The Kings of the North and South
April 2, 2019
Commentary
Last time, we read about rise of Alexander the Great. His early death resulted in his Kingdom being divided among four of his generals. Today’s passage is a continuation of that conflict we saw last time between the king of the North (Seleucus) and his descendants in Syria and the king of the south (Ptolemy) and his descendants in Egypt. These two kingdoms would fight each other for 130 years with the Jewish people caught in the middle.
Daniel chapter 11 is the most detailed chapter on prophecy in all the Bible. These prophecies are so accurate that liberal and unbelieving scholars say it must have been written down after it happened. No man, they say, could have possibly made 135 accurate predictions like we see in Daniel 11. Of course, we take this as proof that God wrote it.
Why does Daniel focus on Persia and Greece so much? It’s because these empires tried to wipe out the Jewish people. Persia did it through the plot of Haman (read about it in the book of Esther). Then Antiochus IV tried to deny and reject everything that made them Jewish while trying to convert them to Greek culture. Both attempts failed.
Application
You might know a lot about the past, but God knows more about the future then you know about the past. God has a plan and a purpose for Egypt and Syria. He has a plan for all humanity including you and me. We might feel small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but you have a place in God’s plan. That’s a comforting truth.
Daniel 11:10– 19 (NET)
10 His sons will wage war, mustering a large army that will advance like an overflowing river and carrying the battle all the way to the enemy’s fortress.
11 “Then the king of the south will be enraged and will march out to fight against the king of the north, who will also muster a large army, but that army will be delivered into his hand. 12 When the army is taken away, the king of the south will become arrogant. He will be responsible for the death of thousands and thousands of people, but he will not continue to prevail. 13 For the king of the north will again muster an army, one larger than before. At the end of some years he will advance with a huge army and enormous supplies.
14 “In those times many will oppose the king of the south. Those who are violent among your own people will rise up in confirmation of the vision, but they will falter. 15 Then the king of the north will advance and will build siege mounds and capture a well-fortified city. The forces of the south will not prevail, not even his finest contingents. They will have no strength to prevail. 16 The one advancing against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand before him. He will prevail in the beautiful land, and its annihilation will be within his power. 17 His intention will be to come with the strength of his entire kingdom, and he will form alliances. He will give the king of the south a daughter in marriage in order to destroy the kingdom, but it will not turn out to his advantage. 18 Then he will turn his attention to the coastal regions and will capture many of them. But a commander will bring his shameful conduct to a halt; in addition, he will make him pay for his shameful conduct. 19 He will then turn his attention to the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall, not to be found again.
Illustration: Sweeting – 1/4 of The Bible is Predictive Prophecy (Daniel 11:10)
Dr. George Sweeting once estimated that “more than a fourth of the Bible is predictive prophecy. Both the Old and New Testaments are full of promises about the return of Jesus Christ. Over 1800 references appear in the O.T., and seventeen O.T. books give prominence to this theme. Of the 260 chapters in the N.T., there are more than 300 references to the Lord’s return–one out of every 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 N.T. books refer to this great event…For every prophecy on the first coming of Christ, there are 8 on Christ’s second coming.” (SOURCE: Today in the Word, MBI, December, 1989, p. 40).