Daniel 11:44-45

The narrative of Daniel 11 now returns to dealing with Herod the Great.

Daniel 11:44  But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

The antecedent to the pronouns him and he are found up in verse 40, where we read that the king of the south (Egypt) would “push at him,” referring to Herod the Great. This is not the first time that a few verses separate the pronouns from their antecedent requiring one to reason to whom the pronouns refer (see Psalm 105 for examples of this).

The tidings out of the east that troubled Herod were the report of the birth of the king of the Jews by “wise men from the east.”

Matthew 2:1  Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2  Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

3  When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

According to Matthew’s account, when Herod “saw that he was mocked of the wise men,” he “was exceeding wroth.” As a result of this he went forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many when he issued the decree to have slain “all the children there were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under” (MAT 2:16).

The tidings…out of the north that troubled him were the news from his eldest son Antipater, then in Rome, that Herod’s two other sons had calumniated him to Caesar. Antipater was actually the one aspiring to seize Herod’s throne and even plotted to have him poisoned. This plot was discovered and resulted in Antipater being imprisoned and put to death near the end of Herod’s life. Near his death Herod was so enraged that he called together the leaders of the Jews and confined them with the order to have them slain when he died so that there would be a lamentation at the time of his death, for the Jews despised Herod and would certainly not have lamented his death. Thus again he went forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. However, this order was not carried out.

The next and last verse of Daniel 11 concludes this prophecy of Herod the Great.

Daniel 11:45  And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Jerusalem, being located on Mount Zion, was situated between the Mediterranean and the Dead Seas. Herod placed his palace in the upper city of Jerusalem. Thus, he planted the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. At his end Herod died of a loathsome and painful disease which no physician could help. Thus, there was none to help him. So Herod “the Great” died a miserable death as a helpless man. So much for his greatness. In this was fulfilled the words of the mother of our Saviour when she magnified the Lord saying:

Luke 1:51  He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

52  He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

53  He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

I hope this series of meditations on Daniel 11 has blessed my readers in some way. I would be pleased if you would let me know. I trust you marvel with me at the exact fulfillment of these prophecies. Thanks be to God for the preservation of records of history that can be compared with these prophecies showing their fulfillment. Thus is our faith confirmed in the word of our omniscient God Who declares “the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done” (Isaiah 46:10). And just as surely as the prophecies of Daniel 11 have been fulfilled, so shall every other prophecy of events in the future be fulfilled. The culminating prophecy of the future which we fondly anticipate is the prophecy of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ of Whom the angel spoke when Jesus was seen ascending in heaven:

Acts 1:11  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

The fulfillment of this prophecy will mark the end of this earth’s history and the ushering in of a “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2Peter 3:13). Nowhere in that new earth will tyrants like Antiochus Epiphanes or Herod the Great rear their heads in defiance of Israel’s God. It is this hope that inspires the concluding prayer of the Holy Scriptures of truth:

Revelation 22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

21  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.