DANIEL 11
“And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.2 “And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 3 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. 4 And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.5 “Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. 6 After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supportedher in those times. – Daniel 11:1-6
DANIEL 11 KING OF THE SOUTH AND KING OF THE NORTH PROPHECY
The first verse is the conclusion of the previous chapter 10. It prophesies that three more Persian kings will rise to power and the fourth will be richer than all of them which was referring to King Xerxes which was in the book of Esther. Through Haman’s plot during Xerxes reign, the Jewish people were almost annihilated but Esther was used by God to save her people. During Antiochus IV reign, the Greek empire tried to wipe out the Jewish people too because he ordered to kill every Jew who did not renounce their commitment to God and those who didn’t embrace the Greek culture.
The mighty king mentioned in verse 3 who shall rule with great dominion and did as he pleased is Alexander the Great. At 32, Alexander died of a fever after a drunken party at Babylon. Alexander’s possible heirs all died. After his death two dynasties constantly fought over the Promised Land since it sat between their dominion. Verse 5 was fulfilled in Ptolemy I of Egypt. The king of the North were the Seleucids. The dynasties of the Seleucids and the Ptolemies fought for some 130 years. The stronger of the two always held dominion over the Holy Land.
REFLECTION
- What was revealed in this account about God’s character and nature?
