11

In Daniel 10:11, 19 Daniel is referred to as a beloved man. Commentators explain this term to mean pure, or that his actions were beloved. Midrashim explain this more generally that the righteous are beloved to God, angels and man.

Daniel certainly exhibited many righteous traits, but so did many other people. Furthermore the title beloved man seems to be unique. Why is this term used specifically and why is it applied to Daniel exclusively?

Improve this question
1
  • Everybody loves a "Daniel", but, aaaah, I'm a bit conceited, today :-) :-) I think he is given this title because despite one of the most tortuous activities (Yosef was imprisoned - closest, perhaps, known imprisonment to Daniel's. But Daniel was fed to the lions) he survived, held his faith and constant belief and devotion to G-d while demonstrating immense humility even while serving as a minister. The "beloved" is seemingly a fitting accolade to signify that his behavior is worthy of imitation.
    – DanF
    Apr 11, 2018 at 14:05

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

A guess:

In Ch. 10 verse 3 Daniel says לֶחֶם חֲמֻדוֹת לֹא אָכַלְתִּי - that during the 3 years he fasted, he didn't eat clean bread.

He refers to this bread as לֶחֶם חֲמֻדוֹת

Maybe that's why he was then referred to as the אִישׁ חֲמֻדוֹת - the beloved man (your translation) or the pure man (Rashi's translation) or the man of exalted character (Metzudoth's translation).

As in: You gave up your לֶחֶם חֲמֻדוֹת so you deserve to be called an אִישׁ חֲמֻדוֹת.

Improve this answer
4
  • +1 Your guess is most probably right as so many people are referred to places that they were or events that happened in their time E.g Shmuel Haramasi (place),Morrdechai Bilshan(spoke 70 languages)
    – user15464
    Apr 12, 2018 at 21:34
  • 1
    This is made explicit in Yoma 76b, see the parenthesis
    – rikitikitembo
    Oct 7, 2020 at 13:48
  • Thanks, @rikitikitembo - sefaria.org.il/Yoma.76b.9?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en for those who want to see it inside.
    – Danny Schoemann
    Oct 11, 2020 at 8:38
  • note though that Daniel is referred to as beloved in chapter 9 (possibly chronologically before his fast in chapter 10)
    – rikitikitembo
    Feb 7, 2021 at 17:05
0

According to Rav Matis Weinberg (chapter 9, starting at around 1:10) this label is related to Daniel's concept of self-identity and is the inverse of לֹא תַחְמֹד not to covet (Shemot 20:14) and is applied to Daniel because of his connection to prayer which is something that is desired by God

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .