Daniel 11: 2-9
This begins quite a long and detailed telling of all the future history of the world as it pertains to Israel from Daniel's time. It is most remarkable that we can point to historical records that reveal the accuracy of what Gabriel told Daniel hundreds of years ahead of the time they would happen.
(2) "And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia.
The three kings after Cyrus, who was on the throne at the time Gabriel was talking with Daniel, were: (first) Cambyses, Cyrus's elder son (529-523) who conquered Egypt; then (second) an imposter named Gaumata or Bardiya (523-522), who passed himself off as Cyrus's younger son, Smerdis, who had been murdered; and (third) Darius the Persian (522-485), the son of Hystaspes, who in 522 assassinated the imposter and gained the kingship for himself. This Darius was actually of royal blood, a cousin of Cyrus through his father, Hystaspes.
Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece.
This was Darius's son Xerxes (485-464), who is the one who invaded Greece.
(3) "And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.
This is, of course, Alexander the Great.
(4) "But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others besides them.
Because of his early death and having no heir, his kingdom was divided up among his four generals.
(5) "Then the king of the South will grow strong,
This is Ptolemy I (Soter), son of Lagus. During the 280 years between Ptolemy I and Cleopatra VII (who met her end around 30 B.C.) the domain of the Ptolemies was pretty well restricted to Egypt and Cyprus.
along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion;
This one of his princes was Seleucus Nicator. With Ptolemy's sponsorship, 310 became the official starting date for the Selucid Era.
his domain will be a great dominion indeed.
Since Seleucus secured control of Alexander's old domains all the way to the Indus on the east and to Syria and Phoenicia on the west, his authority far surpassed that of his sponsor, Ptolemy.
(6) "After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out a peaceful arrangement.
In 252 Ptolemy II (Philadelphus) made a treaty with Antiochus II (Theos) who agreed to marry Philadelphus's daughter, Berenice, but he was already married to Laodice!
But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.
Laodice was a powerful and influential woman who, from her place of banishment, arranged for Berenice and her infant son she'd borne to Theos to be assassinated, and not long after the king himself was poisoned to death (247 B.C.). So Berenice was given up and did not retain her ... power, nor did he remain with his power when they both died, and Laodice ruled as queen regent until her young son, Seleucus II (Callinicus), reached majority.
(7) "But one of the descendants of her line
This would be Ptolemy III (Euergetes), Berenice's brother, who took the throne upon his father's death (247).
will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display great strength.
He organized a great expeditionary force against Syria to avenge his sister's death, and the war raged from 246 to 241. Ptolemy captured and pillaged the Seleucid city of Antioch and invaded its eastern domains as far as Bactria.
(8) "Also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold he will take into captivity to Egypt,
Finally he returned to Egypt laden with spoil, the gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, recovering the long-lost idols and sacred treasures that Cambyses had taken as booty in 524. For this restoration of their national honor against the Persians they acclaimed him as Euergetes ("Benefactor").
and he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years.
This alludes to the peace treaty that Ptolemy III made with Seleucus II in 240.
(9) "Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land."
This refers to Seleucus II coming into northern Syria and Phoenicia, probably in the 230s, but there's no record that he entered into Egypt proper.
We will pause here and continue this prophesy next time.
God planned out everything that would happen, before He ever made anything at all. Before time began, God decided what He would do, how He would do it, and how it would finish.
Like a video game designer thinks up a game, the scenario it would be played on, the characters the players will deal with, and all the moves and plays that would be necessary to win and finish the game. This is a poor illustration, but I think that we can design these games using the creativity God placed in us when He made us in His image, after His likeness.
He is our Creator, and He has designed this Earth to be our environment to build our world upon. We have only one Earth, and we are responsible to take care of it as our home while we live here.
And He has given us everything we need, right here in and on this planet. He knows how He designed it all to work properly, for the Earth to yield its bounty and treasures to us as we work it according to the Manufacturer's Instructions. It's when we put aside the rule book and think that we can figure out a better idea that we get into trouble.
So God lets us experience the consequences of our decisions and choices, and when we come up short, it's because He wants us to turn to Him and His ways.
God has shown us His heart in His songbook, the Psalms. And He's shown us how to get along with one another in Proverbs. He's shown us the joys and rapture of marriage in the Song of Solomon. And He's laid out the requirements for correcting what's wrong and making it right in all the laws, rules, commandments, sacrifices, regulations, precepts, and other writings. He's shown us how others who have gone before us fared for good or ill as a result of their choices, to show us what we need to know to live.
Now it's up to us to learn what He's told us, and live accordingly.
O my Father, You are so good! And You are so good to us! We stumble and wander and lose the way to light and life, and many wonder why they are in such darkness. But Your light shines upon all who will call on You in humility and repentance. You are waiting with arms wide open for each of us to come to the end of ourselves and turn to You.
O Father, send out Your messengers, Your missionaries, Your children, to broadcast to the whole world how much You love each one of us. You have already done everything possible and impossible to cleanse away our filthiness to make us fit to be in Your presence. And You have called us to new birth into Your own divine family.
Father, you created Mankind to be Your children, and you are not willing for any of us to perish, but for all to come to repentance. That's why You sent Your own Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. And He is coming again, returning to this Earth to claim His throne and set up His Kingdom. And His rule will never end.
All the kings of the world can only reign for one lifetime, then their throne is passed on to the next. But King Jesus will not ever hand over His throne to any other, He will reign for ever, and His Kingdom will continue to grow forever, too.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
