Daniel 11:3

3 "Then a heroic king will appear. He will rule over a huge empire and do whatever he wants.

Daniel 11:3 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 11:3

And a mighty king shall stand up
Not in Persia, but in Greece; Alexander the great, who rose up a hundred years after the above expedition of Xerxes, and "stood" and flourished, and conquered all he attacked, none being able to resist him; and is rightly called a "mighty king", a very powerful one: this is the notable horn in the he goat, which being exasperated by the ram, the Persians, and their invasion of Greece, pushed at them, and destroyed them, ( Daniel 8:5-7 ) : that shall rule with great dominion; not in Greece only but in the whole world, at least as he thought, and really did over a very great part of it; for, as Jerome says, having conquered the Illyrians, Thracians, Greece, and Thebes, he passed into Asia; and, having put to flight the generals of Darius, he took the city of Sardis, and afterwards India. And do according to his will;
not only in his own army, sacrificing his best friends at his pleasure; but with his enemies, conquering whom he would, none being able to withstand him; all things succeeded to his wish; whatever he attempted he performed. His historian F15 says of him,

``that it must be owned he owed much to virtue, but more to fortune, which alone of all mortals he had in his power;''
since, by the benefit of it, he seemed to do with nations whatever he pleased; he was sovereign in all things, and set himself to be worshipped as a deity.
FOOTNOTES:

F15 Curtius, l. 10. c. 5.

Daniel 11:3 In-Context

1 He is responsible for helping and defending me.
2 And what I am now going to tell you is true." The angel said, "Three more kings will rule over Persia, followed by a fourth, who will be richer than all the others. At the height of his power and wealth he will challenge the kingdom of Greece.
3 "Then a heroic king will appear. He will rule over a huge empire and do whatever he wants.
4 But at the height of his power his empire will break up and be divided into four parts. Kings not descended from him will rule in his place, but they will not have the power that he had.
5 "The king of Egypt will be strong. One of his generals, however, will be even stronger and rule a greater kingdom.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.