Daniel 11

The speaker of the vision—continuing from chapter 10—stood in the first year of Darius the Mede to confirm and strengthen him. Wesley’s map of the chapter treats vv. 1–4 as the setting up of the Grecian monarchy after Persia: the angel’s help is help given to a throne, so that what follows concerning God’s people can come to pass. Confirmation is ministry toward a king who still rules, wars, and will be succeeded.

Arminian interpreters hear a God who sincerely governs history for the church without turning kings into puppets. Darius is strengthened; later kings will still exalt themselves, make alliances, and fall by pride. The vision is given so the faithful may recognize the Lord’s care when empires shift, not so they can map it onto later nations.

Calvin: the king of the Persians is nothing, and can do nothing except through the angel who, as God’s servant, placed Darius upon the throne. The argument is from the greater to the less: I erected this monarchy; I can restrain these kings lest they pour their fury on the people. Angels have no power distinct from God’s when He uses their agency.

The church’s safety is not that Persia is kindly, but that the throne exists by God’s appointment and remains in His hand. The faithful are to take comfort that no northern or southern king will finally outrun the word already spoken. The angel claims nothing as his own; he speaks as God’s agent in the change of dynasty.

“I will show you the truth”: the wars that follow are not riddles for idle curiosity. Wesley: the fourth is Xerxes, more potent than the other three because Darius had gathered an incredible mass for him, which he himself increased six years before his expedition against Greece. There were more kings of Persia besides those four, but they had no concern with the people of God.

The angel names what touches Israel, not a complete Persian chronicle. Riches strengthen; the fourth stirs up all against Greece. Creaturely ambition is not cancelled by the fact that God already knows it. The faithful are to believe the word, not to invent later identifications the angel does not make.

Calvin: God was unwilling to gratify vain curiosity; He enlarged upon events necessary to be known so Daniel might privately rely on God’s grace and exhort others to persevere. The four are Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius Hystaspes, and Xerxes—the last so rich he led vast hosts against Javan. The angel limits the number because after Xerxes the Persian power waned and the church’s contests under that line were of another kind.

“Truth” here is covenant care. God did not regard the welfare of other nations as the aim of this discourse, but wished to benefit His church. The convulsions are moderated so that His people are protected. History is told because it was appointed for their consolation, not because they must master every satrap’s name.

Wesley: a mighty king—Alexander the Great. He rules with great dominion and does as he wills: the verse records a will, swift and terrible. Dominion is given; the willing is still his.

Arminians do not deny that God raised him. They deny that do as he wills means Alexander had no responsible pride. The church under such a king is not excused from faith, nor is the king excused from the judgment that will break the kingdom as soon as it has arisen (v. 4). The people of God learn that no lightning-conqueror is a safe rest.

Calvin: this refers to Alexander of Macedon, who came like lightning and necessarily inspired the Jews with trepidation. He shall do according to his pleasure—succeed as if he had all the events of the war under his hand.

As he wills is the language of apparent irresistibility, not of a will outside providence. The God who showed Daniel the mighty king already appointed the breaking of v. 4. The word came a century before Alexander’s birth; that is the consolation. The church is to fear God more than the lightning of Macedon.

Wesley: when he shall stand up—when he is come to his highest point. They did not reign as kings at first, but only as captains; the extent of their dominion was far less than Alexander’s; all four fell short of his. Some lesser commanders shared several parts of the empire.

The height is no illusion, and so is the breaking. Posterity does not inherit what pride built. The four winds are history, not a chart of modern blocs. The angel still minds those things which related to the Jews, as Wesley said of the whole discourse.

Calvin: after Alexander had arrived at his height he suddenly fell. His power was not so much extinguished as broken into separate parts; four kingdoms at length issued from the monarchy. None of his posterity remained. No one could have guessed this a hundred years before his birth.

The plucking up is the Lord’s, not chance succession. “Not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled” is the sentence against a will that seemed absolute in v. 3. The church is to read the four winds as God’s division, and to wait for the two kingdoms that will next press upon the glorious land.

Wesley: the king of the south was Ptolemy, the first king of Egypt after Alexander, brought in because he took Jerusalem by treachery; for the angel minds only those persons and things which related to the Jews. One of his princes—Seleucus Nicanor, who overcame Demetrius and added Asia to his empire.

The south is Egypt as it bears on the holy people, not a cipher for some later power. Strength and greater strength are thrones in a generation. Arminian reading keeps the angel’s economy: what does not touch the covenant people is passed over; what does is named so faith can watch without despair.

Calvin: the angel begins to treat of the kings of Egypt and Syria, still with respect to the church of God placed in the midst. The king of the south is Egypt, neighboring Israel. One of Alexander’s princes strengthens himself against him—the Syrian line, a larger and wealthier kingdom when Asia Minor is added.

South and north are named because the church sits between them. God wished the pious supported under convulsions, persuaded that nothing happens at random since all these events were proclaimed beforehand. The greater authority of the north is already in the word before the wars of vv. 6–19 unfold.

Wesley: the successors of those first kings make an agreement. Bernice shall come from Egypt and marry Antiochus Theus; her father brought her to Pelusium with an infinite sum of gold and silver for her dowry. She continued not in favour and authority; nor his arm—his power.

Alliance is a political act, and it fails as a marriage fails. The daughter does not retain strength; those who brought her are given up. The emphasis is on responsible treachery and a dowry that cannot buy peace. God is not the author of the divorce and murder that followed; He is the One who told His people it would not stand.

Calvin: at the end of the years two kings enter into covenant; Berenice is given to Antiochus Theos after he repudiated Laodice. The marriage was contracted in defiance of justice. She shall be delivered up—to death—with those who led her forth. God became the avenger of these crimes, while the plans of both kings turned out otherwise than they intended.

The angel names the bond as if it were right things, yet kings’ treaties degenerate into mutual perfidy. The church between Egypt and Syria is to see that even royal marriages do not escape the word. The failure is not random; it was shown to Daniel so the faithful would not think God had forgotten the covenant.

Wesley: of Bernice shall come Ptolemaeus Euergetes, who shall revenge the wrong done to his sister. He invaded Syria and took many strong-holds.

A shoot from her roots is a brother acting in history, not a symbol to be reassigned at will. Revenge here is a human will answering a human crime; it prevails as far as the fortress. The angel still minds what relates to the Jews who live under these campaigns. Prevail is success, and it will not last forever (vv. 8–9). Faith watches the branch without baptizing every Egyptian victory as the kingdom of God.

Calvin: the angel treats of Ptolemy Euergetes, who collected large forces to revenge the insult to his sister and carried war against Seleucus Callinicus. A shoot from the root of that queen shall stand in his own rank and come even to the fortification of the king of the north. Many fortified cities surrendered.

The avenger arrives because God had already said a branch would stand. The church is not asked to cheer Egypt, but to know that the wrong done in v. 6 does not fall outside the Lord’s sight. Prevail is granted for a time; the same word will later grant the north its return.

Wesley: he continued more years—forty-six years. The spoils are gods, images, vessels of silver and of gold carried into Egypt. Idols change hands; they do not save the north.

Refrain is a pause in a war. Years of restraint are still years in which the people of God must live, pay, and worship. The angel’s “some years” is mercy enough to breathe, not a promise that Egypt has become holy by owning Syrian gods. Precious vessels tempt kings; they do not establish the covenant.

Calvin: Ptolemy should be the conqueror and spoil the whole of Syria almost according to his pleasure. Profane writers show the great number of images taken away, and how Egypt recovered gods of silver and gold lost long before. He shall stand for more years than the king of the north—Euergetes reigned long enough that Callinicus dared not attempt recovery while he lived.

Even the length of a pagan reign is in the word. The church learns that captured gods are still gods of the nations, and that a pause in attacking is itself appointed. Gold moving south is not the plot of the chapter; the plot is God’s care for those who live between the armies.

Wesley: return—so he did with a booty of forty thousand talents of silver. The northern king comes into the south’s realm and goes home. Invasion and retreat are both on the page.

Arminians take the coming and returning as responsible campaigns. Booty does not equal possession. The south is not erased; the north is not finished. The people of God in between are to refuse despair when a king “comes into the realm” and refuse false peace when he “returns to his own land.”

Calvin reads the clause with the former verse: Ptolemy returns by a peaceful march after the hostile invasion, come and return used emphatically for the absence of harass, fear, and danger—yet the north will later come in its own turn.

Returning to one’s land is not the end of the story God is telling. The angel stacks campaigns so the faithful will not think a single retreat means the vision has failed. South and north remain instruments until the word has run its course through v. 19 and beyond.

Wesley: the sons of the king of the north shall be incensed with the deeds of Ptolemaeus Euergetes and his son Ptolemaeus Philopator. One shall come—Antiochus the Great—shall pass through Syria and recover what the king of Egypt took from his father. Even to his fortress—to Raphia, a strong fortress at the entrance of Egypt.

Sons wage war: anger is inherited and chosen. Overflow and pass through is the language of flood, yet it is still an army that could have stayed home. Arminian reading keeps the fortress on the map of that generation, not as a code for later states. The church under the flood is called to endurance, not to speculation.

Calvin: the angel passes to the third war, which the son of Callinicus stirred up against Ptolemy Philopator. The two sons united to recover Syria; the elder died, and Antiochus the Great alone carried on the war. He shall come so as to overflow and pass through, even to the citadels, until Philopator is forced to meet him.

“His sons” are named because God had already counted this generation. The overflow is terrible and still bounded by the word that will give the multitude into the south’s hand in v. 11. The faithful are to see providence in the flood, not chaos.

Wesley: his hand—into the hand of Ptolemy. Rage moves the southern king; he comes out and fights. The north raises a great multitude, but it is given into the south’s hand.

Rage is a passion, not a puppet string. The giving into his hand is God’s disposal of a battle Philopator actually fought. Arminian theology here is simple: kings are moved, they fight, and the outcome is from the Lord without erasing the fight. Victory will test the winner’s heart in the next verse.

Calvin: the king of the south will be exasperated—Philopator, so called in irony as a parricide, hated by his own people. He never put on arms except when compelled by the direst necessity; yet he prevailed, and the multitude was delivered into his hand.

“Given into his hand” is the angel’s verb for the battle. The south’s rage does not surprise God. The church is to learn that even a wicked king’s victory is a giving, and therefore cannot be read as proof that heaven has changed sides. The same word will refuse to let him be strengthened by it (v. 12).

Wesley: he might have recovered all, but he grew proud of his victory, and returned again to his luxury. Heart exalted is a responsible lifting; tens of thousands fall, and still he does not prevail.

This is a fork in the chapter’s moral theology. Pride is not a footnote to a decree; Wesley reads a king who could have pressed the war and chose luxury instead. Classical Arminians take “might have recovered all” seriously: providence leaves room for a will that actually turns aside. The church is warned that victory can be a snare as surely as defeat.

Calvin: had Ptolemy’s valor seconded his good fortune, he might easily have seized the whole kingdom of Syria, as profane historians report. But he was so given up to his lusts that he willingly entered into treaty. His heart should be elevated in consequence of his prosperity; then he declined. Idleness and drunkenness caused his fall after he had been raised even to the clouds by his victories.

Reformed reading still says “might easily have seized”—the historians’ point—yet the angel had already said he shall not be strengthened by it. Pride is the sinner’s; the limit is the Lord’s. The church is not to envy the exalted heart. God already told Daniel this victory would not become a lasting south.

The south’s failure to prevail (v. 12) has a sequel that is still a campaign, not a fate-machine. Years are time in which kings provision themselves and in which the faithful wait.

After some years is patience required of the church, not a calendar for later empires. Antiochus the Great refits. Supplies are creaturely means. The people of God are to refuse both panic at a greater multitude and the habit of renaming “north” every generation.

Calvin: after the death of Philopator, who left a little son, Epiphanes, Antiochus perceived the land deprived of its king, drew up an army, and invaded Egypt. He shall arrange a greater multitude than at the first, and at the end of the times of the years he shall surely come—break forth—with a great army and much riches.

The Hebrew “end of the times” is the angel’s way of saying the return is dated in heaven before it is dated in Syria. Greater than the first is still under the word. The church’s consolation is not that the north is weak, but that even a greater multitude arrives only after some years God has numbered.

Many rise against the south; the violent among Daniel’s own people lift themselves up to fulfill the vision—and fail. The sentence is plain: covenant people can seize prophecy as a pretext for violence and still be wrong.

“To establish the vision” is not faith. It is the attempt to force God’s word by robbery and faction. The vision will stand; they shall fail. Grace does not make Jewish violence holy because it quotes Daniel. The church in every age is not to baptize its zeal as fulfillment. The angel already said they will not succeed.

Calvin: many shall stand up against the king of the south; Antiochus was not his only enemy. The violent of thy people exalt themselves to establish the vision, but they will fall. Some apply this to Onias and a false reading of Isaiah 19; Calvin also allows that these multitudes never come forth except by God’s secret counsel. Apostates expose Judea as prey.

Even factious men who “establish the vision” do not make the vision theirs. They fall. Nothing appears to happen at random; God wished the pious to acquiesce in His providence when they saw things so disturbed. The church is consoled that counterfeit fulfillment is already judged in the text.

Siegeworks, a well-fortified city taken, southern forces and even the best troops unable to stand. Strength fails in the field. Wesley’s silence on this verse does not make it less historical: the north takes what the south cannot hold.

“Any strength to stand” is the truth of that campaign, not a doctrine that resistance is always futile. Best troops still owe courage; they still lose. The people of God under the siege are to pray and endure, not to pretend the fortress was never there. The angel minds the war because it will put the northern king in the glorious land (v. 16).

Calvin: when Antiochus the Great shall burst forth, there shall be no valor in the Egyptians to resist him. He shall take fortified cities, recover what he had lost, and arrive at Raphia. The arms of the south won’t stand, nor the people of its levies—this relates to Scopas, who prospered at first and was then vanquished.

“Any strength to stand” is written before Scopas marches. The best troops fail because the word already said they would. The church should not read military skill as the last cause. God told Daniel the south would not stand so that, when the siege-mounds rose, the faithful would know they were still inside the vision, not abandoned to chance.

Wesley: he—Antiochus, that comes against Ptolemy. The glorious land—Judea. Antiochus held all Judea, and with the provision and product of it maintained his army.

“Do according to his own will” again names a conqueror’s pleasure; “glorious land” names the land God made glorious, now feeding a pagan host. Destruction in his hand is an occupation. The land is still the Lord’s, and the occupier is still accountable. Wesley keeps it as Judea. Faith lives there under destruction without calling the destroyer Messiah or mistaking him for the last enemy.

Calvin: Antiochus shall do according to his own will, and no one will stand before his face; he will stand in the desirable land, which shall be consumed under his hand. The land is excellent by God’s gratuitous choice as His dwelling, not by natural superiority. It might seem inconsistent to grant such license to a tyrant over the place God called His rest; but the church on pilgrimage is not free from infliction.

In practice: the Law and Prophets had taught that the church is subject to tribulations. Impious priests stirred the occupier. God predicted the scourge so the faithful would not despair. “Do according to his own will” is still bounded by the God who named the land glorious.

Wesley: he shall use all the force he can to master Egypt. Upright ones—many of the religious Jews joined with him; the rest of his army was a profane rabble. He shall give Cleopatra his daughter to young Ptolemy, called the daughter of women for her beauty. Corrupting her—persuading her to betray her husband: but she stuck to her husband’s interest, and not her father’s.

A daughter given to destroy is a plot, and she refuses it. Arminian reading honors that refusal: she is not a tool of her father’s will. Agreement performed does not equal kingdom destroyed. The church learns that even a king who “does as he wills” in the land (v. 16) can be refused by a daughter who will not corrupt her marriage.

Calvin: Antiochus, failing in open war and fearing Rome, gave Cleopatra to Ptolemy Epiphanes, hoping by subtlety to subdue Egypt. He gave away his daughter to destroy her, inducing her to slay her husband—but she did not stand by him and was not for him. She would not assent to her father’s impious desires.

The angel already said it would not be to his advantage. Her fidelity is not a fiction; the failure of the plot is also the word of God. The church is shown a mirror of providence: even this marriage, this beauty, this treachery, was told beforehand so the pious would know the Lord still ruled the land between the kings.

Wesley: the isles—the isles and sea-coasts of the Mediterranean and Aegean sea. But a prince—the Roman ambassador Scipio beat Antiochus at his own weapons of power and policy, and turned the reproach upon his own head.

Insolence is a moral fact: the northern king captures many, then a commander returns the shame. Scipio is a responsible commander, not a mere mask. Rome appears here as a historical check on Antiochus the Great; it is not a key to later Rome or Europe. The angel’s point is the turning back of pride.

Calvin: he will turn his face to the islands—Asia Minor, Greece, Cyprus, the Mediterranean coasts. A leader shall make his reproach return upon himself: Antiochus, puffed up with foolish pride, despised the Romans with insult; Scipio threw the boastings back.

The commander is named in the word before he sails. Insolence is Antiochus’s; the turning back is God’s using Rome already. Here in v. 18 the point is still the northern king’s shame, for the consolation of the church that watched him capture many coastlands.

Wesley: then he turned his face home-ward, yet was he not in safety, but was quickly after killed. Stumble, fall, not be found: the king who stood in the glorious land (v. 16) ends as a missing man.

Arminian close of this range: home fortresses do not save a proud return. The fall is historical—Antiochus the Great’s ignominious end—and theological: when God destroys, safety is not in walls. The church is not to hunt a modern “north” in this verse. Wesley keeps the king on the road home, quickly killed. Faith learns the end of insolence without needing a later sequel to make the verse true.

Calvin: either his base end—slain in a tumult while spoiling a temple—or the issue of the Roman war is described. After defeat he accepted a heavy peace, lost Asia Minor, and was not found as he had been. He will stumble and fall.

The king who did as he willed in the glorious land is mortal under the word. “Won’t be found” is the angel’s verdict on a monarchy that seemed to consume Judea. God told it to Daniel so the pious would not think the destroyer permanent. Seleucus the taxer will stand in his place (v. 20); the church’s hope is not that kings last, but that the covenant stands.