SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/4/2014 9:03 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Kings of the North & the South PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel 11:5-9
Message of the verses: We will begin looking at this rather difficult section from the 11th chapter of Daniel, but we will take our time as we go through it.
Now remember that Alexander the Great died when he was thirty-three years old and he really didn’t have a child worthy of leaving his empire to, although he did have a child and some other relatives. There were four generals who took over this very large kingdom, a kingdom that did not take too long for Alexander to take over. He died at the age of 33 in the city of Babylon, and I think that he drank himself to death because there were no more territories to conquer. Now we will look at what happened after his death in this section of Daniel 11 that was written before his birth.
The kingdom of the North was Syria and the kingdom of the South was Egypt, and Israel was right in the middle of the fighting that would go on between these two powers. The rulers of these kingdoms would change regularly and at times quickly. Dr. Wiersbe writes “All of these people and events may not be interesting to you, but the prophecies Daniel recorded tally with the record of history, thus proving that God’s Word can be trusted. The Ptolemy line provided the rulers in Egypt, and the Seleucid line the rulers in the north (Syria). These paragraphs are merely summary statements, but if you read them in the light of the related verses, you will see how Daniel’s prophecies were fulfilled.”
Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator (Daniel 11:5): “5 "Then the king of the South will grow strong, along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his domain will be a great dominion indeed.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Seleucus was the stronger of the two and ruled over a large empire, but it was his alliance with Ptolemy that enabled him to seize the throne of Syria.” John MacArthur writes “King of the South represents the Ptolomies, the leaders of Egypt, contrasted often in vv. 5ff, with the king of the North, the Seleucids, and leaders of Syria (v-6). South and North are in relation to Palestine, for which the angel Gabriel, speaking in this passage, is so concerned. Verses 5-20 cover almost 200 years of wars between these bordering powers.”
Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Antiochus II Theos (Daniel 11:6): “6 "After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out a peaceful arrangement. But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.”
Here is the story of verse six in a brief way. We know that back in the times of the Monarchies that there would often be marriages between two different kingdoms for political reasons. Solomon was an example of doing this when he reigned in Israel. And so we see that Ptolemy demanded that Antiochus divorce his wife in order to marry his daughter Berenice. The problem is that in two years Ptolemy would die and so Antiochus remarried his former wife who was so upset that she killed him and also Berenice. Daniel wrote “She will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last.” After the wife poisoned Berenice and her husband she also poisoned their son a baby boy. She then brought her son, Selecus II Calinicus, to the throne.
Ptolemy III Euergetes and Selecus II Callinicus (Daniel 11:7-9): “7 “But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display great strength. 8 "Also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold he will take into captivity to Egypt, and he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years. 9 “Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land. 10 "His sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “The new king of Egypt was the brother of Berenice, and he was intent on defending his sister’s honor and avenging her death. He attacked the northern power, won the victory, and collected a great deal of wealth. Then the two kings ignored each other for some years until Seleucus attacked Egypt in 240, was defeated, and had to return home in shame. He was killed by a fall from his horse and his son Seleucus III Soter took the throne, only to be assassinated four years later. Antiochus III the Great, who ruled from 223 to 187, succeeded him.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: God writes all of this many years before it took place and it took place exactly how God wrote it through the prophet Daniel. God is in control of His History and so this means to me that I can trust Him with the things that are going on in our world today even with its modern weapons and technology God is still on His throne ruling from heaven.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs 3:5-6.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question: “Angels” (Genesis 28:12).
Today’s Bible Question: “What happened to Paul at Lystra after the people had thought he was a God?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/4/2014 9:55 PM
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