God’s sovereignty is one of the most important theological truths to be grasped. Understanding and trusting in His sovereign control of the world makes all the difference in how we view and how we live our lives. Even if we can’t understand how it works completely; it is what the Bible teaches! When we began the book of Daniel, we stressed how God is working out His plan and is totally in charge of all nations and their rulers, as well as every molecule in the universe.
We see this in a big way in this episode, Stuck in the Middle. Chapter 11 of the book of Daniel is so unusually detailed, and the historical record lined up so incredibly with the prophecy, that some have tried to say that it couldn’t possibly have been written by Daniel about events still future to him. But rest assured, God is able to easily give detailed prophecy of far future events - He's God!!! Join us as we begin to unpack chapter 11 of Daniel and you'll see what we mean!
Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to check out everything Proverbs 9:10 on our website, www.proverbs910ministries.com! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Rumble, YouTube, Twitter, Truth Social, and Gettr!
God’s sovereignty is one of the most important theological truths to be grasped. Understanding and trusting in His sovereign control of the world makes all the difference in how we view and how we live our lives. Even if we can’t understand how it works completely; it is what the Bible teaches! When we began the book of Daniel, we stressed how God is working out His plan and is totally in charge of all nations and their rulers, as well as every molecule in the universe.
We see this in a big way in this episode, Stuck in the Middle. Chapter 11 of the book of Daniel is so unusually detailed, and the historical record lined up so incredibly with the prophecy, that some have tried to say that it couldn’t possibly have been written by Daniel about events still future to him. But rest assured, God is able to easily give detailed prophecy of far future events - He's God!!! Join us as we begin to unpack chapter 11 of Daniel and you'll see what we mean!
Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to check out everything Proverbs 9:10 on our website, www.proverbs910ministries.com! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Rumble, YouTube, Twitter, Truth Social, and Gettr!
Episode 111 - Stuck in the Middle
Welcome back! Chris, we say it all the time: God’s sovereignty is one of the most important theological truths to be grasped. Understanding and trusting in His sovereign control of the world makes all the difference in how we view and how we live our lives.
It’s important to grasp that truth because even if we can’t understand how it works completely; it is what the Bible teaches! When we began the book of Daniel, we stressed how God is working out His plan and is totally in charge of all nations and their rulers, as well as every molecule in the universe.
We are going to see that in a big way in today’s episode. We touched on this last week, but this vision of Daniel’s (especially here in chapter 11) is so unusually detailed, and the historical record lined up so incredibly with the prophecy, that some have tried to say that it couldn’t possibly have been written by Daniel about events still future to him.
They say no one could have prophesied these events in such detail; therefore, this has to be someone writing history, not prophecy. And because of that, it should be dated later (during the Maccabean period, they say), and therefore wasn’t written by Daniel.
In the Ancient Near East, there was a form of literary genre called “pseudo-prophecy” that was written not to predict historical events but was written after the events happened in order to interpret those historical events. The pseudo-prophetical writing was to effectually be like or as if it really was prophecy so that when read, it would seem as if the gods (little g) were able to determine the future. So, in a way, pseudo-prophecy is another type of false prophecy – something “counterfeit”. That’s all Satan and his minions can do …. Be counterfeits. But, Rose, as we know …. The One True God really CAN give extremely detailed prophecy! And that’s what He does with Daniel in these chapters. It only seems like pseudo-prophecy because of how it’s written. But it’s written that way by Daniel, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Although it was obscure, one of the places this pseudo-prophetic writing style was used was Babylon. So, Daniel would have been familiar with this type of writing. So, rest assured, this was written by Daniel, and was truly prophetic! So, let’s get started!
Chapter 11 is a continuation of the vision started in chapter 10. Most of the revelation seen in chapter 11 has to do with the time of Daniel through the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, one of the Greek rulers who would eventually be in control, after the Medo-Persian Empire has been conquered by Greece. If you’ll remember back to last week’s episode, Daniel gets this vision of chapters 10-12 in the third year of Medo-Persia’s rule. And part of that vision (that we ended with in chapter 10) was seeing the spiritual warfare going on behind the scenes of all that’s happening on earth.
Chapter 11 starts with the angel telling Daniel, “And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.” The angel had strengthened and confirmed the Medo-Persian ruler in their first year enabling them to come in and conquer the Babylonian Empire. That’s when King Cyrus of Persia told the Jewish exiles to go back and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. But, as we say often, Rose, there are no righteous nations. Cyrus didn’t do it because he worshipped Yahweh. It was Persian policy to let captured people go back to their lands if they wanted to and live by their religious customs.
And the reason the Persians wanted to release people to go back and worship their own gods was to quell rebellion and also because they were “covering all their bases” …. Believing the people worshiping their own gods (little g) in their homelands in effect would be “interceding” on Persia’s behalf with every god (little g) available. They were polytheists, and they thought of worshiping Yahweh in the same way as any other religion. But God was working through all of that to accomplish His plan. Ezra 1:1 tells us “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia” to have him do it.” this first verse of chapter 11 is the angel telling Daniel he had had a role in those events.
We have spent the last two episodes telling you to get the Tylenol out. This week, we want you to relax! Verses 2-45 of chapter 11 are detailed prophecy that we can look back at and see that it was fulfilled in history. These verses are in here to show the greatness and majesty and power of God by showing His absolute sovereignty over everything and to remind us of His providential care for His people. He does this by showing Daniel events future to him, but history to us. So sit back and take in the detail of this history lesson. And think about how awesome and powerful God is as we go through. let’s start.
The angel tells Daniel in verse two, “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.” Cambyses is the first of the three ruling from 529-523 B.C.. Next are Pseudo-Smerdis; also known as Gaumata (523-522 B.C.), and then Darius I (522-486 B.C.). The rich, fourth king is Xerxes (486/5-464 B.C.), the same Xerxes (or Ahasuerus) we read about in the book of Esther. King Xerxes led campaigns against Greece during his reign, during the years 482-479 B.C, building outposts, canals and boat bridges to try to reach the interior of Greece. But he failed miserably.
Daniel 11:3 says, “Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills.” This king was Alexander the Great, who lead the Greek empire from 336-323 B.C. Alexander quickly took over the Persian empire, and exceeded it’s territory in reign, moving as far into what is now known as Afghanistan. Daniel 11:4 says “as soon as 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.”
And it pretty much was “as soon as” he’d taken over that Alexander died. Before he attempts to conquer Arabia, he dies in 323 BC at the age of 32. Some say he died of malaria or other natural causes; some say he was poisoned. Regardless, as we said in episode 108, Alexander did not have a son at that time to become heir to the throne. His Iranian-born wife, Roxana, was pregnant but, she had miscarried one child before. She eventually does bear a son. Some say Alexander had an heir by his mistress. But there was no heir when he died, despite the rumors, and he never named a successor that could be proven.
Right. He had a mentally ill broth named Phillip who sat on the throne for a bit with the help of a general named Perdiccas. Roxana had her child, but because he wasn’t full-blooded Greek, people were less than thrilled to have him be on the throne. Eventually, they were both murdered by one of Alexander’s generals named Cassander. And after battling it out over who was going to control the Greek Empire, four rulers (none of whom are Alexander’s offspring) eventually end up with control of parts of this once-vast empire: Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus and Ptolemy. That’s how verse four was fulfilled.
Like we said in episode 108, two of those kingdoms get absorbed into the other two and the two that are left are the kingdom ruled by Ptolemy I the strong king described in verse 5 as “the king of the south.”He reigned over Egypt and neighboring regions. The other kingdom was ruled by “one of his [Ptomelmy’s] princes” further fulfilling verse 5. His name was Seleucid. is referred to as “the king of the north.” He reigned over present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and parts of Central Asia. After Alexander’s kingdom was split, he was put in charge of Babylon, but was deposed for a short time and fled to Ptolemy’s kingdom where he served under him for a time. Eventually he regained control of the north, and he ends up being stronger than Ptolemy.
Just to refresh your memory as to why this was important to God’s people, it was because the Promised Land was caught in the middle of these two kingdoms, so the conflicts between these two kingdoms were the most significant events in world history (from the perspective of the Jews who were living in the homeland) during the third and second centuries B.C.
Moving on to verses 6-8 of Daniel 11 which were fulfilled to the letter, verse 6 says, “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.” Chris, tell us how this was fulfilled.
Around 250 B.C., in order to make peace, and to form an alliance between the two kingdoms, Ptolemy II’s daughter, Bernice, “daughter of the king of the south” married into Seleuces’ realm by marrying Antiochus II. When Antiochus II’s first wife, Laodice, discovered that her own sons were to be disinherited, she has Antiochus II, Bernice, and their young son poisoned. That same year, Bernice’s father died in Egypt, and he was succeeded by her brother (Ptolemy III).
Verses 7-8 say, “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. 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.” And that’s what happened … Bernice’s brother, Ptolemy III, invaded the Seleucid kingdom of the North, and took over Antioch. Afterward, he returned to Egypt with a large amount of booty.
This is like a nighttime soap opera. Like Dallas on steroids! In 240 B.C., the north struck back at the south. Verse 9 says, “Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.” Seleucus II Callinicus, son of Laodice (the ex-wife who had Antiochus II, Bernice, and their young son murdered) has an unsuccessful campaign against the Southern kingdom.
Verse 10 describes what happened next, “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. The fulfillment of that was after Laodic’s son Seleucus II dies, his sons, Seleucus III (who was later poisoned) and Antiochus III fought the Ptolemies of the South, from 222-187 B.C..
That’s 35 years of war going on in and around your land! Like we said, God’s people and the Promised Land were affected by these wars. The northern king, Antiochus III, gained control of Canaan along with western Syria for a time. But in fulfillment of verse 11, Ptolemy IV Philopator “the king of the south,” was “moved with rage”, and came out to fight the “king of the north.” The “fortress” mentioned in verse 10 is probably the city of Raphia, (a town which is what’s now in the south part of the Gaza strip). This is where Ptolemy IV “cast down tens of thousands,” (v12) winning a major battle in 217 B.C.. Antiochus III to suffered the loss of over 14,000 men at the battle of Raphia.
The rest of verse 12 says, “but he shall not prevail.” Ptolemy may have “cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail.” according to verse 12. He used native Egyptians in his army at this battle, something that comes back to bite him later when these Egyptians (along with Jews tired of taxation) cause internal rebellions, weakening the Southern kingdom. These are the “many” who “shall rise up against the king of the south,” which included “the violent among your own [Daniel’s] people” as prophesied in verse 14. Ptolemy IV died mysteriously, and his son, Ptolemy V Epiphanes, his 4-year-old son, succeeded him.
Verse 13 continues, “For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.” Seeing a very young king in charge, along with other instability in the southern kingdom, what does the king of the north do? Antiochus III made an alliance with Philip V of Macedon, raising an even larger army in the North to invade the southern, unstable Ptolemaic kingdom.
I’ll read verses 15-16, “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. 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.”
Antiochus III fought and won against the Ptolemies at a town named Panium which is located in what’s later Ceasarea Phillipi. In 198 B.C., Egyptian general Scopas handed over rule of that area, which later is referred to as Phoenicia and “the glorious land” (v16) which is modern day Israel and the Palestine and territories of the Gaza Strip. That was basically the end of the Ptolemaic kingdom having great strength. The Jewish people remained under control from the north until Pompey’s invasion in 63 which established Roman rule.
Verse 17 says, “He [Antiochus II] 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. Five years later in 193 B.C., the north and the south attempt another marriage alliance. This time it’s between Antiochus III’s daughter, Cleopatra (not the famous one who came later) marrying Ptolemy V Epiphanes. Antiochus’ plan was for Cleopatra’s children to rule in Egypt, giving him power there. But that plan backfired, bigtime.
In fulfillment of verse 18, Antiochus III turns “his face to the coastlands” of Asia Minor and “shall capture many of them,” (v 18). But his daughter, Cleopatra, aligns herself with the Egyptians, rather than her father, and sought help from the Romans against his attempts to take the coastland cities, which were once controlled by the Egyptians. In 188 B.C. Antiochus III is defeated by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Scipio in several battles, which forces him to cede Asia Minor to Roman control, fulfilling the rest of verse 18 which says, “but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed he shall turn his insolence back upon him.”
The Romans forced him to sign a treaty at Apanea in 188 B. C., surrender his territory, pay a large tribute tax, surrender most of his military force, and 20 hostages (one who was his son, Antiochus IV Ephiphanes, a very bad man who we will learn more about next week). Verse 19 says, “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.” Antiochus II returned home and was killed by an angry mob while trying to pillage a temple of Zeus in Elymais to pay for the heavy tribute tax he had to pay to Rome.
We’ll end with verse 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 III’s son, Seleucus IV Philopater succeeded him from 187-175 B. C. He sent a tax collector named Heliodrus, to collect the money necessary to pay Rome their yearly tribute. He even tried to plunder the temple in Jerusalem, but according to the noncanonical book of 2 Maccabees 37-40, he was terrified by a dream and decided not to. Like verse 20 says, Seleucus IV wasn’t killed “in anger” (as if by an angry mob like his father) nor was he killed “in battle”, but was poisoned by his very own tax collector, Heliodrus, who decided to take the throne away from Seluecus’ son, something we’ll start with next episode.
And that’s a good place to end today, even though we’re not finished with chapter 11 yet. Verses 5-20 of Daniel have a lot of history packed into them. According to commentator John Goldingay, Daniel 11 refers in a specific, historically identifiable way to 13 of 16 rulers of these two kingdoms from between 322 and 163 B.C. In the grand scheme of things, this 150-year period of history are an endless sequence of conflicts, wars and politics between two superpowers, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. Neither ever is able to conquer the other; and their attempts at alliances fail.
So why is all of this part of the book of Daniel? Because during this time in the future, God’s people would be caught in the midst and in the middle of these multiple conflicts and all of the politics that went with it! Some of them would take sides against one or the other ruler; others would probably go about their daily lives without taking sides. But no matter what, ALL of them would feel the effects of war and devastation taking place in and around the Glorious Land.
This vision given to Daniel would have put the difficulties that the Jews faced in Daniel’s time in proper perspective. Yes, they had trials and tribulations; and they were going to continue to have them. But they should not be surprised, at these “wars and rumors of wars” and they should never forget that God is in control of everything that is happening. That’s the important point being made to them; and it’s an important point for us to grasp. No matter what happens in our world, in our country, in our politics, in our lives, God is sovereignly in control of all of it.
Ian DuGuid in his commentary on Daniel says, “The balance of power in earthly politics may shift, but it never comes to a permanent rest. On the one hand, therefore, Daniel 11 shows us the fallen world pursuing the wind and finding it elusive. What do power and politics gain for all their toil? All this, as the writer of Ecclesiastes noted, is vanity.”[1]
And that’s a great place to end today! Join us next week as we finish the book of Daniel. We hope this episode has encouraged you and strengthened your faith that God has everything completely in His control.
Don’t forget to check out our website, www.proverbs910ministries.com. And leave a review of this podcast on whatever platform you listen on. Have a blessed day!
[1] Duguid, Iain M. “‘Wars and Rumors of Wars.’” Essay. In Daniel, 200–. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Pub., 2008.