11:3,4
After this a mighty king will arise. This king is not named here, but is taken to be Alexander the Great. He conquered a vast area of territory. So he did “rule with great power” and he did as he pleased. He was very powerful, and very proud. One of the recurring lessons of Daniel is that “pride comes before a fall” (Prov 16:18), and this happened to Alexander the Great. Instead of his kingdom passing on to his descendants, it was “parcelled out to the four winds”. And the parcelled out kingdom did not have anything like the power of the former kingdom.
11:5,6
We now get more details of what will happen after the “parcelling out”. The terms North and South here should be understood within the context of the time. So the South refers to Egypt, the southernmost limits of the Persian, Greek and Roman empires. There is intrigue between the north and the south, with various rulers and commanders vying for supremacy. Why are we being told all this? It is because Israel would be caught in the crossfire. She would be affected by conflict between other nations.
No comments:
Post a Comment