Daniel 11

This chapter forms the middle portion of the final vision of the Book of Daniel (chapters 10–12). The one who appeared to Daniel in Daniel 10 continues speaking in this chapter.

Outline

• Verse 1 The speaker says that in the first year of Darius the Mede he stood to confirm and strengthen "him."
• Verse 2 Three kings arise in Persia, and a fourth, far richer than they all, stirs up all against the realm of Grecia.
• Verses 3–4 A mighty king arises, but his kingdom is divided toward the four winds of heaven and does not pass to his posterity.
• Verses 5–20 The king of the south and the king of the north at times make peace through marriage alliances and at times wage repeated war. One king stands in "the glorious land."
• Verses 21–35 A vile person obtains the kingdom by flatteries (deceit). He attacks the south but withdraws because of the ships of Chittim. He then pollutes the sanctuary, takes away the daily sacrifice, and sets up "the abomination that maketh desolate." Those who understand suffer affliction and are refined.
• Verses 36–39 That king exalts himself above every god and honors "the God of forces."
• Verses 40–45 At the time of the end the king of the north conquers as far as Egypt, but he comes to his end between the seas and the holy mountain.

Key Verses

• Daniel 11:31 "And shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." This expression is linked to the New Testament's "abomination of desolation."
• Daniel 11:32 "But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits." The verse portrays a people who remain faithful even under persecution.

People and Places

• King of the south and king of the north: the text does not name them.
• Chittim: a term referring to the islands and coastlands of the western sea.
• Edom, Moab, and Ammon: named as nations that escape out of the hand of the king of the north.
• Libyans and Ethiopians (Cush): peoples of North Africa.

Interpretive Considerations

Many interpreters read the figures in this chapter as corresponding to historical persons. They identify the king of verse 3 as Alexander the Great, the king of the south as the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, and the king of the north as the Seleucid dynasty of Syria, and they take the king of verse 21 onward to be Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who desecrated the temple in Jerusalem in the second century BC. These names come from interpretation, not from the text itself.

Interpretations of verses 36–45 differ.

• Some interpreters hold that this section also refers to Antiochus IV.
• Others hold that it refers to the end-time Antichrist; this view is widely held among conservative evangelicals and in dispensationalism.
• Still others read Antiochus IV as a type (a foreshadowing figure) of the Antichrist, combining both readings.

Views also differ on the date of composition. The traditional position regards the chapter as the prophecy of Daniel in the sixth century BC. Critical scholarship regards the Book of Daniel as apocalyptic literature written in the second century BC during the Maccabean period.

The chapter is also connected to the New Testament. In Matthew 24:15, Jesus speaks of "the abomination of desolation." The one who exalts himself in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 is often read together with verse 36.