Daniel 11:5-9

(2) PTOLEMIES AND SELEUCIDS, I

TEXT: Daniel 11:5-9

5

And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.

6

And at the end of years they shall join themselves together; 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; neither shall he stand, nor his arm; but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in those times.

7

But out of a shoot from her roots shall one stand up in his place, who shall come unto the army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail:

8

and also their gods, with their molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, shall he carry captive into Egypt; and he shall refrain some years from the king of the north.

9

And he shall come into the realm of the king of the south, but he shall return into his own land.

QUERIES

a.

Who is the king of the south and his strong prince?

b.

How did the two join themselves together?

c.

What does the daughter have to do with it all?

PARAPHRASE

And the king of Egypt shall be strong, and his favorite general shall be stronger than he is, and shall reign over a larger dominion. And after the expiration of a course of years alliances will be formed between the successors of these two. To carry out the terms of the agreements the daughter of the king of Egypt will go to the king of Syria as his wife. The king of Syria himself shall not last long as a consequence of his promiscuous actions toward his wives. One of the blood relatives of the king of Egypt's daughter will stand in the place of the king of Egypt and he shall come against the army of the king of Syria. He shall even enter the fortified territories of the king of Syria. He will do according to his will and deal with those who murdered his sister. He will rob their temples and carry their gods of silver and gold back to Egypt. He shall refrain some years from attacking the king of Syria. But the king of Syria will march against the king of Egypt but he shall be completely defeated and retreat to his own land.

COMMENT

Daniel 11:5. THE KING OF THE SOUTH. AND ONE OF HIS PRINCES. SHALL BE STRONG ABOVE HIM. This prophecy concerns Ptolemy I and Seleucus Nicator (Ptolemy's general). See our comments on Daniel 11:3-4 above. When Antigonus was defeated, since Ptolemy sat on the sidelines and let Seleucus do his fighting, the other three generals of Alexander decided Seleucus should be sovereign over Syria-Palestine. As a matter of actual historical fact, the dominion of the Seleucids did greatly exceed that of the Ptolemies. It reached from Phrygia in the west to the Indus river in India on the east. And Daniel had this revealed to him hundreds of years before it took place!

Daniel 11:6 AND AT THE END OF YEARS THEY SHALL JOIN THEMSELVES TOGETHER. Ptolemy I (Soter, or Lagi) was succeeded by his son Ptolemy II (Philadelphus) in 283 B.C. Seleucus Nicator was murdered in 281 B.C. and succeeded by his son Antiochus I. In 275 B.C. Ptolemy II invaded Syria and was repulsed by the Seleucid forces. Ptolemy's naval power, however, enabled him to prolong the war. Hostilities ceased in 272 or 271 B.C. without a decisive victory for either side. When Antiochus II (Theos) (261-246 B.C.) succeeded his father to the Syrian throne in 261 B.C., war broke out again. The results were indecisive, and peace was concluded in 252 B.C. At this time Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy II, was married to Antiochus II, for political purposes. But Antiochus was already married to Laodice, who had given him two sons, Seleucus Callinicus and Antiochus. Berenice was brought to Antiochus in great pomp. Two years later Ptolemy II died, and Antiochus divorced Berenice, taking back Laodice, from whom he had been separated. Laodice, fearing lest her husband might again turn to Berenice, had him poisoned and encouraged her son Seleucus to murder both Berenice and her infant, thus obtaining the throne for himself (Seleucus II [Callinicus]). Again, in minute detail, Daniel knows the intrigues of political marriages between two powerful enemies of God's covenant land centuries in advance! Only the God who knows the beginning from the end of all history could have dictated this to Danielto assume that Daniel could have guessed such detail is foolish.

Daniel 11:7 BUT OUT OF A SHOOT FROM HER ROOTS. In 246 B.C. Antiochus II was murdered and his son Seleucus II (Callinicus) succeeded him. In 245 B.C., the following year, Ptolemy II died and was succeeded by Ptolemy III (Euergetes). Ptolemy III (Euergetes) was the brother of Berenice. Thus is fulfilled the prophecy of this verse that one of the shoots from her roots (i.e., from her ancestry) will stand in the place of Ptolemy Philadelphus. How could Daniel have guessed this correctly? He might just as well have guessed that a usurper would stand in the place of Ptolemy IIfor all Daniel knew. He did not guess! God revealed it to him!

War broke out between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies again when it was learned that Berenice had been murdered, with her infant son, through the intrigue of Laotice, half sister and wife of Antiochus II. The murder of the daughter and grandson of Ptolemy II was an outrage to the honor of the Ptolemies and resulted in the Laodicean War. After a series of brilliant victories in which northern Syria was completely subjugated, and the murderess Laodice was put to death, Ptolemy III was called back to Egypt to care for a local problem.

Daniel 11:9 AND HE SHALL COME INTO THE REALM OF THE KING OF THE SOUTH. The he undoubtedly refers to the king of the north (Seleucus II) who, after two years (about 240 B.C.) succeeded in regaining lost territories as far south as Damascus. He then proceeded to march against Ptolemy and was soundly defeated. Peace was concluded in 240 B.C., and no further attacks were made on Syria during Ptolemy Ill's reign. He died in 221 B.C. and was succeeded by Ptolemy IV (Philopater), one of the worst of the house of Ptolemy. Seleucus II (Callinicus) was succeeded, in 226, by Seleucus III, who died by poison, and he in turn was succeeded by his younger brother who is known as Antiochus III, the Great.

QUIZ

1.

Who is the king of the south?

2.

Who is the prince of the king of the south? and how was his dominion greater than the king'S?

3.

Who is Berenice? Who is Laodice?

4.

Who avenged the murder of Berenice?

5.

Who is Euergetes?

6.

What happened to Seleucus II when he marched against Euergetes?

7.

How long before these events transpired did Daniel predict them?

8.

How well do the actual events fit the predictions?