Daniel
Daniel 11
1“As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.
2“Now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings will stand up in Persia; and the fourth will be far richer than all of them. When he has grown strong through his riches, he will stir up all against the realm of Greece. 3A mighty king will stand up, who will rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 4When he stands up, his kingdom will be broken, and will be divided toward the four winds of the sky, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom will be plucked up, even for others besides these.
5“The king of the south will be strong. One of his princes will become stronger than him, and have dominion. His dominion will be a great dominion. 6At the end of years they will join themselves together; and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make an agreement; but she will not retain the strength of her arm. He will also not stand, nor will his arm; but she will be given up, with those who brought her, and he who became the father of her, and he who strengthened her in those times.
7“But out of a shoot from her roots one will stand up in his place, who will come to the army, and will enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and will deal against them, and will prevail. 8He will also carry their gods, with their molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, captive into Egypt. He will refrain some years from the king of the north. 9He will come into the realm of the king of the south, but he will return into his own land. 10His sons will wage war, and will assemble a multitude of great forces, which will come on, and overflow, and pass through. They will return and wage war, even to his fortress.
11“The king of the south will be moved with anger, and will come out and fight with him, even with the king of the north. He will send out a great multitude, and the multitude will be given into his hand. 12The multitude will be lifted up, and his heart will be exalted. He will cast down tens of thousands, but he won’t prevail. 13The king of the north will return, and will send out a multitude greater than the former. He will come on at the end of the times, even of years, with a great army and with much substance.
14“In those times many will stand up against the king of the south. Also the children of the violent among your people will lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they will fall. 15So the king of the north will come and cast up a mound, and take a well-fortified city. The forces of the south won’t stand, neither will his chosen people, neither will there be any strength to stand. 16But he who comes against him will do according to his own will, and no one will stand before him. He will stand in the glorious land, and destruction will be in his hand. 17He will set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and with him equitable conditions. He will perform them. He will give him the daughter of women, to corrupt her; but she will not stand, and won’t be for him. 18After this he will turn his face to the islands, and will take many; but a prince will cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Yes, moreover, he will cause his reproach to turn on him. 19Then he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land; but he will stumble and fall, and won’t be found.
20“Then one who will cause a tax collector to pass through the kingdom to maintain its glory will stand up in his place; but within few days he shall be destroyed, not in anger, and not in battle.
21“In his place a contemptible person will stand up, to whom they had not given the honor of the kingdom; but he will come in time of security, and will obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22The overwhelming forces will be overwhelmed from before him, and will be broken. Yes, also the prince of the covenant. 23After the treaty made with him he will work deceitfully; for he will come up, and will become strong, with a small people. 24In time of security he will come even on the fattest places of the province. He will do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers. He will scatter among them prey, plunder, and substance. Yes, he will devise his plans against the strongholds, even for a time.
25“He will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south will wage war in battle with an exceedingly great and mighty army; but he won’t stand; for they will devise plans against him. 26Yes, those who eat of his dainties will destroy him, and his army will be swept away. Many will fall down slain. 27As for both these kings, their hearts will be to do mischief, and they will speak lies at one table; but it won’t prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time. 28Then he will return into his land with great wealth. His heart will be against the holy covenant. He will take action, and return to his own land.
29“He will return at the appointed time, and come into the south; but it won’t be in the latter time as it was in the former. 30For ships of Kittim will come against him. Therefore he will be grieved, and will return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and will take action. He will even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant.
31“Forces will stand on his part, and they will profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and will take away the continual burnt offering. Then they will set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32He will corrupt those who do wickedly against the covenant by flatteries; but the people who know their God will be strong, and take action.
33“Those who are wise among the people will instruct many; yet they will fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder, many days. 34Now when they fall, they will be helped with a little help; but many will join themselves to them with flatteries. 35Some of those who are wise will fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for the time appointed.
36“The king will do according to his will. He will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and will speak marvelous things against the God of gods. He will prosper until the indignation is accomplished; for that which is determined will be done. 37He won’t regard the gods of his fathers, or the desire of women, or regard any god; for he will magnify himself above all. 38But in his place he will honor the god of fortresses. He will honor a god whom his fathers didn’t know with gold, silver, and with precious stones and pleasant things. 39He will deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god. He will increase with glory whoever acknowledges him. He will cause them to rule over many, and will divide the land for a price.
40“At the time of the end the king of the south will contend with him; and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships. He will enter into the countries, and will overflow and pass through. 41He will enter also into the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown; but these will be delivered out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42He will also stretch out his hand on the countries. The land of Egypt won’t escape. 43But he will have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. The Libyans and the Ethiopians will be at his steps. 44But news out of the east and out of the north will trouble him; and he will go out with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many. 45He will plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
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What others are saying
5 commentators · 161 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
Here, 1. The angel Gabriel lets Daniel know the good service he has done to the Jewish nation (Dan 11:1): "In the first year of Darius the Mede, who destroyed Babylon and released the Jews out of that house of bondage, I stood a strength and fortress to him…
Here are foretold, I. The rise and power of two great kingdoms out of the remains of Alexander's conquests, Dan 11:5. 1. The kingdom of Egypt, which was made considerable by Ptolemaeus Lagus, one of Alexander's captains, whose successors were, from him…
All this is a prophecy of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the little horn spoken of before (Dan 8:9) a sworn enemy to the Jewish religion, and a bitter persecutor of those that adhered to it. What troubles the Jews met with in the reigns of the Persian…
John Gill45
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede,.... These words more properly belong to the preceding chapter, and should have concluded that, and the "eleventh" chapter should have begun in the next verse; and they are not the words of Daniel, as Jerom and…
And now will I show thee the truth,.... And nothing but the truth; what will most certainly come to pass, and may be depended on, even what is written in the book of God's decrees, "the Scripture of truth", and which would appear in Providence in later times…
And a mighty king shall stand up,.... Not in Persia, but in Greece; Alexander the great, who rose up a hundred years after the above expedition of Xerxes, and "stood" and flourished, and conquered all he attacked, none being able to resist him; and is rightly…
Adam Clarke44
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
In the first year of Darius the Mede - This is a continuation of the preceding discourse. Bp. Newton, who is ever judicious and instructing, remarks: It is the usual method of the Holy Spirit to make the latter prophecies explanatory of the former; and thus…
There shall stand up yet three kings - Gabriel had already spoken of Cyrus, who was now reigning; and after him three others should arise. These were, 1. Cambyses, the son of Cyrus. 2. Smerdis, the Magian, who was an impostor, who pretended to be another son…
A mighty king shall stand up - This was Alexander the great. It is not said that this mighty king shall stand up against Xerxes, for he was not born till one hundred years after that monarch; but simply that he should stand up, i.e., that he should reign in…
Keil & Delitzsch26
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
The first verse of the eleventh chapter belongs to Dan 10:21; the ואני (also I) is emphatically placed over against the mention of Michael, whereby the connection of this verse with Dan 10:21 is placed beyond a doubt, and at the same time the reference of לו…
The events of the nearest future - Daniel 11:2-20 The revelation passes quickly from Persia (Dan 11:2) and the kingdom of Alexander (Dan 11:3, Dan 11:4), to the description of the wars of the kingdoms of the south and the north, arising out of the latter, in…
But only brief notices, characterizing its nature, were given regarding the Macedonian kingdom, which agree with the prophecies Dan 7:6 and Dan 8:5-8, Dan 8:21-22, without adding new elements. The founder of the kingdom is called גּבּור מלך, "brave king,"…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown43
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
three kings in Persia--Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis, and Darius Hystaspes. (Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, and Darius, in Ezr 4:6-7, Ezr 4:24). The Ahasuerus of Esther (see on Dan 9:1) is identified with Xerxes, both in Greek history and in Scripture, appearing proud…
mighty king . . . do according to his will--answering to the he-goat's "notable horn" (Dan 8:6-7, Dan 8:21). Alexander invaded Persia 334 B.C., to avenge the wrongs of Greece on Persia for Xerxes' past invasion (as Alexander said in a letter to Darius…
kingdom . . . divided toward . . . four winds--the fourfold division of Alexander's kingdom at his death (Dan 8:8, Dan 8:22), after the battle of Ipsus, 301 B.C. not to his posterity--(See on Dan 8:8; Dan 8:22). nor according to his dominion--None of his…
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