Daniel 11:10-2710But 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. 11And 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. 12And 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. 13For 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. 14And 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. 15So 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. 16But 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. 17He 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. 18After 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. 19Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. 20Then 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. 21And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. 23And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. 24He 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. 25And 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. 26Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain. 27And both 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. (Daniel 11:10‑27)
Last week it was pointed out that the ninth verse refers to an invasion of Egypt’s dominions by Syria; the best reading is “And (the same) shall come into the realm of the king of the south, but shall return into his own land.” Verse 10 describes the unsuccessful efforts of the fifth and sixth kings of the north to subdue the fourth king of the south; their defeat filled the latter with pride (verse 12).
The fourth Ptolemy died after recovering the land of Israel from the king of the north, and his successor was a child of. The sixth king of the north, Antiochus the Great, thereupon, with the aid of the king of Macedonia, proceeded to take possession of all he could of the dominions of Egypt. Many of the Jews, the “robbers”, or violent ones among them, sided with Antiochus, who seemed irresistible; Rome, now becoming a power to be reckoned with, was, however, appealed to by Egypt, and Antiochus was told to leave that country alone. However, he had seized the land of Israel, the “glorious land”, or the land of beauty (verse 16). An army from Egypt regained it, but Antiochus again got possession.
“The daughter of women” (verse 17) was Antiochus’ daughter Cleopatra, whom he moved the young king of Egypt to marry, hoping that she would serve his own ends but she proved to be loyal to her husband. Then Antiochus seized many islands of Greece, an act which aroused Rome, and Lucius Scipio, the “prince” of verse 18, was sent against him with an army decisive blow, so that he to relinquish much of his territory and pay a large sum to the victors, Mule robbing, a temple in order to get gold fur the Roman demands, he was killed. Seleucus IV is the next northern king whose chief occupation was raising the money to pay the debt to Rome; he was poisoned one of his sons (verses 19-20).
Verse 21 begins the inspired account of a very wicked man, Antiochus Epiphanes, the eighth king of the north. He was a “vile person,” not the heir to the throne, but obtained it by flattery, Opposition to him was unsuccessful; a league was made with him, but after it he worked deceitfully, becoming strong with a small people. His power and wealth increasing, he squandered much, while continuing to plan the capture of the fortified places (of Syria which held out against the usurper of the throne, we may suppose).
Having established himself in the ride of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes, like his predecessors began to war against Egypt, and the latter met him with a yet greater army, but there, was treachery in the Egyptian court, and the army was dissolved. A treaty of peace was made between the two kings, but both of them were deceitful; they “spoke lies at one table”, and lasting peace was at obtained. Such is the manner of men shell God is not acknowledged.
God had not forgotten his earthly people, though not a prophet of whom we have knowledge was raised up after Malachi’s and Nehemiah’s inspired records were closed, two hundred years before the time we have now reached. The Jews had already suffered much under the contentions of the kings of the north and the south, it far greater sorrows were shortly to be theirs. Malachi had brought the most solemn charges against them wit had returned from Babylonian captivity. but as a body there was no repentance; when the Word of God is rejected, He will not long delay His judgments, as we shall see.
ML 08/16/1936