Monday - Daniel 11 - A Continuation

I

F it was Gabriel who was speaking with Daniel at the end of Daniel 10, then the first-person singular pronoun "I" in Daniel 11:1 must surely indicate that here we have a continuation of Gabriel's speech to Daniel. And, what a speech it was too: 45 verses of history primarily about the time between the testaments! But it hadn't happened yet, so it wasn’t history to Daniel. It was prophecy, and a whole heap of it at that.

You might know of Ahasuerus (vs. 2), Alexander the Great (vs. 3), Cleopatra (vs. 17) and Antiochus Epiphanes (vs. 28), but are you familiar with Cambyses, PsudoSmerdis or Dariaus Hystaspus (vs. 2), Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus or Cassander (vs. 4) Ptolemy II (vs. 5), Bernice and Antiochus II (vs. 6), Ptolemy Ill, Seleucus and Callinicus (vs. 7), Ptolemy Epiphanes (vs. 17), Seleucus IV Phylopater and Antiochus Ill (vs. 19), Onias Ill (vs. 22) or Ai (vs. 37)? And according to some, we can find the Thermopylae (vs. 19), Rome (vs. 30) and the Maccabean Revolt (vs. 32) in this chapter.

It appears that at some point (or at many points) in this chapter, the Spirit had the antichrist in view with this prophecy. At least from verse 30 on down there are numerous statements that fit with the profile of the antichrist. Just like some of the strongest prophecies about Satan and Jesus started with a local context and with something straightforward in local history, so also this examination of ancient rulers turns into a prophecy about the one who will be the last godless human ruler.