Daniel Chapter 11:1-20/Commentary

Daniel Chapter 11:1-20

11:1 “I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him”: In the previous chapter we found that Michael the archangel and an angelic messenger stood together against the evil that surrounded the Persian kingdom. “So God’s people have powerful opponents but they have powerful allies!” (McGuiggan p. 170). The person talking in Daniel 11:1 appears to still be the angelic messenger who had come to Daniel (11:10), and the person he is encouraging is either Darius or Michael.

11:2 “I will tell you the truth”: Of all the viewpoints and perspectives in the world, the Bible is the book that contains the truth (John 17:17). The section that follows in Daniel 11 can be challenging, but what we need to realize is that God is unfolding precise details about the future to Daniel. It is a section of Scripture that can increase our faith, that the Bible is indeed an inspired book (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and is given by the God who can indeed see the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). “Three more kings are going to arise in Persia”: In addition to Cyrus, the kings that would follow would include Cambyses, Darius I and Hystaspis. “Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them”: This would be the king mentioned in the book of Esther, Xerxes (Esther 1:3-4). “He will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece”: Under Xerxes the Persians attempted to conquer Greece in 480 B.C., but were soundly defeated at Salamis. From secular sources Xerxes is reported to have been very rich, indulgent, and to act habitually like a spoiled child, this is also the picture that we have of him in the Scriptures.

11:3 “And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases”: From the time of the failed attempt to conquer Greece the Persian Empire began to wane, and Alexander the Great finally overwhelmed it.

11:4 “His kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to the authority which he wielded”: When Alexander died in 323 B.C. after conquering most of the known world, he left no heir. A son was born to his wife Roxana, after his death, but both mother and son were murdered. Alexander had many able generals, but there was not one that arose as his logical successor. As the prophecy states, his empire was divided up into four sections, among four of his generals, yet their rule will lack his success and power. “It is nothing short of supernatural and miraculous to observe how the actual history of this period, and this part of the world, and these people confirms in minute detail the prophecies here made by Daniel some 300 years before it transpired! The minuteness and detail of this eleventh chapter, and its actual fulfillment to the letter is the one major factor motivating the destructive critics of the Bible to place the book of Daniel as late as the 2 nd century B.C. For if the book of Daniel was written near 600-500 B.C. his prediction of these details of history which can only have happened to the Ptolemies and Seleucids is proof-positive of supernatural revelation” (Butler p. 410).

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11:5 “Then the king of the South”: One of Alexander’s generals was Ptolemy (TOL en mih) who received the territory of Egypt and southern Syria. The king of Egypt, Ptolemy shall be strong, and so will one of his generals, Seleucus (sih LOO kuhs) Nicator. “Who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion”: Three of Alexander’s generals had formed an alliance against Antigonus in 315 B.C. and defeated him in battle, but during this battle, Ptolemy had sat on the sidelines and had allowed Seleucus to do his fighting for him. As a result, the other generals decided that Seleucus should be sovereign over Syria and Palestine. As a matter of historical fact, the dominion of the family of Seleucus (the Seleucids) did actually exceed that of the Ptolemies.

It reached from Phrygia in the west to the Indus River in the east.

11:6 “After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North”: Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy II, shall marry the Seleucid king, Antiochus II, this marriage was done for political purposes and took place around 252 B.C. “But she will not retain her position of power”: Two years after this marriage was arranged, Ptolemy II was dead, and Antiochus divorced her and will return to a former wife. The former wife, Laodice, fearing lest her husband might again turn to Berenice, had him poisoned and encouraged her son to murder Berenice and her infant child.

11:7 “But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place”: In 245 B.C., Ptolemy III arises, who is the brother of Berenice. “And he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North”: The brother of Berenice attacks the Seleucid king, Seleucus II, son of Laodice, resulting in the Laodicean war, is very successful, gains a number of brilliant victories in northern Syria, completely subjugated it, and executes the murderess Laodice. 11:8 Ptolemy III returns home with plunder, and lives the rest of his reign in peace.

11:9 About 240 B.C. Seleucus II, succeeded in regaining lost territories as far south as Damascus, then proceeded to march against Ptolemy and was soundly defeated. No further attacks were made on Syria during the reign of Ptolemy III. 11:10 The “sons” are the sons of Seleucus III (226-223 B.C.), who died in battle in Asia Minor. History records that Antiochus III (son of Seleucus) attempted an invasion of Palestine in the summer of 221 B.C. He attempted another invasion in 219 B.C., and by 217 B.C. he had conquered all of Palestine and had reached the Egyptian frontier town of Raphia.

11:11 An Egyptian army under the personal command of Ptolemy met the Syrians south of Raphia, with an army of 70,000 infantry, 5000 cavalry and 73 war elephants, and defeated them. “Then the later will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be given into the hand of the former”: The Syrians lost in battle 10,000 infantry, 300 cavalry, 5 elephants and 4,000 lost as prisoners.

11:12 “His heart will be lifted up, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail”: Ptolemy IV will be elated by this success, however, he was too much of a playboy to utilize this success to the fullest. He resumed his life of luxury and dissolution and died in 203 B.C. without building up or strengthening his imperial fortifications.

11:13 While Ptolemy IV was living it up, Antiochus was making plans to attack, and this time with a larger force than before. The statement here in some translations, “at the end times”, does not refer to some supposed Antichrist coming at the end of the world, but simply describes the years intervening between Antiochus’ defeat in verse 12 and his victory in verse 13. The NASV renders this statement, “after an interval of some years”.

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11:14 “The violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down”: At this time many warlike Jews allied themselves with Antiochus III, and thus helped him to victory, but this will be their undoing. The “vision” under consideration appears to be the vision in 9:25, that is, the troubling times that will come upon Israel in the years before the Messiah comes. “Many will rise against the king of the South”: Philip of Macedon and by some rebel forces or malcontents in Egypt joined Antiochus.

11:15 Near the sources of the Jordan, Scopas the Egyptian general, fled to the city of Sidon where Antiochus besieged him by land and sea. In the spring of 198 B.C. Scopas was forced to surrender, leaving all of Syria and Palestine in the hands of Antiochus.

11:16 The “glorious land” refers to Palestine, and Antiochus on this occasion will be unstoppable. The phrase “with destruction in his hand” might be interpreted to mean, “Having reached the height of victory, he falls under the dominion of pride and haughtiness by which he hastens on his ruin and overthrow” (Keil).

Antiochus did not devastate the land at this time, but rather the destruction might be a corrupting influence upon God’s people.

11:17 “Bringing with him a proposal of peace”: “God not only knows historical events before they happen but also the schemes of men before they are even thought” (Butler p. 419). Antiochus did treat the Jews in an equitable way, he released Jerusalem from taxes for three years and he also sent a large sum of money for the service of the Temple, but all this was done to strengthen his hold on the people and establish a strong home front in Palestine. “He will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side”: In 198 B.C., in a treaty with Ptolemy V (204-181 B.C.), who was then only seven years old, Antiochus III betrothed his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy. The marriage was not consummated until five years later, and Antiochus had hoped by this marriage to gain advantage over the king of Egypt by trusting that his daughter would be her father’s ally rather than her husband’s. But, as history records, Cleopatra constantly sided with her husband over against her father; fulfilling the above words, “she will not take a stand for him or be on his side”.

11:18 “Then he will turn his face to the coastlands”: When Hannibal was defeated by the Romans at Zama (202 B.C.), bringing an end to the Punic War, he fled eastward and took refuge in the court of Antiochus III. Interested in stirring up trouble for Rome, Hannibal encouraged Antiochus to invade Greece. “But a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him; moreover he will repay him for his scorn”: The Romans under the brilliant Cornelius Scipio defeated Antiochus (190 B.C.). He had to pay an enormous indemnity (15,000 talents or more), and surrender his war elephants and his navy. His younger son, later to rule as Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), was taken to Rome as hostage for repayment of the indemnity.

11:19 In 187 B.C., in order to replenish his exhausted treasury, he will march against the revolting Armenians and attempt to plunder their temple, but both he and his soldiers were slain by the Elamites. 11:20 The next rule was Seleucus IV (187-175 B.C.). He will send Heliodorus his prime minister, throughout his kingdom to raise money. Soon after the money-raising expedition Seleucus IV will be slain by Heliodorus as a political expedient.

“It very nearly overwhelms the finite mind of man to realize that Daniel is being told 200 years of history before it happens. Details such as partitioning of kingdoms, wars, victories and defeats, treaties, marriages, deaths, taxations, all before the people are born and the battles are fought, all predicted centuries in advance!

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The Bible is the Word of God! And this word reveals that God not only knows history before it happens, but He is also active in and directs history to serve His glorious purpose to redeem all from iniquity and purify for Himself a people of His own who are zealous for good works. His immediate purpose was to reveal to Daniel, and subsequently to the Jews, all that they must endure as a purifying process preparing them for their presentation of the Messiah� (Butler p. 420).

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