Daniel 11:7-9

 Daniel 11

Prophecy: Kings of the North and the South

The Syrian Wars: Ptolemy III Euergetes, 

Seleucus II Callinicus - Daniel 11:7-9

What would you change in your past, if time travels were possible?

In the previous message, corresponding to Daniel 11:6, we spoke about the Second Syrian war (260-253 BC) when Antiochus II retook from the Ptolemaic Egypt some Turkish regions, which prompted Ptolemy II to make a deal with Antiochus. We saw that the deal didn't work because of Antiochus' failure to keep it. His disastrous choice provoked the outbreak of the third Syrian war (246-241 BC), which is prophesied in Daniel 11:7-9, and the death of his two wives and Berenice's son.

The Word of God shows us many cases of bad decisions bringing about bad outcomes. A well known story is king David's adultery and crime, that we read in 2 Samuel 11, which caused God to punish king David through several painful events involving his children. Those events include the death of Batsheba's firstborn, David's son Amnon raping his daughter Tamar, which provoked that Absalom killed Amnon to avenge their sister, and eventually, he became the perpetrator of a rebellion that led to a coup d'état against his father, and ended with his death. The whole tragedy in David's family was caused by his sinful decisions in chapter 11, to commit adultery with the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and to order Uriah's death to cover up his sin, when he knew that Batsheba was with child. It was prophesied to him by Nathan the prophet, as a direct punishment from God. 

Another fatal outcome for a bad decision can be read about in 1 Samuel 13. King Saul was supposed to wait for Samuel the prophet, who was the divinely annointed one by the Lord to present sacrifices, before engaging in war against the Philistines. But Saul feared to lose control, because Samuel didn't come when he expected him to come and some people were deserting from Israel's ranks. Then he decided to present the sacrifices himself, which was an abomination before the Lord. When Samuel came, the word of God against Saul was a very severe condemnation, and the prophecy that his kingdom would not endure, and that he would be replaced for a man according to God's heart. King Saul knew this prophecy, and when the young David began to gain the hearts of the people because of his bravery and devotion, Saul made everything in his power to kill him, but unsuccesfully. Nobody can thwart God's will, not even the king. Eventually, he ended consulting a spiritist - meaning abandoning Israel's God - and commited suicide when he realised that he was defeated by the Philistines. Even his son Jonathan fell because of Saul's sin, and none of his descendants was annointed king but Ish-Boshet, who was killed after a short reign over Israel, while David was governing Judah. The whole kingdom was unified under David, and the royal line was established from him.

The prophecy we read about in Daniel 11:7-9 is about the fatal outcome of Antiochus II's bad decision (to go back to his previous wife Laodice and betray the deal he had made with Ptolemy II) In this prophecy, Berenice is the "her" in verse 7, and the kings are Seleucos II Callinicus (son of Antiochus II and Laodice) as "king of the north", and Ptolemy III Euergetes (Berenice's brother) as "king of the south". 

This is Daniel 11:7-9 in the NIV:

"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. He 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. Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South but will retreat to his own country"

The original Hebrew text of this verse is:

ועמד מנצר שרשיה כנו ויבא אל החיל. ויבא במעוז מלך הצפון ועשה בהם והחזיק. וגם אלהיהם עם נסכיהם עם כלי חמדתם כסף וזהב בשבי - יבא מצרים והוא שנים יעמד ממלך הצפון. ובא במלכות מלך הנגב ושב אל אדמתו

And this is the pronunciation:

"Veamád minétser sharashéha kanó veyavó el-haxáyil. Veyavó bemaóz mélek hatsafón, veasá bahém vehexezík. Vegám elohehém im nesixehém im-kelé xemdatám, késef vezaháv basheví - yaví Mitsráyim, vehú shaním yaamód mimélek hatsafón. Uvá be malxút mélek hanégev vesháv el admató"

"For some years he will leave the king of the North alone" is the translation of והוא שנים יעמד ממלך הצפון (vehú shaním yaamód mimélek hatsafón) which has been translated "he shall continue [or 'stand'] more years than the king of the north" (KJV, YLT) and even "He shall have the mastery against the king of the north" (Wycliffe Bible) or "he shall prevail against the king of the north" (Douay-Rheims Bible, American Edition) Hebrew יעמד (yaamód) means "he will stand" or "remain", whereas ממלך (mi-mélek) means "from (the) king" or "more than (the) king". NIV's translation for this verse is not exactly the best one, neither idiomatically nor prophetically. Let's see why:

The "one from her [Berenice's] family line" that would "arise to take her place" is her brother Ptolemy III Euergetes, who waged the 3rd Syrian War (246-241) against Seleucus II Callinicus (Laodice's son) in vengeance for the death of his sister Berenice. He occupied all territories - the coastal lands of nowadays Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel - that Ptolemy I had ruled, and even more, as he entered Babylonia. The Ptolemaic Egypt was at the peak of its power under his rule. That's why he certainly "attacked the forces of the king of the North and entered his fortress; he fought against them and was victorious". The prophecy about seizing "their gods, their metal images and their valuable articles of silver and gold" and carrying them off to Egypt is referring to the act of Ptolemy III Euergetes in his Syrian campaign, when he took the Egyptian circa 2500 idols that the Persian king Cambyses II had taken from the Egyptians during his conquest, and brought them back to Egypt (that's why he was called "Euergetes", which means "Benefactor")  

Now, why do we say that the translation "he will leave the king of the North alone" is not an accurate one?

The literal translation from this angle is, "he will refrain from [attacking] the king of the North for years", which Ptolemy did, for a few years after a peace treaty signed in 241 BC, where both kings accorded that the Eleutheros river (in the actual northern border of Lebanon) would be the boundary between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires. But he never "left Seleucus alone". He continued harming Seleucus by supporting those who fought him, especially Antiochus Hierax (his younger broher) and Attalus I (king of Pergamum, who fought the Callinicus' son, Seleucus III Ceraunus)

The translation "he shall continue [or 'stand'] more years than the king of the north" (KJV, YLT) - a second angle, reading Hebrew יעמד (yaamód) as "he will remain" and ממלך (mi-mélek) "more years than (the) king" - is idiomatically and prophetically accurate. Ptolemy III ruled 246-221 BC, "more years" than Seleucus II, who ruled 246-226 BC (5 years less than him)

Another controversial translation in NIV is "the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South". There are two different angles to this verse: that the king of verse 9 is a Southern one, or that he is a Northern one.

ובא במלכות מלך הנגב ושב אל אדמתו (uvá be malxút mélek hanégev vesháv el admató) means "and [possibly:he] will come to the kingdom [possibly:of] the king of the south, and he will go back to his land". Douay-Rheims Bible, American Edition, renders this as "And the king of the south shall enter into the kingdom, and shall return to his own land" (this angle is taken also by the Wycliffe Bible, Young's Literal Translation and King James Version, that the "he" of verse 9 is the king of the south) There is no reason to suppose that the king of the north would go to Egypt, let alone "invade" it. That said, he did retake Babylonia and some other territories from Ptolemy III, which means he "invaded" the [enhanced] "kingdom of the king of the South". The reason to believe that the king verse 9 is talking about is Seleucus, is that in verse 10, "his sons" are kings of the North (Antiochus III the Great and Seleucus III Ceraunus) However, the king of the North appears also in verse 8, so "his sons" can be traced thither instead of verse 9. 

KJV's rendering is the must accurate one about the "he" of verse 9 being the king of the south; see Daniel 11:7-9, KJV : "But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail. And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north. So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land". The prophecy predicts - even describes - the campaign of Ptolemy the III Euergetes against Seleucus II Callinicus, and how he came back to his land. 

The Third Syrian War did not hurt the Jews especially, because Judea was under Ptolemaic rule before and after it, and the battles between Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid Empire took place in Syria and Babylonia. Nevertheless, a conflict with the payment of the taxes to the Ptolemies caused divisions among the Jews - especially against the implicated High Priest Onias II. However, it didn't caused any persecution because Onias II's counterpart succeeded in keeping the payments to the Ptolemies. By this time, the dichotomy between Hellenizers and patriotic Jews began to intensify. 

How is this prophecy relevant for us nowadays?

As we have said, and proved up to now, most prophecies in Daniel 11 are already fulfilled prophecy, which shows us not only the prophetical gift of Daniel through the Spirit of God but also the reliability of the Word of God. The events that have already taken place cover a historical period more than three centuries long, starting in 530 BC, and the final prophecies, from Daniel 11:36 forward to the end of the book, have not yet been fulfilled. The time for the events prophesied from Daniel 11:36 to the end of chapter 12 - which is just a continuation - is coming near, and because of the revelations in Daniel chapters 2, 7 and 9, and the prophecy of the book of Revelation, the prophecy of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 24, and other prophetical passages, we Christians know it as the time of the Second Coming, when the rapture will take place, Israel will be completely reinstated, the antichrist regime will rise to power and persecute Israel, but Our Messiah will come back and defeat him. 

The rise of the antichrist is not a fortuitous event. Isaiah 11:4; 63:1-6; Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45; 7:13-14, 26-27; 9:25-27; 12:1-7; Zechariah 14:3-5; Matthew 24:4-31; Luke 21:8-28; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Revelation 6:2; 13:1-10; 19:19-20 and other prophecies show us that before the coming of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a satanical regime will rise, trying to conquer and submit the whole world (which is known in other words as "new world order" or "one-world government") The Bible calls this person "a little horn" (Daniel 7:8) "man of lawlessness" [or "...of sin" in other versions] (2 Thessalonians 2:3) a "rider on a white horse", "bent on conquest" (Revelation 6:2) and a "beast out of the sea" (Revelation 13:1-10; 19:19-20) 

There's a lot of people in this world - too many - trying to establish this "new world order", and they are in many cases in high positions of power, even governing countries or leading powerful international organizations. They use anything to divide us and get political power for their agenda, from climate hysteria to the ravings of sick persons who doubt or deny their gender, and from a "multicultural" society - God only knows what it means - to the most despicable forms of race baiting. As it was said before, the rise of the antichrist is not a fortuitous event. It doesn't come from nothingness. In order to convince people that a one-world government is a necessity, you have to trample down the right of the people to peacefully assemble, that right which justifies political parties / ideologies, by demonizing your perfectly legal political adversaries and declare they are "racist", or "nazis", or "a threat to democracy" (sounds familiar?) It has been also very useful to try to convince people that "the end of the world" is coming because of "climate change" (if the end of the world would happen because of CO2, it would be because of too little CO2 in the atmosphere, not because of too much) in order to justify a full-scale attack against the energy industry, which has caused the economic crisis we are going through. 

As the Jewish people didn't choose or cause the 3rd Syrian War, the church has neither caused the extremely polarized political atmosphere or the crisis we're living in. And unlike them, we are not a homogeneous people with the same world view and the same religion. Satan's divisive techniques were beginning to work among the Jews, between Hellenizers and patriotic Jews, but they are working among us in full-scale. Even so called ministers and so called churches have changed the Word of God for the political agendas in vogue. Just as many political leaders' agenda is outlining the regime of the antichrist - or the "beast out of the sea" - those Bible-denying ministers are outlining the church of the false prophet - or "the beast out of the earth". This beast of the earth appears again in Revelation 17 as a prostitute, mystically called "Babylon the Great", riding on the beast out of the sea, which means that the political power will use the religious one to establish that one-world government, but will abandone it when they have got their goal. 

The rise of the antichrist, the apostate religion that supports him and the new "Babylonia" that will fall when Jesus comes, all of these are signs that the second coming of Jesus is near. We can not change the predictive prophecies in the Bible, because they are predetermined by God since eternity. But that we can really do is to choose God and shun Satan. Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the live. Through Him we can come close to the Father and find grace! If you have not yet received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this is the time!

In the love of Christ, your brother

Israel Leonard

PS. Jesus is coming soon!