Daniel 11:1 - Meaning and Application

Here, the angel Gabriel tells Daniel about the good service he had done for the Jewish nation (Daniel 11:1). In the first year of Darius the Mede, the king who destroyed Babylon and released the Jews from that house of bondage, Gabriel says, “I stood to strengthen and protect him.” In other words, he was used to guard Darius, help him succeed in his rule, and steady him in the decision to free the Jews, a decision that likely faced strong opposition. Through the angel, and at the request of the watcher, the golden head was broken and the axe was laid to the root of the tree.

We should notice God’s hand in strengthening those who are friends of his church, so they can do the work he gives them. He also confirms them in their good decisions. In this, he uses the ministry of angels more than we often realize. The many times we have seen God care for his church in the past should encourage us to trust him in future troubles and hard times.

Next, the angel foretells the rule of four Persian kings (Daniel 11:2). “Now I will tell you the truth,” means he will explain the real meaning of the visions of the great image and the four beasts, and make plain what had been shown before in symbols. Three kings would rise in Persia besides Darius, in whose reign this prophecy is dated (Daniel 9:1). Mr. Broughton says these three were Cyrus, Artaxerxes, called Cambyses by the Greeks, and Ahasuerus, who married Esther, called Darius son of Hystaspes. The Persians gave these three special descriptions: Cyrus was a father, Cambyses a master, and Darius a hoarder, as Herodotus records.

Then there would be a fourth king, much richer than all the others, namely Xerxes, whose wealth is noted by Greek writers. By his power, through his huge army of at least 800,000 men, and by his riches, which supported that army, he stirred up all against Greece. Xerxes’s campaign against Greece is famous in history, as is the shameful defeat he suffered. He left as a terror to Greece and came back as its scorn. Daniel did not need to be told what disappointment he would meet, because he had tried to stop the rebuilding of the temple. Yet about thirty years after the first return from captivity, Darius, a young king, renewed the work on the temple and admitted that God had acted against his predecessors for blocking it (Ezra 6:7).

The angel also foretells Alexander’s victories and the division of his kingdom (Daniel 11:3). He is the mighty king who would rise against the kings of Persia and rule with great power over many kingdoms. He would do as he pleased and act with despotic power, since the kings of the Medes and Persians could not easily change their decrees. When Alexander, after conquering Asia, wanted people to worship him as a god, this prophecy was fulfilled, that he would do according to his own will. That belongs to God alone, but it became Alexander’s claim.

But his kingdom would soon be broken and divided into four parts, and not given to his descendants (Daniel 11:4). None of his successors would rule with his same power or over such large lands. His kingdom was torn away for others, not for anyone from his own family. Arideus, his brother, was made king in Macedonia. Olympias, Alexander’s mother, killed him, and she also poisoned Alexander’s two sons, Hercules and Alexander. In this way, his family was destroyed by its own hands.

See how fragile worldly greatness and possessions are, and how fleeting the power that gains them can be. The story of Alexander shows the emptiness of the world, and even its finest things, more clearly than almost anything else. All is vanity and chasing after the wind.