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The Book of Daniel takes a special place within the books of the Bible. The book not only tells the story of Daniel, but it also contains a prophetic vision of the future revealed to Daniel in his dreams and visions. According to many commentators it also presents a broad outline of the world history revealed through the visions and dreams. The text of the Book of Daniel contains numerous references to rulers and kings. To understand who they were is crucial in order to interpret the Book of Daniel and evaluate its historical veracity. Whether the descriptions and characteristics of those rulers can be verified remains a debated issue in the biblical exegesis.

As it follows from the text of the book, Daniel was a Jewish man who was taken captive in Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Following the Babylonian invasion, the entire Jewish nation was taken to Babylon and the Jerusalem temple was destroyed by the invaders. The much lamented captivity in Babylon is described in many parts of the Bible, for example in the famous Psalm 137 beginning with the words “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.”

Daniel, along with some other Jewish young “men without physical defect, and handsome," was taken to the court of the king to study the Babylonian wisdom, language and literature (Daniel 1:4 New International Version). God gave Daniel and his companions “knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.” (Daniel 1:17). In this capacity Daniel served at the courts of a few rulers and interpreted their dreams, which are described in the Book of Daniel.

Three concluding chapters of the book, 10, 11 and 12, unfold a revelation given to Daniel about “what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come” (Daniel 10:14).
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This vision culminated in Chapter 11 with a prophecy about two kings. Unlike many other kings, princes and rulers mentioned in the book of Daniel under their real or imaginary names, these two kings are referred to simply as “the king of the South” and “the king of the North.” It is not surprising that this part of the narrative is especially hard to interpret without first verifying the identities of both kings.

John Walvoord suggests, for the purposes of an easier analysis, to divide the Chapter 11 into two parts. The first one, verses 1 to 35, “describe the major rulers of the Persian Empire and then gives in great detail some of the major events of the third empire following Alexander the Great, concluding with Antiochus Epiphanus (175-164 B.C.)” (Walwoord 183). The second part of the chapter (verses 36 to 45) talks about the last Gentile ruler who will be in power until the coming of Christ.

The description found in the Book of Daniel is so historically accurate that it led to a controversy even in the ancient times. According to John Walvoord, the heathen philosopher Porphyry in the 3rd century A.D. attempted to prove that the Book of Daniel was a forgery and that it was in fact written after the events described in the book had taken place. “The controversy between Jerome and Porphyry has characterized discussion of the book of Daniel ever since” (Walvoord 183).

The text of the Book of Daniel asserts that the prophecy took place in Persia “in the first year of Darius the Mede,” that is, long before the described future events. Verses 1 and 2 say that there will be four more kings of Persia. The last one of them will “stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece” and will be defeated. Walvoord identified the last of the Persian kings as Xerxes I, whose “expedition which he launched in 480 b.c. against Greece was disastrous” (Walvoord 185). Verses 3 and 4 predict
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that “a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.”

Given the broad historical context of the time, only one plausible interpretation of these verses is possible. They must refer to the empire of Alexander the Great who destroyed the Persian state and indeed ruled with great dominion. Alexander’s empire spread from modern-day Greece in the west to India in the east and Central Asia in the north. Beyond any doubt, the Alexandrian state was the largest and the most powerful country on earth.

However, and that is exactly what we find in verse 4, Alexander’s empire was a very short-lived one. It did not survive its ruler, and it broke into four parts immediately after Alexander’s premature death. Alexander the Great did have children. However, his both sons, Hercules and Alexander Junior were murdered (Walvoord 186). Following the death of Alexander, his empire “fell into the hands of his four generals” and was effectively divided “toward the four winds of heaven.” In other words, in accordance with Daniel’s prophecy, the lands and riches that Alexander conquered were not inherited by his posterity.

Then, from verse 5 onward two other kings enter the scene. The Book of Daniel calls them “the king of the South” and “the king of the North.” To identify them properly one needs to look into the history of the ancient world following the demise of the Alexandrian empire. Of the four kingdoms that the empire of Alexander the Great broke into, the largest and more powerful ones were Egypt and Syria.
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Geographically Syria (with its capital in the city of Antioch) is located to the north, and Egypt is located to the south. Verse 8 of the chapter specifically calls the kingdom of the South Egypt. It says: “He will also seize their gods, their metal images and their valuable articles of silver and gold and carry them off to Egypt” (Daniel 11:8). The successors of Alexander the Great in Egypt and Syria respectively were probably Ptolemy I Soter (323-285 B.C.) and Seleucus I Nicator (312-281 b.c. ). (Walvoord 186). However, it is clear from the text of the Book of Daniel that the kings of the South and of the North symbolically represent the succession of rulers of those two kingdoms, not just the two mentioned kings.

Much of the rest of the chapter is devoted to the struggle between the two kings and other details of their relationship. John Walvoord compares the known historical facts about Hellenistic Syria and Egypt and the information contained in the Book of Daniel. This makes it possible to obtain evidence necessary to verify the identities of both kings. One such historical fact is the marriage between the ruler of Syria and a daughter of the Egyptian king. In the Book of Daniel it it described as follows: “And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times” (Daniel 11:6).

Historically, this episode refers to “the king of the south, Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 b.c.) and his daughter, Berenice, who was married to Antiochus II Theos (261-246 b.c.) about 252 b.c.” (Walvoord 187). It was a marriage concluded in order to “make a straightening” between Syria and Egypt and to put an end to their rivalry. In order to marry Berenice, Antiochus needed to divorce his
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wife Laodiceia. As it turned out, the marriage did not last long and fell short of its objective to end the rivalry and conflict between Syria and Egypt. Moreover, Antiochus took Laodiceia back, but she, “to gain revenge... murdered her husband as well as his Egyptian wife, Berenice, and the infant son of Antiochus and Berenice” (Walvoord 187).

Another example of historically verifiable accomplishments reflected in the Book of Daniel is the war between the North and the South where the king of the South, that is, of Egypt, won a war against the North. Verse 7 says: “But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail.” The event that corresponds to this verse is the war between the Egyptian king Ptolemy III Evergetes (246-221 B.C.) who “succeeded in prevailing militarily over the king of the north, Seleucus Callinicus (247-226 b.c.)” (Walvoord 187). This example as well as the previous one prove that the collective images of the kings of the North and the South refer to a sequence of rulers throughout a couple of centuries.

Finally, the narrative of the kings culminates with the story of the “vile person” (Daniel 11:21) who seized the power by flatteries. That vile king was to become the persecutor of the Jews and to “magnify himself above every god” (Daniel 11:36). John Walvoord identified him as Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Even though Antiochus was quite insignificant as a ruler, he is the key figure of the chapter. “The reasons for the prominence of Antiochus IV Epiphanes were his desecration of the Jewish temple and altar, and his bitter persecution of the Jewish people” (Walvoord 190). However, in the concluding part of the chapter, Daniel 11:36-45, speaks about the “vile ruler” in a prophetic tone. Even though there were attempts to interpret this passage as if still referring to Antiochus, this does not seems
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plausible. Walvoord made a conclusion that “The king described in verses 36-39 of Daniel 11 and the events of the subsequent verses therefore have nothing to do with the second century b.c, and are entirely future and unfulfilled” (195).

To summarize the analysis of the kings mentioned in Chapter 11 of the Book of Daniel, their identity can be verified against the historical events and accomplishments that occurred after the collapse of the empire founded by Alexander the Great. The kingdoms of the South and of the North refer to Egypt and Syria, the largest states that emerged on the ruins of Alexander's empire. In most cases, the identity of the rulers can be verified with a very high degree of probability. This is true, in particular, of Antiochus IV Epiphanus, who was a central character of the narrative in the Chapter 11. However, the final part of the chapter (verses 36 through 45) in all probability refers to future events and the identity of the king described in them cannot be verified.

Works Cited
John Walvoord (1971) Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation, Moody Publishers.