Understanding Prophecy
Understanding Prophecy
What is a Prophet / Prophecy?
A Prophet is a person given a revelation to pass on / proclaim to others.
What is Prophecy?
Prophecy is a message from God meant to edify, comfort, encourage, or exhort.
Prophecy is ultimately to result in worship of the Lord!
Ptolemy I Soter (323–285 B.C.) is the king of the South. The one who is stronger than he is in reference to Seleucus I Nicator (312–281 B.C.). In the historic background of these events there is evidence that Seleucus had left Antigonus in Babylon and for a brief time was associated with Ptolemy I in Egypt. They together had defeated Antigonus which made it possible for Seleucus to control in a military way the large area from Asia Minor to India, and he became stronger than Ptolemy who ruled Egypt. This explains verse 5, “one of his commanders will become even stronger than he and will rule over his kingdom with great power.”
The daughter mentioned here was Berenice who was the daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 B.C.) who was king of Egypt. At that time the king of Syria, or “the king of the North” was Antiochus II Theos (261–246 B.C.). However, the alliance did not last as a former wife of Antiochus by name of Laodice joined a conspiracy in which both Berenice and Antiochus were killed and her father, who was Ptolemy, also died at that time. The verses are accurate in describing the future events of that period.
A later king of Egypt, Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–222 B.C.), was able to conquer the Northern Kingdom, seizing a great deal of booty
indicated an attack of the king of the North against the king of the South which occurred about 240 B.C. and was led by Seleucus II Callinicus. He, however, was defeated and returned without conquering the land of Egypt
Later, the younger son, Antiochus III, attacked Egypt with some success. As ruler of the kingdom of the North, Antiochus III had several successful campaigns against Egypt during a period when the Egyptian ruler, Ptolemy Philopator (221–203 B.C.) did not raise sufficient defense against him.
In a later battle in 217 B.C. Antiochus the Great challenged an Egyptian army with about 70,000 soldiers on each side which resulted in Egypt destroying the entire army of Antiochus as indicated in verses 11–12.
These prophecies correspond precisely to the history of the period which described these wars and the success of the kingdom of the North. The conquering of a fortified city (v. 15) was fulfilled when the Egyptian armies were defeated at Paneas at the headwaters of the Jordan River with the result that Antiochus III was able to take Sidon which was captured 199–198 B.C. The result was that Syria controlled all the Holy Land as far south as Gaza.
Subsequently, Egypt attempted to conquer Syria, and armies led by the Egyptians Eropas, Menacles, and Damoyenus failed to dent the Syrian power.
Antiochus, having settled things with Egypt, attempted to conquer Greece but was defeated in 191 B.C. at Thermopylae and in 189 B.C. again was defeated at Magnesia southeast of Ephesus, this time by Roman soldiers. This fulfilled what Daniel wrote, “Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back upon him. After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more” (vv. 18–19). Though Antiochus was a great ruler, his failure to conquer Greece left him a broken man at the time of his death which occurred when he attempted to plunder a temple in Elam.
Seleucus IV Philopator was indicated by Daniel 11:20, “His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle” (v. 20). The necessity for raising taxes was caused by the tribute he had to pay to Rome of 1,000 talents each year.
Daniel 11:21–35. The tax collector he appointed was named Heliodorus (2 Macc. 3:7). Some believe that Seleucus IV Philopator was killed by poison and his death set the stage for the final ruler of this period that Daniel mentioned described in Daniel 11:21–35.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes, next appears. The importance of this man to Daniel and to God was his persecution of the Jewish people during the period of his reign 175–164 B.C.
In comparison to the earlier rulers of the Northern Kingdom, he was described by Daniel as “a contemptible person who has not been given the honor of royalty” (v. 21). He secured the throne by a series of intrigues and murders of other possible candidates as Daniel described, “He will invade the kingdom when its people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue” (v. 21).
The path by which he came to the throne is rather complicated. There were several possible legitimate rulers at the death of his predecessor, Seleucus IV Philopator. The younger son of Seleucus IV was Demetrius and probably was the most legitimate successor to the throne, but at that time he was in prison in Rome as a hostage. A younger son, Antiochus, was still a baby. The brother of Seleucus IV was Antiochus IV who at the time his brother died was living in Athens. There he heard Heliodorus had murdered his brother Seleucus as prophesied in Daniel 11:20. Antiochus IV Epiphanes went to Antioch and somehow secured the throne. Andronicus helped this by murdering the baby Antiochus but in turn was put to death by Antiochus IV. Heliodorus who had murdered Seleucus IV apparently faded from history. For a prophecy to predict accurately such a tangled history can only be explained by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Antiochus IV added the title of Epiphanes which means “glorious one.” Because of his various intrigues he was nicknamed by others as “Epimanes,” meaning madman. Antiochus was attacked by a large army, probably from Egypt, but somehow Antiochus was able to defeat the army
Antiochus IV added the title of Epiphanes which means “glorious one.” Because of his various intrigues he was nicknamed by others as “Epimanes,” meaning madman. Antiochus was attacked by a large army, probably from Egypt, but somehow Antiochus was able to defeat the army
This war occurred approximately five years after he took the throne. A large Egyptian army met the forces of Antiochus at Pelusium near the Nile delta and were defeated by Antiochus. After the battle the two attempted to establish a peace covenant
Though the conference was an attempt at arriving at a peace, both conspirators were trying to get the best of the other, and the result was that peace was not achieved.
Antiochus, now with apparent success over Egypt, was irritated by the Jews’ failure to support him actively.
Antiochus was very much opposed to the Jewish religion and against the “holy covenant.” He desecrated their temple, offering a sow on the altar and installing a statue of a Greek god. This precipitated the Maccabean revolt in which thousands of Jews were killed, including men, women, and children, some being hurled from tops of buildings to their deaths, in the vain effort to stamp out the Jewish religion.