The King of the North in Daniel 11 Revealed

The king of the north in Daniel 11 is a territorial title: it names whatever power holds the lands north of Palestine, beginning with Seleucid Syria, passing to Rome in its pagan and papal forms, and ending with the Ottoman Turkish power in the time of the end.RH Jan 30, 1913+4 The chapter is a plain, literal, step-by-step history written in advance, running from Medo-Persia through Greece and Rome to the time when Michael stands up.ST Jan 10, 1878+3 Here is how the title moves through the chapter.

🗺️ Where the "north" and "south" come from (verses 2–5)

"And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion." Daniel 11:5

Verses 2–4. After three more Persian kings and the rich fourth, Xerxes, the "mighty king" Alexander the Great stands up and conquers the world, and at his death in 323 B.C. his kingdom is divided toward the four winds, not to his posterity.RH Nov 16, 1914+3 A. G. Daniells shows that the four divisions fell to Cassander in the west, Lysimachus in the north, Seleucus in the east, and Ptolemy in the south, exactly as Daniel 8:8, 21–22 had foretold.RH Jan 16, 1913+2

Note these specifications: (1) When he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken; (2) it shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; (3) not to his posterity; (4) but to others. These specifications are all clearly met in the history of Alexander’s conquests, and the division of his empire after his death. — Unknown author, RH Jan 16, 1913

Verse 5. The "king of the south" is Ptolemy's Egypt, south of Palestine; "one of his princes," Seleucus, grew stronger than Ptolemy, uniting three of the four divisions into one great northern kingdom.ST Feb 17, 1904+3 This is the key to the whole chapter: "north" and "south" are reckoned from Palestine and name enduring territories, so whoever later holds Seleucus's northern lands is the king of the north, even when rulers and dynasties change.ST Jan 10, 1878+4 Palestine, lying between the two, became their battlefield again and again.ST May 31, 1883+1

⚔️ Syria and Egypt at war (verses 6–15)

"So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand." Daniel 11:15

Verses 6–9. Uriah Smith traces the marriage alliance of verse 6: Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, was given to Antiochus Theus of Syria, but Laodice had Antiochus poisoned, and Berenice and her son were murdered.ST Apr 6, 1882+2 Her brother Ptolemy Euergetes then invaded the north, took the fortress of Seleucia, carried gods and treasure back to Egypt, and outlived Seleucus Callinicus.RH Jan 10, 1871+2

There were frequent wars between the kings of Egypt and Syria. Especially was this the case with Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second king of Egypt, and Antiochus Theus, third king of Syria. They at length agreed to make peace upon condition that Antiochus Theus should put away his former wife, Laodice, and her two sons, and should marry Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus. — Uriah Smith, ST Apr 6, 1882

Verses 10–13. The "sons" of Callinicus were Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus the Great; Antiochus swept through Palestine like a flood, was crushed by Ptolemy Philopator at Raphia, and after fourteen years returned with a greater army against the child king Ptolemy Epiphanes.ST Apr 6, 1882+2 Ptolemy's victory lifted up his heart, but his vice and his persecution of the Jews meant he was not strengthened by it.ST Jan 24, 1878+2

Verses 14–15. "In those times" a new power enters: the "robbers of thy people" are Rome, which first intervened in Syrian and Egyptian affairs about 200 B.C. "to establish the vision."RH Jan 17, 1871+3 Meanwhile Antiochus took the strongly fenced city of Sidon, and Egypt's chosen troops could not withstand him.ST Feb 14, 1878+2

🏛️ Rome becomes the king of the north (verses 16–30)

"But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed." Daniel 11:16

Verses 16–19. "He that cometh" is Rome, which made Syria a province in 65 B.C. and stood in the glorious land, Palestine, when Pompey took Jerusalem in 63 B.C.ST Apr 13, 1882+2 Rome thus took possession of all that the Seleucid kings had held, and more, and from here the northern title belongs to it.ST Apr 30, 1912+2

Although Egypt could not stand before Antiochus, the king of the north, Antiochus could not stand before the Romans, who now came against him. No kingdoms were longer able to resist this rising power. Syria was conquered and added to the Roman Empire, when Pompey, B. C. 65, deprived Antiochus Asiaticus of his possessions, and reduced Syria to a Roman province. — Uriah Smith, ST Apr 13, 1882

Julius Caesar entered Egypt in 47 B.C., Cleopatra, the "daughter of women," did not stand on Rome's side, and Caesar "stumbled and fell" by assassination in 44 B.C.ST Apr 20, 1882+3

Verses 20–22. Augustus was the "raiser of taxes" under whose decree Christ was born Luke 2:1, and he died peacefully in A.D. 14.ST Feb 21, 1878+2 Tiberius, the "vile person," obtained the empire by flattery, and in his reign "the prince of the covenant," Jesus, was crucified in A.D. 31, and Tiberius himself died by violence in A.D. 37.ST Apr 27, 1882+3

And in his reign the prince of the covenant, Jesus of Nazareth, was put to death upon the cross. Verses 21, 22. Christ can never be broken or put to death again; hence, in no other government, and at no other time, can we find a fulfillment of these events. — Uriah Smith, ST Apr 27, 1882

Verses 23–30. Rome's league with the Jews in 161 B.C., its peaceful inheritance of kingdoms, the battle of Actium on 2 September 31 B.C., and a prophetic "time" of 360 years to A.D. 330, when Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople, carry the story forward.ST Apr 27, 1882+3 The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was Rome's "exploits" against the holy covenant.ST Apr 11, 1878+2 The "ships of Chittim" were Genseric's Vandal fleet sailing from Carthage against Rome between 428 and 468, and Rome's "intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant" was the eastern emperors joining the apostate church against the Arian Goths.ST May 18, 1882+2

⛪ The papal phase of the northern power (verses 31–39)

"And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." Daniel 11:31

Verse 31. The "daily" is paganism, taken away in 508 to clear the way for the papacy, and the "abomination that maketh desolate" is the papacy set up in its place; "sacrifice" was supplied by the translators and does not belong in the text.ExVEGW 61.2+3 From 538, when Justinian's decree took effect, the 1,260 years of papal supremacy ran to 1798, and the 1,290 years ran from 508 to 1798.Daniel 7:25+3 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 describe the same power.ST Apr 30, 1912+1

To what period in Roman history has the prophecy brought us?—To the rise of the Papacy, which henceforth stands for Rome. — Unknown author, ST Feb 24, 1904

Verses 32–35. The faithful who "know their God" instructed many but fell by sword, flame, captivity and spoil through the Dark Ages, a tribulation that God shortened before 1798.Ms 174, 1903, par. 25–27+2 The Reformation was the "little help," and the persecution ran on "to the time of the end" in 1798.RH Mar 7, 1871+2

Verses 36–39. The willful king who exalts himself above every god is read in two ways: as the papal power that claims to change God's law, or as revolutionary France, which denied God in 1793, abolished marriage, enthroned Reason as a "strange god," and divided confiscated lands for gain.ST Jun 6, 1900+4 Both readings place this at the close of the 1,260 years.RH Apr 11, 1907+1

There could be no greater blasphemy than to assume that God is subject to man, and that man may change the very utterances of Divinity. But this the Papacy has done, and boasts of doing, in the change that it has sought to make in the law of God concerning the Sabbath. — Unknown author, ST Apr 30, 1912

Ellen G. White adds a solemn word here. Much of the history fulfilled in verses 30–36 will be repeated, and Satan is gaining control of minds that do not fear God.Lt 103, 1904, par. 17–19+1

The prophecy in the eleventh of Daniel has nearly reached its complete fulfilment. Much of the history that has taken place in fulfilment of this prophecy will be repeated. — Ellen G. White, Lt 103, 1904, par. 17–19

🌅 The king of the north in the time of the end (verses 40–45)

"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon." Daniel 11:40–41

Verse 40. "The time of the end" began in 1798 at the close of the 1,260 years.RH Dec 12, 1912+2 In that very year Egypt, the king of the south, pushed at France under Napoleon, the "him" of the preceding verses, and Turkey, the king of the north, holding the old northern territory from Constantinople since 1453, declared war and came with land forces and the combined Turkish, Russian and English fleets.ST Mar 2, 1904+4 Daniells shows that every specification was met in the history of 1798.RH Mar 20, 1913+1

[[quote p811636 s4-s6 "The “time of the end” began in the year 1798" "Egypt was invaded and conquered"]]

Verses 41–43. Napoleon was checked at Acre and retreated; the Turks recovered Palestine, the "glorious land," and Egypt, while Edom, Moab and Ammon, lying outside the line of march, escaped.ST Jun 15, 1882+2 By 1825 Turkey held the treasures of Egypt and had Libya and Ethiopia at its steps.RH Feb 12, 1914+1

The victorious Turks pursued him, retaking southern Palestine, wresting from the French the whole of Egypt, and adding Libya and Ethiopia to their African possessions. How clearly Turkey’s victories over the French, and her conquests in Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, meet the predictions of the prophet! — Unknown author, RH Oct 9, 1916

Verse 44. Tidings from the east (Persia, Syria) and the north (Russia) troubled Turkey from 1828 onward, and its fury was seen in the Crimean War of 1853–1856.ST Jun 15, 1882+2

Verse 45. The last movement, as our pioneers read it, is Turkey driven from Europe and planting its seat "between the seas in the glorious holy mountain," Jerusalem, there to come to its end with none to help it.ST Jul 13, 1915+3 James White taught that this end is the signal for Michael, Christ, to stand up Daniel 12:1, close probation, and deliver His people.WLF 8.4+2

Michael is to stand up at the time that the last power in chap. 11, comes to his end, and none to help him. This power is the last that treads down the true church of God: and as the true church is still trodden down, and cast out by all christendom, it follows that the last oppressive power has not “come to his end;” and Michael has not stood up. — James White, WLF 8.4 (1847)

The writers are honest that the identity of the final king of the north was debated: some applied verses 40–45 to Rome in its papal phase, or to a northern confederacy, and the move to Jerusalem was still unfulfilled when they wrote, with no date given for it.ST Apr 30, 1912+3 Ellen G. White never names the final power; she says only that the prophecy has nearly reached its complete fulfillment and that scenes of trouble will soon take place.9T 14.2–15.4+1

The world is stirred with the spirit of war. The prophecy of the eleventh chapter of Daniel has nearly reached its complete fulfilment. Soon the scenes of trouble spoken of in the prophecies will take place. — Ellen G. White, 9T 14.2–15.4 (1909)

✨ What this means for us now

The careful fulfillment of Daniel 11 across twenty-five centuries is God's proof that the few words still unfulfilled will come to pass just as surely.RH May 11, 1916+2 But W. A. Spicer warns that anyone waiting to see the king of the north come to his end before taking a stand will have waited too late, because that final scene falls after Christ's ministry in the sanctuary has closed.RH Dec 14, 1905

But the observer waiting to see the final fulfilment of Daniel 11 before taking his stand, will be too late. When the “king of the north” comes to his end, when the power in the great river Euphrates is dried up Rev. 16:12, when the nations begin wheeling into line for the actual clash of Armageddon, probation will have closed. The final fulfilment of these prophecies dealing with the very last phases of the history comes during the pouring out of the plagues, when already the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary has ceased. — Unknown author, RH Dec 14, 1905

The lesson is not to calculate dates but to get ready, to know God so as to be strong and do exploits (verse 32), and to carry the warning message while mercy lingers.Ms 174, 1903, par. 25–27+3