Deeper Reflection
The last six verses of Daniel 11 “have been a source of perplexity to commentators down the centuries”⁵ . However, what is clear is, it is a picture of wars. The “king of the South” will provoke the “king of the North” to attack the Antiochus-like king (v.40). But he will become all victorious: “many will fall” before him (v.41), he will “stretch out his hand against other countries” (v.42), “gain control” (v.43) and “go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many” (v.44). These wars happen “at the end time” (v.40). Verses 40 to 45 “look forward to a violent end to history”⁶ . But Daniel 11 repeatedly shows the subtle subversiveness of the sovereign God who holds the end of things.The empire of Alexander the Great was “broken up and parceled out” “as soon as he has arisen” (Dan 11:3-4). For the two Seleucid kings before Antiochus, one “will stumble and fall and be found no more”, and the other, “yet within a few days he will be shattered” (Dan 11:19, 20). The Antiochus-like anti-God king “will prosper” – but within a limited time period: “until the indignation is finished” (v.36). This king marks the epitome of man’s blasphemy against God (v.36). But mark how the prophetic narrative of this arrogant king concludes: “yet he will come his end” and “no one will help him” – how miserable! (v.45). Everything in Daniel 11 is “that which is decreed” by God, and they all “will be done” by God (v.36). This gives us security and confidence, come what may.

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⁵  Earnest C. Lucas, 290 ⁶Tremper Longman, 282