And he shall return into his land with great substance; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall practise, and return to his own land.
Daniel 11:28 follows a king home from war. He is loaded with plunder and fresh from a treaty he never meant to keep. He also carries a private hatred that will soon fall on Jerusalem. The verse raises two questions: who is this king, and what is the "holy covenant" his heart is set against?
History gives this king a name. His march home fills out what the verse only summarises.
He invaded Egypt and was at first successful: compare Daniel 11:25-26. The two kings entered into negotiations, but neither of them was sincere in what they agreed to. Their hearts were set on doing harm, and they "tell lies at one table" (Daniel 11:27). Then Antiochus returned to his land with great riches, his heart "against the holy covenant." He entered Jerusalem, and even went into the sanctuary. He took away the golden altar, the lampstand, the table of showbread, the censers of gold, and the other holy vessels, and left.
The riches and the hostility belong together. One decision in his heart produced both.
The king of the north would return to his own land with great riches. In his own heart he had decided to keep no covenant at all — neither the one made with the king of the south nor the one made with the people of God.
The phrase covers the religious life of the Jewish people, bound up with God's covenant with them. The rest of the verse shows what the king's hostility to it produced on his way home.
Having settled his affairs for the moment with the king of Egypt, he returned to his kingdom "with great riches." Now he showed in some way his enmity against the "holy covenant" — that is, against the Jewish religion, the covenant of God with His people. Then it adds, "and he shall do [exploits], and return to his own land" (v. 28). It is said that on his homeward march he attacked Jerusalem, massacred thousands of its people, and profaned the temple. He did this because the Jews had risen up on a false report of his death.
The ESV renders that phrase "he shall work his will."
One word keeps coming back in these verses. Counting it points to who is really behind the king's hatred.
Notice that these verses mention the "covenant" no less than four times. Three of those times the word "holy" goes with it. What God has covenanted and decreed is always the target of the devil's attack. This man was without a doubt an agent of Satan, working to overthrow what remained of the worship of the one true God at Jerusalem.
Antiochus was not a major figure in world history. The reason he gets such detailed treatment here is that he prefigures a later enemy.
From verse twenty-one we have had the account of the king of the north, known in secular history as Antiochus Epiphanes. The Spirit of God has gone into much fuller detail in telling his history. The reason is his conduct, above all at the close, when he meddled with the Jews, their city, and their sanctuary. That conduct made him a type of the last king of the north. This last king will follow the path of those before him, except that his guilt will be graver beyond comparison in the sight of God — so flagrant that His judgment can wait no longer.
Readers of this chapter often ask where the history stops and the future starts.
We read of an "abomination that makes desolate" in the prophecy about Antiochus (Daniel 11:31), and it has been commonly supposed that our Lord refers to this in Matthew 24:15. … Antiochus Epiphanes was only a type, and verse 31 does not go beyond his history, except as a foreshadowing.
The precision of these verses has always been the sticking point for those who reject prediction.
What we have seen shows this. Elsewhere God may give only the general outline of events, but in the details of a prophecy He can be, and sometimes is, exact to the smallest point. And nowhere is this more true than in this very chapter. And what is the main objection unbelievers raise against it? That it must have been written after the events had happened! Certainly no historian since those times gives us such an admirable account as we have in these few verses.
- Heart. The whole trouble starts in one place. His heart was set against the holy covenant before a single blow fell on Jerusalem.
- Lies. That heart had already shown itself at the table of talks, where neither king meant what he agreed to.
- Riches. He came home rich, having decided in himself to keep no agreement — with Egypt or with God's people.
- Sanctuary. The hatred acted. He entered Jerusalem, took the temple's golden vessels, and defiled the place of worship. What God has covenanted is always what the enemy attacks.
- Type. Scripture lingers on this king because he pictures a far worse enemy still to come. That enemy's guilt will be graver, and his judgment will not wait.
At the set time he shall return, and come towards the south; but not as the former time shall be the latter;
This verse sits inside a long prophecy about two rival powers: the king of the north and the king of the south. A ruler who had twice marched south with success now sets out again at a set time — but this march will end differently.
Commentators can name the king behind this verse. Earlier in the chapter he appears as a "vile person" — verse 21, quoted below from an older translation. He fills more space than any other king here, and for a reason:
We now come to a king — but "a vile person" (v. 21). He has been specially chosen as the type of the Assyrian, or the king of the north, of the last days. That is why his career is told in such detail... Historians know this "vile person" as Antiochus Epiphanes, and he began his reign about 175 B.C. He was not given "the honour of the kingdom," because he was not the rightful heir. But "he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries," and he fulfilled this description to the letter.
The phrase does not mean the king's own schedule. It points back to the deceitful alliance of verse 27, and to the limit God had already set on it. (Older translations end the verse "it shall not be as the former, or as the latter," referring to his two earlier campaigns.)
By "the time appointed" we understand what verse 27 states. It is the time God fixed for the ending of the deceitful alliance this king had made with the king of the south. The alliance was not to prosper. So Antiochus broke his treaty and returned in hostility towards his ally. But, as Daniel was told, "it shall not be as the former or as the latter." On those earlier occasions he had prospered in his plans. Now another power steps forward... and checks his victorious career.
The march south is a march into Egypt, and Rome is what stops it. History records the moment in sharp detail:
Verse 29 tells of another expedition against Egypt, and this one was a disaster. The ships of Chittim came against him — that is, the Roman power. Caius Popilius, Laenas, and other leaders of the Roman army demanded that Antiochus stop troubling the Jews and Egypt. Antiochus tried to dodge the demand. So Caius Popilius at once drew a circle round him and demanded an answer before he stepped out of the ring. Antiochus agreed to the Roman conditions against his will, polite on the outside but raging inside. On his march north he took his revenge on the Jews.
A beaten man looks for someone weaker to punish. His failure in the south turns into fury against the Jews, and that fury brings God's judgment on him.
This was a death-blow to all his policy. He went home a miserable, defeated man. His heart was vexed and furious, though he put on a humble appearance before the Romans. What should stop him from pouring out the anger of his heart on the Jews?... The Jews were poor, but they were witnesses for God on the earth. So Antiochus hurries to pour out his fury on whatever bore a testimony to God among them. This was his ruin, and brought God's vengeance on him.
Critics have long turned the precision of these verses against the book of Daniel. Their claim: no one could write this in advance, so the writer must have worked after the events.
No sober Christian doubts that these unbroken predictions from verse 5 to 32 apply to real history. Even the unbeliever has to take refuge in the hopeless theory that they must have been written after the event!... One might go further and say that no history gives so exact, brief, and clear an account of that period. The Spirit of God dwells with special fullness on the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan. 11:21-32), the last of these kings in the past. He does so because Antiochus defiled the sanctuary and sought to turn the Jews away from God. So, of all these kings, he alone stands out as the type of the enemy of the Jews at the end of the age.
The chapter's detailed history breaks off shortly after this point, and the writers take that break as deliberate. What happened on a small scale here is a picture of a larger invasion still ahead.
Without doubt some of the acts of Antiochus Epiphanes are types of the deeds of the future king of the North — referred to in other prophecies as "the Assyrian" — in respect to the Jews and Jerusalem.
- Appointed. The timing of the march is God's, not the king's. The alliance of verse 27 was never going to prosper, because God had already fixed its end.
- Checked. What God appoints, God limits. Rome — the ships of Chittim — stopped this third march cold.
- Diverted. Rage blocked in one direction finds another outlet: He cannot touch Egypt, so he turns on the Jews.
- Judged. Attacking the people who bore witness to God was his ruin and drew God's vengeance on him.
- Repeated. Scripture tells this career in such detail because it pictures, on a small scale, the king of the north, "the Assyrian," of the last days.
for ships of Chittim shall come against him; and he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant; and will practise; and he shall return and direct his attention to those that forsake the holy covenant.
This verse is the turning point of the chapter. Ships from the west stop a conquering king, and the humiliated king turns his rage on God's people instead.
Commentators identify Chittim — the ESV spells it Kittim — as Rome, the sea power in the west. Until then the king had been winning.
Now another power steps forward and checks his victorious career. It was the power that would soon take over from Greece and rule the world as the fourth prophetic kingdom. "For the ships of Chittim shall come against him" (v. 30): the ships of Italy, the country Scripture calls Chittim, in fact a fleet of the Roman republic. Forbidden by the Roman consul to pursue his aims in Egypt, and powerless against such an enemy, he had to return.
The king was not beaten in battle. A Roman order stopped him.
Caius Popilius, Laenas, and others, leaders of the Roman army, demanded that Antiochus should stop troubling the Jews and Egypt. When Antiochus tried to dodge the demand, Caius Popilius quickly drew a circle round him. He firmly demanded an answer before the king stepped out of the ring. Antiochus did not want to agree, but he accepted the Roman terms. He looked polite while he raged inside, and he took his revenge on the Jews as he marched north.
Blocked by Rome, the king looked for a victim he could reach. One commentator ties his ruined policy to what he did next.
This was a death-blow to all his policy. He went home a miserable, defeated man, with a vexed and furious heart, though putting on a humble appearance before the Romans. What was to stop him from pouring out the anger of his heart on the Jews? … Poor as the Jews were, they were witnesses for God on the earth; and Antiochus hurries to pour out his fury on whatever bore a testimony to God among them. This was his ruin, and brought God's vengeance on him.
"The holy covenant" here means God's covenant with the Jews.
The second half of the verse turns from attack outside to help from inside. He will "pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant" — older translations render this as having "intelligence" with them.
He had an understanding ("intelligence") with the apostate Jews. We can gather an account of his doings from 1 and 2 Maccabees. They show that he set himself to work to make the Jews pagan. Like Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3, he wanted to unify his lands by forcing all his subjects to worship the same false gods. This prophecy shows that he largely succeeded among the Jews. Apostates are specified in verses 30 and 32.
With this verse the chapter stops being a duel between two powers. Two new elements arrive: a power from the west, and Jews who had left the covenant.
A power from the west mixes itself up with these two eastern powers… But further, we also find apostates from the holy covenant. So there are, first, Jews who count as the objects of God's covenant, and Jews who are apostates from it. Second, there are those from the west, north of the Mediterranean, who enter the existing quarrel. These new elements change the whole scene.
From the middle of verse 30 the account of this man in Jerusalem grows dark. Writers treat him as a pattern of a future enemy.
From the middle of verse 30 to the end of verse 35 we have the account of what Antiochus did in Jerusalem and the glorious land. Measured by God's standard, his actions were so evil that he is chosen — as has been said more than once — as a type of the powerful enemy of Israel in the last days.
But one writer warns against reading this verse itself as a prophecy of the end:
It is a mistake to suppose that this refers to the last days. It is only a type of what will take place then.
- Checked. Ships from the west — Rome — stop the king at the height of his success and force him to return.
- Grieved. He goes home a defeated man, raging inside. Blocked abroad, he turns his anger on the Jews.
- Indignant. His fury lands on the holy covenant. Poor as they were, the Jews were witnesses for God on earth, and he could reach them.
- Assisted. He finds partners among Jews who had already left the covenant, and with their help he largely succeeded.
- Repeated. Writers take him as a type of Israel's last-days enemy. The verse records real history and shows a pattern still to come.
And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, the fortress, and shall take away the continual [sacrifice], and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
In Daniel 11:31 a king turns armed force against worship itself. Commentators have long debated two questions here: who these forces belong to, and whether the verse is history, prophecy, or both.
Two phrases carry the weight: where the forces come from, and what they attack. One writer works from an older translation to bring out the sense:
"And arms shall stand on his part" — or, more literally, "forces [arms] shall rise from [out of] him." The phrase "shall rise from him," or "shall come from him," can be used in two senses. It can mean a king's lieutenant, the man who takes his place as commander. Or it can mean the man who succeeds him in the government. … "They [the arms] shall pollute the sanctuary of strength [or, which is the fortress]."
Rome had just blocked the king and sent him home beaten. His rage then found a softer target:
This was a death-blow to all his policy. He went home a miserable, defeated man, his heart bitter and furious, though he put on a humble face before the Romans. What was to stop him from pouring out the anger of his heart on the Jews? … Poor as the Jews were, they were witnesses for God upon the earth; and Antiochus hurries to pour out his fury on everything among them that bore witness to God. This was his ruin, and brought God's vengeance upon him.
The historical record in 1 Maccabees matches the verse point by point, and it names what took the place of the worship of God:
This is referred to in 1 Maccabees: "The king had sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, telling them to follow the strange laws of the land. They were to forbid burnt offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings in the temple. They were to profane the sabbaths and festival days, and pollute the sanctuary and the holy people. They were to set up altars, groves and chapels of idols, and sacrifice pig's flesh and unclean animals … so that they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances." … From other sources we learn that Antiochus commanded the worship of Jupiter Olympius in place of the worship of the God of heaven, Jehovah.
Stopping the offering and setting up the idol belong together, and one explains the other:
… the taking away of sacrifice is for, or goes with, the setting up of the abomination. In the ninth chapter it should be clear, then, why as soon as we hear of the one, we hear of the other: "because of the wing of abominations [there shall be] a desolator," as it reads literally: idolatrous abominations bring the desolation.
Many readers assume Jesus had this verse in mind when He spoke of "the abomination of desolation." One writer argues that He pointed to Daniel 12:11 instead, because the two expressions differ:
The expressions the Holy Spirit uses in Dan. 11:31 and in Dan. 12:11 differ. In Dan. 11:31 it means the abomination of him that desolates, or of the desolator. Whereas in Dan. 12:11 the true meaning is that which is given in our Lord's words — not the abomination of him that makes desolate, but the "abomination of desolation" … the desolation spoken of in Dan. 11 is past, and the desolation of Dan. 12, that our Lord draws attention to, is future.
Here the writers differ. One keeps verse 31 in the past, and treats Antiochus as a pattern of a worse ruler to come:
His conduct, above all at the close, in meddling with the Jews, and their city, and their sanctuary, gave the occasion for a type of the last king of the north. That king will follow in his predecessors' path, except that his guilt will be graver beyond comparison in the sight of God … Antiochus Epiphanes was only a type, and verse 31 does not go beyond his history, except as a foreshadowing.
Another looks for a future fulfilment, carried out by someone acting for a coming king of the north:
Someone will come on behalf of the man who will be the king of the north in those times. He will bring his forces — his arms — into the holy place. He will defile the sanctuary, and set up "the abomination that makes desolate."
- Force — The verse opens with armed men. The wording allows either a deputy or a successor acting for the king.
- Fury — Rome blocked the king and shamed him. He turned his anger on the one people still bearing witness to God, and that brought God's judgment on him.
- Fulfilment — 1 Maccabees records the details: offerings banned, the sanctuary defiled, and the worship of Jupiter Olympius set up in God's place.
- Formula — Removing the sacrifice and setting up the idol go together. Idolatrous abominations are what bring the desolation.
- Future — Commentators differ. Some read verse 31 as past history, with a worse ruler foreshadowed in Antiochus. Others look for a coming king of the north. One writer holds that Jesus pointed to Daniel 12:11, not to this verse.
And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he pervert by flatteries; but the people that know their God shall be strong, and shall act.
A foreign king is pressing Jerusalem, and the pressure splits God's people in two. Some he wins with smooth words; the rest know their God — and the question this verse raises is what that knowledge produces.
One word keeps coming back in the verses around this one.
Notice that these verses mention the 'covenant' no less than four times, and three of those times the word 'holy' goes with it. What God has covenanted and decreed is always the object of the devil's attack. This man was without doubt an agent of Satan, working to overturn what remained of the worship of the one true God at Jerusalem.
That king was Antiochus Epiphanes. He tried to stamp out the Jewish religion itself. He put a pagan statue in the most holy place and defiled God's sanctuary with what the law forbade (William Kelly).
The commentators quote an older translation here. Where the ESV has "seduce with flattery" and "stand firm and take action," they read "corrupt by flatteries" and "be strong and do exploits." The word translated "corrupt" is stronger than it sounds.
He will corrupt those who do wickedly as to the covenant — that is, the Jews who are not true to Jewish hopes. He will push them into giving up their faith altogether. That is the force of the word translated 'he will corrupt'. But "the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits." Here the Jews are divided into true and false, and good and evil each develop.
Flattery works on people who are already willing to bend. One commentator sees the same method in a later king whom Antiochus pictures in advance.
There will be a lamb-like air about him. But those God has chosen do not know the voice of strangers, and in their ears his voice is the voice of the dragon. Antiochus, who is another picture of him, worked his way in the same manner. "And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries." All this deceives the mass of the people and leads them away; but the remnant — "the people that do know their God" — are kept safe.
The Maccabees fulfilled the second half. They were Jewish fighters who resisted Antiochus, and one commentator praises their strength without idealising them.
Near the end of his history, resistance to his aim led to a famous revival among the Jews. The Jewish heroes known as the Maccabees resisted his generals... They were no models of piety or patience. But, as Daniel says, they were strong and "did exploits." No phrase could describe them more accurately.
Antiochus never had the field to himself.
In those days there were not only wicked people whom he could corrupt. There were also 'people that do know their God', and 'that understand among the people'. This is always God's way; He does not leave Himself without a witness of some kind.
The next verse adds one more group to the picture.
God preserved a faithful remnant, and these, knowing their God, were strong and did exploits. The next verse brings in a smaller group — "they that understand among the people." So there were, we think, three classes of Jews. First, the mass, whom flatteries corrupted. Second, the faithful remnant, who refused to give up keeping the law of their God. Last, some among the remnant who, being taught of God, could instruct the others in the word and encourage them in the path of faithfulness, whatever persecution they might face.
Where does such knowledge of God come from? One commentator traces it back to earlier obedience.
Their obedience not only brought reward, it prepared them for the days ahead. In trials and exercise they would learn the character of their God. "The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits" — and so it was.
One commentator warns against applying these words directly to the Christian.
We need to look in quite another direction... for the right application of the words "the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits." It is the glory of the Christian to suffer. The Maccabees really did exploits... The mistake is applying all this to the present Christian period.
- Attack — these verses name the covenant four times, and what God has covenanted is always what Satan attacks.
- Flattery — his first weapon is not force but smooth words. To "corrupt" here means to push people into giving up their faith, and it works only on those already false to the covenant.
- Knowledge — knowing God is the dividing line, and that knowledge grows beforehand, through obedience and trial.
- Witness — God never leaves Himself without a witness. Beside the corrupted mass stood a remnant, and inside it teachers who taught the rest.
- Restraint — the exploits belong to the Maccabees. One commentator warns that the Christian's calling is to suffer, not to copy their heroism.
And they that are wise among the people shall instruct the many; and they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, [many] days.
Daniel's vision has just described a king who corrupts God's people by flattery. Now the angel turns to those who stand firm, and puts two things side by side: they teach the whole nation, and they suffer for it.
This verse sits inside a long account of a king who tried to destroy the faith of the Jews. The writers below follow older translations, which call the wise "they that understand among the people."
In those days there were not only wicked men whom he could corrupt. There were also "people who know their God," and those "that understand among the people." This is always God's way. He does not leave Himself without a witness of some kind. Here we have a prediction of what happened in those dark days. God raised up the Maccabees, zealous and God-fearing men. Under their leadership deliverance came at last, though not without much loss and suffering, as verse 33 shows.
The wise are not just the faithful. They are a smaller circle inside them, marked out by what they can pass on.
In the next verse a smaller class comes into view — "they that understand among the people." So we think there were three classes of Jews. First, the mass whom flatteries corrupted. Second, the faithful remnant, who refused to give up keeping the law of their God. Last, some among the remnant who, being taught of God, could instruct the others in the word and encourage them in the path of faithfulness, whatever persecution they might face. This class appears again in chapter 12:3, and its members are called "the Maschilim."
One Hebrew detail settles how wide the teaching reaches, and where the teachers got what they teach.
In Daniel 9:27, 11:33 and 12:3 the word translated "many" has the article in Hebrew. It means the mass of the people, which makes the sense of these verses much simpler. The reader will also notice, in contrast with the masses (Dan. 11:33), "the Maschilim," a word found in the titles of many of the Psalms. Those who understand, those who are taught of God, will instruct the many. In these times of trial, love for the truth will be at work.
English translations drop that article. The persecutor behind these days also has a name.
Here we have those who were persecuted by their enemy — Antiochus Epiphanes. The phrase means "the" many. It is a pity that the article is not carried over into English where it stands in the Hebrew.
Sword, flame, captivity and plunder fall on the very people who teach. There is a reason they are the target.
Satan's hatred was aimed above all at this class — those who publicly stood with God's testimony on the earth.
Their fall then tests everyone watching.
The trial of faith will come through them. As faithful Jews, one might have supposed that such men could surely count on the help of God, for they have been urging others to "trust in the Lord." Yet some of them are to fall. Then, unless faith is very strong, the others will say "Where is their God?" as in Psalms 42 and 43.
This pattern is not sealed in the past. God has given the same help to His people again and again, and will give it once more.
One striking feature is the repeated mention of those "that understand among the people." They seem to be a class raised up to help Israel in that dark day. God has always provided this resource for His people, especially in difficult times. Long ago there were men of Issachar, who "had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" (1 Chron. 12:32). The remnant in the days of Ezra had help from "men of understanding," and it will be the same with the remnant in the future.
Commentators read this loss as sowing, not waste.
This chosen remnant of faithful souls, faithful through grace in a day of the most extreme pressure and persecution, will truly "sow" in tears… But the seed is steeped in their tears and sown in sorrow. In its own time it will sprout, spring up, and bring a rich harvest, when the sower and the reaper will rejoice together.
- Taught — the wise are "taught of God"; God gives them their understanding.
- Teaching — what they receive they pass on, instructing not a select few but the mass of the people.
- Targeted — Satan aims at those who carry God's testimony, so the teachers themselves fall by sword, flame, captivity and plunder.
- Tested — when such men fall, others are shaken and ask where their God is; the trial of faith comes through them.
- Timeless — God has always raised up men of understanding for dark days, and He will do it again. Their tears sow a harvest.