🟣The Historical Outline of 11:2-39
Daniel 9 and 11 bear the same date (the first year of Darius) indicating that Daniel 11 is a further explanation and expansion of Daniel 8 and 9. Both prophecies begin with Persia and not Babylon because the 2300 days begin during the period of Persia.
•In Daniel 9, the king who gave the decree to build and restore Jerusalem was Artaxerxes, and the fourth king in Daniel 11:2 is the same Artaxerxes.
•Therefore, there is a connection between Daniel 11:2 and the prophecy of the 70 weeks in Daniel 9.
•Both chapters bear the same date and begin with King Artaxerxes. Gabriel mentioned the first three kings only because he wanted to give a historical reference point for when the fourth would appear.
•The first three kings in Persia after Cyrus (Daniel 8:3, 4, 20) were Cambyses, Darius, and Ahasuerus, and the fourth was King Artaxerxes.
🟣The Historical Outline of Daniel 11:40-45
•Daniel 11:40a: The king of the north receives a deadly wound.
•Daniel 11:40b: The deadly wound of the king of the north heals as it moves from the River Euphrates in the north toward the south.
•Daniel 11:40c: The king of the north moves west and conquers the countries north of Israel—probably Syria, Lebanon, Tyre and Sidon.
•Daniel 11:41: The king of the north moves to the south and enters the Glorious Land of Israel and many people fall.
•Daniel 11:41: Edom, Moab and Ammon, east of the Glorious Land, flee to Jerusalem to escape the onslaught of the king of the north.
•Daniel 11:42: The king of the north then moves south and overcomes Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya.
•Daniel 11:43: In its conquests, the king of the north accumulates many riches, even the riches of the world.
•Daniel 11:44a: Having conquered the world from the Euphrates to the Nile, tidings from the north and east alarm the king of the north.
•Daniel 11:44b: The king of the north, moves north and east with great fury in an attempt to destroy those who have found refuge in Jerusalem.
•Daniel 11:45: The king of the north pitches his tents in a strategic place (the Mount of the Congregation) to attack God’s people in Jerusalem.
🟣The sequence of powers Daniel 11 is the same as Daniel 8
•Daniel 11:2: Greece (Daniel 8:5-8)
•Daniel 11:3 Alexander the Great (Daniel 8:5, 8)
•Daniel 11:4: The fourfold division of Alexander’s Greek empire (Daniel 8:4)
•Daniel 11:5-15: The struggle of Syria and Egypt (kings of the north and south)
•Daniel 11:16-28: The Roman Empire (Daniel 8:9-10)
•Daniel 11:29-39: Papal Rome during the 1260 years (Daniel 8:11-12)
Daniel Chapter 11 verse 1 to 2
1 Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.
2 And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
🟣“In the first year of Darius the Mede”
At the end of chapter 10 we find Gabriel talking with Daniel. Here in the first verse of chapter 11 we have the continuation of that conversation between Daniel and Gabriel. There is no break between these chapters, it simply continues on.
🟣“Three kings in Persia”
After the death of Cyrus, who was reigning at the time of the vision, the next three kings of Persia were Cambyses (530-522), a usurper called the False Smerdis (522), and Darius I (522-486). Cyrus and Darius I both issued decrees to rebuild the temple.Â
🟣“The fourth king”
The fourth king was Xerxes (486-465), known as Ahasuerus and the husband of Esther. He spent four full years stockpiling supplies and manpower. Because of his wealth, Xerxes was able to stir up an immense army against the warlike Greeks. According to Herodotus, who lived at that age, his army amassed to 5,283,220 from the East alone. But not content with this, he enlisted the Carthaginians of the West which added another 300,000 men. In total he had raised over five and three quarter million men to go against the Greeks. He defeated the Greeks at Thermopylea, lost the battle of Salamis in 480 B.C. he lost after this at Platea in 479 B.C. The war ended in 467 B.C.
Description of Greece (Verses 3-4)
Daniel Chapter 11 verse 3 to 4
3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.
🟣“A mighty king”
Alexander, son of King Philip of Macedonia, united the Greeks, crossed the Hellespont into Asia and conquered the empire of the Great King of Persia. Alexander finally defeated the Persians at the battle of Arbela in 331 B.C. He continued his campaign all the way to the borders of India and south through to Egypt. His dominion was far greater than that of the Persian empire.
🟣“When he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken”
When Alexander was at the height of his power, he died in 323 B.C. He was asked to who the kingdom would go, his reply was to the strongest.Â
Immediately after his death, 36 generals scrambled for power and by 314 B.C. Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, andCassander formed a league against Antigonus who had the largest influence in the remains of Alexander’s realm.Â
The contest ebbed and flowed. Seleucus gained Babylon in 312 B.C. and established a long line of kings. Lysimacus and Ptolemy assumed the title of kings in 305 B.C. and Cassander about the same year, so that three years later this league of four planned a campaign against Antigonus which brought on the battle of Ipsus 301 B.C. and definitely established the four division of Alexander’s former kingdom into north, south, east, and west, or the four winds.Â
These four directions are according to Palestine, Daniel’s homeland.
🟣“Not to his posterity”
None of the kingdom went to Alexander’s family. Cassander took the west, Lysimachus took the north, Seleucus took the east, and Ptolemy took the south.