THE TIDE TURNS

THE TIDE TURNS

Like Daniel, we expectantly listen as Jehovah’s angel next foretells: “The king of the south will embitter himself and will have to go forth and fight with him, that is, with the king of the north; and he will certainly have a large crowd stand up, and the crowd will actually be given into the hand of that one.” (Daniel 11:11)http://biblize.com/search?q=Daniel+11:11&q_scope=

With 75,000 troops, the king of the south, Ptolemy IV, moved northward against the enemy. The Syrian king of the north, Antiochus III, had raised “a large crowd” of 68,000 to stand up against him. But “the crowd” was “given into the hand” of the king of the south in battle at the coastal city of Raphia, not far from Egypt’s border.

The prophecy continues: “And the crowd will certainly be carried away. His heart will become exalted, and he will actually cause tens of thousands to fall; but he will not use his strong position.” (Daniel 11:12) http://biblize.com/search?q=Daniel+11:12&q_scope=

Ptolemy IV, the king of the south, “carried away” 10,000 Syrian infantry and 300 cavalry into death and took 4,000 as prisoners. The kings then made a treaty whereby Antiochus III kept his Syrian seaport of Seleucia but lost Phoenicia and Coele-Syria. Over this victory, the heart of the Egyptian king of the south ‘became exalted,’ especially against Jehovah. Judah remained under the control of Ptolemy IV. However, he did not “use his strong position” to follow up his victory against the Syrian king of the north. Instead, Ptolemy IV turned to a life of debauchery, and his five-year-old son, Ptolemy V, became the next king of the south some years before the death of Antiochus III.

THE EXPLOITER RETURNS

Because of all his exploits, Antiochus III came to be called Antiochus the Great. Of him, the angel said: “The king of the north must return and set up a crowd larger than the first; and at the end of the times, some years, he will come, doing so with a great military force and with a great deal of goods.” (Daniel 11:13) http://biblize.com/search?q=Daniel+11:13&q_scope=

These “times” were 16 or more years after the Egyptians defeated the Syrians at Raphia. When young Ptolemy V became king of the south, Antiochus III set out with “a crowd larger than the first” to recover the territories he had lost to the Egyptian king of the south. To that end, he joined forces with Macedonian King Philip V.

The king of the south also had troubles within his kingdom. “In those times there will be many who will stand up against the king of the south,” said the angel. (Daniel 11:14a) Many did “stand up against the king of the south.” Besides facing the forces of Antiochus III and his Macedonian ally, the young king of the south faced problems at home in Egypt. Because his guardian Agathocles, who ruled in his name, dealt arrogantly with the Egyptians, many revolted. The angel added: “And the sons of the robbers belonging to your people will, for their part, be carried along to try making a vision come true; and they will have to stumble.” (Daniel 11:14b) http://biblize.com/search?q=Daniel+11:14&q_scope=

Even some of Daniel’s people became ‘sons of robbers,’ or revolutionaries. But any “vision” such Jewish men had of ending Gentile domination of their homeland was false, and they would fail, or “stumble.”

Jehovah’s angel further foretold: “The king of the north will come and throw up a siege rampart and actually capture a city with fortifications. And as for the arms of the south, they will not stand, neither the people of his picked ones; and there will be no power to keep standing. And the one coming against him will do according to his will, and there will be no one standing before him. And he will stand in the land of the Decoration, and there will be extermination in his hand.”—Daniel 11:15, 16.http://biblize.com/search?q=Daniel+11:15,+16&q_scope=

Military forces under Ptolemy V, or “arms of the south,” succumbed to assault from the north. At Paneas (Caesarea Philippi), Antiochus III drove Egypt’s General Scopas and 10,000 select men, or “picked ones,” into Sidon, “a city with fortifications.” There Antiochus III ‘threw up a siege rampart,’ taking that Phoenician seaport in 198 B.C.E. He acted “according to his will” because the forces of the Egyptian king of the south were unable to stand before him. Antiochus III then marched against Jerusalem, the capital of “the land of the Decoration,” Judah. In 198 B.C.E., Jerusalem and Judah passed from domination by the Egyptian king of the south to that of the Syrian king of the north. And Antiochus III, the king of the north, began to “stand in the land of the Decoration.” There was “extermination in his hand” for all opposing Jews and Egyptians. For how long would this king of the north be able to do as he pleased?