HEAVENLY HISTORY LESSON
Book of Daniel, part 12

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Daniel 10 - 12

1. The final vision
2. The most important vision
3. Past, Present, and Future
4. The date fixes this at 70 years from Daniel’s exile (606 – 536 B.C.)

Structure

1. The Messenger (10:1-11:1)
2. The Book of Truth (11:2 – 45)
   1. North and South (11:2-19)
   2. Seleucid Family Values (11:20-39)
   3. The End of Evil (11:40-45)
3. Sign Off and Seal (12:1-13)

The Messenger

• Like description in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 1
• One who looks like a man
• “Do you know why I’ve come?”
  1. Soon it will be to fight
  2. Now it is a message from Book of Truth

Daniel 11:2-4

• Battle of Gaugamela 331 BC
• Alexander defeats Darius III (Persia)
• Empire divided among four generals after Alexander’s death
  Map
  

• Take the Regions of Lysimachus and Cassander out of the story. They don’t factor into the upcoming history in any significant way.
• Now there are two major empires set up in two regions: Syria (the Seleucids) and Egypt (the Ptolemies)
• An ancient “Mason-Dixon Line” (note: there is no sense of a boundary in that age) – this is just for our illustration
• Now we understand what Daniel 11 calls the King of the North (Syria) and the King of the South (Egypt)
• KON [kingdom of north] and KOS [kingdom of south] become shorthand ways of referring to generations of leaders in both empires. Rather than specifying who, they are all reduced to a single “king.” (Similar to saying – the American President). The actual identity of KON and KOS change throughout the vision.

Daniel 11:5

v. 5 "The king of the South will become strong, but one of his commanders will become even stronger than he and will rule his own kingdom with great power."

KOS: Ptolemy I Soter (323 – 285 BC)
KON: Seleucus I Nicator (305 -281 BC)

They start out as comrades, so in 312, Ptolemy and Seleucus both invaded Syria, and defeated Demetrius in the Battle of Gaza.

Seleucus went to war against Lysimachus (281 BC). Seleucus now held the whole of Alexander's conquests with the exception of Egypt.

Daniel 11:6

v. 6 -- "After some years, they will become allies. The daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last. In those days she will be handed over, together with her royal escort and her father and the one who supported her."

KOS: Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 BC)
KON: Antiochus II Theos (305 -281 BC)

Ptolemy II makes an alliance with Antiochus II. He offers his daughter, Berenice in marriage. The arrangement was that Berenice’s children would be the rightful heirs to the Seleucid throne. And they have a son. And this gives old Ptolemy a connection to the Seleucid Empire.
There’s just one problem: Antiochus was already married. So he ditched his wife Laodice. He honored his agreement with Ptolemy up until Ptolemy died. At that point, he went back to his first wife Laodice.

And Laodice was so grateful that Antiochus took her back after ditching her and denying her children the right to rule that she welcomed Antiochus back and poisoned him. And she wasn’t done there. She killed Berenice and her son. She didn’t want anyone threatening her child’s claim to the throne.

Daniel 11:7-8

⁷"One from her family line will arise to take her place. He will attack the forces of the king of the North and enter his fortress; he will fight against them and be victorious. ⁸He will also seize their gods, their metal images and their valuable articles of silver and gold and carry them off to Egypt. For some years he will leave the king of the North alone."

KOS: Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-222 BC)
KON: Antiochus II Theos (305 -281 BC)

Ptolemy III Euergetes, (246 BC–222 BC) is the third ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, he was the eldest son of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. He came to power in 246 BC upon the death of his father. He is most noted for his invasions of the northern kingdom of Syria which he commenced upon the murder of his eldest sister Berenice; during this war, the Third Syrian War, he occupied Antioch and -as a recent cuneiform discovery proves- even reached Babylon. Ptolemy III was also the ruler who promoted the translation of Jewish scriptures into Greek as the Septuagint.

Third Syrian War (246-241 BC)
Antiochus II left two ambitious mothers, his repudiated wife Laodice and Ptolemy II's daughter Berenice, in a competition to put their respective sons on the throne. Laodice claimed that Antiochus had named her son heir while on his deathbed, but Berenice argued that her newly born son was the legitimate heir. Berenice asked her brother Ptolemy III to come to Antioch and help place her son on the throne. When Ptolemy arrived, Berenice and her child had been assassinated.
So, Ptolemy declared war on Laodice's newly crowned son, Seleucus II, in 246 BC. He won major victories over Seleucus in Syria and Anatolia.

Daniel 11:9-13

⁹"Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South but will retreat to his own country. ¹⁰His sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and carry the battle as far as his fortress. ¹¹Then the king of the South will march out in a rage and fight against the king of the North, who will raise a large army, but it will be defeated. ¹²When the army is carried off, the king of the South will be filled with pride and will slaughter many thousands, yet he will not remain triumphant. ¹³For the king of the North will muster another army, larger than the first; and after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped."

Antiochus III started the fourth Syrian War in an attempt to reclaim lost territory. He recaptured Palestine. This led to the The Battle of Raphia, between Ptolemy IV of Egypt and Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Fought on 22 June 217 BC near modern Rafah. Ptolemy had 70,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 73 war elephants (largely African Forest Elephants). Antiochus had 62,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 103 elephants (Mainly the large Syrian Elephants).

Ptolemy IV won, but he didn’t press his advantage. So, Antiochus came back in about 14 years.

Daniel 11:14-20

¹⁴"In those times many will rise against the king of the South. The violent men among your own people will rebel in fulfillment of the vision, but without success. ¹⁵Then the king of the North will come and build up siege ramps and will capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will be powerless to resist; even their best troops will not have the strength to stand. ¹⁶The invader will do as he pleases; no one will be able to stand against him. He will establish himself in the Beautiful Land and will have the power to destroy it. ¹⁷He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an alliance with the king of the South. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans will not succeed or help him. ¹⁸Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back upon him. ¹⁹After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more. ²⁰His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle."

Antiochus III comes back to attack Ptolemy V of Egypt. He achieves a pact by giving his daughter Cleopatra to marry Ptolemy V. But, Cleopatra becomes a loyal Egyptian. Antiochus III gets no real advantage from the marriage. Cleopatra urges Ptolemy V to make an alliance with Rome.
Antiochus III grabs power wherever he can. In 192 BC he teams up with Hannibal Barca of Carthage. They threaten to take Europe. Rome attacks Antiochus and defeats his advances beyond Greece. Antiochus loses the Battle of Magnesia.
The Battle of Magnesia was fought in 190 BC near Magnesia ad Sipylum, on the plains of Lydia (modern Turkey). The Romans are led by the consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio, against the army of Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid Empire. The resulting decisive Roman victory ended the conflict for the control of Greece. The treaty forced upon Antiochus III by the victorious Romans was crippling. In the Treaty of Apamea, Antiochus was forced to pay a huge war indemnity of 15,000 Talents along with giving up significant territory in Asia Minor. The Seleucid navy was limited by treaty. It weakened the already fractious Seleucid Empire and halted all ambitions of Antiochus III had of becoming a latter day Alexander the Great. In 187 BC, Antiochus III is murdered while robbing the sanctuary at Elam.

Heaven and Earth

Refer back to Daniel 10.

Nothing happens by chance.
Nothing happens until it is time.

Chris Benjamin

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Evening Sermon, 2 September 2007

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