Daniel Lesson 21 - Fairhaven Baptist Church

Daniel Lesson 21

Text: Daniel 11:1-20

Intro: 400 years of silence, has anyone ever heard of this? It is the period of time located between the Old and New testament. And while it is true that there was not inspired writings during this time, the bible is hardly silent about these years. Actually, without the history of this time, jumping straight form the Old Testament to the New can be very difficult to understand. Think about it, what are some of the last things in the timeline of the Old testament we see: Israel being allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. The Persian kingdom seeming somewhat sympathetic toward them. But then we enter into the New Testament, and see that they are under the authority of a forging government, but not the Persians, the Romans. And tho the religious leaders in the Old Testament made many mistakes, now it seems they are corrupt outright.

Prophecies Persian, 1&2
1. Prophecies are one of the proofs of the Inspiration of God’s word,
  1. God Revealed Secrets to Daniel,
    1. among the history of Israel God showed many things to Daniel,
      - Either through the dreams and visions of kings, or to direct revelation to the man himself.
      - Daniel 2:22 “He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him”
    2. this gives great problems to people who try to deny the truth of scripture,
      - they can either say the prophecies are vague and people read too much in them,
      - they are correct, but were written after the fact,
      - or they are God’s word’s and prove not only the existence of God, but also His all knowing power.
        
        Of course, many choose to believe one of the first two,
    3. So tonight we are going to see some very specific prophecies concerning the 400 years between the testaments, as recorded by Daniel 150 years before the start of these events (for the most part)
  2. Prophecies concerning Persia four kings,
    1. this chapter is an extension of ch.10, as we enter into it, we see the same angel speaking and revealing to Daniel these truths, and visions.
    2. Cambyses 529-522
      - the son of Cyrus the great,
      - He was a crazy man, he wanted the land that had been owned by Nebuchadnezzar, and set out to war to obtain it.
      - He married two of his sisters, killed one of his brothers, and then killed a sister that protested the killing of his brother.
    3. Pseudo-Smerdis 522-521
      - was a Persian priest, that plotted to kill Cambyses,
      - he took the name of Smerdis, the rightful heir to the throne.
    4. Darius I 521-486
      - of course we know a lot about Darius,
    5. Xerxes 496-465
      - it tells us the forth was the wealthiness,
      - this is the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther,
      - He was also another king with a passion for war,
      - His empire stretched form Ethiopia to India, but his desire was to take Greece, Vs.2 of the text. “…and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.”
      - in 480 B.C. He headed to Greece, and there suffered a major defeat,
        
        loosing his fleet, and a lot of his army,
        
        He returned home in shame, bitter and angry.
        
        We can find this in the bible between the 1^st and 2^nd chapter of the book of Esther. It was then that Esther came into his life.
        
        He was killed in August of 465 B.C.
  3. The Mighty King, vs.3&4
    1. Alexander sought to punish Persia for the invasion of Greece,
      - He attacked with great speed,
        
        remember ch.7 picturing him as a winged leopard.
    2. Alexander helped the Greek language to come into the world as the common language.
      - So by the time we get ti the New Testament, most Jewish people didn’t know Hebrew,
        
        and we see this even in the New testament writings, it appears that when anyone quotes from the Old, they use the Spetiguient version, the Greek version of the Old testament.
    3. Alexander was also an advocate to bring a common unity to all people,
      - her encouraged people to mix culture, to marry outside their own culture, and become a giant melting pot.
    4. As with any other king, Alexanders time would end,
      - He died, and not having any children to take over, (he did have ill legitimate children) he gave his kingdom to his four generals.
    5. Vs.3 He ruled with great dominion,
    6. Vs.4 His kingdom divided into 4,
      - and not to his posterity…
    7. So his 4 generals were:
      - Cassander (Antigonus) (an-tig-a-nus), to the north in Greece,
      - Lysimachus (Li-sim-a-cus), Turkey, to the north
      - Seleucus (see-luke-us), Middle East, Syria,
      - Ptolemy (tol-a-may), Over Egypt
Kings of the North and South,
1. Ptolemy I, Seleucus I, vs.5
  1. The King of the south shall be strong,
    1. Seleucus (see-luke-us) was the stronger between him and Ptolemy,
      - yet it was only because he had an alliance with Ptolemy that enabled him to take control of Syria.
      - The greatest dominion was the middle-east, stretching from the Mediterranean to India,
2. Ptolemy II, Philadephus, Antiocuhus II, vs.6
  1. Marriage of Convenience,
    1. often times in the ancients, marriages were used as some what of a covenant between factions.
      - Remember the Hebrew word for daughter? Bet, Tav, which were house, and mark as in covenant. The covenant of the house.
    2. OK, follow me here, Ptolemy insisted that Antiochus (the son/ heir of Seleucus) divorce his wife and marry his daughter Berenice.
      - So he did.
      - But only about two years into this marriage Ptolemy died,
      - as a result, Antiochus took back his former wife,
        
        who knows the expression a woman scorn???, she in turn killed both him and Berenice.
    3. Vs.6
      - they shall join themselves together, the covenant
      - But, she shall not retain power, she is put away
      - she shall be given up,
        
        and they all did, he that begat her (Ptolemy) and strengthen her.
3. Ptolemy III, Euergerets, Selecucs, vs.7-9
  1. A New King Over Egypt,
    1. after the death of Ptolemy, his son, the brother of Berenice took power,
    2. He wanted to avenge his sister, so he went to war with the Northern kingdom,
      - He won a great victory and collected a great deal of wealth,
      - then for the span of some years, the northern and southern kings simply ignored one another,
    3. In 240 B.C. Seleucus attacked Egypt, only to suffer defeat,
      - on his way home, he fell from his horse and died,
    4. His son Seleucus 3^rd took power, only to be killed by Antiochus 3^rd (the great)
      - He was the brother of Seleucus 3^rd.
      - He would retain power until the rise of the Roman empire,
    5. Vs.7:
      - but out of a branch of “her” root- Berenice, her brother stood up
      - come to the fortress of the north- invaded
      - and shall prevail- win, and take a lot of wealth,
    6. Vs.8:
      - he takes the wealth to Egypt, and outlives the king of the north,
    7. Vs, 9:
      - and Ptolemy’s linage would rule in the south (Egypt)
4. Ptolemy, IV, Philopater, Antiochus, vs. 10-19
  1. The North and South Conflict,
    1. It is important to know who the him and he’s are in these verses,
    2. Vs.10-12 His sons (Ptolemy)
      - 217 B.C. The Egyptians (Ptolemy) defeated Syria (Seleucus)
        
        but this didn’t stop the expansion of the empire of Seleucus, he still marched eastward,
    3. Vs.13-16,
      - Antiochus (Seleucus) mustered another army to go into Egypt,
        
        vs.14 tells that many will stand with the north, to attack Egypt,
        
        there were allies around, including the Jewish people who wanted the overthrow of Egypt.
        
        Vs.15 he defeats Egypt and Sidon,
        
        Vs.16 He takes the “Glorious land” Palestine.
    4. Vs.17-20 More marriage,
      - Antiochus (Seleucus) tried to arrange a inside revolt of Egypt by arranging a marriage between his daughter Cleopatra I, (the one you are thinking of is the 8^th), and Ptolemy V.
        
        He had hoped his daughter would undermine the government of Egypt, but she turned out to be loyal to her husband. So that didn’t work.
      - Vs.18 Antiochus turned his attention to the Greek isles,
        
        but in 191 B.C. Was stopped at “Thermopylae”
      - Vs.19, He had a revolt in his own kingdom,
        
        the Roman counsel,
        
        Antiochus had insulted one of the Roman generals,
      - He retained power for a wile, but he too died,
      - this lead to His son, Seleucus IV,
        
        he was known for oppressing the Jewish people and increasing taxes on them to give as tribute to Rome,
        
        Maccabees Revolt anyone??? 167-160 B.C.
      - Vs.20 He shall be destroyed in few days, neither by battle, nor anger…
        
        He suddenly died, Most likely poised,
      - this allowed his brother Antiochus Epiphanes to take the throne,

1. 1. 1. - Antiochus Epiphanes-
        
        vs.21 we will get more into it next week, he was a vile man.