divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.” In these verses the Persian power passes from view and Alexan der the Great and the Grecian em pire come before us. The “mighty king” mentioned here was Alexander the Great. Dr. Vine comments, “On his ac cession to the throne, he welded the Grecian states together and subdued the Persian empire. He is mentioned here as also in the eighth chapter of Daniel because the antichrist will arise out of the part of the Roman empire over which Alexander ruled. The prophecy in verse four that. . . ‘when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled:’. . .has been fulfilled to the letter, for Alexan der died childless and his empire was divided into four parts, each of his leading generals taking a part, name ly Ptolemy who was king of Egypt; Seleucus, who took Syria; Lysima- chus, who ruled over Thrace, and Cassander, to whom fell Macedonia and all of Greece.” From verse 5 to verse 35, we have an account of what is known in his tory as the Wars of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae covering a period of 120 years. Syria and Egypt, on the north and south of Palestine which were two of the fragments of Alexan der’s kingdom, became enemies and during that period of 120 years fought their battles, using Palestine, the buffer state, as a battle ground. Syria, referred to as the king of the north, was not only a deadly enemy of the king of the south (Egypt) but also hated Israel with an intense ha tred. But of the kings of Syria there is one, referred to in verse 21, who is characterized as a “vile person” and of whom a detailed description is given. That king was the notorious Antiochus Epiphanes. He is men tioned here in particular as also in
the eighth chapter, because of his likeness to another great hater of Israel who is yet to come. That one is the antichrist. Antiochus Epiphanes was one of the vilest creatures who ever sat on a throne and will only be excelled in this by the “man of sin” himself. He is the one mentioned in chapter 8, verses 11 to 14, as the “defiler of the sanctuary.” His actions are re corded in that chapter because he foreshadows the “king of fierce coun tenance” .referred to in verse 23, who shall arise in the latter time. The sanctuary Was cleansed, as stated in Daniel 8, after 2300 days, at which time the Maccabees cleansed and re dedicated the temple for the worship of Jehovah. Antiochus certainly fore shadows what is written concerning the antichrist in Revelation 13 and Matt. 24:13. Verses 23 to 34 describe the ter rible conditions that prevailed among the Jews during the reign of Anti ochus Epiphanes, never to be par alleled until the “man of sin” appears. Dr. Gaebelien points out, “From verses 36 to 39, inclusive, the history of the king of the north came to a close, and another dreadful character of whom Antiochus Epiphanes was merely a forerunner is at once intro duced ; he is the wilful king, the antichrist of the last days.” Here we have a life-size portrait of the antichrist, the “man of sin,” the one who will not only rule over Syria but will also revive the Roman empire. Let us look at the statements concerning him, in order. “And the king shall do according to his will; . . . ” (v. 36). That is, he will be an absolute monarch—no sen ate, no house of parliament; not even the ten subordinate kings who will be associated with him will dare to interfere with his wishes. “Neither shall he regard the God of his fa th e rs ...” (v. 37). This would seem to indicate that he will be an apostate Jew. Israel is the only nation that can really speak of the “God of their fathers”—of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The 32
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