Daniel's Last and Greatest Vision (Part 4)

We've been talking about Daniel's last and greatest vision, prophetic vision.

! I said early on at the outset that I call it his greatest vision because of who he was privileged to meet.

It was the Lord of Glory himself. He had a vision of him there. He touched him, encouraged him, prepared him.

So that's what we've looked at for the last several weeks, the supernatural preparation of Daniel. So we've not really even gotten into the vision itself, but tonight we shall.

Although we're not going to get it all tonight, it's quite detailed, quite extensive. And so we're going to be looking then tonight at Daniel's spectacular vision.

That's a spectacular word, spectacular vision. So Daniel's supernatural preparation and now Daniel's spectacular vision. So starting with chapter 11 and verse 2, we have revealed to us pure prophecy.

Now, you know, all prophecy that comes out of Scripture is pure. In fact, the only prophecy that is real and true is out of God's word. But this, especially when we start getting into it, this is pure prophecy.

Daniel is given a vision of things that have not yet happened to him or not yet occurred.

In fact, a vision of things that some of it's not even occurred yet, hasn't happened yet. And so this is pure prophecy.

And Daniel's last and greatest vision, all future for him, all of it was future for him. Now, for us today, though, the events prophesied in chapter 11, verses 2 to 35 are now recorded in the history books.

All right. So all the way to the end of verse 35 of chapter 11. That's not the whole prophecy or the vision. But this is the first main part of it.

And these things are all future for Daniel, but they've all occurred for us. These are done. They're in the history books. And I didn't put this in your notes.

You can write this in if you'd like to. But these verses through verse 35 really deal with the historical people and events that occurred during what's called the intertestamental period.

The intertestamental period, which means really, I guess we would define it this way, the 400 years. You've heard this before.

The 400 years of silence between the Old and the New Testament. Now, when I say silence, we're referring to God's silence.

Okay. God's silence. So what we're talking about here, 400 years of prophetic silence. That is 400 years with no divine revelation from God.

That's what we have between the Old and the New Testament. 400 years. And yet, really, that's not quite or technically not quite accurate because, well, it's accurate in that we don't have any prophecy.

No word from God during this period. But we do have in Scripture prophecy dealing with that period of time. And that's what we have here in these verses from verse 2 up to verse 35.

By the way, who broke the 400 year silence? John the Baptist did. John the Baptist did. And Jesus said in Luke 7, 28, So John the Baptist was a prophet.

We often refer to him as the last of the Old Testament prophets. No greater prophet than John the Baptist. That's what Jesus said. Jesus never lies. So we know it's true.

Now, starting then with verse 36. All right. So I've said up through verse 35. It's all future for Daniel, but it's all in the history books as far as we're concerned.

But starting with verse 36 of chapter 11, the events prophesied are still future for us today. Still future. So the prophetic history is continuous in this vision.

It's continuous right down to the days of Antiochus the fourth epiphanies. And we'll not even quite get to him tonight. But it's prophetic history.

Continuous. Goes all the way to Antiochus the fourth. But then, between verse 35 and 36, in verse 36, we literally leap over the ages to a time, the time of Antichrist.

Antichrist, the one, by the way, for whom Antiochus Epiphanes was a type. All right. So Antiochus Epiphanes, a type of the Antichrist.

So remember that as we work our way through this. So that said, we can divide the prophetic vision in three parts. We'll just kind of get into the first part tonight.

But I'll go ahead and give you the three parts right now. We have, first of all, the coming of Antiochus. That's what we'll start to look at tonight. Chapter 11, verses 2 through 35.

So the coming of Antiochus. Then the second part of the vision is the coming of Antichrist. The coming of Antichrist. And that'll start in verse 36 of chapter 11 and go to the end of the chapter, verse 45.

And then third and finally, when we get to it, more than just this, but we have the coming of the Christ. We have the coming of Christ, chapter 12, verses 1 to 3.

And that'll complete the vision. All right. So let's look then tonight, starting to look at it tonight, the coming of Antiochus, chapter 11, verses 2 through 35.

All right. So the foretelling of the coming of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. I'm going to say that so many times you'll have this memorized. Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

All right. He's Antiochus IV. So you know there were some Antiochuses before him. Okay. And we'll see a few of them here tonight. In fact, we'll go all the way up to Antiochus III, who's considered Antiochus the Great.

And I'll explain why that is a little bit later. All right. So Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Say that with me. Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Very good.

It has kind of a rhythm to it. When you put a little rhythm to it, you get it down. All right. So the foretelling of the coming of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. That's the goal of this section.

It's progressive. This prophecy is progressive in nature. And it's going to start with Daniel, where Daniel is at the time he receives the prophecy. And the historical reality when Daniel received the vision.

Then it's going to take us. The vision will take us all the way up to Antiochus IV Epiphanes. And so it begins with, number one, prophecies concerning Persia.

All right. So when Daniel is alive, Daniel's alive as he's receiving this vision. Who's the world power of the day? Persian. Or the Medo-Persian Empire.

All right. Verse 2 says, And now I will tell you the truth. This is Gabriel speaking. I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia.

And the fourth shall be far richer than them all. By his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.

All right. So that's how the vision begins. Now, who were these four kings? Well, I've given them to you here. Actually, counting Cyrus, there are five.

But the prophecy is talking about four more that will come after Cyrus. All right. So Cyrus, he's the king of Persia at the time when Daniel receives this vision.

And chapter 10, verse 1. This chapter 10, verse 1 is the beginning. It's part of the preparation. We're leading up to the vision.

So in chapter 10, verse 1, it says very clearly, In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia. So Cyrus is king of Persia when Daniel receives the vision. And the prophecy speaks of four more kings, four more kings after Cyrus.

Historically, this would be, and we're not guessing about this, this is all a matter of historical record. Even though these names are not mentioned here, well, Xerxes is mentioned in the Bible.

Darius, but this is a different Darius than the one we normally think of in Scripture. But here are the four kings. And I just gave that for your own information.

All right. Now, Xerxes, he kind of separates Xerxes from the other three and says something about him. And clearly we know that the fourth king is Xerxes because of the description here that's given.

What did Gabriel say? He said that the fourth shall be far richer than them all. And by his strength, he could be a very strong king.

By his strength, through his riches, great wealth. Now, you know, when it says great wealth or riches in connection with the king, it means he had plenty of money to use to go out and conquer lands.

It takes money to operate an army. All right. So he had great strength, great riches. He shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.

So he's going to be very active in his conquests against Greece. Now, Greece has not yet come to its greatness.

It'll be the next kingdom, of course. That will be the superpower of the world after the Medo-Persians are out of the way. But the prophecy is just dealing with kind of the beginnings of that, the groundwork that's laid for that.

Now, I want you to know that there were more than just four or five kings of Persia. There were others that came after Xerxes.

Not too many, but some. And so you might be thinking, well, why doesn't the Bible mention them? Well, the point is that they're not mentioned in the prophecy primarily because their individual reigns were not really important.

They weren't important in any connection with the rise of the Grecian Empire under Alexander, who's mentioned next in the vision.

All right. So all the prophecy is giving us are the important ones. Actually, the important one is Xerxes. All right. So the prophecy mentions three more kings.

All right. So Daniel knows that after Cyrus is out of the way, then there will be three more kings. And it doesn't say anything about them. They're just mentioned because they come before the all-important one, Xerxes.

And he will be the one who will stir up the Grecians against the Medo-Persian Empire. And that's what we're to understand in the latter part of verse two.

Xerxes was the Persian king who launched a massive military campaign against Greece. So that's what we have in verse two. By his strength through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.

So that's why he's mentioned here, because he's going to bring this about. And what Xerxes does, that's what will eventually lead Alexander the Great to counterattack the land of Persia, the Medo-Persian Empire, which is what we have in the very next verse.

So that leads us to number two, prophecies concerning Greece. All right. This vision, the prophetic vision, is just kind of a detail of history.

Though what makes it unique is it's history that hadn't yet happened, at least from Daniel's viewpoint. So that's what we'll get into tonight.

We're just going to take it step by step and see the prophecy as it unfolds historically, or has already unfolded. All right. So prophecies concerning Greece, verse three says, then a mighty king shall arise who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will.

Now, the mighty king is Alexander the Great. It could be no other. Alexander the Great, even the description fits him to a T.

Right? And he's the first ruler of the Greek Empire. 336, 323, he gave me the dates there.

Now, Alexander then attacked the Medo-Persians, Medo-Persian Empire, in 334 B.C. And he conquered them in 331 B.C.

Eventually, he conquered much of the known world. Right? We know this about Alexander. And that's the meaning behind these words, rule with great dominion.

So we're not just talking about his victory and conquering Medo-Persian, the superpower of the great empire of the day, but also much of the known world.

In fact, you might even argue all of the known world, the civilized world, came under the rule of Alexander the Great. So that's the meaning behind this. Great dominion. And do according to his will.

I mean, you have to be in charge of everything in order to do your own will. That's the meaning behind these phrases. Now, Alexander died, of course, in the city of Babylon.

And we kind of talked about this when we were looking at, I think, chapter 8. But he died in Babylon in verse 4, though it doesn't seem to say this, but this is the idea.

And when he has arisen, that is, or shall stand up, is literally what the word means. And it's just an expression that means after Alexander the Great, after him.

And so after Alexander's death, and you might remember this because I covered this also earlier in Daniel. After his death, his empire was divided into four parts.

And these four parts were ruled by his military commanders, his captains, his generals. Verse 4, the latter part of verse 4.

For his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of the heaven. That is, you know, the idea is his kingdom, his dominion was so huge. All of the, pretty much the known world of the day.

And so, it was in all directions. The four winds of the heavens. And so, that vast domain was split up into four parts. Four parts.

Now, neither of his two sons, Alexander the Fourth and Heracles, another one of his sons, neither of them succeeded his father as rulers.

We know that historically. Because they were both murdered. This matter of historical record. They were murdered. And that's what the prophecy, the prophecy doesn't say they were murdered.

But in verse 4, but not among his posterity. So, he divided up his kingdom among the four winds of the heavens. But he didn't divide it up among his posterity, his sons.

And we know from history that this prophecy became true. His sons were murdered. They never did rule. Now, in terms of its greatness and power, talking about the Greek Empire.

In terms of its greatness and power, the division of Alexander's kingdom marked the beginning and the end of the Greek Empire. And that's what verse 4, the very last part of verse 4, is talking about.

Nor, according to his dominion with which he ruled. That is, he was divided four winds of the heavens. But, it was not divided in this way, according to the dominion with which he ruled.

It means it never did reach the greatness that it had reached under the rule of Alexander the Great. For his kingdom shall be uprooted even for others besides these.

So, it's the beginning of the end of the Greek Empire. This is prophesied. Now, a lot of other details that could have been included in the prophecy about not only the Persian Empire, but also the Greek Empire.

But, remember, the goal of the prophecy, or at least we could say the first goal of it, first stage of a two-stage goal, is to get to Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

So, the prophecy is laying the groundwork for the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes, a very important character in the history of Israel. Also important in the overall history, redemptive history, because he's a type of the Antichrist.

So, we don't have all the details of everything, and it's not the intent of God to prophesy every little thing that's going to happen.

But, kind of hitting the high spots and leading us along, so we can understand how Antiochus IV Epiphanes came to power. Now, that leads us then to number three, prophecies concerning Egypt and Syria, verses 5 through 20.

Now, when we say Egypt and Syria, we're still talking about the Greek Empire. This part of the prophecy pertains to the conflicts that will take place, and did take place, between two of the most powerful divisions of the Greek Empire.

The largest and most powerful divisions. And I've named them for you there, even giving you a little bit of a map there, kind of let you know where these empires, the territory of these empires or kingdoms.

But the Ptolemaic kingdom, which was Egypt, the area of Egypt, you see that in green. Ptolemy was their first king.

And then the Seleucid kingdom, which is in yellow there, you see that on that little map. Or what was called then Syria.

Syria, Syria. Okay, so these are two of the four divisions. But these two were the most powerful, greatest of the four, and they warred against one another.

There were conflicts between them. All right, so here are some of the historical details. The king of the south, there in verse 5, king of the south, who shall become strong, is Ptolemy I.

Ptolemy I. Ptolemy I was one of the four generals under Alexander the Great. Remember, the kingdom was divided among his four generals. Ptolemy I was one of them.

And he ruled a fourth part of the Greek empire. Verse 8 identifies this land, his land, to be Egypt. Okay, so sometimes the Ptolemaic empire is referred to as Egypt.

And scripture identifies that. Number two, one of the princes, verse 5, is a reference to Seleucus.

Seleucus I. Now, Seleucus I was not one of the four generals. He was a lesser general under Alexander.

And he was given what really would be like a governorship. Governorship over Babylon.

Babylonia. That region that was once the Babylonian empire, a part of it anyway. That area where Babylon, the city of Babylon is.

And so he was kind of a governor over that region. And a power struggle with another general, a lesser general, Antigonus.

Antigonus. Forced Seleucus to flee, flee Babylonia. And he fled to Ptolemy in Egypt.

All right? Or the, you know, Ptolemy was one of, Ptolemy the first. He fled to him to seek protection, refuge there, where he became one of his princes, just like the prophecy says.

Became one of his captains. Really be a better word for it. All right, now, after Antigonus was defeated, Seleucus returned to Babylonia, where he increased his power, territory.

In fact, took in Babylonia as well as part of Syria, kind of the, the, the western edge of Syria, and media.

Becoming, really the, the large, we're really not part of Syria, all of Syria, became the largest of all the divisions of the Greek Empire. First, verse five, and he, Seleucus, that's Seleucus the first, shall gain power over him, Ptolemy the first, and have dominion.

So he became a more powerful ruler than even Ptolemy. All right, so, and his territory became much larger as well. And that's what verse five is, B is telling us.

Now, eventually, this is just kind of the rundown on the history connected to the prophecy, the fulfilled prophecy. Eventually, the Ptolemaic and the Seleucid kingdoms will form an alliance.

So they got tired of having conflict with one another. They finally decided, whoever initiated it, decided to form some kind of a peace treaty or an alliance, although it was very short-lived.

Verse six, and at the end of some years, that means some years of conflict, they shall join forces. And they did.

They made a treaty. And so for a number of years, the two kingdoms, the Ptolemaic, that's Egypt, the Seleucid, that's Syria, fought against one another.

Eventually, a treaty of peace was made between the two kingdoms under the reigns of Ptolemy II, Philadelphus, that's the son of Ptolemy I, and Antiochus II, Theos.

Yeah, a lot of part of these are not really their names, their titles. Theos is the Greek word for God. Okay. So, yeah, he had probability.

He's the grandson of Seleucus, the first king of the Syrian empire. Now, according to the treaty, the daughter of the king of the south, her name was Berenice, was to marry the king of the north.

Right? Oftentimes, empires did that. The daughter of one ruler would marry, you know, either the ruler of another kingdom or the son of another kingdom to form kind of a peace alliance.

And so, king of the south, the daughter of the king of the south, Berenice, was married to the king of the north. That's Antiochus II to make that agreement. That's what verse 6 says.

And this happened in history. I mean, you know, think about it. None of this had happened when this division was given. None of this had happened. And it all became fulfilled, was fulfilled, and it's staggering to consider how detailed the prophecy really is concerning things that had not yet even happened.

All right, but, little problem here, Antiochus already had a wife. Yeah, that is a problem. King's already got a wife. It's probably not going to work out well if he takes on a second one.

Don't have problems with the first wife. And indeed, he did. They all did. Her name was Laodice, Laodice, and she murdered her husband, Antiochus II.

She murdered Berenice, his new wife, the daughter of the king of the south, Ptolemy. Murdered him and the child they had together along with her entire entourage, which probably included many.

And though it's not real clear from scripture, if you take it at face value, it's pretty clear. She also had murdered Ptolemy II, king of the south, Berenice's father.

So, and so after that, Laodice then ruled Syria as queen, queen regent until her son, Seleucus II, came of age because he's very young.

Verse 6 tells us all this, but she shall not retain the power of her authority. That's Berenice, will not retain it. Neither he, Antiochus, why?

Because he's murdered. He didn't retain his power, nor his authority, his reign, shall stand. It won't stand. I mean, you can't stand if you're dead. But she shall be given up.

Berenice will be given up with those who brought her. So, not just Berenice, but also her, her servants and her entourage that came with her from Egypt.

And with him who begot her. That's, I think, a reference to her father. I don't know how it could be anything else. And with him who strengthened her in those times.

That would be the same person. So, you know, this, this, this pretty wicked woman. She's wiped them all out.

I mean, that's, that's jealousy taken to the extreme. So, that leads us to number four. The next king of the south is going to have his revenge. Going to have his revenge.

So, Berenice had a brother, Ptolemy the third. Got to keep our Ptolemies straight, you know. first, second, third. Now, we're up to the third.

We're going to go a little further than that. He became king of the south of Egypt after their father, Ptolemy the second, I believe, was killed, murdered.

And verse seven says, but from a branch of her roots, one shall arise in his place, that is, in the former king's place, his father's place.

And this is a reference to Berenice's brother. And so, in retaliation for his sister and father's murder, Ptolemy the third attacked the king of the north, Syria, and did prevail.

So, he conquered him. He looted the Syrian capital of its silver and gold, including their idols.

I mean, the passage says that he robbed them of their gods. Well, true God, you can't rob from anyone, but their gods were made out of gold and silver and, you know, other precious things, so they were very valuable, even if you just melt them down.

So, looted, all of that, according to verse 8. And I think we can assume that he also put to death the queen regent, Laodice.

She was the one that had her sister and his father, I mean, his sister and father murdered. Now, the king of the south, now, that's now Seleucus II, attempted to retaliate, but he quickly returned to his own land.

That's what verse 9 says. So, this is just the prophecies unfolding, and when we connect it with what we know from history did occur, it all lines up. It all lines up.

But, war continued between these two kingdoms. So, that leads us to number 5. The stage is now set for the rise of Antiochus, the fourth epiphanies.

After Seleucus II died, his sons, Seleucus III and Antiochus III, continued to war against the Ptolemaic kingdom.

All right, so, the Syrians, they didn't go away. They continued to war against the Ptolemaic, Egyptians. And so, there was war always going back and forth between them.

That's what verse 10 says. However, his sons shall stir up strife and assemble a multitude of great forces. All right, so, this is referring to conflict.

So, Seleucus III was murdered and his brother Antiochus III came to power. He was called Antiochus the Great because of his military successes.

And, they're detailed in the prophecy as well. So, verse 10, one shall certainly come and overwhelm and pass through. Then he shall return to his fortress and stir up strife.

Stir up conflict. This is referenced to Antiochus the Great or Antiochus III. So, the king of the south, now we're back to Egypt here, back to the south. That's Ptolemy IV, launched a counterattack.

And he won a great victory over the king of the north. That's what verse 11 says. And the king of the south shall be moved with rage and go out and fight with him with the king of the north who shall master a great multitude.

But the multitude shall be given into the hand of his enemy that is into the hand of the king of the south. The word multitude signifies huge army, huge forces.

I gave you some of the historical record from Polybius. Polybius. Ptolemy's forces consisted of 70,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 elephants.

I guess the equivalent of tanks today. Elephants. Antiochus' forces, that's Syria, consisted of 62,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, 102 elephants.

But at the end of the day, Ptolemy had won the great victory. Great victory. That's the south. They won over the Assyrians. Won a great victory. But, because of the great victory, Ptolemy IV became very prideful.

Pride always comes before the fall. That's what Scripture says, and it's the truth born out in history. Therefore, his victory was short-lived.

Verse 12 says, When he has taken away the multitude, his heart will be lifted up as he is prideful, and he will cast down tens of thousands, but he will not prevail.

So, he's going to do some damage, but he's not going to win. And so, at this point, the Seleucids the north, Syrians, become dominant.

Fifteen years later, the king of the north, Syria, that's under now Antiochus III, will amass a huge army and invade the Ptolemaic kingdom.

Remember, Antiochus III is called Antiochus the Great. Great military leader. So, verse 13 says, For the king of the north will return and muster a moat too greater than the former, even bigger than the one he had before.

It shall certainly come at the end of some years with a great army and much equipment. So, their king, Ptolemy IV, was killed. That's the king of the south.

Was killed. And his son, Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, age six, was crowned king of the south. So, as a result, there was much chaos in the southern kingdom.

That's Egypt. Not just Egypt. When we say Egypt, we think just that country, but that region really extended on into Palestine. They had rule over the Phoenicians and Palestine and down through Egypt and northern part of Africa.

there. So, there was a lot of chaos as a result of the fact that you've got a king that's only six years old.

And, so, there was a lot of chaos in the kingdom. Add to that, verse 14 says, now in those times, many shall rise up against the king of the south. That is, rise up against this young Ptolemy, the fifth.

So, they're vying for power, you know, over the kingdom. Who's going to rule the kingdom? King now is only six years old. Good opportunity to try to take control of things.

And, that's what was happening. So, it's chaos, internal chaos. Even some, it says, some Jews in Palestine, which is Ptolemaic territory, will side with Antiochus, that's Assyria, and fight against the king of the south.

So, this is, you know, some Jews in the Palestine taking up the opportunity, the chaos that's going on, they're going to try to, you know, rebel against the Ptolemaic kingdom.

And so, verse 14 says, also violent men of your people, that's Daniel's people, Jews, shall exalt themselves in fulfillment of the vision, as they think they're going to fulfill the vision, that they don't know yet, because they don't even live yet, but they're going to read this vision, they think they're going to fulfill this vision, but they shall fall.

Fall to whom? Well, they're going to fall to Antiochus the third of the series. So, Antiochus will take advantage of the chaos that's going on, and the weakness that's going on in the Ptolemaic kingdom, conquer the territories of Phoenicia and Palestine, Palestine, and this is what verses 15 and 16 say, so the king of the north shall come and build a siege mound, and take a fortified city, and that happens to be Sidon, and the forces of the south shall not withstand him, will not withstand Antiochus the third of the great, even his choice troops shall have no strength to resist, but he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and no one shall stand against him, he shall stand in the glorious land, which is another term for Israel, with destruction in his power, power to destroy.

So, chaos is going on, it's unsettled, got a six-year-old king, and Antiochus takes advantage of the opportunity, and he doesn't conquer the whole Ptolemaic kingdom, but he takes control of Phoenicia and Palestine.

This is setting the stage, because Antiochus, the fourth epiphany, is going to eventually come on the stage, and that will have everything to do with the land of Palestine. Antiochus, the third, hoped to gain further control of the Ptolemaic kingdom through an alliance, here's another attempt to create an alliance through a marriage, and he hoped to do that through the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra, and yes, that's the Cleopatra you know in history, to King Ptolemy V.

All right, verse 17, he shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom. He's hoping to take control of the kingdom of the south, the upright ones with him, thus shall he do, and he shall give him, that is the king of the south, Ptolemy V, the daughter of women, the daughter of women to destroy it, to destroy Egypt.

So he's hoping that this marriage will, you know, through his daughter, Cleopatra, be able to take control. Well, it didn't work. Backfired.

Verse 17, she shall not stand with him, that is she won't stand with her father, that's Antiochus III, or before him, that is before his plan to conquer the Ptolemaic king.

So Cleopatra marries Ptolemy V, apparently loves him, apparently is for the preservation of the Ptolemaic kingdom, and so Planner father backfires.

So Antiochus decided to go elsewhere and do some more conquering, and he sought to conquer the Romans. The Romans had not yet come to their great power yet, there would be the next kingdom, but he sought to conquer some of the Roman territory, but he was defeated, ultimately killed.

So verse 18 tells us that, after this, he, that's Antiochus III, king of Syria, shall turn his face to the coastlands, that would include the islands and countries bordering the Mediterranean, and shall take many, take many, they have some success, but a ruler, and this is a reference to the Roman, Roman Empire, he shall bring the reproach against them to an end, and with the reproach removed, he shall turn back on him, then he shall turn his face toward the fortress of his own land, that is, he's going to retreat, Antiochus going to retreat, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found, that means he's going to die, and he did die.

Actually, he did return home, so he decided to conquer these lands, some of them under the control of the Roman Empire, Italy, and some of that area, and he couldn't do it, in fact, he was conquered himself, he returned home, returned home, and history tells us that he needed funds to regroup another army and go back against the Romans, but he didn't have any money, and so he sacked this temple of Zeus to get treasures and money, but in the attempt to do that, someone who was defending the temple killed him, killed Antiochus the Great, so he's gone.

After the death, Antiochus the Third, his son Seleucus the Fourth, at least they're consistent with the names, all you have to remember is the number.

He became king, he imposed a tax upon Jerusalem in order to pay the tribute that they owed to the Romans. That's what verse 20 says, there shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the glorious kingdom, Israel, but within a few days he shall be destroyed.

It is ruled in the last even a year actually, but not in anger or in battle, which means God took him out. So he didn't die in the normal way, you would think a king would die, conquering king, and so the only other explanation is God just himself took him.

Thank you.