Daniel 11.5-The Prophecy of Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday April 8, 2014
Daniel: Daniel 11:5-The Prophecy of Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator
Lesson # 322
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 11:2.
Daniel 11:2 “Now, at this present time, I must reveal to you the truth. Behold, three future kings will ascend to power for Persia. Then, the fourth will cause greater riches to make him wealthier than each and every one of these in comparison. However, when he amasses power through his wealth, the entire nation will stir up the Greek kingdom. 3 Next, a powerful king will ascend to power so that he will rule with great authority with the result that he will do according to his desire. 4 However, after he ascends to power, his kingdom will be broken up. Then, it will be divided towards the heaven’s four winds but not for the benefit of his posterity and in addition, not according to his sovereign will which he sovereignly exercised. For his kingdom will be uprooted specifically, for the benefit of others, to the separation and exclusion of these.” (My translation)
Daniel 11:5 “Then the king of the South will grow strong, along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his domain will be a great dominion indeed.” (NASB95)
“Then the king of the South will grow strong, along with one of his princes” presents the next prophetic event that will take place after the event recorded at the end of verse 4.
Therefore, it presents the next prophetic event taking place some sometime after the four-fold division of Alexander’s empire by his four generals.
“The king of the South will grow strong” is composed of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “ a king” which is modified by the noun ně·ḡěḇ (נֶגֶב) (neh´-gheb), “South.”
The noun mě∙lěḵ means “king” and is used with reference to the governmental head of the Egyptian kingdom which was ruled by descendants of Ptolemy.
The noun ně·ḡěḇ means “south” referring to the compass point directly opposite the north.
This word’s primary meaning is a geographic region.
Because this region lay to the south of the rest of Israel, the word became synonymous with dā·rôm, “south.”
Here in Daniel 11:5, the noun ně·ḡěḇ means “south” and refers to the geographical location of the kingdom which was located to the south of Israel and was ruled by the descendants of Ptolemy who was one of Alexander’s generals who ruled Egypt after Alexander’s death.
It refers to Egypt as made clear by the angel’s statements in verse 8.
“Will grow strong” is the verb ḥā·zǎq (חָזַק) (khaw-zak´), which means “to be strong” referring to the king ruling the south existing in the state of being strong militarily and politically and thus becoming more influential and powerful over his neighbors in the Middle East.
“One of his princes” is composed of the preposition min (מִן) (min) “of” and its object is the noun śǎr (שַׂר) (sar), “princes.”
The singular form of the noun śǎr means “subordinate commander” referring to one of the subordinates of the king ruling the south and here it refers to a commander who was under the authority of the king ruling the south.
The noun śǎr is also the object of the preposition min which means “one of” since it is used in a partitive sense meaning that its object the noun śǎr can be the whole from which a part is taken.
The whole here are all the commanders under the king ruling the south.
The preposition denotes that one of these commanders was strong militarily and thus politically along with the king ruling the south.
“Who will gain ascendancy over him” advances upon the previous statement and intensifies it.
The advancement and intensification is that the king ruling the south goes from having no rivals to having one.
“Who will gain ascendancy over him” is composed of the verb ḥā·zǎq (חָזַק) (khaw-zak´), “will gain ascendancy” and then we have the preposition ʿǎl (עַל) (al), “over” and its object is the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “him.”
This time the verb ḥā·zǎq means “to be stronger” referring to one of the subordinate commanders of the king ruling the south becoming stronger militarily, politically and territorially against him.
The third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) means “him” referring to the king ruling the south and is the object of the preposition ʿǎl, which means “than” since it is functioning as a marker of comparison indicating that one of the subordinates of the king ruling the south would become stronger “than” him.
“And obtain dominion; his domain will be a great dominion indeed” is presenting the reason why one of the subordinate commanders of the king ruling the south will become stronger than him.
Therefore, the word denotes that one of the subordinate commanders of the king ruling the south will become stronger than him “because” he will exercise authority over a great dominion than him.
“Obtain dominion; his domain will be a great dominion indeed” is composed of the verb mā·šǎl (מָשַׁל) (maw-shal´), “obtain dominion” and then we have the noun mim·šāl (מִמְשָׁל) (mim-shawl´), “domain” which is modified by the adjective rǎḇ (רַב) (rab), “great” and then we have the noun měm·šā·lā(h) (מֶמְשָׁלָה) (mem-shaw-law´), “a dominion” which is modified by the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “his.”
The verb mā·šǎl means “to govern” since it pertains to exercising authority over a particular territory or geographical region of a nation.
Here it of course refers to one of the subordinate commanders of the king ruling the south exercising his sovereign authority over a greater geographical territory than him.
The noun mim·šāl means “dominion” referring to the nation or kingdom which is located in a particular territory or geographical region in which a king exercises his authority over.
This word is modified by the adjective rǎḇ, which means “greater than” since the word is used in a comparative sense indicating that this subordinate commander of the king ruling the south will exercise authority over a “greater” dominion or territory “than” him.
Daniel 11:5 “Then, the king ruling the south as well as one of his subordinate commanders will be strong. In fact, he will become stronger than him because he will exercise authority over a dominion greater than his dominion.” (My translation)
The angel informs Daniel that after the four-fold division of the powerful king, the king ruling the South as well as one of his subordinate commanders will be strong militarily and politically.
History records that the king ruling the south is Ptolemy I Soter (323-285 B.C.) who was a general who served under Alexander.
As we noted he was given authority over Egypt in 323 B.C. and proclaimed king of Egypt in 304 B.C. and his dynasty ended in 30 B.C.
History also tells us that the subordinate commander of the king ruling the south is Seleucus I Nicator (312-281 B.C.), who was also a general of Alexander.
He was given authority over Babylon in 321 B.C.
His dynasty ended in 64 B.C.
In 316 B.C. Babylon came under attack by Antigonus who was another general.
Seleucus turned to Ptolemy I Soter in Egypt for help and got it.
The combined strength of Ptolemy and Seleucus defeated Antigonus at Gaza in 312 B.C.
Seleucus was greatly strengthened as a result of this victory and returned to Babylon and he ruled over Babylonia, Media and Syria.
He assumed the title of king in 305 B.C., thus, Seleucus I Nicator ruled over far more territory than Ptolemy I Soter.
In fact, by the end of his reign, Seleucus reigned over the territory from Punjab to the Hellenspont with great power.
He gained control over the entire area from Asia Minor to India.
Therefore, we can see that Daniel 11:5 was fulfilled with these two men, Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator.
Now, the emergence of Ptolemy I Soter as the king over Egypt and Seleucus I Nicator as king over Syria set the stage for the lines of these two rulers in their respective countries to become rivals or adversaries.
“The king of the South” in this prophecy in Daniel 11 is thus a reference to those descendants of Ptolemy who would ruled over Egypt.
On the other hand, “the king of the north” in this prophecy is a reference to those descendants of Seleucus.
This rivalry between these two kingdoms would adversely affect Israel because she would be caught in between their wars.
Daniel 11:5 begins a detailed prophecy of the conflicts that would take place between these two kingdoms.
The wars between these two factions would cause quite a bit of suffering for Daniel’s people.
In fact, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, the “small or little horn” and “bold-face king” of Daniel chapter 8, would be a descendant of Seleucus and would persecute the Jewish people in the second century B.C.