Daniel 11, the rise of the king of the North. Verses 17-27

I hate making rookie mistakes, but I am prone to the same errors many of you have encountered; that is, as I was going through my notes I noticed Daniel 11:15, 16 were missing. That would mean that I might have skipped by them when I did the bible study; maybe not. So, for the sake of completion I quickly added them in the previous post; however, this is where I made the rookie error. Note my comments in red
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Daniel 11:16 NASB "But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.

As you saw in verse fifteen, there will be no strength to make a stand.

• “ But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him;”

  Antiochus III – also known as Antiochus the Great, is a forerunner and interchangeable with the Antichrist that is coming.

• “he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.”

  The Revised Version translates the verse this way, “and he shall stand in the glorious land, and in his hand shall be destruction.”
  This is indicative of what will happen to Israel by the hand of Antichrist.

It seems harmless enough, but the most direct descendant would be Antiochus Epiphanes (IV), for he is the one who desecrated the temple; and, he is the one scholars tend to agree, if they agree, is the pattern for the Antichrist that is coming. But, as I looked again at the descriptives I see in Antiochus the III, are there things here that fit the Antichrist? Yes. Are there exceptions? Yes. An example might be:

Daniel 11:42-45 RV 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: and he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many. 45) And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet, he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

We will get to Daniel 11:42-45 eventually, but for the moment pay attention to the idea that "he shall come to his end, and none shall help him." One might say that this alone indicates that he is not invincible, and he isn't, but it is only the return of Jesus Christ to earth that puts a stop to this guy.

Look at the context of the verses I included and you can see things like Egypt shall not escape; he shall have power over the treasures; "and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps."
In case there is any doubt that this guy meets his end, I give you:

Revelation 19:19-20 RV And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and against his army. 20) And the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image: they twain were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone:

Yes, the Antichrist persona is also known as the beast.

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Let's continue on with Daniel 11; and yes, it actually took me four weeks to cover my notes, but I rushed through chapter 12 and I wish I had not done that.

Antiochus the Great and Ptolemy V come to terms. Antiochus gives Ptolemy his daughter who later helps her husband defeat the plans of Antiochus.

Daniel 11:17 NIV He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an alliance with the king of the South. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans will not succeed or help him.

He, is Antiochus the Great/AKA, Antiochus III.

• To set one’s face in any direction is to determine to go there. The meaning here is, that Antiochus, flushed with success, and resolved to push his conquests to the utmost, would make use of all the forces at his disposal to overcome the Egyptians, and to bring them into subjection to his sway. He had driven Scopas from Coelo-Syria, and from Sidon; had subjected the land of Palestine to his control, and now nothing seemed to prevent his extending his conquests to the utmost limits of his ambition. [Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible]

• From the IVPBBC - Antiochus III's defeat by the Roman, Scipio (191, 190). The increasing Roman control in Greece was established by a peace accord in 196. The Greeks who were unhappy with this new state of affairs made contact with Antiochus, urging him to come to their aid. 
  By this time, Antiochus, anticipating that he would need to neutralize Egypt, had entered a marriage alliance, sending his daughter, Cleopatra, to be Ptolemy V's bride. He expected her to also be a useful spy, but in this, he was disappointed as her loyalties turned to her new husband.

Daniel 11:18 NIV Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back on him.

Nevertheless, he made his move toward Greece in 192.

Constantly shifting alliances eventually worked against him, and he lost a large portion of his ten thousand troops at Thermopylae in 191.

Antiochus III then resorted to sea battle to try to keep the Romans out of Asia Minor but was again unsuccessful.

By 190 the larger Seleucid army of seventy-thousand men had arrived to reinforce Antiochus's positions. Roman troops under Scipio were only half this strength when the forces met at Magnesia (about fifty miles north of Ephesus). Yet due to lack of training and tactical errors on the part of the Seleucid army, Antiochus was defeated and much of his army slaughtered.

Daniel 11:19 NIV After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more.

The terms of surrender were humiliating, devastating and accepted without argument. IVPBBC

Daniel 11:20 AMPC+ Then shall stand up in his place or office one who shall send an exactor of tribute to pass through the glory of the kingdom, but within a few days, he shall be destroyed, [yet] neither in anger nor in battle.

Let's try reading it from the NIV.

Daniel 11:20 NIV "His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle.

Who is this successor?

• Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175). This son of Antiochus III had a relatively peaceful reign and appeared to have maintained favorable relations with Jerusalem. The exception alluded to in this verse was when he dispatched one of his chief officials, Heliodorus, to Jerusalem to seize funds that were reported to be either in excess of what was needed or hoarded by anti-Seleucid factions. Before the high priest, Onias III could get to Antioch to appeal the decision and offer explanation,
• Seleucus was assassinated in a plot carried out by Heliodorus, with Antiochus IV suspected by historians of complicity. IVPBBC

Who gained the most from the murder of Seleucus IV's murder? Antiochus IV.

Antiochus Epiphanes and dealings with Israel are pictured in Daniel 11:21-34.

He obtains his rule by flattery.

Daniel 11:21 AMPC+ And in his place or office [in Syria] shall arise a contemptuous and contemptible person, to whom royal majesty and honor of the kingdom have not been given. But he shall come in without warning in time of security and shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries, intrigues, and cunning hypocritical conduct. [Dan 8:9-12, Dan 8:23-25]

CJB "There will arise in his place a despicable man not entitled to inherit the majesty of the kingdom, but he will come without warning and gain the kingdom by intrigue.

a contemptuous and contemptible person – The NASB translated this as despicable. The Hebrew word is, bāzāh: A verb meaning to hold in contempt or to despise. The verb means to hold in disdain, to disrespect. It can mean to prefer something more than the thing despised,

• Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164). Antiochus IV, the brother of Seleucus, had been in Rome as a political hostage and was just returning (he had got as far as Athens) when the assassination of his brother took place.
• His goals included converting Jerusalem into a center for Greek culture and helping the Jews to make the transition to becoming Greek citizens with Greek ways.
• The intrigues that he became involved in were many, but certainly, the main one concerning Jerusalem was how he handled the high priesthood.
• The text calls him contemptible, and indeed he was. His title “Epiphanes” means “god manifest”—but the people preferred “Epimanes”—“madman.” While he was certainly a member of the royal line, the throne should have gone to Seleucus's son, Demetrius (who instead was taking Antiochus's place as a hostage in Rome). Another intrigue concerned the throne. He set up a coregency with his nephew (a minor), who a few years later was murdered. IVPBBC

Keep in mind that Antiochus IV Epiphanes is the forerunner for the false prophet of the end times.

Question? How many beasts are we talking about? The Antichrist gets that title, as does the false prophet, and then there are the four empires with lions heads and bears paws, and also that multi-headed beast that emerges from the sea and one of the heads sustains what seems to be a mortal wound. The point is that both characters, the Antichrist and the false prophet, have such similar and destructive characteristics, and, they are both called beasts.

He makes a league with the high priest; deals deceitfully and becomes strong.

Daniel 11:22 CJB Large armies will be broken and swept away before him, as well as the prince of the covenant.

I need to show you a contrasting version.

Daniel 11:22 KJV 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.

And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken,... That is, with the help of the forces of Eumenes and Attalus, which were like an inundation of water, the party that was on the side of Heliodorus the usurper were bore down, crushed, and destroyed; and thereby Antiochus had a peaceable settlement in the kingdom: or, "the arms of a flood shall be overflowed from before him, and be broken" (r); either the arms of Heliodorus, the forces he had got together; or the armies of the Egyptians, which, like an overflowing flood, had used to run over Judea, Coelesyria, Phoenicia, and other places, and carry all before them, now should be overflowed, and bore down themselves. [John Gill's commentary]

• prince of the covenant. Onias III was detained by Antiochus, and in the interim Jason, his brother conspired to usurp his position. He (Jason) paid a considerable sum to Antiochus and offered to be cooperative in the Hellenization of Judea (promotion of Greek culture at the expense of Jewish practices).
• Three years later Menelaus, with the probable support of the Tobiads, paid a larger sum and, the precedent having been established, was awarded the office over Jason.
• According to 2 Maccabees, Onias was murdered about 171.
• Many identify him as the prince of the covenant referred to in this verse, but others attach that title to Ptolemy VI (see below). The overwhelming army in some way represents the opponents to Antiochus's reign. This could include internal political opponents, Jewish antagonists or foreign opposition such as that which develops in Egypt. IVPBBC

Daniel 11:23 CJB Alliances will be made with him, but he will undermine them by deceit. Then, although he will have but a small following, he will emerge and become strong.

“The meaning of this seems to be, that at first, his own forces would be small; that he would go up in such a way as not to excite suspicion, but that, either by an increase of his forces there, by uniting himself to confederates, by alluring the people by the promise of rewards, or by gradually taking one town after another and adding them to his dominions, he would become strong. Jahn (Heb. Commonwealth, p. 263) says, “with a small body of troops he made himself master of Memphis, and of all Egypt as far as Alexandria, almost without striking a blow.” IVPBBC

Daniel 11:24 NET. In a time of prosperity for the most productive areas of the province, he will come and accomplish what neither his fathers nor their fathers accomplished. He will distribute loot, spoils, and property to his followers, and he will devise plans against fortified cities, but not for long.

“into tranquillity, and the fattest places of the province" (s); that is, into such places as were in great tranquillity, and men thought themselves safe and secure, and had no suspicion of his designs upon them, and which abounded in wealth and riches: these were either the principal cities in the kingdom of Syria, which he visited in order to establish himself in their good opinion of him; or the chief places of the province of Phoenicia, where he endeavoured to make himself acceptable by his munificence; or it may be the best parts of the kingdom of Egypt are meant, the richest of them, such as Memphis, and the places about it; where, as Sutorius in Jerome says, he went; and which places being fat, producing a large increase, and abounding in wealth, invited him thither; and which wealth he took, and scattered among his friends and soldiers, as in the following clause: "and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers;" none of his ancestors, more near or more remote; not Antiochus the great, nor Seleucus Ceraunus, nor Seleucus Callinicus, nor Antiochus Theos, nor Antiochus Soter, nor Seleucus Nicator, the founder of the Syrian empire; for, however greater these might be in power or riches, they were inferior to him in success; though they all, or most of them, however, had their eye upon Egypt, and would gladly have been masters of it; yet none of the kings of Syria prevailed over it, as Antiochus did; and this may also refer to what follows: "he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches;" which he took from the places or rich cities he entered into; and these he plentifully and liberally dispersed among his followers, his soldiers, "the small people" he became strong with, Dan_11:23, whereby he gained their affections and attached them to his interest; and in this his liberality and munificence he is said to abound above all the kings that were before him, in the Apocrypha: John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Makes war against Ptolemy of Egypt who is betrayed and killed and his army defeated.

Daniel 11:25 NIV "With a large army he will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South. The king of the South will wage war with a large and very powerful army, but he will not be able to stand because of the plots devised against him.

First Egyptian War, 169. Antiochus's dreams of adding Egypt to his kingdom were finally acted on in 169. His invasion was prompted by Egypt's growing animosity and may even have been in response to Egypt's military action, since the first encounter (November 170) was between Pelusium and Gaza. Nonetheless, Antiochus succeeded in capturing the city of Memphis and securing the surrender of Ptolemy VI. IVPBBC

Daniel 11:26 NIV Those who eat from the king's provisions will try to destroy him; his army will be swept away, and many will fall in battle.

Ptolemy VI Philometor (181-146). Ptolemy VI was young when he came to the throne and was aided by two officials, Eulaeus and Lenaeus, who stirred up antagonism against Syria. The humiliation of Ptolemy in the First Egyptian War is thought to have been the result of bad advice given by his two advisors with the intention of undermining him. IVPBBC

Daniel 11:27 NIV The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail because an end will still come at the appointed time.

Unsuccessful siege of Alexandria. After his successful siege of Memphis, the citizens of Alexandria defied him by making Ptolemy's younger brother king. Antiochus took immediate steps to break their revolt but was unable to take the city. As soon as he had returned to Syria, Ptolemy VI disavowed any loyalty to Antiochus and his coregency with his brother was reinstated. IVPBBC

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Now war arose in heaven. Focusing on Revelation 12:7-9 as we migrate through Revelation.

If you are a follower of my posts then you know I move rather slowly. Revelation chapter 12 opens with: “a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

“a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

Having spent more than a few minutes looking into this, I believe we can say with confidence that this is Israel. Finally, after all, those years, Jesus is born. Look at this description:

“She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,” Revelation 12:5 ESV

This was Paul's message of hope, that the Messiah, the one who is to rule all the nations, has come.

Did they listen? Some did and because of that, we have the letters to the Ephesians, Galatians, Corinthians, and the letters to Timothy and the church at Thessalonica. The gospel message spread all over the world.

I suppose in God's scheme of things 33 years is just a blink. The verse gives the impression that child being caught to God and to his throne happened almost instantly. Did you ever think about the impact this “child” made in the world in three short years? John said this of Jesus:

“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38 ESV)

Wait a minute. How is he supposed to rule the nations if he got caught up to God? It would appear that the implications are that he is: alive; sitting on his throne; and, if I extrapolate, coming again to finish the job he started. That is really not a bad assumption considering we know from scripture that this is the game plan.

“Caught up”, that seems so subtle and gentle. I suppose that at that point it was, but the road to get there was brutal. Beaten by order of the Jewish high priest and then handed over to the Romans to have the flesh flailed off his body. Made then to carry his own cross beam and then get nailed to that same cross. None of this was subtle, nor pretty. Dead this Jesus was placed in a tomb and the tomb was sealed, only to find it open on the third day. When they saw him again he walked among them and ate with them. Shortly after presenting himself to them alive again, he was “caught up.”

The woman, Israel, then flees into the wilderness for 1,260 days.

“and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.” (Revelation 12:6 ESV)

So, let me get this straight. Immediately after the birth of Jesus, he gets caught up to heaven (that means he died and rose again) and Israel flees into the wilderness to hide in a protected condition for three and one-half years. I can tell you from reading about the birth of Jesus that few noticed and fewer cared. While it is clear that we are talking about Israel and the birth of the Messiah, this is not a tightly knit chronology. I know this because Israel does not flee until the abomination gets set up in the temple and the false prophet arises, and from the time of Christ's death until his promised return for those who belong to him has now been over 2000 years. This coincides with Daniel's seventieth week.

Daniel 9:24 ESV "Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place."

Unfortunately, we only made it to the sixty-ninth week and then everything seems to have been put on hold.

I suppose you caught the time frame, 1,260 days. Yes, that equals three and one-half years, and there are only a couple of places you find reference to the time frames, both of them have to do with the last days, which, if we are not in them now, we are unreasonably close.
It is said that this place Israel flees to is Petra. What makes sense about that is that the earth swallows up a flood and I think I could picture that, but it is a narrow canyon and having watched enough cowboy westerns, you always get trapped by the bad guys there. Does it really matter what I think? No, because God's plan will not be thwarted and a remnant of Israel will be saved.

Moving on. Again, if this is supposed to be a chronology, we have just jumped backward in time once again, all the way to what may have been near the beginnings of the earth. I say that because scripture tells us that the devil walked in the garden in a perfect state. I talked about this in some detail in my earlier post, so I won't carry on about it here, but I think it is important that you see it because I cannot remember anyone ever teaching about Satan including this.

"Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: "You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you." (Ezekiel 28:12-15 ESV)

Now war arose in heaven

If Satan, under the name of Lucifer, was in the garden and he was blameless something clearly happened between then and the deception of Eve by the serpent, in the garden.

The War in Heaven by Gustave Dore

Revelation 12:7-9 ESV "Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, (8) but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. (9) And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world--he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."

Earlier we read:

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. (Revelation 12:4 ESV)

Perhaps this is merely another way to describe an incident; regardless, the result is the same. I need to discuss something here. We make a common mistake when we assume that this is indicative of some complete and utter destruction of Satan. If not that, then this is the total banishment of Satan from heaven. If that were the case, then how is it that we can see this happening in Job.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.” (Job 1:6 ESV)

Perhaps it is best to think of Satan being thrown to earth as him losing his place in heaven. Don't get me wrong, a final, destructive end will come for Satan, but not yet.
Verse 8 seems to give us some clarity as to the condition of Satan.

"but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. (Revelation 12:8 ESV)

Having been thrown out of heaven merely seems to mean he lost his place, position, or title.

You might think it was a reason to shout.

Revelation 12:10 ESV "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God."

Because we just read that Satan was thrown to earth, stripping him of his place in heaven, you might think that his moment of punishment had come and it was time to shout for joy, but that was not the case.

We really have to get past the assumptions we make and pay attention to the context. I told you that this was a cryptic history lesson, but it is certainly not chronological. If you have taken history in college you learn several things: One, history tends to be told from the perspective of the winner of the battle in most cases. And, two, it oft-times makes more sense studying say, the American Civil War if you know what led up to that war. But you could, for example, be specifically interested in one particular battle, like the last major action of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House which occurred on May 19, 1864, at the Harris Farm. The point being that we can look intentionally at moments in time independent of the overall picture.

The context of the Revelation is not meant to give you a history lesson, but to show you an unfolding of God's mystery, the culmination of all things; a gathering of those who are his; a punishment of those who continue to reject and fight against him, and the termination of Satan. Because of all that verse, 10 would be the victory shout heard as that page in history comes to a momentary close.

What would it mean to these voices in heaven to say, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God” if that was not the case? And, though we see him thrown down in verses 8 and 9, it is not his end. And, as I pointed out in the passage from Job, he was back before God a short time later, among other angels, accusing Job.

(Satan now spends all his time accusing the saints. Is what Satan says about me a lie, no, because I do those things and so do you, but the fact that Christ covered us with his blood and since we accepted that salvation it makes me his – I am in him. We call this being covered by the blood. God, from that point forward, sees me as justified, as though I had hung on that cross.)

As an evidence for where we are in the biblical time frame, I want to look at Revelation 12:11.

Revelation 12:11 ESV "And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."

But I have to ask myself if I understand this verse to be speaking of the martyred saints throughout the time of wrath or is it speaking of saints throughout all time?
Because the context of Revelation primarily has to do with the time of wrath, then I can find out that verse 11 is speaking about a time that is still in the future (though not too distant future.)

Let's camp out here for a moment.

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

Our militaristic mentality tells us that you have not conquered much if you are dead. Is that a true assessment? I do not think so for several reasons:

1. Wars have been fought and sides have won, and yet scores of good men have died. Does the fact that people have died make them a loser? Not in the mind of the winners.
2. The militaristic mentality is not truth. Truth is, things hurt, and admitting that is not necessarily a bad thing.
3. Thirdly, God does not see death as a failure.

This group of people we find in heaven, rejoicing because justice is finally being served against Satan, are those who were martyred during this time of wrath. They are painfully aware that Satan had a role in their deaths.

Revelation 7:13-14 NASB (13) "Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" (14) I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

How did they conquer?

“by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” This is really a two-part equation, not that they necessarily did both. The blood of the Lamb is understood to be Jesus blood; often, this is seen as that which was spilled on the cross. Obviously, there is more to the blood than merely spilling it, and the trail of blood may have begun when the chief priest ordered Jesus struck in the face.

The point I want to make here is that the way I see ISIS flooding into a town, blowing up the church, and taking the survivors captive, in many cases probably point several guns at you while shouting, give praise to Allah. It could be that simple. In that moment of time you merely, through tears, say no. The result is that they kill you. Let's take this one step further. Suppose they round you up, demand that you give praise to Allah (we will ignore all the tortuous things they do to you for now), and perhaps you say little, but you do not bow to Allah. What if in your rejection of Allah you are assenting to God and his ways? It's just a question; but, what if you are not given time to speak, as Paul and Stephen did? Then the word of your testimony would have to be an ongoing aspect of your life.

I, for example, am not an outgoing evangelist, and could never compete with Pastor Greg Laurie and his big stadium crusades. But, I do publish my thoughts and messages on the internet, where they are read around the world. You might also find me talking about these same things at the place where we get our coffee, and I am not very quiet about my God.

There is, of course, a problem with all this. The government here in America monitors everything we do on the internet, and so I can guarantee you that I am a marked man. How do I respond to that? By continuing to try to open people's eyes to the truth found in the Bible.

Here is the truth: God is love, this is His nature and character. I know many can't believe that, using the argument about God ordering Israel to kill everything on many occasions.

Knowing who he really is, aside from tradition, requires a personal relationship, and that is entirely up to you. It begins with you asking Jesus into your life to make a permanent home. He then will quietly clean the place up.