while others will be princes in all the earth. -- Psalm 45:16; Isaiah 32:1.
However, the Hebrew word echad can also mean "first", and thus could be rendered "first of the chief princes", as seen in Young's Translation. As such, then, Jesus would be the "first" of the chief princes, which would again agree with the title of archangel, if the chief princes spoken are a class amongst the angels. Jesus is first of all the chief princes, not necessarily in time, but in that his rulership is greater than all those others spoken of as the chief princes. However, Jesus, being the firstborn creature, did exist before any others who might be called "Chief Prince", whether this prince be angelic or human. And being the archangel before coming to the earth, he did exercise a rulership over the angels before his exaltation.
A quote from R.E. Streeter:
Michael is represented as coming to the assistance of this one that Daniel saw. The name Michael signifies, "He who is like God." In Jude we have Michael spoken of as the archangel. The term archangel signifies "head or chief angel"; and the angel of the vision under consideration speaks of Michael as the first of the chief princes (See marginal reading on verse 13.) We sometimes hear of archangels as though there were many; but the Scriptures do not so speak. According to the Scriptures there is but one archangel. In I Thess. 4:16, St. Paul states that when Christ shall raise dead, it will be in connection with the voice of the Archangel. Connecting this utterance with Christ's own words concerning that event, "the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God," we can but identify Michael with our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In Daniel 12, Michael is called the "great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people." It is not probable that such expressions can have reference to any other personage than the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Daniel, the Beloved of Jehovah, by R.E. Streeter, page 174.
At any rate, there is nothing in Daniel 10:13 that excludes Jesus from being Michael. The idea that there is something in what is said that would exclude Jesus from being Michael has to be added to and read into what is said there.
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Christian love,
Ronald
