Daniel 11
Persia and the Rise of Greece 1–4
The Kings of the South and North 5–20
The Rise of the Vile Person 21–30
The Abomination of Desolation 31–35
The King of the End Times 36–39
The Final Campaign 40–45
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Daniel 11
Verse 1
the first year of Darius the Mede — The year of Dan 9:1 and the one after Babylon fell (Dan 5:31). The speaker is the messenger of Dan 10 who 'strengthened' Daniel (Dan 10:18) and named Michael as the only one who 'holdeth with me' (Dan 10:21). 'Strengthen' here is ma'oz, a stronghold, a word that recurs in the chapter (vv.7, 10, 19, 31, 38, 39).
Verse 2
now will I shew thee the truth — 'Truth' (emeth) answers 'the scripture of truth' of Dan 10:21. The fourth king, 'far richer than they all', is read as Ahasuerus (Xerxes), whose riches Esther describes: 'the riches of his glorious kingdom' (Esth 1:4). His strength is 'stirred up' against 'the realm of Grecia', the kingdom Dan 8:21 names.
Verse 3
a mighty king — Read as Alexander: Dan 8:21 calls 'the king of Grecia' the goat whose 'great horn … is the first king'. 'Do according to his will' (ratson) is said in Daniel of only four: the ram (Dan 8:4), this king, the invader of v.16, and the willful king of v.36. Each acts as he pleases for a time.
Verse 4
divided toward the four winds of heaven — Dan 8:8 gave the picture: 'the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven'. The kingdom is 'plucked up' (nathash, as in Jer 12:17) and goes 'not to his posterity', but to others: the generals who divided his empire.
Verse 5
the king of the south — The south is Egypt, named in vv.8 and 42–43; the north is read as Syria. The two lines are the one founded in Egypt by Ptolemy and the one in Syria by Seleucus, 'one of his princes', who 'shall be strong above him'. The chapter follows them because their wars crossed 'the glorious land' (v.16).
Verse 6
the king's daughter of the south — Read as Berenice, daughter of Egypt's king, given in marriage to the king of Syria. 'Agreement' is meysharim, from the root for straight and upright: an alliance meant to be sound. 'Join themselves together' is chabar. The arm of neither holds, and she and 'they that brought her' are given up.
Verse 7
out of a branch of her roots — Netser, the shoot of Isa 11:1, 'a Branch shall grow out of his roots'; here a branch from her roots, read as her brother, who comes 'with an army' and enters 'the fortress' (ma'oz) of the north's king, 'and shall prevail'. The word is the one used for the shoot of David's line in Isaiah; here it names a king of Egypt.
Verse 8
carry captives into Egypt their gods — Gods carried off as spoil are a burden, not a defence: 'Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth … they could not deliver the burden' (Isa 46:1–2). The 'precious vessels of silver and of gold' go with them. 'More years than the king of the north' marks the south's king outliving his rival.
Verse 10
overflow, and pass through — Shataph, to flood; the verb recurs in vv.22, 26 and 40 and echoes Isa 8:8, 'he shall overflow and go over'. Read of the sons of the north's king, who 'assemble a multitude of great forces', and one of them who comes 'to his fortress' (ma'oz), the word of v.7.
Verse 11
moved with choler — Marar, to be bitter, the verb of the he goat who 'was moved with choler against' the ram (Dan 8:7). The south's king 'shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north', and in the battle 'the multitude shall be given into his hand'.
Verse 12
his heart shall be lifted up — Rum, the verb of Deut 8:14, 'Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God'. He 'shall cast down many ten thousands' (ribbo) but 'shall not be strengthened by it' (oz): the victory does not give him the strength it seemed to promise.
Verse 13
after certain years — Literally 'at the end of the times, years' (qets, end), the word that runs through the chapter: 'in the end of years' (v.6), 'the time of the end' (vv.35, 40) and 'he shall come to his end' (v.45). The north's king returns 'with a great army and with much riches', a multitude 'greater than the former'.
Verse 14
the robbers of thy people — Bene paritz, 'sons of the violent', the word of 'a den of robbers' in Jer 7:11. They are of Daniel's own people and rise 'to establish the vision' (chazon); the verse ends 'but they shall fall' (kashal, to stumble).
Verse 15
cast up a mount — The siege-ramp of Jer 6:6, 'cast a mount against Jerusalem', and Ezek 4:2. 'Arms' (zeroa) are forces, as in 'arms of a flood' (v.22), and 'chosen people' is the south's picked troops (mibchar, choice): neither the arms of the south nor its best can 'withstand' (amad, stand).
Verse 16
the glorious land — Tsebi, beauty or glory; the 'pleasant land' of Dan 8:9 and the 'glorious holy mountain' of v.45. Ezek 20:6 calls it 'the glory of all lands'. The conqueror who comes 'shall do according to his own will' (as in v.3) and 'none shall stand before him', yet the land is 'consumed' (kalah) by his hand.
Verse 17
set his face to enter — Hazael 'set his face to go up to Jerusalem' in 2 Kings 12:17: the phrase is resolve. 'The daughter of women' is a young woman, given by the north's king to the south's, 'corrupting her' (shachath); 'she shall not stand on his side'. 'There are many devices in a man's heart' (Prov 19:21).
Verse 18
turn his face unto the isles — Iyyim, coastlands across the sea (Isa 66:19, 'the isles afar off'; Jer 31:10). The verse is read of the north's king in Asia Minor and Greece, where 'a prince' checked him. 'Reproach' (cherpah) was offered by him and is turned back upon him.
Verse 20
a raiser of taxes — Nagas, an exactor or taskmaster, the word of Egypt's taskmasters (Ex 3:7) and of Isa 60:17, 'thine exactors righteousness'. He is read as the successor who was 'destroyed' by his own minister Heliodorus 'within few days', 'neither in anger, nor in battle'.
Verse 21
a vile person — Bazah, one despised, as in Ps 15:4, 'in whose eyes a vile person is contemned'. They do not give him 'the honour of the kingdom' (hod), yet he comes in 'peaceably' (shalvah, ease) and takes it 'by flatteries' (chalaqlaqqot, smooth things). He is read as Antiochus Epiphanes, the little horn of Dan 8:9 who 'by peace shall destroy many' (Dan 8:25).
Verse 22
the prince of the covenant — Nagid berit. It is read of the high priest Onias, removed in these years. Dan 9:25 uses the same word nagid for 'Messiah the Prince', who is 'cut off' in Dan 9:26. The 'arms of a flood' (shataph) are the forces overflowing before him.
Verse 24
scatter among them the prey, and spoil — He gives away plunder, 'that which his fathers have not done'. 'Forecast his devices' is a plan formed against 'strong holds', 'even for a time' (et), a limit the chapter keeps naming: 'the time appointed' (v.27), 'the time of the end' (v.35). Dan 7:25 says he will 'think to change times and laws'.
Verse 27
both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief — They 'speak lies at one table' (kazab, falsehood). The talks come to nothing because 'the end shall be at the time appointed' (moed), as in Dan 8:19, 'at the time appointed the end shall be'. The kings' plans cannot reach beyond the set time.
Verse 28
against the holy covenant — 'Holy covenant' (berit qodesh) occurs in Daniel only in vv.28 and 30. The king returns 'with great riches' and 'his heart' is set on the covenant people; 'do exploits' (asah) is what he does, and it is the word applied to the faithful in v.32. He then returns 'to his own land'.
Verse 30
the ships of Chittim — Kittim is a son of Javan (Gen 10:4), whose coastlands lie across the sea (Isa 23:12; Jer 2:10); Balaam foretold, 'ships shall come from the coast of Chittim' (Num 24:24). Read as Rome's envoy that turned the king back from Egypt. 'Grieved' (ka'ah) is to be cowed; he turns his indignation on 'the holy covenant'.
Verse 31
the abomination that maketh desolate — Shiqqutz meshomem, a detestable thing that causes desolation; Dan 12:11 pairs it with the daily sacrifice taken away, and Dan 9:27 with the sacrifice and oblation made to cease. Christ points to the phrase again: 'When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place' (Matt 24:15).
Verse 32
the people that do know their God — 'Know' (yada) is knowing by experience (1 Chr 28:9; Ps 9:10). 'Be strong' is chazaq, the verb of the messenger's 'confirm' in v.1: strength given by the one who strengthens. Against the 'flatteries' (chalaqqot) that 'corrupt' (chaneph, defile) those who 'do wickedly against the covenant'.
Verse 33
they that understand among the people — Maskilim, the wise: 'they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars' (Dan 12:3). They 'instruct many' (bin, give understanding), yet 'fall by the sword, and by flame'; 'the wise shall understand' (Dan 12:10).
Verse 35
to try them, and to purge, and to make them white — Refining and washing: tsaraph (refine), barar (purify) and laban (whiten), all three in Dan 12:10, 'purified, and made white, and tried'. Zech 13:9 uses the same refining: 'will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried'. It is 'for a time appointed' (moed).
Verse 36
the king shall do according to his will — The verse is read of Antiochus and, beyond him, of the final adversary: Paul has one who 'opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God' (2 Thess 2:4), and John 'a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies' (Rev 13:5). 'God of gods' is the LORD's title (Deut 10:17); 'indignation' (za'am) is that of Dan 8:19.
Verse 37
the desire of women — Chemdah, desire or something desired, the word of 'the desire of all nations' (Hag 2:7). Readers differ: natural affection for women, or the Messiah whom Hebrew women hoped to bear. The king does not 'regard' (bin) the 'God of his fathers', nor 'any god'; he 'shall magnify himself above all'.
Verse 38
the God of forces — Eloah ma'uzzim, 'god of fortresses', the plural of ma'oz, the 'strength' of vv.1, 7 and 10, which the LORD is called: 'the strength of my life' (Ps 27:1). 'A god whom his fathers knew not' recalls Deut 13:6, 'other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers'.
Verse 40
the king of the south push at him — Nagach, to gore, as the ram of Dan 8:4 'pushing westward, and northward, and southward'. The north comes 'like a whirlwind' (cf. Isa 5:28), with chariots, horsemen and 'many ships', and 'shall overflow and pass over' (shataph), the verbs of v.10. 'The time of the end' is that of Dan 12:4.
Verse 41
Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon — The three nations east and south of Israel, named together in Isa 11:14 where Israel 'shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them'. Jeremiah promises to bring again the captivity of Moab 'in the latter days' (Jer 48:47) and of Ammon (Jer 49:6).
Verse 44
tidings out of the east and out of the north — Shemu'ah, a report, which 'troubles' him (bahal, terrifies). He 'shall go forth with great fury' (chemah) 'utterly to make away many' (charam, to put under the ban). Compare Rev 19:19, 21: 'gathered together to make war', 'the remnant were slain with the sword'. Readers differ whether Antiochus or the final adversary is meant.
Verse 45
between the seas in the glorious holy mountain — Apadno, 'his palace', occurs only here. The mountain is the 'glorious holy mountain' (tsebi qodesh) of the land in vv.16 and 41. 'He shall come to his end, and none shall help him' echoes Dan 8:25, 'he shall be broken without hand', and 2 Thess 2:8, 'whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth'.