Prophecy Deciphered

1. Prophecy Deciphered Studies into the books of Daniel and The Revelation Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear. Matt 13:16

2. Daniel 11 • Vs 1 Gabriel Continues from Chapter 10. • Darius the Mede is strengthened by God. • Vs 2 Four Kings in total. • 3 Kings after Cyrus • 1 more who will stir up all against the Greeks. • Cyrus • Cambyses II • Bardiya (False Smerdis) • Xerxes

3. Rise Against the Greeks • Persian Wars was started with the crossing of the Hellespont by Xerxes forces in 480BC • Battle of Thermopylae (Aug 480) • Battle of Artemisium (Aug 480) • Battle of Salamis (Sep 480) • Battle of Plataea (June 479) • Battle of Mycale (June 479)

4. A Mighty King • Vs 3 Rule with Great Dominion • Alexander the Great • Vs 4 Divided towards the four winds (June 10 323BC) • Ptolemy (Egypt, Libya, Arabia, Coele-Syria, Palestine) • Cassander (Macedon and Greece) • Lysimachus (Thrace, Bithynia, Bosphorous) • Seleucus (The rest)

5. Kingdom Divided

6. The Empire • Cassander’s kingdom was conquered by Lysimachus’s (Battle of Ipsus 301BC) • Lysimachus’s kingdom was conquered by Seleucus.(Battle of Corupedium in 281BC)

7. King of the South • Vs 5 King of the South – Egypt being Ptolemy. (there is a tomb inscription translated by Glaser #1155, believed to by tomb of Cambyses which references the war between Persia and Egypt and the kings are called, Lord of the North and Lord of the South.) • One of his princes. – Seleucus was deposed from his throne in babylon in 316BC, which he had held since 321BC. He fled to Egypt and became one of his generals. (Hebrew word for prince is Sarim – can be translated as general, has a military connotation) In 312BC Ptolemy’s armies led by Seleucus defeated Demetrius at Gaza and he reclaimed his throne. • Arrian – Contemporary historian in his work “Anabasis of Alexander” describes Seleucus as follows: • The greatest king of those who succeeded Alexander, and the most royal mind, and ruled over the greatest extent of territory, next to Alexander.

8. Marriage ? • Vs 6 • Daughter of King of the South • King of the North • Those that brought her • Him who begot her (Father) • Him who strengthened her

9. Antiochus II Theos (reigned 261-246BC) • Married to Laodice I (probably his cousin) • After a long war with Egypt, he accepted peace with Ptolemy II Philadelphus. On condition he married Ptolemy’s daughter Berenice. • He put aside his first wife Laodice and also his 2 sons by her. • Ptolemy II, Antiochus II, Berenice, her maids which came with her from Egypt and her 4 year old son were all killed in 246BC by Laodice and her eldest son Seleucus II.

10. Third Syrian War • Ptolemy III Euergetes declared war on Laodice's newly crowned son, Seleucus II, in 246 BC, and campaigned with great success. He won major victories over Seleucus in Syria and Anatolia, briefly occupied Antioch and, as a recent cuneiform discovery (Ptolemy III Chronicle) proves, even reached Babylon. Seleucus had his own difficulties. His domineering mother asked him to grant co-regency to his younger brother, Antiochus Hierax, as well as rule over Seleucid territories in Anatolia. Antiochus promptly declared independence, undermining Seleucus' efforts to defend against Ptolemy. • In exchange for a peace in 241, Ptolemy was awarded new territories on the northern coast of Syria, including Seleucia Pieria, the port of Antioch. The Ptolemaic kingdom was at the height of its power.

11. The Decree of Canopus • They took care of the statues of the gods, which had been robbed by the barbarians of the land Persia from temples of Egypt, since His Majesty had won them back in his campaign against the two lands of Asia, he brought them to Egypt, and placed them on their places in the temples, where they had previously stood. (Decree of Canopus, 238BC. Cairo Museum)

12. Who lives longest? • Vs 8 He shall continue more years than the King of the North. • Seleucus II died in 224BC, Ptolemy III died in 222BC. 2 years after. • Any doubt on the who the King of the South is, this verse should clear that right up!

13. Vs 9 “Also the king of the North shall come to the kingdom of the king of the South, but shall return to his own land. • SDA Commentary suggests this translation is more correct: • He will come into the kingdom of the king of the South, but shall return to his own land. • Seleucus II tried invading Egypt in 240BC but called off the attack due to strife back home.

14. K. of T.N had sons • Vs 10 Seleucus II (Callinicus), had 2 sons Seleucus III Soter (Ceraunus) and Antiochus Magnus. • Seleucus III took the throne on his fathers death and amassed a vast army to take vengence on the Ptolemys. He was assassinated by his own men while on campaign against Attalus I of Pergamon in 223BC • His Brother succeeded him and recovered the territories of Seleucia and Syria from the Egyptians. He even crossed the Transjordan into Egyptian territory in 219BC.

15. Rage • Vs 11 Ptolemy IV Philopator became pharoah after is fathers death in 222BC • On June 22 217BC Ptolemy meet Antiochus in battle at Raphia. • According to Polybius, Ptolemy had 70,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 African elephants and Antiochus 62,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 103 Syrian elephants. • Ptolemy had a resounding victory and took several thousand captive.

16. Captialise on the Victory..NOT • Vs 12 Ptolemy Philopater did not captialise on his victory due to a Jewish revolt within Alexandria, evidence of this is found in 3 Maccabees, Jerome and Eusebius. • He is reported that he massacred between 40K (Eusebius) and 60K (Jerome) • To celebrate his victory and the capture Of Antiochus Elephants he came up with a New execution method.

17. Another try! • Vs 13 Ptolemy IV dies in 205BC ? • His son Ptolemy V Epiphanes took the throne at aged 5 in 204BC • Antiochus III Magnus invade Palestine in 201BC • Battle of Raphia was in 217BC – so this second invasion was 16 yrs later.

18. Vs 14 So the King of the South is the 4 year old Ptolemy V. • Ptolemy Epiphanes was only a small boy when his father, Ptolemy Philopator, died. The two leading favorites of Philopator, Agathocles and Sosibius, fearing that Arsinoe (Ptolemy V mother) would secure the regency had her murdered before she heard of her husband's death, which secured the regency for themselves. In 202 BC however Tlepolemus, the general in charge of Pelusium, put himself at the head of a revolt. Once Epiphanes was in the hands of Tlepolemus he was persuaded to give a sign that the killers of his mother should be killed. According to Bevan the child king's consent was given more from fear than anything else and Agathocles along with several of his supporters being killed by the Alexandrian mob.

19. The decree was issued during a turbulent period in Egyptian history. Ptolemy V Epiphanes (reigned 204–181 BC), son of Ptolemy IV Philopator and his wife and sister Arsinoe, had become ruler at the age of five after the sudden death of both of his parents, murdered, according to contemporary sources, in a conspiracy that involved Ptolemy IV's mistress Agathoclea. The conspirators effectively ruled Egypt as Ptolemy V's guardians,until, two years later, a revolt broke out under the general Tlepolemus and Agathoclea and her family were lynched by a mob in Alexandria. Tlepolemus, in turn, was replaced as guardian in 201 BC by Aristomenes of Alyzia, who was chief minister at the time of the Memphis decree.

20. But wait there’s more • Antiochus and Phillip V of Macedon also conspired against Egypt. They made a pact to carve up the Egyptian empire between themselves. • Also a jewish revolt began in Jerusalem to try and re-establish Jewish sovereignty but that failed due to the Roman Republic aligning themselves with the Egyptians against the Seleucid Empire and Greeks.

21. Another Crack • Vs 15 The Battle of Panium 200BC was against Antiochus III and Scopas of Aetolia (a very experience Mercenary General used as elite shock troops by the Egyptians.) Scopas was defeated and fleed to Sidon. • Sidon was known as the strongest city in the world due to its position and fortifications. • Scopas was forced to surrender with no terms. Once he fleed back to Egypt he was executed for his failure.

22. Who could resist? • Vs 16. • 3 Players in this one, he and him • Him = King of the North • He is another player! • Who conquered Antiochus III • In 191 BC Antiochus III met ManiusAchiliusGlabrio Consul of the Roman Republic in the Battle of Thermopylae.

23. The Glorious Land. • "Of the Jews there fell twelve thousand, but of the Romans very few.... and no small enormities were committed about the temple itself, which, in former ages, had been inaccessible, and seen by none; for Pompey went into it, and not a few of those that were with him also, and saw all that which it was unlawful for any other men to see but only for the high priests. There were in that temple the golden table, the holy candlestick, and the pouring vessels, and a great quantity of spices; and besides these there were among the treasures two thousand talents of sacred money: yet did Pompey touch nothing of all this, on account of his regard to religion; and in this point also he acted in a manner that was worthy of his virtue. The next day he gave order to those that had the charge of the temple to cleanse it, and to bring what offerings the law required to God; and restored the high priesthood to Hyrcanus, both because he had been useful to him in other respects, and because he hindered the Jews in the country from giving Aristobulus any assistance in his war against him." Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicae, book 14, chapter 4 • Rome annexed the Glorious Lands and made it a Protectorate.

24. Caesar • Vs 17 “and upright ones with him” better translated as “and equal ones with him” • In 51 BC Ptolemy Auletes died and left his throne to his 2 children Cleopatra and Ptolemy XII • In 48BC Rome and Egypt became allies under relationship with Cleopatra and Caesar. • Eventually in 30BC Egypt became a Province of Rome. • “Daughter of Woman” – Definitely Cleopatra and how she dealt with Caesar and Mark Anthony.

25. Veni, vidi, vici • Vs 18 – Isles = known in anciant times as Asia Minor (Islands around Turkey and its coastline) • After sorting out Egypt, Caesar was called into a war against Pharnaces, King of the Cimmerian Bosphorus in 47BC. • “ruler” = I believe is Marcus Junius Brutus.

26. Ides of March • March 44BC – Caesar was assassinated in the Senate.

27. Augustus • Vs 20 – “One who imposes taxes” • Luke 2:1

28. Vile Person • Vs 21-22 Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus • Pliny the Elder called him tristissimushominum, "the gloomiest of men” • Tiberius before becoming Emperor was one of the most successful generals in Roman History- Germania, Armenia, Parthia to name a few. • Prince of the Covenant – Tiberius reigned from 14-37AD. Luke 3:1-3

29. The Roman Emperors • Vs 23-28 Refers to the nature of the Roman empire under successive Emperors. • Vs 24 A time. If you start when nthe imperial age starts in 31BC. 360 years will bring us to 330AD • Vs 27 Can be primarily applied to Nero and the persecution of the Christians. • Vs 28 The sacking of Jerusalem by Titus.

30. The Appointed time • Vs 29 The appointed time being 330AD. • So what happened in 330AD. Constantine moved the Capital “South” to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople and made it the Capitol of the Roman Empire.

31. Barbarian Hordes • Vs 30-35 • Chittim • Jer 2:10 • Ezekiel 27:6 • Destruction of the Western Roman Empire by the Barbarian hordes and the Rise of the Papal States

32. Vs 36 – 39 • God of Fortresses (Forces) • Could be translated as God of Refuge or Strength • Saint Gabriel the ArchAngel is the Patron Saint of Wisdom and Strength

33. To Mary, Refuge of Sinners • Hail, most gracious Mother of mercy, hail, Mary, for whom we fondly yearn, through whom we obtain forgiveness! Who would not love thee? Thou art our light in uncertainty, our comfort in sorrow, our solace in the time of trial, our refuge from every peril and temptation. Thou art our sure hope of salvation, second only to thy only-begotten Son; blessed are they who love thee, our Lady! Incline, I beseech thee, thy ears of pity to the entreaties of this thy servant, a miserable sinner; dissipate the darkness of my sins by the bright beams of thy holiness, in order that I may be acceptable in thy sight.