God Writes History in Advance Text: Daniel 11:14-19
Introduction: The Unread Mail of the Prophets
We live in an age that prides itself on being informed. We have twenty-four-hour news cycles, instant updates, and endless streams of data. And yet, for all our information, we are a profoundly ignorant people. We are ignorant of the one thing that makes sense of all the other things, which is the absolute sovereignty of God over the affairs of men. We treat history as though it were a series of unfortunate accidents, a drunken stumble from one crisis to the next. We read the headlines as though God were a nervous spectator in the cheap seats, wringing His hands and hoping it all turns out for the best.
But the prophet Daniel would have none of this. Daniel chapter 11 is one of the most remarkable portions of all Scripture. It is so minutely detailed, so precisely accurate in its predictions, that liberal scholars, committed beforehand to the impossibility of genuine prophecy, have no choice but to insist that it was written after the events it describes. They claim it is history pretending to be prophecy. But of course, this is just another way of calling the Word of God a liar because you find its truthfulness inconvenient to your worldview. For the Christian, this chapter is a stunning confirmation that our God is the one who declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He does not just predict the future; He writes it. He is the author of the story, and the kings and emperors of this world are but characters on His stage, speaking the lines He has assigned them.
This chapter details the back-and-forth machinations of the kings of the South (the Ptolemies of Egypt) and the kings of the North (the Seleucids of Syria), the two major dynasties that emerged from the breakup of Alexander the Great's empire. To the modern ear, it can sound like a dry and dusty history lesson. But we must not read it that way. This is God pulling back the curtain for His people, showing them that the chaos they see on the world stage is actually a meticulously choreographed dance. He is showing them that the political turmoil, the shifting alliances, and the violence of ambitious men are all being bent and shaped to serve His ultimate purpose: the coming of the Messiah. This prophecy was given to fortify the saints, to arm them with the confidence that no matter how powerful the pagan kings may seem, they are on a leash, and the hand holding that leash is the hand of the God of Israel.
In our passage today, we see this divine orchestration in high definition. We see rebellions, military campaigns, political marriages, and humiliating defeats, all foretold with breathtaking precision. And the lesson for us is the same as it was for them. The God who managed the rise and fall of Antiochus the Great is the same God who manages the affairs of our day. He is not rattled by the headlines, and neither should we be.
The Text
“Now in those times many will stand against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to cause the vision to stand, but they will fall down. Then the king of the North will come, cast up a siege ramp, and capture a well-fortified city; and the might of the South will not stand, not even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand in opposition to him; he will also stand for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand. And he will set his face to come with the authority of his whole kingdom, bringing with him an equitable proposal which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to destroy it. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side. Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many. But a ruler will make his reproach against him cease; moreover, he will repay him for his reproach. So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more.”
(Daniel 11:14-19 LSB)
The Futility of Self-Willed Rebellion (v. 14)
The prophecy picks up in the midst of the ongoing conflict between the Seleucid North and the Ptolemaic South.
“Now in those times many will stand against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to cause the vision to stand, but they will fall down.” (Daniel 11:14)
History tells us exactly what this is about. The "king of the South" is the young boy-king Ptolemy V of Egypt. Following his father's death, the kingdom was in disarray, and many, including Philip V of Macedon and our "king of the North," Antiochus III, saw an opportunity to carve up his territory. But notice the second clause. "The violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up." This refers to a faction of opportunistic Jews who decided to throw in their lot with Antiochus against Egypt, hoping to gain their own independence in the process. They were trying to "help God out." They saw the political turmoil, they knew the prophecies of Daniel, and they thought they could force God's hand, to "cause the vision to stand" on their own timetable and by their own violent means.
This is a perpetual temptation for God's people. We see what God has promised, and we grow impatient with His methods. We decide to pick up the carnal sword to establish the spiritual kingdom. This is Peter cutting off Malchus's ear in the garden. This is the misguided zeal of the Crusades. This is the folly of thinking we can bring about revival through political coercion or marketing savvy.
And what is the result? "But they will fall down." Their rebellion was crushed. God does not need our sinful machinations to fulfill His Word. He is not looking for co-authors for His story. When we try to seize the pen from His hand, we will always stumble. The vision will stand, but it will stand by God's power and in God's time, not because of our proud and violent presumption.
The Inexorable Advance of the North (v. 15-16)
The failure of the Jewish rebels does not, however, stop the king of the North. God's purpose for him is not yet complete.
“Then the king of the North will come, cast up a siege ramp, and capture a well-fortified city; and the might of the South will not stand... But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand in opposition to him; he will also stand for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.” (Daniel 11:15-16)
This is a precise description of the campaign of Antiochus III, also called Antiochus the Great. He came down and defeated the Egyptian general Scopas at the battle of Panium, near the headwaters of the Jordan River, in 200 B.C. He then besieged and captured the "well-fortified city" of Sidon. The prophecy is exact: "the might of the South will not stand." Scopas's best troops were trapped and forced to surrender.
Antiochus then "will do as he pleases." For a time, he was unstoppable. And where does his ambition lead him? He will "stand for a time in the Beautiful Land." That is, he took control of Judea. This was a pivotal moment. Control of the Holy Land passed from the Ptolemies to the Seleucids. This was not an accident. This was a divine decree, written down centuries before it happened. God was moving the chess pieces on the board of history to set the stage for the great trial that would come upon His people under a later king of the North, Antiochus Epiphanes, the "little horn" of Daniel 8. God was testing His people, sifting them, and preparing the world for the coming of His Son, who would be born in that same "Beautiful Land" under the shadow of another great empire.
The Impotence of Political Marriage (v. 17)
Having achieved military victory, Antiochus turns to diplomacy and intrigue to secure his power over Egypt.
“And he will set his face to come with the authority of his whole kingdom, bringing with him an equitable proposal which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to destroy it. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side.” (Daniel 11:17)
Here is another astonishingly specific prediction. Antiochus, instead of invading Egypt directly, made an "equitable proposal." He arranged a political marriage, giving his own daughter, Cleopatra I, here called the "daughter of women," likely a title denoting her beauty and royal lineage, to the young king Ptolemy V. His plan was to use his daughter as a fifth column, a secret agent who would influence the Egyptian court for his benefit and effectively hand him the kingdom. He gave her to Ptolemy "to destroy it," meaning to destroy the kingdom of the South.
But God's script had a different plot twist. "But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side." Once married, Cleopatra proved more loyal to her new husband and her new country than to her ambitious father. Her loyalty shifted, and Antiochus's clever scheme came to nothing. Men propose, but God disposes. The most cunning plans of the most powerful men are like sandcastles before the tide of God's sovereign decree. He laughs at their secret counsels and turns their wisdom into foolishness.
The Humiliation of Pride (v. 18-19)
Thwarted in Egypt, the king of the North turns his ambitions elsewhere, but he is about to meet his match.
“Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many. But a ruler will make his reproach against him cease; moreover, he will repay him for his reproach. So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more.” (Daniel 11:18-19)
Antiochus turned his attention to the "coastlands" of Asia Minor and Greece, capturing many cities. In doing so, he ran headlong into the rising power of Rome. His arrogance and expansion were a "reproach" to the Romans. The "ruler" who makes this reproach cease was the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. At the battle of Magnesia in 190 B.C., the Romans utterly crushed Antiochus's much larger army. They repaid him for his reproach, forcing him into a humiliating treaty, demanding massive reparations, and taking his son as a hostage to Rome.
The great king, who did as he pleased, was now broken. "So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land." He limped home in disgrace. But his end was near. In order to pay the heavy tribute to Rome, he attempted to plunder a temple in his own territory, and was killed by a local mob. "He will stumble and fall and be found no more." Just as God had written it.
God's Detailed Providence and Our Confidence
So what are we to do with this? Why would God give us such a dense, detailed history of pagan kings squabbling over territory? He does it to anchor our faith not in abstract principles, but in the concrete reality of His absolute control over all things. God is not just sovereign in general; He is sovereign in the particulars. He is sovereign over siege ramps and political marriages. He is sovereign over the loyalty of a pagan princess and the outcome of a battle.
If God has written the history of the Hellenistic empires in advance, do you think He is somehow improvising with the history of our time? Do you think the evening news can surprise Him? The purpose of this prophecy is to breed a rugged, joyful, and unshakable confidence in the people of God. We are not adrift in a sea of chaos. We are in the hands of a God who is working all things, even the prideful strutting of pagan kings, according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11).
The entire sordid history of the kings of the North and South was part of the divine setup. It was the backdrop against which the true King would be born. While these earthly kings schemed and fought for their temporary scraps of power, God was preparing the world for the coming of an eternal kingdom, the stone cut without hands that would crush all other kingdoms and fill the whole earth (Dan. 2:34-35).
Our confidence is not that we can escape the turmoil of history. The Jews of that era were caught right in the middle of it. Our confidence is that the turmoil is not meaningless. It is serving a purpose. And that purpose is the glory of Jesus Christ and the advancement of His kingdom. Therefore, we are not to be like the "violent ones," who try to build the kingdom with the world's tools of power and rebellion. Nor are we to be like the despairing ones, who see the headlines and believe that chaos has been enthroned.
We are to be a people who know our God. And because we know our God, and because we have read the end of the story, and portions of the middle, like this one, we can stand firm and take action (Dan. 11:32). We can work, and build, and preach, and love, and obey with cheerful confidence, knowing that the God who managed Antiochus and Ptolemy and the Romans holds our times, our nation, and our very lives in the palm of His sovereign hand. And He will not stumble, and He will not fall.