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DANIEL 11:1-35
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Keep in mind
that chapters 10 through 12 comprise one final vision that was given to Daniel.
So, these chapters are a unit. The vision contains the most detailed of the
prophecies of the Bible. It covers the period of time in ancient world history,
between 529 BC and 100 BC. Then, it jumps ahead to the end-times (AD 2020+).
Because of this prophecy's extensive and exacting historic detail, liberals have
said that this portion of Daniel had
to have been written after the fact. One of their greatest headaches is how to
explain the fulfilled prophecies of the Bible.
If you are a
history buff, you will find the historic detail in this chapter both amazing and
exciting. If not, you may find it dry and unappealing and you might want to just
skim on down to verses 30-35. However, please keep in mind that God has included
each and every word that is written here for our edification and benefit. As you
have it in I Timothy
3:16-17,
All Scripture is
God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be thoroughly
equipped for every good work.
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11:1-4
Now then, I tell
you the truth: Three more kings will
appear in Persia, and then a fourth,
who will be far richer than all the others. When he has gained power by his
wealth, he will stir up everyone against
the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty
king will appear, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases.
After he has appeared, his empire will be
broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go
to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised, because his empire
will be uprooted and given to others.
For Daniel,
this was yet future unfulfilled prophecy
... mysterious and unknown. To you and me it is,
fulfilled prophecy and history. Our God is the sovereign of history.
He is the author of it. He planned it. He controls it. And, he will consummate
it. When God looks at history, he sees it as pre-written. The Lord says in
Revelation 1:8,
'I am the Alpha
and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is, and who was, and who is to come, the
Almighty.'
That just
about says it all. His name declares that he is the beginning and the end and
everything in-between. He is the Almighty. Nothing is outside the realm of his
knowledge, power or control. As you have it in
Ephesians 1:11,
In Him also we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him
who works all things according to the
counsel of His will...
This
intricately detailed prophecy, concerning these kings that were yet to come in
Daniel's day, were of no great consequence for God to predict. The book of
Hebrews says,
all things are naked and open to the eye
of Him of whom we have to do (Heb. 4:13). He knows the beginning from
the end and everything in-between. Furthermore, he controls it and upholds it by
the Word of his great power. He gives all things purpose and direction and he is
going to bring everything to a glorious consummation in Christ. Therefore, when
God foretells specific people or detailed events yet to come, we can
take it to the bank ... those people
will arise and the events will
occur. This is what he demonstrates
here in Daniel 11, for anyone with an unbiased mind to see.
These intricate movements and detailed
peoples are prophesied here, hundreds of years before they actually took place.
The following
men that are found in this prophecy came on the world scene, just as God said
they would...
1.
...
Three more kings will appear in Persia.
They turned out to be Cambyses, Pseudo Smerdis and Darius I.
2.
...
then a fourth ... he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.
He turned out
to be Xerxes (known as Ahasuerus, the husband of Esther, in the book of Esther).
3.
...
Then a mighty king will appear, who will rule with great power and do as he
pleases.
He turned out to be Alexander the Great.
4.
...
After he has appeared, his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the
four winds of heaven.
These men appeared after Alexander's death. His empire was divided up between
his four generals: Seleucus took Syria; Ptolemy took Egypt; Cassandar took
Macedonia and Lysimachus took Europe.
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11:5-6
The king of the South will become strong, but one of his
commanders will become even stronger than he and will rule his own kingdom with
great power. After some years, they will become allies.The daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North
to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power
will not last. In those days she will be
handed over, together with her royal escort and her father and the one who
supported her.
This is one of
the most intricate prophecies in the Word of God. It begins with the opening
salvo of the conflict that would come between the
Seleucid kingdom in Syria and the
Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt.
The
king of the South, is Ptolemy II
Philadelphus down in Egypt.
The king of the North, is
Antiochus II Theos of the
Seleucid kingdom in Syria. The
conflict between these two subdivisions of Alexander the Great's empire, extends
all the way down to verse 35, and contains a great deal of intricate detail
which, at the time of Daniel, was yet unfulfilled prophecy but now, is fulfilled
and in the history books.
The story
found in these verses reads like a soap opera in secular history. An alliance
was made between Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Egypt) and Antiochus II Theos (Syria)
which was cemented by the marriage of Ptolomy's daughter, Berenice, to
Antiochus. After 2 years, however, he jilted her and went back to his first
wife, Laodice, who was living in Ephesus. There, he died under mysterious
circumstances (possibly having been poisoned by either Laodice or Berenice).
Laodice then ordered Berenice and her children, who were up in Syria, to be
killed. They died in 246 BC. See how exacting and detailed these Scriptures were
fulfilled!?
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11:7-9
One from her family line will arise to take her place.
He will attack the forces of the king of the North and enter his
fortress; he will fight against them and be victorious. He will also seize
their gods, their metal images and their valuable articles of silver and gold
and carry them off to Egypt. For some years he will leave the king of the North
alone. Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South
but will retreat to his own country."
Aroused by the
murder of Berenice, her brother, Ptolomy
III Euergetes in Egypt, launched a successful campaign against Laodice and
her son, Seleucus II in Syria, and
prevailed. This started what is called the Third Syrian War. Seleucus II was
never able to recover from the drubbing he took from Ptolemy III and he died
from a fall from his horse around 226 BC.
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11:10-16
His sons will prepare for war and
assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and carry
the battle as far as his fortress. Then the king
of the South will march out in a rage and fight against the king of the North,
who will raise a large army, but it will be defeated. When the army is carried
off, the king of the South will be filled
with pride and will slaughter many thousands, yet he will not remain triumphant.
For the king of the North will muster another army, larger than the first; and
after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped. In those
times many will rise against the king of the South.
The violent men among your own people will rebel in fulfillment of the
vision, but without success. Then the king of the North will come and build
up siege ramps and will capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will
be powerless to resist; even their best troops will not have the strength to
stand. The invader will do as he pleases; no one will be able to stand against
him. He will establish himself in the
Beautiful Land and will have the power to destroy it."
Here, the
see-saw battles between the Ptolemys in the South and the Seleucids in the
North, with God's people in the middle, are predicted. Wikipedia relates many of
the details as follows:
"Antiochus
III the Great, (Greek: Antiochus Megas;
ca. 241–187 BC, ruled 222–187 BC), younger son of
Seleucus II
Callinicus,
became the 6th ruler of the
Seleucid
Empire
as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Ascending the throne at young age,
Antiochus was an ambitious ruler. Although his early attempts in war against the
Ptolemaic Kingdom
were unsuccessful, in the following years of conquest Antiochus proved himself
as the most successful Seleucid King after
Seleucus I
himself. The campaigns of 219 BC and 218 BC carried the Seleucid armies almost
to the confines of
Ptolemaic Egypt,
but in 217 BC
Ptolemy IV
confronted Antiochus at the
battle of
Raphia
and inflicted a defeat upon him which nullified all Antiochus's successes and
compelled him to withdraw north of the
Lebanon.
In 216 BC Antiochus went north to deal with Achaeus, and had by 214 BC driven
him from the field into
Sardis.
Antiochus contrived to get possession of the person ofAchaeus
(see
Polybius),
but the citadel held out until 213 BC under Achaeus' widow
Laodice
and then surrendered."
As for God's
people in Palestine (the Beautiful Land)
mentioned in these verses, history records that...
"Antiochus
attacked Palestine, and by
199 BC
he seems to have had possession of it before the Aetolian,
Scopas,
recovered it for Ptolemy. But that recovery proved brief, for in
198 BC
Antiochus defeated Scopas at the battle of Panium, near the sources of the
Jordan,
a battle which marks the end of Ptolemaic rule in Palestine."
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11:17-20
He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an
alliance with the king of the South. And
he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom,
but his plans will not succeed or help him. Then
he will turn his attention to the
coastlands and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to
his insolence and will turn his insolence back upon him.
After this, he will turn back toward the
fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more.
His successor will send out a tax
collector to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, he will
be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle.
Just as predicted here, between 198 and 195 BC,
Antiochus the Great of Syria gave his
daughter, the famous Cleopatra, to Ptolemy
Epiphanes of Egypt in order to cement an alliance between them. He then made
a move against the Greek Islands (Lychamacus' holdings) and was defeated by the
Romans.
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11:21-29
He will be succeeded by a contemptible person
who has not been given the honor of royalty. He will invade the kingdom when its
people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue. Then an overwhelming
army will be swept away before him; both it and
a prince of the covenant will be
destroyed. After coming to an agreement with him, he will act deceitfully,
and with only a few people he will rise to power. When the richest provinces
feel secure, he will invade them and will achieve what neither his fathers nor
his forefathers did. He will distribute plunder, loot and wealth among his
followers. He will plot the overthrow of fortresses -- but only for a time.
With a large army he will stir up his strength and courage against the king of
the South.
The king of the South will wage war with a large and very powerful army, but he
will not be able to stand because of the plots devised against him. Those who
eat from the king's provisions will try to destroy him; his army will be swept
away, and many will fall in battle. The
two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to
each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed
time. The king of the North will return
to his own country with great wealth, but his heart will be set against the holy
covenant. He will take action against it and then return to his own country.
At the appointed time he will invade the
South again, but this time the outcome will be different from what it was
before. Ships of the western coastlands will oppose him, and he will lose heart.
We come now to the prophecy of the rise of the Seleucid "madman,"
Antiochus Epiphenes (175 BC.). As you can see, a great deal of
detail is given about him and his movements here. Also, the murder of the High
Priest, Onias III, is cited (a
prince of the covenant will be destroyed). Antiochus' sack of Egypt and
resulting spoiling are also prophesied here, as well as his second campaign and
his defeat by Roman ships. Antiochus was depicted as a type of Antichrist in the form of the
little horn back in chapter 8. Wikipedia gives the following details
about him and his exploits:
"Antiochus IV Epiphanes ("Manifest
God")[1],
"the Illustrious";
Greek:
Antiochus Epiphanaes; born c. 215 BC; died 164 BC) ruled the
Seleucid Empire
from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. He was a son of King
Antiochus III the Great
and the brother of
Seleucus IV Philopator.
His original name was Mithridates; he assumed the name Antiochus after he
assumed the throne.
Notable events during the reign of Antiochus IV include his near-conquest of
Egypt,
which led to a confrontation that became an origin of the metaphorical phrase, "line
in the sand"
(see
below),
and the rebellion of the Jewish
Maccabees.
He assumed divine epithets, which no other
Hellenistic
king had done, such as Theos Epiphanes
(meaning, "God Manifest") and after his defeat of Egypt,
Nikephoros
(meaning: "Bearer of Victory")[2].
But his often eccentric behavior, capricious actions and even insanity led some
of his contemporaries to call him Epimanes ("The Mad One"),
a word play off of his title
Epiphanes."
__________________________________________________________________________
11:30-35
Then he will turn back and vent his fury against the holy covenant.
He will return and show favor to those
who forsake the holy covenant. His
armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the
daily sacrifice. Then they will set
up the abomination that causes desolation. With flattery he will corrupt
those who have violated the covenant, but
the people who know their God will firmly resist him.
Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will
fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they
will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them.
Some of the wise will stumble, so that
they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for
it will still come at the appointed time.
These verses prophesy a very infamous event in the history of the Jewish people.
They predict the day that Antiochus Epiphenes would sack Jerusalem and defile
the Jew's temple there. This occurred around 166 BC. To the Jew, it was ... to
quote Roosevelt after the bombing of Pearl Harbor ...
a day that will live on in infamy.
However, something more than the description of that particular event is also
present here. Did you notice it? At verse 30,
the prophecy leaps forward to another time as well
... presenting us with a double
meaning and a double fulfillment. Prophecy sometimes does that. It may have a
near fulfillment and it also may have
a far fulfillment. For example, in
Isaiah 7:14,
we read,
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with
child and bear a son, and she will call His name, Immanuel.
(NASV)
The near fulfillment is found in the
next chapter when Isaiah's wife conceived and gave birth to a son. So, it was a
prophecy given as a sign for Isaiah ... and his son was a fulfillment of what
the Lord had said to him. However, the prophecy also had a
far fulfillment which didn't come to pass until the virgin Mary
became pregnant by the Holy Ghost and gave birth to the baby Jesus. Matthew
1:23, specifically says that too was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah
1:14. So, sometimes, a prophecy in the Bible can have two fulfillments ... one
that is near and one that is
far. Much of the minor prophet, Joel,
is of that nature. So, the prophecy in verse 30 is, indeed, referring to
Antiochus and what he would do at Jerusalem in the temple in 166 BC ... but it
also refers to another invader of that city who will come far in the future of
Antiochus. Namely, the distant Antichrist and what he will also do in Jerusalem
to its temple in the last days. Although the Antiochus side of this prophecy has
already happened (the near
fulfillment) ... the Antichrist side (the
far fulfillment) has not yet to come to pass in human history.
So, this prophecy begins to display a marked change within verse 30, and leading
up to verse 35. Then, from verse 36 on, we are no longer reading
fulfilled prophecy at all. We are reading yet
unfulfilled prophecy. These verses move us away from Antiochus and
his time ... to a day and time and events and peoples who, even now, have yet to
step out upon the world scene. Beginning with verse 36, it is as if someone
suddenly and unexpectedly threw open the door to the end time. All the rest of this prophecy takes up the subject of
what is going to happen to God's covenant people, the Jews, far down in history
during the days of the end. Even back in the time of Jerome (AD 300) this final
portion of the book of Daniel was applied to the Antichrist who was yet to come.
Here are a few additional reasons why the remainder of Daniel's prophecy is
about things still in the future ... things still unfulfilled ...
and concerns the last days.
1. Because the events prophesied from verse 36 on do not correspond with
anything in past history.
They simply have not taken place yet.
2. Because there is a natural literary break between verses 35, and verse 36.
Both the American Standard and the Revised Standard Versions clearly display
this break.
3. Because of the continued flow between these final verses of chapter 11, and
the beginning verses of chapter 12.
Chapter 12, begins with the words
at that time. What time? The time
of Antiochus Epiphenes? No. There is nothing found after verse 35, that relates
back to his time in history. Rather, the things that are spoken of in these
remaining verses are clearly of the time that Jesus referred to when he himself
cited verse 30, in
Matthew 24:15-21,
So when you see standing in the holy place
'the abomination that causes desolation,'
spoken of through the prophet Daniel -- let the reader understand -- then
let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his
house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back
to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and
nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the
Sabbath. For then there will be great
distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now -- and never to be
equaled again.
Scripture interprets Scripture,
you see. So, as we read the rest of chapter 11, it should dawn on even the most
casual reader that there has been a shift and we are now far into the future of
even our own day. And, when we trace back in the text to find the point at which
the prophecy jumped from the past to the
future, it leads us back to verses 30.
Looking back to that point then, let me point out a few things in these
scriptures that Antichrist (of whom Antiochus Epiphenes was a type) will do. We
read:
1.
His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish
the daily sacrifice (v.30).
As we saw back in chapter 9, Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks predicted that
there would come a day when Antichrist (the
prince that shall to come) will make a treaty with the Jews. It also
predicted that after that treaty there would come a day when he will suddenly
break that treaty. In the "for what it is worth department", that treaty between
Israel and the Antichrist will be signed at the beginning of the 7-year
Tribulation period after the removal of the Church by Christ at the Rapture (I
Thessalonians 4:15-17). It will be broken by Antichrist, 3 1/2 years later, when
he invades Jerusalem and seizes the Jew's temple for his own as predicted here
and by Jesus in Matthew 24, above. As you have it in
II Thessalonians 2:3-4,
Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the
rebellion occurs and the man of
lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
He will oppose and will exalt himself
over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up
in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
2.
Then
they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.
As this pertained to Antiochus, its near
fulfillment occurred when Antiochus set up the idol, Jupiter, in the Holy of
Holies and poured pig broth over the holy vessels. He considered himself to be
that god. The far and yet ultimate
fulfillment, however, has yet to occur. It will take place when Antichrist will
act in the same fashion, seizing the temple at Jerusalem and occupying it and
demand that, from that time forward, the whole world worship him there. Jesus
warned the Jewish people of this event in Matthew 24, saying,
when you see, standing in the holy place, the abomination that causes desolation
... get out of town.
3. ...but
the people who know their God will firmly resist him.
As pertaining to Antiochus, history records that from the time that he invaded
and seized the temple, the Maccabees became guerilla fighters against him (the
near fulfillment of the prophecy).
Eventually, after two decades of resistance and after Antiochus was dead, they
forced the Seleucids to withdraw from Palestine, winning their independence in
142 BC. In the last days, Godly Jews will likewise resist the Antichrist when he
too will invade and seize their temple (the
far fulfillment).
4.
Some of the wise will stumble, so that
they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for
it will still come at the appointed time.
With this statement, the prophecy shifts completely to the far future time of
the last days. It is undoubtedly referring to the process by which the Jews in
the last days of Earth's Gentile history will come to know Christ. For many, it
will take the traumatic event of the judgment of the Sixth Seal to turn them
around. That event is recorded in Revelation 6:12-17. For others, it will take
the preaching of Christ's
two witnesses as recorded in Revelation 11:3-6. And, for others,
it will take a face to face confrontation with Jesus Christ himself at the place
of refuge spoken of in Revelation 12:14, and predicted in
Ezekiel 20:35-38,
And I will bring you into the wilderness
of the peoples, and there I will plead my
case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in
the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead my case with you," says the
Lord GOD. I will make you pass under the
rod, and I will bring you into the bond of
the covenant
(I take this to refer to the New Covenant);
I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me; I
will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter
the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Zechariah prophesied concerning this time of the turning of the Jews back to
their God in
Zechariah 13:9,
saying,
And I will bring the third part
through the fire, and will refine
them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call
on my name, and I will hear them: I will
say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
What amazing and exciting days those will be. And, beloved, you and I will no
doubt observe them for ourselves one day.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas
Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Click to go to Chapter
11:36-45