Part 4 of 4 Bible study on the Book of Daniel, by Mr. John Ogwyn. Mr. Ogwyn focuses on the life of Daniel and his friends, as well as the prophecies and the historical record of the Book of Daniel. Grab your Bible and follow along. Daniel 11 Reference Guide: v. 2 While there were actually 12 kings of Persia after Cyrus, there were only 3 important ones. They were Cambyses, Darius and Xerxes. The fourth king referred to is Xerxes (i.e. the fourth important king--counting Cyrus as the first). He led an attack on Greece about 480 B.C. v. 3 The mighty king refers to Alexander the Great who led the Greek armies in the conquest of Persia. v. 4 After Alexander's death in 323 B.C. his empire was ultimately divided among his four leading generals--Ptolmey, who got Egypt; Seleucus, who got Syria and Babylon; Lysimachus, who got Asia Minor; and Cassander who got Greece and Macedonia. v. 5 Ptolmey I, the king of the south (Egypt), was a very strong king, but in 312 B.C. one of his top generals, Seleucus, took advantage of Ptolmey's involvement in a war to take Syria and Babylon for his own empire. v. 6 After several decades of intermittent fighting between the Ptolmeys and Seleucids, a peace was fiannly achieved in 252 B.C. when Antiochus II put away his wife, Laodice, and married Bernice, the daughter of Egyptian king Ptolmey II. In 247 B.C. Ptolmey II died and Antiochus divorced Bernice and took back Laodice. Laodice proceeded to murder both Antiochus and Bernice and to secure the Syrian throne for her son, Seleucus II. v. 7 Bernice's brother, Ptolmey III of Egypt, invaded and plundered Syria in 245 B.C. to avenge his sister. v. 8 Seleucus II died in 226 B.C., Ptolmey III in 222 B.C. v. 10 Seleucus III and Antiochus III, sons of Seleucus II, both warred against Egypt and in 218 B.C. Antiochus III conquered part of Egypt's empire, including Palestine. v. 11 In 212 B.C. Ptolmey IV retook Palestine from Syria. v. 12 Ptolmey IV made a speedy peace treaty and soon dissipated the fruits of his victory in a wanton life style. v. 13 In 205 B.C., after Ptolmey IV had died and was succeeded by his infant son, Ptolmey V, Antiochus launched a successful war during which he wrested Palestine from the Egyptians. v. 14 Apostate Jews sought to aid Antiochus in his war against Egypt. v. 15-16 Antiochus took Sidon, beat Egypt in Palestine, and in 198 B.C. annexed Palestine to Syria. v. 17 Antiochus arranged for his daughter, Cleopatra, to marry Ptolmey V, thinking in this way to gain Egypt for himself. This backfired, because Cleopatra sided with her husband against her father. v. 18 Antiochus then turned his attention to try to conquer the islands and coasts of Asia Minor. The Romans under Scipio defeated him at the Battle of Magnesia in 187 B.C. v. 19 Antiochus then tried to recover his dissipated wealth by sacking the temple of Belus, during which he was killed. v. 20 Antiochus' successor, Seleucus IV, was murdered after 11 years by Heliodorus, a tax collector he had put over getting revenue for the kingdom. Heliodorus was later driven out. v. 21 Seleucus didn't leave an heir, so his brother, Antiochus Epiphanes--having obtained the favor of the neighboring king--succeeded in driving out Heliodorus and taking the kingdom. v. 22 Antiochus attempted to replace the Jewish high priest with one of his own choice. v. 23-24 Though only a few were with him, Antiochus prospered and invaded Galilee and Lower Egypt. Though his fathers had favoured the Jews, he hated them. v. 25-26 Antiochus launched an invasion of Egypt in which he met with great success--partly because Ptolmey Philomater was betrayed by his own officers in 171 B.C. v. 27 At a banquet in 174 B.C. Antiochus pretended to ally himself with Ptolmey against his younger brother Euregetes II. Both were trying to deceive one another. v. 28 On his way back to Syria from Egypt he passed through Palestine and desecrated the Temple in 168 B.C. He slaughtered 80,000 Jews. v. 29-30 Antiochus returned to Egypt, but the Roman fleet sided with the Egyptians and made him surrender. On his way back through Jerusalem, he extended special favours to apostate Jews. v. 31 On 15 Kislev 167 B.C. Antiochus stopped the daily sacrifices at the Temple and offered a hog on the altar. A statue of Jupiter Olympus was set up in the Holy Place. This is a type of the future Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24. v.32 This speaks in type of the Maccabee revolt led by the priest Matthias which ultimately succeeded in driving out the Syrians and cleansing the Temple. v. 32-35 This begins to skip ahead to the end time and provides a 2000 year capsule history of the Church of God. The remainder of the chapter is dealing with the end--time fulfillment of prophecies. ________________________________ http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/booklets/the-beast-of-revelation-myth-metaphor-or-soon-coming-reality

• published: 12 Oct 2012
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