The Book of Daniel
Daniel 11
Chapter XI · Vol. III, pp. 1403–1405
1 The overthrow of Persia by the king of Grecia. 5 Leagues and conflicts between the kings of the south and of the north. 30 The invasion and tyranny of the Romans.
2 And now will I cshow thee the truth.2 Behold, there shall stand up yet dthree kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength ethrough his riches he gshall stir up all3 against the realm of Grecia.
c Am.3.7.
2 What is plain as well as true. See ch.10.1,21; 8.20.
d Ezr.4.5,6.
e Ec.7.12; 10.19. Ps.73.6. Pr.14.10.
g ch.7.5; 8.4. Es.1.1.
3 This was Xerxes, whose armies, according to Grotius, amounted to 5,283,220 men, whom he marched into Greece. His fleet consisted of 1200 ships, the Carthaginians having joined him; and he had mercenaries from Gaul, Spain, and Italy.—C.
3 And ha mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
h ch.7.6; 8.5,8. Eze.6.3,6.
4 And iwhen he shall stand up, his kingdom jshall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven;4 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.
i ch.8.8. Job 20.5,7. Pr.11.4.
j ch.8.4,8,22. Job 27.13,16. Ec.4.8. Mat.12.25.
4 Alexander of Macedon, whose kingdom was so divided.—C.
5 And the 5king6 of the south7 shall be strong, and 8one of his princes;9 and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.
5 Ptolemy Soter.
6 Ptolemy Soter, son of Lagus, one of Alexander's generals, who reigned over Egypt on the south, Lybia, Cyrene, Arabia, Ethiopia, Phœnicia, Cœle-Syria, Cyprus, and many islands in the Ægean Sea, and many cities of Greece.—C.
7 Egypt, ver.8.
8 Seleucus Nicator.
9 And one of his princes. That is, the king of the south shall be strong; and one of his princes shall also be strong—but the one shall be superior to the other.—C.
6 And in the end of years they shall 1join themselves together; for the king's daughter2 of the south shall come to the 3king of the 4north to make an agreement:5 but she shall knot 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,6 and he7 that strengthened her in these times.
1 Heb. associate.
2 Berenice daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus.
3 Antiochus Theos.
4 Syria, Lesser Asia, &c.
5 Heb. rights.
k Job 10.13. ch.8.7,8.
6 Or, whom she brought forth.
7 Ptolemy Philadelphus.
7 But out of a branch8 of her root shall one stand up in his estate,9 which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and lshall prevail:
8 And shall also carry captives into Egypt ntheir gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels1 of silver and of gold;2 and ohe shall continue more years than the king of the north.3
n Is.46.1,2; 37.19; 19.1. Je.43.12; 50.2.
1 Heb. vessels of their desire, Ho.13.15. ch.1.2,3.
2 Ptolemy Euergetes, in revenge for his sister's death ('given up,' ver. 6), invaded Syria, the north, and carried away 2500 images, and 40,000 talents of silver and precious vessels.—C.
o Job 29.12-18. Ps.11.7.
3 Seleucus Callinicus.
9 So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.
10 But his 4sons5 shall be stirred up,6 and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one7 shall certainly come, and poverflow, and pass through; then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress.8
A.M. cir. 3470. B.C. cir. 534.
4 Seleucus' sons Ceraunus and Antiochus the Great.
5 The sons of the king of the north, one of whom, Antiochus, is here specially introduced as an overflowing conqueror.-C.
6 Or, shall war.
7 Antiochus.
p ver.22,40; ch.9.26. Is.7.7,8; 8.8. Je.51.42.
8 Raphia, a frontier city on the north-east of Egypt, ver.7.
11 And the king of the south9 shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he1 shall set forth a great multitude; qbut the multitude shall rbe given into his2 hand.
12 And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart sshall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.
s De.32.15. Pr.16.18. Jn.19.10. ch.8.25. 2 Ki.14.10. Is.10.7.
13 For the king of the north3 shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years4 with a great army and with much riches.
3 Antiochus the Great.
4 Heb. at the end of times, even years, ch.4.16; 12.7.
14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the 5robbers of thy people6 shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall tfall.
5 Heb. the children of robbers.
6 The robbers of thy people. Not the people that robbed them, but the refractory Jews themselves ('some of the breakers'), who by their wickedness contribute 'to establish the vision,' or fulfil the prophecy against themselves.—C.
t Re.17.17.
15 So the king of the north shall come, and castu up a mount, and take the most fenced cities;7 and the arms of the south vshall not withstand, neither his chosen people,8 neither shall there be any strength to withstand.
7 Heb. the city of munitions.
v Ps.33.16,17; 147.10. Pr.21.30,31. ch.8.4,7.
8 Heb. the people of his choices.
16 But he that cometh against him xshall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the glorious land,9 which by his hand shall be consumed.1
x ch.8.4,5.
9 Heb. the land of ornament; or goodly land, ch.8.9; ver.41,45. Eze.20.6; Canaan or Egypt.
1 Is not ver. 16 a parenthetic introduction of the Roman power, the 'prince for his own behalf,' again introduced in ver. 18? No other power did 'according to his own will;' of none else could it be said, that 'none shall stand before him.'—C.
17 He shall also set his yface to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones2 with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the 3daughter of women,4 corrupting5 her: but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him.6
y Pr.19.21.
2 Or, much uprightness or equal conditions.
3 Beautiful Cleopatra.
4 The beautiful but worthless Cleopatra, whom her unprincipled father intended to betray her husband, but who in this meditated treachery did not stand to her father's interests.-C.
5 Heb. to corrupt, Ne.6.9.
6 But sided with her husband Ptolemy Epiphanes.
18 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles,z and shall take many; but a 7prince8 for his own behalf9 shall cause the reproach1 offered by him to cease; without his own reproach ahe shall cause it to turn upon him.
z Ge.10.4,5.
7 The Roman state by their general Lucius Scipio.
8 A Roman general repelled the injury, and removed the reproach of his western conquests.—C.
9 Heb. for him, 2 Ti.3.2,3.
1 Heb. his reproach.
19 Then he2 shall turn his face toward the fort3 of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and bnot be found.
20 Then shall stand up in his estate4 a raiser of taxes in5 the glory of the kingdom:6 but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger,7 nor in battle.8
A.M. cir. 3470. B.C. cir. 534.
4 Or, place, ver.7.
5 Heb. one that causeth an exactor to pass over, i.e. Seleucus Philopater.
6 The 'glory of the kingdom' was the temple in Jerusalem, which Seleucus Philopater, 'the raiser of taxes,' attempted to plunder.—C.
7 Heb. angers.
8 But by poison.
21 And in his estate9 shall stand up a cvile 1person,2 to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by dflatteries.
22 And ewith the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the 3prince of the covenant.4
23 And after the league made with him ghe shall work deceitfully; for hhe shall come up, and shall become strong, with a small people.
g 2 Ch.28.16. Mi.7.5.
h ch.8.9,10,24,25.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest5 places of the province;6 and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall iscatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches; yea, and he shall forecast his devices7 against the strong holds, even for a time.
25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south8 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.
8 Ptolemy Philometor.
26 Yea, 9they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his1 army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain.
27 And both these kings' hearts2 shall be to do mischief, and they shall jspeak lies at one table; but kit shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the ltime appointed.3
28 Then shall he return into his land4 with great riches; and his heart shall be against the 5holy covenant;6 and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.
4 Towards Syria.
5 Jewish religion, ver.30-32; ch.8.11,12,24,25.
6 The Jews, on a report of the death of Antiochus, made great rejoicings, which, on his return, he avenged by the massacre of 40,000, the sale of as many, the profanation of the holy of holies, and the total plunder of the temple.—C.
29 At the time appointed he shall 7return, and come toward the south: but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.8
7 In God's purpose. See ver.27. Ac.1.7. Fulfilled B.C. 168.
8 As the former, when he entered 'peaceably,' ver. 24.—Or as the latter, when he returned victorious, ver.28.—C.
30 For the 9ships of Chittim1 shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and nhave indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and ohave intelligence with 2them that 3forsake the holy covenant.
9 Roman ambassadors in Grecian ships, Nu.24.24. Je.2.10. Eze.27.6. Fulfilled 168, 169.
1 The fleets of Greece, now in the power of Rome, brought ambassadors who terrified Antiochus, and peremptorily compelled him to withdraw his army.—C.
n ver.28; ch.8.11,12,24,25. Pr.19.19.
o Ne.6.16.
2 Jews turning heathens.
3 With Menelaus, the wicked high-priest (an idolater in heart), and the other apostate spies of his faction, who furnished the unpopular Antiochus with irritating intelligence.—C.
31 And parms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the 4sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the 5abomination that maketh desolate.6
p ch.8.10,11,24,25.
A.M. cir. 3470. B.C. cir. 534.
4 Jewish temple, Eze.7.20,21; 24.25.
5 The heathen religion, and image of the idol Jupiter, and troops of idolatrous soldiers, Mat.24.15. ch.8.11; 12.11.
6 Or, astonisheth.
32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant7 shall he corrupt8 by flatteries:9 but the 1people that do qknow their God2 shall be strong, and do exploits.
7 Apostate Jews.
8 Or, cause to dissemble.
9 Flatteries—To cast a little incense upon the idol's altar, were most commonly employed by the Roman authorities to 'corrupt' the faith of the primitive Christians.—C
1 Matthias, his sons, and friends.
q 1 Ch.28.9. Jn.17.3. Mal.2.7. Mat.13.52, with Is.40.3. Zec.9.13-16; 10.12; 12.3-7; 14.1-4. Mal.4.2,3.
2 The people that do know their God, are they, and they only, who know God in Christ reconciling sinners to himself, Jn.17.3. 2 Co.5.19,20.—C.
33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet rthey 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:3 but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
3 A little help—such as Paul obtained from Lysias, Ac. 23. 23-30, and the brief intermissions in the ten great persecutions, or the occasional gleams of clemency in the emperors or their governors.—C.
35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, sto try them,4 and to purge, and to make them white, even to tthe time of the end: because it is yet for a utime appointed.
s 2 Ch.32.31. Ja.1.2,3. 1 Pe.1.6,7. Is.27.9, with ch.8.10,24; 12.10.
4 Or, by them.
t ch.8.17,19; ver.29.
u Hab.2.3.
36 And the 5king vshall 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 xtill the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the 6God of his fathers,7 nor ythe desire of women, nor regard any god: zfor he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But8 in his estate9 shall he honour the God of 1forces;2 and aa god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones,3 and pleasant things.4
8 Heb. But as for the Almighty God, in his seat he shall honour, yea, he shall honour a god whom, &c.
9 Or, stead.
1 Or, munitions. Heb. Mauzzim, or gods protectors. Together with God shall he honour protectors, i.e. angels and saints departed, 1 Ti.4.1.
2 See note * below.
a Re.13.12-17; 17.2-5.
3 Gorgeous shrines, reliquaries, statues, &c.—C.
4 Heb. things desired, Is.44.9.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds5 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 land6 for gain.7
5 Heb. fortresses of munitions.
6 Part his dominions and cities among his gods.
* Better translated, 'Thus shall he do to the defenders of Mahizzim (tutelary saints and angels), together with the strange god whom he shall acknowledge (truly 'a strange god,' a wafer and wine, which the defenders of the Papacy are taught to worship); he shall multiply honour (in the many titles and offices of the Romish hierarchy), and the earth he shall divide (having in the middle ages obtained immense territorial possessions in most European kingdoms) for a reward.'—C.
7 Heb. a price, Re.18.9.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south8 push at him: and the king of the north9 shall come against him blike 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 1land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these2 shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
A.M. cir. 3470. B.C. cir. 534.
1 Heb. land of delight or ornament; or goodly land, ver.16,45; ch.8.9.
2 Arabian Hejaz, Ge.16.12. Is.11.14,15, which hath never been subdued.
42 He shall stretch forth3 his hand also upon the countries; cand the land of Egypt shall not escape.
3 Heb. send forth.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the dLibyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.4
4 Ex.11.8. Ju.4.10. 1 Ki.20.10; i.e. subdued and obedient.
44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore ehe shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
e Eze.38.9-12, or Re.16.13-16; 17.14; 19.19.
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace 5between the seas in the 6glorious holy mountain;7 yet ghe shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
5 In Canaan, Joel 2.20. Zec.14.8. Ps.48.2. ver.41,16; or Italy, Re.17.18; 16.16; or the church, 1 Co.3.16. 2 Co.6.16. Ep.2.20. 1 Ti.3.15. Is.2.2.
6 Or, goodly.
7 Heb. mountain of delight of holiness.
g Eze.38.18-23; 39.1-21, or ch.7.11,26. 2 Th.2.8. Re.11.13,18; 13.10; 14.14-20; xvi. xviii.; 17.16; 19.11-21.
Notes
Ver. 1 should have stood in the preceding chapter; and means that Gabriel had encouraged and excited Darius the Mede and Cyrus to release the Jews, notwithstanding the great opposition that design met with from devils and wicked courtiers. 2-4. After Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspes, Xerxes, being extremely wealthy, shall attempt to engage all his subjects and many others to destroy the Greeks, and shall invade them with a powerful army, but shall be shamefully defeated.—Long after this, Alexander the Macedonian, having become king of all Greece, shall invade and conquer Persia; and, after a short reign, be cut off by death, and his kingdom parted into four; but no part shared by his own relations. 5-9. Ptolemy Lagus, king of Egypt and the countries adjacent, shall be very powerful; but Seleucus Nicator, of Syria and the places adjacent, still more powerful, and his dominion more extensive.—Wearied of the war between the two kingdoms, Antiochus Theos, the third Syro-Grecian king, shall, for establishing a peace, marry Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt. But he and she, and all her relations and friends, shall be quickly destroyed by Laodice his former wife. Then Ptolemy Euergetes of Egypt, Berenice's brother, in revenge, shall terribly ravage Syria, and even conquer it, till a sedition at home shall oblige him to return, yet laden with prisoners and spoil. 10-20. To recover what their father, Callinicus of Syria, had lost, his sons Ceraunus and Antiochus the Great shall levy a formidable army; and, after his brother's death, Antiochus shall ravage even to the north-east border of Egypt, where Ptolemy Philopater's troops shall give him a terrible defeat; which, issuing in Ptolemy's rage against the Jews, and his abandoning himself to luxury, shall conduce to the hurt of his kingdom. Ptolemy dying, and leaving his son Epiphanes an infant, Antiochus, assisted by part of the Jews, shall march a great army into Egypt, and ravage the country; and after bribing his daughter Cleopatra to murder him, he shall marry her to young Ptolemy Epiphanes of Egypt: but she proving faithful to her husband, her father, disappointed of his designs on the kingdom of Egypt, shall, in his rage, attack and take many of the isles and coasts of the Ægean Sea, now the east part of the Mediterranean. But the Romans, whom he now insults in invading their allies and treating their ambassadors with contempt, shall stop his career; and after many shameful defeats, oblige him to quit Lesser Asia, pay all the expenses of the war, and give his own son for a pledge of the payment. Retiring into his kingdom, he shall be murdered at Elymais, in his attempt to rob a temple of Jupiter. His elder son Seleucus Philopater shall be famous for nothing but for oppressing his people with taxes to pay the Roman debts; and shall, after a short reign, be poisoned by Heliodorus his treasurer. 21-29. He shall be succeeded by his despicable, debauched, and frantic brother, Antiochus Epiphanes, who shall have long lived at Rome as a hostage for the payment of his father's debt. Not by right, but by flattering the Syrians, Romans, Pergamenians, and others, he shall procure the Syrian crown, and get the better of all his opposers. And by scattering among his subjects the spoils taken from his opposers, he shall firmly attach them to his interests. After fixing himself on his throne, he shall march his mighty army against Ptolemy of Egypt, his cousin; and, by the help of traitors, shall rout his forces. And after making a league with him, which neither party intend to keep, he shall return home to Syria, terribly murdering the Jews and ravaging their country in his way. Not long after he shall again invade Egypt with a formidable army, but without success. 30-35. For the Roman ambassadors, arriving in Macedonian ships, shall prohibit him from proceeding against Ptolemy, whom they shall have taken into their protection. Enraged herewith, he shall return home; and, by fearful murder and persecutions, shall attempt to abolish the Jewish religion, or extirpate their nation. And, assisted by apostate Jews, he shall abolish the daily sacrifice, and make their temple a sink of idolatry, whoredom, and other wickedness.—While many of the Jews suffer for their religion, Matthias and his sons, called Maccabees, shall take arms; and, by a multitude of violent encounters, shall defeat the Syro-Grecians, retake and purify the temple, and restore the true worship of God.—But some understand these six verses of the Romish heathens, and their persecution of the Christians. 36-45. Some understand these verses also of Antiochus' pride, insolence, blasphemy, introduction of new deities, and his brutal murder of women and children; and of his ravaging Canaan, Egypt, and the countries about; till at length he was embarrassed by a Parthian war from the east, and at last miserably destroyed by God. But they, at least, chiefly represent the Romish Antichrist as exalting himself above magistrates, angels, and even the Divine Persons; prohibiting marriage, and, regardless alike of the God of primitive Christians and of heathen idols, setting up angels and departed saints, or consecrated waters, as protectors of countries, cities, and societies; and as harassed by the Saracens, and afterwards more terribly by the Turks, who have conquered the west of Asia, north of Africa, and south-east of Europe; and who will be ruined in their attempt to dispossess the returned Jews of their country in the beginning of the millennium, about the very time that the Lord shall destroy Antichrist.
Ver. 31. And arms, &c. 'And armies shall stand up after him'—the armies of the Roman power, newly introduced, ver. 30, to whose actings the prophecy now turns. With them alone does the description agree; for though Antiochus polluted the temple, he did not make it 'desolate,' the last state of the 'indignation,' ver. 36, to which our Lord referred when lamenting over the incorrigible Jerusalem, or warning his disciples of the time to escape, Mat. 23. 37, 38: 24. 15-18. C.
Ver. 40. Time of the end. At the time when the dissolution of the Roman empire shall commence, the prelude to the division into ten kingdoms, and the final overthrow of the Papacy and Mohammedanism—which have the same prophetic name, 'little horns'—which rose together, and together are doomed to fall.—King of the south, &c. According to scriptural geography, all southerly points from east and west of Jerusalem are called 'the south.' Thus explained, this verse represents the northern hordes of Huns, Goths, Vandals, &c.; and the southern tribes of Saracens, Tartars, Turks, &c., by whom the Roman empire was overrun, and foretells the rise of some great northern power that is finally to invade the kingdoms, and settle his proud throne 'upon the glorious holy mountains,' and there perish where 'none shall help him.' What this power shall be God only knows; for one man, at any time (as witness the case of Mohammed), is capable of raising up a power sufficient to revolutionize and (like Napoleon) to terrify monarchies in his fall. C.
Reflections.—Infinitely perfect is God's insight into futurities. Often riches are kept for the hurt of the owners. Yea, all things here are but vanity and vexation of spirit. While God in his providences sets up one and pulls down another, exactly answerable to his purpose, men's lusts render this world a tremendous scene of ravage and murder. And God often exalts the worst of men to render them scourges to sinners, and especially his own people. And none are more bitter persecutors than apostates from the truth. While God singularly honours those that cleave to him in an evil day, he permits their opponents to rush forward in wickedness, till, becoming impudent in impiety, he can no longer delay their tremendous destruction. And how marvellous a confirmation of our faith is it to find some scripture predictions of contingent events more particularly circumstantiated than in any particular history of them.