Daniel 11:2

And now will I declare truth unto thee something which will be verified by the event (cf. Daniel 10:21).

The four kings of Persia.

stand up i.e. arise, as Daniel 8:23, and below, Daniel 11:3; Daniel 11:7; Daniel 11:20.

three kings the three kings following Cyrus (Daniel 10:1) are Cambyses (b.c. 529 522), Gaumâta (Pseudo-Smerdis) 522 (for 7 months), and Darius Hystaspis (522 485). Gaumâta, however, might easily be disregarded by the writer: in this case, the third king would be Xerxes (485 465).

in Persia to, belonging to, Persia:the construction, as Deuteronomy 23:2-3 [3, 4]; Jeremiah 13:13 (see R.V. marg.); and frequently.

the fourth the fourth, following the -three"? or the fourth, including Cyrus (who is reigning at the time, Daniel 10:1), i.e. the last of the -three"? The latter interpretation is the more probable one: otherwise, why was not - fourkings shall stand up" said? In either case, the fourth king is Xerxes, Gaumâta being counted in the former case but not in the latter. On Xerxes" wealth and strength, see Hdt. vii. 20 99 (the account of the immense armament prepared by him against Greece).

and when he is waxed strong] The same expression (in the Heb.) as 2 Chronicles 12:1; 2 Chronicles 26:16.

he shall stir up all(in conflict) with, &c. he will set in motion (Daniel 11:25; Isaiah 13:17; Jeremiah 50:9) all the men and forces of his vast empire. The allusion is to the well-known expedition against Greece, to which Xerxes devoted all his treasures and all his energies, and which ended in the disastrous defeat at Salamis, b.c. 480. The description of Greece as a -realm" or kingdom, is, of course, inexact: Greece, in the age of Xerxes, consisted of a number of independent states, democracies or oligarchies; a Greek -kingdom" did not arise till the days of Philip and Alexander of Macedon.