Key: Dan.4:17, 25; Ps. 22:28

The Conflicts between the Kings of the South and of the North, the Ptolemies and Seleucidæ—Antiochus Epiphanes. Dan. 11:5- 45.

“The tangled web of earthly politics is full of intrigues, ambition, selfishness, violence, and treachery (vv. 15–29). History tells of many instances of kings whose hearts were set on doing mischief to one another… speaking lies at one table. But lies are not sure in the end. (v. 2). Yet God all the while overrules the schemes… of those men who “exalt themselves, to establish His own purpose. (v. 14). The conflicts and plots between the kings of Syria in the north and the kings of Egypt in the south are singled out for special description, because holy Scripture handles secular history so far as it bears upon the interests of Israel, and His Church.” Fausset A. R.

1. Dan. 11:9-14. The king of the south shall come into his kingdom—Egypt: not only with impunity, but with great spoil. “Seleucus Callinicus, that king of the north that was overcome (v. 7) and died miserably, left two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus, that shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, to recover what their father had lost, v. 10. But Seleucus the elder, being weak… was poisoned by his friends, and reigned only two years; and his brother Antiochus succeeded him, who reigned thirty-seven years. The angel went on with the account of one only, who was but fifteen years old when he began to reign, and he shall certainly come, and overflow, and over-run, and shall be restored at length to what his father lost. Is. 8:7, Jer. 46:7-8. The king of the south, in this war, shall at first have very great success. Ptolemaeus Philopater, moved with indignation at the indignities done by Antiochus the Great, shall come forth, and fight with him, and shall bring a vast army into the field of 70,000 foot, and 5000 horse, and seventy-three elephants. And the other multitude (the army of Antiochus, consisting of 62,000 foot, and 6000 horse, and 102 elephants) shall be given into his hand. Ptolemaeus Philopater, having gained this victory, grew very insolent; his heart was lifted up 2Chr. 25:19; 26:16, Eze. 28:2, 5; then he went into the temple of God at Jerusalem, and, in defiance of the law, entered the most holy place, for which God has a controversy with him, so that, though he shall cast down many myriads, yet he shall not be strengthened by it, so as to secure his interest. The king of the north, Antiochus the Great, shall return with a greater army than the former; and, at the end of times (that is, 14 years) he shall come with a mighty army, and great riches, against the king of the south, that is, Ptolemaeus Epiphanes, who succeeded Ptolemaeus Philopater his father a mere child” M. Henry “And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south—Philip king of Macedon, and rebels in Egypt itself, combined with Antiochus against Ptolemy. also the robbers of thy people…—i. e., factious men of the Jews shall exalt themselves, so as to revolt from Ptolemy, and join themselves to Antiochus: the Jews helped with provisions Antiochus’s army, when on his return from Egypt he besieged the Egyptian garrison left in Jerusalem” Fausset A. R.