Daniel 8 to the end - Antiochus Epiphanes and Maccabean Wars

[Pergamum]

I am looking for interpretations of Daniel 8 to the end. I don't know much about the Maccabean jewish Wars (Josephus is long and boring) or abou Antiochus Epiphanes.

Can anyone point me to links, books, articles, about this latter half of the book of Daniel and what these prophecies allude to?

Example, Daniel 12:11 appears fulfilled when Antiochus Ephiphanes set up a heathen altar in the temple in 168 BC. Jesus used this imagery in Matthew 24 to describe another event (most likely 70 AD). But I know practically nothing about this personage of Antiochus who fulfilled the prophecy or his times. Or there good commentaries that explain Daniel in light of this history?

 

[Pergamum]

In Daniel 11:21-35:

21 In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. 24 Without warning he shall come into the richest parts[e] of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers' fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. 26 Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. 28 And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land.

29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. 30 For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.

If this is about Antiochus, then the Maccabees seem to be portrayed in a relatively positive light.

33 And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.

Also, if this about the battle of Actium?

40 “At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack[g] him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships.

 

[Peairtach]

Stuart Olyott's "Dare to Stand Alone" is a straight forward commentary on Daniel that deals with these passages.

There may be some sermons online by Stuart Olyott dealing with these chapters.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2

 

[Wayne]

Other sermonic treatment, with the list being heavy on Spurgeon, but most probably available somewhere on the Web:

PCA Historical Center: Textual Index of Puritan & Reformed Sermons - Daniel

 

[Contra_Mundum]

Pergy,
Do you have EJ Young's commentary? I personally don't think it has much been improved upon. Calvin is (as usual) pretty good, despite the limits of his time/place. Young makes some advances from the 16th century.

 

[Pergamum]

I can't find an affordable copy of EJ Young's commentary, but I got Olyott's book on kindle.

 

[RamistThomist]

Here is Culver's commentary on Daniel.

 

[Pergamum]

Alexander Reads About Himself in the Book of Daniel - Good News Magazine | United Church of God

In 332 B.C. Alexander besieged and defeated the coastal cities of Tyre and Gaza in his march toward Egypt. During this campaign he turned toward Jerusalem. Alexander had already demanded men and supplies from the Jews, who were under the rule of Alexander's mortal enemy, the Persian king Darius. The high priest hesitated, saying that while Darius lived they would honor their pledge. Alexander was angry and began a move on the city.
Well aware of the danger, Jaddua asked the people to pray to God for His mercy and protection. Then, says Josephus, Jaddua had a dream as to how to entreat the Macedonian king. He and the other priests dressed in their priestly robes and, accompanied by others dressed in white garments, formed a pro-cession that went out of the city to a carefully chosen place to meet the king.
Alexander then did the unexpected. Alone, he approached the high priest and members of the procession and greeted them.
When asked by one of his generals why he welcomed this group, Alexander replied: "I did not adore him, but that God who hath honoured him with his high priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit [garment], when I was at Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is, that having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind" (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, chap. 8, sec. 5, William Whiston translation, 1981).
Josephus records that Alexander then accompanied the priest into Jerusalem and the temple, where he "offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest's direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests."
Alexander's visit was capped by a briefing from the book of Daniel, written several centuries earlier, which foretold the rise and conquests of Alexander. "And when the book of Daniel was shewed him, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended; and as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present . . ." (ibid.)

 

[Philip]

One could always read 1 Maccabees.

 

[jwithnell]

I found John Fesko's sermons on Daniel preached at Geneva OPC in north Georgia to be quite helpful. They are online. More than a few times I realized how many things I had overlooked either from the OT history or from the work of Christ. If you try to adopt the mindset I had -- that these are obscure passages without much applicability now -- you will get nailed on the application (blush).