Albert Barnes Commentary Daniel 11:40

"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south contend with 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 through." — Daniel 11:40 (ASV)

And at the time of the end — . The “time of the end” must properly denote the end or consummation of the series of events under consideration, or the matter at hand. It properly and obviously means here the end or consummation of the transactions that had been referred to in the earlier part of the vision. It is equivalent to saying, “at the winding up of the affair.” In Daniel 12:4, Daniel 12:9, and Daniel 12:13, the word “end,” however, obviously refers to another close or consummation—the end or consummation of the affairs that reach far into the future, the final dispensation of things in this world.

Many have held that this could not be understood as referring to Antiochus, because what is stated here did not occur at the close of his reign. Perhaps, at first sight, the most obvious interpretation of what is said in this and the subsequent verses to the end of the chapter would be that, after the series of events referred to in the previous verses—after Antiochus had invaded Egypt and had been driven from there by the fear of the Romans—he would, at the close of his reign, attack that country again and bring it, and Libya, and Ethiopia into subjection (Daniel 11:43). It was also thought that while there, news from the north would compel him to abandon the expedition and return to his own land.

Porphyry (see Jerome, commenting on this passage) says that this was so, and that Antiochus actually invaded Egypt in the “eleventh year of his reign,” which was the year before he died. He maintains, therefore, that all this had a literal application to Antiochus, and that, being so literally true, it must have been written after the events had occurred.

Unfortunately, the fifteen books of Porphyry are lost, and we only have the preserved fragments of his works, which are found in Jerome's Commentary on the book of Daniel. The statement of Porphyry, referred to by Jerome, contradicts the otherwise universal testimony of history regarding the last days of Antiochus. There are such improbabilities in his statement as to create the general impression that Porphyry, in this respect, falsified history to make it appear that this prophecy must have been written after the events occurred. If Porphyry's statement were correct, there would be no difficulty in applying this to Antiochus.

The common belief regarding Antiochus, however, is that he did not invade Egypt after the series of events mentioned above, and after he had been required to withdraw by the authority of the Roman ambassadors, as stated in the notes on Daniel 11:30.

This belief also accords with all the probabilities of the case. Under these circumstances, many commentators have supposed that this portion of the chapter (Daniel 11:40–45) could not refer to Antiochus, and they have applied it to Antichrist or to the Roman power.

Yet anyone can perceive how forced and unnatural such an application must be by examining Newton on the Prophecies, pages 308-315. The obvious, and one might add, the honest application of the passage must be to Antiochus. This is what would occur to any reader of the prophecy; this is what they would obviously hold to be the true application; and this is the only application that would occur to anyone, unless it were deemed necessary to bend the prophecy to fit the history.

Honesty and fairness, it seems to me, require that we understand this as referring to the series of events described in the earlier portion of the chapter, and as intended to state the ultimate outcome or conclusion of the whole.

There will be no difficulty in this if we regard these verses (Daniel 11:40–45) as containing a recapitulation, or a summing up of the series of events, with a statement of how they would conclude. If interpreted this way, all will be clear.

It will then be a general statement of what would occur regarding this remarkable transaction that would so materially affect the interests of religion in Judea and be such an important chapter in the history of the world. This summing up, moreover, would provide an occasion to mention some circumstances regarding the conquests of Antiochus that could not be introduced as well in the narrative itself, and to present, in few words, a summary of all that would occur, and to state how it would all be terminated.

Such a summing up, or recapitulation, is not uncommon, and in this way the overall impression would be more distinct.

With this view, the phrase and at the time of the end (Daniel 11:40) would refer not so much to the “time of the end” of Antiochus's reign, but to the “time of the end” of the entire series of transactions. These transactions were referred to by the angel as recorded in the scripture of truth (Daniel 10:21), from the time of Darius the Mede (Daniel 11:1) to the close of the reign of Antiochus—a series of events spanning a period of some three hundred and fifty years.

Viewed in reference to this long period, the entire reign of Antiochus, which was only eleven years, might be regarded as “the time of the end.” It was, indeed, the most disastrous portion of the entire period, and in this chapter, it occupies more space than all that preceded it. For it was to be the time of the peculiar and dreadful trial of the Hebrew people, but it was “the end” of the matter—the winding up of the series, the closing of the events on which the angel's eye was fixed, and which were so important to be known beforehand.

In these verses, therefore (Daniel 11:40–45), he sums up what would occur in what he here appropriately calls “the time of the end”—the period when the predicted termination of this series of important events should arrive—namely, in the brief and eventful reign of Antiochus.

Shall the king of the south — The king of Egypt. (See Daniel 11:5-6, Daniel 11:9).

Push at him — As in the wars referred to in the previous verse—in endeavoring to expel him from Coele-Syria and Palestine, and from Egypt itself (Daniel 11:25, Daniel 11:29–30). See the note on those verses.

And the king of the north shall come against him — The king of Syria—Antiochus. Against the king of Egypt. He will repeatedly invade his lands. (See the notes above).

Like a whirlwind — As if he would sweep everything before him. He did this when he invaded Egypt, when he seized Memphis and the best portion of the land of Egypt, and when he obtained possession of Ptolemy's person. (See the notes on Daniel 11:25-27).

With chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships — All this literally occurred in the successive invasions of Egypt by Antiochus. (See the notes above).

And he shall enter into the countries — Into Coele-Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the adjacent lands.

And shall overflow and pass over — Like a flood, he will spread his armies over these countries. (See the notes on Daniel 11:22).