PROPHETIC PILLARS SERIES DANIEL CHAPTER 11

PROPHETIC PILLARS SERIES

DANIEL CHAPTER 11

VERSES 3 - 4 THE GREEK (SELEUCID - PTOLEMAIC) EMPIRE

INTRODUCTION:

In part one of this series on Daniel 11 we studied verses 1 and 2, giving us a good grasp on the Medo-Persian empire. Of course, all things come to an end, and Persia persistently having "stirred up" the Greeks, resulted in war a number of times.

The Persian stronghold for all of the Persian provinces was the city of Sardis in today's Turkey. There they stationed their vast army f at least 200,000-- 400,000 foot soldiers, so when they had to act quickly, they moved in all directions from there. The first campaign against Greece was called the "First Persian War" in a series of six wars in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. This was an attack by Darius I on Athens, but the Athenians defeated them. The second time it was by Xerxes against Athens, with the Spartans taking part ? Leonidas and his 300 soldiers on land and Themistocles by sea ? who once again defeated Xerxes.

In this study we will briefly consider each of these wars, as they relate to God's people, and how they gave way not only to Greece but also to Rome. God's people happened to be between the north (Syria) and the south (Egypt), and so were often in the way of their enemies.

Ancient Sardis

The Greek empire set the scene for a new world order in that they brought a different way of life wherever they conquered. In other words, they colonised accepting other cultures and allowing for growth within those cultures; At the same time the Greeks brought their own culture ? food, sport, education, construction, philosophy, and many other arts to their newly colonised world; so much so, that Greek became the new universal language from Western Europe to the east, as far as the borders of China.

We are studying Daniel 11, so our focus is on how these various beasts behaved, and how they affected God's people. We also want to notice the Lord's grace through all this. He has given opportunity for these various empires to hear about Him and to repent. His people were to proclaim and to show His grace while in exile. However, this did not happen. Instead, His people wanted to become like those other nations, having a king over them.

We also recognise that there are many parallels within this chapter, that apply to our time. To discern God's Word, we must be of a humble spirit and allow the Lord to teach us. Let's put aside ideas from the past and see what we can learn here. May the Lord open our hearts to understand.

Abbreviations:

KN ? King of the North

MC ? Midnight Cry

KS ? King of the South

SW ? Syrian War

THE KINGS OF GREECE ALEXANDER THE GREAT (336-323)

Dan 11:3-4

Q1. What does the prophecy say about this new empire? "And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those." Note: Gabriel gives Daniel a heads up regarding this new world power, and its dominion is as short as the number of verses that describe it. In order to understant the Greek empire we need to consider its historical context ? how it arose on the world scene, who the players are and what it accomplished. We then need to look at the spiritual ? prophetic meaning, so that we can better understand and correctly apply symbolic meanings to our day. The propheccy points to a mighty king standing up. This is an indication of power and ruling authority. Upon standing up we find that his kingdom suddenly disintegrates and is divided in all directions. Why? The Bible provides answers. Continuing, we see that the kingdom is actually "plucked up" or snatched away from him. of course he is Alexander the Great, and we will see that although a swift conqueror, he could not conquer himself, neither was he a smart polititian for leaving no heir after his demise.

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Q2. How did Greece rise to become world empire? 1 Note: Ancient Greece was ancient Macedonia. The part of Greece that was Macedonia is a completely separate piece of ground to the country called today as the "Republic of North Macedonia" until 2019. Since 2019 it is known as the "Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia" (FYROM) with its capital Skopia. Today's Macedonia is a republic o the former Yugoslavia ? it is a "slav" nation, not Greek.

In the days of ancient Greece, Macedon was the portion of Greece that we know to be Thessalonica and Thrace ? both northern Greece, and extending to the east near Turkey (yellow on the map). Alexander the Great and family were from the Greek Macedon area. they had their own territory because Greece was a divided nation with multiple provinces/kingdoms and kings. Philip was one of these and his son was Alexender.

Greek Macedon

Note: Macedon was not viewed by the southern Greeks as posing any great threat to the rest of Greece, and as a fairly obscure part of the land. 400BC was the era of relative peace and the emergence of the Greek Philosophers ? Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc.

( )

The Greeks had not expected anything to come from the north. The king of Macedon, Perdiccas III had fought with and was killed by the Illirians (today's Croatia and Bosnia) in 359. Perdiccas was the father of Philip II (359-336BC) who was the father of Alexander the Great. Philip II consolidated the various provinces of Macedon and expanded its borders. He did this by use of the "Phalanx" ? a strategy where they had soldiers move shoulder to shoulder as a tight knit, highly organised kind of machine that no one could penetrate ? similar to the Spartans.

It was technique invented and used by Philip and Alexander. Philip conducted campaigns against the Illirians (358), Amphipolis (357) and Crenides renamed to Philippi (356). This is the ancient city of Philippi (northern Greece), where many years later the apostle Paul visited and set up the church of the Philippians. The apostle experienced a vision to go to Macedon and he understood it as the call to leave Asia and go to Europe. He began at Philippi. It was also the time when Alexander was born in 356. The Greeks saw that Philip had come onto their turf but he did not have an attitude of conquest for Greece. The Greeks were encouraged to consider him as an ally and they embraced him as a hero against the Persians, and as someone who would represent their interests. Aristotle's father Nicamokos, a Macedonian was Philip's physician, and Aristotle became Alexander's tutor at 13 years old. When Alexander was 18 years old (338BC), Philip took the Helespond, provoking the Greeks (Demosthenes) to respond militarily. They were defeated by Alexander. Even now the Macedonians treat the Greeks with great cordiality and in 336 Philip took his army to Asia Minor (Ionia), in order to recover it. This area was controlled by the Persians since the Peloponesian wars. Philip wanted to do this for the Greeks, but he was able to do this he was mysteriously assassinated. This gives rise to his sin Alexander. Q3. Who was Alexander the Great? 2

Note: He is said to have been a military genius compared to many of his day. He also brought philosopjy and culture to the entire Near East, and he saw himself as a demi-God and a saviour to the rest of the world. Misguided as he was with his self image, he saw that the achievements of the Greeks were something that the rest of the world coud benefit from as a history-altering era. He was bringing in a new world order with the Greek language becoming the standard world language. For example, the New Testament was written in Greek. The empire built all within ten years by Alexander, spanned from Greece and to the east, all the way to

1 Credit: See Dr Bruce Gore, video: "Alexander the Great and the Old Testament" 2 Credit: See Dr Bruce Gore, video: "Alexander the Great and the Old Testament" Prophetic Pillars Series. Daniel 11. The Greek Empire.

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Dan 7:6

the border of China and south to Egypt. In the Bible we have the imagery of the winged leopard of Daniel 7 and the he goat of Daniel 8, and not touching the ground, describes the swiftness and rapidity with which all this took place:

Dan 8:5

Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, p29.

The Medical Missionary, vol 15, June 1906, p164.6 by EGW

Dan 8:8

John 1:1 John 1:1(Grk)

"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it."

"And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes."

Note some of his chievements: ? In 336 he put down some minor revolts of opposing Greeks. ? In 334 he defeated the Persians at the Granicus river in asia Minor ? In 333 he untied the Gordian knot. The legend said that anyone who could

untie this knot woud rule all of Asia. He took out his sword andd cut it in half. Whether or not being fair, he did it. ? Also in 333, the Battle of Issus - the 2nd of 3 direct conflicts with the Persians, in the north-east of the Mediterranean, he defeated the Persian Darius III. Darius came with 100s of thousands as compared with 50-60,000 of Alexander. Expecting to win, Darius brought all of his wealth and his family out there. Alexander defeate him and Darius fled and also lost all the wealth, his wife, daughter etc. ? In 332 he travelled south taking Phoenecia, Tyre and Jerusalem. Tyre was an island and Alexander built a causeway from the shore to the island and defeated Tyre. In Egypt he was welcomed as a Pharaoh because he defeated the hated Persians who had dominated them for many years since Cambyses, seeing he had slain their Apis Bull, their object of worship. Alexander was viewed as a liberator and saviour. He went around and worshiped all of the egyptian gods, passing himself as true Pharaoh. ? The Jews in Jerusalem also treated him as a liberator, for they too had been under Persian control. They didn't resist him and Alexander did a lot for them. ? In 334 Alexaander once again defeated the Persians. They were bewildered with the repadity of defeat against them, especially with his phalanx army with their precision and potency. Darius again fled fro the battlefield and two months later was assassinated. This ended the Persian Empire. ? In 330 he moved further east for campaigns in India, and reached China. Note: Alexander's death (age 32, 10 June, 323BC) is a bit of a mystery and many reasons have been given, especially that he drunk himself to death. Ellen G. White confirms this:

"Ellen G White wrote:

"Alexander found it much easier to subdue kingdoms than to rule his own spirit. After conquering nations, this so-called great man fell through the indulgence of appetite,--a victim of intemperance."

"For although Alexander himself so shortly ended his career by intemperance, yet the Grecians through his successors were able to hold the kingdom of the world for one hundred and sixty years longer before "the transgressors came to the full" and another people must take the kingdom."

Daniel informs us that his rule would not last either:

"Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven."

Q4. What did Alexander do for us regarding the Greek language? Note: We can answer this question in two ways ? quantitatively and qualitatively: a. Quantitatively, he made the Greek language universal. That greatly facilitated the spread of the

Gospel. It made everyone grow up bilingual. The apostle Paul spoke Hebrew ? he was "a Hebrew of the Hebrews" and he was also fluent in Greek. By this, he was able to take the language everywhere. b. Qualitatively, no language known had been refined to such as degree, that it would be a worthy vehicle for the truth of God. It is a very preccise language: Note: For example, the word "Logos" in John 1:1, is an interesting word. Another word called `Rhema" also means word. Another word is "with": "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." " , , ."

In the Greek, one can be "pros" or "with" another person only ? not a thing. So the Logos is a personal entity, not a prnciple. Therefore, there are five words meaning "with" in Greek:

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 "Pros" (Strongs #4314), (towards, with in the sense of facing someone) "para" (strongs #3844), (at, by, besides, near) "en" (Strongs #1722), (in, by, with) "meta" (Strongs #3326) (with, after, behind) "syn" (Strongs #4897) ("Syn-iserhome", I am entering in) Note: Therefore, we see bright side of this Pagan power, in opening the way for the spread of the Gospel. God can use any situation to bring good. We just have to be willing.

ALEXANDER'S LEGACY

Q5. What influence did Alexander promote to the ancient world?

Note: For about 15 years Alexander's generals turned on each other and by the end of this time we have the above-mentioned four generals. All of these generals were Greek and they established in each of their territories a Greek so called Elite. This created tensions in this new Greek world, between indigenous cultures and this new overlay of elites, as they were considered the "more sophisticated" way to live.

So everywhere one went ? Egypt, Mesopotamia, Judah, Jerusalem, that tension was part of their story. This was the helenistic world. The word comes from "Helen" meaning "Greek". The root word comes from "Helios" meaning the "sun" or "light". Therefore, many definitions inlude "light" and even "moon" as it tkes its light from the sun. so it really means the "Greek-ising of the world".

In Jerusalem there were those who were sympathetic to the Greek way of life and wanted to embrace it, and there were those who were resistant to it, committed to Jewish tradition, culture, education and law. So there were the liberals and conservatives. Another analogy was the Saducees and the Pharisees. The rise between these two groups goes back to about the middle of this era of the Diadochi, when this tension prevailed.

Now, we have a number of sources that are helpful in obtaining materiial about this period: Josephus, the book of Maccabees, and the Greek historian Polibius who wrote "The Rise of Rome". Triangulating these gives us a similar picture as Daniel 11.

Q6. What was the outcome of Alexander's passing?

Dan 11:3-4

"And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those."

Note: The death of Alexander saw no one from his family or military realm take the throne for at least 15 years, for he left no heir. He said "the kingdom will go to the strongest." The propheccy tell sus that the kingdom "shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven".

For the next 15 years internal infighting within the Greek camp ("wars of the diadochi") took place of who is going to become the leader, and eventually, four generals became the prominent leaders of the Greek empire.

Wikipedia

"The Wars of the Diadochi (Ancient Greek: , P?lemoi tn Diad?chn), or Wars of Alexander's Successors, were a series of conflicts fought between Alexander the Great's generals (the Diadochi) over the rule of his vast empire after his death. They occurred between 322 and 281 BC."

Note: "Diadochi" means "the successors" ? those who would succeed Alexander to the throne. At the Battle of Ipsus, four generals emerged to rule Greece - Seleucus, Cassander, Lesimachus and Ptolemy. These divided the "world" into four and each took a piece.

World Digital

Library

. org/en/item/ 11739/

1. The kingdom of Cassander (circa 358?

297 BC), consisted of Macedonia, most of Greece, and parts of Thrace.

2. The kingdom of Lysimachus (circa 361?

281 BC), included Lydia, Ionia, Phrygia, and other parts of present-day Turkey.

3. The kingdom of Seleucus (died 281 BC;

later the Seleucid Empire), comprised

present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and parts

of Central Asia.

4. The kingdom of Ptolemy I (died 283 BC)

included Egypt and neighbouring

regions.

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THE DIADOCHI WARS "WARS OF THE SUCCESSORS"

Q7. What is revealed to us about the Diodochi wars? Note: The Diadochi wars took place over from 323?281BC, before the four last generals came into prominence. But the point of studying the Diadochi is not merely to learn about the Greeks. Rather, it has great prophetic significance. This is as follows: When we study Acts 27, Paul;s last journey ? to Rome, the number of 273 becomes important:

1. This number refers to how many people are on Paul's ship, less himself, Luke and Aristarchus.

2. Also, looking at Numbers 3:12-13, we see that God chose the Levites instead of the firstborn. Looking at this chapter, each firstborn in the camp is replaced by a Levites. The numbering shows (v39) and that there are 22,000 Levites, while the numbering of the firstborn shows (v43) there were 22,273. In other words, God doesn't have coincidences; the 273 too few Levites are made up by the 273 people on Paul's ship (in his day). When forst called, there are 273 too few Levites to fulfill their job function. These are made up in the time period of Panium to Sunday Law in the last days when the Levites are called.

3. This number 273 also takes us into history to 273BC, the time of the Diadochi wars, in the days of king Pyrrhus of Epirus, Greece. It is a time that illustrates to us the time period between Panium and the Sunday Law in our days.

PANIUM

SL

OUR

273 Levites

DAY

Q8. What does the history of Pyrrhus teach us about the last days?

Note: 323BC was the death of Alexander. 273BC is not too far distant. A little about this king informs us the following:

Wikipedia, "Pyrrhus (/prs/; Greek: , Pyrrhos; 319/318?272 BC) was a Greek king and statesman of the Hellenistic period. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house, and later he became king (Malalas also called him toparch) of Epirus. He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome, and regarded as one of the greatest generals of antiquity. Several of his victorious battles caused him unacceptably heavy losses, from which the term Pyrrhic victory was coined.

"Pyrrhus became king of Epirus in 306 BC at the age of 13, but was dethroned by Cassander four years later. He saw action during the Wars of the Diadochi and regained his throne in 297 BC with the support of Ptolemy I Soter. During what came to be known as the Pyrrhic War, Pyrrhus fought Rome at the behest of Tarentum, scoring costly victories at Heraclea and Asculum. He proceeded to take over Sicily from Carthage but was soon driven out, and lost all his gains in Italy after the Battle of Beneventum in 275 BC.

"Pyrrhus seized the Macedonian throne from Antigonus II Gonatas in 274 BC and invaded the Peloponnese in 272 BC. The Epirote assault on Sparta was thwarted, however, and Pyrrhus was killed during a street battle at Argos."

Note: We also read about Pyrrhus in the writings of Adventist A.T. Jones in "Great

empires of Bible History", p220.1. Jones introduces the history of Rome in 273 BC

EPIRUS

saying, "The reputation of the Romans was now growing in 273BC because they

just fought a 6 year war with Pyrrhus." Rome began to be noticed by foreign

nations, particularly by Egypt. It was the first rise of Rome.

Three battles took place, that culminated in a fourth (by 275BC), the Battle of Beneventum (as per the above quote). Before 273BC Rome worked in relative obscurity, whose activities were not noticed much; By 273 with this 6-year war (Pyrrhic War) Egypt recognised the rise of Rome and sent ambassadors there. The following year Rome did the same.

See timeline below.

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