Deeper Reflection
The truth” about the history of the world as shaped by God begins with a tale of two empires (vv.2-4) that the world considers as great. But “the truth” is, their greatness was empty and vain. True greatness is “great in the sight of the Lord” – like John the Baptist, who had nothing “great” externally (Lk 1:15).The “three more kings…then a fourth” (v.2) is a poetic expression “to indicate a totality of examples” (like “for three transgressions…and for four” in Am 1-2), “summarising the nature of the Persian Empire as rulers who amass wealth, grow strong and provoke conflict with the Greeks”⁴³ . The literary communicates the theological. The “200 years of an empire [Persia] that ruled from the Aegean Sea to the borders of India” is quickly summarised and summarily dismissed by God in one single verse (v.2)!⁴⁴Alexander the Great took over the Persian Empire in 330 BC (vv.2-3). Before his death in 323 BC, he “ruled a realm from Macedonia to northern India, and from central Asia to Egypt”⁴⁵ . “But as soon as he has risen”, he died and “his kingdom” was “broken up” into four parts (v.4). Theologically, the “as soon as” was determined by God. “Mighty” Alexander was marked by “do as he pleases” (v.3). But when his empire was divided after his death, it was divided “not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority” (v.4) – that is, not “as he pleases”. What an irony! Behind this comic irony is God’s sovereignty. “Mighty” Alexander’s “do as he pleases” lasted only seven years.

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⁴³ Earnest C. Lucas, 279 ⁴⁴ Christopher J. H. Wright, Hearing the Message of Daniel: Sustaining Faith in Today’s World (Zondervan, 2017), 222 ⁴⁵ Earnest C. Lucas, 279