Daniel · chapter 11 of 12
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Daniel 11 contains the most detailed revelation in the book: the succession of Persian kings, the rise of a mighty king of Greece, and the conflicts between the kings of the north and the south, which pass through the land of Israel. A contemptible king desecrates the sanctuary and persecutes the people, but those who know their God will stand firm. In the end the oppressor comes to his end with no one to help him.
Daniel 11 continues the message of the heavenly being of Daniel 10 and is one of the longest and most difficult chapters of the book. It describes with extraordinary detail wars, alliances and marriages between kingdoms neighboring Israel. It serves to comfort a small people living among enormous powers: nothing that happens is outside God's knowledge, and those faithful to him will have strength.
The messenger declares that in the first year of Darius the Mede he himself stood up to support and strengthen him. He announces that three more kings will arise in Persia and a fourth far richer than all, who by his wealth will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king will arise, rule with great dominion and do as he wills; but at the height of his power his kingdom will be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, not to his descendants.
The following verses describe a series of clashes between the king of the south and the king of the north, that is, the rulers of the kingdoms that arose to the south and north of Israel. There are marriage alliances that fail, invasions and retreats, and the glorious land, Israel, comes several times under the control of one or the other. Many interpreters see in these lines the history of the kingdoms that arose from the division of Alexander's empire, the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria.
From verse 21 a contemptible man appears, who takes the kingdom by flattery and intrigue, breaks even a prince of the covenant and rises against the holy covenant. His forces profane the sanctuary, take away the regular sacrifice and set up the abomination that makes desolate. But the people who know their God will stand firm and take action; the wise will instruct many, though some will fall, and this serves to refine them until the time of the end.
From verse 36 a king is described who does as he wills, exalts himself above every god and speaks astonishing things against the God of gods. At the time of the end the king of the south will attack him and the king of the north will rush at him like a whirlwind. He will enter the glorious land and stretch out his hand over many countries, but in the end he will come to his end with no one to help him.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The messenger announces that three more kings will arise in Persia and a fourth far richer, who will stir everyone against Greece. It is the beginning of a prophecy that follows in detail the course of empires over God's people.
The king's forces profane the sanctuary, remove the regular sacrifice and set up the abomination that makes desolate. It is the darkest point of the persecution, which many connect with 167 BC.
Those who violate the covenant will be seduced with flattery, but the people who know their God will stand firm and take action. Knowing God is the source of firmness when the pressure is greatest.
The king will come to his end, and no one will help him. As in the earlier chapters, the one who has the last word over the oppressor is God, and his power has an end.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Three, and the fourth would be far richer than all. — Daniel 11:2
Answer: It would be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, and would not go to his descendants. — Daniel 11:3-4
Answer: By flattery and intrigue, though the honor of royalty had not been given to him. — Daniel 11:21
Answer: They profane it, take away the regular sacrifice and set up the abomination that makes desolate. — Daniel 11:31
Answer: They will stand firm and take action. — Daniel 11:32
Answer: He comes to his end, and no one helps him. — Daniel 11:45
Daniel 11 is hard to read, but its pastoral value is clear: God knows history, and those who know him stand firm. In a small group, the useful question is not identifying every king but what it means to know God in such a way that he can sustain us when there is pressure to give in.
The chapter also admits that firmness has a cost: some of the wise will fall, and that trial serves to refine. It does not promise that faithfulness avoids suffering, but that God uses it and sees it. And for anyone studying prophecy, it is a warning against a curiosity about dates or persons that hides what is essential: instructing others wisely and waiting patiently.
Daniel 11 ends with the oppressor coming to his end without help. In Daniel 12, the last chapter, the messenger will announce a time of distress and the deliverance of the people, with the promise of the resurrection of the dead.
Almost all interpreters see in verses 2 to 35 the history of Persia, Alexander the Great, the kingdoms of the south and north and the persecution by Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the second century BC. For verses 36 to 45 there are two positions: some think they continue describing Antiochus or another nearby ruler, and others believe the text leaps to an oppressor of the end time.
They are the rulers of the kingdoms that arose from the division of Alexander's empire: south of Israel, the Ptolemies of Egypt, and north, the Seleucids of Syria. The text does not name them and calls them by geographical reference points, with Israel in the middle.
It is the act of profaning the sanctuary so that it is left desolate, and it appears in Daniel 8, 9, 11 and 12. Many see its first fulfillment in the pagan altar Antiochus placed in the temple in 167 BC; Jesus speaks of it in the Gospels in connection with a later fulfillment.