The Story of Daniel

Chapter 11

The overthrow of Persia by the king of Grecia, 1-4. Leagues and conflicts between the kings of the south and of the north, 5-29. The invasion and tyranny of the Romans, 30-45.

1 "Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. 2 And now I will show you the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia. And a fourth shall be far richer than all of them, and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. 3 And a mighty king shall stand up, who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will. 4 And when he stands up, his kingdom shall be broken and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.

5 "And the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes, he shall be strong above him and have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. 6 And in the end of years they shall join themselves together, for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the power of the arm, neither shall he nor his arm stand, but she shall be given up, along with those who brought her, he who begot her, and he who strengthened her in these times. 7 But out of a branch of her roots one shall stand up in his estate, who shall come with an army, enter into the fortress of the king of the north, deal against them, and prevail. 8 And he shall also carry captive into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold, and he shall continue more years than the king of the north. 9 And the king of the south shall come into his kingdom and shall return into his own land.

10 "But his sons shall be stirred up and shall assemble a multitude of great forces. And one shall certainly come, overflow, and pass through. Then he shall return and be stirred up, even to his fortress. 11 And the king of the south shall be moved with wrath and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north. And he shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand. 12 And when he has taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it. 13 For the king of the north shall return and set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after some years with a great army and with much riches.

14 "And in those times many shall stand up against the king of the south. The robbers of your people shall also exalt themselves to establish the vision, but they shall fall. 15 And the king of the north shall come, cast up a siege-mound, and take the most fortified cities. And the arms of the south shall not withstand, nor his chosen people, nor shall there be any strength to withstand. 16 But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and no one shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. 17 He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him. He shall do so. And he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her, but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. 18 After this he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall take many, but a prince shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease, and without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him. 19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found.

20 "Then a raiser of taxes shall stand up in his estate in the glory of the kingdom, but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. 21 And in his estate a vile person shall stand up, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 And with the arms of a flood they shall be overflowed from before him and shall be broken, as well as the prince of the covenant. 23 And after the league is made with him he shall work deceitfully, for he shall come up and shall become strong with a small people. 24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province, and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers. He shall scatter among them the plunder, loot, and riches, and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, even for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for they shall devise plans against him. 26 And those who feed of the portion of his provisions shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow. And many shall fall down slain. 27 And both these kings' hearts shall be set to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table, but it shall not prosper, for yet the end shall be at the time appointed. 28 Then he shall return into his land with great riches, and his heart shall be against the holy covenant. And he shall take action and return to his own land.

29 "At the time appointed he shall return and come toward the south, but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter. 30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him; therefore, he shall be grieved, return, and have indignation against the holy covenant. He shall do so. And he shall even return and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate. 32 And those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt by flatteries, but the people who know their God shall be strong and take action. 33 And those who understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword, by flame, by captivity, and by plunder for many days. 34 Now when they fall, they shall be assisted with a little help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, in order to try them, to purge them, and to make them white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed.

36 "And the king shall do according to his will. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods. He shall prosper until the indignation is accomplished, for that which is determined shall be done. 37 He shall not regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 But in his estate he shall honor the God of forces. And a god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold, silver, precious stones, and pleasant things. 39 He shall do so in the strongest fortresses with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory. And he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

40 "And at the time of the end the king of the south shall war against him. And the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over. 41 He shall also enter into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42 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. The Libyans and the Cushites shall be at his steps. 44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; therefore, he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and to utterly sweep many away. 45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, and no one shall help him."

Commentary

Matthew Henry Commentary - Daniel, Chapter 11[➚]

Notes

John Gill's Chapter Summary:

In this chapter the angel makes good his promise to Daniel that he would show him what was written in the Scripture of truth concerning the monarchies of the earth and what would befall his people the Jews in the latter days, and after he had observed that he had strengthened and confirmed Darius the Mede, who was the first king of the then present flourishing monarchy (Daniel 11:1); he foretells the number of the kings of Persia, and particularly describes the fourth (Daniel 11:2); predicts the rise of the Grecian monarchy under Alexander the great and the disposition of it after his death (Daniel 11:3,4); and then proceeds to give an account of the two principal kingdoms of that monarchy, into which it was divided, the Seleucidae and Lagidae, and of their kings, the king of Egypt, and the king of Syria, under the names of the king of the south and the king of the north, and of their power and agreement (Daniel 11:5-6); and then of their various wars between themselves and others, and the success of them (Daniel 11:7-20); and particularly of Antiochus, his character and manner of coming to the kingdom, and of his wars with the king of Egypt, and the issue of them (Daniel 11:21-29); and of his persecution of the Jews, and the distress he should bring on them, and the use it should be of to the godly among them (Daniel 11:30-35); and then his antitype, antichrist, is described: the western antichrist, his character and actions (Daniel 11:36-39); then the eastern, his power, wealth and riches, hail and rain (Daniel 11:40-45).

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