Daniel Chapter 11

Daniel Chapter 11: 1 – 2
1 Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.

In the first verse of Daniel 11 the speaker is an angel sent by God. It can be demonstrated that this is the Angel Gabriel which will be demonstrated at a later time as not to distract from the present topic.

2 And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.

Verse 2 speaks of 3 kings Persian kings. The description given of these 3 kings is most accurately recorded in history.. They were Cambyses son of Cyrus, Smerdis (also known as Bardiya) an imposter and Darius Hystaspes. The fourth king after Darius Hystaspes was Xerxes. It should be pointed out that although there were several other kings after Darius the Mede. This Darius was also the Darius which was tricked into throwing Daniel into the lion’s den. Darius the Mede reigned as king of Babylon contemporaneously with and under the regency of Cyrus the Persian king, but Daniel 11 verse 2 speaks speciafically of 3 kings of Persia and is not speaking of a king of the Medes. Therefore, the fourth king is the fourth king after Cyrus the great the Persian king. Xerxes was that fourth king. It seems that there is no coincidence that these kings spoken of are in consecutive chronological order. Indeed history records that Xerxes was one of the riches men in history after Nebuchadnezzar. One hundred fifty years before Cyrus the Great was born Isaiah prophesied of this king and his role in the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem.

Isaiah 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Isaiah 45:1 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

The Loins that were to be loosed belonged to Belshazzar the king who made the great feast in chapter 5 of Daniel. The leaved gates were specially designed gates which allowed the Euphrates to flow through the cities, yet prevented an invading army from penetrating the city through them. I believe Cyrus knew about this prophesy and it helped him understand how to defeat Babylon.

Notice also that Daniel 11 Verse 2 says that the fourth king “shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.” Wikipedia says, “Soldiers of many nationalities served in the armies of Xerxes, including the Assyrians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and Jews.” Wikepedia also says, “Xerxes concluded an alliance with Carthage, and thus deprived Greece of the support of the powerful monarchs of Syracuse and Agrigentum. Many smaller Greek states, moreover, took the side of the Persians, especially Thessaly, Thebes and Argos.” History makes it very clear that Xerxes I stirred up all, even their own kinsmen, against the realm of Grecia.

Daniel Chapter 11: 3-4
3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.

In Chapters 2, 7 and 8 both Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar had received dreams and visions revealing to them the future of the world. This future dealt primarily with the kingdoms that would be in power over and in the context of the Jewish nation. In various place throughout the book of Daniel the bible states literally that the succession of world powers in the region would be Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece in that order. Unmistakably this king who that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will was Alexander the Great who conquered the Persian empire.

To make it even more certain that it is referring to Alexander, the scripture says that when his kingdom would be broken and would be divided towards the four winds and not to his posterity. The Biblical interpretation for “the four winds of Heaven” is war. His four either strongest or most ruthless generals took his kingdom and divided it by war. These four generals were Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus and Ptolemy.

Furthermore, all of Alexander’s offspring were murdered by these four generals fulfilling the prophesy that the kingdom would not go to his posterity. The words, “for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.” apply to whom? The plucked up refers to the kingdom being taken by force. The even for others refers to the kingdom being taken by Alexande’s generals and the besides those refers to his posterity. So it can be read as: for his kingdom shall be taken by force, even by his generals beside or aside from his posterity or descendants.

According to verse 4 Alexander’s kingdom would be divided towards the four winds of heaven. Many bible scholars say that this can be interpreted in relation to Palestine, but there really is no other possibility seen as we observe the physical locations of each realm. A map of the territories can be seen by clicking on this link. Note that clicking on the map will zoom it in.

It is very obvious and cannot be mistaken that the Seleucid kingdom is the kingdom to the east. Although its southern most borders are almost as far south as the Egyptian empire’s, they are not. It extends thousands of miles eastward compared to any of the other kingdoms making it unequivocally the kingdom of the east. Therefore it must be the eastern empire it cannot be the southern. Egypt or Ptolemaic empire can only qualify as the southern kingdom in relation to all the other kingdoms. Of the remaining kingdoms, the Macedonian empire ( kingdom taken by Cassender ) is obviously not the southern kindom and is the only one that can even remotely be considered the western kingdom. Thus leaving the kingdom of Pergamon received by Lysimachus as the Northern kingdom which can obviously be neither the eastern, the western nor the southern kingdom as we observe from the map image. Therefore the can be no mistaking which kingdom is the kingdom of the South and which is the kingdom of the North.

Daniel 11: 5 And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.

Here it says the king of the south shall be strong. Ptolemy conquered Cyprus, Phoenicia, Caria, Cyrene and many islands and cities. Then it says one of his princes shall be strong above him. Above who? Above the king of the south. The bible here is speaking in the context of the four kingdoms. After it says the king of the south shall be strong, it talks of one of his princes. Who’s princes. Alexander’s prince Seleucus the king of the north. That is the kingdom that had great dominion over all the other 3 kingdoms and morphed into the Roman empire. First Lysimachus conquered Cassander in short order. Then Lysimachus was conquered by Seleucus. Since Seleucus now had dominion over the Pergameic kingdom, his dominion becomes that of the king of the north. Keep in mind that this was the kingdom of Pergamon. This fact will become relevant when studying the book of Revelation. Seeing that the Seleucid kingdom annexed the kingdoms of both Pergamon and Macedonia, then it is quite unmistakably obvious that it is a kingdom of great domain and became strong “above him,” as quoted from verse 5. Above who? Above the king of the south. If the understanding of what I am suggesting has not solidified in your mind, then please go back and re-read verse5 and this paragraph.

Daniel Chapter 11: 6 And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times.

Most of this prophecy’s fulfilment can be seen verbatim right here on the wikipedia page describing Bernice (Seleucid queen) Ptolemy II Philadelphus king of Egypt and Antiochus II Theos made an agreement or peace treaty and ratified it through the marriage of Antiochus II Theos and Bernice the daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Bernice was the daughter of Ptolemy the king of the South and she married the king of the North Antiochus.

The scripture says she shall not retain power of arm. She, representing Bernice, was, according to the wikipedia article, killed by Laodice and therefore did not retain power of arm. Neither did Antiocus II Theos which is indicated in the prophesy by the words, “neither shall he stand.” He was poisoned as the wikipedia article indicates the Laodice is suspected of being his assassin or at least hiring his assassin.