Who’s Who in Daniel 11
Daniel 11 tells the future. In Daniel’s day, it pulled back the curtain of time and revealed what would take place among the nations after Daniel’s death in 536 B.C. Even today, a section of the prophecy still awaits fulfillment.
Bible prophecy is not like fortune-telling, which is occasionally accurate but most of the time not. God’s requirement was that a prophet be accurate 100 percent of the time or be stoned to death (Dt. 18:20–22). To date, this prophecy has been 100 percent accurate.
Since Daniel 11 can seem confusing, here is an easy-to-follow explanation.
Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all (v. 2).
The Four Kings: Cambyses (529–522 B.C.); Pseudo-Smerdis (522–521); Darius I (Darius the Great, 521–486); and Xerxes I (Ahasuerus of Esther, 485–465), who would be the richest.1
Then a mighty king shall arise….His kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity (vv. 3–4).
Kingdom: Greece
The Mighty King: Alexander the Great. After he died in 323 B.C., his kingdom was divided among his four generals: Lysimachus, Antipater (succeeded by Cassander), Seleucus, and Ptolemy.
Also the king of the South shall become strong, as well as one of his princes (v. 5).
South: Egypt
King Of The South: Ptolemy I
Prince: Seleucus I of Syria
And at the end of some years they shall join forces, for the daughter of the king of the South shall go to the king of the North to make an agreement (v. 6).
North: Syria
Daughter of the King of the South: The daughter of Ptolemy II, who was given to Antiochus I, a Seleucid.2
But from a branch of her roots one shall arise in his place, who shall come with an army, enter the fortress of the king of the North (v. 7).
Branch of Her Roots: Ptolemy III of Egypt, who invaded Syria in 246 B.C.3 There were constant struggles between these kingdoms (vv. 9–13).
So the king of the North shall come and build a siege mound, and take a fortified city; and the forces of the South shall not withstand him…and he shall give him the daughter of women (vv. 15, 17).
King Of The South: Ptolemy V
King Of The North: Antiochus III (also called the Great) who defeated Egypt at Sidon, came to terms with Ptolemy V, and gave him his daughter in marriage.4
And…shall arise a vile person…he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by intrigue….While returning to his land with great riches, his heart shall be moved against the holy covenant (vv. 21, 28).
The Vile Person: Antiochus IV (called Epiphanes), who wrested control of the Syrian kingdom.
The Holy Covenant: Israel and the Jewish people, whom Antiochus persecuted mercilessly.
And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation (v. 31).
Defile the Sanctuary: Refers to Antiochus placing an image of Zeus in the Temple’s Holy of Holies and sacrificing a sow on the altar, around 167 B.C. This is a key verse because, in speaking to His disciples almost 200 years later, Jesus referred to the abomination of desolation as a yet future event associated with the Antichrist: “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place…then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world…no, nor ever shall be” (Mt. 24:15–16, 21). Jesus used a well-known historical event to warn of something yet future.
With Daniel 11:36 the prophecy jumps to the Antichrist and the coming Tribulation.
Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods…he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know (vv. 36, 38).
The King: The Antichrist
He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall have power over…Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians (vv. 41, 43).
The Glorious Land: Israel
Edom, Moab, and Ammon: Jordan
Ethiopians: The Sudanese.
Yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him (v. 45).
Come to His End: This prophecy coincides with the Messiah’s Second Advent and His physical return to Earth to vanquish the Antichrist, rescue Israel, and establish His everlasting Kingdom. It dovetails with Revelation 19, which describes the demise of Antichrist and his false prophet:
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him [Jesus] was called Faithful and True….And I saw the beast [Antichrist], the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse….Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet….These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Rev. 19:11, 19–20).
Antichrist’s death forever terminates Gentile domination of the world and ushers in the Davidic, Messianic Kingdom over which Jesus will rule from Jerusalem (Dan. 2:44–45). Israel will no longer be the tail but the head (Dt. 28:13) of all nations:
Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts: “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’”(Zech. 8:23).
ENDNOTES
- Charles C. Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible, NKJV (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 1357, n Daniel 11:2.
- Ibid., 1358 n Daniel 11:6.
- Ibid., n Daniel 11:7–8.
- Ibid., n Daniel 11:15–20.
Daniel 9:24-27 is referring to the coming of Christ (Messiah) and the prophesy of his crucifixion.
I am looking at the Daniel 11:40-45 passage in light of recent events and can see a scenario where Putin is king of the North, and will invade countries to the south, starting with Ukraine which has already happened, and then sweeping through Turkey and Syria on the way to invading Israel. I also see this as a parallel prophecy to the Gog Magog invasion of Israel, so that the king of the north is identical to Gog, and in fact Daniel mentions the connection with 2 nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 – Libya and Ethiopia. I’m not sure who the king of the South is, possibly Obama but what seems to have pushed Putin into the Ukraine invasion is the perception by him that Russia is under threat from NATO pushing eastwards, so that is maybe the king of the South pushing against the king of the North. If this scenario is correct, then Putin won’t be stopped in Ukraine and will push through countries like Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia into Turkey. There is also a reference to a large fleet of ships in this passage, and this would make sense, as once Russia has secured the Black Sea ports on the southern coast of Ukraine, they could transport their army south to Turkey, or through the strait into the Mediterranean and to the coast of Syria, and of course those warships could be used to launch the attack on Israel from the Mediterranean too. Of course, all this is speculation at this point, and maybe the war in Ukraine will fizzle out, but then again, perhaps if some kind of peace agreement or surrender is agreed between Russia and Ukraine, then Putin would have control of the eastern part of Ukraine which would be all he would need to proceed with his plan to push south towards Turkey and Syria. It will be interesting to see if this scenario plays out in coming months…
Hi Gail,
Thank you so much for reading Israel My Glory and for sharing your question with us. The identity of the Antichrist is not actually mentioned in the Scriptures, but there are a couple of things we can identify.
(1) Daniel 9:27 states – “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering… The covenant mentioned here is the technical beginning of the Tribulation Period. The “he” who makes or confirms this covenant is traditionally understood to be the revived Roman Empire (The toes of Iron and Clay mixed in Daniel 2 or the dreadful terrible beast with 10 horns in Daniel 7. The he would be AntiChrist who is also traditionally expected to come from the revived Roman Empire. He will also most like be a Gentile as both Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 declare that this king and kingdom arise from the sea. Biblical scholars identify the sea as the Gentile world while Israel is identified with the land. Also notice that the False Prophet mentioned in Revelation 13:11 ff does come from that land and is probably Jewish. I hope this helps. Thank you so much for writing to us.
Do we have any scriptures that tells us where the antichrist will come from?
There is no way the future king of the South is Egypt. Wrong part of the world.
The king of the north will be an American. Daniel 7:4
What does Daniel 7:2, and Revelation 13:1, mean?
He comes out of the sea. and rise out of the sea?
True. The king of the south is “south of something,” not a country.
These questions are answered and more, in my forthcoming book, tentatively, titled,
The Truth about The Devil
Good explanation of past and coming events. We should all remember what Yeshua (Jesus) tells us in Matthew 7:21 and continuing. All please read and always know His Word is truth. Obey Torah – including Sabbath worship on Saturday, not Sunday (we can worship our Father at any time, but we must do as He said and not what human beings have decided they want to do) AND obey the Commands of our Father YeHoVaH – Creator of all things, God of Israel, Father of Yeshua.
May we all know the love and salvation of Yeshua – HalleluYah!!!
This helped me a lot. God bless you and continue using you sir. Hallelujah! Suzelle, from cameroon.
This article is just missing something.Daniel 11 is beyond Israel as a nation.
How do we know that Daniel didn’t skip over Antiochus Epipanes entirely and go to the End Time vile leader who would defile the sanctuary and set up the abomination of desolation? I know you wrote that Daniel skipped to the End Time leader but that was after Epiphanes, not before. Why is it necessary to include A. E. ? The timeline would have better flow this way, IMO. I hope my question is clear. If not, please ask me to clarify before giving an explanation. Thank you.
Hello,
So in your explanation, you say the four kings are:
Cambyses (529–522 B.C.)
Pseudo-Smerdis (522–521)
Darius I (Darius the Great, 521–486)
Xerxes I (Ahasuerus of Esther, 485–465)
Historically, there were more kings after Xerxes leading all the way to Darius III , before Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire.
Second, the prophecy appears to read, there would be 4 more Kings from the point of Darius I.
How do you reconcile these two difficulties?
This is my understanding: in Daniel we see the four beast. Each beast represents a king/kingdom who actively asserts its power on the earth. The Medo/Persian empire (the Ram with two horns m, one larger than the other or the Bear with one side raised higher than the other) has its mantle of supremacy removed by the Grecian empire (the goat or leopard with four wings) once that mantle of authority was removed the following rulers of that kingdom no longer mattered.
So, up to Xerxes the Persian empire Maintained the mantle of authority. Once the mantle of authority passed to the Grecian empire the subsequent rulers of the Persian empire were no longer relevant.
I think of it as a genealogy of the one world government. That is, only those in direct line of that final government really matter.
I read Deuteronomy 18: 20-22 and nowhere does it state that “Gods’ requirement for a prophet was to be accurate 100% of the time or be stoned to death,
It says ” But the prophet, which shall PRESUME to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.”
IN other words, false prophets who claim that they received a message from God and prophesy to the people and mislead them shall be killed.
Daniel 11 is so relevant today! We need to understand what is coming next so we can be prepared for the major war yet to come that will culminate in the return of Yeshua! I’m putting together short and to the point infographics on the prophecy of Daniel 11 and it’s interpretation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv7S7FGzi5Y. Check them out as they become available!
Thank you! God bless you! Could you possibly explain how there is a shift to the antichrist since I still remnants of the kings of the north and the south?
Antichrist’s death forever terminates Gentile domination of the world and ushers in the Davidic, Messianic Kingdom over which Jesus will rule from Jerusalem (Dan. 2:44–45). Israel will no longer be the tail but the head (Dt. 28:13) of all nations:
can you further explain this?
Can we discuss further on Daniel 10-12? It is clear that the message was twisted at some point to adapt to some historical events and we have accepted it wholesomely without questions.
God bless you and multiply his anointing upon you .amen