Daniel 11:19

19 Then he shall turn back his face to the strength of his own land: but he shall become weak, and fall, and not be found.

Daniel 11:19 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 11:19

Then he shall turn his face towards the fort of his own land,
&c.] After his defeat he fled with a few to Sardis, and from thence to Apamea, so Livy; and to Susa, and to the further parts of his dominions, as Jerom; or rather he betook himself to Antioch his capital city, called here "the fort of his own land", where he was obliged to continue: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found;
the expenses of the war which Antiochus agreed to pay being reckoned at fifteen thousand Euboean talents, five hundred talents were to be paid down; two thousand five hundred at the ratification of the treaty by the senate of Rome; and the other twelve thousand to be paid yearly, at a thousand talents each year: now, being either in want of money, or through covetousness, he attempted to rob the temple of Jupiter Elymaeus, and went by night thither with his army for that purpose; but the thing being betrayed, the inhabitants got together, and slew him, with all his soldiers, as Justin F12 relates. Strabo F13 says, that Antiochus the great endeavouring to rob the temple of Bel, the barbarians near to (Elymais) rose of themselves, and slew him; and so never returned to Syria any more, but died in the province of Elymais, being slain by the Persians there, as related, and was never found more, or was buried; and this was the end of this great man, of whom so many things are said in this prophecy, and others follow concerning his successors. He died in the thirty seventh year of his reign, and the fifty second of his age F14.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 E Trogo, l. 32. c. 2.
F13 Geograph. l. 16. p. 512.
F14 See the Universal History, vol. 9. p. 270.

Daniel 11:19 In-Context

17 And he shall set his face to come in with the force of his whole kingdom, and shall cause everything to prosper with him: and he shall give him the daughter of women to corrupt her: but she shall not continue, neither be on his side.
18 And he shall turn his face to the islands, and shall take many, and cause princes to cease from their reproach: nevertheless his own reproach shall return to him.
19 Then he shall turn back his face to the strength of his own land: but he shall become weak, and fall, and not be found.
20 And there shall arise out of his root one that shall cause a plant of the kingdom to pass over his place, earning kingly glory: and yet in those days shall he be broken, yet not openly, nor in war.
21 shall stand on his place, has been set a nought, and they have not put upon him the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in prosperously, and obtain the kingdom by deceitful ways.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.