1 “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 supported her in those times.
7 “And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. 8 He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. 9 Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.
10 “His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. 11 Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. 12 And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. 13 For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.
14 “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. 15 Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. 16 But he who comes against him shall do as he wills, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand. 17 He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. 18 Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. 19 Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found.
20 “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. 21 In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. 24 Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. 26 Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. 28 And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land.
29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. 30 For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
This portion of chapter eleven refers to a period that is now history. The first verse may belong to the previous chapter. In the previous chapter, it was said that the angel Michael helped the interpreting angel (Gabriel) and in this verse, Gabriel indicates that he had provided support for Michael.
The truth Gabriel reveals covers the period from the Persians under Cyrus through the period of the Greeks under Alexander the Great and its subsequent division into four sections after his death. He focuses on two of those divisions and then brings greater attention to Antiochus IV Epiphanes who would be a severe persecutor of the Jews. Antiochus was a type of the Antichrist which is who Gabriel will describe in the verses that follow.
The four kings of Persia are those who came after Cyrus who was reigning at the time of the vision. They were Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis, Darius I (Hystaspes), and Xerxes I (Ahasuerus as mentioned in Esther). The mighty king that arose is Alexander the Great who defeated the Persian Empire. After his death, his empire was divided into four sections by his military commanders. Because his sons were murdered, his empire didn’t go to “his posterity”. None of the divisions of the Greek Empire rose to the strength with which he ruled.
The king of the south begins with Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt and follows the leaders of Egypt through the next two centuries. the king of the north begins with Seleucus I Nicator and follows the leaders of Syria. History has shown the accuracy of each alliance, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and murder so much so that some believe the book of Daniel was written much later after these events actually took place.
This all comes to a climax with Antiochus IV Epiphanes who is the “little horn” of Daniel 8. He rose to power through flattery assuming the throne that rightly belonged to his nephew. He created treaties with the nations around him to his own advantage and the king of the south at the time was unable to withstand him. Eventually, Antiochus directed his evil against Israel killing many. He discontinued the daily sacrifices, erected an idol in the temple, and desecrated the temple by offering a sow on its altar. This brought about the Maccabean revolt led by Judas Maccabaeus. Apostate Jews sided with Antiochus, but the faithful were strong, “the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action” (Dan 11:32). Some of these heroes might be those mentioned in Hebrews 11:34-35.
Gabriel began by saying he would show Daniel “the truth”. History has shown that everything that has happened up to today has happened exactly as predicted with such detail that some believe it was written after the fact. This should give us great faith and hope that those things still to come will happen exactly as God has revealed. As the world diverges further away from God’s way of doing things, let us not move with the times but be people who know their God and stand firm and take action.
Major Stories of the Bible Reading Plan
Balaam and the Donkey: Numbers 22