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Our next task is to work ourselves through 11:17-39 and find fulfilments of what is described in these verses in the history of the Roman power. We will consult those who have made a special study of it and use their findings. Our main source will be again McCready Price but others will be quoted as well. Price is the only one who deals with it verse by verse which is easier to follow.

Daniel 11:17-22
The "he” and the "his” in the beginning of this verse refers to 11:16, the Romans. In what follows we have a description of the development and further establishment of the Roman Empire which took possession of all the territories of the former fourfold divided Grecian Empire. Various commentators do agree that in 11:17-19 we have a description of the victories of Caesar and his successful career in the many lands around the Mediterranean like N.Africa and the other side even into Spain. The British Isles also came under Roman rule.  It is stated that Caesar fought and won fifty battles, took one thousand cities, and slain one million one hundred ninety two thousand men. (Price page 289 and quoting from Uriah Smith)

He is the one who issued that famous statement "Veni, vidi ,vice”  I came, I saw , I conquered. We read in 11:19 that he returns to his own fortress, Rome and there he found his own opponents and was assassinated by a dagger through the hands of Cassius Brutus, which happened in the year 44BC not far from the birth date of Jesus Christ. Those who are interested in reading all this in detail should get Dr.Shea’s book on Daniel or the book "God Cares” vol.I by Dr.Mervyn Maxwell, still available from Adventist Book Centres.

Caesar had no successors from his own family. A period of civil strife followed from which Augustus (Octavius) stood up as the sole ruler in the empire. He is the one who
established the Roman tax system throughout the empire as is described in 11:20
"an exactor to pass through” . Some translations say it clearly "a raiser of taxes” or a "tax collector”. In the New Testament we are reminded of this event in Luke 2:1 where Joseph with Mary had to go to Bethlehem to be registered for tax reasons, and at the same time fulfilling Micah 5:2 that Christ the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

Daniel 11:20 ends saying that the one who would stand up would come to his end neither in anger nor in battle. Augustus died in AD14 peacefully in his bed, age seventy six. (Price p.291). Against the will of Augustus, Tiberius got on the throne in Rome. Daniel 11:21 describes Tiberius as a vile person. The honour of the Kingdom was not given to him, but he got it after the death of Augustus. The one nominated by Augustus was Agrippa, a highly respected man, but he died before the death of Augustus, and so Tiberius got to wear the purple of Rome. (Price p.291)

Tiberius was successful in his warfare. The text reads that the opposing forces "shall be broken” or NASB version: "forces will be flooded away before him and scattered”. In the KJV it reads further "Yea also the Prince of the covenant”. No doubt this refers to the death of Christ. We have discussed this by Daniel 9:25-27 and it did occur under the reign of Tiberius in AD31. Christ’s death took place in Palestine under Pilate and confirmed by historian Flavius Josephus, page 480 and by the Roman historian Tacitus.

Daniel 11:23-39
This section of Daniel can be divided in two parts. The last part of Daniel 11:22 took us to the death of Christ in AD31 The Prince of the covenant be broken”. From that point we go to 11:31 where we are informed about Papal Rome activities similar to what we have learned from Daniel 8:11, 12 which historically can be reckoned as have taken place in the time betweenAD476-AD538. AD 476 the terminal year of the secular phase of the Roman Empire and AD538 the commencement of the ecclesiastical phase of the Roman Empire. The next or second part of 11:23-39 according to the text 11:32-39 runs from 538-1798 which takes us into the time of the end where in 1798 Papal Rome received its deadly wound through the activities of the French Revolution. We will not give a verse by verse commentary but will provide a summary from commentators we have consulted to get us through these verses of Daniel 11. The newly (2010) Andrews University Study Bible has the following footnote by this passage of scripture:” This lengthy  passage about the vile and  blasphemous ruler matches the description of the character and activities of the little horn found in chapters 7 and 8 of Daniel. The vile person is not explicitly called the king of the North in this part of chapter 11”.

The last time we met king of the North in Daniel eleven was in 11:15 and the next time will be in 11:40. We treat all in between as a graphic description of the Roman Empire in its two phases Pagan Rome followed by Papal Rome. This matches Daniel 8 where the two phases of Rome are symbolised by the little horn and described in four verses 8:9-12, but very little detail is given. In Daniel 11:15-45 we have thirty verses dealing with the same time span in history. Daniel 11:15-19 the establishment of Pagan Rome which started with the decisive battle of Pydna in 168BC. Then we have 11:20-30 the running of Pagan Roman Empire with Augustus the raiser of taxes consolidating the empire. See notes by 11:20. But by verse 30 pagan Rome ends and Papal Rome activities is taking over in 11:31. The Papal Roman phase runs till 11:40 when an attack takes place from the king of the South against the king of the North. By that time it should be clear who the king of the North is and if that is clear it will not be difficult to identify the king of the South who launched the attack.

Daniel 11:40-45 deals with last day or time of the end activities of the king of the North which is the revived Papal Roman power or the healing of the deadly wound as stated in Rev.13:3.. We like to refer the reader to the special detailed study of 11:40-45 in this same section of Daniel studies.

However we like in advance of this point say something about the King of the North as mentioned in 11:40. In the past and may be still some today, held that the King of the North in 11:40 was Turkey the seat of the Ottoman Empire. In my reading I have found very little substantial ground for that view, except for the fact that geographically it can be held that Turkey is north of Jerusalem in Palestine It is purely based on a literal interpretation of this part of Daniel’s prophecy. We have pointed out here before that from AD31 the death of Christ the literal must be dealt with spiritual and the local geographical as global universal. That solves all problems and brings it in harmony with the New Testament view of Biblical Israel.

Those who hold that Daniel 11:36-39 deals with France and its French revolution also have a problem to solve. France was an eminent son of the Papacy and if the king of the South is France then we must conclude that France attacked itself. We will see later and the special study of 11:40-45 makes it clear that the French Revolution represents a new system attacking the Church of Rome and inflicting a deadly wound which would last at least till the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. France as a nation was not responsible but the atheistic, God ignoring system is responsible which was carried forward by the communistic manifesto of Marx/Lenin and clearly described in Revelation 11:7, 8 as spiritual Egypt launching attacks against God and His Word. What was before AD 31 literal Israel with a literal geographical territory and a literal city Jerusalem and a literal temple or sanctuary; all has become spiritual or transferred to heaven. We still have a literal Israel people but universal on earth and with a heavenly city New Jerusalem capital of its heavenly land Canaan and a heavenly sanctuary with its High Priest Jesus Christ Himself, and not a human is God’s high Priest on earth
Read Hebr; 8:1-3 and 12:22.Not heirs of a part of the world but heirs of the whole world, Rom.4:12-16 and now those who are of Christ are Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promise, Gal.3:13, 14, 29 The reader of this is also directed to Revelation studies part III and part V. in the Revelation section of this website. And read in the doctrinal section "Israel in the Scriptures”.

After this lengthy interlude we turn back where we left of, Daniel 11:23. From 11:22 we learned that the "Prince of the Covenant be broken”, which took place in AD31. Then in 11:23 we learned more about Rome’s development and also decline of the empire. Briefly we follow McCready Price who took much from Dr.Ed.Thiele who has given quite some detail information about Pagan Rome and its development in history. We also have taken information from others like Dr.Shea. History tells how many leagues and treatises Pagan Rome made to establish its power and often in a deceitful manner. In history and in the present time treatises are often not worth more than the paper upon which it is written, and those who sign them, it seems they do not take their signature serious.

Daniel 11:25
In this verse we have a description of a large army explained by the historians as a naval forces going to battle. Price writes it was the battle of Actium, September 2, 31BC between Rome and Egypt and Egypt being the looser. (Price 296)

Daniel 11:26
History reveals that part of the Roman army left in Egypt revolted against Rome which had to be dealt with at the loss of many lives.

Daniel 11:27
We conclude from historical sources and using different translations that different government officials were involved in Roman administration, even brothers in law and deceiving each others by lies. Even Egyptian officials were involved. But eventually the Roman administrators gained the upper hand and returned home.

Daniel 11:28
After the problem mentioned in 11:27 and which was resolved in favour of Rome they turned to the people of the covenant, the Jews. It can mean there was an outright revolt by the Jews against the Romans. Rome was not very happy with the Jews which may have caused Christians to turn away from the Sabbath and accept the Roman first day Sunday worship.  They did not like to be associated with the Jews because of Seventh-day Sabbath keeping. History reveals that there have been several Roman activities of persecution against the Christians especially under Diocletianus
in the fourth century This may be included in the statement "his heart shall be against the holy covenant”. As mentioned before the Christian church of the New Testament is now Israel and as such qualifies to be called the people of the holy covenant, in this verse as well.

Daniel 11:29, 30
In this verse we seem to have a double play. First the ships of Kittim which is commonly understood as naval forces from Cyprus. It is known in history that the Roman Empire was attacked by Vandals making inroads in its territory and eventually with other Eastern tribes causing its decline and downfall in the end, AD476.The text also mention another action against the people of the covenant, Christians. At the same time we find in history a gradual departure from the Holy Covenant by unfaithful Christians under leadership of the bishop of Rome who showed interest in secular power. The emperor of Rome makes a deal with the bishop and transfers the seat of the Roman Empire to Constantinople in Turkey, and leaving the city of Rome in the hands of the bishop and there the second phase of the Roman Empire commenced as the Papal Roman phase.

Daniel 11:31
Papal Rome fortifies itself with military forces and starts its activities which are known as the dark ages of history. We have reached AD538 or the beginning of the 1260 prophetic period of Papal Rome Supremacy. The Church of Rome now enforces upon the people its apostate style of worship, called in Daniel 8:12 a worship in transgression of true Biblical worship. Pagan Rome is now fully replaced by Papal Rome. In Daniel 11:32-39 we are dealing with this period and getting more information regarding what took place in that time of history which was terminated by the French revolution in 1798 and the imprisonment by French armies of the ruling pope in that year.

Daniel 11:32
From this verse onward we have further prophetic information about the activities of Papal Rome in addition to what we have been told in 11:31. In that verse we are told that it would act against the sanctuary and trample upon the truths of God’s Word as in 8:11-13. All these activities would take place by flatteries, smooth deceiving words and misleading. The Christian world would be openly led astray into a deeper experience of apostasy known in history as the dark ages. The same as later was written about by the apostle Paul in 2Thess.2:3, 4 with great display of pomp and pride almost acting as God on earth. Some Popes of the dark ages did call themselves God on earth. But as there were still faithful ones in the days of Elijah, the 7000 who had not bowed their knee before Baal, so the text says there would  still be people "who know their God be strong and do exploits.”

Daniel 11:33
The true and faithful ones would be persecuted for many days. No doubt this refers to the lengthy time of the prophetic 1260 year period of Papal supremacy. Many great truthful Bible teachers and Bible believing people have perished as martyrs by the sword and by the flame on the stake. We think about the early Albigenses and later the Waldenses followed by the early and later reformers.

Daniel 11:34
In their fall, persecution, they would receive some help. This makes connection with what we later read in Revelation 12:16 that the earth would come to the rescue of the woman. (Study Revelation Part IV in the Revelation section). In the seventeenth century, in 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers sought refuge in the newly discovered lands of the Americas.
However not all who migrated to the Americas were honest people some did by flatteries or as the NASB reads they were hypocrites, joining them in hypocrisy.
Also not all people who joined the reformation were honest true Bible believing people. Many joined for alternative reasons and caused lots of trouble and unnecessary bloodshed. The same as a mixed group of people from Egypt joined with Israel in the Exodus from Egypt, Ex.12:38

Daniel 11:35
This verse seems to indicate that those who did fall by way of persecution as described in 11:33, 34 and 12:10, it would be for them a spiritual process of refining and purification. Paul wrote later in Rom.5:3-5 that tribulations have a refining character or act in spiritual development. It would make their clothes white as we read about in Rev.7:14 about the ones coming out of great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, Rev.12:11. All of them have been given white robes, Rev.6:11. Papal suppression could not stop their faithfulness rather it made them stronger and many more joined the reformation.

Daniel 11:36-39
Here we have a further graphic description about the king, Papal Rome:
a. Shall do according to his will, operating independently away from God and
His Word.
b. Shall exalt himself as later described by Paul in 2 Thess.2:3, 4
c. Magnify himself similar to what we have read in Daniel 8:11 about the little
horn taking the title vicar of Christ on earth and thus qualifying of being
the Anti-Christ, falsely acting in place of Christ while hypocritically giving
the impression of being in favour of Christ
d. Speaking against the God of gods, against the Creator of heaven and earth.
Medieval Popes called themselves God on earth, God’s High Priest on earth,
and priests were given the power to call Christ down from heaven to be
sacrificed again on the altar in the church  See Joshua 22:22 about God of gods.
e. He shall prosper. For 1260 years it looked like this would continue for ever
unopposed. But a time was set in prophecy where it would come to an end
as determined. That time was the end of the 1260 year period in 1798 and
as we will notice when we reach 11:40
f. 11:37. The king would have no regard for the God of their fathers. Bible
religion was completely set aside, the Bible was indexed as a forbidden book ,
and in its place Papal decrees and traditions. Roman customs were transferred
and given Christian meanings. Seventh-day Sabbath keeping replaced by first-
day Sunday keeping. Roman feast days like Christmas and others were
introduced and given a Christian flavour.
g. It is the desire of women to bear children but this was set aside for the Papal
clergy and celibacy was introduced and for those making a vow to serve the
church in one or another capacity which is even practiced today in the 21st
century.
h. 11:38 Again about self-exaltation. Because it is repeated it seems to be the
most serious offence against God. Even today itinerating Popes are honoured
and revered almost as being divine.
i. Then it speaks about a god being introduced and honoured with gold and
silver and precious things. It is not difficult to refer this to the medieval
veneration of saints and even not in the least Mary veneration. She is elevated
to be co-mediatrix having a part in the salvation of people and declared
having been bodily ascended into the heavens like Jesus Christ.
j. Then a god whom his father knew not. We have mentioned Mary under "i”.
She is even called the queen of heaven and worshiped and prayed to in the
Church of Rome. Countries, Continents and the whole world have been
dedicated to Mary by Papal decree. Regarding the god of forces, the KJV
margin uses the word "Mauzzim” which means "protectors”.Saints all through
the Papal system have been appointed as protectors of places in divers
manners.   The EU flag, blue field with 12 stars is the Mary flag and under
that flag the European nations are at present marching and operating.
k.11:39.The strange god mentioned is most likely the same as we have discussed
under 11:38. The late Pope John Paul II was totally and completely dedicated
to Mary and openly told the world, making the world moving under Mary. The
last part talks about "dividing the land for gain” .The seat of the Church of
Rome the Vatican is also a mini-state and as such the Vatican is involved in the
political and financial affairs of the world even in this day of the 21st century.

Daniel 11:40-45
As explained before the king of the north has been gradually transformed from a Secular Pagan Roman Empire into an Ecclesiastical Papal Roman Empire thus we accept that the mentioning of the King of The north here in 11:40 refers to the Papal Roman System, as discussed in the previous verses. The king of the South was literal Egypt before Calvary but also has made a transformation as the King of The North has, and as we have learned from Revelation 11:7, 8.
Daniel 11:40 starts with at the time of the end which is, as we have mentioned here before, the late 18th century or precisely the year 1798 when the King of the North, Papal Rome came under severe attack of France by way of the French revolution.

It appears that we have a repeat of what happened as described in 11:25., of which McCready Price writes that Antony of Egypt waged war against Octavius his brother in law.(Octavius became later Augustus) Octavius was more skilful than Antony and Antony lost the war. Octavius was left as the undisputed master of the Roman world.
(See Price page 296/7)

In Medieval times before 1798, France was an eminent son of Papal Rome and a strong supporter of the Papacy. So there was close relationship between the two, as between Antony and Octavius. However the French revolution an atheistic uprising in France against the Papal system inflicted a deadly wound, see Rev.13:3. The world thought that the papacy was completely dead and terminated for ever. The ruling Pope was imprisoned and died in prison. But the wound would start to heal. A year later a new pope was elected and in 1870 declared to be infallible under certain circumstances of issued Papal decrees. In 1929 Mussolini returned to the Papacy certain pieces of real estate and thus creating the mini-state Vatican within the city of Rome. The Pope now is not only being head of the Church of Rome but also King of a sovereign state. In that position it can send and accept ambassadors to and from the nations of the world. Most nations of the world have ambassadorial relationship with the Vatican even socalled protestant USA. In 2009 Russia also established full unlimited ambassadorial relationship with the Vatican.

However the attack against the papal system started in 1798 did not finish with the end of the French revolution. The teachings of the French revolution were put in the Marx/Lenin manifesto and used in the Russian revolution of 1917 and was even spread around the world, east and West. This inflicted also much harm and pain to the Papal system including Eastern Orthodox Churches 11:40 reads that the King of the North, Papacy would turn around and make a counter attack like a whirlwind. To offset the Atheist attack of the French revolution and its aftermath in the Russian revolution which created the atheistic Soviet Union what did happen? This whirlwind counter attack by the King of the North, the papal power took place in the late eighties of the 20th century and brought down the total system of the atheistic Soviet Union. The holy alliance between the USA and the Vatican fulfilled this whirlwind counter attack and placed the Papal System again in the forefront of the present world among its nations.

This modern re-development of the Papal power in the world is in process before our very eyes and will in the end complete the healing of the deadly would and the world wondering after "the beast”, Revelation 13:3. For more detail regarding 11:40-45 the reader is referred to the special study of these verses and to study Revelation 17 in the Revelation section.

The final statement is filled with sure hope that the world will not return into a long period of the medieval system as in the past. It may look like for some time, but the last sentence of 11:45 reads "he shall come to en end and none shall help him”. That will be the end of all things of this sin sick and suffering world. Christ will stand and declare His rulership on planet earth, Revelation 11:15. The oft prayed prayer called The Lord’s Prayer” in which we pray "Thy Kingdom come”, will then be fulfilled.
The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan will have come to an end. Satan defeated at Calvary will now see his kingdom being crushed and Christ’s Kingdom of Glory taking its place on earth.
Are you preparing to be a citizen of that Kingdom? Accept Jesus today as your personal Saviour who died in your place on the cross of Calvary and make Him the Lord of your life.

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