Prophecy is meant to work in such a way that it is fully understood only after the events prophesied have already taken place. This confirms for us that what YHWH declares will happen truly will happen. We are living in the most exciting time in history, because we are at the dawn of the end-times and almost all of prophecy is in our past, which makes it much easier for us to see the big picture. We can see the whole plan laid out behind us!
Chapters ten through twelve of the book of Daniel are an amazing overview of 2500 years of history, and we are at the very end of it. Chapter ten is an account of the years of the second beast of Daniel 7, which was the Aryan (Persian)Empire. The chapter closes out with the introduction of the third beast, the Hellenic (Javan) Empire, which conquers the Persians. Chapter eleven is an account of the years of the third beast, Javan, and takes us up to the present day. You can learn the details of those four empires in our study The Four Great Beasts.
The Kings of the North are represented by the following “kingdoms”:
- Seleucid—verses 3-24
- Roman—verses 25-33
- Byzantine—Verses 34-35
- Papal—Verses 36-38
- British—Verses 39-43
- State of Israel—Verses 44-45
Chapter twelve tells us of Yeshua’s return for His bride.
Daniel 10:1 In the third year of Cyrus King of Persia, a thing was revealed to Daniel whose name was called Belteshazzar. And the thing was true, and a great conflict. And he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.
The third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia was 500 BC. The kings list of Media and Persia is covered in detail in our study, Aryan (Achaemenid) Kings List. The Jewish people had begun making their way back to Jerusalem from Babylon. Daniel says that this prophecy of future events was true and that he understood it. This could be because he related the King of the North to Samaria, and the King of the south to Jerusalem.
Daniel 10:2-9 In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three weeks of days. I ate no food for delight, and no flesh or wine came into my mouth. I did not anoint myself at all until three weeks of days were fulfilled. And in the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the hand of the great river, which is Tigris, then I lifted up my eyes and looked: And, behold, a certain man was clothed in linen, whose loins were wrapped in fine gold from Uphaz. His body was also like the beryl, and his face looked like lightning. And his eyes were like torches of fire; and his arms and his feet in color like polished copper; and the sound of his words were as the noise of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision. For the men who were with me did not see the vision. But a great trembling fell on them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Then I was left alone, and saw this great vision; and there remained no strength in me. For my color was turned within me to corruption, and I kept no strength. Yet I heard the sound of his words. And when I heard the sound of his words, then I was on my face, stunned; and my face was toward the ground.
This is Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ), who had come to speak to Daniel. Compare:
Revelation 1:13-15 And turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of man, having been clothed to the feet, and having been girded with a golden girdle at the breasts. And the hairs of his head were white as white wool, as snow, and His eyes as a flame of fire; and his feet like burnished metal having been fired in a furnace; and His voice as a sound of many waters;
Both Daniel and John describe Yeshua Messiah as having a voice that sounded like a multitude of people speaking in unison. The phrase “many waters” is defined for us later in Revelation.
Revelation 17:15 And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
The man that Daniel saw was dressed for battle, which is why his legs were bare and his loins girded. The man John saw was dressed for priesthood, which is why his legs were covered all the way to his feet. However, both were still wrapped in gold, indicating his kingship.
The word translated “beryl” is Strong’s h8658 תַּרְשִׁישׁ tar-sheesh. From the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon: noun masculine; a precious stone, perhaps yellow jasper, or other gold-coloured stone.
Daniel describes his skin as a golden brown colour: body like beryl, face like lightening, arms and feet like polished copper; which matches John’s description of his feet: like burnished metal having been fired in a furnace.
Both men describe his eyes as being like fire.
This prophecy was brought to Daniel by Yeshua Messiah himself! This is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Jeremiah where YHWH says He will personally visit Judah after the 70 years in Babylon was completed.
Jeremiah 29:10 For so says YHWH, When according to My mouth seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and confirm My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.
Daniel 10:10-15 And, behold, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my knees and the palms of my hands. And he said to me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand up. For I am now sent to you. And when he had spoken this word to me. I stood trembling. And he said to me, Do not fear, Daniel. For from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God your words were heard. And I have come because of your words. But the leader of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days. But, lo, Michael, one of the first rulers, came to help me. And I stayed there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what shall happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is yet for many days. And when he had spoken such words to me, I set my face to the ground, and I became speechless.
Yeshua told Daniel, who had been praying and fasting for three weeks (twenty-one days), that He would have arrived earlier, but He had been occupied with the Kings of Persia. However, now He had come to make Daniel understand what was going to happen to the Israelites at the end of days. He told Daniel that the end won’t be for many days to come.
Also, notice that Yeshua referred to the kings of Persia in the plural. This is because Media and Persia had their own kings: Darius in Media and Cyrus in Persia. Both kingdoms were part of the Aryan Empire, which was a type of family confederacy where the eldest of the two kings was the patriarch, or head, of what they called the Achaemenid Empire. See our study on these kings, here.
Daniel 10:16-21 And, behold, one in the form as the sons of men touched my lips. And I opened my mouth and spoke, and said to him who stood before me, O lord, my pangs have come over me, because of the vision, and I have no strength left. For how can the servant of my lord speak this with this my lord? For as for me, there is no power left in me; yea, there is no breath left in me. And again, one in form as a man touched me, and made me strong. And he said, O man greatly beloved, do not fear. Peace to you. Be strong. Yea, be strong. And when he had spoken to me, I was made strong. And I said. Speak my lord, for you have made me strong. And he said, Do you know why I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the ruler of Persia. And when I have gone out, then, lo, the ruler of Greece shall come. But I will tell you what is written in the Scripture of Truth. And no one makes himself strong with Me in these things, except Michael your ruler.
Yeshua strengthened Daniel and told him that He would be going back to support the ruler of Persia. This meant that Yeshua helped Persia to defeat Babylon.
Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, was the general of the Aryan (Achaemenid) army that conquered Babylon in 504 BC. At this time, Darius the Mede, Cyrus’ uncle was the king of Media and patriarch of the Empire.
Yeshua said that when He leaves and the Persians no longer have His support, the ruler of Greece (Javan) will come and conquer Persia. He was talking about Alexander the Great.
The Hebrew word translated “Greece” is Strong’s h3120 יָוָן Yâvân: Javan.
Genesis 10:2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
We learned in our study Traced, that Japheth settled in the region of modern Turkey and that some of his descendants migrated to Europe, eventually forming the Hellenic, Roman, Scandinavian, Celtic and Germanic Cultures. Therefore, Javan is not necessarily limited to the Greeks, but could apply to the whole region of Europe.
Yeshua tells Daniel that it is Michael who is helping Him with the Persians; and in chapter 12 we learn that it is Michael who will help Daniel’s people in the end-times.
Daniel 11:1-2 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.
Yeshua said that He had been supporting Darius the Mede as well. This makes sense since Media had conquered Assyria less than a century earlier. Then He begins the account of the events that would unfold for Jerusalem and the Israelites until His second coming.
There will be four more kings of Persia after Cyrus the Great (who was king at the time Yeshua was talking to Daniel), and the fourth would be defeated by Alexander the Great. The kings of Persia were bent on conquering many lands and expanded their empire into the largest seen up to this point in history. They fought many battles with the Greeks, which came back to bite them in 332 BC.
When Cyrus the Great died, his son, Cambyses II became king; however, he was soon injured and died of gangrene. Darius I of Media (Darius the Mede’s son) then took the throne of both Media and Persia, reuniting the two empires. His son, Darius II, succeeded him, and then Darius III was the fourth and final king of Persia and the one defeated by Macedonia.
Daniel 11:3-4 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. 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.
These two verses are describing Alexander the Great, who took over the vast empire that the Persians had built up under the Achaemenid kings. He died at the age of 32 of what was likely food poisoning, in Nebuchadnezzar II’s palace in Babylon. The Empire was then divided up among his generals, referred to by historians as the Diadochi. The Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Seleucid Empire were two of the kingdoms that resulted from this division. These were the first “King of the North” and “King of the South” match-up.
The reference to Alexander’s kingdom being divided to the four winds of heaven means that there will be four major empires that come out of Javan. Those are the Greek, Roman, French, and British empires, and we cover them in detail in the other prophecies of Daniel.
Daniel 11:5 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.
Ptolemy I Soter was one of Alexander’s generals, and the namesake of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt (King of the South). He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem under the guise of making a sacrifice to God at the Temple in 320 BC, and took over the city easily as the Jews did not anticipate an attack on Shabbat. He then proceeded to take all of Judea from the Seleucid Empire.
Seleucus I Nicator (King of the North), did not attempt to regain the region. However, their sons, Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Antiochus I Soter, would fight the First Syrian War (274-271 BC), the result of which would see Ptolemy controlling an increased amount of Seleucid territory.
Daniel 11:6 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.
In 253 BC, Antiochus II Theos (King of the North) made peace with Ptolemy II Philadelphus (King of the South) after the decade-long Second Syrian War. Antiochus II divorced his wife/cousin, Laodice I, and married Ptolemy II’s daughter Berenice. The agreement was that their children would inherit the Seleucid throne.
Laodice I remained a powerful and influential figure and from Ephesus she worked to become queen again. By 246 BC, she had succeeded in luring Antiochus II back to her side where she poisoned him.
Meanwhile, Berenice and her infant son were murdered by Laodice I’s supporters.
Laodice I then proclaimed Seleucus II Callinicus, her eldest son with Antiochus II, as king.
Daniel 11:7-9 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.
Ptolemy III Euergetes invaded Syria (the Third Syrian War), in a misguided attempt to rescue his sister, Berenice. When he discovered she and her son were murdered, he tried to kill Laodice. He very nearly succeeded, but was forced to abandon the campaign because of a revolt back home in Egypt over heavy taxation. He did manage to return statues and other valuables with him to Egypt that had been stolen by the Persians.
In 241 BC the Seleucids and Ptolemies signed a peace treaty, awarding new territories on Syria’s northern coast to Ptolemy.
Daniel 11:10 His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress.
Seleucus II Callinicus’ brother Antiochus Hierax, challenged his rule in Asia Minor and named himself king of Syria (Asia Minor) in 245 BC. In 238 BC, Attalus I Soter assumed the title of King of Pergamon after taking it from Antiochus. Meanwhile, Seleucus and Antiochus were in a two year stalemate, until the Battle of Ancyra arount 237 BC. At Ancyra, Antiochus was supported by forces from Mithridates of Pontu and the Galatians, and Seleucus barely escaped the clash with his life.
Seleucus II’s aunt, who was divorced from King Demetrius II of Macedon, started a rebellion in Antioch while he was away trying to retake Asia Minor. She wanted Seleucus to marry her, which he refused to do, and he was forced to lay siege to the city in order to retake it.
In the following years, Seleucus focused on rebuilding and expanding Antioch and there was peace between the brothers. By 227 BC, he once again considered a plan to retake Asia Minor from Attalus, but died in 225 BC after falling from his horse.
Antiochus Hierax died in 226 BC after falling victim to thieves.
Daniel 11:11-13 Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.
During the Fourth Syrian War, Ptolemy IV Philopator (King of the South) fought against Antiochus III the Great (King of the North) at the Battle of Gaza in 217 BC. This is known to be one of the largest battles, not only between the Hellenistic kingdoms, but in the entire ancient world up to that time with over 150,000 soldiers participating. It was two Egyptian aristocrats, Sosibius and Agathocles who were actually calling the shots for him, so he did not have any real power. Within three months, Ptolemy had forced a peace treaty with Antiochus and went home to Egypt with an enormous amount of Gold.
Daniel 11:14-16 In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. But he who comes against him shall do as he wills, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand.
Antiochus III (King of the North) started the Fifth Syrian War returning to conquer Ptolemaic Egypt at the outset of the second century BC, after the child Ptolemy V Epiphanes succeeded his father to the throne. An Egyptian revolt from 206-185 BC weakened the young Ptolemy V Epiphanes and resulted in a split of the kingdom between warring factions.
At the Battle of Panium, on the Golan Heights, the Seleucids thoroughly destroyed the Ptolemaic army with their war elephants, phalangites, and cataphracts. From this point onward, Judea was under the control of the Seleucid Empire.
In Antiquities of the Jews, Book XII, Chapter 3, Sections 3, Josephus describes the involvement of the sons of the violent ones of Daniel’s people.
“Now it happened, that in the reign of Antiochus the Great, who ruled over all Asia, that the Jews, as well as the inhabitants of Celesyria, suffered greatly; and their land was sorely harassed. For while he was at war with Ptolemy Eupator, and with his son, who was called Epiphanes, it fell out, that these nations were equally sufferers, but when he was beaten, and when he beat the others. So that they were very like to a ship in a storm; which is tossed by the waves on both sides: and just thus were they in their situation in the middle between Antiochus’ prosperity, and its change to adversity. But at length when Antiochus had beaten Ptolemy, he seized upon Judea. And when Philopator was dead, his son sent out a great army under Scopas, the general of his forces, against the inhabitants of Celesyria: who took many of their cities; and in particular our nation. Which when he fell upon them, went over to him. Yet was it not long afterward when Antiochus overcame Scopas; in a battle fought at the fountains of Jordan; and destroyed a great part of his army. But afterward, when Antiochus subdued those cities of Celesyria which Scopas had gotten into his possession, and Samaria with them; the Jews, of their own accord, went over to him; and received him into the city [Jerusalem] and gave plentiful provision to all his army, and to his elephants: and readily assisted him when he besieged the garrison which was in the citadel of Jerusalem.”
Daniel 11:17 He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage.
One of the ways Antiochus III used to solidify his hold over conquered kingdoms was to have their kings marry women from his family. After signing a treaty in 195 BC, Ptolemy V married Antiochus III’s daughter Cleopatra I. In varying combinations and with many conflicts, their three children ruled Egypt for the remainder of the second century BC.
Cleopatra I, Antiochus’ daughter, did not destroy the Ptolemaic Kingdom as her father had intended. She instead ruled jointly with her husband, and at his death, inherited rule of the kingdom. She kept peace with the Seleucid Empire until her death in 176 BC.
Daniel 11:18-19 Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found.
After signing the peace treaty with Ptolemy, Antiochus III turned his face to Asia Minor by land and by sea. His plan was to take the coastal towns that remained of Ptolemaic overseas dominions and the independent Greek cities. This angered the Roman Republic, because, as a defender of Greek freedom, Smyrna and Lampsacus were under its protection .
Antiochus invaded Greece and was elected the commander in chief of the Aetolian League. However, a year later, the Romans, under Manius Acilius Glabrio, stopped him at Thermopylae and forced his withdrawal to Asia Minor. Emboldened by their success, the Romans invaded Anatolia in 190 BC.
In 188 BC, Antiochus III signed the Treaty of Apamea with Rome. He lost much of the Seleucid lands to the north and west of the Taurus Mountains, and was forced to send his eldest son to Rome as a hostage. As a result of the Treaty, many of the outlying provinces of the empire sensed weakness and began asserting their independence.
Antiochus mounted an expedition to Persia, and died pillaging a temple of Bel the following year.
Daniel 11:20 Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle.
Seleucus IV Philopator became Basileus of the Seleucid Empire on his father’s death in 187 BC. He sent his son, Demetrius as a hostage in Rome in place of his elder brother Antiochus IV.
Seleucus IV increased taxes on the Jews in the Holy Land.
He was assassinated in 175 BC because the bureaucrats were afraid of Rome after some recent disputes.
Daniel 11:21 In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes lived in Athens, Greece after being set free from Rome. When his brother was assassinated, he travelled to Syria and seized the throne while Seleucus’ son was still hostage. He proclaimed himself co-regent with another son of his brother, just an infant, whom he murdered in 170 BC.
Daniel 11:22 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant.
The Sixth Syrian War began when the guardians of young Ptolemy VI declared war on the Seleucids in 170 BC. They had assumed Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ rule would be weakened by internal divisions after he murdered his nephew. But, Antiochus IV had been more prepared than they, and launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt.
The Seleucid army conquered all of the Ptolemaic Kingdom except Alexandria, and to avoid alarming Rome, an ally of Egypt, Antiochus IV made a treaty with them allowing Ptolemy VI to remain as a puppet king from Memphis.
After Antiochus withdrew from Alexandria they chose a new king, one of Ptolemy’s brothers, also named Ptolemy. To avoid a civil war, the brothers agreed to rule Egypt jointly.
The “prince of the covenant” refers to the high priest in Jerusalem, whom Antiochus IV replaced with a man of his own choosing.
Daniel 11:23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully…
Regardless of the peace treaty he had with the Ptolemy brothers, Antiochus decided to attack Egypt again in 168 BC. However, before he reached Alexandria, his path was blocked by a single elderly Roman ambassador who gave him a message from Rome. Antiochus was to withdraw from Egypt and Cyprus or consider himself at war with Rome. He withdrew his forces.
Daniel 11:23-24 …and he shall become strong with a small people. Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time.
Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, a rumour had spread that Antiochus IV had been killed. So the High Priest, Jason, who had been removed by Antiochus and replaced by Menelaus, took a thousand men and attacked Jerusalem, chasing Menelaus out of the city.
The Seleucid’s, just like the Ptolemies before them, had respected Jewish religion and protected Jewish institutions. Antiochus IV Epiphanes changed all that with his extremist views on forcing his polytheistic Roman religion on Judea. There were harsh persecutions against the Jewish religion and culture.
2 Maccabees 5:11-14 When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.
Antiochus IV led his army against the Parthians in the east, but is believed to have died of disease in 164 BC. The Roman Republic named his eight-year-old son, Antiochus V Eupator as his successor under his protector and regent, Lysias.
The death of Antiochus IV marked the end of the power of the Seleucid Empire.
There is somewhat of a consensus among scholars up until this point. Most agree verses 21 to 24 are referring to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, but some attribute the whole rest of the chapter to him as well. Others believe that the account is about him only until verse 29, then the rest is about the Anti-Christ until the end of the chapter. However, there are no events in Antiochus’ life after the events described in verse 24 that would match the remaining verses. In fact, there are no matching events in the Seleucid Empire at all after those of 168 BC.
The Jewish nation had become thoroughly Hellenized during the years of control by the Seleucids and Ptolemies. During the Hasmonean Dynasty (141-37 BC), YHWH gave them an opportunity to rule themselves and show that they could live in obedience to Him; however, they followed the ways of the Greeks instead. Even the priesthood had failed to do as YHWH instructed. We know this because Yeshua tells us in the Gospels about their failing to obey. After a century of independent rule, YHWH brought the Romans in as their new controllers, but allowed the Jews to stay in the Land until after Yeshua and the disciples had finished their work there; after that, He brought destruction on Judea.
We continue this prophecy in King of the North: Part Two…
May you be blessed by this study. Shalom.