1And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood to strengthen and protect him.) 2And now I will declare the truth to you: Behold, three more kings shall stand up in Persia; and the fourth shall be rich in all greater riches. And when he is strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 3And a mighty king shall stand up who shall rule with great authority and do according to his will. 4And when he stands up his kingdom shall be broken in pieces and shall be divided to the four winds of the heavens, and not to his posterity, nor according to his authority with which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be plucked up and given to others besides these. 5And the king of the south shall be strong. And one of his rulers, even he will gain strength over him, and he will rule. His dominion shall be a great dominion. 6And at the end of years they shall join together, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the power of the arm. And he will not stand, nor his arm. But she and those who brought her shall be given up, as well as the one who begot her and who supported her in these times. 7But out of the shoots of her roots one will stand in his place, and he shall come with an army and will enter into the fortress of the king of the north. And he will act against them and prevail. 8And he will also bring their gods with their cast images, along with their possessions of silver and gold vessels, into captivity to Egypt. And he will continue more years than the king of the north. 9And the king of the south will come into his kingdom and will return to his own land. 10But his sons shall be stirred up and shall gather a multitude of great forces. And one certainly shall come and overflow and pass through. And he will return to his fortress and be stirred up. 11And the king of the south will be bitter and will go out and fight with him, with the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand. 12And when he has carried away the multitude, his heart will be lifted up. And he will cause a vast innumerable number to fall, but he will not prevail. 13For the king of the north shall return and raise a greater multitude than the former. And at the end of some years, he shall come to attack with a great army and with much equipment. 14And in those times many shall stand up against the king of the south. And the sons of the violent ones of your people shall rise up to fulfill the vision, but they shall stumble. 15So the king of the north shall come and build up a siege mound and seize a fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, nor his choice people, for there will be no strength to resist. 16But he who comes against him will do as he desires, and no one shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand. 17And he shall set his face to go in with the might of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do. And he shall give the daughter of women to him, to destroy it. But she shall not stand, nor be for him. 18After this he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many. But a ruler shall make his reproach cease for him, but his reproach shall return to him. 19And he shall turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and not be found. 20Then one who imposes taxes shall stand in his place, in the glorious kingdom. But within a few days he will be broken in pieces, but not in anger nor in battle. 21And a vile person shall stand up in his place, and they shall not give to him the honor as king. But he shall come in with quietness and obtain the kingdom by intrigues. 22And with the forces of the overflow they shall be swept from before him, and be broken, and also the ruler of the covenant. 23And after they join themselves to him, he will practice deceit; for he shall come and shall be strong with a few people. 24He will go in peaceably, even into the rich places of the province. And he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers. He shall plunder and spoil and scatter goods among them. And he shall devise his plots against the strongholds, even for a time. 25And he will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south will be stirred up to battle with a great and very mighty army. But he shall not stand, for they will devise plots against him. 26Yea, those who eat his food shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow. And many will fall down slain. 27And both of these kings shall have it in their hearts to do evil, and they will speak lies at one table. But it will not prosper, for the end shall still be at the appointed time. 28And he will return to his land with great wealth. And his heart shall be against the holy covenant. And he will act, and he shall return to his own land. 29At the appointed time he will return and come against the south. But it will not be as the former or as the latter. 30For ships from Kittim will come against him. And he will be grieved and return and be furious against the holy covenant. And he will act, and he will return and give heed to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31And forces will stand for him, and they will profane the sanctuary fortress. And they shall remove the regular sacrifice, and they will place there the abomination that causes horror. 32And he will corrupt with flatteries those who act wickedly against the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and will work. 33And those who understand among the people will instruct many. Yet they will stumble by the sword and by flame, by captivity and spoils for many days. 34And when they shall stumble, they will be helped with a little help. But many will join them with hypocrisy. 35And some of those who understand shall stumble, to refine and to purge them, and to make them white, unto the time of the end; for it is yet for the appointed time. 36And the king shall do according to his own will. And he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god; he shall even speak extraordinary things against the Mighty God of gods and shall prosper until the indignation is complete. For that which is decreed shall be done. 37He shall not regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women; nor regard any god. For he shall magnify himself above them all. 38But in his place he shall honor the god of fortresses, and he shall honor a god whom his fathers did not know, with gold and silver and with precious stones, and desirable things. 39And he shall act in the strongholds of the fortresses with a foreign god, whom he shall acknowledge. He shall multiply in glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain. 40And at the time of the end, the king of the south will push against him. And the king of the north shall come against him like a tempest, with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships. And he shall go into the lands and shall overflow and pass through. 41And he shall enter into the glorious land, and many will stumble. But these shall escape out of his hand: Edom and Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon. 42He will stretch out his hand against the lands, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43But he will rule over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the desirable things of Egypt. And the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. 44But news from the east and from the north shall trouble him. And he will go out with great fury to utterly destroy and annihilate many. 45And he shall plant his palace tents between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 Here, 1. The angel Gabriel lets Daniel know the good service he has done to the Jewish nation (
Dan 11:1):
In the first year of Darius the Mede, who destroyed Babylon and released the Jews out of that house of bondage,
I stood a strength and fortress to him, that is, I was instrumental to protect him, and give him success in his ward, and, after he had conquered Babylon, to confirm him in his resolution to release the Jews, which, it is likely, met with much opposition. Thus by the angel, and at the request of
the watcher, the golden head was broken, and the axe laid to the root of the tree. Note, We must acknowledge the hand of God in the strengthening of those that are friends to the church for the service they are to do it, and confirming them in their good resolutions; herein he uses the ministry of angels more than we are aware of. And the many instances we have known of God's care of his church formerly encourage us to depend upon him in further straits and difficulties. 2. He foretels the reign of four Persian kings (
Dan 11:2):
Now I will tell thee the truth, that is, the true meaning of the visions of the great image, and of the four beasts, and expound in plain terms what was before represented by dark types. (1.) There shall stand up
three kings in Persia, besides Darius, in whose reign this prophecy is dated,
Dan 9:1. Mr. Broughton makes these three to be Cyrus, Artaxasta or Artaxerxes, called by the Greeks
Cambyses, and Ahasuerus that married Esther, called
Darius son of Hystaspes. To these three the Persians gave these attributes - Cyrus was a father, Cambyses a master, and Darius a hoarder up. So Herodotus. (2.) There shall be a fourth,
far richer than they all, that is, Xerxes, of whose wealth the Greek authors take notice. By
his strength (his vast army, consisting of 800,000 men at least) and
his riches, with which he maintained and paid that vast army, he
stirred up all against
the realm of Greece. Xerxes's expedition against Greece is famous in history, and the shameful defeat that he met with. He who when he went out was the terror of Greece in his return was the scorn of Greece. Daniel needed not to be told what disappointment he would meet with, for he was a hinderer of the building of the temple; but soon after, about thirty years after the first return from captivity, Darius, a young king, revived the building of the temple, owning the hand of God against his predecessors for hindering it,
Ezra 6:7. 3. He foretels Alexander's conquests and the partition of his kingdom,
Dan 11:3. He is that
mighty king that shall
stand up against the kings of Persia, and he shall
rule with great dominion, over many kingdoms, and with a despotic power, for he shall
do according to his will, and undo likewise, which, by the law of the Medes and Persians, their kings could not. When Alexander, after he had conquered Asia, would be worshipped as a god, then this was fulfilled, that he shall
do according to his will. That is God's prerogative, but was his pretension. But (
Dan 11:4) his
kingdom shall soon be
broken, and
divided into four parts,
but not to his posterity, nor shall any of his successors reign
according to his dominion; none of them shall have such large territories nor such an absolute power. His
kingdom was plucked up for others besides those of his own family. Arideus, his brother, was made king in Macedonia; Olympias, Alexander's mother, killed him, and poisoned Alexander's two sons, Hercules and Alexander. Thus was his family rooted out by its own hands. See what decaying perishing things worldly pomp and possessions are, and the powers by which they are got. Never was the vanity of the world and its greatest things shown more evidently than in the story of Alexander.
All is vanity and vexation of spirit. 5 Here are foretold,
I. The rise and power of two great kingdoms out of the remains of Alexander's conquests,
Dan 11:5. 1. The kingdom of Egypt, which was made considerable by Ptolemaeus Lagus, one of Alexander's captains, whose successors were, from him, called the
Lagidae. He is called the king of the
south, that is, Egypt, named here,
Dan 11:8,
Dan 11:42,
Dan 11:43. The countries that at first belonged to Ptolemy are reckoned to be Egypt, Phoenicia, Arabia, Libya, Ethiopia, etc. Theocr. Idyl. 17. 2. The kingdom of Syria, which was set up by Seleucus Nicanor, or the
conqueror; he was one of Alexander's princes, and became stronger than the other, and
had the greatest dominion of all, was the most powerful of all Alexander's successors. It was said that he had no fewer than seventy-two kingdoms under him. Both these were strong against Judah (the affairs of which are particularly eyed in this prediction); Ptolemy, soon after he gained Egypt, invaded Judea, and took Jerusalem
on a sabbath, pretending a friendly visit. Seleucus also gave disturbance to Judea.
II. The fruitless attempt to unite these two kingdoms as iron and clay in Nebuchadnezzar's image (
Dan 11:6):
At the end of certain years, about seventy after Alexander's death, the Lagidae and the Seleucidae shall associate, but not in sincerity. Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, shall marry his daughter Berenice to Antiochus Theos, king of Syria, who had already a wife called
Laodice. Berenice shall come to the
king of the north, to make an agreement, but it shall not hold:
She shall not retain the power of the arm; neither she nor her posterity shall establish themselves in the kingdom of the north, neither shall Ptolemy her father, nor Antiochus her husband (between whom there was to be a great alliance),
stand, nor their arm, but
she shall be given up and those that brought her, all that projected that unhappy marriage between her and Antiochus, which occasioned so much mischief, instead of producing a coalition between the northern and southern crowns, as was hoped. Antiochus divorced Berenice, took his former wife Laodice again, who soon after poisoned him, procured Berenice and her son to be murdered, and set up her own son by Antiochus to be king, who was called
Seleucus Callinicus. III. A war between the two kingdoms,
Dan 11:7,
Dan 11:8. A branch from the same root with Berenice
shall stand up in his estate. Ptolemaeus Euergetes, the son and successor of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, shall come with an army against Seleucus Callinicus, king of Syria, to avenge his sister's quarrel, and shall prevail; and he shall carry away a rich booty both of persons and goods into Egypt, and shall
continue more years than the king of the north. This Ptolemy reigned forty-six years; and Justin says that if his own affairs had not called him home he would, in this war, have made himself master of the whole kingdom of Syria. But (
Dan 11:9) he shall be forced to
come into his kingdom and
return into his own land, to keep peace there, so that he can no longer carry on the war abroad. Note, It is very common for a treacherous peace to end in a bloody war.
IV. The long and busy reign of
Antiochus the Great, king of Syria. Seleucus Callinicus, that king of the north that was overcome (
Dan 11:7) and died miserably, left two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus; these are his sons, the sons of the
king of the north, that shall be
stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, to recover what their father had lost,
Dan 11:10. But Seleucus the elder, being weak, and unable to rule his army, was poisoned by his friends, and reigned only two years; and his brother Antiochus succeeded him, who reigned thirty-seven years, and was called
the Great. And therefore the angel, though he speaks of
sons at first, goes on with the account of
one only, who was but fifteen years old when he began to reign, and he shall
certainly come, and overflow, and
over-run, and shall
be restored at length to what his father lost. 1. The
king of the south, in this war, shall at first have very great success. Ptolemaeus Philopater, moved with indignation at the indignities done by
Antiochus the Great, shall (though otherwise a slothful prince)
come forth, and fight with him, and shall bring a vast army into the field of 70,000 foot, and 5000 horse, and seventy-three elephants. And the
other multitude (the army of Antiochus, consisting of 62,000 foot, and 6000 horse, and 102 elephants) shall
be given into his hand. Polybius, who lived with Scipio, has given a particular account of this battle of Raphia. Ptolemaeus Philopater, having gained this victory, grew very insolent;
his heart was lifted up; then he went into the temple of God at Jerusalem, and, in defiance of the law, entered the most holy place, for which God has a controversy with him, so that, though he shall
cast down many myriads, yet he shall
not be strengthened by it, so as to secure his interest. For, 2. The
king of the north, Antiochus the Great, shall
return with a
greater army than
the former; and, at the
end of times (
that is, years ) he shall
come with a mighty army, and great riches, against the
king of the south, that is, Ptolemaeus Epiphanes, who succeeded Ptolemaeus Philopater his father, when he was a child, which gave advantage to Antiochus the Great. In this expedition he had some powerful allies (
Dan 11:14):
Many shall stand up against the king of the south. Philip of Macedon was confederate with Antiochus against the king of Egypt, and Scopas his general, whom he sent into Syria; Antiochus routed him, destroyed a great part of his army; whereupon the Jews willingly yielded to Antiochus, joined with him, helped him to besiege Ptolemaeus's garrisons. They
the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, to help forward the accomplishment of this prophecy; but
they shall fall, and shall come to nothing, Dan 11:14. Hereupon (
Dan 11:15) the
king of the north, this same Antiochus Magnus, shall carry on his design against the king of the south another way. (1.) He shall surprise his strong-holds; all that he has got in Syria and Samaria, and the arms of the south, all the power of the king of Egypt, shall not be able to withstand him. See how dubious and variable the turns of the scale of war are; like buying and selling, it is winning and losing; sometimes one side gets the better and sometimes the other; yet neither by chance; it is not, as they call it, the
fortune of war, but according to the will and counsel of God, who brings some low and raises others up. (2.) He shall make himself master of the land of Judea (
Dan 11:16):
He that comes against him (that is, the king of the north) shall carry all before him and do what he pleases, and
he shall stand and get footing
in the glorious land; so the land of Israel was, and
by his hand it was wasted and consumed, for with the spoil of that good land he victualled his vast army. The land of Judea lay between these two potent kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, so that in all the struggles between them that was sure to suffer, for to it they both bore
ill will. Yet some read this,
By his hand it shall be perfected; as if it intimated that the land of Judea, being taken under the protection of this Antiochus, shall flourish, and be in better condition than it had been. (3.) He shall still push on his war against the king of Egypt, and
set his face to
enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, taking advantage of the infancy of Ptolemy Epiphanes, and the
upright ones, many of the pious Israelites, siding with him,
Dan 11:17. In prosecution of his design, he shall give him his daughter Cleopatra to wife, designing, as Saul in giving his daughter Cleopatra to David, that she should be a
snare to him, and do him a mischief; but she
shall not stand on her father's side, nor be
for him, but for her husband, and so that plot failed him. (4.) His war with the Romans is here foretold (
Dan 11:18): He shall
turn his face to the isles (
Dan 11:18), the isles of the Gentiles (
Gen 10:5), Greece and Italy. He took many of the isles about the Hellespont-Rhodes, Samos, Delos, etc., which by war or treaty he made himself master of; but a
prince, or
state (so some), even the Roman senate, or a
leader, even the Roman general, shall
return his reproach with which he abused the Romans
upon himself, or shall
make his shame rest on himself, and
without his own shame, or any disgrace to himself, shall
pay him again. This was fulfilled when the two Scipios were sent with an army against Antiochus. Hannibal was then with him, and advised him to invade Italy and waste it as he had done; but he did not take hid advice; and Scipio joined battle with him, and gave him a total defeat, though Antiochus had 70,000 men and the Romans but 30,000. Thus he caused the
reproach offered by him to cease. (5.) His fall. When he was totally routed by the Romans, and was forced to abandon to them all he had in Europe, and had a very heavy tribute exacted from him, he
turned to his own land, and, not knowing which way to raise money to pay his tribute, he plundered a temple of Jupiter, which so incensed his own subjects against him that they set upon him, and killed him; so he was overthrown, and
fell, and
was no more found, Dan 11:19. (6.) His next successor,
Dan 11:20. There rose up one in his place, a
raiser of taxes, a
sender forth of the extortioner, or extorter. This character was remarkably answered in Seleucus Philopater, the elder son of Antiochus the Great, who was a great oppressor of his own subjects, and exacted abundance of money from them; and, when he was told he would thereby lose his friends, he said he knew no better friend he had then
money. He likewise attempted to rob the temple at Jerusalem, which this seems especially to refer to. But
within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle, but poisoned by Heliodorus, one of his own servants, when he had reigned but twelve years, and done nothing remarkable.
V. From all this let us learn, 1. That God in his providence sets up one, and pulls down another, as he pleases, advances some from low beginnings and depresses others that were very high. Some have called great men the
foot-balls of fortune; or, rather, they are the
tools of Providence. 2. This world is full of
wars and fightings, which come
from men's lusts, and make it a theatre of sin and misery. 3. All the changes and revolutions of states and kingdoms, and every event, even the most minute and contingent, were plainly and perfectly foreseen by the God of heaven, and to him nothing is
new. 4. No word of God shall fall to the ground; but what he has designed, what he has declared, shall infallibly come to pass; and even the sins of men shall be made to serve his purpose, and contribute to the b ringing of his counsels to birth in their season; and yet
God is not the author of sin. 5. That, for the right understanding of some parts of scripture, it is necessary that heathen authors be consulted, which give light to the scripture, and show the accomplishment of what is there foretold; we have therefore reason to bless God for the human learning with which many have done great service to divine truths.
21 All this is a prophecy of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the
little horn spoken of before (
Dan 8:9) a sworn enemy to the Jewish religion, and a bitter persecutor of those that adhered to it. What troubles the Jews met with in the reigns of the Persian kings were not so particularly foretold to Daniel as these, because then they had living prophets with them, Haggai and Zechariah, to encourage them; but these troubles in the days of Antiochus were foretold, because, before that time, prophecy would cease, and they would find it necessary to have recourse to the written word. Some things in this prediction concerning Antiochus are alluded to in the New Testament predictions of the antichrist, especially
Dan 11:36,
Dan 11:37. And as it is usual with the prophets, when they foretel the prosperity of the Jewish church, to make use of such expressions as were applicable to the
kingdom of Christ, and insensibly to slide into a prophecy of that, so, when they foretel the troubles of the church, they make use of such expressions as have a further reference to the kingdom of the antichrist, the rise and ruin of that. Now concerning Antiochus, the angel foretels here,
I. His character: He shall be a
vile person. He called himself
Epiphanes -
the illustrious, but his character was the reverse of his surname. The heathen writers describe him to be an
odd-humoured man, rude and boisterous, base and sordid. He would sometimes steal out of the court into the city, and herd with any infamous company
incognito -
in disguise he made himself a companion of the common sort, and of the basest strangers that came to town. He had the most unaccountable whims, so that some took him to be silly, others to be mad. Hence he was called
Epimanes -
the madman. He is called a
vile person, for he had been a long time a hostage at Rome for the fidelity of his father when the Romans had subdued him; and it was agreed that, when the other hostages were exchanged, he should continue a prisoner at large.
II. His accession to the crown. By a trick he got his elder brother's son, Demetrius, to be sent a hostage to Rome, in exchange for him, contrary to the cartel; and, his elder brother being made away with by Heliodorus (
Dan 11:20), he took the kingdom. The states of Syria did not
give it to
him (
Dan 11:21), because they knew it belonged to his elder brother's son, nor did he get it by the sword, but
came in peaceably, pretending to reign for his brother's son, Demetrius, then a hostage at Rome. But with the help of Eumenes and Attalus, neighbouring princes, he gained an interest in the people, and
by flatteries obtained the kingdom, established himself in it, and crushed Heliodorus, who made head against him
with the arms of a flood; those that opposed him were
overflown and
broken before him, even
the prince of the covenant, his nephew, the rightful heir, whom he pretended to covenant with that he would resign to him whenever he should return,
Dan 11:22. But (
Dan 11:23)
after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully, as one whose avowed maxim it is that princes ought not to be bound by their word any longer than it is for their interest. And
with a small people, that at first cleave to him, he shall
become strong, and (
Dan 11:24)
he shall enter peaceably upon the fattest places of the kingdom of Syria, and, very unlike his predecessors, shall
scatter among the people the
prey, and the spoil, and riches, to insinuate himself into their affections; but, at the same time, he shall
forecast his devices against the strong-holds, to make himself master of them, so that his generosity shall last but for a time; when he has got the garrisons into his hands he will scatter his spoil no more, but rule by force, as those commonly do that come in by fraud. He that comes in like a fox reigns like a lion. Some understand these verses of his first expedition into Egypt, when he came not as an enemy, but as a friend and guardian to the young king Ptolemaeus Philometer, and therefore brought with him but few followers, yet those stout men, and faithful to his interest, whom he placed in divers of the strong-holds in Egypt, thereby making himself master of them.
III. His war with Egypt, which was his second expedition thither. This is described,
Dan 11:25,
Dan 11:27. Antiochus shall
stir up his power and courage against Ptolemaeus Philometer king of Egypt. Ptolemy, thereupon, shall
be stirred up to battle against him, shall come against him
with a very great and mighty army; but Ptolemy, though he has such a vast army, shall not be able to stand before him; for Antiochus's army shall
overthrow his, and overpower it, and great multitudes of the Egyptian army shall
fall down slain. And no marvel, for the king of Egypt shall be betrayed by his own counsellors; those that
feed of the portion of his meat, that eat of his bread and live upon him, being bribed by Antiochus, shall
forecast devices against him, and even
they shall destroy him; and what fence is there against such treachery? After the battle, a treaty of peace shall be set on foot, and these two kings shall meet
at one council-board, to adjust the articles of peace between them; but they shall neither of them be sincere in it, for they shall, in their pretences and promises of amity and friendship,
lie to one another, for their hearts shall be at the same time to do one another all the mischief they can. And then no marvel that
it shall not prosper. The peace shall not last; but
the end of it shall be
at the time appointed in the divine Providence, and then the war shall break out again, as a sore that is only skinned over.
IV. Another expedition against Egypt. From the former he
returned with great riches (
Dan 11:28), and therefore took the first occasion to invade Egypt again,
at the time appointed by the divine Providence, two years after, in the eighth year of his reign,
Dan 11:29. He shall come
towards the south. But this attempt shall not succeed, as the two former did, nor shall he gain his point, as he had done before once and again; for (
Dan 11:30)
the ships of Chittim shall come against him, that is, the navy of the Romans, or only ambassadors from the Roman senate, who came in ships. Ptolemaeus Philometer, king of Egypt, being now in a strict alliance with the Romans, craved their aid against Antiochus, who had besieged him and his mother Cleopatra in the city of Alexandria. The Roman senate thereupon sent an embassy to Antiochus, to command him to raise the siege, and, when he desired some time to consider of it and consult with his friends about it, Popilius, one of the ambassadors, with his staff drew a circle about him, and told him, as one having authority, he should give a positive answer before he came out of that circle; whereupon, fearing the Roman power, he was forced immediately to give orders for the raising of the siege and the retreat of his army out of Egypt. So Livy and others relate the story which this prophecy refers to.
He shall be grieved, and return; for it was a great vexation to him to be forced to yield thus.
V. His rage and cruel practices against the Jews. This is that part of his government, or mis-government rather, which is most enlarged upon in this prediction. In his return from his expedition into Egypt (which is prophesied of,
Dan 11:28) he
did exploits against the Jews, in the sixth year of his reign; then he spoiled the city and temple. But the most terrible storm was in his return from Egypt, two years after, prophesied of
Dan 11:30. Then he took Judea in his way home; and, because he could not gain his point in Egypt by reason of the Romans interposing, he wreaked his revenge upon the poor Jews, who gave him no provocation, but had greatly provoked God to permit him to do it,
Dan 8:23.
1. He had a rooted antipathy to the Jews' religion:
His heart was
against the holy covenant, Dan 11:28. And (
Dan 11:30)
he had indignation against the holy covenant, that covenant of peculiarity by which the Jews were incorporated a people distinct from all other nations, and dignified above them. He hated the law of Moses and the worship of the true God, and was vexed at the privileges of the Jewish nation and the promises made to them. Note, That which is the hope and joy of the people of God is the envy of their neighbours, and that is
the holy covenant. Esau hated Jacob because he had got the blessing. Those that are strangers to the covenant are often enemies to it.
2. He carried on his malicious designs against the Jews by the assistance of some perfidious apostate Jews. He kept up
intelligence with those that forsook the holy covenant (
Dan 11:30), some of the Jews that were false to their religion, and introduced the customs of the heathen, with whom they made a covenant. See the fulfilling of this, 1 Macc. 1:11-15, where it is expressly said, concerning those renegado Jews, that they
made themselves uncircumcised and forsook the holy covenant. We read (2 Macc. 4:9) of Jason, the brother of Onias the high priest, who by the appointment of Antiochus set up a school at Jerusalem,
for the training up of youth in the fashions of the heathen; and (2 Macc. 4:23, etc.) of Menelaus, who fell in with the interests of Antiochus, and was the man that helped him into Jerusalem, now in his last return from Egypt. We read much in the book of the Maccabees of the mischief done to the Jews by these treacherous men of their own nation, Jason and Menelaus, and their party. These upon all occasions he made use of.
Such as do wickedly against the covenant, such as throw up their religion, and comply with the heathen, he shall
corrupt with flatteries, to harden them in their apostasy, and to make use of them as decoys to draw in others,
Dan 11:32. Note, It is not strange if those who do not live up to their religion, but in their conversations
do wickedly against the covenant, are easily
corrupted by flatteries to quit their religion. Those that make shipwreck of a good conscience will soon
make shipwreck of the faith. 3. He profaned the temple.
Arms stand on his part (
Dan 11:31), not only his own army which he now brought from Egypt, but a great party of deserters from the Jewish religion that joined with them; and they
polluted the sanctuary of strength, not only the holy city, but the temple. The story of this we have, 1 Macc. 1:21, etc. He
entered proudly into the sanctuary, took
away the golden altar, and the candlestick, etc. And therefore (v. 25)
there was a great mourning in Israel; the princes and elders mourned, etc. And (2 Macc. 5:15, etc.)
Antiochus went into the most holy temple, Menelaus, that traitor to the laws and to his own country, being his guide. Antiochus, having resolved to bring all about him to be of his religion,
took away the daily sacrifice, Dan 11:31. Some observe that the word
Tammidh, which signifies no more than
daily, is only here, and in the parallel place, used for the
daily sacrifice, as if there were a designed liberty left to supply it either with
sacrifice, which was suppressed by Antiochus, or with
gospel-worship, which was suppressed by the Antichrist. Then he
set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar (1 Macc. 1:54), even an
idol altar (v. 59), and called the temple the temple of
Jupiter Olympius, 2 Macc. 6:2.
4. He persecuted those who retained their integrity. Though there are many who
forsake the covenant and
do wickedly against it, yet there is a people who do
know their God and retain the knowledge of him, and
they shall be strong and do exploits, Dan 11:32. When others yield to the tyrant's demands, and surrender their consciences to his impositions, they bravely keep their ground, resist the temptation, and make the tyrant himself ashamed of his attempt upon them. Good old Eleazar, one of the
principal scribes, when he had swine's flesh thrust into his mouth, did bravely spit it out again, though he knew he must be tormented to death for so doing, and was so, 2 Macc. 6:19. The mother and her seven sons were put to death for adhering to their religion, 2 Macc. 7. This might well be called
doing exploits; for to choose suffering rather than sin is a great exploit. And it was
by faith, by being
strong in faith, that they did those exploits, that
they were tortured, not accepting deliverance, as the apostle speaks, probably with reference to that story,
Hebre 11:35. Or it may refer to the military courage and achievements of Judas Maccabaeus and others in opposition to Antiochus. Note, The right knowledge of God is, and will be, the strength of the soul, and, in the strength of that, gracious souls do exploits.
Those that know his name will put their trust in him, and by that trust will do great things. Now, concerning this people that knew their God, we are here told, (1.) That
they shall instruct many, Dan 11:33. They shall make it their business to show others what they have learned themselves of the difference between truth and falsehood, good and evil. Note, Those that have the knowledge of God themselves should communicate their knowledge to those about them, and this spiritual charity must be extensive: they must
instruct many. Some understand this of a society newly erected for the propagating of divine knowledge, called
Assideans, godly men,
pietists (so the name signifies), that were both knowing and zealous in the law; these instructed many. Note, In times of persecution and apostasy, which are trying times, those that have knowledge ought to make use of it for the strengthening and establishing of others. Those that understand aright themselves ought to do what they can to bring others to understand; for knowledge is a talent that must be traded with. Or, They shall instruct many by their perseverance in their duty and their patient suffering for it. Good examples instruct many, and with many are the most powerful instructions. (2.)
They shall fall by the cruelty of Antiochus, shall be put to the torture, and put to death, by his rage. Though they are so excellent and intelligent themselves, and so useful and serviceable to others, yet Antiochus shall show them no mercy, but
they shall fall for some days; so it may be read,
Revel 2:10,
Thou shalt have tribulation ten days. We read much, in the books of the Maccabees, of Antiochus's barbarous usage of the pious Jews, how many he slew in wars and how many he murdered in cold blood. Women were
put to death for having their children
circumcised, and their
infants were hanged about their necks, 1 Macc. 1:60, 61. But why did God suffer this? How can this be reconciled with the justice and goodness of God? I answer, Very well, if we consider what it was that God aimed at in this (
Dan 11:35):
Some of those of understanding shall fall, but it shall be for the good of the church and for their own spiritual benefit.
It shall be to
try them, and to purge, and to make them white. They
needed these afflictions themselves. The best have their spots, which must be washed off, their dross, which must be purged out; and their troubles, particularly their
share in the public troubles, help to do this; being sanctified to them by the grace of God, they are means of mortifying their corruptions, weaning them from the world, and awakening them to greater seriousness and diligence in religion. They try them, as silver in the furnace is refined from its dross; they purge them, as wheat in the barn is winnowed from the chaff; and they
make them white, as cloth by the fuller is cleared from its spots. See
1Pet 1:7. Their sufferings
for righteousness' sake would try and purge the nation of the Jews, would convince them of the truth, excellency, and power of that holy religion which these
understanding men died for their adherence to. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church; it is precious blood, and not a drop of it should be shed but upon such a valuable consideration. (3.) The cause of religion, though it be thus run upon, shall not be run down.
When they shall fall they shall not be utterly cast down, but
they shall be holpen with a little help, Dan 11:34. Judas Maccabaeus, and his brethren, and a few with them, shall
make head against the tyrant, and assert the injured cause of their religion; they
pulled down the idolatrous
altars, circumcised the children that they found uncircumcised, recovered the law out of the hand of the Gentiles, and the work prospered in their hands, 1 Macc. 2:45, etc. Note, Those that stand by the cause of religion when it is threatened and struck at, though they may not immediately be delivered and made victorious, shall yet have
present help. And a
little help must not be despised; but, when times are very bad, we must be thankful for
some reviving. It is likewise foretold that
many shall cleave to them with flatteries; when they see the Maccabees prosper some Jews shall join with them that are no true friends to religion, but will only pretend friendship either with design to
betray them or in hope to
rise with them; but the
fiery trial (
Dan 11:35) will separate between the
precious and the vile, and by it
those that are perfect will be made manifest and those that are not. (4.) Though these troubles may continue long, yet they will have
an end. They are
for a time appointed, a limited time, fixed in the divine counsels. This warfare shall be accomplished.
Hitherto the power of the enemy shall come, and
no further; here shall its
proud waves be
stayed. 5. He grew very proud, insolent, and profane, and, being puffed up with his conquests, bade defiance to Heaven, and trampled upon every thing that was sacred,
Dan 11:36, etc. And here some think begins a prophecy of the antichrist, the papal kingdom. It is plain that St. Paul, in his prophecy of the rise and reign of the man of sin, alludes to this (
2Thes 2:4), which shows that Antiochus was a type and figure of that enemy, as Babylon also was; but, this being joined in a continued discourse with the foregoing prophecies concerning Antiochus, to me it seems probably that it principally refers to him, and in him had its primary accomplishment, and has reference to the other only by way of accommodation. (1.) He shall impiously dishonour the God of Israel, the only living and true God, called here the
God of gods. He shall, in defiance of him and his authority,
do according to his will against his people and his holy religion; he shall
exalt himself above him, as Sennacherib did, and shall
speak marvellous things against him and against his laws and institutions. This was fulfilled when Antiochus forbade
sacrifices to be
offered in God's temple, and ordered the
sabbaths to be
profaned, the
sanctuary and the
holy people to be
polluted, etc., to
the end that they might forget the law and change all the ordinances, and this upon pain of death, 1 Macc. 1:45. (2.) He shall proudly put contempt upon
all other gods, shall
magnify himself above every god, even the gods of the nations. Antiochus wrote to his own kingdom that every one should leave the gods he had worshipped, and worship such as he ordered, contrary to the practice of all the conquerors that went before him, 1 Macc. 1:41, 42. And
all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king; fond as they were of their gods, they did not think them worth suffering for, but, their gods being idols, it was all alike to them what gods they worshipped. Antiochus did not
regard any god, but
magnified himself above all, Dan 11:37. He was so proud that he thought himself above the condition of a mortal man, that he could
command the waves of the sea, and reach to the stars of heaven, as his insolence and haughtiness are expressed, 2 Macc. 9:8, 10. Thus he carried all before him,
till the indignation was accomplished (
Dan 11:36), till he had run his length, and filled up the measure of his iniquity; for
that which is determined shall be done, and nothing more, nothing short. (3.) He shall, contrary to the way of the heathen, disregard the god of his fathers,
Dan 11:37. Though an affection to the religion of their ancestors was, among the heathen, almost as natural to them as
the desire of women (for, if you search through
the isles of Chittim, you will not find an instance of a nation that has
changed its gods, Jer 2:10,
Jer 2:11), yet Antiochus shall not
regard the god of his fathers; he made laws to abolish the religion of his country, and to bring in the idols of the Greeks. And though his predecessors had honoured the God of Israel, and given great gifts to the temple at Jerusalem (2 Macc. 3:2, 3), he offered the greatest indignities to God and his temple. His not regarding the
desire of women may denote his barbarous cruelty (he shall spare no age or sex, no, not the tender ones) or his unnatural lusts, or, in general, his contempt of every thing which men of honour have a concern for, or it might be accomplished in something we meet not with in history. Its being joined to his not
regarding the god of his fathers intimates that the idolatries of his country had in them more of the gratifications of the flesh than those of other countries (Lucian has written of the Syrian goddesses), and yet that would not prevail to keep him to them. (4.) He shall set up an unknown god, a new god,
Dan 11:38.
In his estate, in the room of the god of his fathers (Apollo and Diana, deities of pleasure), he shall
honour the god of forces, a supposed deity of power, a
god whom his fathers knew not, nor worshipped; because he will be thought in wisdom and strength to excel his fathers, he shall
honour this god with gold, and silver, and precious stones, thinking nothing too good for the god he has taken a fancy to. This seems to be Jupiter Olympius, known among the Phoenicians by the name of
Baal-Semen, the lord of heaven, but never introduced among the Syrians till Antiochus introduced it. Thus shall he do
in the most strong holds, in the temple of Jerusalem, which is called
the sanctuary of strength (
Dan 11:31), and here the
fortresses of munitions; there he shall set up the image of this
strange god. Some read it,
He shall commit the munitions of strength, or of the most strong God (that is, the city Jerusalem), to
a strange god; he put it under the protection and government of Jupiter Olympius. This god he shall not only acknowledge, but shall
increase with glory, by setting his image even upon God's altar. And he shall
cause those that minister to this idol
to rule over many, shall put them into places of power and trust, and they shall
divide the land for gain, shall be maintained richly out of the profits of the country. Some by the
Mahuzzim, or
god of forces, that Antiochus shall worship, understand
money, which is said to
answer all things, and which is the great idol of worldly people.
Now here is very much that is applicable to the
man of sin; he
exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worshipped; magnifies himself above all; his flatterers call him
our lord god the pope. By forbidding marriage, and magnifying the single life, he pretends not to regard the desire of women; and honours the
god of forces, the god
Mahuzzim, or
strong holds, saints and angels, whom his followers take for their protectors, as the heathen did of old their demons; these they make presidents of several countries, etc. These they honour with vast treasures dedicated to them, and therein the learned Mr. Mede thinks that this prophecy was fulfilled, and that it is referred to
1Tim 4:1,
1Tim 4:2.
VI. Here seems to be another expedition into Egypt, or, at least, a struggle with Egypt. The Romans had tied him up from invading Ptolemy, but now that
king of the south pushes at him (
Dan 11:40), makes an attempt upon some of his territories, whereupon Antiochus, the
king of the north, comes against him like a whirlwind, with incredible swiftness and fury,
with chariots, and horses, and many ships, a great force. He shall
come trough countries, and shall overflow and pass over. In this flying march
many countries shall be overthrown by him; and he shall enter into
the glorious land, the land of Israel; it is the same word that is translated
the pleasant land, Dan 8:9. He shall make dreadful work among the nations thereabout; yet some shall escape his fury, particularly Edom and Moab, and
the chief of the children of Ammon, Dan 11:41. He did not put these countries under contribution, because they had joined with him against the Jews. But especially the land of Egypt
shall not escape, but he will quite beggar that, so bare will he strip it. This some reckon his fourth and last expedition against Egypt, in the tenth or eleventh year of his reign, under pretence of assisting the younger brother of Ptolemaeus Philometer against him. We read not of any great slaughter made in this expedition, but great plunder; for, it should seem, that was what he came for:
He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, Dan 11:43. Polybius, in Athenaeus, relates that Antiochus, having got together abundance of wealth, by spoiling young Philometer, and breaking league with him, and by the contributions of his friends, bestowed a vast deal upon a triumph, in imitation of Paulus Aemilius, and describes the extravagance of it; here we are told how he got that money which he spent so profusely. Notice is here taken likewise of the use he made of the Lybians and Ethiopians, who bordered upon Egypt; they
were at his steps; he had them at his foot, had them at his beck, and they made inroads upon Egypt to serve him.
VII. Here is a prediction of the fall and ruin of Antiochus, as before (
Dan 8:25), when he is in the height of his honour, flushed with victory, and laden with spoils, tidings
out of the east and
out of the north (out of the north-east) shall trouble him,
Dan 11:44. Or, He shall have intelligence, both from the eastern and northern parts, that the king of Parthia is invading his kingdom. This obliged him to drop the enterprises he had in hand, and to go against the Persians and Parthians that were revolting from him; and this
vexed him, for now he thought utterly to ruin and extirpate the Jewish nation, when that expedition called him off, in which he perished. This is explained by a passage in Tacitus (though an impious one) where he commends Antiochus for his attempt to
take away the superstition of the Jews, and
bring in the manners of the Greeks, among them (
ut teterrimam gentem in melius mutaret -
to meliorate an odious nation ), and laments that he was hindered from accomplishing it by the Parthian war. Now here is, 1. The last effort of his rage against the Jews. When he finds himself perplexed and embarrassed in his affairs he shall
go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many, Dan 11:44. The story of this we have 1 Macc. 3:27, etc., what a rage Antiochus was in when he heard of the successes of Judas Maccabaeus, and the orders he gave to Lysias to destroy Jerusalem. Then
he planted the tabernacles of his palace, or
tents of his court, between the seas, between the Great Sea and the Dead Sea. He set up his royal pavilion at Emmaus near Jerusalem, in token that, though he could not be present himself, yet he gave full power to his captains to prosecute the war against the Jews with the utmost rigour. He placed his tent there, as if he had taken possession
of the glorious holy mountain and called it
his own. Note, When impiety grows very impudent we may see its ruin near. 2. His exit:
He shall come to his end and none shall help him; God shall cut him off in the midst of his days and none shall be able to prevent his fall. This is the same with that which was foretold
Dan 8:25 (
He shall be broken without hand ), where we took a view of his miserable end. Note, When God's time shall come to bring proud oppressors to their end none shall be able to help them, nor perhaps inclined to help them; for those that covet to be feared by all when they are in their grandeur, when they come to be in distress will find themselves loved by none; none will lend them so much as a hand or a prayer to help them; and, if the Lord do not help, who shall?
Of the kings that came after Antiochus nothing is here prophesied, for that was the most malicious mischievous enemy to the church, that was a type of the son of perdition, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming, and none shall help him.