Daniel 11:40-45

THE CLOSING VERSES OF THIS CHAPTER.

It is very difficult to explain Daniel 11:40-45 historically. No writers of the period have recorded an invasion of Egypt by Antiochus after he had been brought to account so sharply by the Romans (notes Daniel 11:29-30), and everything we know of the political conditions of the period is against this. One late author, however (Porphyry), affirms there was such a campaign just before the death of Antiochus and this is not absolutely impossible. It is not satisfactory to say with Kuenen, Bevan, and many others, that these verses express the expectation of the author of Daniel, but that this expectation was never realized. If indeed this passage was written and openly published only a few months before the death of Antiochus at which time these supposed glaring mistakes would have been most clearly seen it is impossible to conceive how the book could have been at once accepted as a true prophecy and a little later placed in the sacred canon. Many scholars believe that these verses arelater interpolations, or that they have dropped out of their true place in the narrative immediately after the historical sketch given in Daniel 11:1-5. The versions, however, though they differ much from the received text, do not hint this, and there are other objections to the theory.

In view of the difficulties embarrassing any historic explanation of this passage, a multitude of interpreters have given their fancy full play, seeking to find here as indeed everywhere else in Daniel allusions to conflicts which have taken place in the Middle Ages, or in modern times, or which shall happen in future centuries. This is not interpretation, it is imagination. Other writers believe that with Daniel 11:40 the vision of the prophet fuses two pictures: the triumphs and disastrous end of Antiochus with the victories and final defeat of the antichrist of whom he was a type. We have already defended this method of interpretation, and have no doubt that a counterpart of Antiochus may be found in the antagonists that arose against the theocracy in after ages; but we believe that every prophecy should be explained first with reference to the historic facts of the period concerning which it directly treats. A seeming discrepancy between the account and the known facts of the local period which it primarily depicts is not sufficient to relegate it wholly to a far-off future time. That is too easy a method. If its primary and local meaning is not understood, its secondary and universal teachings cannot be intelligently grasped. These verses do not have the customary tone of idealization and exaltation which usually accompanies a vision of the Messianic future. They are almost as matter-of-fact and full of detail as the accounts which have preceded, and which we have seen relate actual earthly events in the reign of this mad king, Antiochus. The “king of the north” means Antiochus, and the “king of the south” Ptolemy, as all the versions knew. We cannot therefore adopt the supposition that this passage treats of the end of the world and the battle with antichrist.

We incline to believe with many scholars of the highest rank that this passage is a general resume of all the Egyptian campaigns of Antiochus previously mentioned (Daniel 11:29-30), with special emphasis on the statement that all these campaigns happened “at the time of the end;” that is, as modern commentators agree, at the end of this era of persecution which was to precede the Messianic reign. (See notes Daniel 9:27; Daniel 12:1.) For seventy times seven years these afflictions, captivities, and persecutions have fallen on the holy people; but now, although it seems to the Maccabean martyrs that they have only reached their fullest power, in the days of this evil conqueror, they are really just at an end. Even the most boastful years of Antiochus are in “the time of the end.” This wild beast shall suddenly be “cut off without hand” for, whatever the manner of his death, every Hebrew who believed in the divine decree would know that it was an event fixed and appointed by God himself and after this the prophet sees victory for Israel and the glorious rule of One like unto a Son of man. (See notes Daniel 11:40; Daniel 7:13-14; Daniel 9:27.)