These texts are often used to speculate as to the speed of flight of angels. It is reasoned that, if Gabriel left Heaven when Daniel began praying and arrived before Daniel finished, then he must have flown very swiftly. Daniel's prayer recorded in Dan. 9:4-20 can easily be read in 10 minutes.
Let us look at the astronomical data. The distance of the nearest star to earth, Alpha Centauri, is determined by heliocentric parallax to be about one parsec, one second of arc. This represents a distance of four light years. A light year is defined as the distance light travels in one year, about 6 trillion miles. Thus Alpha Centauri must be some 24 trillion miles away. If Gabriel travelled this distance in ten minutes, he would have travelled much faster than the speed of light.
However, Heaven is not on Alpha Centauri. No one knows where it is, but there are some who place it beyond the constellation of Orion, many thousands of light years away (see ). So the speed of 24 trillion miles in 10 minutes is a minimum estimate. We are presented with a dilemma and as I see it, there are only three possible solutions.
1) God has endowed angels with supernatural ability to travel faster than the speed of light. Who am I that I should question the ability of an all-powerful God to do this? 2) Heaven is closer to earth than we think. Since no one knows where Heaven is, then there can be no argument. 3) Gabriel did not start his journey from Heaven but from some location nearer to Daniel. If this were true, then we would have no problem with the first two solutions.
I think we can solve the dilemma without a consideration of God's supernatural powers, and without speculations as to Heaven's location. According to Dan. 10:12-14, Gabriel was in Babylon laboring with Cyrus, prince of Persia, and in Dan. 8:2 we find Daniel in the palace in Shushan (Susa), some 200 miles from Babylon. Thus it appears that Gabriel only travelled 200 miles while Daniel was praying. Two hundred miles in 10 minutes would place his speed as a little above mach 1, a speed attained by modern supersonic aircraft. Even so, there can be no doubt that angels are made to fly swiftly.
