A KING AVENGES HIS SISTER’S MURDER

“One from the sprout of her roots will certainly stand up in his position,” said the angel, “and he will come to the military force and come against the fortress of the king of the north and will certainly act against them and prevail.” (Daniel 11:7) http://biblize.com/search?q=Daniel+11:7&q_scope=

“One from the sprout” of Berenice’s parents, or “roots,” was her brother. At his father’s death, he ‘stood up’ as the king of the south, the Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy III. At once he set out to avenge his sister’s murder. Marching against Syrian King Seleucus II, who Laodice had used to murder Berenice and her son, he came against “the fortress of the king of the north.” Ptolemy III took the fortified part of Antioch and dealt a deathblow to Laodice. Moving eastward through the domain of the king of the north, he plundered Babylonia and marched on to India.

What happened next? God’s angel tells us: “And also with their gods, with their molten images, with their desirable articles of silver and of gold, and with the captives he will come to Egypt. And he himself will for some years stand off from the king of the north.” (Daniel 11:8) Over 200 years earlier, Persian King Cambyses II had conquered Egypt and carried home Egyptian gods, “their molten images.” Plundering Persia’s former royal capital Susa, Ptolemy III recovered these gods and took them ‘captive’ to Egypt. He also brought back as spoils of war a great many “desirable articles of silver and of gold.” Obliged to quell revolt at home, Ptolemy III ‘stood off from the king of the north,’ inflicting no further injuries upon him.

THE SYRIAN KING RETALIATES

How did the king of the north react? Daniel was told: “He will actually come into the kingdom of the king of the south and go back to his own soil.” (Daniel 11:9) http://biblize.com/search?q=Daniel+11:9&q_scope=

The king of the north—Syrian King Seleucus II—struck back. He entered “the kingdom,” or realm, of the Egyptian king of the south but met defeat. With only a small remnant of his army, Seleucus II ‘went back to his own soil,’ retreating to the Syrian capital Antioch in about 242 B.C.E. At his death, his son Seleucus III succeeded him.

What was foretold concerning the offspring of Syrian King Seleucus II? The angel told Daniel: “Now as for his sons, they will excite themselves and actually gather together a crowd of large military forces. And in coming he will certainly come and flood over and pass through. But he will go back, and he will excite himself all the way to his fortress.” (Daniel 11:10) http://biblize.com/search?q=Daniel+11:10&q_scope=

Assassination ended the reign of Seleucus III in less than three years. His brother, Antiochus III, succeeded him on the Syrian throne. This son of Seleucus II assembled great forces for an assault on the king of the south, who was by then Ptolemy IV. The new Syrian king of the north successfully fought against Egypt and won back the seaport of Seleucia, the province of Coele-Syria, the cities of Tyre and Ptolemaïs, and nearby towns. He routed an army of King Ptolemy IV and took many cities of Judah. In the spring of 217 B.C.E., Antiochus III left Ptolemaïs and went north, “all the way to his fortress” in Syria. But a change was in sight.