Michael, the great prince. Since “prince” (Hebrew śār) is used in chs. 10–12 in reference
to an angel whom God has appointed the “guardian angel” over a nation (10:13,
20), Michael, whom God has made the “guardian angel” of Israel (10:21), is the
greatest of these “guardian angels.” Therefore, he is called in Jude 9 ho archangelos, “the archangel.” The
concept of each nation having its own “guardian angel” is already witnessed to
in Deut 32:8 (as emended according to 4QDeut 32 and LXX), where, however,
Yahweh himself, and not an angel, is Israel’s special guardian; cf. also Sir 17:
(14) 17. The concept, no doubt, goes back to Canaanite mythology, in which each
nation has its own protecting deity; the Bible has eliminated the polytheistic
element by making “the sons of El” into angels. (Louis F. Hartmand
and Alexander A. Di Lella, The Book of Daniel: A New Translation with Notes
and Commentary on Chapters 1-9 [AYB 23; New Haven: Yale University Press,
2008], 273)
