“Those among the people who have discernment will cause the rest of the people to understand what is happening…” (Daniel 11:33).
Chapter 11, a long chapter, continues to describe the vision begun in chapter 10. This chapter reveals more details about kings, wars, and national alliances until the end-time empires, politics, and [supernatural] powers. The vision began with the ‘silver’ Medo-Persian Empire continues until the days prior to Messiah’s return.
This chapter begins in the third year of Darius, the Mede or Cyrus, King of Persia only a few years before Daniel’s death. Ezra 2:64 states that 42,360 Jews had had already returned to Jerusalem after the decree by King Cyrus.
Everything written in this chapter, like the rest of prophecy, affects the Jews first and then the rest of the world. As Daniel was told in chapter 10, this is “what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come” (Daniel 10:14).
- What happens to the Jew first in the following verses?
Romans 1:16:
Romans 2:9:
Romans 2:10:
The Prophetic Vision Continues
The prophecy details three kings rising in Persia with a fourth who would invade Greece. According to The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, the Persian king who invaded Greece was Xerxes who reigned from 485-464 BCE. This would be the same King Xerxes who reigned during the days of Queen Esther. The king who follows Xerxes is Alexander the Great. His kingdom was massive, but after he died, his kingdom was divided into four kingdoms: Macedonia-Greece, Asia and Asia Minor, Syria and south to Israel, and Egypt and north to Israel.
2. Who is the wealthy king whose wealth made him strong?
3. What is represented by the ‘four winds’? (Daniel 11:3-4)
A Little Manna:
After their exile to Babylon, the Jewish people suffered in battles between kings north of them and kings south of them. For most of the prophecy in Daniel chapter 11, the “king of the south” refers to Egypt along with southern Israel (Judah and Benjamin) which is Daniel’s people, the Jews; and the “king of the north” refers to Syria with northern Israel (the other ten tribes).
The first “king of the north” is the Seleucid Empire that moved south in the days of Antiochus. The Seleucid empire was defeated by the Roman Empire, and from the prophecy, a “king of the north” will again rise up.
The “king of the south” refers to the Ptolemic Empire that controlled Egypt into the south of Israel. This empire was also defeated by Rome. An end-time “king of the south” may represent a confederacy of nations that includes Egypt (Daniel 11:42).
The website below gives more specific historical events for the verses in Daniel 11:1-20. It explains the different princes, kings, marriages that are prophesied to Daniel that have taken place in history. If you’re interested in all of the events, follow this link. I only list a few fulfilled events.
Daniel 11:6
“After a number of years they will form an alliance. The daughter of the king of the south will approach the king of the north to make an agreement, but she won’t retain her power; and he and his power won’t last either. Rather, she will be surrendered, along with her attendants, her father and the one who supported her during those times. ”
Trying to keep control over Egypt, Antiochus gives his daughter in marriage to Ptolemy V, but his daughter sides with her husband. Antiochus is then defeated by Rome. According to Expositor’s Bible Commentary, “he had to surrender his entire elephant brigade, all his navy, and twenty selected hostages…. Antiochus’s second son … was among the twenty hostages taken to Rome, where he spent the formative years of his life. He later became the persecutor of the Jews, Antiochus Epiphanes.”
A Little Manna:
The word ‘time’ in the Hebrew is et or the alef/tav, the ‘sign’ of Yeshua.
Daniel 11:8
“He will also carry off as booty to Egypt their gods, their cast metal images and their valuable gold and silver vessels. Then for some years, he will refrain from attacking the king of the north.”
Ptolemy III recovered the idols of Egypt taken by Cambyses in 524 B.C.
Daniel 11:10-16
“His sons will rouse themselves to muster a large and powerful army, which will advance like a flood passing through. In another campaign, it will march on the enemy stronghold. The king of the south [Egypt], enraged, will set out to do battle with the king of the north [Syria], who, in turn, will muster a large army; but this army will be defeated by his enemy and carried off. The conqueror will grow proud as he slaughters tens of thousands, yet he will not prevail. Rather, the king of the north [Syria] will again muster an army, larger than the first one, at the end of this period, after a number of years; it will be a large, well-supplied army. Those will be times in which many will resist the king of the south [Egypt]; and the more violent ones among your own people will rebel in order to fulfill their vision; but they will fail. Then the king of the north [Syria] will come, set up siege-works and capture a fortified city; the forces of the south will be insufficient defense, even his elite troops will not be strong enough to resist. The invader will do as he pleases; no one will be able to withstand him. So he will establish himself in the Land of Glory, and he will have the power to destroy it.”
These verses describe the power struggle between Antiochus the Great and his conquest of Egypt and Israel. Though the Jews revolt many times against their oppressors in order to fulfill the vision for Israel, they fail.
Daniel 11:20
“In his place will arise one who will send a tax collector through the Glorious Kingdom; but within a few days, he will be broken, though neither in anger nor in battle.”
The brief 12-year reign of Antiochus III’s eldest son, Seleucus IV, was marked by heavy taxation throughout Israel.
During the reign of Seleucus IV (Antiochus Epiphanes) during the Seleucid Empire, the Temple in Jerusalem was defiled with an “abomination of desolation” –– the Olympian Zeus put in the Holy of Holies. At that time the Jews were forced to accept Hellenistic gods or be slaughtered if they continued to observe Biblical instructions like circumcision, Sabbath, and dietary regulations. The Jews, being faithful to the God of Israel and Torah, rebelled against Antiochus’ armies in what is known as the Maccabean Revolt led by Judah Maccabee. Though it took many years of fighting against the huge Syrian army that was fully armed and rode elephants, they won the war and regained control of the Temple in Jerusalem. They restored it and rededicated back to the God of Israel as outlined in Torah. From 167 BCE until 37 BCE, the Jewish people established a fully independent kingdom known as the Hasmonean Dynasty. It was displaced by Rome in 37 BCE when Herod the Great became their Roman governor.
Ancient History Ends and End-Times Prophecy Begins
The preceding verses in Daniel chapter 11 represent extremely detailed prophecies that have been fulfilled exactly as they were revealed to Daniel. The Roman Empire defeated Seleucid Syria in 65 BCE and Egypt in 30 BCE. With the end of these kingdoms, the ‘key’ identities of the “king of the north” and the “king of the south” ended.
Though some believe the following verses in Daniel chapter 11 may describe more details of the days of Antiochus Epiphanes and his relentless attack on the Jewish people, that event, which birthed Hanukkah, occurred before the time of Yeshua and the Seleucid Empire no longer existed. From this point on, Daniel’s prophetic words have two fulfilments for the Jewish people and nation of Israel: one in the days of the Maccabean Revolt as a shadow for the one occurring in the end times.
4. What does Yeshua prophesy in Matthew 24:15-20?
5. What are the Jewish people in the Land to do at this time?
6. What is the ‘woe’ at that time?
7. What should they pray for? Why?
8. Describe what happens to Israel in Revelation 12:14.
Daniel 11:21
“There will arise in his place a despicable man not entitled to inherit the majesty of the kingdom, but he will come without warning and gain the kingdom by intrigue.”
9. List the qualities of the ‘despicable man.’
10. What does it mean that he is not entitled to inherit the majesty of the kingdom?
A Little Manna: In order for the Jewish people to accept any Messiah, he has to be a King from the lineage of David and from the Tribe of Judah. This suggests that the anti-messiah is either a man who rejects the God of his ancestors and revolts against Torah or who has followed foreign gods as as Jew.
Daniel 11:22-23
“Large armies will be broken and swept away before him, as well as the prince of the covenant. Alliances will be made with him, but he will undermine them by deceit. “
11. What will be his power?
12. Who and what is the prince of the covenant?
Daniel 9:27
13. What will he do with the nations?
John 8:44
Daniel 11:23-24
“Then, although he will have but a small following, he will emerge and become strong. Without warning, he will assail the most powerful men in each province and do things his predecessors never did, either recently or in the distant past; he will reward them with plunder, spoil and wealth while devising plots against their strongholds, but only for a time.”
14. Who will he gather?
15. What will he do?
16. What does Yeshua prophesy about this time in Matthew 24:21-22?
17. What is a ‘stronghold?’
In the natural?
In the supernatural? (Ephesians 6:12)
Which do you think it will be? Why?
18. What is his time frame?
Daniel 11:25
“He will summon his power and courage against the king of the south with a great army, and the king of the south will fight back with a very large and powerful army; but he will not succeed, because of plots devised against him.”
19. Who might the new “king of the south” or nation be today?
20. Will the “king of the south” fight and win? Why?
21. Who may the “king of the north” or nation be today?
Daniel 11:26-28
“Yes, those who shared his food will destroy him; his army will be swept away; and many will fall in the slaughter. These two kings, bent on mischief, will sit at the same table, speaking lies to each other; but none of this will succeed; because the appointed end will not have come yet. Then the king of the north will return to his own land with great wealth; with his heart set against the holy covenant, he will take action and then return home.”
22. How do these two kings, the one from the north and the one from the south, treat each another?
23. Which covenant is the ‘holy covenant?’
A Little Manna: There are many covenants between God and man. There is no covenant that replaces another as the covenants build upon each other. These are the prominent covenants: the covenant with Noach (promise not to destroy the earth with water, rainbow), the covenants with Abraham (promise of descendants, circumcision and land), the covenant with Israel (the Torah), the covenant with King David (an eternal kingdom), the renewed covenant (heart of flesh on which the Torah is written). There are also the salt covenant (Leviticus 2:13, Numbers the 18:19), the Aaronic covenant for an eternal priesthood (Numbers 25:13), and the Peace Covenant with Phineas (Numbers 25:12-13).
Daniel 11:29-30
“At the time designated, he will come back to the south. But this time, things will turn out differently than before; because ships from Kittim will come against him, so that his courage will fail him. Then, in retreat, he will take furious action against the holy covenant, again showing favor to those who abandon the holy covenant.”
24. The previous verse and this one speak of an ‘appointed time’ and a ‘designated time.’ What do you think those ‘times’ refer to?
25. Does the “king of the north” relent?
26. What happens to his courage?
27. Where is Kittim?
28. Describe what it means to abandon the ‘holy covenant?’
29. What did Yeshua teach in Matthew 5:16-20 about Torah?
30. What makes the anti-messiah the antithesis of Yeshua?
31. What does it mean to confess Yeshua in light of the ‘holy covenant’ according to the apostle John in the following verses:
John 1:14
1 John 4:3
Daniel 11:31
“Armed forces will come at his order and profane the sanctuary and fortress. They will abolish the daily burnt offering and set up the abomination that causes desolation.”
32. What will happen in Jerusalem?
33. Define profane.
34. What will happen to a third Temple or Tabernacle?
35. What does “abolish the daily burnt offering” suggest?
36. What was the “abomination of desolation” during the days of Antiochus Epiphanes?
37. What do you think may be the “abomination of desolation” in the end times?
Daniel 11:32-34
“Those who act wickedly against the covenant he will corrupt with his blandishments, but the people who know their God will stand firm and prevail. Those among the people who have discernment will cause the rest of the people to understand what is happening; nevertheless, for a while they will fall victim to sword, fire, exile and pillage. When they stumble, they will receive a little help, although many who join them will be insincere.”
38. Which covenant is being spoken of in these verses?
39. Define blandishment.
40. What do the following Psalms say about ‘flattery’ and the ‘flatterer:’
Psalm 5:9-10
Psalm 12:3-4
Psalm 36:1-3
Proverbs 29:5
41. What does this man do with ‘blandishments?’
42. Who stands firm and will prevail?
2 Thessalonians 2:15
43. Will those who stand firm abandon the “holy covenant?” Why or why not?
44. Will you be among those who have discernment and help people to understand what is happening with the covenant or will you be one who stumbles? Explain.
45. Explain how the following Scriptures develop discernment?
Ephesians 2:19-20
2 Timothy 2:15
2 Timothy 3:1-8
2 Timothy 3:16-17
46. What happens to some of those who stumble?
Malachi 3:2
Isaiah 52:11
Titus 2:13-15
James 4:8
Daniel 11:36-39
“The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt himself and consider himself greater than any god, and he will utter monstrous blasphemies against the God of gods. He will prosper only until the period of wrath is over, for what has been determined must take place. He will show no respect for the gods his ancestors worshipped, or for the god women worship — he won’t show respect for any god, because he will consider himself greater than all of them. But instead, he will honor the god of strongholds; with gold, silver, precious stones and other costly things he will honor a god unknown to his ancestors. He will deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. He will confer honor on those he acknowledges, causing them to rule over many and distributing land as a reward.”
47. Compare this ‘king’ to the king in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12.
48. How long will this king reign?
Isaiah 26:20
Isaiah 34:1-2
Revelation 11:18
Revelation 14:19
Revelation chapters 15-16
49. Who do you think are the ‘gods of his ancestors’?
50. Who is the ‘god’ that women worship?*
51. Why will he not respect any god?
52. Who is the ‘god of strongholds?’
53. How does he deal with the strongest fortresses?
Daniel 11:40-41
“When the time for the end comes, the king of the south will push at him; while the king of the north will attack him like a whirlwind, with chariots, cavalry and a large navy. He will invade countries, overrun them and move on. He will also enter the Land of Glory, and many [countries] will come to grief, but these will be saved from his power — Edom, Mo’av and the people of ‘Amon.”
54. What three ways will the “king of the north” attack?
55. Which nations today still use cavalry?
56. Where is the Land of Glory?
57. Which countries will be saved from his power? Why?
Daniel 11:42-43
“He will reach out his hand to seize other countries too. The land of Egypt will not escape — he will control the treasures of gold and silver, as well as everything else in Egypt of value. Put and Ethiopia will be subject to him.”
58. What happens to Egypt? Why?
59. Where is modern-day Put?
60. What do Put and Ethiopia do?
Daniel 11:44-45
“However, news from the east and north will frighten him, so that he moves out in great fury to ruin and completely do away with many. Finally, when he pitches the tents of his palace between the seas and the mountain of the holy Glory, he will come to his end, with no one to help him.”
61. What nations are north and east of Israel?
Revelation 9:15-17
62. Why does he meet his end?
Revelation 21:1-4
63. Describe his end in Revelation 19:20-21.
The identities of these end-time kingdoms are yet to be determined. A key development in the prophecy of Daniel is the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. With a Jewish nation once again existing in the Middle East, identifying major world governments as a “king of the north” and a “king of the south” in reference to Israel and Jerusalem will become clearer as time passes. The battles between these two kings, with one entering Jerusalem and desecrating the Temple, will lead the world into the ‘time of trouble’ also known as the Great Tribulation.
Daniel begins this chapter by stating that everything written in the prophecy is true. Since the first historical events were fulfilled accurately, we can be confident that the last prophetic verses will happen as written. Through the vision given to Nebuchadnezzar, we know that the kingdoms of this world will be replaced by the Messianic Kingdom of Yeshua and finally by the Kingdom of Adonai in the new heavens and earth and a new Jerusalem.
Think About This: As I write complete this chapter, there is a war going on between Israel and Hamas in Palestinian Gaza. Gaza is receiving help from Iran (ancient Persia). Gaza is a place where many things happened historically in the Bible. Joshua and King Hezekiah both defeated the Philistines in Gaza (2 Kings 18:8, Joshua 15). Samson went to Gaza to meet a prostitute where he was caught and the Philistines gouged out his eyes. When his strength returned, he judged the Philistines by bringing down their temple to Dagon (Judges 16). Amos prophesies punishment against the Philistines in Gaza (Amos 1:6). Jeremiah also prophesies against the Philistines in Gaza, Ashkelon and Ashdod (Jeremiah 47:`1-5). There are still many prophecies to be fulfilled with Israel and Gaza among other nations.
*Read “The Return of the Gods” by Jonathan Cahn to understand gods who have returned (some only assimilated) and have brought forth great deception. He explains in detail the ‘god of women’ and how she has conquered our culture.
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