Daniel 11

two empires, a king and the kingdom

(Daniel 11)

Jason Procopio

Last week Arnaud preached on what is basically the introduction to the final two chapters of the book of Daniel, in Daniel 10. Daniel receives a visit from an angel who has come to announce a prophecy of what will come; he is waylaid for a while because of other spiritual forces at work, but finally arrives to communicate this final vision.

He then proceeds to detail out this vision, which is what we see in chapters 11 and 12.

So I’m giving you fair warning. This is not going to be a typical sermon, because it is not a typical prophecy. We’ve already seen one like this, in chapter 8, which prophecies events we can now confirm actually took place later in history. We see the same thing here, but with much more detail and covering a longer period. 

Now one little piece of advice before we begin. We’re going to see an absolute flood of information today. That’s the way the text presents itself to us, and there’s no other way to go about it (besides doing an entire series on these last two chapters). 

So here’s what I recommend. If you’re a note-taker: first off, good for you. But I would recommend that you not try to take detailed notes of all of this. I can almost guarantee you won’t be able to. If you want to go back over this later, and hit pause, you can do that. 

But for now, rather than trying to note everything down, just listen, and take it in. Because if you do that, my guess is that your reaction will be simple amazement at the accuracy of the prophecy, and the greatness and power of God, who can predict what will happen in history because he is sovereign over what happens in history.

So grab your coffee, or your green tea, or whatever will help you concentrate, and let’s go.

A Tale of Two Empires (v. 1-35)

Daniel is recounting this tale, which happened to him in the third year of the reign of King Darius, or Cyrus. For several chapters now he’s been following a similar pattern, speaking of a vision he received and then telling us what happens in the visions. And there are four kingdoms in particular which keep coming back in these visions. There’s Babylon, who brought Daniel and the Jews into exile in Babylon. There’s Medo-Persia, who conquered Babylon and took control (that’s who’s in charge when Daniel has this vision in chapter 11). There’s Greece, who will come after that; and then Rome, who will come after that. 

This prophecy in chapter 11 is going to mainly deal with two of the four kingdoms which will come out of the Greek empire—Syria in the north, and Egypt in the south. 

I thought a lot about the easiest way to do this, but unless I want this sermon to be two hours long, I’ve got to consolidate. So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go through the beginning of the prophecy, verse by verse. We’re going to look at the biblical text; and then immediately afterwards, we’re going to see how that verse was accomplished in history.

And keep in mind—this prophecy was given to Daniel in 536 B.C., and with the exception of one verse, everything described in the first 35 verses of this prophecy is confirmed by historical records outside of the Bible. It sounds tedious, but I think it’s pretty awesome.

So let’s get started—v. 1-2:

“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. 

Darius released the Jews to go back and rebuild Jerusalem, and after Darius, there were three other kings in Persia, followed by a fourth king, Xerxes I, who invaded Greece but was defeated in 480 B.C, which set the stage for the larger Greek invasion to come.

V. 3: 

3 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. 

This would be Alexander the Great. In 336 B.C., Alexander charged in with his legions of Greek soldiers and conquered all of that part of the world. 

V. 4: 

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. 

Alexander died young, and after his death, the Greek Empire divided into four smaller and less powerful kingdoms, led by four kings: Cassander, who ruled over Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, who ruled over Thrace and parts of Asia Minor; Ptolemy, who ruled over Egypt and Israel; and Seleucus, who ruled over Syria and Mesopotamia.

In the prophecy of chapter 11, two of these four dynasties are important: the Ptolemies in Egypt (to the South), and the Seleucids in Syria (to the North).

V. 5: 

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. 

“The king of the south” is now Ptolemy I Soter; and “one of his princes” is Seleucus I Nicator, who abandons him and returns to the north, where he gains even more power than Ptolemy.

(One really important thing to keep in mind here—the angel’s going to constantly refer to “the king of the south” and “the king of the north.” When you put this text next to the historical record of what actually happened, it becomes clear that the kings of the south and the north represent all the kings of the north and all the kings of the south, successively, as we advance in history: they refer to whatever kings were on the throne at that particular moment.)

War continues under Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who (according to tradition) commissioned the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek (the Septuagint—LXX).

Then, v. 6: 

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. 

Around 250 B.C. Ptolemy II and Antiochus II Theos of the Seleucids establish a peace treaty. Ptolemy arranges to have his daughter, Berenice, to marry Antiochus. But Antiochus is already married to a woman named Laodice. She took revenge and managed to kill Antiochus, Berenice, and their child.

V. 7: 

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. 

Berenice’s brother, Ptolemy III Euergetes, ascended to the throne of Egypt and in retaliation for the murder of his sister, attacked Syria, “the king of the north”.

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. 

This war lasted for five years, from 246 to 241 BC. During this time Ptolemy captures and loots the Seleucid capital of Antioch. He seizes Syria’s gods and other valuables, and returns to Egypt with great treasure.

V. 9:

9 Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land. 

This is the one verse for which we don’t have historical confirmation; but apparently the Syrian king Seleucus II apparently attempted to invade Egypt but failed. He died in 226 B.C.

V. 10: 

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. 

His sons Seleucus III Ceraunus and Antiochus III continue the conflicts with the Ptolemies. Seleucus III is murdered after a brief reign, and then Antiochus III comes to power. Antiochus III wins a series of great military victories—he fought and won victories in Phoenicia and Palestine, which was part of the Ptolemaic empire—as far as the king of the south’s fortress.

V. 11-12: 

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. 

In response, Ptolemy IV Philopater, infuriated with his losses, attacks and wins his own huge victory over Antiochus in 217 B.C. It was well-known that his victories made him arrogant, gave him the impression of being invincible. 

Antiochus III attacked Ptolemaic territories again, with an even bigger army. Ptolemy IV dies in 203 B.C. and his very young son Ptolemy V Epiphanes (who would have been four or five years old) ascends to the throne over Egypt.

V. 14: 

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. 

During this time, others try their hand at defeating Egypt as well. There was Philip V of Macedon with his revolutionaries; there were Jews who aligned themselves with Antiochus, but who were ultimately defeated by the Egyptian general Scopas.

V. 15-16: 

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. 

So finally, the armies of Antiochus III march against Egypt in 199 B.C. and win a massive victory. Antiochus acquired complete control of Phoenicia and Palestine—he could now “do whatever he wanted” in Israel, “the glorious land”.

V. 17:

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. 

The Syrians in the north forced terms of peace on the Egyptian king Ptolemy V; he gave him his daughter Cleopatra (not that one) as a wife, in order to get a foot in the door to destroy him. But she ended up loving her husband more than her father, and so supported Egypt’s cause rather than Syria’s.

V. 18-19:

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. 

After this, Antiochus turned his attention to the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, and it got a little too close to Rome for comfort. The Romans send Lucius Cornelius Scipio against him, and in 191 B.C. they, along with their Greek allies, force Antiochus to withdraw his troops from Greece. They pursues him into Asia and defeated his army in 190 B.C.

Antiochus returned to his country, and was killed by an angry mob in 187 B.C. 

V. 20: 

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. 

Antiochus’s son Seleucus IV Philopator came to the throne, and sent a tax collector named Heliodorus into the country to collect taxes, in order to pay the tax demanded by Rome as part of the settlement for Syria’s surrender.

Seleucus reigns for a short while before being killed—not by an angry mob like his father, or in battle. Heliodorus, his tax collector and prime minister, poisoned him.

And after his death we see the rise of someone we’ve already met, who is the subject of the next 25 verses (and much of chapter 8): a terrible leader named Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

V. 21-24: 

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. 

Antiochus IV actually cheated his way to the throne—Seleucus IV’s son, Demetrius I Soter, was the rightful heir, but was emprisoned in Rome; so Antiochus paid important people in the kingdom to support him, and he took the throne. 

V. 25-27:

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. 

Ptolemy IV Philometer, on advice from his most trusted counselors, attacked Antiochus but was defeated, and taken back to Syria as a hostage. He made a covenant with Antiochus to regain his throne in Egypt from his brother, Ptolemy VIII, but later joined with his brother to force Antiochus out of Pelusium, one of Egypts fortified cities. In reality neither king intended to keep the covenant, but simply use it to get a foothold of power. 

V. 28: 

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. 

Upon Antiochus’s return to Judea, he found a Jewish insurrection in progress (the first Jewish revolt), and focused his wrath on the Jews—his heart is set against the holy covenant. He put down the rebellion, massacring 80,000 men, women and children then looted the temple (we see all of this described in 2 Maccabees, chapter 5).

V. 29: 

29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. 

After some time to heal, Antiochus launched another campaign against Egypt, but this time the cards are stacked more strongly against him.

V. 30-31:

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. 

He launched another campaign against Egypt, but this time met with opposition from Cyprus (“Kittim”), a Roman fleet which had come to Alexandria at the request of the Ptolemies. Antiochus bowed out rather than try to fight Rome. He leaves, humiliated; and eventually his humiliation turns to anger, which he directs against the Jewish people yet again.

He attacked the Jews on the Sabbath, killed many and plundered the city, but rewarded those Jews who “forsook the covenant” and sided with him in an attempt to save themselves. Jewish practices (circumcision, possessing the Scriptures, sacrifices, feasts—basically the very things that made up their religion) were forbidden on penalty of death.

On December 15, 167 B.C., Antiochus set up a statue of Zeus in the temple of Jerusalem.

On December 25, he ordered pigs (ritually unclean according to the law of Moses) to be offered on the altar.

The “abomination of desolation” prophecied by the angel to Daniel became a reality.

V. 32: 

32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 

Some Jews sided with him in order to save their lives, but others remained faithful. 

Remember the priest Mattathias and his five sons, whom we saw back in chapter 8? Three of those sons led the Maccabean Revolt, and overthrew Syria in a series ofincredible military victories against Antiochus’s commanders. 

V. 33-35: 

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. 

Because of their stand, many Jews who remained faithful to Yahweh were killed. Others were left and able to instruct others in their faith, which was being killed. Others were taken prisoner for slaves, or having their property confiscated.

This went on “until the appointed time,” when Antiochus IV died of natural causes in 164 B.C.

This prophecy came to Daniel in 536 B.C. The events prophecied came to an end in 164 B.C.—nearly 400 years later. 

Everything that the angel predicts to Daniel in v. 1-35 came to pass as he predicted.

A King (or Kings) to Come (v. 36-45)

Now there is some debate about this, but most agree that in the prophecy the angel gives to Daniel at this point, there is a gap between v. 35 and v. 36. After laying out in extraordinary detail things which will happen in the four hundred years or so after Daniel, he uses the same images and symbols to speak of a king (or kings) which would come much further in the future—running from just after the time of Christ all the way until his return.

In short, the “king of the north” (Antiochus IV Epiphanes) stands in as a “type”, or a prefiguring of either one final Antichrist figure, or of rulers like him, who will repeatedly act as he acted. I’m honestly on the fence about if he’s speaking of one specific ruler who will oppose Christ—who is anti-Christ—or rulers like Antiochus, though I tend to lean toward the latter. But just to make things easier today, let’s assume for the moment that he’s speaking of one specific ruler.

What characterizes this king to come?

First of all, he will seek to deify himself—he will refuse to give glory to God and seek glory for himself, and honor unnamed false gods to gain his power.

V. 36-39:

36 “And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done. 37 He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. 

This ruler, identified again as “the king of the north”, will win mighty victories. V. 40:  

40 “At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through.

He will invade Israel, and seek to put the Jews to death. V. 41:  

41 He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites.

(Now this is one reason I have a hard time accepting that he must be speaking about only one specific ruler: what we see described here happened in A.D. 70, when Titus attacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Similar attempts against the Jews have been made since then, as we well know, and Hitler was a leader who greatly resembled “the king of the north” described here. But we’ll keep going as we were.)

He will extend his power and be on the brink of total victory (it would seem). V. 42-43: 

42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. 

He will become terrified when he realizes his victory is not sure, and he’ll make one last attempt to resist. V. 44:  

44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. 

But despite his best efforts, he will not be able to stand against God. He will meet a swift and definitive end at the hand of God. V. 45:  

45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him. 

Lessons From This Text

I know this was a lot of information, and it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. But it’s really important that even in the face of so much detail, we don’t miss the main things this text shows us about God, and about man.

Let’s very quickly look at three  lessons God teaches us from this text.

Firstly (and this should come as no surprise if you’ve been with us since the beginning of this book): God is sovereign over history.

Like I said, we don’t know precisely about whom this final bit refers (Antichrist or Antichrist-like figures). 

But in the end, it doesn’t really matter. The point of the end of this prophecy is that no matter how great their armies or how fierce their efforts, no human king, no demonic king, not even Satan himself, can ultimately stand against God almighty. God is sovereign over history—as he predicted the events which stand in our past, he predicts the events which stand in our future, and he will achieve the victory he claims for himself. He can predict history because he is sovereign over history, and has the power to bring about what he predicts;

Secondly: Man is utterly broken by sin.

What we see laid out in wave after wave of southern kings and northern kings fighting against one another is a lust for power at any cost in the heart of broken, weak and sinful men. 

This is the story of human history since Genesis 3—and this should startle us into wakefulness. The sin we see on display in these kings fighting for power in Daniel 11 is the same sin which is in each and every one of us. We just don’t have the resources they had to let that sin loose. But the devastation these kings caused on a large scale, we can easily see in our lives on a smaller scale.

Who hasn’t been broken and wounded by someone else’s sin? Who among us hasn’t hurt others through our own sin? 

One look around the world at any point in history—from the persecution of the Jews at the hands of Antiochus IV, to the Roman persecution of Christians in the Colosseum, to the Holocaust, to the genocide in Rwanda, to George Floyd—we have everything we need to confirm that our hearts are absolutely broken by sin, and in need of a Savior.

Which brings us to our third lesson: the Kingdom of Christ is THE Kingdom.

In the face of all these warring kingdoms, we have to see the incredible contrast between these kingdoms, and the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We saw his kingdom foretold in Daniel 7 and Daniel 9. We saw it begin with the ministry of Christ, during which he lived a perfect life. We saw it inaugurated when he died to take the punishment for our sins, in our place. We saw Christ confirmed as King at his resurrection. We saw him take the throne at his ascension. And we have seen his kingdom go forth ever since in the message of the gospel, proclaimed and celebrated and lived by the church.

His kingdom, unlike every imperfect kingdom to come before, is an everlasting kingdom, which will not pass away; it is a kingdom in which perfect justice will reign; where sin will be destroyed once and for all; and where his people will stand in his presence, and see and celebrate and love his glory—the only true and pure and perfect glory—forever.

So if you’ve listened to this prophecy and you’ve begun to feel heavier and heavier as we went along, that is the right reaction. That is how we should feel. That is one of the incredible benefits of difficult texts like this—it hammers into our hearts the heaviness and the gravity of the sin which is in all of us.

But at the same time, it’s important to keep in mind the greater scope of the book. We have all these kingdoms at war and committing terrible acts—but over and against them, we have the kingdom of Christ, which comes to take our sin away, to take our guilt away, to take our punishment away, and to bring us into this kingdom in which justice and righteousness andgoodness and beauty and glory are the only things left. 

So if you are desparing of your own sin, know that Christ came to take it. Pray one of the prayers that we’ll put up on the screen in a moment, place your faith in Christ, and trust that he came to remove the guilt and the power of the sins of his people.

And for those of you have already done that: if you ever come to despair of the state of the world; if you ever feel desperate at the fact that things always seem to get worse rather than better; look at God’s sovereignty in the past, trust in his sovereignty in the future, and know that Christ’s eternal kingdom will right every wrong.