Dan. 10:1-9; 11:2-4, Prophecy of the Nations (1)

Before we move on to the “Minor Prophets” I want to take a few posts to put on record one of many good explanations of the historical accuracy of Daniel’s prophecy in Dan. 10-12.  The one I will pass on to you is from my Biola OT professor, Curtis Mitchell. He relied on one by Dr. Homer Kent, Jr., who did a comparison of several others.  I have also found extremely helpful one by a Lutheran scholar, H. C. Leupold.  Differences are minimal. 

I do hope you find this to be as amazing as I did the first time I became aware of the detailed accuracy of this OT prophecy.  Each section will have a title, then the reference from Daniel that you will need to read, and then the historical explanation of the fulfilment.  The commentary is on Dan. 11:2-35; after v35 Daniel’s attention is taken beyond the inter-testamental period to a time still future.  Prof. Mitchell depended on the ASV, 1901 translation.

1. The Prophecy Concerning Persia (11:2).

Since this vision occurred during the reign of Cyrus, the three kings who would “yet” stand up are Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis and Darius Hystaspis.  The next monarch (4^th) was Xerxes, who was fabulously wealthy, and used his treasures to maintain a huge army (cf. Herodotus iii, 96; vi, 27-28), and made an expedition against Greece.

2. The Prophecy Concerning Greece (11:3-4).

The prophecy is in accord with Greek history, for the great empire of Alexander was not inherited by any of his sons or other relatives, but was seized by his generals after Alexander died at the age of 32.  After warring among themselves, they finally achieved a fourfold division of the empire, under the control of, Ptolemy (Egypt), Antigonus (Babylon, North Syria), Lysimachus (Thrace, Bithynia) and Cassander (Macedonia).  Naturally this fourfold division would not present as strong a kingdom as Alexander’s unified empire; hence it was not “according to his dominion wherewith he ruled.”

(We will stop here, making this post a little shorter, as the next section is much longer.  I hope you are reading the Scripture with these so you can see the accuracy.  Daniel would have received this message shortly before the prophecies began to be fulfilled.)