Angels and End Times Part 3 | Adult Sunday School

Good morning, good morning, good morning.

You just, you can't imagine, or maybe you can, how wonderful it is to see all your smiling faces.

It's good to be seen, not if you're a sniper.

Housekeeping on the Daniel Handout and End-Times Chronology

Welcome to Adult Sunday School Kootenai Community Church. We'll be in the Book of Daniel again. Couple of housekeeping items before we start. Rick is handing out a handout that I got smart, and it's not going to be being used for at least one more week, maybe two, so that I can find out if everybody has one.

It's the handout on the end times chronology. If you received the handout on the kings, organizing the kings by verse as we go through Daniel, or if you didn't receive one, we have more. I would like to point something out.

The last one, 1125, I left off a zero. It's not 18 to 145 B .C. It's 180 to 145. Sometimes when I copy and paste, the computer ignores what I'm trying to do. So if you have that, you might put a zero next to the 18.

There you go.

Does anybody need one?

So we'll get that done, then we'll open in prayer. And the end times chronology is, I picked one off the internet that seemed to me to be the most representative and kind of corrected or introduced my own opinion to some of it.

There is no end to end times chronologies. So I'm not saying that this is the end all and the, am I getting too punny? The end all and the end all of all end times chronologies, but it seems to be pretty accurate from a dispensational premillennial, pre-tribulational point of view.

So let's open in prayer.

Father, it is your word we look to for truth, for correction, for instruction, that we might honor everything you do and everything you say so that we might glorify you because you have spoken to us through your word.

And it is there we find comfort and help in time of need. We ask you this morning, Lord, as we study your word, that it would be instructional for us, but not just instructional, that it would deepen our relationship with your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is there we find him.

And he is in the Old and in the New Testament. He is the embodiment of everything perfect. And we look for that. Thank you for this. Thank you for this time. Give us instruction we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Daniel 11:14-16 and the Precision of Prophecy

So I'd like to read chapter 11 from verses 14 through 30. That's, it's my intention to get to chapter 14, or excuse me, chapter 11, verse 30 today. Boy, you didn't know Daniel had 14 chapters, did you?

Well, you don't have my Bible.

I'm on page 1158, which is the correct page. Daniel chapter 11, 14 through 30. Now, in those times, many will rise up against the king of the south. The violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision,.

But they will fall down. Then the king of the north will come,.

Cast up a siege mound, and capture a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him.

He will also stay for a time in the beautiful land with destruction in his hand.

And he will set his face.

To come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace, which he will put into effect. He will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it, but she will not take a stand for him or be on his side.

Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many, but a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him. Moreover, he will repay him for his scorn. So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more.

Then in his place, one will arise who will send an oppressor through the jewel of his kingdom. Yet within a few days, he will be shattered, though neither in anger nor in battle. And in his place, a despicable person will arise on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred.

But he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue. And the overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant. And after an alliance is made with him, he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people.

In a time of tranquility, he will enter the richest parts of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors. He will distribute plunder, booty, and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.

And he will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the south with a large army. So the king of the south will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war, but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him.

And those who eat his choice food will destroy him, and his army will overflow, but many will fall down slain. As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak lies to each other at the same table, but it will not succeed, for the end is still to come at the appointed time.

Then he will return to his land with much plunder, but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then return to his own land. At the appointed time, he will return and come into the south, but this last time it will not turn out.

The way it did before,.

For ships of Chitim will come against him. Therefore, he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action. So he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant.

So as we go through this section, I would like to call your attention again to the incredible precision with which Daniel was instructed about what is to happen in the times to come, just beyond him, a couple 300 years beyond him.

And when we get to it in the end times, this is one of the reasons that infidels, that the false, that unbelievers, that liberal scholars cannot believe this is a prophecy because it is just too accurate.

What a marvelous thing to see God predicting the future, to see it come to pass. And again, this is a comfort to us that what he has said has happened, and what he has said for later will happen. It will happen exactly as he predicted.

And in those times, as Daniel is taught later on or is instructed later on, the people who live in those times will have an understanding that the people who didn't live in those times did not. In much the same way that as we look back on the histories that have been written about the times from 530 B .C. to 164 B .C., 145 B .C., and see how they came to pass exactly as was predicted in the first 35 verses of Daniel.

What a remarkable thing. But we shouldn't look on it as remarkable other than from a human standpoint. From the standpoint of the sovereign God of the universe, this is his plan, and everything comes to pass at his appointed time exactly.

Jim has made the statement, and I love it, the world is falling apart exactly on schedule. And that is so true, so true. And as we watch these times, you will also notice that nothing has come, nothing has changed under the sun, nothing is new.

The intrigues of the past are identical, at least in substance, to the intrigues of today. People betray each other, they lie to each other, they use power for nefarious reasons, they destroy, they annihilate, and yet there's always a remnant.

I want you to think about the words refine, reform, and purge as we continue through this. Whatever God does, one of the things that he is always doing is he is refining, reforming, and purging his people.

He's making them more like Christ, he's bringing them back to being like Christ, and he's purging from the ranks of believers, those who really aren't of us, so that they will go out from us, so that it will be known that they were never of us.

And those are the things that are happening in this section of scripture, they will happen in every other section of scripture that we read through Daniel here. With that as an introduction, last week we looked at the time that many would rise up against the king of the south, verse 14, the violent ones among your own people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill a vision, but they will fall down.

So Philip V of Macedonia joined with Antiochus III to take and plunder Egypt, and it didn't happen in the way they wanted. Ptolemy, I better not jump my own shark here, they were joined by some of the violent pro-Seleucid Jews who thought that a victory of Antiochus III would be in their best interest.

This is always a bad idea to try and help God fulfill prophecy. It's not like he's up there going, I sure hope people do this so that this prophecy will come to pass. God doesn't wring his hands. Yeah, I am God, I don't need your help, well put.

This of course failed when the forces of Ptolemy V defeated Antiochus III. Ptolemy IV's advisor, Sosebius, who was involved in bringing the child king, Ptolemy V, to power, had retired. His place was taken by another of the clique in the Gothiclies who provoked an insurrection against the child king and was killed during the intrigue.

Antiochus III had made serious inroads into Egypt. Assisted by Philip V and the Jewish revolutionaries, the battle was still lost and the seesaw struggle for Palestine continued. So again, remember, this is Palestine, Israel, the beautiful land caught in the middle of battles.

Back and forth.

Depredations occurred, deaths occurred, destruction occurred, and it was all fought back and forth across the south and the north, Syria, what we call Syria today, and Egypt. Destruction ensued. Verse 15, we're going to take up 17 as we left off at verse 16.

I just want to remind ourselves of the context. So then the king of the north will come and cast up a siege ramp and capture a well-fortified city and the forces of the south will not stand their ground and even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength, not even their choicest troops, there will be no strength to take a stand.

So we're still looking at Antiochus 3. Harking back to 13, verse 13, this portion of the prophecy describes part of the return campaign that Antiochus waged against the south, against Egypt. A siege ramp was mounted up, was built to take the city of Sidon, and we looked at that last week on the map, known as Sidon, the Gulf there, or on the southern portion of the Mediterranean Sea.

This would have been Antiochus 3's first major thrust into Palestine in 203 BC. By 199 BC, he did hold most of Palestine, Antiochus 3 did. But in continuing, one of the generals of the armies of Egypt named Scopus drove him back, but in continuing seesaw fashion, Antiochus 3 came back and defeated Scopus at Penaeus and then at Sidon where Scopus had retreated to.

The first general of Egypt, Scopus, who was able to command, who was an able commander, was followed by three other especially picked generals. Remember, their names were Europus, Menacles, and Demonius.

Demoenius, I guess is how you would actually pronounce that, and none of them could stand their ground, it says in the scriptures, against the king of the north. All three generals attempted to retake Sidon, but they could not.

Verse 16, but he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him. He will also stay for a time in the beautiful land. Remember, the beautiful land is Israel, with destruction in his hand.

So he who comes against him, again, describes Antiochus 3. In his victory, he was able to do as he pleased, that is to impose his imperial will, yeah, he pulled the wool over their eyes, his imperial will on the Egyptians.

He spent time in Palestine, specifically Israel, and brought authority over all of Israel. The Hebrew word translated as destruction, remember we talked about, it actually means completion, and for a time, Antiochus had complete control of all of Palestine, of all that area.

He did not pillage Palestine at this time, though. If destruction is implied, it would be the destruction and implication of the authority that he held over the land of Palestine. His rule, his word would have been rule, would have been law, and the Jews, the Israelites at the time, would have had no freedom to practice their religion toward Yahweh, as they would have wished.

So this was the destruction that had come. With that, we'll launch into verse 17. He will set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace, this intrigue is interesting, which he will put into effect.

He will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it, but she will not take a stand for him or be on his side. This woman had a mind of her own. Antiochus proposed to gain control over all of Egypt.

Since he did not attack Egypt at this time, the idea here is that he had the power of controlling all the land just to the north of Egypt in other eastern territories and other eastern territories. This gave him a strong position to negotiate with Egypt.

They were on the border of Egypt. Egypt would be looking and seeing the missiles on the border, if you will. And so he knew, the Egyptians knew that their time might be up. At this time, Antiochus struck a treaty with Egypt, which would have been Ptolemy Five Epiphanies.

Look how they all take each other's manifestation of God.

Epiphany is a great one.

Antiochus, okay, now here's the first time you're going to hear the name that you've all heard for so many decades since you're, well, some of you for so many decades since you were in high school. So Antiochus gave his daughter Cleopatra.

How many of you have heard of Cleopatra? And I asked last week, did you know there were seven of them? And the one you've all heard about and I heard about was number seven. This is number one. Cleopatra to Ptolemy Five Epiphanies.

They constructed this bargain in 197 BC, but the marriage actually took place in 193 BC because Ptolemy was still only 10 years old. And they knew you probably ought not to get married at 10. So at 14, Ptolemy Five married Cleopatra One, who was the royal princess of Egypt.

One of the purposes of giving his daughter in marriage would be to have an insider in the Egyptian throne room and to begin to insert his own wishes into the policies of Egypt. Antiochus was preparing to war against Rome itself and would need Egypt as a staging area.

So we find out from historical records that exactly as this verse shows, Cleopatra One did not assist her father Antiochus Three. She rather became a proper wife to Ptolemy Five and supported him. History records that the Egyptians actually gave direct assistance to Rome against Antiochus.

This completely fulfills the phrase, this phrase which says, but she will not take a stand for him or be on his side. She was not on the side of Antiochus Three, her father. She took the side of her husband, Ptolemy.

And in that way, there was more resistance going on. So historically, again, it is remarkable. It's not remarkable to us, but it's got to be remarkable to people who hate the scriptures that this was fulfilled exactly as predicted.

Any questions or comments? Number 17, verse 18. Then he will turn his face to coastlands, to the coastlands and capture many. But a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him. Moreover, he will repay him for his scorn.

So let me see if this got put in the wrong place.

It's not happening. So technology strikes again. Okay, but whoa, right there, that's a good one. Yeah, we'll stay there. Okay, so the coastlands mentioned here are verified historically as being the Aegean area, which would be the Aegean Sea, the Greek area, Hellespont, all of those areas right there that you can see, or I guess the Aegean area right there.

In 197 BC, the year the treaty with Ptolemy V commenced, Antiochus III campaigned in this area, and he was successful for a time.

Find my way in the scripture.

He will capture many. He was successful for a time. He took the islands and the sea and much of Asia Minor and Greece, and in 196 BC, he subdued part of Thrace. At this point in 195, he was joined by the well-known enemy of Rome, Hannibal.

Hannibal from Carthage, and he, Carthage, Carthage, that shows you what I'm thinking of, from Carthage, and he was encouraged to invade Greece, and he established a stronghold at Thermopylae. So he was joined with the guy who had just defeated Hannibal, or just been defeated, I guess I should say, or hadn't yet been defeated, but he was a well-known enemy of Rome.

Let me put it that way, because that's how the scripture puts it. The commander spoken of here was a general, a Roman general named Lucius Cornelius Scipio, poor guy, the younger brother of Scipio Africanus, who had defeated Hannibal in 202 BC, at the Battle of Zama.

During a treaty conference in Lysimaca, Thrace, in Lysimaca, Thrace, Antiochus III, in a pompous and superior manner, made it very clear that he believed Rome had no business in Asia. We're not interested?

Here's what he said, Asia did not concern you, the Romans, and we are not subject to their orders. You are not subject, they are not subject to your orders. Asia does not concern you. This Roman general indeed repaid Antiochus III for his scorn, as the scripture says.

In 191 BC, Antiochus III was uprooted from Thermopylae, and driven out of Thrace, and then in the following year, defeated at Magnesia and Lydia of Asia Minor. A peace ensued in 188 BC, that he was forced to accept, and he had to abandon all of his conquered territory in Asia Minor to the Romans.

This truly repaid him for his scorn. The scripture was exactly accurate. That's the best way to repay someone for their scorn. I actually saw, and it's kind of related, a video of two MMA fighters, where in the press release, press time, one of them was just taunting the other, just pushing him, and pointing, and putting his fist in his face.

When the fight actually occurred, the other guy just beat him to a living pulp. So that's the kind of repayment that happened here. He had to withdraw, he lost. And he would have known that this was a repayment for his scorn.

Antiochus III’s Death and the Rise of Antiochus Epiphanes

Verse 19, and then I'll ask if there's any questions. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found. Following these significant defeats, Antiochus III returns to the cities of his land, and little is known of him after this.

He was murdered in 187 BC while he was on a tax-collecting exercise in Susa. No, this is not a diatribe against the IRS, but that's what happens sometimes to tax collectors, at least in 180 BC, in 187 BC.

So he was murdered on a tax-collecting mission. So verse 19, he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land. He was going to go to his own land and extract what he could, but he stumbled and fell and was no more found.

So any questions about 18 and 19? Understand that the reason I'm going into such detail is that this history is undergirding what is to come when Antiochus Epiphanes takes over. And Antiochus Epiphanes is the Antichrist type.

He's a type of the Antichrist. And it's all for our understanding. Nothing is different in 187 BC from 2023 AD. Or whenever it is. Now, I'm not predicting. I don't do that. Scripture says not to do that, and I'm going to obey that.

But sometime the Antichrist is going to come, and this information will be instructive to the people of God who are in that time for their understanding of how to propagate the gospel, if nothing else.

Heliodorus, Seleucus IV, and the Historical Background for Antiochus IV

Verse 20. Then in his place, one will arise who will send an oppressor through the jewel of his kingdom. What's the jewel of his kingdom? Israel. Yet within a few days, he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.

Specific prophecy. Antiochus III was succeeded by Seleucus IV Philopator, 187 to 176, who was his son. So Antiochus' son, Antiochus III's son was Seleucus IV. The son inherited a still fairly sizable kingdom, including Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and now what is called near Iran, Media and Persia for our purposes.

The word translated here as oppressor is the Hebrew word for, you guessed it, collector. Comes from the idea of one who drives or impels and then one who collects taxes. He had inherited a big kingdom, but a bankrupt kingdom.

With an annual payment required by the Romans of 1 ,000 talents. Today, that would be somewhere near two billion dollars. And just like today, back then, two billion dollars was a sizable chunk of money and difficult to come up with.

It would have kind of been unfathomable to a guy who is required to repay this to the upcoming power of the world. It is certain that the word oppressor, though singular here, does imply more than one tax collector.

For this amount would have required a lot of plundering. And the jewel of the empire was Palestine. The man that fits the bill for the oppressor named here, it was the prime minister under Seleucus and his name was Heliodorus.

2 Maccabees 3, again, good history, not scripture, relates the story of Heliodorus' attempt to seize the riches of the temple only to be thwarted by a divine apparition. Seleucus IV, philopator, ruled for 11 years and then died in 176 BC.

This is a much shorter time than the 37-year reign of his father and is aptly described as a few days. The description is apt. Heliodorus had sent Seleucus IV's son, Demetrius, to Rome as a hostage. We'll get back to that.

We'll come back to that. For Seleucus' kingship. So Rome allowed kingships, but you had to send a hostage so that if you did things that they didn't want, they would kill the hostage. And the hostage was this man's son.

Now, life was cheap back then, but we're going to assume that Seleucus loved his son, Demetrius. At any rate, it is unknown for certain how Seleucus IV died, but he was most likely murdered by Heliodorus.

That's a—what would you call that? It's just supposition. It's not in the Scripture. It's supposition, and it's not actually in history. We don't really know. Upon his murder, the first great personage of this entire section comes to the throne, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, from 175 to 164.

And this is the one that all of this history is giving us the context for, at least in this time period. Antiochus is known as the Little Horn of Chapter 8, and he is a type of the Antichrist. Because of that typology, the angel fleshed out this story of this king in far more detail for Daniel.

The Antichrist himself will be dealt for in verses 36 through 45. So the first seven Seleucid rulers were given front-row significance by the angel to prepare a basis for the coming of Antiochus Epiphanes IV.

Now, I'm going to drop the IV just for purposes of not saying more than I need to. But the Antiochus Epiphanes we're talking about now is the bad one from 164 B .C., the Maccabean Antiochus Epiphanes, who attempted to destroy Israel.

Leon Wood—so he was a—who was predictive of the Antichrist. Antiochus Epiphanes was predictive of the Antichrist. In his commentary, Leon Wood elaborates this way. He says, the reason for the detailed history just considered is really to give background for the presentation now of the eighth Seleucid prince, or eighth Seleucid ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes IV.

The first seven, as well as their Ptolemaic counterparts, were not of sufficient significance in themselves for mention, though their combined history has had the importance of showing the ravages of warfare that flowed back and forth over Palestine.

But the record given of them briefly stated has prepared for the introduction now of this one who is indeed of major significance. The matter to keep in mind, as the text described him, is that his life and activities are predictive of the life and activities of the Antichrist to come.

So for our purposes as students of Scripture, this is the most important aspect of Antiochus Epiphanes. Secondary, or primary, but secondary is the damage, the horror he brought to Israel at the time.

The Jews have been hated forever, and they're hated today. And this is how rulers will act towards Israel if they have the power to do so. And nothing has changed. Any questions about verse 20? Verse 21.

In his place, here we go, a despicable person will arise on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue. From the outset, Antiochus Epiphanes was characterized as one who should be despised.

He took the name Epiphanes, which means God manifest, and has the connotation of an illustrious or glorious one. His contemporaries considered him evil and even mad and nicknamed him Epimanes or Epimenes, which means madman.

Antiochus, the madman. That's what his contemporaries called him, even the people of his own kingdom. Now, I don't know if there were fact-checkers at the time, but I suspect they would have said something like, this is not entirely accurate.

Fact-checkers? And they would have covered that meme with a little opaque covering that says you need to read this information first. He was a madman. He was not crazy in the sense that he was bereft of his senses, but he did things that just were unusual even for the times.

In another remarkable display of divine accuracy several hundred years before it even happened, the angel predicts that this particular king would not inherit the kingdom, which was normal. But would rather take it by deception.

As mentioned in the last verse, following Seleucus IV's death, his son Demetrius, remember Demetrius, who had been sent to Rome as a hostage, should have inherited the throne. He should have been the one that took over the throne.

Demetrius was Antiochus IV's nephew. Have you ever seen the connections when you look at the people in power today? This wife is the manager of NBC and this husband is a part of the CDC and their nephew runs the same thing.

It's called nepotism and it's existed since time immemorial. At any rate, Seleucus IV, as mentioned in the last verse, following Seleucus IV's death, his son Demetrius had been sent to Rome as a hostage, should have inherited the throne.

Demetrius was Antiochus IV's nephew and the son of Seleucus Philopator, lover of father. There was another potential inheritor to the throne at the time also named Antiochus, who was a baby. An official named Andronicus murdered the baby and was subsequently put to death by Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV.

Antiochus Epiphanes was in Athens when his brother Seleucus was assassinated and he returned home and proclaimed himself king. Heliodorus had attempted to take the throne but it disappeared and was not heard from again.

That's what happens. Just when the original usurpers, including Heliodorus, thought they were secure, Antiochus IV came, or Antiochus Epiphanes came, and took the throne by deception, as the scripture says.

The intrigues were worthy of a book, unbelievable, and probably has been a book somewhere, maybe even a B-movie or a C-movie. Leon Wood details these details. Did I say that twice? I did. It is known that Antiochus accomplished his goal by first winning over the support of Eumanes, king of Pergamos, through flattery, and then doing the same with key figures in Syria itself, or the north, what we call the north, what they called the north.

There is reason to believe that he promised attractive gains for their assistance, and it is known that Rome, in an endeavor to keep balance of power in the east, actually helped Antiochus at the time.

They actually helped him. Keep that in mind for what comes later. Antiochus likely capitalized on Rome's help in making empty promises to those who gave the aid. This is normal for despicable people to make promises that they either can't or won't keep.

Once Antiochus had secured the throne, he began his campaigns against both Egypt and against Rome, even though Rome gave him aid. Verse 22, "...the overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant.".

So this is a reference to an attempt by Egypt to retake the north. The literal translation is, arms of the overflow shall be overflowed. In other words, the invading armies of Egypt, which flowed over the north, would themselves be overflowed by Antiochus, by Antiochus' army.

This is also, as one commentator mentions, a general reference to all of the armies that Antiochus repelled. In his commentary, John Walvoord mentions several of the armies that were swept away during this time period.

Here's what he said,. "...the forces that Antiochus overwhelmed include, in part, the troops of Heliodorus, whom Antiochus routed with the assistance of the Pergamonian allies, and in part the Egyptian forces, which sought to deprive him of Coelcyria soon after his ascension to the throne.

When Antiochus learned that the Egyptians were about to attack him, he invaded Egypt in 170 B .C. and defeated the Egyptians at the battle that occurred between Mount Cassius and Pelusium, an area on the southeast sea coast of the Mediterranean Sea, halfway between Gaza and the Nile Delta.".

So this is where that battle occurred. It is unknown for certain who the Prince of the Covenant was. There are two plausible candidates, and history records both of them as being destroyed by Antiochus.

The first is Ptolemy VI Philometer, lover of his mother, who was the king of Egypt at the time and had succeeded his father Ptolemy Epiphanes in 181. So the first guy that could have been the Prince of the Covenant is Ptolemy VI.

Since there was an agreement between Antiochus IV, or Antiochus Epiphanes, and the father of this Ptolemy, it would be appropriate to call him the Prince of the Covenant. The agreement was between Antiochus and the father, so this man, whom Antiochus destroyed, would be appropriate to be calling him the Prince of the Covenant.

A second candidate, and in my mind, just my mind only probably, a less likely candidate, and I'll explain why, whom Antiochus had obliterated was the Jewish high priest, Annius III, whom Antiochus IV killed in 171 BC.

Antiochus IV was assisted in killing this priest by the priest's own brother, Menelaus. Either of these two men would satisfy this particular phrase in God's Word, but because the preponderance of this history deals with kings killing kings killing kings killing kings, it is my personal opinion that it is most likely referring to Ptolemy VI.

That's my opinion. It's not referring to the Jewish high priest. It's referring to Ptolemy VI. Any questions? I know this is a lot of history. And it's intriguing. But what it will do is it will give us a basis for understanding what comes later.

And for what happens in the time of the Antichrist, these kinds of things are going to be happening. Promises made and unkept. Destruction.

Alliances.

Allying with people and then killing those people. Unbelievable depredations. And they will be even worse than what Antiochus did. Verse 23. After an alliance is made with him, he will practice deception.

And he will go up and gain power with a small force of people. So contextually, since this section is dealing with Egypt, this alliance is most certainly with that nation. There is no formal alliance known from history.

So this would have been an informal alliance. Antiochus Epiphany's sister, Cleopatra I, was still in power in Egypt. And thus, a friendly relationship with that nation would have been normal. Antiochus entered this relationship for purely selfish reasons.

He sided with Ptolemy VI against Ptolemy VI's rival. Ptolemy Eurgates, his rival was Ptolemy Eurgates so that he could consolidate his power in Egypt. That's the only reason he went into this alliance.

And again, commentator Leon Wood explains this. He said, deceit is now predicted on Antiochus's part in relation to Egypt. Remember, it's predicted and it happened. History shows that he offered friendship at first, as just noted, but then he later withdrew it when he became strong.

Antiochus's father, Antiochus the Great, had promised the two states, Syria and Palestine, to Egypt as a dowry with Cleopatra on her marriage to Ptolemy Epiphanes. It may be assumed that Antiochus reiterated the promise on his first coming to the throne.

We can assume that in order to foster the friendship he then needed. It is known that he rescinded this promise in 170 BC. However, five years after coming to power, by marching through both areas, asserting the control of Syria over them and making the attack on Egypt set forth in verse 25, which we will see later.

So he continued the promise. She's a dowry. Here are the lands that are part of her dowry. And then later he reneged on it. If the prince of Oregon will marry the prince of Montana, I'll give you Washington.

Who would want Washington?

But, you know, maybe they could dethrone Jay.

Who knows?

So, despite the smaller size of the northern kingdom, as compared with the rising kingdoms of his day, Antiochus did gain power vis-à-vis the nations around him. So his deception with the nations around him brought him some more power.

Antiochus' Plunder, Patronage, and Attack on Egypt

Verse 24. In a time of tranquility. Yes, Rick. She ruled the kingdom. It was effectively, by default, ruled by her when he was young. But once he got older, he began to come into his own until the thing of all kings happens.

Yeah, so.

In a time of tranquility, he will enter the richest parts of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors. He will distribute plunder, booty, and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.

So Antiochus' modus operandi in matters of war was attack without warning, attack without warning, attack without warning. This was the sense of the idea in a time of tranquility. When it seemed peaceful, his enemies would have been off their guard and thus very susceptible.

And at that point, Antiochus would attack. He did this for the most part on the richest parts of his kingdom, looking for the most plunder that he could grab in the least amount of time with the least resistance.

Unlike his father who plundered his kingdom for his personal benefit and pleasure, Antiochus seems to have done so to distribute the riches to the poor parts of the country. Thus buying their favor. This is known as welfare.

A form of welfare, pardon me, Robin Hood, yeah, I suppose. At any rate, he would plunder his richer parts, give it to the poorer parts. This is the violent way of taxation. It is also likely that he distributed some of his plunder to his political friends, shoring up their support.