Note:
Since writing this post, I have been able to learn more about the transition to Rome in Daniel 11. The relevant impact of that information shows up in two of my more recent posts:
Daniel 11:16 (September 17, 2018)
Testing Daniel 11:16-22 (August 30, 2018).
For the entire chapter laid out with the pronouns identified, you may be interested in the book, Daniel and Revelation Bound Together, available at BibleProphecyCentral.com.
Daniel 11 is not so much about kingdoms as it is the story of individual rulers and their exploits. No other chapter gives so much detail on such a large span of history. And it was all foretold long before it ever happened!
Here I have posted the part of Daniel 11 that presents the kings of the north and south. I have supplied the names of the individuals most likely referred to, either replacing the pronouns with a name, or inserting a name in brackets. To establish the setting, I begin with verse 1, although the kings of the north and south don't appear until verse 5.
1 Also I [Gabriel] in the first year of Darius
the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.
2 And
now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings [Cambyses II, Smerdis, Darius I] in
Persia; and the fourth [Xerxes]
shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he
shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
3 And
a mighty king [Alexander the Great]
shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his
will.
4 And
when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided
toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his
dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others
beside those.
5 And
the king of the south [Ptolemy I Soter]
shall be strong, and one of Alexander’s
princes [Seleucus I Nicator]; and Seleucus I Nicator shall be strong
above Ptolemy I Soter, and have
dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.
6 And
in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's [Ptolemy II Philadelphus] daughter [Berenice] of the south shall come to
the king of the north [Antiochus II
Theos] to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the 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 these
times.
7 But
out of a branch of her roots shall one [Ptolemy
III Euergetes] stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and
shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north [Seleucus II Callinicus], and shall deal against them, and shall
prevail:
8 And
shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with
their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and Ptolemy III Euergetes shall continue more years than the king of
the north [Seleucus II Callinicus].
9 Also the king of the north [Seleucus II Callinicus] shall come to the kingdom of the king of the south [Ptolemy III Euergetes], but shall return to his own land.
10 But
Seleucus II Callinicus’ sons [Seleucus III Ceraunus and Antiochus III Magnus] shall be stirred
up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one [Antiochus III Magnus] shall certainly
come, and overflow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up,
even to his fortress.
11 And
the king of the south [Ptolemy IV
Philopator] shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with
Antiochus III Magnus, even with the
king of the north: and Antiochus III
Magnus shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given
into Ptolemy IV Philopator’s hand.
12 And
when Ptolemy IV Philopator hath
taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down
many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.
13 For
the king of the north [Antiochus III
Magnus] shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the
former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with
much riches.
14 And in those times there shall many stand up
against the king of the south [Ptolemy V
Epiphanes]: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to
establish the vision; but they shall fall.
15 So the king of the north [Antiochus III Magnus] shall come, and
cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south
shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any
strength to withstand.
[At this point, the focus of Gabriel’s
narration shifts to the West. Except for a brief appearance of the king of the
South in verse 25, the kings of the North and South are not seen again
until “the time of the end.”
We now pick up
the continuation of their story in verse 40.
For the West in Daniel 11:16-39, see my November 7, 2013 post.]
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of
the south [Murad Bey] push at Napoleon Bonaparte: and the king of the
north [Sultan Selim III] shall come
against Bonaparte like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many
ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall
be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and
the chief of the children of Ammon.
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land
of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and
over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall
be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east and out of the
north shall trouble Sultan Abdulmecid I: therefore he shall go forth with great
fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
45 And a
yet to be determined king of the north shall plant the tabernacles of his
palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his
end, and none shall help him.
[I used the New King James Version in verse 9. Everything else is from the King James Version.]
