Who was Cleopatra? Is Cleopatra mentioned in the Bible?

This name of the later Egyptian kings does not occur in scripture, though the acts of the Ptolemies are prophesied of in Daniel. See under ANTIOCHUS.

At this time the Roman power was beginning to make its weight felt. The Egyptian Regents—the King, Ptolemy V. Epiphanes, ascending the throne when only four years of age in B.C.205—appealed to the Romans. The Romans remonstrated twice with Antiochus. Thus sobered, he judged a marriage alliance with Egypt would strengthen his hold on that country, so he arranged that his daughter, Cleopatra, then a very young child, should be betrothed to the little seven-year-old King of Egypt. This he did hoping his daughter's influence would be on his side, thus corrupting her by seeking that she should abet him in his schemes and be traitorous to 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,” for she turned out to be a faithful wife, and did not support her father.

222 Ptolemy IV, Philopater. War between Ptolemy and Antiochus. Ptolemy recovers Palestine. Dan. 11:10-12.

205 Ptolemy V, Epiphanes (5 years old). Antiochus seized the opportunity of the minority of the king to regain the country. Dan. 11:16. He also joined with Philip of Macedonia to capture other portions of the dominions of Ptolemy. But Rome was now growing in power, and on being appealed to by Egypt for protection, Antiochus was told he must let Egypt alone. In the meantime an army from Egypt had re-taken Palestine; but Antiochus, on his return, again obtained the mastery there. Wishing to extend his dominions in the west he proposed that Ptolemy should marry his daughter Cleopatra, that she might serve her father's ends; but she was faithful to her husband. Daniel thus speaks of it: "He shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her, but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him." Dan. 11:17. Antiochus took many maritime towns, but after many encounters he was compelled by Rome to quit all Asia on that side of Mount Taurus, give up his elephants and ships of war and pay a heavy fine. Antiochus had great difficulty in raising the money, and on attempting to rob a temple at Elymais he was killed. Dan. 11:18-19.

That the daughter of women (ver. 17) is Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus the Great.

Daniel 11:17. Vol. III. 16. — I see no ground for applying "the daughter of women" to the Jewish nation, being satisfied that the ordinary interpretation is quite sound which understands the expression to be said of Cleopatra, the youthful daughter of Antiochus the Great, offered by her father to Ptolemy Epiphanes, and accepted at Raphia, "Filiam autem feminarum (says Jerome, Comm. in Dan. chap. 11) per πλεονασμον vocat, ut est illud poeticum:

"He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him." This is another attempt at marriage; only it is the converse. It is not now the king's daughter of the south coming to the king of the north; but the king of the north gives his daughter Cleopatra to the king of the south, hoping that she will maintain Syrian influence at the court of Egypt. That is what is called here "corrupting her"; because it was plainly contrary to the very essence of the marriage-tie: it was an attempt to use her in order to serve his political purposes. "But she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him." The reasons of state — the innermost secrets of their hearts, alike come out here.

Very briefly is the Persian sketched in the three successors to Cyrus, Cambyses, Smerdis, and Darius Hystaspes, till the fourth, Xerxes, famous for his "riches," attacks the realm of Grecia. The "mighty king" that stands up is Alexander {the Great}, the great horn of the Grecian goat of Dan. 8:5-8, 21, whose sole kingdom breaks up, followed by four notable horns, two of which are thenceforth described in these wars, intrigues, alliances, with Palestine between them, often their field of battle, oftener an object of their strife. Here we see Ptolemy Soter and Seleucus Nicator; Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Antiochus, and the tragic end of that business; Ptolemy Euergetes and his successes over Seleucus Callinicus, who afterwards came against the kingdom of the south {Egypt}; then, after the death of his brother Seleucus Caraunus, the antagonism of Antiochus the Great and Ptolemy Philopator at considerable length, as the Jews figure in it; the failure of his policy in giving his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy Epiphanes, and his defeat by the Romans; then the tax-burdened reign of his son Seleucus Philopator, murdered by his treasurer Heliodorus; and lastly Antiochus IV, his brother, surnamed Epiphanes but called Epimanes by his own subjects in derisive resentment. The Maccabees record his impious and sacrilegious madness.

Take the following curt summary: Dan. 11:5 presents Ptolemy Lagi, one of Alexander's chief captains, in remarkable strength; yet another about to be stronger than he, and to have a great dominion, the first Seleucus surnamed Nicator. In Dan. 11:6 after an indicated space we hear of an endeavour to patch up the jealousy which from earliest days had arisen about the land which lay between these powers, when Ptol. Philadelphus gave his daughter Berenice to Antiochus Theus. But Laodice, the injured first wife, brought all to nought and worse than ever by restoration to the northern king's favour, when she poisoned those from the south as well as her husband and Berenice's son. Dan. 11:7 and 8 tell us of "a shoot" from Berenice's roots, Ptol. Euergetes, avenging her wrongs, when Sel. Callinicus reigned in the north, and gained great successes over the north, surviving his adversary and returning to his own land (Dan. 11:9). Then in Dan. 11:10 we have the efforts of Sel. Ceraunus and Antiochus the Great against the south, the latter of whom alone recovered Seleucia; so that even Ptol. Philopator, inert as he was, got enraged (Dan. 11:11), and Antiochus after various successes sustained an utter rout at Raphia (Dan. 11:12). But no fruit remained to the Egyptian king, especially as he oppressed the Jews; but Ant. waited till he could fall on his infant nephew when the Jews revolted (Dan. 11:13-14), and he took Sidon (Dan. 11:15), notwithstanding all Egypt could do to hinder (defeated at Panium), and he visited the land of beauty (Dan. 11:16). In Dan. 11:17 we hear of his fair words but foul intrigues through Cleopatra, who thwarted his craft; as in Dan. 11:18 his invasion of the isles of Greece was stopped by a Roman chief in the person of Quinctius the Consul at the Isthmus. Inglorious defeat sealed his stumble and fall (Dan. 11:19). Dan. 11:20 briefly tells us of his son Sel. Philopator, overloaded with tribute, as is here strikingly noticed, who fell through his "exactor," Heliodorus. From Dan. 11:21 to 32 inclusively follows the account of his brother Antiochus Epiphanes with a detail beyond all before, as being the foe not only of the Jews but of their God, the living God. Demetrius was the true heir. "A person vile" indeed was their supplanter. His deceit was as great against his nephew of Egypt as against his brother. At length "ships of Chittim came against him" (Dan. 11:30), as against his ancestor. The Romans compelled him to retire from Egypt; and he vented his indignation on the Jews; as later on by his order "the abomination that maketh desolate" was set up in the temple through apostates that helped him, though valiant opposition was not wanting.

There were several kings bearing this name who ruled over Syria, and though they are not mentioned by name in scripture, some of their actions are specified. These are so clear and definite that sceptics have foolishly said that at least this part of the prophecy of Daniel must have been written after the events! The Greek kingdom, the third of the four great empires, was, on the death of Alexander the Great, divided among his four generals, and this resulted principally in a series of kings who ruled in Egypt bearing the general name of PTOLEMY, and are called in scripture 'Kings of the South;' and another series, called 'Kings of the North,' who bore the general name of either SELEUCUS or ANTIOCHUS. Both the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae began eras of their own, and some of the kings of each era had to do with Palestine and the Jews. The following is a list of the kings, with the dates when they began to reign, noticing the principal events that were prophesied of them in Daniel 11.

After Nebuchadnezzar, Egypt became tributary to Cyrus: Cambyses was its first Persian king of the twenty-seventh dynasty. On the passing away of the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great had possession of Egypt and founded Alexandria. On the death of Alexander the Ptolemies reigned over Egypt for about 300 years. Some of the doings of the Ptolemies were prophesied of in Dan. 11. See ANTIOCHUS. In B.C. 30 Octavius Caesar entered Egypt, and it became a Roman province. In A.D. 639 Egypt was wrested from the Eastern empire by the Saracens, and was held under the suzerainty of the Turks until the nineteenth century. It is a great kingdom in desolation. Joel 3:19.