Daniel 11

Conflict of Nations and Heavenly Powers (cont’d)

1-4 More from the one in human form [Gabriel?]: Three more Persian kings will rise up, the fourth richer than all the others, who will go against Greece. According to Jamieson, Faussett and Brown, these are Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis, and Darius Hystaspes, AKA Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, and Darius, as named in Ezra 4:6, 7, 24. Gill and Matthew Henry say the three kings are Cyrus, who reigned alone after the death of Darius the Mede, his uncle; Cambyses, the son of Cyrus; and Darius Hystaspes. All say the fourth is Xerxes.

3-4 Then will be a powerful warrior king whose kingdom will be broken up, but not for his posterity. It will be uprooted. From JFB commentary:

Alexander invaded Persia 334 B.C., to avenge the wrongs of Greece on Persia for Xerxes' past invasion (as Alexander said in a letter to Darius Codomanus, ARRIAN, Alexander.2.14.7).

Alexander’s kingdom is divided into four parts after his death.

5-9 Prophecy of alliance between king of the north and daughter of king of the south (Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt), from whom a branch will prevail over the king of the north, whose idols and precious spoil he will carry to Egypt, after which northern king will invade the south then return to his own land. This is where my ignorance of history shows itself. I have to rely on online commentaries. Both JFB and Gill say these countries are Egypt (south) and Syria (north), with Judea caught in the middle.

10-13 More conflict between the northern and southern kingdoms.

14-19 The north (Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, 223-127 BC) shall besiege a southern city and overpower the south (Egypt), giving a woman in marriage (Cleopatra I), as a final weapon of destruction, but a commander will repel the northern king’s insolence, who will return to his land. Per JFB, this was

Lucius Scipio Asiaticus, the Roman general, by routing Antiochus at Magnesia (190 B.C.),

20-26 One who takes his place (Seleucus Philopater, his son) will send an ambassador who fails, then an unauthorized renegade (Antiochus Epiphanes) who gains power through intrigue and plunders the south.

27-28 The two kings (Antiochus Epiphanes and King of Egypt, Ptolemy Philometer) will negotiate in lies without success; the northern king returns to his land with wealth but with a heart set against the covenant.

29-31 The northern king returns again, and first withdrawing because of stronger ships then in anger sending forces to occupy the temple and fortress, abolishing burnt offerings and setting up an abomination of desolation, which refers to desolating the temple with pagan idols.

32-35 He seduces the unfaithful, but the faithful remain strong, though some are killed, “that they may be refined, purified and cleansed, until the time of the end.”

36-39 The king will exalt himself into a god, blaspheming God, honoring an unknown god with costly gifts, making wealthy those that acknowledge him.

40-45 The Time of the End

40-42 The king of the south will attack him, but the king of the north will sweep like a whirlwind or a flood over countries, except Edon, Moab and most of Ammon, but including Egypt.

43-45 He will rule Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia, pitching his “palatial tents between the sea and the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with no one to help him.”