And his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces; and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through; and he shall return and carry the war even to his fortress.
Daniel 11 traces a long feud between two royal lines: the king of the north and the king of the south. Verse 10 is the moment the northern side rearms and drives the war back to its rival's fortress — but whose sons are these, and why does God record the details?
The word "his" points back to the northern king who had just been beaten. One writer traces the line and its results:
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.
Another writer names the men involved:
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.
Sons appear here because the chapter follows titles, not single men. This is the key to reading the whole chapter:
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.
The verse describes a flood of troops rolling south. But neither the attack nor the counterattack settles anything:
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.
The route matters. These armies do not march around the holy land. They march across it, and that is why Scripture records their campaigns:
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.
William Kelly adds what happened to the land itself:
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.
The chapter's early campaigns are not filler. They rehearse something bigger, and the accuracy of the record is itself an argument:
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.
- Sons. "His sons" are the successors of the beaten northern king: the two sons of Seleucus. Alexander died, and Antiochus the Great went on to beat the south several times.
- Succession. "King of the north" and "king of the south" are titles, not single men. Each new generation inherits the quarrel, so the war starts again here.
- Sweep. The army gathers, floods forward, and drives to the enemy's fortress. The victory that answers it brings neither safety nor an end to the wars.
- Soil. Every campaign runs through the holy land, which lies between the two powers. God records these marches because His people live on the road the armies use.
- Shadow. What Antiochus did on a small scale, the northern king of the last days will do on a large one. The exact detail of this record answers anyone who claims it was written after the events.
And the king of the south shall be enraged, and shall come forth and fight with him, with the king of the north, who shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand.
Daniel 11 tracks a long war between two kingdoms: one north of Israel, one south of it. Here the southern king strikes back in fury, which raises three questions — who are these kings, whose army is handed over, and why does God record such pagan quarrels?
One point comes first. The same two labels cover a whole line of rulers.
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.
replaces unsupported claim with material actually in the source; adds identity and future angle; removes passive
The prophecy names no one, but the events matched real men. One summary of the chapter sets this verse between the northern advance of verse 10 and the rout of verse 12.
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).
The detail is striking: the Egyptian king was a lazy, passive man, and even he was stirred to fury. That the plural "sons" of verse 10 belongs to the north is confirmed by this very verse:
"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 closing clause is easy to misread. The great army raised is the northern king's, and it is the southern king who receives it.
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.
Dennett quoted an older translation. It reads "the multitude shall be given into his hand." The ESV has "it shall be given into his hand."
The verse ends in victory — but the chapter refuses to let victory look like security.
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.
What followed proved it. The winner wasted what he had gained:
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.
Why would heaven track the campaigns of two pagan courts? The answer lies in the strip of land between them.
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.
Details this fine, written centuries in advance, carry their own weight of evidence.
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.
- Titles — "King of the north" and "king of the south" are offices, not one man. A whole line of rulers wears each name in turn, down to the Assyrian still to come.
- Rage — The southern king was a sluggish man. Even he flew into a rage when pushed far enough.
- Handed over — The huge army belongs to the north. The prophecy hands it to the southern king before the battle is fought.
- Hollow — The victory neither made him safe nor ended the wars.
- Love — These wars crossed His people's land. So God had them recorded, weighing the movements of nations by how they touch those He loves.
And when the multitude shall have been taken away, his heart shall be exalted; and he shall cast down myriads; but he shall not prevail.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.