Daniel 11:2-12

2 And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall yet be three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall obtain far greater riches than they all; and by his strengthening himself with his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.

3 And a valiant king shall stand up, that shall rule over a great dominion and do according to his will.

4 But when he is reigning, his kingdom shall be broken and shall be divided by the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion by which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.

5 And the king of the south, {this Hebrew word is identified with the people of God}, and of his principalities, shall make himself strong; and he shall exceed him and make himself powerful; his dominion shall be a great dominion.

6 But at the end of some 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 stand, nor his arm; for she shall be given up and those that brought her and he that begat her, and those that were for her in this time.

7 But of the new shoot from her roots shall one stand up upon his throne and shall come unto the army and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north and do in them according to his will and shall prevail:

8 and even their gods, with their princes, with their precious vessels of silver and of gold, shall be taken captive in Egypt; and for some years he shall maintain himself against the king of the north.

9 Thus shall the king of the south enter into the kingdom and return to his own land.

10 But the sons of that one shall be stirred up and shall assemble a multitude of great armies and shall come in great haste, and overflow and pass through and turn and come with wrath unto his fortress.

11 Therefore the king of the south shall become furious and shall come forth and fight with him even with the king of the north; and he shall put a great multitude into the field, but all that multitude shall be given into his hand.

12 Therefore the multitude shall be filled with pride, his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many thousands, but he shall not prevail.

Daniel 11:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 11

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, Da 11:1, he foretells the number of the kings of Persia, and particularly describes the fourth, Da 11:2 predicts the rise of the Grecian monarchy under Alexander the great, and the disposition of it after his death, Da 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, Da 11:5,6 and then of their various wars between themselves and others, and the success of them, Da 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, Da 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, Da 11:30-35, and then his antitype, antichrist, is described; the western antichrist, his character and actions, Da 11:36-39 then the eastern, his power, wealth and riches, hail and rain, Da 11:40-45.