Daniel 11:11-15

Daniel 11:11

And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand.

 

In 218 B.C Antiochus the Great had attacked fortresses Sidon and Gaza.  The king of the south who was Ptolemy IV Philopater (221-203 B.C.) retaliated with great choler which means with great fury or rage.  He attacked Antiochus with 73,000 men, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 elephants.  In 214 B.C. he defeated Antiochus III at Raphia in Southern Palestine which caused Antiochus to flee back north.

 

Daniel 11:12

And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.

 

Ptolemy IV had killed 10,000 men and 300 cavalry of Antiochus III and he also took about 4,000 prisoners.  He was a tyrant who killed his mother, father, and brother and married his sister Arsinoe and also was in love with a lute player named Agathoclea.  He finally made peace with Antiochus III.

 

Daniel 11:13

For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.

 

During the next 8 years Antiochus the Great had marched his army as far as India, taking on a large number of elephants.  He had taken them along the Persian Gulf to Arabia.  In 198 B.C. with his well-trained army, he prepared to attack Egypt.  At this time the new king of Egypt was Ptolemy V Epiphanes was only an infant.

 

Daniel 11:14

And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.

 

There was also an Egyptian rebellion against their king the Ptolemies but the rebellion did not succeed.  Then it was during this time that some of the inhabitants of Judah had come against Egypt to attempt to take advantage of the uprising.  With them were Edomites, Grecians, and Arabians but the rebellion failed.  Many of the Jews who partook of this attempted plunder believed they had the following prophecy on their side.  Isaiah 19:1 (KJV) The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.    Daniel had also thought that this was a fulfillment of the vision but it was not.

 

Daniel 11:15

So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand.

 

At the time of the Egyptian rebellion, Antiochus III was encouraged by King Philip of Macedonia and by the Egyptian rebels.  He then fought Egyptian General Scopas at the battle of Paneas in Palestine in 198 B.C. and even though the Egyptians still had their best generals, Eropus, Menocles, and Hamoxenus, their army was not strong enough to withstand the attack so Scopas had surrendered.  Scopas had then gone to Sidon with 10,000 of his troops.  So Antiochus had built up siege ramps against Sidon.  Not long afterwards, Antiochus destroyed Scopas and a great part of his army at the fountains of Lebanon.  Antiochus had allowed the defeated troops of Scopas to leave Sidon and go back to Egypt but Antiochus had forced them to relinquish all their weapons and made them walk back to Egypt fully naked.

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