Daniel 11 Study Notes

11:1-45 This chapter contains some of the most precise predictions in the entire Bible. These predictions are so precise that many scholars claim this chapter was written as a pseudo-prophecy after the events actually took place. But if God is omniscient, and if he chooses to foretell select future events, there is no problem with predictive prophecy or acceptance that this chapter was written long before the events occurred.

11:1 Although the angel visited Daniel “In the third year of King Cyrus of Persia” (10:1), he revealed to Daniel that he had stood up to strengthen and protect Darius since the first year of his reign (539 BC). God is active in the political affairs of the world.

11:2 The three . . . kings in Persia were Cambyses (530-522 BC), Pseudo-Smerdis (522 BC), and Darius I Hystaspes (522-486 BC). Ahasuerus was the fourth king who would be far richer than the others.

11:3-4 The warrior king predicted here was Alexander the Great (336-323 BC). As prophesied, his kingdom was divided to the four winds of heaven, referring to the division of his empire among his four generals rather than his descendants (see note at 8:8).

11:5 The king of the South is Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt (323-285 BC), who was outstripped by one of his commanders, Seleucus I Nicator (311-280 BC), who had abandoned Ptolemy I to become ruler of Babylonia, Media, and Syria, and establish the Seleucid kingdom that grew to be greater than that of Ptolemy’s Egypt.

11:6 The king of the South, Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 BC), would make an alliance with the king of the North, Antiochus II Theos (261-246 BC), sealing the agreement by giving his daughter, the Ptolemaic princess Berenice, to marry Antiochus. Yet Berenice would not retain power, as Antiochus’s former wife Laodice would murder Antiochus, Berenice, and their child.

11:7-9 One from Berenice’s family, her brother Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-221 BC), would avenge her murder by storming Antioch, the fortress of the king of the North, Seleucus II Callinicus (246-226 BC), and killing Laodice. Ptolemy III would even seize Seleucid gods and valuables, bringing them back to Egypt.

11:10 The sons of Seleucus II—Seleucus III Ceraunus (226-223 BC) and Antiochus III (223-187 BC)—would wage war as far as the Ptolemaic fortress Raphia in southern Israel.

11:11-12 The king of the South, Ptolemy IV Philopator (221-203 BC) of Egypt, would counterattack the king of the North, Antiochus III (219-218 BC). Although both would command large armies, the result would be a great victory for the Ptolemies. As a result of his success, Ptolemy IV would become arrogant and slaughter tens of thousands of Seleucid troops, yet he would not be able to maintain his dominance over the Seleucid kingdom.

11:13-15 Fifteen years later, the king of the North, Antiochus III, would raise an even greater army and attack the Ptolemies in Phoenicia and Israel. Antiochus III would receive support against the king of the South, Ptolemy V Epiphanes (203-181 BC), and the Ptolemies. This support would come from Jewish rebels, here called violent ones among your own people. Antiochus III’s forces would win a resounding victory, even capturing the well-fortified city of Sidon (199-198 BC).

11:16-17 The king of the North, Antiochus III, would make the beautiful land of Israel a possession of the Seleucid kingdom in 198 BC and force a peace agreement on the Ptolemies. Antiochus III would give his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy V as a wife, hoping to control the Ptolemaic kingdom through her. This failed because Cleopatra helped her Ptolemaic husband and did not stand with . . . or support her father Antiochus III.

11:18-19 Antiochus III would then turn his attention to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea but would be defeated by the Roman commander Lucius Cornelius Scipio at Thermopylae (191 BC) and then Magnesia (190 BC). This would force Antiochus to focus on his own country where he would stumble, fall, and be no more, being killed by a mob defending the temple of Zeus in Elymais as Antiochus tried to pillage it.

11:20 The king who would arise in his place was Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175 BC), who would send his tax collector, Heliodorus, to collect money with which to pay the heavy indemnity he owed to Rome. After his short reign, Seleucus IV was killed not in anger or in battle but by poison from his tax collector.

11:21-35 Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163 BC), the little horn in 8:9-12,23-25 (cp. notes there), is emphasized in this section because he would have a terrible and oppressive effect on the Jewish people in the near term, and his reign is a picture of the future world ruler (the antichrist) who will also oppress the Jewish people.

11:21 Antiochus IV was not of the royal line, but took control by intrigue while the rightful heir, Demetrius, was held in Rome. The prediction called him a despised person because of his hatred of the Jewish people, his attempt to destroy Judaism, his desecration of the temple, and his megalomania displayed in calling himself Epiphanes (“Manifest One, Illustrious One”). People of that time also called him Epimanes (“madman”).

11:22 Despite Ptolemy VI Philometor (181-146 BC) attacking with a flood of forces, Antiochus IV would be able to defeat them and depose the covenant prince, the Jewish high priest Onias III.

11:23-24 Antiochus IV would increase in power by sharing the wealth of his conquests, lavishing plunder, loot, and wealth on his followers.

11:25-26 These verses refer back to the war with Ptolemy VI (v. 22), predicting that not only would the power of Antiochus IV defeat Ptolemy VI, but also that plots . . . against him would cause his army to be swept away.

11:27-28 After the defeat of Ptolemy VI, Ptolemy VII took control of Egypt. Then the other two kings, Antiochus IV and Ptolemy VI, would meet, speaking lies at the same table, to plot Ptolemy VI’s restoration to the throne. After initial limited success, they would eventually fail. Then Antiochus IV (the king of the North), having plundered Egypt, would return to his land, with his heart . . . set against the holy covenant. On the way home, he would attack Israel, kill eighty thousand Jewish men, women, and children, and plunder the holy temple (169 BC).

11:29-30 Antiochus IV would launch another attack against Egypt, but this time ships of Kittim (cp. Nm 24:24)—the Roman fleet led by Gaius Popilius Laenas—would force him to withdraw in humiliation.

11:31-32 Antiochus IV would once again attack Israel (167 BC) while returning to Syria, this time desecrating the temple in Jerusalem. Antiochus would prefigure the future antichrist’s actions (9:27; 12:11) by abolishing the regular sacrifice and committing the abomination of desolation. In response, the people who know their God will . . . take action, as expressed in the Maccabean revolt (see note at 8:13-14).

11:33-35 The Maccabees would experience suffering in their battle with Antiochus. In the end, the Maccabees would defeat Antiochus, rededicate the holy temple in Jerusalem, and establish the festival of Hanukkah (Eng “Dedication”) which the Lord Jesus celebrated (Jn 10:22) and which Jewish people still observe today.

11:36-45 At this point, the predictions shift away from Antiochus IV and focus on the end of days. The king mentioned in this section is the future antichrist, already identified as the “little” horn (7:8,20,24-25) and “the coming ruler” (9:26).

11:36-39 These verses provide a clear description of the future antichrist. The god desired by women (lit “the desire of women”) may be a reference to the longing of Jewish women to give birth to the Messiah.

11:40-44 During the great tribulation, the antichrist will be attacked in a pincer movement from both the north and the south. Yet he will be successful, sweeping through like a flood. He will also invade Israel, the beautiful land, ignoring some nations that are in alliance with him but conquering others, including Egypt, Libya, and Sudan (the Cushites). Reports of nations from the east and the north coming to attack will both terrify and infuriate him, leading him to pursue a course of genocidal warfare against his enemies, especially many of the Jewish people (cp. Zch 13:8-9).

11:45 The antichrist will establish his military capital in Israel, pitching his royal tents between the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Jerusalem, situated on the beautiful holy mountain. There the nations of the earth will gather (Zch 14:2) at Mount Megiddo to begin the campaign of Armageddon (Rv 16:13-16). At that time, when the nation of Israel calls on the Messiah Jesus, he will return (Mt 23:37-39) to deliver them, and the antichrist will meet his end with no one to help him.