“At the time of the end the king of the south will contend with him; and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships. He will enter into the countries, and will overflow and pass through. He will enter also into the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown; but these will be delivered out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He will also stretch out his hand on the countries. The land of Egypt won’t escape. But he will have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. The Libyans and the Ethiopians will be at his steps. But news out of the east and out of the north will trouble him; and he will go out with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many. He will plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
Parallel Translations
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“At the time of the end the king of the south will contend with him; and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships. He will enter into the countries, and will overflow and pass through.
He will enter also into the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown; but these will be delivered out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
He will also stretch out his hand on the countries. The land of Egypt won’t escape.
But he will have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. The Libyans and the Ethiopians will be at his steps.
But news out of the east and out of the north will trouble him; and he will go out with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many.
He will plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
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And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
Show all 3 translations
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And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow, as he passes through.
He shall enter also into the beauteous land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall be delivered out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall affright him; and he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to take away many.
And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the beauteous holy mountain; and he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
Cross-references (61)
- Jeremiah 48:47 (v41) “Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days,” says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
- Jeremiah 49:6 (v41) “But afterward I will reverse the captivity of the children of Ammon,” says Yahweh.
- 2 Chronicles 12:3 (v43) with twelve hundred chariots, and sixty thousand horsemen. The people were without number who came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the…
- Daniel 11:16 (vv41, 45) But he who comes against him will do according to his own will, and no one will stand before him. He will stand in the glorious land, and…
- Revelation 16:12 (vv40, 44) The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that…
Show all 58 cross-references
- Isaiah 5:28 (v40) whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.
- Isaiah 11:13-15 (v41) The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute…
- Jeremiah 9:26 (v41) Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness, for all…
- Ezekiel 38:8-13 (v41) After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered…
- Daniel 8:9 (v41) Out of one of them came out a little horn, which grew exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious…
- Daniel 11:10 (v40) His sons will wage war, and will assemble a multitude of great forces, which will come on, and overflow, and pass through. They will return…
- Daniel 11:35 (v40) Some of those who are wise will fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet…
- Daniel 11:45 (v41) He will plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
- Nahum 3:9 (v43) Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4 (v45) he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting…
- Revelation 19:19-21 (vv44–45) I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against…
- Isaiah 21:1 (v40) The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.
- Jeremiah 4:13 (v40) Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are…
- Ezekiel 38:4 (v40) I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them…
- Daniel 8:25 (v45) Through his policy he will cause deceit to prosper in his hand. He will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many in their…
- Daniel 12:4 (v40) But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many will run back and forth, and knowledge will be…
- Zechariah 9:14 (v40) Yahweh will be seen over them; and his arrow will go flash like lightning; and the Lord Yahweh will blow the trumpet, and will go with…
- Exodus 11:8 (v43) All these servants of yours will come down to me, and bow down themselves to me, saying, “Get out, with all the people who follow you;” and…
- Judges 4:10 (v43) Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him; and Deborah went up with him.
- Isaiah 2:2 (v45) It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be…
- Isaiah 14:13 (v45) You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly,…
- Isaiah 66:15 (v40) For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke…
- Jeremiah 46:9-10 (v43) Go up, you horses! Rage, you chariots! Let the mighty men go out: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend…
- Ezekiel 29:14 (v42) I will reverse the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth. They will be a…
- Ezekiel 30:4-5 (v43) A sword will come on Egypt, and anguish will be in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt. They take away her multitude, and her…
- Ezekiel 38:9-12 (v44) You will ascend. You will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your hordes, and many peoples with…
- Ezekiel 38:14-18 (v40) “Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and tell Gog, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “In that day when my people Israel dwells securely, will you not…
- Ezekiel 38:22-23 (v45) I will enter into judgment with him with pestilence and with blood. I will rain on him, and on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are…
- Ezekiel 39:2 (v45) I will turn you around, and will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring you…
- Daniel 2:35 (v45) Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer…
- Daniel 7:26 (v45) “ ‘But the judgment will be set, and they will take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end.
- Daniel 8:17 (v40) So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened, and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Understand, son of man; for the…
- Daniel 11:5-6 (v40) “The king of the south will be strong. One of his princes will become stronger than him, and have dominion. His dominion will be a great…
- Daniel 11:11 (v44) “The king of the south will be moved with anger, and will come out and fight with him, even with the king of the north. He will send out a…
- Daniel 11:22 (v40) The overwhelming forces will be overwhelmed from before him, and will be broken. Yes, also the prince of the covenant.
- Daniel 11:26-27 (v40) Yes, those who eat of his dainties will destroy him, and his army will be swept away. Many will fall down slain. As for both these kings,…
- Daniel 11:30 (v44) For ships of Kittim will come against him. Therefore he will be grieved, and will return, and have indignation against the holy covenant,…
- Daniel 11:41 (v45) He will enter also into the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown; but these will be delivered out of his hand: Edom, Moab,…
- Joel 2:20 (v45) But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea,…
- Micah 4:2 (v45) Many nations will go and say, “Come! Let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of…
- Zechariah 10:10-11 (v42) I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and…
- Zechariah 14:8 (v45) It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem: half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the…
- Zechariah 14:17 (v42) It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (v45) Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;
- Revelation 9:16 (v40) The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of them.
- Revelation 11:8 (v42) Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
- Revelation 13:10 (v45) If anyone is to go into captivity, he will go into captivity. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, he must be killed. Here is the…
- Revelation 14:14-20 (v45) I looked, and saw a white cloud, and on the cloud one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp…
- Revelation 17:13 (v44) These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast.
- Revelation 20:2 (v45) He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand…
- Revelation 20:9 (v45) They went up over the width of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven from…
- Psalms 48:2 (v45) Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King.
- Ezekiel 38:5 (v43) Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
58 distinct cross-references across this passage (61 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv40, 41, 43, 44, 45 As to the time here mentioned, it is a…
As to the time here mentioned, it is a certain or predetermined period’ the kings of the south and the north we have already shewn to refer to Egypt and Syria, such being their position with respect to Judea. The word נגח neech, confliget, is literally he shall “push with the horns,” while the word translated, “he shall rush as a whirlwind,” is deduced from שער segner, “to be stormy.” The angel here predicts the numerous victories by means of which the Romans should extend their empire far and wide, although not without great difficulties and dangers. He states, The king of the south should carry on war with the Romans for a definite period I dare not fix the precise time intended by the angel. So great was the power of Egypt, that had the kings of that country relied upon their native resources, they might have summoned courage to make war upon the Romans. Gabinius the proconsul led his army there for the sake of restoring Ptolemy. He expelled Archelaus without much trouble, and then like a mercenary he risked his life and his fame there, as well as his army. Caesar was in danger there, after vanquishing Pompey; then Antony next made war upon Augustus, assisted by the forces of Cleopatra; then Egypt put forth all her strength, and at his failure was reduced herself to a province of Rome. The angel did not propose to mark a continued series of times, but only briefly to admonish the faithful to stand firm amidst those most grievous concussions which were then at hand. Whatever be the precise meaning, the angel doubtless signified the difficult nature of the struggle between the Romans and the Egyptians. I have already stated the witness of history to the fact, that the Egyptians never made war against the Romans in their own name; sometimes events were so confused that the Egyptians coalesced with the Syrians, and then we must read the words conjointly — thus the king of the south, assisted by the king of the north, should carry on war with the Romans. The angel thus shews us how the king of Syria should furnish greater forces and supplies than the Egyptian monarch, and this really happened at the beginning of the triumvirate. He states next, The king of the south should come with chariots and horses and many ships. Nor is it necessary here to indicate the precise period, since the Romans carried on many wars in the east, during which they occupied Asia, while a part of Libya fell to them by the will of its king without arms or force of any kind.
With reference to these two kingdoms which have been so frequently mentioned, many chiefs ruled over Syria within a short period. First one of the natives was raised to the throne and then another, till the people grew tired of them, and transferred the sovereignty to strangers. Then Alexander rose gradually to power, and ultimately acquired very great fame: he was not of noble birth, for his father was of unknown origin. This man sprang from an obscure family, and at one period possessed neither authority nor resources. He was made king of Syria, because he pretended to be the son of Seleucus, and was slain immediately, while his immediate successor reigned for but a short period. Thus Syria passed over to the Romans on the death of this Seleucus. Tigranes the king of Armenia was then sent for, and he was made ruler over Syria till Lucullus conquered him, and Syria was reduced to a province. The vilest of men reigned over Egypt. Physcon, who was restrained by the Romans when attempting to wrest Syria from the power of its sovereign, was exceedingly depraved both in body and mind and hence he obtained this disgraceful appellation. For the word is a Greek one, equivalent to the French andouille; for physce means that thicker intestine into which the others are usually inserted. This deformity gave rise to his usual name, signifying “pot-bellied,” implying both bodily deformity and likeness to the brutes, while he was not endowed with either intellect or ingenuity. The last king who made the Romans his son’s guardians, received the name of Auletes, and Cicero uses this epithet of “flute-player,” because he was immoderately fond of this musical instrument In each kingdom then there was horrible deformity, since those who exercised the royal authority were more like dogs or swine than mankind. Tigranes, it is well known, gave the Romans much trouble. On the other side, Mithridates occupied their attention for a very long period, and with various and opposite success. The Romans throughout all Asia were at one period put to the sword, and when a close engagement was fought, Mithridates was often superior, and he afterwards united his forces with those of Tigranes, his father-in-law. When Tigranes held Armenia, he was a king of other kings, and afterwards added to his dominions a portion of Syria. At length when the last Antiochus was set over the kingdom of Syria by Lucullus, he was removed from his command by the orders of Pompey, and then, as we have stated, Syria became a province of Rome. Pompey crossed the sea, and subdued the whole of Judea as well as Syria’ he afterwards entered the Temple, and took away some part of its possessions, but spared the sacred treasures. Crassus succeeded him — an insatiable whirlpool, who longed for this province for no other reason than his unbounded eagerness for wealth. He despoiled the Temple at Jerusalem; and lastly, after Cleopatra was conquered, Egypt lost its royal race, and passed into a Roman province. If the Romans, had conquered a hundred other provinces, the angel would not have mentioned them here; for I have previously noticed his special regard to the chosen people. Therefore he dwells only on those slaughters which had more or less relation to the wretched Jews. First of all he predicts the great contest which should arise between the kings of Egypt and Syria, who should come on like a whirlwind, while the Romans should rush upon the lands like a deluge, and pass over them. He compares the king of Syria to a whirlwind, for at first he should rush on impetuously, filling both land and sea with his forces. Thus he should possess a well-manned fleet, and thus excite fresh terrors, and yet vanish away rapidly like a whirlwind. But the Romans are compared to a deluge. The new king of whom he had spoken should come, says he, and overflow, burying all the forces of both Egypt and Syria; implying the whole foundations of both realms should be swept away when the Romans passed over them. He shall pass over, he says; meaning, wherever they come, the way shall be open for them and nothing closed against them. He will repeat this idea in another form. He does not speak now of one region only, but says, they should come over the lands, implying a wide-spread desolation, while no one should dare to oppose them by resisting their fury.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv40, 41, 44, 45 That is, both the Egyptians and the Syrians shall…
That is, both the Egyptians and the Syrians shall at length fight against the Romans, but they shall be overcome.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv40–45 Dan 11:40 And at the time of the end…
Dan 11:40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
Ver. 40. And at the time of the end.] The year before his death.
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Shall the king af the south.] Ptolemy Philometer.
And the king of the north.] Antiochus’s third expedition into Egypt, {see Dan 11:39} in favour of Physcon.
And shall overflow,] i.e., Victoriously overturn Egypt.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv40–45 At the time of the end shall the king…
At the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him; in the last times, towards the end of the world, for it cannot be true of Antiochus, who died the eleventh year of his reign, and these things are joined to the last resurrection Dan 12:2. Therefore some understand the Turk and Saracen, who is without the church, as antichrist before mentioned sat in the temple; he extending his dominions into Asia and Africa, will be a great stop to antichrist’s proceedings and encroachments.
The king of the north shall come, & c., i.e. The Turk from the north shall invade, and run down the Saracen. — Mede.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv40–45 And at the time of the end,.... At the…
And at the time of the end,.... At the end of the time appointed of God, when antichrist is arrived to the height of his power and authority:
shall the king of the south push at him; not Philometor king of Egypt; nor is Antiochus meant in the next clause by the king of the north; for, after he was required by the Romans to quit the land of Egypt, there was no more war between him and the king of Egypt; rather therefore the Saracens are meant by the king of the south, as Mr. Mede (y) and Cocceius think, who came from the south, from Arabia Felix: and so Gravius interprets it of the king or caliph of the Saracens, and his successors; who, extending their empire through Asia and Africa, repressed the attempts of the Roman antichrist affecting primacy in the east; and this way goes Mr. Mede, who takes them to be the same with the locusts in Rev 9:3, that distressed antichrist:
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and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind; not Antiochus, as before observed; but either emperors, kings, and Christian princes, the chief of which was Godfrey of Bullain, who was crowned king of Jerusalem, as Cocceius: or the Turks, as Jacchiades, so Mr. Brightman on the place, and Mr. Mede; who were originally Tartars or Scythians, and came from the north, the same with the horsemen at Euphrates, Rev 9:15, who also came against antichrist; for he seems to be the "him" they both came against; both the king of the south, and the king of the north, the two woes that came upon Christendom the Saracens are the first woe, and the Turks the second; and who chiefly afflicted the antichristian states, and came like a whirlwind upon them, suddenly, swiftly, and with great rapidity and force:
with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; which well agrees with the Turks, whose armies chiefly consist of horse:
and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow, and pass over; into the countries belonging to antichrist; particularly the Greek or eastern empire; which they overran like a flood, seized it for themselves, and set up an empire for themselves, which still continues; as well as entered into some parts of Europe, and did much damage.
(y) Works, B. 3. p. 674.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv41, 43, 45 The children of Ammon - He will not hurt…
The children of Ammon - He will not hurt them; because they helped him against the Jews.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv40, 41, 42, 44, 45 Verse 40. At the time of the end shall…
Verse 40. At the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him] These kings are to be understood in reference to the times of which the prophet speaks. While the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria were subsisting, the king of the south and the north applied to them exclusively: but they did not exist at the time of which the prophet speaks; therefore other southern and northern powers must be sought. These we may find in the Saracens, who were of the Arabians, who came from the south, headed by the false prophet Mohammed, who pushed at him-made war on the Greek emperor Heraclius, and with amazing rapidity deprived him of Egypt, Syria, and many of his finest provinces.
And the king of the north] The Turks, who were originally Scythians, seized on the remains of the Greek empire; and in process of time rendered themselves masters of the whole. They are represented as coming like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen; their armies being chiefly composed of cavalry.
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And with many ships] With these they got possession of many islands and maritime countries; and were so powerful in their fleets, that they entirely defeated the Venetians; and at last their fleets became of the utmost consequence to them in besieging, and afterwards taking, Constantinople, A.D. 1453, which they hold to the present day. So they entered into the countries, and overflowed, rendering themselves masters of all Asia Minor and Greece.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv40, 41, 42, 44 Dan 11:40. And at the time of the end…
Dan 11:40. And at the time of the end — At the determined time, or when the time shall approach that God will put an end to these miseries of the Jews; shall the king of the south push at him — The king of the south, through all this prophecy, appears evidently to signify the king of Egypt, and if it be so interpreted here, this must relate to some new contest between him and Antiochus. Historians, however, make no mention of this, nor of any third expedition of Antiochus into Egypt. But it is not improbable that the king of Egypt, between whom and Antiochus there was enmity in the heart, though there was outward friendship, might make some efforts, of one kind or other, to injure Antiochus, which might induce him to make a third expedition into Egypt. The want, however, of a certain knowledge of this transaction of Antiochus, has been considered by some as an additional reason for applying this, and the whole paragraph from the 36th verse, to antichrist, and the great apostacy of the middle ages of the Christian Church. Hence, by the king of the south here, Mr. Mede understands the Saracens, and by the king of the north, the Turks, who should both at different times afflict the western parts of the world, where he supposes the seat of antichrist to be. The Saracens he supposes to be called the king, or kingdom, of the south, because that people were inhabitants of Arabia Felix, which lay southward of Palestine, whereas the Turks were originally Tartars or Scythians. But the safest rule whereby to interpret the prophecies seems to be to apply them to events nearest to the times when they were uttered, unless they manifestly relate to more distant times; and there is nothing said here but what might very probably relate to Antiochus, though, through the scantiness of the history of those times, we have not a knowledge of the facts to which some particular passages or expressions in the prophecy refer. And the king of the north — The king of Syria, Antiochus; shall come against him like a whirlwind — In a sudden and impetuous manner. And shall overflow and pass over — Shall over- spread the land, breaking in and opening himself a passage everywhere by the vast power of his forces.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv40–45 And at the time of the end - See…
And at the time of the end - See Dan 11:35. The “time of the end” must properly denote the end or consummation of the series of events under consideration, or the matter in hand, and properly and obviously means here the end or consummation of the transactions which had been referred to in the previous part of the vision. It is equivalent to what we should say by expressing it thus: “at the winding up of the affair.” In Dan 12:4, Dan 12:9, Dan 12:13, the word “end,” however, obviously refers to another close or consummation - the end or consummation of the affairs that reach far into the future - the final dispensation of things in this world. It has been held by many that this could not be understood as referring to Antiochus, because what is here stated did not occur in the close of his reign. Perhaps at first sight the most obvious interpretation of what is said in this and the subsequent verses to the end of the chapter would be, that, after the series of events referred to in the previous verses; after Antiochus had invaded Egypt, and had been driven thence by the fear of the Romans, he would, in the close of his reign, again attack that country, and bring it, and Libya, and AEthiopia into subjection Dan 11:43; and that when there, tidings out of the north should compel him to abandon the expedition and return again to his own land.
Porphyry (see Jerome, in loc.) says that this was so, and that Antiochus actually invaded Egypt in the “eleventh year of his reign,” which was the year before he died; and he maintains, therefore, that all this had a literal application to Antiochus, and that being so literally true, it must have been written after the events had occurred. Unfortunately the fifteen books of Porphyry are lost, and we have only the fragments of his works preserved which are to be found in the Commentary of Jerome on the book of Daniel. The statement of Porphyry, referred to by Jerome, is contrary to the otherwise universal testimony of history about the last days of Antiochus, and there are such improbabilities in the statement as to leave the general impression that Porphyry in this respect falsified history in order to make it appear that this must have been written after the events referred to. If the statement of Porphyry were correct, there would be no difficulty in applying this to Antiochus. The common belief, however, in regard to Antiochus is, that he did not invade Egypt after the series of events referred to above, and after he had been required to retire by the authority of the Roman ambassadors, as stated in the notes at Dan 11:30.
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This belief accords also with all the probabilities of the case. Under these circumstances, many commentators have supposed that this portion of the chapter Dan 11:40-45 could not refer to Antiochus, and they have applied it to Anti-christ, or to the Roman power. Yet how forced and unnatural such an application must be, anyone can perceive by examining Newton on the Prophecies, pp. 308-315. The obvious, and perhaps it may be added the honest, application of the passage must be to Antiochus. This is that which would occur to any reader of the prophecy; this is what he would obviously hold to be the true application; and this is that only which would occur to anyone, unless it were deemed necessary to bend the prophecy to accommodate it to the history. Honesty and fairness, it seems to me, require that we should understand this as referring to the series of events which had been described in the previous portion of the chapter, and as designed to state the ultimate issue or close of the whole.
There will be no difficulty in this if we may regard these verses Dan 11:40-45 as containing a recapitulation, or a summing up of the series of events, with a statement of the manner in which they would close. If so interpreted all will be clear. It will then be a general statement of what would occur in regard to this remarkable transaction that would so materially affect the interests of religion in Judea, and be such an important chapter in the history of the world. This summing up, moreover, would give occasion to mention some circumstances in regard to the conquests of Antiochus which could not so well be introduced in the narrative itself, and to present, in few words, a summary of all that would occur, and to state the manner in which all would be terminated. Such a summing up, or recapitulation, is not uncommon, and in this way the impression of the whole would be more distinct.
With this view, the phrase “and at the time of the end” Dan 11:40 would refer, not so much to the “time of the end” of the reign of Antiochus, but to the “time of the end” of the whole series of the transactions referred to by the angel as recorded “in the scripture of truth” Dan 10:21, from the time of Darius the Mede Dan 11:1 to the close of the reign of Antiochus - a series of events embracing a period of some three hundred and fifty years. Viewed in reference to this long period, the whole reign of Antiochus, which was only eleven years, might be regarded as “the time of the end.” It was, indeed, the most disastrous portion of the whole period, and in this chapter it occupies more space than all that went before it - for it was to be the time of the peculiar and dreadful trial of the Hebrew people, but it was “the end” of the matter - the winding up of the series - the closing of the events on which the eye of the angel was fixed, and which were so important to be known beforehand. In these verses, therefore Dan 11:40-45, he sums up what would occur in what he here calls appropriately “the time of the end” - the period when the predicted termination of this series of important events should arrive - to wit, in the brief and eventful reign of Antiochus.
Shall the king of the south - The king of Egypt. See Dan 11:5-6, Dan 11:9.
Push at him - As in the wars referred to in the previous verse - in endeavoring to expel him from Coelo-Syria and Palestine, and from Egypt itself, Dan 11:25, Dan 11:29-30. See the note at those verses.
And the king of the north shall come against him - The king of Syria - Antiochus. Against the king of Egypt. He shall repeatedly invade his lands. See the notes above.
Like a whirlwind - As if he would sweep everything before him. This he did when he invaded Egypt; when he seized on Memphis, and the best portion of the land of Egypt, and when he obtained possession of the person of Ptolemy. See the notes at Dan 11:25-27.
With chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships - All this literally occurred in the successive invasions of Egypt by Antiochus. See the notes above.
And he shall enter into the countries - Into Coelo-Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the adjacent lands.
And shall overflow and pass over - Like a flood he shall spread his armies over these countries. See the notes at Dan 11:22.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv40, 41, 43, 44, 45 Fight. Epiphanes made war on Egypt, till the Romans…
Fight. Epiphanes made war on Egypt, till the Romans forced him to desist. The prophet explains his preceding attempts, to which he only alluded. (ver. 29, 30.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv40, 41, 42, 44, 45 The difficulty of reconciling this with Antiochus' history is…
The difficulty of reconciling this with Antiochus' history is that no historian but PORPHYRY mentions an expedition of his into Egypt towards the close of his reign. This Dan 11:40, therefore, may be a recapitulation summing up the facts of the first expedition to Egypt (171-170 B.C.), in Dan 11:22, Dan 11:25; and Dan 11:41, the former invasion of Judea, in Dan 11:28; Dan 11:42-43, the second and third invasions of Egypt (169 and 168 B.C.) in Dan 11:23-24, Dan 11:29-30. AUBERLEN takes rather PORPHYRY'S statement, that Antiochus, in the eleventh year of his reign (166-165 B.C.), invaded Egypt again, and took Palestine on his way. The "tidings" (Dan 11:44) as to the revolt of tributary nations then led him to the East. PORPHYRY'S statement that Antiochus starting from Egypt took Arad in Judah, and devastated all Phœnicia, agrees with Dan 11:45; then he turned to check Artaxias, king of Armenia. He died in the Persian town Tabes, 164 B.C., as both POLYBIUS and PORPHYRY agree. Doubtless, antitypically, the final Antichrist, and its predecessor Mohammed, are intended, to whom the language may be more fully applicable than to Antiochus the type. The Saracen Arabs "of the south" "pushed at" the Greek emperor Heraclius, and deprived him of Egypt and Syria. But the Turks of "the north" not merely pushed at, but destroyed the Greek empire; therefore more is said of them than of the Saracens. Their "horsemen" are specified, being their chief strength. Their standards still are horse tails. Their "ships," too, often gained the victory over Venice, the great naval power of Europe in that day. They "overflowed" Western Asia, and then "passed over" into Europe, fixing their seat of empire at Constantinople under Mohammed II [NEWTON].
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Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv40–45 It is very difficult to explain Dan_11:40-45 historically. No…
THE CLOSING VERSES OF THIS CHAPTER.
It is very difficult to explain Dan_11:40-45 historically. No writers of the period have recorded an invasion of Egypt by Antiochus after he had been brought to account so sharply by the Romans (notes Dan_11:29-30), and everything we know of the political conditions of the period is against this. One late author, however (Porphyry), affirms there was such a campaign just before the death of Antiochus — and this is not absolutely impossible. It is not satisfactory to say with Kuenen, Bevan, and many others, that these verses express the expectation of the author of Daniel, but that this expectation was never realized. If indeed this passage was written and openly published only a few months before the death of Antiochus — at which time these supposed glaring mistakes would have been most clearly seen — it is impossible to conceive how the book could have been at once accepted as a true prophecy and a little later placed in the sacred canon. Many scholars believe that these verses arelater interpolations, or that they have dropped out of their true place in the narrative immediately after the historical sketch given in Dan_11:1-5. The versions, however, though they differ much from the received text, do not hint this, and there are other objections to the theory.
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In view of the difficulties embarrassing any historic explanation of this passage, a multitude of interpreters have given their fancy full play, seeking to find here — as indeed everywhere else in Daniel — allusions to conflicts which have taken place in the Middle Ages, or in modern times, or which shall happen in future centuries. This is not interpretation, it is imagination. Other writers believe that with Dan_11:40 the vision of the prophet fuses two pictures: the triumphs and disastrous end of Antiochus with the victories and final defeat of the antichrist of whom he was a type. We have already defended this method of interpretation, and have no doubt that a counterpart of Antiochus may be found in the antagonists that arose against the theocracy in after ages; but we believe that every prophecy should be explained first with reference to the historic facts of the period concerning which it directly treats. A seeming discrepancy between the account and the known facts of the local period which it primarily depicts is not sufficient to relegate it wholly to a far-off future time. That is too easy a method. If its primary and local meaning is not understood, its secondary and universal teachings cannot be intelligently grasped. These verses do not have the customary tone of idealization and exaltation which usually accompanies a vision of the Messianic future. They are almost as matter-of-fact and full of detail as the accounts which have preceded, and which we have seen relate actual earthly events in the reign of this mad king, Antiochus. The “king of the north” means Antiochus, and the “king of the south” Ptolemy, as all the versions knew. We cannot therefore adopt the supposition that this passage treats of the end of the world and the battle with antichrist.
We incline to believe with many scholars of the highest rank that this passage is a general resume of all the Egyptian campaigns of Antiochus previously mentioned (Dan_11:29-30), with special emphasis on the statement that all these campaigns happened “at the time of the end;” that is, as modern commentators agree, at the end of this era of persecution which was to precede the Messianic reign. (See notes Dan_9:27; Dan_12:1.) For seventy times seven years these afflictions, captivities, and persecutions have fallen on the holy people; but now, although it seems to the Maccabean martyrs that they have only reached their fullest power, in the days of this evil conqueror, they are really just at an end. Even the most boastful years of Antiochus are in “the time of the end.” This wild beast shall suddenly be “cut off without hand” — for, whatever the manner of his death, every Hebrew who believed in the divine decree would know that it was an event fixed and appointed by God himself — and after this the prophet sees victory for Israel and the glorious rule of One like unto a Son of man. (See notes Dan_11:40; Dan_7:13-14; Dan_9:27.)
40. As we understand it (see remarks above) we have here an epitome of the history contained in Dan_11:22-27.
At the time of the end — See Dan_11:4; Dan_11:27; Dan_11:35; Dan_8:17. As we have shown (Dan_11:40-45) this does not prove, as Bevan claims, that these events were subsequent to those previously described. Bevan himself would acknowledge that in the mind of the writer the “end” did not close until the end of Antiochus (Dan_11:45). The seer now sees that the entire cruel reign of Antiochus is at [rather, in] the time of the end. The seventy long weeks of years find their consummation and end here. Beyond this end of the “indignation” (Dan_8:19) comes the beginning of Messiah’s reign.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv40–45 40. at the time of the end] The final…
40. at the time of the end] The final close of Antiochus’ reign. The expression denotes a period later than that of the persecutions described in Dan_11:35, which are to last ‘until the time of the end.’
the king of the south] would still be Ptolemy Philometor.
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butt with him] or, more exactly, shew himself one that butts, i.e. open a combat with him: the figure, as Dan_8:4.
and the king of the north, &c.] Antiochus will come against him like a whirlwind (for the figure, cf. Hab_3:14), with a vast armament.
and with many ships] Antiochus possessed a navy, which in his expeditions against Egypt of b.c. 170–168, he used with good effect (cf. p. 180).
enter into the countries] those viz. in his line of march.
overflow, and pass through] like a flood (as Dan_11:10).
40–45. The end of Antiochus. Antiochus, being attacked by the king of Egypt, will again conduct an expedition into Egypt, passing through Judah on the way; he will gain great successes, till interrupted by rumours from the East and North; and starting from Egypt on a fresh career of conquest and destruction will perish on the way between Jerusalem and the sea-coast. How far the events here described correspond to the reality is a very doubtful point. Our principal authorities mention no expedition into Egypt after the one of b.c. 168. What we know from other sources of the closing events of Antiochus’ life is as follows. In 167 b.c. he instituted at Daphne (near Antioch), in rivalry with those just celebrated by Aem. Paullus in Macedonia, a magnificent series of games, lasting 30 days. Soon after this, the Roman Senate, entertaining suspicions of his loyalty, sent Tiberius Gracchus to ascertain whether their suspicions were well-founded. Antiochus shewed himself quite master of the situation. He “received Tiberius so dexterously and amicably (οὔτως ἐπιδεξίως καὶ φιλοφρόνως) that the latter not only suspected no designs on his part, and could detect no trace of hostility on the score of what had happened at Alexandria, but even condemned those who made such allegations, on account of the extreme courtesy of his reception. For, besides other things, he gave up his palace, and almost even his crown, to the ambassadors, at least in appearance; for in reality, he was anything but prepared to make concessions to the Romans, and was, in fact, as hostile to them as possible” (Polyb. xxxi. 5). Although, however, Tiberius was satisfied of Antiochus’ sincerity, the suspicions of the Senate were not allayed: for reports reached it from other quarters that he was conspiring secretly with Eumenes of Pergamum against the Romans (Polyb. xxxi. 4–6, 9). In 166 he started on the expedition, in the course of which he met his death. Leaving Lysias to take charge of his provinces between Egypt and the Euphrates and to carry on the contest with Judas Maccabaeus, he crossed the Euphrates in this year for the East (1Ma_3:31-37),—according to Dan_11:28-31, because he was in need of funds, and intended ‘to take the tributes of the countries, and to gather much money,’ according to the condensed statement in Tac. Hist. Dan_11:8 to war against the Parthians[389]. It was probably on this expedition that he subjugated Artaxias, king of Armenia, who had revolted (Diod. Sic. xxxi. 17 a, App. Syr. 45). While in Elymais (E. of Babylonia) he attempted unsuccessfully to pillage a temple; and soon afterwards died, after a short illness, at Tabae in Persia (N. of Susa),—according to Polybius (xxxi. 11), ‘becoming mad (δαιμονήσας), as some say,’ in consequence of certain supernatural tokens of the anger of heaven on account of his attempted sacrilege, according to 1Ma_6:5-16 through disappointment and grief at hearing of the successes of the Jews against Lysias (in 2 Maccabees 9, the story of his death is told with legendary additions).
[389] ‘Rex Antiochus, demere superstitionem et mores Græcorum dare adnisus, quo minus teterrimam gentem in melius mutaret, Parthorum bello prohibitus est.’
Porphyry, however, as reported by Jerome in his notes on these verses, does speak of a fourth Egyptian expedition of Antiochus. He says that Antiochus invaded Egypt in his 11th year, passing through Judaea on the way, but not molesting Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites, lest the delay should give Ptolemy time to strengthen his forces; that while fighting in Egypt he was recalled by reports of wars in the North and East; that he accordingly returned, captured Arvad (in Phoenicia), and ravaged Phoenicia, and afterwards proceeded to the East against Artaxias, that, having defeated him, he fixed his tent at a place called Apedno, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, and finally that, after his attempted sacrilege in Persia, he died of grief at Tabae (as stated above). It is true, our accounts of Antiochus’ reign are incomplete, there being large gaps, especially in the parts of both Polybius and Livy which would naturally have contained particulars of his closing years. It is true also that, being, as Polybius tells us, unfriendly to the Romans, he might well have planned another campaign against their ally, Ptolemy[390]. But it is remarkable that no hint of any conquest (Dan_11:43) of Egypt at this time has come down to us except through Jerome, the more so, since, as Prof. Bevan has remarked (p. 164), Egypt was now under Roman protection, so that an attack upon the country must at once have produced a war with Rome. The statement respecting the wealth of Antiochus in Dan_11:43, also conflicts with what we know independently respecting his great financial difficulties at the time. And when the account given by Porphyry is examined more closely, it is seen (except in the particulars which we know already from other sources) to be strongly open to the suspicion of being derived from these verses of Daniel. Apart from the statements that it took place in his 11th year (which, as it must have been shortly before his death, was a date easy to fix), and that Arvad was captured by him, it contains nothing which could not have been inferred from the language of Daniel, and indeed is couched largely in the expressions used by Daniel. And the mention of Apedno as the place where he pitched his tent, is based obviously upon a misunderstanding of the Hebrew word found in Dan_11:45. While, therefore, we are not in a position to deny categorically a fourth Egyptian campaign, the probabilities are certainly against it. Most likely the author draws here an imaginative picture of the end of the tyrant king, similar to the ideal one of the ruin of Sennacherib in Isa_10:28-32 : he depicts him as successful where he had previously failed, viz. in Egypt; while reaping the spoils of his victories, he is called away by rumours from a distance; and then, just after he has set out on a further career of conquest and plunder, as he is approaching with sinister purpose the Holy City, he meets his doom.
[390] In Daniel, however, it is to be noted, it is the Egyptian king with whom the attack begins.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv40–45 (40) At the time of the end.—These verses speak…
(40) At the time of the end.—These verses speak of the last expedition of the northern king, and of the disappearance of the king of the south. The portrait of Antiochus, as noticed in the Note on Dan_11:36, was gradually fading away, and now not a line of it remains. No such invasion of Egypt as that mentioned here is mentioned in history. From the time mentioned in Dan_11:30 he appears to have abstained from approaching too closely to the Roman authorities. The story related in 1Ma_3:27-37 states that on hearing of the successes of the Maccabee princes he went into Persia on a plundering expedition, leaving Lysias his representative in Palestine. Lysias was defeated at Bethsur, and the news of the overthrow of his army was brought to Antiochus while he was in Persia. So appalling was the effect upon him of these tidings, that “he fell sick for grief” (1Ma_6:8), and died. It is unnecessary to suppose that the revelation resumes the narrative from Dan_11:29 after a parenthetic passage (Dan_11:30-39), or to assume that we have a general recapitulation of the wars of Antiochus, described in Dan_11:22-39, without distinguishing the different campaigns. (For a good account of Antiochus, see Judas Maccabœus, by C. R. Conder, R. E., Daniel 3.)
Time of the end.—Comp. Dan_8:17. The words mean the end of the world, with which (Dan_11:45) the end of this king coincides. The word “push” occurs also in Dan_8:4, and from the context it may be inferred that the southern king begins the last conflict, in the course of which both kings come to an end.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv40–45 And at the time of the end shall the…
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. The Septuagint Version is somewhat shorter, "And at the time of the end the King of Egypt shall push at him: and the king of the north shall be enraged at him, with chariots and many horses and many ships, and shall enter into the land of Egypt." Probably the Massoretic has been amplified. Still it is a possible thing that, as Egypt was the natural objective of all the military preparations of Syria, the shorter summary might be inserted instead of the longer paraphrase of the Massoretic. Throughout in the Septuagint Version, as may be noted, "Egypt" stands in place of "the south." Theodotion is much closer to the Massoretic, but omits "the whirlwind," and has. instead of "countries," ghn, "the land." The Peshitta differs in some respects more from the Massoretic than either of the Greek texts, "And at the end of time the king of the south shall strive with him: and the king of the north shall be moved against him, with chariots and horsemen and with many ships; and he shall act impiously in the land." The Vulgate agrees with the Massoretic text. At the time of the end. This refers to the same "time of the end" as that in ver. 35; that is to say, not the end of the world, but the end of this distress. It is possible that to the writer the entrance of the new era the Messianic time would coincide with the fall of Antiochus, and that this era might be regarded as the end of the world. The king of the south shall push at him. This suggests war begun by the King of Egypt against Syria. It is difficult to see how this could take place after the fourth expedition of Antiochus into Egypt. The two brothers, Philometor and Euergetes (Physcon), were at war with each ether shortly after this, and though Philometor gained the mastery, he was not in a position to threaten Syria. Certainly, had Ptolemy Philometor been in a position to take vengeance on his uncle, the successful rebellion of the Jews afforded an opportunity. We have no record in Polybius, Livy, 1 Maccabees, or Josephus of any expedition of Egypt against Epiphanes, either planned or attempted. Polybius is certainly fragmentary, and so to a greater extent is Livy; yet what has come down bears on events so near chronologically to this alleged expedition planned against Syria that it would scarcely fail to be noticed. And the king of the north shall dome against him like a whirlwind, with chariot, and with horsemen, and with many ships. This purports to be an account of an expedition undertaken by Epiphanes against Ptolemy, presumably Philometor. Of this there is not a trace; Antiochus is in so great need of money that he must use one half his army to collect money by robbing temples in Elymais, while the other, under Lysias, is occupied in attempting to put down the rebellion of the Jews. Again the historians of the period are silent, and what they tell us is inconsistent with this fifth expedition. Jerome, in his commentary on Daniel, quotes Porphyry, who gives an account of an expedition against Egypt in the eleventh year of his reign. That, however, was the year of his death the year, therefore, of his expedition against Elymais. It is impossible that in the beginning of that year he should undertake such an expedition into Egypt as that described by Porphyry, and at the end have time to march into Elymais. It cannot be the expedition of Lysias which is referred to, for he is represented (RAPC 1Ma 3:32) as having the oversight of all the territory of the king from the river Euphrates, but there is no notice of ships And he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. This might refer to the expedition which Antiochus undertook to Elymais, but in the following verse we learn the direction was toward Egypt. No such expedition occurred after the fourth. What explanation is to be given of this? The explanation favoured by Keil of this whole chapter, that the king of the north is antichrist, is applied here; but so much of the earlier portion of this chapter can be interpreted as history, that we, for our part, are loth to give an eschatological interpretation to this. The view favoured by most is that here the author narrated his expectations, but these expectations were contrary to facts. This is Professor Bevan"s view. If this view had been correct, the expectations of the author would be falsified almost as soon as they were recorded; this would certainly seem to render it impossible for the book to get the vogue it did. We, for our part, favour a modification of the view maintained by Hitzig, that this section is a repetition of what has been previously mentioned. Against this is the chronological statement at the beginning. Regarding, as we do, this chapter as an interpolation and the work of a later hand, our idea is that the section before us is one attempt to interpolate, and the preceding section is another, and that both have been incorporated in the narrative.
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The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v40 SECT. XLII.—SARACENS AND TURKS. (Chap. Dan_11:40-45.)
HOMILETICS
SECT. XLII.—SARACENS AND TURKS. (Chap. Dan_11:40-45.)
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Considerable obscurity connected with the present section. According to some, it is a continuation of the prophecy regarding the vile person or Antiochus Epiphanes, here still styled the King of the North. Thus viewed, the prophecy points to a last expedition against Egypt made after those previously mentioned; an expedition, however, of which history gives no intimation, but the reverse. [330] In the opinion of many evangelical expositors, the passage foretells the rise and doings of another power, of which, however, Antiochus was also a type. That power was the Mohammedan, first under the Saracens and subsequently the Turks; a power already noticed as an antitype of Antiochus, predicted as the little horn in the vision of the Ram and He-goat, chap. 8. Historically, it was that power that in the eastern portion of the empire succeeded the Roman, and became a scourge both to the Jews and to the Christian Church. In the prophecy also the section appears to connect itself with the prediction regarding the Roman empire and its representative, the Papacy. Thus viewing it, we notice—
[330] Brightman observes that this part of the prophecy cannot apply to Antiochus, as he can find no mention in any author of a third expedition by him into Egypt. He thinks that neither the authors of the books of the Maccabees nor Josephus would have been likely to omit to mention it, had there been any such; the latter, indeed, stating that nothing at all was attempted by Antiochus against that country after his expulsion by the Romans till his death in Persia. Justin relates that after the check he received from the Roman consul Popilius, he died as soon as he returned to his own kingdom. Sending Lysias, his general, into Syria, he himself went into Persia, where he died. Keil also, with V. Lengerke, Maurer, and Hitzig, considers the idea of a last expedition of Antiochus against Egypt in this passage, not only unsupported by history, but in irreconcilable contradiction to the historical facts regarding his last undertakings.
I. The time referred to. That the prophecy points to a time far beyond that of Antiochus would seem to be intimated in the words with which the section commences: “In the time of the end.” This probably the “end” already referred to as the time when the “indignation” against Israel is to be accomplished (Dan_11:35), the latter period of the fourth and last empire, the “time, times, and half a time” of the Little Horn. It is according to the Book of Revelation the time of the three last of the seven “trumpets,” called the three woes; this power being the fifth and sixth, the former under the Saracens, and the latter the Turks, followed by the seventh, which announces the end or finishing of the mystery of God, when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ, and when He takes to Himself His great power and reigns (Rev_9:1-21; Rev_10:7; Rev_11:15-18). This time of the end might, as it has done, extend over centuries, being the duration of the last period of Israel’s chastisement, and at the same time the chastisement of the Christian Churches. [331]
[331] “The time of the end.” Bright-man thinks that, as the Romans did nothing in particular against the Jews after Adrian, the prophecy passes on to the time of the weakened and decayed empire, when the Saracens, under Mahomet, encountered them, as the king of the South, a.d. 630, when they took from the Romans, in about thirty years, Jerusalem, all Syria, Africa, and Asia; the king of the North being the Turks, whose tyranny especially lay against the Romans from the year a.d. 1300. So Joseph Mede, who is followed by most modern evangelical expositors, considers the “time of the end “to be the last times of the Romans, and the king of the South the Saracens under Mahomet; while the king of the North is the Turks from Scythia in the far north, another Antichristian power who should attack and overcome the Saracens.
II. The parties predicted. These are twofold, designated according to the phraseology already employed in the former part of the prophecy in relation to two other powers, namely, the kings of the North and of the South. Formerly these terms were applied to the kings of Syria and of Egypt, the most prominent parties in that part of the vision, and so called from their situation in relation to Judea. Now, in the latter part of the prophecy, in the time of the end, they appear to mark the Saracens and the Turks, the latter rising in Scythia, to the north, and the former in Arabia, to the south of Palestine, and hence with equal truth designated the kings of the North and of the South. [332] These powers appear to be represented as acting against that previously predicted, namely, the Roman empire and its representative, the Papacy or Little Horn. They are apparently introduced as the power that was to check and weaken the Wilful King. The Turkish armies, which chiefly consisted of cavalry, appear to be pointed out in the prophecy, which represents the king of the North as coming “like a great whirlwind, with chariots and with horsemen.” They are said also to have many ships, without which, as Bishop Newton remarks, they could not have vanquished Venice, or taken Constantinople, Rhodes, Cyprus, or Crete. The description corresponds with that of the Euphratean horsemen, generally understood to represent the Turkish power. “The number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred thousand thousand” (Rev_9:14-16). This Euphratean power appearing under the sixth trumpet, or in the time of the end, is also represented as having their appointed period of rise and duration, being “prepared for (or, as in the margin, at) an hour and a day, and a month and a year (R.V., for the hour and day and month and year), to slay the third part of men.” The application of the king of the North to the Turkish power confirms that of the king of the South to the Saracens, their predecessors; that power being, according to general opinion, predicted in the locust army or first woe, which after “five months,” or a century and a half, of mischief, was to be succeeded by the second, or horsemen from the Euphrates (Rev_9:3-10).
[332] Bishop Newton, agreeing with Mede, observes that the terms North and South are to be taken and explained according to the times of which the prophet is speaking. Dr. Cox observes: “The sovereignties of Egypt and Syria, before called the king of the South and the king of the North, disappeared when they were absorbed in the Roman empire; and the new powers, or the Saracen and Turkish empires that succeeded, are now brought into view. But let it be observed that the Saracens became masters of Egypt, the original territory of the king of the South, and the Turks possessed Syria, or the kingdom of the North, and still retain it.” Calvin, who considers the power previously introduced, viz., the Romans, to be still described, thinks that the king of the South or Egypt, assisted by the king of the North or Syria, was to carry on war with the Romans, who are here compared to a deluge which should come and overflow, burying all the forces both of Egypt and Syria, and should also invade Judea. Junius and Willet think that the king of the North is still Antiochus, who should come up against the king of the South or Egypt, viz., Philometor, in order to aid his brother Physcon. Bullinger, like Mede and Brightman, understands by the kings of the North and South the Turks. and Saracens. Pfaff and Osiander thought the king of the North to be Antichrist, and the king of the South to be Christ Himself. Roman Catholic writers after Jerome, as well the Futurists, refer the passage to an infidel Antichrist who is yet to arise, and to the last conflicts in the land of Judea, Antichrist being here the king of the North. Kliefoth thinks that the prophecy relates to Antichrist, whom he distinguishes from the kings of the North and South, both of whom will in the time of the end attack him. Keil considers the first “him” to refer to the hostile king, the chief subject of the prophecy, but the second “him,” against whom the king of the North comes, to be the king of the South named immediately before; the king of the North, however, being the hostile king himself, thought of as the ruler of the distant North, reaching far beyond Syria, from which in his fury he comes against the king of the South.
III. The doings of the parties. Those of the Turkish power or king of the North mainly described.
1. “The king of the South shall push at him” (Dan_11:40). Mr. Birks remarks: “The Saracens, however wide their other conquests, did really push, with furious vehemence, against the papal dominions, whether we interpret them in a narrower sense of St. Peter’s patrimony, or more widely of the nations in communion with the See of Rome. How violent their inroads on the Western nations at large, till their defeat by Charles Martel, is known to the most cursory reader of history or romance.” He quotes Gibbon, who says: “A fleet of Saracens from the African coast presumed to enter the mouth of the Tiber, and to approach a city which even yet, in her fallen state, was revered as the metropolis of the Christian world.” The “African coast” marks the invaders as a power from the South.
2. “The king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots,” &c. History decides what the construction seems to leave uncertain, whether the attack of the king of the North was to be directed against the same power pushed at by the king of the South, or against the king of the South himself. We read of the attacks made by hordes of Turkish cavalry, first on the provinces of the Eastern empire, and then on the papal kingdoms of the West, as if following in the steps of the Saracens. Gibbon, speaking of the conquests of Togrul and Alp Arslan, says: “The Asiatic provinces of Rome were irretrievably sacrificed.” After overthrowing the Greek empire, by means of their horsemen and their ships, they directed their attack on the West, more particularly predicted in the words, “He shall enter into the countries, and overflow, and pass over.” Mr. Birks remarks: “These words aptly describe the first passage of the Turks into Europe. They had already entered into the countries of Asia Minor, and established themselves there as kings of the North. But they were not restrained within these narrow bounds.… The results of this first overflow of the Turks into Europe are too well known, and too legible on the map of Europe for centuries, to require further details.” He observes that Sismondi describes Italy and the pope as the true objects, at that time, of the Turkish aggression; and quotes Gibbon, who says: “The grief and terror of the Latins revived, or seemed to revive, the old enthusiasm of the crusades.… The devastation advanced towards the West, and every year saw a new kingdom fall.” These attacks of the king of the North, like those of his predecessor, were the divinely appointed chastisement of the idolatry which had already found so large a place in the Christian churches. The words of the Sultan Mahomet II., read in connection with Rev_9:20, at once show this to have been the case, and to confirm the view of this power being identical with the second woe and the king of the North: “I will not turn my face from the west to the east, till I overthrow and tread under the feet of my horses the gods of the nations; these gods of wood, of brass, of silver, and of gold, or of painting, which the disciples of Christ have made with their hands,”—as if he had read the passage above referred to,—“and the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils (demons, or departed spirits), and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood.”
3. He (the king of the North) shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon” (Dan_11:41). No question as to what is meant by “the glorious land” here and in Dan_11:16. Palestine or Syria, the tract lying between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, “has been more favoured by nature, and is more richly stored with the various delights of climate, of soil, and of scenery, than any other space of equal extent on the surface of the globe. Were one asked to point to that region of the earth which is the happiest in respect of natural conditions, it is to this tract that he would turn.” The glory and beauty, however, were more especially in the manifested presence and gracious goings of Him who deigned to call it peculiarly His own land. Into that land the victorious Turks entered in 1517, and left, as the trace of their presence and conquest, the present grey walls that surround Jerusalem, erected by the Sultan Suliman in 1542, the land continuing in the possession of the Turks to this day. [333] Those here said to escape out of his hand are Bedouin tribes of Arabia, who, as sons of Ishmael, still make good the prediction of Gen_16:12; whom the Turks have never been able entirely to subdue; and to whom, ever since the time when the Sultan Selim conquered the adjoining countries, they have paid an annual pension for the safe passage of the pilgrims to Mecca. It might seem strange, as Calvin remarks, and not a little trying to the covenant people, to learn that while they and their country, which God had given to Abraham and his seed, and which He had promised to watch over, should be invaded by this hostile power, those other countries, inhabited by their hereditary enemies, should be permitted to escape, and to remain in peace and safety. But they might remember the words of the prophet, “You only have I known of all the nations of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your iniquities.” Egypt, however, was not to escape (Dan_11:42-43). Selim, among his other conquests, put an end to the government of the Mamelukes, and established in its stead that of the Turks, who continue to this day, as Bishop Newton remarks, to drain immense treasures out of that rich and fertile but oppressed and wretched country. That it is held now by a Khedive or viceroy, only another evidence that the reign of the Turk is drawing to its close. With Egypt, the chief power in the south, should also fall the other nations of Africa,—the Libyans and the Ethiopians or Cushites, still farther to the south, who should become the obsequious followers of his march (Jdg_4:10), but who also now give evidence to the drying up of “the great river Euphrates” (Rev_16:12).
[333] Brightman observes that the Sultan Selim, about the year 1514, on his way to Egypt, took his journey by Judea, and carried Jerusalem by assault. Edom, or in general, Arabia, the Turks did not attack, being content to open themselves a way to Egypt through Syria and Palestine, which in the following year they brought under their subjection.
4. “Tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many; and he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain” (Dan_11:44-45). The tidings out of the east and the north which shall disturb this victorious power in the midst of his conquests in the Holy Land and the adjacent countries, are such, doubtless, as would inform him of risings among the subdued nations, or invasions from other quarters, which should endanger his acquisitions, or perhaps his own dominions. [334] These tidings should arouse his indignation and draw him from Africa, where he appears then to be, again to Palestine, where he would seem to encamp at Jerusalem, the metropolis of the country, pitching his tent on the “glorious holy mountain, between the seas,” the Mediterranean on the one side and the Dead Sea on the other, [335] his purpose being, like that of his Syrian type, to wreak his vengeance on the people by their utter destruction. [336] How the Turks took and retained possession of Jerusalem we have already seen. It is scarcely likely that the doings of Sultan Selim in reference to that city are here referred to; history only relating concerning him that, having been greatly annoyed by the arrows of the wild Arabs from the hills in the south, he advanced towards Gaza, and thence to Rama, where he revenged himself on the habitations, wives, and children of the Arabs, and soon after turned aside with his cavalry to visit Jerusalem. It is more than probable that, as it is there that this hostile power is to come to his end, the prophecy has not yet received its fulfilment. Probably another power is first to come upon the stage. [337]
[334] “Tidings from the east and from the north.” Bishop Newton thinks that Persia in the east, and Russia in the north, of the Ottoman empire, may be the quarters from which the tidings referred to may come, and that these nations may hereafter be made the instruments of divine Providence in the restoration of the Jews; quoting a current tradition among the common people in Turkey, that their empire shall at some period be destroyed by the Russians. Pfaff and Osiander, understanding the passage of the Roman Antichrist, regarded the tidings as those of the breaking out of the Reformation, and the preaching of the Gospel in Germany. Melanchthon understood it of the Turks, whose rage the Lord should stay from heaven when no human force could resist them. Bright-man, writing in the seventeenth century, observes that the things hitherto predicted are already past; those which follow, to the end of the chapter, are still to come. No tidings from the east troubled Antiochus, nor the Romans after the battle of Cannæ: nor did the Romans plant their tabernacles in Judea. He thinks the tidings out of the east and north that shall trouble the Turk, is the conversion of the Jews according to Rev_16:12, which brings him in great fury to the Holy Land, where he is to perish.
[335] “He shall plant the tabernacles Of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain.” Mr. Birks inclines to think, with Melanchthon, that in so far as the Turkish power is viewed as the subject of the present prophecy, Constantinople is the place referred to as the “glorious holy mountain,” or, as he says the words might be rendered, a “mountain of holy delight;” the occupying of that place as the seat of empire being the main event of the history between the time of the conquest of Egypt by the Turks and their final overthrow. Regarding the king of the North, however, as the Antichrist yet to arise, he thinks Palestine and Jerusalem the places intended, whither he will lead the confederate nations of Europe, the power of Russia, and the districts held long before by the king of the North. Dr. Cox thinks the passage intimates that the Turk will plant his tabernacles, or fix his encampment, in the Holy Land at Jerusalem, between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean; and that there, having enjoyed a termporary triumph, he will experience a signal and fatal overthrow. He adds, “Whether the Russian and Persian powers are destined to inflict the providential visitation, as many have supposed, must be left to the disclosures of futurity.” Keil thinks that the expression נָטַע (nata’), “plant,” probably alludes to the great palace-like tent of the Oriental ruler, whose poles must be struck very deep into the earth; these tents being surrounded by a multitude of smaller ones for the guards and servants, which accounts for the use of the plural, “tabernacles” or “tents.” He renders the words הַר צְבִי־קֹדֶשׁ (har tsebhi-qodhesh), “the holy hill of the delight,” i.e., of Palestine; and considers it to be the hill on which the Temple stood. He disagrees with Kliefoth and others, who think that the “seas” are the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea; and regards the word “seas” as only the poetic plural of fulness for the great Mediterranean. The term אֲפַדְנוֹ (aphadhno), “his palace,” as our own and Luther’s version render it, has been variously understood. Theodotion and the Vulgate leave it untranslated, while the Septuagint omits it altogether. Porphyry understood it to be the name of a place, and Junius regards it as that of the country of Mesopotamia or Syria, the “seas” being its fens or marshes. Jerome renders it “his stable,” as referring to cavalry. Calvin has “his palace,” as indicating a permanent abode fixed by the Romans in those countries. The word is used by the Rabbins in the sense of a palace. Dr. Pusey remarks that this is one of the four Syrian words which have been singled out by the opponents of Daniel, as making against his Hebrew, but as agreeing with the situation of a Jewish writer in the time of the Maccabees. The word, he says, survived in heathen and Christian Syriac as well as in the translation of the Scriptures, and was also, in a slightly varied form, probably introduced into Arabia from the Syriac, and had certainly been known in Mesopotamia, since it became the name of a place, Apadnas, near Amida on the Tigris; but was wholly lost in Chaldea, being unintelligible to all the Greek translators, and rendered in the Syriac version, not according to the meaning of the actual Syriac word, but according to the common meaning of padan, which forms part of the name Padan-aram.
[336] “To destroy and utterly make away many.” לְהַשְׁמִיד וּלְהַחֲרִים (lehashmidh ulehakharim), to smite and to ban, or uproot, implying utter destruction. So Antiocbus in his wrath resolved to make Jerusalem a grave for the whole of the Jews.
[337] Mr. Birks, who interprets these last verses of the Saracen and Turkish powers, is inclined to extend their bearing to a power that should combine in himself all the forms of Antichristian hostility that had preceded, and believes there is a further accomplishment in events which will complete and close the Gentile dispensation. Keil also views the latter part of this chapter as pointing to a power, whom he designates Antichrist, the antitype of Antiochus Epiphanes, and remarks: “The placing of the overthrow of this enemy with his host near the Temple-mountain agrees with other prophecies of the Old Testament, which place the decisive destruction of the hostile world-power by the appearance of the Lord for the consummation of His kingdom upon the mountains of Israel (Eze_39:4), or in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joe_3:2, &c.), in or at Jerusalem (Zec_14:2); and confirms the result of our exposition that the hostile king, the last enemy or world-power, is the Antichrist.
IV. The end of the hostile power. “He shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (Dan_11:45). This being the first time we read of the end of the power whose doings are described in the preceding verses, since the introduction of the vile person in Dan_11:21, some have been led to think that the same power is spoken of throughout. It is probable, however, that the end here foretold is that of the hostile power under its last form, which is at the same time the termination and destruction of all the world-powers that have set themselves in opposition to God’s people whether in Old or New Testament times, and which, of course, is still future. The blending, in the prophecy, of one Antichristian power, or of one form of Antichrist, into another has its parallel in the prophecy of the Saviour Himself, in which the prediction regarding Jerusalem’s destruction blends into that of His second appearing, when He shall take “vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of His Son,” and when the “Man of Sin “shall be destroyed “with the brightness of His coming.” It seems certain, from chap. Dan_12:1, that the end of the hostile power here predicted is connected with the great tribulation, and the resurrection from the dead which is probably soon to follow it. The angel then adds: “And at that time”—the time referred to in the end of the preceding chapter—“shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.” This time of trouble, again, is connected with the resurrection from the dead, which appears to follow it chap. Dan_12:2), and which we know to be the result of the Lord’s second appearing (1Co_15:23; 1Th_4:15-17). The manner in which the end of this and, at the same time, of every hostile power is described, corresponds with this view of the time and circumstances in which it shall happen. It is simply said, “He shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” As if a breath from the Lord’s mouth, or a glance from His eye, brought him and all his chivalry in a moment to destruction. No word is spoken as to the means by which, or the manner in which, the end should be brought about. The scene closes in sublime and mysterious silence. For a fuller description of the solemn event we must, doubtless, look to the prophecy of Zechariah, Zec_14:3-4, and especially to the awful and magnificent picture of the battle of the great day of God Almighty presented in Rev_19:11-21. May both reader and writer be prepared for the terrors and solemnities of that infinitely momentous and rapidly approaching day!
HOMILETICS
SECT. XLIII.—THE INFIDEL AND FINAL ANTICHRIST. (Chap. Dan_11:45.)
“He shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” It has been remarked that in this last prophecy of Daniel one predicted hostile power appears to merge into and blend with another that succeeds it. This prophetic blending sometimes takes place almost insensibly; so that the same power would almost seem still to continue to be spoken of. Of these various successive powers Antiochus Epiphanes, who is introduced in Dan_11:21, seems to be regarded as a kind of general type. The powers themselves may be regarded as so many Antichrists,—for, according to the Apostle, “there are many Antichrists,”—or Antichrist under so many different forms. The destruction of all these Antichristian powers would seem to take place together, and to be that “end” predicted in the closing verse of the chapter, of which the sudden and signal end of Antiochus was a type. As the papal Antichrist seemed to blend into the Mahometan in Dan_11:40, so the Mahometan would appear to blend into the infidel and final one in the last verse of the chapter. From what is said to take place when the power thus predicted comes to his end, viz., the time of great tribulation, the deliverance of the Jewish remnant, and the resurrection from the dead, there can be little doubt that this power is the last enemy that shall appear against the people of God, till the end of the thousand years’ reign of righteousness and peace (Rev_20:7-9). That last enemy is apparently still the Little Horn of Daniel’s Fourth Beast, and Paul’s Man of Sin; but, as may be gathered from the book of Revelation, under an openly infidel form, as the scarlet-coloured beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit and goeth into perdition, “full of names of blasphemy,” having seven heads and ten horns, who with the false prophet gathers together the kings of the earth and their armies, to make war against Christ in the “battle of the great day of God Almighty,” and who with the same false prophet shall then be taken and “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Rev_17:3; Rev_16:14; Rev_19:20).
Following Mr. Frere in his “Combined View of the Prophecies,” Mr. Irving observes that in the book of Daniel we have four main streams of prophecy, all commencing from the period at which the prophet lived, and running down to the time of the end. The fourth stream is contained in this eleventh chapter, which connects itself with the time of Daniel by the mention of certain “kings” immediately succeeding it, and then makes large leaps to reach the description of a third blasphemous and ungodly power, which was to arise in the form, not of an institution, but of an individual, close to the time of the end; these three powers being the Papal, Mahometan, and the Infidel; all to arise within the bounds of the four great monarchies, which may be called the prophetic earth. The prophet, he remarks, gives a most particular account of one king who should, at the time of the end, exalt himself against God, and prosper in war, till he should “come to his end, and none should help him.” This end of the infidel king, for whose manifestation the whole history was given, shall also be the end or accomplishment of God’s purposes in dispersing the Jews; which, he observes, was most important for Daniel, and is still most important both to the dispersed Jews and the Church of the Gentiles, whose fulness comes not in till the dispersed are gathered again; inasmuch as the prophecy makes this ingathering contemporaneous with the downfall of the great infidel king. Much to the same effect, Mr. Faber, in his “View of the Prophecies regarding Israel,” observes that nearly every prophecy that treats of the restoration of the Jews treats likewise of the contemporary overthrow of some great and impious combination of God’s enemies; a confederacy of which an infidel power, which should appear at the time of the end, should be so powerful as to take the lead, and which should include the ten-horned beast or Roman empire under its last head, the ecclesiastical power represented by Daniel’s little horn, and certain kings of the earth, apparently in a state of vassalage to that sovereign power. All these are said to come to their end, and to be destroyed by some divine interposition after the expiration of a certain period (a “time, times, and half a time”); and that in Palestine, a region between the seas, in the neighbourhood of the glorious holy mountain, or Mount Zion, and in the more immediate vicinity of the town of Megiddo. At the close of the same period, he observes, the prophet teaches (chap. Dan_12:1) that the restoration of the Jews, the goal to which the angelic communication pointed, should take place. The restoration, contemporaneous with the overthrow of the infidel power, Mr. Faber regarded as prepared for by the fall of the Ottoman empire, or the drying up of the river Euphrates (Rev_16:12), which takes place previous to the gathering together of the great confederacy. A writer on prophecy already quoted remarks that the manifestation of the last Antichristian apostasy or infidelity consists, like that of the former two, the Papal and the Mahometan, of two parts; the latter and the chief part being the account of the infidel person, his acts, and his destruction; the other part being the historical chain which connects the account with the time of the giving of the vision,—a chain of persons, remarkable kings, who were to intervene. This chain, Mr. Irving observes, brings us to a new dynasty (Dan_11:18), when the Roman arms under Scipio took the sovereignty of the parts that had constituted the Grecian monarchy; and then the prophecy at one stride brings us down to the immediate predecessor of the infidel king, who is said to be in his estate a “raiser of taxes” (Dan_11:20). The chain, he thinks, thus brings us to the first manifestation of the infidel power in the “vile person” (Dan_11:21), whose acts the prophet describes through the remaining part of the chapter. The countries he enters into (Dan_11:40) he considers to be already prepared, by the dissemination of his infidel sentiments, to give him a welcome; when he will “overflow” and level, like a terrible inundation, ancient thrones and establishments before him. This first manifestation of the infidel power he, with many others, believed to have its realisation in the first Napoleon, to be succeeded by a second like to him. He thinks that the prophet then immediately carries the infidel prince over to another scene of action, quite out of the bounds of the ten-horned papal empire, to the Holy Land (Dan_11:41), and gives a narrative of his conquests there, carried on probably from a motive of mad ambition: Perhaps, having subdued the western Roman empire, he is to be God’s instrument to bring the Turk to his end, and may thus pass over to the Asiatic and African states, to possess himself of Egypt and the neighbouring kingdoms, to rally the nations of the ancient empire under his banner, the time of the destruction of the fourth beast being nigh at hand. The tidings out of the east, he, with Brightman, thinks refer to the event predicted in Rev_16:12, regarding the kings of the East, while those from the north refer to Russia. Thus troubled and “moved by what natural impulse we know not, but overruled by all those prophecies that have doomed him and all his chivalry to fall upon the mountains of Israel, in the valley of Jehoshaphat, by the rock of Zion, he plants in Jerusalem the ‘tabernacles of his palace,’ the insignia of his royal state, upon the ‘glorious holy mountain between the seas,’ and there he comes to his end by a mighty overthrow, in a great battle of God Almighty, to which the nations have been gathered together.” He characterises the infidelity or infidel apostasy, contemplated here in the light not of an institution but of a person, as that which has grown like a disease out of the body of the papacy, and been nourished by the very grossness of that superstition, and gathering every evil and corrupt humour out of the wicked mass, till we see it, as it now is, all over its kingdom, ready to burst out and destroy the very organisation of the body. This impersonation of infidelity, or infidel chief, he considers, is to conduct and guide that infidelity to its sure purpose of dissolving that constitution of evil which has so long sat as an incubus upon the spirit of the Church. This infidel Antichrist, having obtained the victory over the papal constitution in order to destroy every vestige of lingering life within it, and being then led onwards to the East where he shall find the Mahometan superstition in its last throes; and thus coming in time to take up the abandoned sceptre of the Eastern empire, and having under him that power of nations and of kingdoms, which both the apostasies of the East and West once possessed,—“he hath accomplished his end, and his time is come.” With his destruction, which is accomplished at Armageddon, the three apostasies are all finished, and Satan’s last desperate throw is ended, and “the kingdom of Christ in good earnest spreads with all the prosperity of the divine blessing over all the earth.”
In Mr. Faber’s view, which is similar, the person who forms the subject of the closing verses of the chapter is the infidel king, the leader of the great Antichristian confederacy of the last days, who will, at the time of the end, or the close of the time, times, and half a time, be opposed by a king of the North and a king of the South; yet, in spite of this opposition, will succeed in overflowing many countries, and in conquering Palestine, Egypt, Libya, and the land of Cush or Ethiopia. In the unidst of these victories, he, being in Egypt, will be disturbed by some untoward tidings out of the North and out of the East, probably of the arrival in Palestine of the navy of the great maritime power with the converted of Judah. Enraged at such ungrateful news, he will hasten to Jerusalem, which he will succeed in taking. This, however, will be his last victory. Advancing to Megiddo, a town near the shores of the Mediterranean, in the great plain of Esdraelon, where, according to St. John, the conflict is to be decided, he will come unexpectedly to his end. The triumphant “Word of God” shall break his confederacy, and super-naturally overthrow him with a sudden destruction. The king of the North Mr. Faber thinks to be Russia; some terrible invasion from that quarter, symbolised by the great hailstorm of the Apocalypse, being made upon the papal Roman empire during the time that the infidel king is prosecuting his conquests in Palestine and Egypt.
Keil also views the latter verses of the chapter as all pointing to such an infidel power, whom he designates the Antichrist, the antitype of Antiochus Epiphanes. He says: “The undertaking of this king (Antiochus) to root out the worship of the living God, and destroy the Jewish religion, shows in type the great war which the world-power shall undertake against the kingdom of God, by exalting itself above every god, to hasten on its own destruction and the consummation of the kingdom of God. The description of this war, as to its origin, character, and issue, forms the principal subject of this prophecy.… From the typical relation in which Antiochus, the Old Testament enemy of God, stands to Antichrist, the New Testament enemy, is explained the connection of the end, the final salvation of the people of God, and the resurrection from the dead, with the description of this enemy, without any express mention being made of the fourth world-kingdom [the Roman empire], and of the last enemy [the little horn] arising out of it—already revealed to Daniel in chap. 7.… In chapter 8, the violent enemy of the people of Israel, who would arise from the Diadoch-kingdoms of the Javanic world-monarchy [the four divisions of the Grecian empire after Alexander’s death], was already designated as the type of the last enemy who would arise out of the ten kingdoms of the fourth world- [or universal] monarchy. After these preceding revelations, the announcement of the great tribulation, that would come upon the people of God from these two enemies, could be presented in one comprehensive painting, wherein the assaults made by the prefigurative enemy against the covenant people should form the foreground of the picture, for a representation of the daring of the antitypical enemy, proceeding even to the extent of abolishing all divine and human ordinances, which shall bring the last and severest tribulation on the Church of God at the end of the days, for its purification and preparation for eternity.”
We conclude our remarks on the infidel Antichrist, and on the whole of this deeply interesting though somewhat obscure chapter, with the words of Auberlen: “It cannot be proved with absolute certainty that a personal Antichrist will stand at the head of the Antichristian kingdom; for it is possible that the eighth, like the preceding heads (of the beast in Revelation 7), designates a kingdom, a power, and not a person; and the same may be said concerning the Antichristian horn described by Daniel, when compared with the ten horns. But the type of Antiochus Epiphanes is of decisive importance; for this personal enemy of God’s kingdom is described in the eighth chapter of Daniel, as a little, gradually increasing horn, just as Antichrist is spoken of in the seventh. And this is corroborated by the Apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 2), who describes Antichrist (Dan_11:4) with colours evidently furnished by Daniel’s sketch of Antiochus, and who calls him, moreover, the “Man of Sin,” the Son of perdition, which, if explained naturally, must refer to an individual (Compare Joh_17:12, where the same expression is used of Judas). In favour of the same view may be adduced, likewise, analogies in the history of the world; the previous world-kingdoms (or universal empires) had extraordinary persons as their heads, as Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander the Great. The spiritual and universal character does not exclude individual, personal representations. Every spiritual tendency has its distinguished representatives, and when it has reached its perfection, provides its representative κατʼ ἐξοχήν (par excellence). Hence Antichristian tendencies produce different Antichrists; and it is a sober historical view when Christianity maintains that these separate Antichrists shall, some future day, find their consummation in an individual far excelling them in the intensity of his evil character (Lange). In conclusion, we must not omit to mention that Paul and John agree in speaking emphatically of the destruction of Antichrist.… His triumph is but of short duration; judgment speedily overtakes him. The man of sin is of necessity a child of death, the son of perdition.… The return of the “beast” (Rev_17:11) is represented, or at least prepared, in that principle which, since 1789, has manifested itself in beast-like outbreaks, and has since then been developed both extensively and intensively. This principle has appeared in various forms, in the Revolution, in Napoleon, [338] despotism sanctioning revolution; proving, at the same time, that the beast, even in this shape, can carry the “harlot” in Socialism and Communism. But we may yet expect other manifestations. [339] At present, it is the endeavour of churches and governments to keep down this monster; but it has shown its teeth more than once, and given unmistakable signs that it is regaining life and strength. How long its development shall last,—whether it is to grow up rapidly,—through what different phases it has yet to pass,—at what period the seventh kingdom shall pass over into the eighth (Revelation 17), is not known to man: God alone knows it. It is not for us to know the times or the seasons (Act_1:7); but it is for us to take to heart the word of our Lord, “Can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Mat_16:3).
[338] Mr. Irving and others find a remarkable correspondence between the prophecy concerning the “vile person” and the first Napoleon. The “raiser of taxes,” who preceded him, is identified with Louis XVI., whose death was brought about “neither in anger nor in battle,” but in cold blood, by the sentence of that very power to which his raising of taxes had given birth. The rise of Napoleon is considered to be described in Dan_11:21, “with a general comprehensiveness as wonderful as in the former verse was the Bourbon’s fate.” Dan_11:22, Mr. Irving thinks, describes the first act of Napoleon’s career in Italy almost in his own words which be addressed to his troops: “You have precipitated yourselves like a torrent from the summit of the Apennines.” The “prince of the covenant” he views as the pope, who declared his submission in a league which terminated the campaign. In correspondence with Dan_11:23, he remarks, that Napoleon, after the league just mentioned so wrought with men of science and letters as well as with the common people, to induce them to regard him as the harbinger of light, reason, and liberty, that he was able, with a small force, so to increase his power as to enter the richest provinces of Italy, and levy upon them exactions of every kind, which he scattered among his soldiers; at the same time plundering churches and repositories of art of their treasures which no conqueror had hitherto done. Dan_11:25-27 were fulfilled in the surprising victories gained over the emperor of Austria, the king of the South, through secret intelligence had with one high in the Austrian counsels; the emperor concerting the campaign with the pope or prince of the covenant, plotting mischief together, viz., the continuance of the mystery of iniquity,—but in vain, as its end was determined; the result being that Rome became a republic, the priests were banished, and the pope died in exile. Dan_11:28 is viewed as giving the key to his future wars and animosities, viz., his “indignation against the holy covenant,” or that people who continued to maintain the cause of religion and righteousness against his usurpation and the confederacy to perpetuate the mischiefs of the papacy, viz., the British nation.
[339] Faber, Frere, Gauntlett, and others, expressed their conviction, previous to 1820, that a second French emperor, exactly like the first, would arise nearer to the end, and would constitute the last great Antichrist. More than twenty other writers, according to Mr. Baxter, up to 1861, considered the late emperor, Napoleon III., to be the eighth head of the apocalyptic beast or future personal Antichrist. Points of resemblance between him and the first Napoleon were not wanting; enough to show that the idea of a repetition might easily be verified, and to strike the attention of those who, according to the Lord’s direction, seek to discern the signs of the times. That two potentates, so closely related to each other, should arise and, after a brief interval, succeed each other, both so unlikely in themselves, and with such humble beginnings, and bearing so strong a resemblance both to each other and to the prophecy, was certainly remarkable, and fitted at least to keep men on the watch. But the end was not yet. “Deus habet sus horas et moras.” Notwithstanding the expressed presentiment of the first Napoleon that his nephew should be the ultimate representative of the Napoleonic dynasty, and the profound conviction of that nephew, even from early life, that he had a great mission and destiny to fulfil in relation to France; notwithstanding that, singularly, after becoming president of the French Republic in 1851, he became emperor of France in 1852, being crowned on the anniversary of the battle of Austerlitz and the coronation of Napoleon L, thus restoring the Napoleonic dynasty, when the French people inscribed on an arch erected in his honour the remarkable words, “The uncle that was, the nephew that is,” as if in literal fulfilment of Rev_17:8; Rev_17:11; notwithstanding that from 1849 to 1870 he maintained military occupation of Rome, and declared that the temporal power of the pope was incompatible with the advance of civilisation and must be put down, being termed the “modern Augustus, nephew and heir of Cæsar;” and finally, notwithstanding that he succeeded in acquiring an almost paramount influence over Spain and Italy, while he extended his power in Algeria and the northern coast of Africa, and appeared determined to possess himself of Palestine, and that, as in the case of the first Napoleon, Great Britain appeared to be the only impediment to his attainment of uncontrolled dominion over the Roman world; yet he passed away, broken apparently in the zenith of his prosperity and power, and left the prophecy still unfulfilled.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v45 (See Scofield "Dan 11:2").
palace
(See Scofield "Dan 11:2").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv40, 42, 44 the time of the end
the time of the end
"the final days" or "the end of the world." See how you translated this in Daniel 8:17.
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the king of the South ... The king of the North
These phrases stand for the kings and their armies. AT: "the king of the South and his army ... The king of the North and his army" (See: Synecdoche)
will storm against him
Violently attacking with an army is spoken of as if a storm happened. AT: "will attack him like a violent storm" or "will violently attack him" (See: Metaphor)
flood them
When an army overruns a country, it is spoken of as if a flood occurred. See how you translated this in Daniel 11:10. (See: Metaphor)
pass through
Nothing will stop the army. AT: "will pass through the lands with no one to stop him" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the land of beauty
This refers to the land of Israel. See how you translated this in Daniel 08:09 and Daniel 11:16.
will fall
Here falling represents the action of dying. AT: "will die" (See: Metonymy)
But these will escape from his hand
Here "hand" represents power. AT: "But these will escape from his power" or "But he will not be able to destroy these nations" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
king
chariot
horseman
sweep
flood
hand
Edom
Moab
Ammon
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv40, 41, 45 11:40-45 Most commentators believe these verses describe the time…
11:40-45 Most commentators believe these verses describe the time of the end of history (cp. Mark 13:14; 2 Thes 2:3-12; Rev 19:19-21). These verses echo the career of Antiochus IV, but we have no historical record of the events described here. Antiochus was a paradigm for future rulers who set themselves against the God of gods.
11:40 No known king of the south or king of the north did these things.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.