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.
“From the preceding verses in this chapter let us learn, 1. That God, in his providence, sets up one and pulls down another, as he pleases. 2. That this world is full of wars and fightings, which result from the indulgence of the lusts of men. 3. That all the changes and revolutions of states were plainly and perfectly foreseen by the God of heaven. 4. That no word of God can fall to the ground, but what he has declared shall infallibly come to pass. For the elucidation of the historical parts of Scripture, it is advantageous to notice the writings of heathen authors: light is thus thrown on many passages of Holy Writ, by shewing the accomplishment of the prophecies therein contained, or customs elucidated, which, in the course of years, or in our more northern latitude, would be to us inexplicable. We have therefore reason to bless God for human learning, by which many have done great service to the readers of His blessed word. Job 20:8. Ps. 27:2; 37:36. Je. 46:6. Eze. 26:21.” TSK
- “The king of the north, this same Antiochus Magnus, shall carry on his design against the king of the south another way. (1.) He shall surprise his strong-holds; all that he has got in Syria and Samaria, and the arms of the south, all the power of the king of Egypt, shall not be able to withstand him. See how dubious and variable the turns of the scale of war are; like buying and selling, it is winning and losing; sometimes one side gets the better and sometimes the other; yet neither by chance; it is not, as they call it, the fortune of war, but according to the will and counsel of God, who brings some low and raises others up. (2.) He shall make himself master of the land of Judea” M. Hencry
- Dan. 11:16-17 “The king of the North, Antiochus III, would make the beautiful land of Israel a possession of the Seleucid kingdom in 198 b.c. and force a peace agreement on the Ptolemies. Antiochus III would give his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy V as a wife, hoping to control the Ptolemaic kingdom through her, just as Saul 1Sam.18:20-29. This failed because Cleopatra helped her Ptolemaic husband and did not stand with… or support her father Antiochus III.
- 11:18-19 Antiochus III would then turn his attention to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea but would be defeated by the Roman commander Lucius Cornelius Scipio at Thermopylae (191 b.c.) and then Magnesia (190 b.c.). This would force Antiochus to focus on his own country where he would stumble, fall, and be no more, being killed by a mob defending the temple of Zeus in Elymais as Antiochus tried to pillage it.” HCSB
- 11:20 ‘Then shall stand up in his estate—in Antiochus’s stead: his successor, Seleucus Philopator, his son. a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom—i.e., inheriting it by hereditary right. Maurer translates, ‘one who shall cause the tax-gatherer –‘ Fausset A. R. “Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175 b.c.), who would send his tax collector, Heliodorus, to collect money with which to pay the heavy indemnity he owed to Rome. After his short reign, Seleucus IV was killed not in anger or in battle but by poison from his tax collector.” HCSB study Bible
- Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163 b.c.), the little horn in 8:9-12,23-25, he would have a horrible and oppressive effect on the Jewish people…
