And he shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; and he shall practise; and he shall give him the daughter of women, to corrupt her; but she shall not stand, neither shall she be for him.
Daniel 11:17 sits inside a long stretch of foretold history in which the king of the north and the king of the south — the rulers of Syria and Egypt — fight, scheme, and make alliances over the strip of land between them. Here the weapon is not an army but a wedding: a king hands over his own daughter to gain a throne, and the plan collapses.
Earlier in the chapter the king of the south sent his daughter north to seal a treaty. Here the same move runs in reverse. The writers quoted on this page use an older translation, which reads "corrupting her" where the ESV has "to destroy the kingdom." One of them explains why that word fits.
This is another try at marriage, only the other way round. This time it is not the daughter of the king of the south going to the king of the north. The king of the north gives his daughter Cleopatra to the king of the south, hoping she will keep Syrian influence strong at the court of Egypt. That is what the verse calls "corrupting her," because it clearly went against the very heart of marriage: he was using her to serve his political aims.
Some have read "the daughter of women" as a picture of the Jewish nation. One writer rejects that and names a real person instead.
I see no reason to apply "the daughter of women" to the Jewish nation. I am satisfied that the usual interpretation is quite sound: the phrase is said of Cleopatra, the young daughter of Antiochus the Great, whom her father offered to Ptolemy Epiphanes.
The same writer says the title is used of the Syrian princess, pointing to her "youth or beauty, or rank."
The history behind the verse is small in scale: two children, an engagement, and the calculation of Antiochus the Great.
He judged that a marriage alliance with Egypt would strengthen his hold on that country. So he arranged to marry his daughter, Cleopatra, then a very young child, to the little seven-year-old King of Egypt. He did this hoping her influence would be on his side — corrupting her by asking her to back his schemes and betray her husband and his country, over which she became queen. But our verse (17) says, "She shall not stand on his side [that is, her father's], neither be for him," She turned out to be a faithful wife and did not support her father.
The father's whole design turned on one thing he could not control — her loyalty. She gave it to her husband.
One phrase in this verse is unusually hard to translate. The ESV reads "terms of an agreement," where older versions read "and upright ones with him."
The greatest difficulty in the verse lies in the true force of the phrase which our version translates "and upright ones with him," and the margin note, "much uprightness, or equal conditions." … De Wette supposes that a peace is meant. Gesenius explains the word in Daniel 11:17 of the Jews. Diodati applies it to terms of peace, Martin and Ostervald to success, Luther to reconciliation. Tremellius and Junius understand it as a sham fairness, used to get around the king of Egypt.
This chapter foretells more than the rise and fall of empires. One writer draws the conclusion.
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 stands as striking, unanswerable evidence that God knows the future.
The chapter uncovers motives as well as events. One commentator notes that the reasons of state and "the innermost secrets of their hearts" both come out here.
Readers often ask how far this chapter is past. One commentator places the turning point well after verse 17.
For my own part, I am convinced that verse 20 and those after it give us the history of Antiochus Epiphanes, though his history is no doubt a picture of the Antichrist. The proper account of the Antichrist begins at verse 36, in his political dealings with the land of Judea. This is clearly at "the time of the end."
- Plot. A king of the north offers his daughter to the king of the south to keep Syrian influence inside Egypt's court.
- Corruption. The word marks the motive: using a daughter for political ends runs against the very nature of marriage.
- Person. "The daughter of women" is taken as Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus the Great, not as a figure for the Jewish nation.
- Failure. She stood with her husband, not her father, and the scheme failed.
- Foreknowledge. God knew these marriages, treaties and murders before they happened. The chapter's last section, from verse 36, still lies ahead.
And he shall turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many; but a captain for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease he shall turn it upon him, without reproach for himself.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he shall turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land; and he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.
This verse ends the career of a king with a retreat, a stumble, and a disappearance. Two questions follow: who is this king, and why does God record the last steps of a Syrian ruler at all?
The king here is Antiochus, the king of the north. He had just taken many of the Greek islands, and then a new power stepped in:
Antiochus meddles with Greece and takes many of the islands. But this other prince, acting for himself, takes up the contest against the king of the north. Here a new power comes onto the scene — the first mention of the Romans. The prince who comes on his own behalf against the king of the north is a Roman consul. He will not allow Greece to be touched. It was one of the Scipios who stepped in… He is forced to return to Syria, but he will stumble and fall.
The fortresses of his own land are in Syria — home ground, not new ground. The turn homeward is not a strategy. It is what Rome left him.
The defeat cost money, and the money cost him his life:
A prince appeared on the scene, a Roman commander, for the Roman Republic was allied with Greece. He attacked and defeated the king in two decisive battles. He forced him to hand over the western half of his empire to his victors, and he also laid on him the payment of an immense tribute. To get the money for this tribute, the king of the north launched an expedition against a rich temple. He was killed while trying to plunder it, just as the prediction said: "He shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found" (v. 19).
Commentators differ on the exact circumstances of the death. Another writer, naming the battle that broke him, records it as a murder:
Later Scipio crushed him at the great battle of Magnesia. Verse 19 describes his end. He made peace and agreed to pay a heavy sum. While trying to collect it some months later, he was assassinated. So the words "He shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found" were fulfilled.
Either way the phrase holds. A man who once filled the map disappears from it.
Verse 19 is a hinge in the chapter. It closes the long stretch of wars that began back in verse 6, and Rome now sets the terms:
So we may say that verses 6-20 forecast the evil scheming and fighting of these kings, up to the point when the power of Rome became clear. Faced with that power, the king of the north of that day would "stumble and fall, and shall not be found". His successor had to be a mere "raiser of taxes", to meet the demands of Rome.
A conqueror gives way to a tax collector. That is how complete the fall was.
Syria and Egypt fought over a corridor, and God's people lived in it. That is why these reigns fill so much of the chapter:
These wars are given in such detail because of what they meant for the Jews and for the glorious land… That land lay between Syria and Egypt, so it formed the highway of approach from either country… God could not be indifferent to this, since it affected the welfare of His poor people who had returned from Babylon. That is why the Spirit of God has caused the account of all these wars to be recorded. It shows us the intensity of God's love for His people, whatever their state. It also teaches us that He watches how the movements of nations affect their interests.
This verse is one small piece of a chapter packed with exact predictions:
Daniel 11 gives us the most extraordinary and detailed prophecy in the whole Word of God. Think of what it foretells: the reigns of kings, royal marriages, wars, victories, defeats, plots, treaties, assassinations. All of this is very striking and unanswerable evidence that God knows the future. For who but God could write down such detailed prophecies, which have all come true except one? That one exception is still future, and its fulfilment will surely come.
- Checked — Rome stops the king's advance into Greece and the islands. Verse 19 begins where his winning stops.
- Turned — he heads back to the strongholds of his own land, not by choice — Rome has beaten him and sent him home.
- Fallen — the tribute Rome imposed drove his last move. Commentators differ on whether he died plundering a temple or was assassinated while raising the money. Both read his death as the fulfilment of "stumble and fall."
- Erased — "shall not be found" is literal. The empire-builder vanishes, and his successor is left as a mere raiser of taxes for Rome.
- Recorded — God tracks these kings because their wars ran through His people's land. The exactness of the record is itself evidence that He knows the future.