Persia: Four kings,the last of which will rise against Greece. (v1,2)
Greece: A mighty king will arise, then his kingdom will be broken into four pieces. (v3,4)
a mighty king will appear
almost certainly alexander the great.
note that we skipped a 100+ years of greek history.
the prophecy is not trying to give an exhaustive primer, merely the most important events/people.
'he will rule with great power and do as he pleases'
within 10 years (333 - 323 BC) alexander had crushed persia, egypt, and the western portions of india.
but then...his empire will be broken up and given to 4 others
again, note that we skipped some minor history...but by 301 BC a treaty was signed dividing the territory into 3 portions.
Phase 1 (v5-13) - The south takes the first round.
v5 - king of the south: ptolemy I soter (323 - 285 BC)
v5 - one of his princes who gains ascendency over him: seleucus I nicator (312 - 280 BC)
seleucus had been in charge of Babylonia, but lost it when antigonus seized power in 316.
he fled to ptolemy soter, and ended up returning to babylonia after antigonus' defeat in 312 in Gaza.
he founded the seleucid dynasty, which became larger than all the other divisions of the greek empire.
v6 - the ptolemies and the selucids clashed for years, until they formed a treaty in 250 BC
"the daughter of the south will come to the king of the north" - the treaty had berenice, ptolemy II's daughter marry antiochus seleucid.
"but she will not retain her positoin..nor will he remain..." - antiochus' first wife laodice killed them both.
v7,8 - the south defeats the north (246-221 BC)
"one of her line will arise and come against the north" - ptolemy III attacks syria and sacks the capitol, antioch.
"their gods...he will take into captivity to egypt" - ptolemy carried off the sacred idols which had been stolen from
egypt earlier (egypt loved him for this).
v9 - the north attempts an invasion but fails.
there is record that the seleucids recaptured the territory taken by the ptolemies.
this passage may indicate that they attempted an invation of egypt as well.
v10 - his sons will mobilize (226 - 187 BC)
" his sons will mobilize" - seleucus II's kids continued the fight.
"and one of them" - seleucus III was killed after a brief reign, his little brother Antiochus III (the great, 223 - 187 BC) took the throne.
"[he] will keep on coming and overflow and pass through" - antiochus III fought to recapture phoenicia and palestine.
v11,12 - the south defeats the north (217 BC)
"the king of the south will be enraged and go and fight" - ptolemy IV (221 - 203 BC) counterattacks with a enormous army.
"the latter will raise a great multitude, but that will be given into the hand of the former" - antiochus in the
north raises a huge army as well, and but they lose in a battle in raphia.
"his heart will be leifted up...yet he will not prevail" - but from here forward the seleucids are dominant.
v13 - the north becomes dominant
forshadowing of the next section...
Phase 2 (v14-19) - The north strikes back.
v14 - many will rise up against the south (215 - 200ish BC)
egypt underwent internal revolts in this time.
the seleucids also made a pact with the macedonains to divide the ptolemaic territories between them.
additionally, israelites apparently revolted against the ptolemies...
v15, 16 - the king of the north defeats the south
antiochus III attacks the ptolemaic palestine/phoenicia.
"capture a well-fortified city" - antiochus defeated the egyptian army which retreated to this city after an earlier defeat.
"the south will not stand their ground, not even there choicest troops" - referring to the aetolian mercenaries.
"he will stay for a time in the beautiful land"
just a reminder why we're so focused on this fight; it impacts israel.
at the same time, rome is fighting carthage in the punic wars, a series of fights which is much more important to 'western'
civilization.
from this time forward, the ptolemies are basically out of palestine and the seleucids are the new bosses.
v17 - a marriage alliance between the north and south
"he will also give him athe daughter of women...but she will not take a stand for him" - antiochus III gave his daughter cleopatra
to ptolemy as a wife, hoping that she would influence him. but she took the side of her husband over her father.
v18 - the king of the north defeats the 'coastlands', suffers scorn, and is ended.
"then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many" - antiochus turns his attention to the 'coastlands' (turkey/greece)
"but a commander will put a stop to his scorn" - the romans, under lucius cornelius scipio, defeats the seleucids in greece,
then again in asia minor at magnesia (190 BC)
the treaty of magnesia stipulated a yearly payment to rome of tribute, as well as the transfer to rome of 20 hostages,
one of whom was one of the kings sons, antiochus IV.
v19 - the end of antiochus III
after his defeat in asia minor, he returned home.
apparenlty in an attempt to make his required large payments to rome (after his loss), he attempted to pillage a temple of zeus
and was killed by a mob. (187 BC)
Phase 3 (v20-28) The 'despicable' ruler
v20 - king for a day
"one will arise who will send an oppressor" - seleucus IV tries to raise the money needed to pay the romans annually through a tax
collector (named heliodorus). 2 Macc says that he attempted to plunder the temple in jerusalem but was prevented by a vision of angels.
"yet within a few days he will be shattered" - he was killed by heliodorus, his tax collector.
Note: Jerome says the rest of the chapter is about the antichrist
jerome, one of my favorite early church scholars, says that the rest of the chapter is about the antichrist, not
antiochus epiphanes.
v21 - the rise of antiochus IV (epiphanes)
"a despicable person will arise" - the stage is set...this guy is not going to be good.
"he will...seize the kingdom" - after heliodorus took the throne, antiochus raised an army and took the throne.
initially he ruled with a son of seleucus IV (the eldest son was hostage in rome), but he was murdered in 170 BC.
v22-24 - antiochus IV's introduction
"overflowing forces will be flooded away...and also the prince of the covenant" - this is seen as a summary of his reign; the prince
of the covenant portion refers to the murder of the high priest onias III.
"after an alliance...he will go up and gain power with a small force" - probably refers to his ascension to the throne;
he formed an alliance with pergamum, received an army for use, and took the throne. (175 BC)
"he will enter the richest parts of the realm, he will...distribute plunder...and he will devise schemes but only for a time" - more
summary of his life.
v25-28 - antiochus IV's first wars with egypt.
"he will stir up...against the south with a large army" - antiochus and the ptolemies go to war, antiochus wins. the schemes
against him probably include antiochus' plans, egyptian dissent, and bad counsel.
"those who eat his choice food will destroy him" - ptolemy's counselors urged him to fight with antiochus to recapture palestine.
"they will speak lies to each other at the same table" - antiochus captured ptolemy VI philometer; he then tried to set him as a
puppet king in memphis. alexandria set up his brother, ptolemy euergetes as king.
"then he will return to his land...but his heart will be set against the holy covenant"
significant point - note the 'holy covenant' mention.
after plundering egypt, antiochus plundered the temple and possibly put down an insurrection with much bloodshed.
Phase 4 (v29-35) - 35 - persecution of the jews
v29,30 - preface
"he will return and come into the south" - antiochus invaded egypt again in 168 BC.
"ships of kittim will come against him" - this time the ptolemies asked rome to intervene.
the roman envoy gaius popilius laenas met antiochus outside of alexandria and ordered him to leave egypt or enter war with rome.
antiochus said he would think about it.
the roman envoy drew a circle in the sand and told him, "think about it here."
antiochus was forced to leave in humiliation.
v30,31 - persecution
"he return and become enraged at the holy covenant...he will show regard for those who forsake the covenant" - antiochus begins his
persecution of the jews.
"forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary, and do away with the regular sacrifice" - all jewish religious
practices were forbidden, including circumcision and sacrifices.
"and they will set up the abomination of desolation" - in 167, an alter to zeus was placed in the temple.
reaction (v32-35):
"by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly" - some will go along with him.
"the people who know their god will display strength" - the maccabean revolt, etc...
"those who have insight among the people will give undertanding to the many; yet many of them will fall"
many of the maccabean stories are quite awful; many were tortured and killed by the syrians.
"many will join with them in hypocrasy" - everyone joins the winning team; as the revolt picked up steam, more joined in.
"some of those who have insight will fall..." - weird verse. most read it just as a comment about purity despite suffering...
v36-39 - the bad man
there a number of comments on his ignoring of the god's of his fathers; antiochus' attitudes and relgious practices
are highly debated.
who is the god of strongholds?
is this antiochus? or antichrist?
v40-45 - the bad man's wars
v40 - he'll fight the king of the south and win.
v41 - he'll enter the beautiful land, but edom, moab, and ammon will escape his hand.
v42,43 - he'll grab other countries, inclucding egypt (and libya and ethiopia)
v44 - rumors from the north and east will distrub him, he'll set out to destroy many.
v45 - he'll set up between the seas and the 'holy mountain', but he will come to his end.
michael will arise. it will be awful. the dead will live.