King of the North Archives » From Daniel to Revelation

2019-03-042022-08-05

The Vile Person of Daniel 11: Antiochus IV or an end-time Antichrist?

SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

Daniel the prophet, according to the book of Daniel, lived in the sixth century B.C. That was before the kingdom of Greece became a ‘world’ power. But Daniel 8:20-21 and 11:2 mention Medo-Persia and Greece by name. Critical scholars do not accept that these accurate descriptions of historical events could have been written in the sixth century B.C., as the book itself claims. They, rather, propose that the book of Daniel was written by an unknown writer after these kingdoms had already come to power (Wikipedia). In this view, the prophecies of Daniel are history written in the form of prophecy.

The main character in Daniel 11 is described as a “vile person” (Dan 11:21 – KJV). Because of the general principle in Daniel that later prophecies elaborate on the earlier ones, and based on several similarities between the “vile person” and the evil horn-king of Daniel 7 and 8, interpreters generally agree that this “vile person” and the evil horn-king are one and the same.

Antiochus IV was a Greek king who reigned in the middle of the second century B.C. He fits the sequence of kings and the activities of the “vile person” of Daniel 11 fairly well. Critical scholars, therefore, propose that the book of Daniel was written during his reign and that Antiochus IV was the “vile person.” Critical scholars then also interpret the evil horn-king of Daniel 7 and 8 as Antiochus IV.

JESUS CHRIST IN DANIEL 11

Generally, interpreters agree on the interpretation of the first 13 verses of Daniel 11. These verses begin with a description of individual Persian kings and then moves to the Greek Empire.

Interpreters also generally agree that verses 14 to 19 describe Antiochus III; one of the Greek kings and a predecessor of Antiochus IV.

Daniel 11:22 is a key verse. It says that the Vile Person will:

(1) Flood away the “overflowing forces“ and
(2) Shatter the prince of the covenant.

There are strong word links between this verse and Daniel 9:24-27. Only in these two passages:

– Do we find the words “flood” and nagid (prince),
– Is “covenant” linked to a nagid-prince, and
– Is the nagid-prince cut off.

These word links imply that these two passages describe the same event. And since the prince of the covenant in Daniel 9:24-27 has been identified as Jesus Christ (See, Who confirms what?), the Prince of the covenant in Daniel 11:22 is Jesus Christ and that he is shattered refers to His death on the Cross.

This interpretation implies that the flood is the Roman Empire.

Since the events in Daniel 11 are given in chronological sequence, and since the abomination (Dan 11:31) and the persecution of God’s people (Dan 11:32-34) are described after verse 22, these must then occur in time after Christ’s death. It follows that verse 22 does not describe Antiochus IV.

OBJECTIONS

EMPHASIS ON ANTIOCHUS III

One possible objection to this interpretation is that Daniel 11 provides much more detail about Antiochus III (Dan 11:15-19); the father and predecessor of Antiochus IV, than about any previous king. Critical scholars argue that Daniel 11 emphasizes Antiochus III to identify the next king (the vile person) as his son Antiochus IV.

However, in Daniel 11, once the prophecy has reached a key turning in the history of an empire, the prophecy jumps over the remaining kings of that empire to the next empire. The wars of Antiochus III were a key turning point in the history of the Seleucid empire. At that point, the prophecy jumps over the remaining Greek kings to the next empire, namely the Roman Empire, represented by the symbol of the vile person. Therefore, Daniel 11 emphasizes Antiochus III because his reign was a turning point in history; not to identify the next king.

NO ROMAN EMPIRE

A second possible objection is that Daniel 11 does not mention the Roman Empire. Daniel 11 continues, without an intervening empire, from Antiochus III to the vile person.

However, the symbols of the vile person in Daniel 11 and the evil horn in Daniel 8 include both the Roman Empire and the anti-God power that arose from it.

ANTIOCHUS FITS THE SEQUENCE

A third possible objection is that Antiochus IV fits the sequence of kings in Daniel 11 as well as the actions of the “vile person.” This is true but the description of the “vile person” exceeds Antiochus IV. There is much in the prophecy that does not fit Antiochus IV. Antiochus IV is only a partial fulfillment of the anti-God successor. He is a type of the ultimate fulfillment of a much later and much larger worldwide Antichrist that will arise after the time of the Roman Empire.

– END OF SUMMARY –

PURPOSE

Daniel 11 is one of the most difficult chapters in the Bible. The traditional interpretation of Daniel, as defended by this website, is not based on Daniel 11, but on the earlier and easier to understand prophecies. The current article explains Daniel 11 from this perspective.

INTRODUCTION

HISTORY WRITTEN AS PROPHECY

Daniel 8:20-21 mentions the kingdoms of Greece and Mede-Persia by name. The first verses of Daniel 11 also clearly describe these kingdoms. But critical scholars do not accept that these accurate descriptions of historical events could have been written in the sixth century B.C., as the book itself claims. They propose that Daniel was written after these kingdoms have already risen to power. In other words, in their view, the prophecies of Daniel are history written by an unknown writer in the form of prophecy.

THE VILE PERSON IS THE SMALL HORN OF DANIEL 8.

The KJV describes the main character in Daniel 11 as a “vile person” (Dan 11:21). For the followiong reasons, interpreters generally agree that this “vile person” is the same as the horn of Daniel 8 and Daniel 7:

(1) The later prophecies in Daniel elaborate on the earlier ones. Based on this principle, chapter 11, although it does not have beasts and horns representing kingdoms, but rather a series of selected individual kings who ruled those kingdoms, still refers to the same kingdoms as in Daniel 7 and 8.

(2) Both the horn and the vile person:
– Persecute God’s people (Dan 7:25; 11:32-34);
– For a period of 3½ times (Dan 7:25; 12:7); (See note A)
– Profane the temple (Dan 11:31; 8:11); (See note B)
– Set up “the abomination” (Dan 11:31; 8:13); (See note C).
– Remove the continual sacrifice (the tamid) (Dan 8:11; 11:31);
– Use deceit (Dan 8:25; 11:21-24); and
– “Magnify himself” (Dan 8:11; 11:36-37).

NOTE A: PERSECUTION

Daniel 11:32-34 describes the persecution by the vile person but when Daniel asks in Daniel 12:6, “How long shall it be?”, the response came:

“It would be for a time, two times, and half a time;
and that when the shattering of the power
of the holy people comes to an end
all these things would be accomplished” (Dan 12:7).

In other words, the holy people will be persecuted for the prophetic period of “a time, two times, and half a time;” equal to 3½ times. Since this question and answer come at the end of the prophecy in Daniel 11-12, it refers to the previously mentioned persecution, which is the persecution in Daniel 11:32-34.

Daniel 7:25 also mentions the “time, times, and half a time” as a period of persecution of the saints of the Most High by the little horn-king.

NOTE B: PROFANE THE TEMPLE

The vile person profanes the strong temple (Dan 11:31), which is equivalent to the casting down of the place of the temple by the horn in Daniel 8:11.

NOTE C: ABOMINATION

An abomination is a sin. In Deuteronomy 7:25, “graven images of their gods” are called “an abomination to the LORD your God.” Both Daniel 11:31 and 8:11-12 mention the “abomination” in connection with the “regular sacrifice” (the tamid). Daniel 11, therefore, covers the same ground as Daniel 8 but provides additional detail.

THE VILE PERSON IS ANTIOCHUS IV.

After Alexander the Great died, his Greek kingdom was divided into four empires. One of these was the Seleucids of the Middle East. Antiochus IV was one of the kings in that kingdom. He reigned in the middle of the second century BC. He fits the sequence of kings and the activities of the “vile person” of Daniel 11 fairly well. But the events described in the last part of Daniel 11 do not fit known history immediately after him. For these reasons, Critics propose that:

(1) The book of Daniel was written in the time of Antiochus IV and in response to the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus IV;
(2) The evil king in Daniel is Antiochus IV, and
(3) The events described later in Daniel 11, that do not fit the history immediately after Antiochus IV, are the guesswork of the uninspired writer of Daniel.

Critics transfer this interpretation to Daniel 7 and 8, and interpret the evil horn-king in these chapters also as Antiochus IV. This is called the Maccabean thesis. As one Critical scholar wrote:

Daniel was written during the period of the Maccabees, in the middle of the 2nd century B.C., or about 400 years after the events it describes. Its origin is betrayed in chapter 11 when Daniel supposedly prophesies about the future.

Conservatives, on the other hand, base their interpretation of Daniel mostly on Daniel 2, 7, and 8, but often find it difficult to explain Daniel 11.

PROPOSED INTERPRETATION

There are no animals in Daniel 11. The prophecy names the Persian kingdom (Dan 11:2), but none of the later kingdoms or kings are named. Instead, the titles “king of the south” and “king of the north” are used to describe entire kingdoms, each consisting of a series of kings. The reader of Daniel 11 has to identify the individual kings by comparing the events described in the prophecy with actual history.

Interpreters generally agree on the interpretation of Daniel 11:1-13:

PERSIAN KINGS

The chapter opens with a description of individual Persian kings, concluding with Xerxes, who attacked Greece (Dan 11:2). By virtue of his failed attack on the Greeks, he brought the Greek nation onto the ‘world’ scene.

GREEK KINGS

The prophecy then jumps over the next 150 years of Persian rule to the first Greek king—the “mighty king” (Alexander the Great) (Dan 11:3). His kingdom was divided into four parts after his death (Dan 11:4). Verses 5 to 13 describe key events in the history of two of the four parts, namely those parts that were threats to Judea. To the north of Judea was the “king of the north;” the Seleucid kings of the Middle East. To the south was the “king of the south,” namely the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt. The actions of the Ptolemies and Seleucids, as described in these verses, are fairly consistent with what we know today as their history.

ANTIOCHUS III

Verse 14 refers to the “breakers of your people.” Here interpretations start to diverge. But interpreters generally agree that verses 14 to 19 describe Antiochus III. To quote a critical scholar:

Daniel 11:2-20 is a very accurate & historically corroborated sequence of events from the third year (Dan 10:1) of the Persian era up to the predecessor of Antiochus IV: some 366 years! Only the names and dates are missing. Most of the details are about the conflicts between the kings of the South (the Ptolemies of Egypt) and the kings of the North (the Seleucids of Mesopotamia / Syria). The Seleucids are shown to become stronger and stronger (despite some setbacks) … Of course, Jerusalem was in the middle and changed hands (197, from Egypt to Syria).

PRINCE OF THE COVENANT

Verse 22 is a key verse. The following is a fairly literal translation:

The arms of the flood
are overflowed from before him,
and are broken;
and also the leader (nagid; prince – NASB)
of the covenant (YLT)

The text pictures forces (“the arms of the flood“) being defeated by the superior forces of the “vile person” (Dan 11:21). The lesser flood is flooded by an even greater flood of arms. The prince of the covenant is also broken. In other words, the vile person will:

(a) Flood away the “overflowing forces“ and
(b) Shatter the prince of the covenant.

The current article proposes that the prince of the covenant is Jesus Christ and that “broken” refers to His death on the Cross. This conclusion is based on the word links between Daniel 11:22 and the prophecy of Christ’s death in Daniel 9:24-27:

The word “flood,” as a noun, occurs only twice in Daniel—in 9:26 (“Its end shall come with the flood, and to the end there shall be war“) and in Daniel 11:22.

The word ‘sar’ (translated “prince“) occurs 11 times in Daniel (Dan 8:11, 25; 9:6, 8; 10:13, 20, 21; 11:5; 12:1). But the word ‘nagid’, which is also translated “prince,” occurs only in Daniel 11:22 and in Daniel 9:24-27, namely in “Messiah the Prince” (Dan 9:25) and in “the prince who is to come” (Dan 9:26).

In both Daniel 9:24-27 and Daniel 11:22, the nagid-prince will be killed. He is “cut off” and ”broken” (Dan 9:26; 11:22).

The word “covenant” is found in both passages. “Covenant” also occurs elsewhere in Daniel, but only in these two passages is a prince connected with the covenant. Consequently, only the nagid-prince is connected with the covenant. In Daniel 9:26-27 the nagid-prince makes strong the covenant for one week. (See Covenant in Daniel 9:27.) In Daniel 11:22, the nagid-prince of the covenant is broken. Elsewhere in Daniel, “covenant” always refers to the covenant between God and His people (Daniel 9:4; 11:28, 30, 32). This implies that the covenant in Daniel 11:22 also refers to God’s covenant with Israel.

CONCLUSION

On the basis of these word links, this article concludes as follows:

1. The nagid-prince in the two passages refers to the same individual, namely that the Prince of the Covenant is Jesus Christ.
2. The shattering of the prince of the covenant in Daniel 11:22 refers to His death.
3. The flood that floods away the “overflowing forces“ in Daniel 11:22 is the same as the flood that destroys the city and the sanctuary in Daniel 9:26. Both are the Roman Empire.

Since the events in Daniel 11 are given in chronological sequence, and since the abomination (Dan 11:31) and the persecution of God’s people (Dan 11:32-34) are described after verse 22, the abomination and persecution must occur after Christ’s death in the first century AD. These events, therefore, occur during or after the end of the Roman Empire, and cannot refer to Antiochus IV.

Jesus confirmed this when He put the abomination in the future:

“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet (Daniel 11:31 and 12:11), standing in the holy place“ (Matt 24:15)

Jesus, therefore, also interpreted the “vile person” as an anti-God ruler that will arise after His time; not as the Greek king Antiochus IV who died about 200 years earlier.

PROPHECIES COMPARED

With this conclusion, and with the assistance of the previous articles in this series, we are now able to compare Daniel 11 with the earlier prophecies:

DANIEL 11	DANIEL 9	DANIEL 8	DANIEL 7
Persian kings (Dan 11:2)	Persian decree (Dan 9:25)	Ram (Dan 8:2-4)	Bear (Dan 7:5)
Greek king (Dan 11:3)		Goat (Dan 8:5-7)	Leopard (Dan 7:6a)
Kings of North and South		Goat’s four horns (Dan 8:8)	Leopard’s four heads
Roman flood breaks Nagid of the covenant (Dan 11:22)	Nagid cut off (Dan 9:25-27)	Horizontal expansion (Dan 8:9)	Fourth beast (Dan 7:8, 23)
Vile person: profanes temple, sets up abomination (Dan 11:31), persecutes for 3½ times (Dan 11:32-34; 12:7)		Little horn: casts temple down, removes daily, transgression of desolation (Dan 8:8-13)	Little horn: persecutes God’s people for 3½ limes; (Dan 7:25)