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7 lines
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<p>Here are foretold,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. The rise and power of two great kingdoms out of the remains of Alexander’s conquests, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.5" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.5">Dan. 11:5</a>. 1. The kingdom of Egypt, which was made considerable by Ptolemaeus Lagus, one of Alexander’s captains, whose successors were, from him, called the <i>Lagidae</i>. He is called the king of the <i>south</i>, that is, Egypt, named here, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.8,Dan.11.42,Dan.11.43" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.8,Dan.11.42,Dan.11.43"><span class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.8">Dan. 11:8</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.42">42</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.43">43</span></a>. The countries that at first belonged to Ptolemy are reckoned to be Egypt, Phoenicia, Arabia, Libya, Ethiopia, etc. Theocr. Idyl. 17. 2. The kingdom of Syria, which was set up by Seleucus Nicanor, or the <i>conqueror</i>; he was one of Alexander’s princes, and became stronger than the other, and <i>had the greatest dominion of all</i>, was the most powerful of all Alexander’s successors. It was said that he had no fewer than seven-two kingdoms under him. Both these were strong against Judah (the affairs of which are particularly eyed in this prediction); Ptolemy, soon after he gained Egypt, invaded Judea, and took Jerusalem <i>on a sabbath</i>, pretending a friendly visit. Seleucus also gave disturbance to Judea.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">II. The fruitless attempt to unite these two kingdoms as iron and clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s image (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.6" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.6">Dan. 11:6</a>): “<i>At the end of certain years</i>, about seventy after Alexander’s death, the Lagidae and the Seleucidae shall associate, but not in sincerity. Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, shall marry his daughter Berenice to Antiochus Theos, king of Syria,” who had already a wife called <i>Laodice</i>. “Berenice shall come to the <i>king of the north</i>, to make an agreement, but it shall not hold: <i>She shall not retain the power of the arm</i>; neither she nor her posterity shall establish themselves in the kingdom of the north, neither shall Ptolemy her father, nor Antiochus her husband (between whom there was to be a great alliance), <i>stand</i>, nor their arm, but <i>she shall be given up and those that brought her</i>,” all that projected that unhappy marriage between her and Antiochus, which occasioned so much mischief, instead of producing a coalition between the northern and southern crowns, as was hoped. Antiochus divorced Berenice, took his former wife Laodice again, who soon after poisoned him, procured Berenice and her son to be murdered, and set up her own son by Antiochus to be king, who was called <i>Seleucus Callinicus</i>.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">III. A war between the two kingdoms, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.7,Dan.11.8" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.7,Dan.11.8"><span class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.7">Dan. 11:7</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.8">8</span></a>. A branch from the same root with Berenice <i>shall stand up in his estate</i>. Ptolemaeus Euergetes, the son and successor of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, shall come with an army against Seleucus Callinicus, king of Syria, to avenge his sister’s quarrel, and shall prevail; and he shall carry away a rich booty both of persons and goods into Egypt, and shall <i>continue more years than the king of the north</i>. This Ptolemy reigned forty-six years; and Justin says that if his own affairs had not called him home he would, in this war, have made himself master of the whole kingdom of Syria. But (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.9" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.9">Dan. 11:9</a>) he shall be forced to <i>come into his kingdom</i> and <i>return into his own land</i>, to keep peace there, so that he can no longer carry on the war abroad. Note, It is very common for a treacherous peace to end in a bloody war.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">IV. The long and busy reign of <i>Antiochus the Great</i>, king of Syria. Seleucus Callinicus, that king of the north that was overcome (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.7" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.7">Dan. 11:7</a>) and died miserably, left two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus; these are his sons, the sons of the <i>king of the north</i>, that shall be <i>stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces</i>, to recover what their father had lost, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.10" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.10">Dan. 11:10</a>. But Seleucus the elder, being weak, and unable to rule his army, was poisoned by his friends, and reigned only two years; and his brother Antiochus succeeded him, who reigned thirty-seven years, and was called <i>the Great</i>. And therefore the angel, though he speaks of <i>sons</i> at first, goes on with the account of <i>one only</i>, who was but fifteen years old when he began to reign, and he shall <i>certainly come, and overflow</i>, and <i>over-run</i>, and shall <i>be restored</i> at length to what his father lost. 1. The <i>king of the south</i>, in this war, shall at first have very great success. Ptolemaeus Philopater, moved with indignation at the indignities done by <i>Antiochus the Great</i>, shall (though otherwise a slothful prince) <i>come forth, and fight with him</i>, and shall bring a vast army into the field of 70,000 foot, and 5000 horse, and seventy-three elephants. And the <i>other multitude</i> (the army of Antiochus, consisting of 62,000 foot, and 6000 horse, and 102 elephants) shall <i>be given into his hand</i>. Polybius, who lived with Scipio, has given a particular account of this battle of Raphia. Ptolemaeus Philopater, having gained this victory, grew very insolent; <i>his heart was lifted up</i>; then he went into the temple of God at Jerusalem, and, in defiance of the law, entered the most holy place, for which God has a controversy with him, so that, though he shall <i>cast down many myriads</i>, yet he shall <i>not be strengthened by it</i>, so as to secure his interest. For, 2. The <i>king of the north, Antiochus the Great</i>, shall <i>return</i> with a <i>greater army</i> than <i>the former</i>; and, at the <i>end of times (that is, years</i>) he shall <i>come with a mighty army, and great riches</i>, against the <i>king of the south</i>, that is, Ptolemaeus Epiphanes, who succeeded Ptolemaeus Philopater his father, when he was a child, which gave advantage to Antiochus the Great. In this expedition he had some powerful allies (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.14" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.14">Dan. 11:14</a>): <i>Many shall stand up against the king of the south</i>. Philip of Macedon was confederate with Antiochus against the king of Egypt, and Scopas his general, whom he sent into Syria; Antiochus routed him, destroyed a great part of his army; whereupon the Jews willingly yielded to Antiochus, joined with him, helped him to besiege Ptolemaeus’s garrisons. They <i>the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision</i>, to help forward the accomplishment of this prophecy; but <i>they shall fall, and shall come to nothing</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.14" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.14">Dan. 11:14</a>. Hereupon (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.11.15" href="/passage/?search=Dan.11.15">Dan. 11:15</a>) the <i>king of the north</i>, this same Antiochus Magnus, shall carry on his design against the king of the south another way. (1.) He shall surprise his strong-holds; all that he has got in Syria and Samaria, and the arms of the south, all the power of the king of Egypt, shall not be able to withstand him. See how dubious and variable the turns of the scale of war are; like buying and selling, it is winning and losing; sometimes one side gets the better and sometimes the other; yet neither by chance; it is not, as they call it, the <i>fortune of war</i>, but according to the will and counsel of God, who brings some low and raises others up. (2.) He shall make himself master of the land of J
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<p class="tab-1">V. From all this let us learn, 1. That God in his providence sets up one, and pulls down another, as he pleases, advances some from low beginnings and depresses others that were very high. Some have called great men the <i>foot-balls of fortune</i>; or, rather, they are the <i>tools of Providence</i>. 2. This world is full of <i>wars and fightings</i>, which come <i>from men’s lusts</i>, and make it a theatre of sin and misery. 3. All the changes and revolutions of states and kingdoms, and every event, even the most minute and contingent, were plainly and perfectly foreseen by the God of heaven, and to him nothing is <i>new</i>. 4. No word of God shall fall to the ground; but what he has designed, what he has declared, shall infallibly come to pass; and even the sins of men shall be made to serve his purpose, and contribute to the b ringing of his counsels to birth in their season; and yet <i>God is not the author of sin</i>. 5. That, for the right understanding of some parts of scripture, it is necessary that heathen authors be consulted, which give light to the scripture, and show the accomplishment of what is there foretold; we have therefore reason to bless God for the human learning with which many have done great service to divine truths.</p>
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