Daniel 11a:

Reading #415  From Daniel to Christ

Gabriel continued his prophecy with some details of the Persian royalty. 

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Daniel 11:

1 Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. 2 And now will I show you 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 Greece.  

3 And a mighty king [Alexander of Greece] 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.

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Gabriel explained that there would be three more kings of Persia; Cambyses son of Cyrus, the false Smerdis, and another Darius.  (The false Smerdis was a Mede named Gaumata.  He looked like Cambyses’ brother Smerdis and used this likeness to rebel and take over the kingdom when the real Smerdis was secretly murdered while Cambyses was away in Egypt.)  Cambyses died of natural causes during his expedition and it was Darius who regained the kingdom for the Persians. It was he who gave permission for the rebuilding of the temple to continue.  Ezra 6:12-15.    

When Darius’ son Artaxerxes took over he planned an invasion of Europe and was subsequently soundly defeated.  Later Alexander came on the scene around 333BC as we have already been told in previous prophecies.  His kingdom was eventually split into the four points of the compass, north, south, east and west, but from then on Gabriel concentrates only on the king of the north (Syria etc.) and the king of the south (Egypt) as the principal players in world history. They got their names from the fact that they were in those geographical positions in relation to God’s people, Israel.

Where was Israel in all this?  If they were following God’s advice, they were living up in the hills and mountains and were only occasionally robbed by the invaders.  If they lived on the plains (the easy country) then they were often harassed, their young men dragged off into the army and their women raped. See Deuteronomy 5:33.  Where are we today?

What I am going to share with you from now on I got from the history books in my library.  Why there?  For a period of about 450 years there is no record of any communication between God and the people.  From Malachi (c.425BC) to John the Baptist (c.25AD) the leaders of Israel were so busy doing their own things that the Son of God was an impotent spectator!

I cannot guarantee that the facts are as stated, but who they were literally is not as important as the fact that to fight each other they passed through the land of Israel each time and helped themselves to its treasures.  So, although the Spirit of God caused many details to be given for the benefit of His readers over the centuries, today we need not remember all of them, so long as we keep the symbolism alive in our mind.  The king of the south represents the anti (the one openly against) Christ, while the king of the north represents the anti (the one pretending to be on Christ’s side).  Because Satan’s kingdom is divided against itself by selfishness, there is continual warfare between these two portions of it, which Satan cannot prevent. 

One of the reasons the Spirit of God gives such detailed descriptions of the events of history of that time was that His people could be comforted as the world’s armies swirled around them.  Another was that knowing that God can tell us the future accurately and at length, gives us a great deal of confidence in His word.  He says, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’.”  Isaiah 46:9-10. (Satan can only make short-term predictions.)

Gabriel now launches into the ebb and flow of political events.

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Daniel 11:

5 And the king of the south [Egypt under the Greek kings called Ptolemeys] shall be strong, and [so shall] one of his [north’s] princes; and he [north] shall be strong above him [south], and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion. [He merged east and west into his empire.]

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 [by marriage]: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he [south] 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 [all her colleagues].

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My history book tells me that the second ptolemy of Egypt, called Philadelphus, wanted to make a treaty with the king of the north, Antiochus Theo, the third king of Syria, so he persuaded him to set aside his wife (Laodice) and marry the Egyptian princess Berenice.  However, later Antiochus reinstated Laodice, which was a fatal move because she soon poisoned him, murdered Berenice, her son and her followers, and made one of her sons the new king!  This of course, weakened the position of the king of Egypt and he lapsed into obscurity in world affairs for a time. This happened about 261-246BC.

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Daniel 11:

7 But out of a branch of her roots [Berenice’s family] shall one stand up in his estate [her brother], 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 [north’s] kingdom, and [then] shall return into his own land.

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Then Berenice’s brother Euergetes attacked the north and conquered a lot of Syria and Asia Minor, sending the king of the north into exile where he eventually died.  To the people of the world at that time the kingdom which was against God seemed to be the greatest, and the professed people of God the helpless ones.  (Like Communism and the U.S. recently.)  But God’s real people, Israel, were only marginally involved in what was going on. It was their job to explain all this to their neighbours. Why do we need to be told these sordid details?  The Son of God is not a gossiper, but He needs us to see what goes on among politicians and great merchants of the earth so that we can appreciate some of His problems and maybe be able to help sometimes. 

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Daniel 11:

10 But his [north’s] sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one [only one of them] shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through [the conquered countries]: then shall he return [to his own area], and be stirred up, even to his fortress [waiting the sure retaliation].

11 And the king of the south shall be moved with choler [great anger], and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he [north] shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his [south’s] hand. 12 And when he has taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up [in pride]; 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 [again] after certain years with a[nother] great army and with much riches. 

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We should note the detail.  The king of the north had two sons, but only one of them attacks the occupying Egyptian forces.  Why?  Again, history records that one brother, Seleucus III, was killed by the Syrian generals who favoured the other brother, Antiochus III.  (We need to remember that at the time these sorts of things were happening, no one would have been sure who had done what – it’s only as time passes that the details come to light.  It’s like reading the classified documents of governments 50 years later and finding out about some of the deeds of the CIA.)  But to God all things are clear even before they happen.

The king of Egypt, Ptolemy Philopater, did come and defeat Antiochus and his mob about 217BC and the countries settled down again.  Because of his victory, he wanted to offer sacrifices at Jerusalem and was very annoyed when he was rightly refused entry in the temple and had to have it done on his behalf.  So he went back into Egypt and vented his anger by persecuting the Jews who lived in one of his cities, Alexandria, killing between 40,000 and 60,000 of them.  The peace appears to have lasted about 14 years until the king and queen of Egypt died in mysterious circumstances and only a boy aged about 5 was left as the new king.  But then, as verse 13 tells us, the king of the north tried again, but this time he wasn’t the only one.

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Daniel 11:

14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of your people [a separate group, now known to us as the Greeks] 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 [siege works], and take the most fenced cities [in the Middle East]: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither His [God’s] chosen people [the Jews], neither shall there be any strength to withstand [anywhere].

16 But he [another new group] that comes against him [north] shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him and he shall stand in the glorious land [of Israel], which by his hand shall be consumed.

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It seems that even the prime minister of Egypt tried to take over from the young king, but was defeated by some loyal Alexandrians.  Then a king of Macedonia joined the Syrians, and together they tried to modernise the peoples of the area, especially the Jews, by introducing them to Greek ways, which included eating and sacrificing pigs!  Not even the apostate Jews could handle that!  To keep the international situation under control the Romans made themselves the policemen of the world, moved into Egypt and appointed a guardian for the young king. (Does this sound familiar?)  A Roman general named Scopas marched out of Egypt and conquered Judea, and was then attacked by the Syrian king, Antiochus IV, who won the battle, to the Romans disgust.  The Romans later (about 168BC) made a treaty with the Jews which established their presence as peace-keepers in Israel (the upright ones), as well as Egypt.       

Now we come to more well-known history.  A Roman general named Pompey came on the scene and attacked the king of the north and made Syria a Roman province about 65BC, which then made Rome the power behind the king of the north.  True to form, Satan then used this new authority to attack God’s people, and Judea became a conquered nation in 63BC.  It came about because two Jewish brothers were squabbling over the throne of Judea and Pompey decided to sort it out for them.  This led him to attack Jerusalem and demolish its walls.  All the Middle East, except Egypt, was now under direct Roman control.

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Daniel 11:

17 He [the new north] shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones [some Jews helped] with him; thus shall he do: and he [Satan] 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 to the isles [the Gentile nations], 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.

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When the Egyptian king died in 55BC he left his son Ptolemy XII and his daughter Cleopatra as his heirs, under the guardianship of Rome with Pompey as the governor.  She was a very determined young lady, as we all know, and managed to influence the Romans quite a bit.  After a quarrel with Julius Caesar in Rome, Pompey fled to Egypt where he was killed on the orders of the young Egyptian boy, and Julius then took over the governing of the kingdom.  After some internal strife around 47BC, Ptolemy drowned while trying to escape the Romans, and Caesar and Cleopatra got together to rule.  During these troubles some Jews helped, believing that Romans were good guys. (They obviously had not understood these verses in Daniel!  But they could have because the Spirit is always willing to explain prophecy to us if we want to help in God’s kingdom.)  Another translation puts it this way: “Hotheads from your own people, drunk on dreams, will join them. But they'll sputter out”. Daniel 11:14 (MSG)

After Caesar returned to Rome and married, Cleopatra joined up with Anthony.  Together they plotted to regain control of Egypt, but were defeated by Caesar’s Romans and she committed suicide.  Then Julius was later assassinated by “a prince for his own behalf” (Brutus) thereby stumbling and falling.

Now we can leave the history books and stand on firmer ground – the Bible.

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Daniel 11:

20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days [years] 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 [the Jews] be overflown from before him [the king of the north], and shall be broken [Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD and the majority of the Jews dispersed]; yea, also the Prince of the covenant.

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After Julius Caesar died Gabriel mentions the greatest of all the Roman emperors, Octavian, who became known as Augustus, “the first amongst equals”.  (It was later that his successors called themselves “emperors”.)  The period from about 44BC to 200AD is known as the “golden age” of Rome, politically, financially and in literature.  But, as we have seen in earlier readings, these things just don’t happen!  The Spirit of God was preparing the world for the birth of Christ, and a time of comparative worldwide peace was what was needed to spread the message of the gospel of the Son of God on earth, and Augustus was the man for the job.

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Luke 2:

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed [counted]. 2 (And this taxing [census] was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city [about Sept/Oct  4BC].  

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger [as a cot]; because there was no room for them in the inn.

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So now we have a definite date in this king of the north versus the king of the south prophecy, set by the birth of Jesus.  You may have noticed that the geographical background of the king of the north has changed.  Rome was in charge of Syria at the birth of Christ, but it was centred back in Italy. After Augustus (ruler from 27BC to 14AD) died of old age (a most unusual event for Roman leaders), came Tiberius (14-37AD) who is passed over by Gabriel.  He mentions only Gaius (aka Caligula, 37-41AD) and a quote from the Net says it all:

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http://www.roman-emperors.org/gaius.htm

Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (b. A.D. 12, d. A.D. 41, emperor A.D. 37-41) represents a turning point in the early history of the Principate [the emperors]. Unfortunately, his is the most poorly documented reign of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The literary sources for these four years are meager, frequently anecdotal, and universally hostile.[[1]] As a result, not only are many of the events of the reign unclear, but Gaius himself appears more as a caricature than a real person, a crazed megalomaniac given to capricious cruelty and harebrained schemes. Although some headway can be made in disentangling truth from embellishment, the true character of the youthful emperor will forever elude us.

. . . in A.D. 31 he [Gaius] was summoned to join Tiberius at his villa on Capri, where he remained until his accession in A.D. 37. In the interim, his two brothers and his mother suffered demotion and, eventually, violent death. Throughout these years, the only position of administrative responsibility Gaius held was an honorary quaestorship [one who asks questions - a high police official] in A.D. 33. [[3]]

When Tiberius died on 16 March A.D. 37, Gaius was in a perfect position to assume power, despite the obstacle of Tiberius's will, which named him and his cousin Tiberius Gemellus joint heirs. (Gemellus's life was shortened considerably by this bequest, since Gaius ordered him killed within a matter of months.) Backed by the Praetorian Prefect Q. Sutorius Macro, Gaius asserted his dominance. He had Tiberius's will declared null and void on grounds of insanity, accepted the powers of the Principate as conferred by the Senate, and entered Rome on 28 March amid scenes of wild rejoicing. His first acts were generous in spirit: he paid Tiberius's bequests and gave a cash bonus to the Praetorian Guard, the first recorded donativum to troops in imperial history. He honored his father and other dead relatives and publicly destroyed Tiberius's personal papers, which no doubt implicated many of the Roman elite in the destruction of Gaius's immediate family. Finally, he recalled exiles and reimbursed those wronged by the imperial tax system [[4]]. His popularity was immense. Yet within four years he lay in a bloody heap in a palace corridor, murdered by officers of the very guard entrusted to protect him. What went wrong?

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What indeed?  We don’t need to look into this man’s life today, but it is sufficient to say that he rejected God’s protection by his actions and impenitence, and therefore paid the penalty.

The king of the north during the ministry of Christ was Tiberius as head of the Roman Empire, but he obviously played little part in the crucifixion.  It was those who had allied themselves with the king of north who demanded the Son of man’s death, the “upright ones” of verse 17.  Since the time of Julius Caesar many Jews had involved themselves in world politics and this helped to lead them to want to kill their rightful King. 

However, the early Christians had to deal with a great deal of persecution (the arms of a flood) from the subsequent emperors, and at first were often treated as a sect of rebellious Jews.

This should do us for this week; we can look at more prophetic history next time.

Bye for now,

Ron

Some of the comments in these readings are adapted from books in my library.   No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly.  All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own

Some of these readings are available at http://www.oocities.org/weprotest.geo/BibleReadings/books_index.html

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