Daniel 11:2

2. Three kings in Persia There were really a dozen kings who ruled over the Medo-Persian empire; but Daniel is only concerned with those who had especial influence over the destinies of the Jewish people. Even Prince sees from Daniel 9:25, etc., that the writer of Daniel knew that the Persian period lasted much longer than the reigns of only four kings. The names of the Persian kings to which the Bible refers as materially affecting the Jews are Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes. The recent discoveries of Hilprecht show that Thomson’s supposition that Artaxerxes was merely a title, and not a personal name, cannot be longer maintained. This passage may, however, only mean that there will be three kings after Cyrus, the last of whom shall be this rich king whom almost all commentators identify as Xerxes. The three are mentioned merely to identify the fourth. The succession of kings ran: Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius Hystaspes, Xerxes. Many expositors have counted Artaxerxes as the king preceding Xerxes, and have tried to account for the inexactness in number by calling the “four” symbolical; but Dr. Hilprecht has recently shown that Artaxerxes followed Xerxes and preceded Darius II. Why Xerxes should be selected for special mention is explained by the romance attached to him because of his extraordinary wealth and the defeats inflicted upon his army of half a million men by the Grecian heroes of Thermopylae and Marathon. Every reader of the prophecy for centuries afterward would identify this king, far richer than they all, as Xerxes. Multimillionaires were not as common in those days as now. And by his strength, etc. Rather, as R.V., “and when he is waxed strong through his riches,” etc.