Daniel 11 King James Version (KJV)
11 Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7 But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail:
8 And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north.
9 So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.
10 But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress.
11 And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand.
12 And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.
13 For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.
14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.
15 So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand.
16 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed.
17 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.
18 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many: but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him.
19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.
20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
22 And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.
26 Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.
27 And both of these kings’ hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.
28 Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.
29 At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
Commentary
Kings from the north and the south (11:2-20)
The messenger went on to describe to Daniel the conflicts involving Persia and Greece as they would affect the Jews. This account runs on unbroken through Chapters 11 and 12. The comments on these chapters below are designed to outline the history of the period and to show how events followed the pattern of the predictions given to Daniel.
After the death of Cyrus, the states in the region of Greece steadily grew in power. (Although there was no ‘official’ Greek nation at that time, these notes will use the name Greece to refer to the region in general. The most important of the Greek states was Macedonia in the north, which later became the centre of the Greek Empire.)
Earlier Persian kings had some outstanding successes against these Greek states, but the Greeks eventually re-established their independence and began to expand their power. Probably the most notable victory came in 333 BC, when the armies of Alexander the Great took control of the eastern Mediterranean region. The Greek conquest then spread rapidly through western Asia and northern Africa. Then, within only a few years of establishing his power, Alexander unexpectedly died, and his vast empire was divided among four of his generals (2-4; cf. 7:6; 8:8).
In the eastern areas of this divided empire there were two main sectors, Egyptian to the south and Syrian to the north. When the Syrian sector became dominant (under the leadership of a man who had previously served under the Egyptian leader), the struggle between the two sectors increased. Israel, caught between the two power centres, suffered much because of these conflicts (5).
Later an alliance was established between the south and the north when the Egyptian king gave his daughter in marriage to the Syrian king. But the marriage broke up and eventually the Syrian king was murdered (6). The woman’s brother then invaded and plundered Syria. This was about 246 BC (7-8).
During the next fifty years Syria and Egypt invaded each other on several occasions, both sides tasting victory and defeat (9-13).
A decisive battle as far as the people of Israel were concerned was fought in 198 BC. Some of the Jews joined with the Syrians against Egypt, thinking they were fulfilling a prophetic vision that would bring benefits to themselves. In the end they only brought themselves greater trouble, because Syria not only conquered Egypt but also took firm control of Palestine (14-16).
The Syrian king tried to gain full control of the Egyptian throne by giving his daughter in marriage to the king of Egypt, but the scheme did not bring him the success he hoped for (17). He then attacked Greece, but was defeated and forced to flee back to Syria, where he died (18-19). The new king, in order to obtain money to pay the victorious enemy, was attempting to plunder the Jewish temple treasures when he was suddenly murdered (20).
The rise of Antiochus Epiphanes (11:21-28)
Antiochus Epiphanes then became king over the region controlled by Syria. He was not the legal heir, but by bribery and flattery he managed to gain the throne. He was a ‘contemptible person’ (RSV), treacherous, cruel, greedy and ambitious for power. He devised the most evil schemes to deceive his allies, crush his enemies and plunder the defenceless (21-24).
Within a short time, Antiochus had conquered Egypt, helped by certain traitors in the Egyptian administration who betrayed their king (25-26). He tried to form a partnership with the new king that he had appointed in Egypt, but this king was as deceitful as Antiochus, and the partnership soon failed.
Antiochus returned to Syria, planning to carry out the chief aim of his program, the destruction of the Jews and their religion (27-28).
Antiochus attacks the Jews (11:29-45)
Before he had a chance to launch his anti-Jewish campaign, Antiochus heard there was unrest in Egypt, so he returned south to put down the rebellion. But Egypt called in the help of a foreign navy and Antiochus was forced to flee back to Palestine. On his arrival in Jerusalem, he found that fighting had broken out between rival Jewish groups. One of these groups consisted of people who were loyal to their ancient religion, the other of people who were prepared to change their beliefs and practices to gain political benefits from their foreign overlords. Already angry because of his defeat in Egypt, Antiochus eagerly took the opportunity to attack the Jews (29-30).
The enraged Antiochus slaughtered Jews in thousands, made others slaves, and prohibited all from keeping their religious laws. Worse than this, he set up a Greek idol and a Greek altar in the Jewish temple, then sacrificed animals that the Jews considered unclean. To loyal Jews this was ‘the abomination that makes desolate’ (RSV), ‘the awful horror’ (GNB). Though some Jews joined Antiochus in order to save their lives, others stood firm no matter what it cost them (31-33).
Jewish resistance to Antiochus was led by a courageous priest and his five sons, known as the Maccabees. They persuaded many to join them in their fight for religious freedom. Amid all the persecution some Jews failed, but others stood firm and were martyred for their faith. The effect of the persecution among the people at large was one of spiritual cleansing. Purified faith enabled the faithful to stand firm, with the result that in 165 BC, after more than three years of fighting, they regained their religious independence and rededicated their temple (34-35).
In addition to blaspheming the God of the Jews, Antiochus dishonoured the Syrian and Greek gods.
Considering himself to be above every god, he replaced the existing gods with others brought from elsewhere. He rewarded those who flattered him, by giving them gifts of land and promoting them to positions of power (36-39).
Towards the end of his reign Antiochus was attacked by Egypt. He began his successful counter- attack by overrunning Palestine and once again slaughtering the unfortunate Jews, though he did not invade neighbouring states that were hostile to the Jews. He then moved down to take over Egypt along with those African states that were under Egypt’s control (40-43).
When he was later attacked from the north-east by the Parthians, Antiochus left his temporary headquarters on the plains of Palestine and went out with his usual fury and confidence to meet the attack. But when returning from the battle he suddenly and unexpectedly died (44-45).