Daniel 11 Footnotes

11:2 Xerxes I (486–465 BC) is unmistakably identified as the fourth Persian king by the description of his great wealth and expedition against Greece. This astonishing prediction by Daniel is one of more than 130 prophecies in the first thirty-five verses that are validated by a review of the history of the period. God’s omniscience and omnipotence (power over history) are unmistakably set forth in this chapter.

11:36 At this point the writer introduces a king who will rule “at the time of the end” (v. 40). His reign of terror ushers in a “time of distress” unparalleled in human history (12:1; Mt 24:21,29-31), and the resurrection of the saints takes place immediately after God delivers his people from this evil king’s power (Dn 12:2). This king cannot be Antiochus IV (certainly not in vv. 40-45) but is an evil, tyrannical figure of the end of the age. This identification conforms to the description of this figure presented elsewhere in the Bible (7:8-11,20-27; 2Th 2:3-10; Rv 13:4-8; 19:19-20) and has been widely accepted throughout church history (e.g., Chrysostom, Jerome, Theodoret, Luther). The sudden leap forward in time from Antiochus IV (Dn 11:35) to the eschatological opponent of God’s faithful people (v. 36) is consistent with other leaps in time earlier in the chapter (vv. 2-3).

11:45 Some interpreters maintain that the author erroneously predicted that Antiochus IV would “meet his end” in Palestine when, in reality, the Syrian king died in Persia. Therefore they take this passage (which they view as original with the author of Daniel) to be a precise indicator that the book was written in 164 BC, just before Antiochus’s death. Of course, such critics disavow the validity of future prophecy and have no compunctions about declaring that the author was mistaken. But if the king in question is not Antiochus IV but the end-time ruler who will persecute the faithful, no historical difficulty exists. The apostle John also affirms that this figure, whoever he is, will meet his end in the land of Israel (Rv 16:13-16; 19:19-20; see Ezk 39:4).