Daniel 11:1–11

We have a quick survey of what was about to happen to Israel in the last days. The speaker here is the same as in Daniel 10. Three more kings are still to rise in Persia. There we have the line of Persian rulers after Cyrus. Scripture does show us who these were, although their names are not given here.

The angel sent to Daniel had already been used to confirm and strengthen Darius the Mede. This may throw great light on why Darius was so kind to Daniel. Daniel 6 gives us the outward history. Daniel 10 and Daniel 11:1 show us the spiritual conflict behind that history. We now learn that the hostility of Daniel's enemies came out of spiritual wickedness working behind the scenes. In the same way, the favour Darius showed Daniel came from God's angelic messenger, who confirmed and strengthened the king. Neither Daniel's enemies nor his friends knew that these spiritual beings were at work.

Anyone reading Daniel 6 is struck by how eagerly Darius took up Daniel's cause, and how he tried to save him from the schemes of his enemies. The secret behind it is now uncovered. It shows that God holds the hearts of all men in His hands, and turns them wherever He wills to carry out His purposes… Darius did not know it. But we are now told that a divine influence was working in secret. It confirmed him in a certain course and strengthened him against those who were plotting against God's witness in the king's court. Let us learn from this to look away from all lesser causes. We can rest in this: God is working in silence towards the end He has set, through all the apparent confusion of human plans, and in the face of all the power the enemy has shown.

This is very instructive to us, for God always governs the world. While the throne of God was at Jerusalem, He governed the world directly — not only Israel but the world, and this according to the good or bad conduct of Israel. After that He did not stop governing everywhere. But already in this book, with Israel in captivity, He is acting by the secret springs of His providence. He is not acting by the direct working of the revealed rule of His law, as He did among His people.

The angels are mentioned here in connection with God's providence. Angels are the great instruments of providence, and God carries out His unseen working through them.

Daniel 11 gives us the most extraordinary and detailed prophecy in the whole Word of God. It prophesies the reigns of kings, royal marriages, wars, victories, defeats, plots, treaties and assassinations. This is striking and unanswerable evidence that God knows the future. Who but God could write down such detailed prophecies? They have all come true except one. That one exception is still future, and it will certainly come to pass.

The opening verses of chapter 11, and indeed most of the chapter, give us predictions that were clearly fulfilled long ago… Only when we reach verse 36 does the prophecy move on to the time of the end, and to the last days.

We have a rapid survey of what was about to befall Israel in the latter days. It is the same speaker here as in Daniel 10... There we have the succession of Persian monarchs from Cyrus. Scripture does show us who these were, although their names are not mentioned here. I would refer you to Ezra 4, where these very three kings are mentioned.

First we have Ahasuerus, the unworthy son of a great father, here (Ezra 4:6) called Ahasuerus, or Cambyses as he is named in ordinary history... Darius Hystaspes became king through the revolt that set aside the false Smerdis; and he is the king of Persia who confirmed the decree of Cyrus... This Darius Hystaspes is the third in Daniel 11:2 — that is, the third after Cyrus the Great.

This famously rich king of Persia was Xerxes, who tried to follow his father's hostility to Athens... How exact and terse is the prophet's sketch! "When he has become strong through his riches." It was not skill or force of arms, but wealth that gathered his vast armies of foreign troops. But his enormous armies, far greater than those of his father Darius, were useless... While they pushed their territory through Western Asia, God in His providence was with them. But when they reached for the sea and Europe by rushing into Greece, they laid the foundation of the hostility that later broke out in Alexander the Great.

This confirms a point made earlier: the goat rushed against Persia with such fury in return for the Persian attack on Greece. Xerxes was the man who made that great attempt. His riches are famous, and no event made so deep an impression on the world of that day as that expedition against Greece and its consequences.

Four kings of Persia were still to arise, and "a fourth shall be far richer than all of them." Ezra 4 mentions the first three: Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, and Darius. The fourth was the famous Xerxes, who became "strong through his riches" and stirred up "all against the kingdom of Greece." The prophecy passes over the overwhelming defeat of his mixed army, and the later invasion and conquest of his kingdom by Alexander. These are facts well known to every reader of history, and Daniel 8:7 alludes to them.

Daniel 11 gives us the most extraordinary and detailed prophecy in the whole Word of God. When we remember that it prophesies the reigns of kings, royal marriages, wars, victories, defeats, plots, treaties and assassinations, it gives striking and unanswerable evidence of divine foreknowledge. For who but God could write down such detailed prophecies, which have come true with one exception? The one exception is still future, and awaits a fulfilment that will surely come to pass.

Even the sceptical Gibbon says: "The four empires are clearly outlined: the expedition of Xerxes into Greece, the rapid conquest of Persia by Alexander, his early death without descendants, the division of his vast monarchy into four kingdoms... Daniel's prophecies describe all this as plainly as the histories of Justin and Diodorus. From such a perfect resemblance the clever unbeliever would infer that both were alike composed after the event." In a word, he was too exact for a prophet, and too fabulous for a contemporary historian.

In verse 3, Persia, the ram of Daniel 8, drops out, and we find the he-goat of that chapter, or more exactly its horn… This is Alexander.

Every reader of history knows the crushing defeat of Xerxes' mixed army, and Alexander's later invasion and conquest of his kingdom. Daniel 8:7 refers to it. Verse 3 passes it over, and Alexander, as a "mighty king," is brought in at once.

His campaigns moved at striking speed, and the vision describes it well: "a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground." In about ten years he conquered almost all the kingdoms of the then known world… By God's appointment the Persian empire had reached its end, and the kingdom He had destined to follow it was now to gain the supremacy. The battles of Issus and Arbela were decisive because God was using Alexander "the Great" to carry out His purposes for the government of the earth.

When God speaks of things upon the earth, He always measures from Israel, because Israel is His earthly centre.

Daniel had described, in few words, the character of the "mighty king" and the break-up of his kingdom, "divided toward the four winds of heaven" (Dan. 11:3). This was an event of great political importance to Judea. The land found itself fought over by the king of the South, Egypt, and the king of the North, Syria — and it will be so again in a later day.

Our chapter is historical — the only really and truly historical prophecy in the word of God. Though there are breaks in the history, the main features are given here more clearly than by any human historian writing later.

The four empires stand out clearly: the expedition of Xerxes into Greece; the rapid conquest of Persia by Alexander; his early death without descendants; the division of his monarchy into four kingdoms, one of which, Egypt, is named… All of it is as clear as the histories of Justin and Diodorus. From so perfect a likeness the crafty unbeliever would conclude that both alike were written after the event.

Verses 36-39 predict what this "king" will do, and the leading feature is this: he "shall do as he wills." Now sin is lawlessness. It is the creature breaking loose from the control of the Creator, to assert and carry out its own will.

Alexander crossed most of Asia and pushed as far as India. He proved his ability not only as a general but as the founder of a solid empire. But God laid His hand upon him.

Alexander did indeed come from the west like one whose feet never touched the ground. In the fury of his power he ran at the Persian empire, which until then had been mighty and had pushed west, north, and south. Yet in the strangest and saddest way Alexander's course was cut short. He died as a young man of thirty-two, in the middle of plans that reached far beyond those of all who went before him. And his generals began, as they often do, to fight one another over which of them should have the largest share of the broken Macedonian or Greek empire, since one man could not inherit it all.

Daniel tells us also that the leopard had four heads. These, as Daniel 8:8-22 and 11:4 tell us, are the four military leaders — not Alexander's descendants — who divided his dominions among themselves after his death. Their names were Seleucus, Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachus.

Then we learn, as earlier visions already showed, that Alexander's dominion would be split into four distinct kingdoms. These would not descend to his posterity; strangers would rule them. We know all this came true when four of Alexander's generals divided his dominion between them.

History records how brief Alexander's dominion was. He died when still young, and four of his generals divided his kingdom between them, just as verse 4 clearly foretells. Their powers, however, were far more limited and "not according to his dominion."

It was not to be a single head getting rid of the family of Alexander and taking possession of all. His kingdom was to be divided into several parts, four in particular; and out of these four divisions two acquire an immense importance. But what makes them so important here? When God speaks of things on the earth, He always measures from Israel, because Israel is His earthly centre.

From verse 5 onward we follow the doings of two of these four: the king of the south and the king of the north. If we ask why the prophecy concentrates on these two only, the answer surely is that only these two meddled with and oppressed the Jews back in the land. Their kingdoms were north and south of Palestine — what we should now call Syria and Egypt — and the first kings were Seleucus and Ptolemy.

Gibbon, the sceptical historian, says in his sneering way that Daniel "is too exact for a prophet." "The four empires are clearly outlined ... Alexander's untimely death without descendants; the division of his monarchy into four kingdoms, one of which, Egypt, is mentioned by name... From such a perfect resemblance the clever unbeliever would infer that both alike were composed after the event."

The devout believer in the inspired word of God will not need to be told that this is an accurate description in every detail of what took place at the death of Alexander. It is so accurate, indeed, that the unbeliever can only account for it by claiming it was written after the event! ... And who is the loser? Surely the man who, in the pride of his imagined self-sufficiency, shuts his eyes against the light.

Now we are told that "the king of the south shall be strong." He is the person well known as one of the Ptolemies, or Lagidae. Then comes "one of his princes" — that is, one of Alexander's chiefs — "and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion." This is another person: the first king of the north, who rises in strength above Ptolemy. Secular history calls him Seleucus.

There is no need to discuss the translation. It is enough to say that most take this sentence to apply to the king of the north. Here we have the founders of the two dynasties: Ptolemy and Seleucus, two of the four who succeeded to Alexander's kingdom.

We must remember, if we want to understand this prophecy, that even the geography of Scripture is always measured from the position of the Holy Land. A king of the south is a king to the south of Palestine. Palestine is the centre of all God's thoughts about the government of this world. Jerusalem is His chosen city.

The prophecy that follows calls the rulers of these kingdoms the king of the south, or Egypt, and the king of the north, or Syria. These titles do not always refer to the same person. They serve as official titles for kings of the same line.

Scripture gives them in such detail because of what they meant for the Jews and the glorious land… As the two hostile countries invaded each other, their armies marched again and again through the land. Judea belonged to whichever king had won at the moment… God could not be indifferent to this, for it touched the welfare of His poor people who had returned from Babylon. That is why the Spirit of God has had the account of all these wars written down. It shows us the intensity of God's love for His people, whatever their state.

In the third century the pagan Porphyry made a bitter attack on the belief that Daniel wrote these predictions. He made it in his book "Treatise against Christians." He argued that someone wrote it all after the events had taken place. The critics use the same arguments… The prophecies given here came true in exact detail during the years 301 B.C. to 168 B.C. History verifies everything.

Daniel 11:1-35 is a history of the wars between the king of the north (Syria) and the king of the south (Egypt). Both were branches of the Greek empire. The fighting often took place in Palestine, which lay between them… Daniel 11:21 to 35 refer to Antiochus Epiphanes. He is a type of the king of the north, the Assyrian of the last days.

The other kingdoms are not noticed, only those of the north and of the south. Why are they so described? Palestine is the place from which God reckons. The king of the north means north of the land that His eyes were upon. The southern power means south of that same land. These are the countries commonly called Syria and Egypt.

In this chapter we do not have the same king of the north all the way through, nor the same king of the south. We have a great many who follow one another. The same official title runs throughout. As people say in law, the king, or the queen, never dies. That is how we are to look at it here. This sixth verse is an instance… These are not the same kings of the north and south as in verse 5. They are their descendants.

The expression in verse 6, "in the end of years," shows that time passes. And in fact Seleucus's grandson, Antiochus II, carried out a treaty of peace with Ptolemy Philadelphus. Antiochus confirmed it by marrying Ptolemy's daughter, Bernice. In order to do this he repudiated his lawful wife, Laodike.

Antiochus II was at war with Ptolemy. Peace came on one condition: he must put away his wife Laodice and marry Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy. He did this. But when Philadelphus died, he took Laodice back. She feared another divorce, so she poisoned her husband. Then she caused the death of Berenice and her son.

This queen, Berenice, was murdered, and so were her husband (the king of the north), her son, and her attendants. In this way the plan meant to bring friendship became the ground of future quarrels and conflicts. The next three verses (7-9) describe how the murder of Berenice was avenged. One out of a branch of her "roots" — another king of the south — invaded Syria, entered "into the fortress of the king of the north," and prevailed.

But God never allowed rest to those who took His land. They might intermarry and make alliances, but it only proved the prelude to worse outbreaks — brothers, sons and grandsons taking up the quarrels of their family.

These wars are told in such detail because of what they meant for the Jews and the glorious land… It lay between them, and so formed the highway of approach from either country. So the armies of the two hostile countries kept marching through the land as they invaded each other… God could not be indifferent to this, for it affected the welfare of His poor people who had returned from Babylon. That is why the Spirit of God had the account of all these wars written down. It shows us the intensity of God's love for His people, whatever their state. It also teaches us that He sees the movements of nations as affecting His people's interests.

Daniel 11 gives us the most extraordinary and detailed prophecy in the whole Word of God. It foretells the reigns of kings, royal marriages, wars, victories, defeats, plots, treaties and assassinations. Remember that, and you have striking and unanswerable evidence of divine foreknowledge. For who but God could write down such detailed prophecies? They have all come true except one. That one is still future, and it waits for a fulfilment that will surely come.

In verse 6, after a gap of time, we hear of an effort to patch up an old jealousy. From the earliest days these powers had quarrelled over the land that lay between them. Ptolemy Philadelphus gave his daughter Berenice to Antiochus Theus. But Laodice, the wronged first wife, brought it all to nothing and made things worse than ever. She won back the northern king's favour, and then she poisoned those from the south, along with her husband and Berenice's son.

Then we read that a branch out of her roots shall come with an army against the King of the North and prevail. This came true when Bernice's brother, Ptolemy III Euergetes, marched north to avenge the murder of his sister.

It was not her child, but her brother — out of the same parental stock. She was one branch, and he another.

The next three verses (7-9) describe the avenging of Berenice's murder. The avenger came out of a branch of her "roots" — another king of the south. He invaded Syria, entered "into the fortress of the king of the north," and prevailed (v. 7). In fact his victory was complete. He carried his conquests as far as Antioch, and eastward to Babylon, and returned to Egypt in triumph with great spoil of gods and treasures.

In this chapter the king of the north is not one man all the way through, and neither is the king of the south. Many kings follow one after another. The same official title runs throughout. As people say in law, the king, or the queen, never dies. That is just the way we are to look at it here.

The king of the north means the king north of the land that His eyes were upon. The southern power means south of that same land. These are the countries we usually call Syria and Egypt.

These conflicts are given in such detail because of their bearing on the Jews and the glorious land... The land lay between them, and so formed the highway of approach from either country. When the two hostile countries invaded each other, their armies marched again and again through it... God could not be indifferent to this, since it touched the welfare of His poor people who had returned from Babylon. That is why the Spirit of God has had the account of all these wars written down. It shows us the intensity of God's love for His people, whatever their state.

Daniel 11 gives us the most extraordinary and detailed prophecy in the whole Word of God. It foretells the reigns of kings, royal marriages, wars, victories, defeats, plots, treaties and assassinations. Remember that, and you have striking and unanswerable evidence that God knows the future. For who but God could write down such detailed prophecies, and all have come true but one? That one is still future, and it awaits a fulfilment that is certain to come.

The next three verses (7-9) tell how another king of the south avenged the murder of Berenice. He came out of a branch of her "roots." He invaded Syria, entered "into the fortress of the king of the north," and prevailed (v. 7). In fact his victory was complete. He pushed his conquests as far as Antioch, and eastward to Babylon, and returned to Egypt in triumph with great spoil of gods and treasures, as verse 8 recounts.

Reports say the booty consisted of 40,000 talents of silver and 2,500 precious vessels of gold and silver. The images of the gods that Cambyses had captured earlier were also recovered and put back with great ceremony in the pagan temples.

This reference to Egypt is interesting as a fresh proof of the geographical position of the Kingdom of the South.

In this chapter we do not have the same king of the north, or the same king of the south, all the way through. There are a great many of them, and each one follows the last. The same official title runs right through. As people say in law, the king, or the queen, never dies. That is just how we are to look at it here.

From verse 5 onward the chapter turns to two of these four kings: the king of the south and the king of the north. Why does the prophecy focus on these two alone? Because only these two interfered with the Jews back in the land and oppressed them. Their kingdoms lay north and south of Palestine — what we would now call Syria and Egypt — and the first kings were Seleucus and Ptolemy.

It becomes clear that when God records events in the Gentile world, He does so only so far as those events concern His people and "the glorious land."

The land of Israel lay between them. It was a heavy burden to these kings, who made it their battlefield, and it always went to the winner. If the king of the north won, the land fell under Syria; and it was the same when the king of Egypt came out on top. But God never allowed rest to those who took His land.

We read that the King of the South would continue more years than the King of the North. He lived four or five years longer than his rival, Seleucus Kallinicus.

The four empires are clearly marked out: the expedition of Xerxes into Greece; the rapid conquest of Persia by Alexander; his early death without children; the division of his monarchy into four kingdoms, one of which, Egypt, is named outright; then various wars and marriages between the families ... all described as clearly as in the histories of Justin and Diodorus. From such a perfect likeness the crafty unbeliever would conclude that both were written after the event.

You must read the terms "king of the north" and "king of the south" in relation to the land of Palestine. Egypt lay to the south. Greco-Syria (modern Asian Turkey) lay to the north. The kings named here belong to two lines, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids.

In this chapter we do not have the same king of the north all the way through, nor the same king of the south. There are a great many kings who follow one another. The same official title runs throughout. As people say in law, The king, or the queen never dies. That is just the way we are to look at it here.

The next three verses (7-9) describe how another king of the south avenged the murder of Berenice. He came out of a branch of her "roots." He invaded Syria, entered "into the fortress of the king of the north," and prevailed (v. 7). In fact his victory was complete. He carried his conquests as far as Antioch, and eastwards to Babylon, and returned to Egypt in triumph with great spoil of gods and treasures, as verse 8 recounts.

Here we see Ptolemy Euergetes and his victories over Seleucus Callinicus, who later came against the kingdom of the south (Egypt).

Scripture gives them in such detail because of what they meant for the Jews and the glorious land... The land lay between the two powers, so it became the road by which each could reach the other. As the two hostile countries invaded each other, their armies marched through it again and again... God could not be indifferent to this, because it touched the welfare of His poor people who had come back from Babylon. That is why the Spirit of God had the account of all these wars written down. It shows us how deep God's love for His people is, whatever their state. It also teaches us that He watches the movements of nations as they affect His people's interests.

These kings made the land of Israel their battlefield, and it always went to the winner. But God never allowed rest to those who took His land.

In his "Treatise against Christians" the pagan Porphyry, in the third century, fiercely attacked the belief that Daniel wrote these predictions. He argued that someone wrote it all after the events had happened. The critics use the same arguments... These prophecies came true in exact detail in the years 301 B.C. to 168 B.C. History verifies everything.

The context makes it plain that the term "his sons," in verse 10, applies to the successors of the king of the north who had been overcome by Ptolemy III. And in fact the next two kings of the north did attack Egypt with large forces, but they failed. The second of the two suffered a crushing defeat.

This was fulfilled when Seleucus's two sons, Alexander and Antiochus, succeeded their father. Antiochus was later called the Great, and he was the third of the line to bear that name. Alexander died, it is said, by poison. That left the field to Antiochus, who defeated the King of the South several times.

In this chapter the king of the north is not one man all the way through, and neither is the king of the south. There are a great many of them, one after another. The same official title runs throughout. As people say in law, the king, or the queen never dies. That is just the way we are to look at it here.

In due time the sons of the king of the north would seek to avenge their defeat. They would assemble a great army and pass through the holy land to attack the king of the south. Moved with rage, the king of the south would come forth to meet this attack and seek to crush his opponents. Yet even his crushing victory would not make him safe, and it would not end these conflicts.

They are given in such detail because of what they meant for the Jews and the glorious land... The land lay between Syria and Egypt, so it formed the road of approach from either country. As the two enemy countries invaded each other, their armies marched through it again and again... God could not be indifferent to this, for it affected the welfare of His poor people who had returned from Babylon. That is why the Spirit of God has had the account of all these wars written down. It shows us the intensity of God's love for His people, whatever their state.

The land of Israel lay between them, and these kings made it their battlefield. It always went to the conqueror... But God never allowed rest to those who took His land.

Antiochus did on a small scale what the great northern king of the last days will do on a larger one... What we have seen shows us something. Elsewhere God may give only the general outline of events. But in the details of a prophecy He can be, and sometimes is, remarkably exact. Nowhere is He more so than in this very chapter. And what is the main objection unbelievers raise against it? That it must have been written after the events happened! One thing is certain: no historian since those times gives us as fine an account as we have in these few verses.

In this chapter it is not the same king of the north, nor the same king of the south, that we have all the way through, but a great many that succeed each other. The same official title runs throughout. As people say in law, the king, or the queen never dies. That is just the way we are to look at it here.

In verse 10 we have the attempts of Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus the Great against the south. Only the second of them, Antiochus, recovered Seleucia. So even Ptolemy Philopator, sluggish as he was, grew enraged (verse 11). Then Antiochus, after some successes, suffered a total rout at Raphia (verse 12).

"But his sons shall be stirred up" clearly refers to the sons of the King of the North, as the reference in verse 11 to the King of the South fighting the King of the North proves.

the next two kings of the north did attack Egypt with large forces, but they failed. The second of them suffered a disastrous defeat, just as verse 11 predicted: "the multitude [the army of the king of the north] shall be given into his hand" — that is, into the hand of the king of the south, Egypt.

Moved with rage, the king of the south would come out to meet this attack and try to crush his opponents. Still, his overwhelming victory would not make him safe, and it would not end these conflicts.

The Egyptian King fulfilled verse 11 of our chapter by finally defeating Antiochus decisively, but he was not strengthened by it, as verse 12 states, for he gave himself up to excesses and debauchery, and eventually made peace with Antiochus.

Scripture gives these wars in such detail because of what they meant for the Jews and for the glorious land… The land lay between the two kingdoms, so it became the road of approach from either country… God could not be indifferent to this, for it touched the welfare of His poor people who had returned from Babylon. That is why the Spirit of God has had the account of all these wars recorded. It shows us how strong God's love for His people is, whatever their state. It also teaches us that He watches the movements of nations as they affect His people's interests.

Daniel 11 gives us the most extraordinary and detailed prophecy in the whole Word of God. It foretells the reigns of kings, royal marriages, wars, victories, defeats, plots, treaties, and assassinations. Remember that, and it is very striking, unanswerable evidence that God knows the future.