The Kings of the South and the North

  

Daniel 11: 1-9

 

April 6, 2024

 

The Kings of the South and the North

“And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.

“And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.  Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he will.  And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.

The three kings of Persia who followed Cyrus were Cambyses (530–522), Bardiya (522), and Darius I Hystaspes (522–486). The fourth, very rich king, was Xerxes. ( Taken from (Bible Places)

“Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority.  After some years, they shall make an alliance, 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 strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times.

 “And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail.  He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north.  Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.

To be a man who can confirm and strengthen Darius, you have to be in a position of power and respect.  Daniel, my hero, was such a man.

Do you understand why the angel of the Lord told Daniel you are greatly loved on two occasions?  We were told in the 10th chapter, we do not know if it was the first day of being a captive and taken to a foreign land, but from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, you were deeply loved.  But there is so much to admire and model in Daniel’s life; he grew where he was planted.  We never see Daniel wanting to go back to Israel to be in leadership; he stayed among these pagan kings and was a great leader under four kings.

Daniel 11 starts with a mighty Greek king whose kingdom is divided after his death. All agree that this is Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC in the prime of life and whose empire was divided among his four generals. One of these generals, Ptolemy, took an area to the south of Israel that included Egypt. Another general, Seleucis, took control of an area to the north of Israel that included Syria.  Daniel 11 covers hundreds of years, so the kings of the North and South are not single individuals; rather, they are the rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty (headquartered in Egypt) and the Seleucid dynasty (headquartered in Syria). These two dynasties were antagonistic toward each other, and Israel was caught in the middle. The king of the North is the Greek king of Syria, of the Seleucid dynasty.

Here are some key terms to remember:
North = Syria = the Seleucid dynasty, which included several kings with the name Antiochus
South = Egypt = the Ptolemaic dynasty

Conclusion

Approximately 250 years before Alexander began his world conquest, God provided Daniel with a glimpse into the future. This was important to Daniel and his people, as God also told them that they would return to their land and He would take care of them through the coming tumultuous times. Kingdoms rise and fall, but God holds the future, and His Word stands.

 

From the Back Porch, 

 

Bob Rice