Unlocking Daniel...
To further unlock the book of Daniel involves a look again at our good friend Josephus.
But before we look at Josephus we need to look at a couple of other old friends, namely Aristotle and Isaac Newton.
Aristotle's influence over the field of Science, by virtue of the weight of his authority and reputation, was so powerful that it actually retarded the growth of science for almost two thousand years. His views on the laws of motion (any object in motion will not continue in motion unless acted upon perpetually by an outside force) were accepted as gospel until Isaac Newton gave it a fresh re-think (with the seemingly counter-intuitive conclusion: any object in motion will continue in motion perpetually unless acted upon by an outside force). The point here is not about the laws of motion, but the power of unquestioned authority and it's retarding effect on the development of correct knowledge. The power of Aristotle's reputation and authority was such that his views were accepted and unquestioned for almost two thousand years.
Which brings us back to Josephus. The views Josephus expressed about the book of Daniel (in the Antiquities of the Jews) were his views as an historian working under a patronage to Emperor Vespasian, an eyewitness to the recent destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish system of things, and a former General in the Jewish army. He was highly credentialed by Jew and Roman. His views were accepted as absolute. The early Roman Catholic church accepted his views, and subsequently all Christian religions. (See the Appendix in William Whiston's translation of Josephus, Dissertation I. This will confirm his authority throughout time).
Josephus, with good reason, felt that he had been an eyewitness to the 'final part of the days' of his people, the Jews. Their nation was destroyed, the people were annihilated, the temple utterly destroyed. And so, the account in Daniel chapters 10 and 11 , wherein the Angel tells Daniel that he would tell Daniel what would befall Daniel's people in the 'final days' or 'the time of the end' (Dan 10:14) seemed to Josephus to be prophecy fulfilled. And an honest person cannot fault Josephus for coming to that conclusion, it certainly seemed to be the final days of the Jews and the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy.
But it wasn't.
The elaborate history of the Seleucids, Maccabees, Antiochus et al, has, with variations, been accepted by Christian and Jew alike for almost two thousand years. But the Angel told Daniel that he, the Angel, was going to tell Daniel what would befall Daniel's people in the 'final days' or ' the time of the end'. (Please note: the Angel does not say the final days of Daniel's people, but what would happen to Daniel's people in the final days, there is a difference.) And although from Josephus's point of view that's where he thought he was, the simple march of time has shown otherwise.*
In Daniel chapter 11 starting with verse 1 the angel gives Daniel a 101 course in identifying the Kings of the north and south. Going from the current King that Daniel was living under, Persia, the Angel traces the dominant world power through several more Persian rulers, then to an apparent identification of Alexander the great, his subsequent death and fragmenting of his empire, the identity of a southern fragment becoming the next world power, which by simple observation became Rome. Thus Rome was the King of the South in it's day, (Rome replaced Egypt in 30 B.C.) and historically the inheritor of Rome's legacy was Britain, thence from Britain to America, the current King of the South . The Bible only shows the lineage of the King of the South, whoever politically and militarily was/is at the antipodes of 'The King of the South' in the 'time of the end' would be the King of the North. The twentieth century has shown that to be Russia/Soviet Union. Which it will soon be again.
So the Lineage of the King of the South (Southern fragment of Alexander the Great's Empire) would appear to be; Egypt, Rome, Britain, America.
But at verse 6 the Angel's narrative
fast-forwards to
'the end of years'. (Which the Angel said was
the point of the prophecy in the first place, (
hello! )
{Dan 10:14} ).
Daniel
11:6, (“After [some
bibles say "At the end of years"] some years they shall
make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south
shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But
she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his
arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants,
he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times." Daniel 11:6 {ESV}) looks
spot-on to be the Romanovs (Tsars of Russia), at the
time of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917**, also called
the 'Russian Revolution', the 'October Revolution', or 'Red October' ).
Alexandra Fyodorovna (Tsar Nicholas II's wife) was the
granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England (which would
make her 'the daughter of the King of the South' )!! The phrase translated in some Bibles 'the one
who sired (begot, fathered) her' can also be (more properly)
translated 'his (their) children', and in fact, Alexandra, Nicholas II, and their children
were all killed together. The scripture also
refers to 'and her attendants' and it is worth noting
that some of her servants and the family doctor (Dr.Botkin)
were also killed with her and her family in July of 1918 in the
basement of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg. Rasputin would fit 'He who supported her
in those times'. Rasputin's assassination, and his
strengthening of Alexandra, (by continually healing
her son,) are both well known facts that directly connect
him to this event ( Dan 11:6 ).
(once you see this, it's just so clear and obvious that you can't
not see it....yes, yes, I know,
that's a double negative, but, still... you know what I mean.)
(Think about how appropriate this is;
this scripture both identifies the "King of the North" and,
the event it marks, the Bolshevik revolution, is the beginning of
the modern existence of the "King of the North", hmmmm..... starting
to make sense, yes? Do you notice how very
closely this fits, without any forcing, or PhD's
in history?
It is so simple that it can bring no attention to anyone explaining it,
yet it gives remarkable honour to God's prophetic abilities. The Bible
is written for the reasonable average person with general knowledge,
and most of these events listed here for Daniel 11:6-12 are things
that anyone who has lived in the 20th century would be familiar with.
As someone once said, 'the Bible was not written just for Historians.').....
Daniel 11:7, Noteworthy is the fact that
after the Revolution of 1917 the Russians lost their dominance
of the Middle-East and their "Place" was taken over by Britain "one
from the sprout of her roots" (Alexandra's roots were British). When the Ottoman Empire fell at this time, had the previous
circumstances still existed (i.e. Tsarist Russia), control of the Middle-East
historically would have been taken over by Russia. However, Britain stepped
into Russia's "Place" (some Bibles say "position") showing great military success and gained dominance of
the Middle-East. Britain ('one from the sprout of her roots'),
also specifically did dominate Egypt after that
time...actually until the 1956 Suez events. This 'shift' of "position"
or "place" was particularly evident
in Jerusalem itself,(some
interesting news) (appropriately, as the Angel had said that the prophecy
had primary application to Daniel's "People", Dan 10:14). (If you're
interested, the Russian Orthodox Church's Mission in Jerusalem website
actually confirms this loss of "place" in Jerusalem in 1917 (WWI). It's
interesting to note the reference to the fact that in 1919, only
under the British Mandate could they do anything in Jerusalem,
A
change of "position" to be sure. Even when they came back they were considered "The
Church in Exile" and were not directly connected to the Moscow Patriarchate
until as recently as 2007. Note too, that they came back out of exile
in "Egypt", interesting, yes? )
And as for
the comment in Daniel 11:8, 'for some years he shall
refrain from attacking the King of the North' (RSV,
ASV, NLT, ESV, and others), remember how Gen. Patton wanted
to attack Russia after WWII but was not allowed to?
Daniel 11:9 ( 'He will come into the kingdom of the King of the South, and go back to his own land.') looks like the Cuban missile crisis, (an event that by all measures was huge, and truly a marked event, and in fact, this verse only makes sense when applied to the Cuban missile crisis. The Cuban missile crisis was one of the defining events of the 20th century, as well as for the relationship between the King of the North and the King of the South). (See NKJV, NLT, ESV, ASV, NIV, Tanakh, Darby, NASB, and others.)
Verse 10 could be the 'Hungarian Revolution'
or the
'Prague Spring'.
As Daniel chapter
11 appears to be sequential, it's most likely the 'Prague Spring'.
Daniel 11:11 and Daniel 11:12 look very
much like the first Persian Gulf war
(Desert
Storm 1991);
George Bush number one, did gather a multitude
into his hand by means of his U.N. coalition forces,
he did win the war, he did cause "tens of thousands to fall"
(remember the cluster bombing of the Iraqis on the road back
from Kuwait?), but didn't use his "strong , position" (KJV,
Webster "be strengthened by it"), i.e. He did virtually nothing with
his "strong position" over Saddam Hussein. Which really was puzzling,
until it's applied to this prophecy.
If that is the case , we should now
be approaching Daniel 11:13. Yes,
Dan 11:13. (please see Timeline )
(Note that this verse includes the phrase "in the
time of the end", hmmmm.... )
(As this inevitable war breaks out in the Middle-East follow along from vs. 13 {this is being written in Dec 2006}).
*It should be noted that the fact
that Josephus' interpretation of Daniel's
prophecy was made in the first century ( about
two thousand years ago ) would by necessity invalidate
it, because of the simple fact that the Angel
when talking to Daniel at the end of this particular
prophecy said "Go, Daniel,
because the words are made secret and sealed up until the
time of the end", (Daniel 12:4,9). Thus any premature
interpretation would be self-invalidating.
**It seems that it would be more than just a coincidence that this was the year of entry into WWI. for the U.S. (King of the South) , the year of the Bolshevik Revolution and forming of the Soviet Union, (modern King of the North), the year of the Balfour Declaration, and the year of liberation of Jerusalem by British troops. Recall too, that the Angel said that he was telling Daniel what would befall Daniel's people, the Jews, in the time of the end (Dan 10:14). Noteworthy is that fact that at this time the largest population of Jews in the world was in Russia (about 6 million), so the Bolshevik Revolution really did affect the Jews. Cautionary afternote: The two passages in Daniel chapter 11; vss 13-19 and vss 40-45 bear a remarkable similarity. As these events begin to unfold most if not all will feel that we are at Daniel 11:40. It is only by careful observation of the daily News in detail that a person will be able to see that we are at Daniel 11:13. The very natural desire to just have this whole thing over with (can you blame them?) will make most people choose to believe that we are at vs 40, however over time it will become apparent. Please note: the time differential between Dan 11:13 and Dan 11:40 may be as much as 8 or 9 years. Accurate understanding of this could be a great source of strength and "ca..ca,ca..ca..courage".