Category: Eschatology

A good portion of my articles on biblical prophecy and typology focus on the underappreciated and poorly understood symbolism underlying numbers in scriptural contexts.  In particular, I expound a great deal on the symbolism underlying the number eight and how the Bible develops this symbolism.  That research demonstrates quite clearly that eight is a symbol of the start of a new cycle in a series of repeating cycles.  I’ve argued that this symbolism also applies to the eighth king of Revelation 17, suggesting that the focus of this king was more on the world governments that  would arise beyond the Roman Empire and was not a Roman figure himself.  This is counter to the contention by many preterists that the eighth king was merely a reference to another, non-sequential Roman king, such as Vespasian or Titus.

As further evidence that such a pattern does exist in Scripture and this eighth king really does symbolize the beginning of a new cycle of kings from a nation other than Rome, in this post, we’ll take a look at one very tangible, historical king who was the beginning of just such a new cycle of rulers and has very real and unmistakable associations with the number eight.  Also, like the eighth king of Revelation, this king is acutely connected with the color red.

Caesar Augustus

The iteration in the repeating cycle of world governments that preceded the Roman Empire was of course the Greek Empire.   As Dr. Robert Gurney described in his book “God in Control” and I demonstrated in my post “Daniel 11:36-45: Faulty Forecast, Future Finale or Focal Flip“, the transition of power from Greece to Rome is described in the book of Daniel as Rome becomes the king of the North in the second clause of Daniel 11:40.  The last portion of Greece mentioned in Daniel 11 to be annexed to the Roman Empire was Egypt (Daniel 11:42) ^[1].  The military leader and emperor-to-be who accomplished this was Augustus Caesar.  Before becoming emperor though, Augustus was known by his given name of Gauis Octavius.

Discerning readers might notice at once that Octavius sounds as though it may bear some relationship to the English prefix “octo-” meaning “eight” (e.g. octagon, octopus, octave, octogenarian).  And such readers would be entirely correct in making this connection for Octavius does indeed have its roots in the number eight.  Octavius comes from the Latin word ‘octavus’ meaning ‘eight’ ^[2].  This is similar to the Greek word used of the eighth king in Revelation 17:11 which is ‘ogdoos’ [G3590] and derives from the Greek for eight – ‘okto’ [G3638].  Such translations of ‘eight’ and ‘eighth’ can be easily seen in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Scriptures as well:

• ‘octavus’ as ‘eighth’ (Leviticus 23:36; 1 Kings 6:38; 1 Chronicles 12:12; 26:5; 27:11; Revelation 21:20 VUL)
• ‘octava’ as ‘eighth’ (1 Chronicles 24:10; 25:15; 2 Chronicles 29:17; Ezekiel 43:27; Acts 7:8; Philippians 3:5; Revelation 17:11 VUL). Also used for words with linguistic connections to eight such as ‘blessed’ (1 Kings 8:66 VUL) and ‘sheminith’ (1 Chronicles 15:21; Psalm 6:1; 12:1 VUL)
• ‘octavum’ as ‘eight’ (2 Peter 2:5 VUL)

Like his prominent role in the prophecy of Daniel 11, Gauis Octavius also has a special place in the opening chapters of the Gospel of Luke.  He is recorded as the Emperor at the time of Christ’s birth (Luke 2:1).  Here, he is referred to as Augustus Caesar.  Augustus was a title bestowed on Gauis Octavius by the Roman Senate.  Caesar is both a reflection of his role as emperor and the fact that he was adopted as a son to his great uncle Julius Caesar, considered by some to be the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.  This passage in Luke also has Augustus mentioned along with the governor of Syria, Quirinius.  This parallels the ruler of Syria who was the focus of much of Daniel’s other prophecies as well.  This ruler was Antiochus IV Epiphanes.  Incidentally, Antiochus IV was also an eighth king in Daniel 7 ^[3].  Both Antiochus IV Epiphanes (“God Manifest”) and Augustus Caesar were antichrist figures strongly associated with the number eight.

As a side note, but one seriously worth mentioning, Antiochus IV literally has the written form of what could be seen as anti-Ochus.  This is readily apparent by comparing the Greek for Antiochus [Αντιόχος] to the Greek for antichrist [G500 – ἀντίχριστος] (1 John 2:18,22,4:3; 2 John 1:7).  Both words incorporate the Greek prefix anti- [G473].  The ‘ochus’ in Antiochus seems most likely to me to be a prophetic reflection of Darius II whose birth name was Ochus [Ὦχος]^[4].  Darius II was the Persian King who made good on the frustrated promises of Cyrus (Ezra 3-4; 5:13-17; 6:3,14 cf. 2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-8). Both Cyrus and Darius II Ochus were messianic figures to Israel and I believe this fact accounts for their identities being conflated to form part of the enigmatic figure from the book of Daniel known as Darius the Mede (Daniel 5:31; 9:1; 11:1).  That an anti-Ochus should rise up as the anti-Messianic figure of Daniel in contrast to the messianic figure of Ochus is more than fitting.

Scarlet, Crimson, and Redness

But besides the conjoined reference to the ruler of Syria and his association with the number eight and Octavius/Augustus, the second chapter of Luke also focuses our attention on the number eight by its mention of the circumcision of Christ eight days after his birth (Luke 2:41-52). This section records a prophetess named Anna from the tribe of Asher (eighth son of Israel) who was married for seven years but was widowed for 84 years (Luke 2:36-40). As usual, the seven and eight hint at something eschatologically significant. Realizing this, we might notice that 84 is 42 times 2.  We might then recall that 42 months = 3 ½ years (Revelation 11:2-3).  So the 84 here in Luke almost certainly alludes to the presentation of Jesus at the temple as fulfilling a prophetic 7 year period (cf. the last ‘seven’ of Daniel 9:27).  Further, the birth of Jesus is also associated with 42 months (i.e. 1,260 days) in Revelation 12:1-6.  Further still, the last ‘seven’ of Daniel’s 70-weeks is connected with the rise of Michael (Daniel 10:13,21; Revelation 12:7), the number 62 and Darius the Mede (Daniel 5:31; 9:1,25-26).

Notice also in this section of Revelation 12, we are introduced to a great red dragon (Revelation 12:2) who attempts to destroy the young Christ.  A counterpart to this red dragon is found in the Scarlet Eighth king-beast of Revelation 17:3.  This beast from the Sea/Abyss is associated with a career that lasts 42-months/1,260 days (Revelation 11:2-3,7).  Given that it is repeated here twice in connection to two parallel entities, we might wonder what the significance of red might be.  Historically, Octavius/Augustus is also connected intimately with the color red.

The first of the Octavii ancestors of Augustus to rise to prominence was Gnaeus Octavius Rufus.  After humble beginnings, this man  became a Roman quaestor in 230 B.C.  Several others in his line also adopted the title Rufus. They are known to historians as the Octavii Rufi.  Eerily, the word ‘rufus’ is Latin for ‘red’.   As with the Latin words for eight, this can be most readily seen in the Latin Vulgate (Genesis 25:25; Leviticus 13:42; 1 Samuel 16:12; 17:42; Revelation 6:4; 12:3 VUL).  This is all the more significant when we realize that along with Augustus, several other Caesars were descendants of the Octavii including Claudius, Caligula, and most significantly, Nero.  In fact, there are ancient historical records that indicate that both Julius Caesar and Nero had red hair.  Oddly, Latin words for Caesar (Caesar, Caesaris) are also apparently rooted in the Latin words for ‘hairy‘, caesariēs, caesarieī. (See also G2541 and H8163).  Compare this to the shaggy he-goat of Daniel 8:21 which represented Greece.  Also, like Antiochus IV the ruler of Syria, a Hebrew word meaning Syrian [H726] traces its origin back to the color red [H119].

In a manner becoming of an antichrist, the association with red is a reflection of prefigurements of Christ who had deep connections with the color red themselves:

• Adam [H120/H121] – derives from H119 which means dyed-red or ruddy.  Other Hebrew words reflect this association of Adam with the color red as well (H122, H125, H132).  This association is also evident in the Hebrew word for blood [H1818].
• Edom/Esau – Like Adam, Edom also derives from the word for red.  He is also infamous for his hairy, red facade (Genesis 25:25) and the rash squandering of his inheritance for a bowl of red lentil soup (Genesis 25:30).
• David – another prefigurement of Christ is described as being ruddy (1 Samuel 16:12; 17:42).  He was also the eighth son of Jesse.
• The Masculine lover in the Song of Solomon – There is evidence that this book is largely a typological portrayal of Christ’s marriage to the Church.  The male, messianic lover in the account is described as being ruddy (Song of Solomon 5:10).
• Mordecai – the name Mordecai is somewhat ambiguous as it can mean “Servant of Man” or “Servant of Mars”.  In either case, the name has Messianic overtones.  The Hebrew word for Mars is ma’adim [מַאֲדִים] (cf. Adam – אָדָם) and plays off of the visible redness of the planet in the night sky.  Mars was also the God of war.  Both the origin and the eventual abolishing of war are major eschatological subjects in Scripture (Genesis 4:8,15,23-24; 9:6; Isaiah 2:4; 11:6-9; 65:25; Ezekiel 39:2-6,9-16; Micah 4:3; Matthew 5:21-26; 23:35; Luke 11:51).  The Octavii themselves had their origin in a  worshiper of Mars^[5]. From the perspective of the “Servant of Man”, Christ Himself said He did not come to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).
• Obed-Edom – Akin to the name Mordecai, Obed-Edom [H5654] also means “Servant of Edom” or “He Who Serves the Edomites”.  Given the close association between Edom, Adam and Mars above, it’s not at all hard to see Obed-Edom as representing a “Servant of Man/Mars” himself.  It hardly seems coincidental that like Darius the Mede, Antiochus IV and the Messiah, Obed-Edom is associated with both the numbers 62 (see above) and 8 (2 Samuel 6:10-12; 1 Chronicles 13:13-14; 15:21; 26:4-5,8). Further, Obed-Edom and his descendants were musicians who played the harp according to the ‘sheminith [H8067] (i.e. an 8-stringed instrument or a tonal octave) (1 Chronicles 15:21).  They were also doorkeepers/porters [H8179, H7778] in charge of protecting the temple treasures.  Like Jehoash, the king of Israel who took the treasures that had been explicitly entrusted to Obed-Edom (2 Chronicles 25:24), Belshazzar, king of Babylon desecrated the very same treasures just prior to his surprise defeat by 62-year old Darius the Mede (Daniel 5:2-4,30-31).  The Hebrew words for porter also bear a striking resemblance to the Hebrew words for whirlwind [H5590, H5591, H8175] which are absolutely central to understanding the proper interpretation of Daniel 11:40.  In fact, H8175 is written exactly the same way (i.e. it’s a homograph) as the word for porter H8179 and one of its relatives H8176.  And bringing us full circle back to the color red, another Hebrew word for whirlwind is H5492 which is also used in reference to the Red Sea (Numbers 21:14). This is apparently due to its association with H5488 which also means ‘red’ and is used many times in reference to the Red Sea.  I discuss the importance of the whirlwind in my three part article “Daniel 11:36-45: Faulty Forecast, Future Finale or Focal Flip“.
• Jacob the Worm – In the context of the famous prophecy regarding the rise of Cyrus (i.e. the Sun) coming from the North and the East (Isaiah 41:2,5) like a whirlwind (Isaiah 40:24 cf. 41:16; 40:4-5) to deliver Israel from the Babylonian captivity, Israel/Jacob is referred to as a worm [towla – H8438] (Isaiah 41:14).  But this is no ordinary worm.  This is specifically coccus ilicus.  Also known as the “Crimson Worm”, the  dead bodies of these organisms were used commercially in ancient times primarily in the production of red dye.  This worm also appears in many other messianic contexts which I hope to expound on in future posts.  It also has some uncanny self-sacrificial reproductive behavior that very well may be designed to hint at the sacrifice of Christ.
• The Red Heifer – in the Levitical Law, a spotless red heifer was to be killed and burned outside the camp of Israel.  Among the other things to be burned with the heifer was scarlet wool.  These ashes were to be mixed with fresh water to produce the water of cleansing.  This water was used to cleanse people, tents and furnishings that had been in contact with a corpse.  It was also used to purify the Levites prior to service in the Tabernacle.  As part of the ceremony for creating the water of cleansing, the blood of the heifer was to be sprinkled seven times before the Tabernacle (Numbers 8:7; 19; Hebrews 9:13).  It’s easy to see how this heifer may have been a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Christ necessary for cleansing his spiritual temple.

Octavia and Pythagoras

Returning to Nero and his connections with the Octavii Rufi, he himself was married to Octavia, his step-sister, whom he later had banished and murdered.  Ironically, Nero died on the anniversary of her death suggesting their unity in destruction ^[6].  But not before he entered into a same-sex marriage by becoming the wife to a freedman named Pythagoras ^[7][8] (though Suetonius claims the husband in this wedding was Doryphorus ^[9]).  Compare this to the unnatural and confused relations between the Harlot of Babylon, the ten kings of the earth, and the eighth king-beast  (Revelation 17:2,12-13,17).

Pythagoras is the same name as the Greek man famous even in antiquity for his alleged contributions to music (the Pythagorean tuning scheme for the sequences of seven natural notes, separated by octaves) ^[10] and the Pythagorean Theorem of geometry concerning right triangles.  Nero’s close historical association with a Pythagoras and significant numbers like seven, eight and 666 cannot be merely a coincidence.  Consider the following observations.

Though the actual authentic history surrounding the more famous Pythagoras is uncertain, he was no doubt famous in the ancient world for the accomplishments mentioned above.  Ancient writers such as Diogenes, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Plato, Socrates and Aristotle all wrote in detail about him.  He is also credited with the founding of the Pythagorean cult which was still flourishing, even around the time Revelation was written.  Pythagoras and his followers were keenly interested in numbers and attached mystical meanings to them.  Of the several numbers they considered special, 10 was the number they honored most.  10 was considered the perfect number.  They actually worshiped it and swore oaths by it.  They even had a special symbol for it called the Tetractys.  This was a triangle formed of 10 points, organized into four rows, each containing one more point than the previous row.  10 was therefore special because it is a triangular number formed from a base of 4 (i.e. half of eight).

Scripturally, eight and ten are also connected via the 10 kings associated with the eighth king (Revelation 17:3,7,12,16).  Like these 10 kings, the followers of Pythagoras honored the number 10 by never arranging themselves at gatherings in groups larger than 10 ^[11][12].  It is probably no coincidence either that the Hebrew words for 10 [H6235, H6236, H6237, H6240, H6241, H4643, H6218, H6224] are homophones for Asher [H836], the eighth son of Jacob.  There is also a parallel between the Tetractys of Pythagoras and the number 666.  Just as 10 is the triangular of 4 and was a divine symbol bestowed as a gift to the followers of Pythagoras, 666 is the triangular of 36 or 6 squared and was used to mark the followers of the beast ^[13].  In light of all these observations, it’s not surprising that 666 would also apply to Nero on account of the gemetrial value of his name.

The eighth king and 666 are also linked in that they both require a mind with wisdom to interpret (Revelation 13:18; 17:9-11).  Ancient tradition actually credits Pythagoras with being the first to coin the term philosopher from the Greek words philo (“love”) and sophia (“wisdom”) and apply it to himself ^[14].  Pythagoras considered education to be the prime trait distinguishing man from beasts.  So much so that he recalled an Olympiad where there were only seven men in an entire city who excelled in racing and only seven in the whole habitable world that excelled in wisdom ^[15].  Compare this to the seven heads supported by the eighth king of Revelation 17.

Also, like Octavius/Augustus (see below), Pythagoras was supposedly divine, being the son of the god Apollo [cf. G622, G625] born in Sidon of Phonecia (though he also claimed that he was the son of the god Hermes in a former life ^{[16][17][18][19]}).  Among other messianic associations, Apollo was literally the god of the Sun.  This is also evident in the Greek word Apollonia [G624] which derives from the Sun.  This is parallel to biblical messianic and anti-messianic figures like Cyrus (i.e. the Sun), the “Morning Star” king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:12), Samson (i.e. the Sun), Solomon (educated under the Sun), and the Messiah Himself (Revelation 2:28; 22:16).  A thinly veiled allusion to Apollo is made in Revelation 9:11 via Apollyon [G623], the angel of the Abyss from where the eighth king beast emerged (Revelation 11:7; 17:8).

Pythagoras was destined to be a messianic figure who could even calm storms on seas and rivers ^[20][21].  Compare to the actions of Christ on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25).  He even used an interesting analogy between justice and his famous formula regarding right triangles for restraining men from injustice against one another so as not to be judged in Hades for crimes like murder ^[22].  He was trained in the mysteries of the prophets of the cities of Tyre and Byblos and soon after learning these mysteries, he left for Egypt to seek out their true origins from under Mount Carmel ^[23].  Compare this to Jezebel, the queen from Sidon (sister city to Tyre) and Elijah who defeated her prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18).  Compare also the oracles regarding the kings of Tyre and Babylon and their association with Satan (see my article “Finding Satan in the Kings of Tyre and Bablyon“).

Also, interestingly, Pythagoras [Πῡθαγόρᾱς] is very visibly a combination of the words for Python [G4436 – Πυθώ] combined with agora [G58 – ἀγορά].  In Greek mythology, Python was a dragon or serpent who guarded the center of the planet where he gave oracles in his mother Gaia’s name [γέα, γαῖα cf. G1093 – “land”].  Python was eventually slain by Apollo who, we can recall from above, was supposedly the father of Pythagoras.  The Greek agora means ‘assembly’ or ‘marketplace’.

So, in the name Pythagoras, we have an obvious allusion to an “assembly of the serpent”.  Suspiciously, the book of Revelation opens with two such references to a Synagogue [G4864 – assembly] of Satan (Revelation 2:9; 3:9).    In fact, the Romans actually built a pavement at Delphi where the Temple of Apollo Pythios was located, at the very place the Greeks believed to be the center of the planet.  It was also the exact spot Apollo was thought to have slain Python.  Ironically, the Romans named this pavement the Agora.  In connection to agora in the sense of a ‘marketplace’, compare to the merchants mentioned after the fall of Babylon (Revelation 18:3,11,15,23).

In an alternate version of the story of Apollo and Python, Hera, the goddess of women, actually sent Python to pursue Leto, the mother of Apollo and his twin Artemis.  When Apollo was grown, he sought vengeance against Python for his mother  ^[24]. Compare to the actions of the dragon and the earth in Revelation 12:3-4,13-17.  Also, see the parallels with the twin sons of Isaac – Esau/Edom and Jacob/Israel (Genesis 25:22-26).

Just as Python’s residence was in Delphi at the center of the earth, Jerusalem was also scripturally viewed as being at the center of the earth (Ezekiel 5:5; 38:12 NIV).  Further, the Medes, the conquerors of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:11,28; Daniel 5:30-31; Acts 2:8-9; Revelation 14:8; 18:1-2) were by their very name also representative of a central land [H4074].  Interestingly, in the middle seven sons of Japheth (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5), one of the eight people left to repopulate the planet after the flood, these Medes are lumped with Javan (father of the Greeks) and Tubal (cf. Tubal-Cain in the eighth generation of Adam through Cain) and they are all preceded by Magog (Ezekiel 38:2; 39:6; Revelation 20:8).  The heart [G2588] of the earth was also the destination of Jesus after His crucifixion (Matthew 12:40).

In connection with the number eight, Pythagoras conceptually divided man’s typical eighty year lifespan into 20 year quarters corresponding to the four seasons ^[25].  Pythagoras himself died when he was eighty ^[26].  Compare this to the token seventy year lifespan of a king from Isaiah 23:15 in association with Tyre, a prostitute and the multi-headed serpent Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1; Psalm 74:14). Compare also to the seventy or eighty year range attributed to the endurance of human strength in the context of the metaphorical equivalence of a day to 1,000 years in God’s sight (Psalm 90:4,10).  Pythagoras also ordered that sacrifices to Hercules be made on the eighth day of the month and his birth should be celebrated in the seventh month ^[27].  Hercules and Apollo have a dynamic history with one another.

Judging by the above observations, these numbers surrounding the eighth king and the events of the historical Nero must carry a tremendous symbolic significance.  This strengthens the case that God intended for ancient readers of Revelation to detect Nero’s relationship to the red dragon, numbers and particularly, his lineage from the Octavii.

A Savior of Rome

A brief glimpse into the history of Octavius/Augustus makes it obvious why his mention in conjunction with the birth of the Son of God is far from accidental.  Gauis Octavius was very much viewed as a savior and ushered in an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity for Rome.  In many ways, Octavius was a self-glorified, false messiah and rival to the true God and His Christ.

After being adopted by Julius Caesar, his great-uncle, Gaius Octavius changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar.  Later, he personally added the title “Divi Filius” (i.e. “Son of the Divine”) to his name after the deceased Julius had been elevated to the status of a god.  After his defeat of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra in the Battle of Actium, Octavius became emperor.  He was declared princeps or “first citizen” (cf. Christ in Colossians 1:18; Romans 8:29; Revelation 1:5).  In 27 BC., the same year Egypt was annexed to Rome becoming his own personal property against custom (Daniel 11:42), Octavius was also granted the additional title Augustus [G828] by the Senate. The Pax Augusta ^[28] aka the Pax Romana (i.e. “Roman Peace”)  is attributed to Augustus.  Augustus himself signified this unprecedented period of peace by closing the gates of Janus on three different occasions ^[29].  Augustus is also credited with having established the Augustan Settlement which was a massive acquisition of territory for Rome.

This is only a taste of the anti-messianic character of Augustus Caesar.  Readers are encouraged to consult the history of Augustus for more detailed information.

Conclusion

What we’ve just witnessed is that, once again, the number eight is demonstrated to have deep meaning in Scripture as it relates to fulfilled scriptural prophecy.  The eighth king of Revelation 17 is no exception to this rule.  In line with the evidence I’ve presented elsewhere, the eighth king is the symbol of a new cycle of earthly rulers.  They are not Roman entities.  For there to be a new cycle, an old cycle must have come before it.  And we see that this old cycle was demarcated in a similar fashion as in Revelation 17.  The old cycle (the Roman-cycle) was a transition from the Greco-Syrian cycle.   The Roman-cycle began with Augustus Caesar, whose ancestry was littered with unmistakable allusions to the number eight and the color red.  His annexing of Egypt to the Roman empire was the signal that the Greek empire had finally been destroyed as viewed from Scripture.  The power and dominion had shifted from Greece to Rome.  That power shift was to a king with innate associations with both the number eight and the color red.  He was also linked to being hairy in accordance with the shaggy-he goat of Daniel 8 which had represented Greece.  All of this symbolism aligns well with other messianic and anti-messianic figures like Adam, Esau/Edom, David, Jacob, Mordecai, Obed-Edom, Antiochus Epiphanes, Nero Caesar, Pythagoras, Python and Satan.  We see these motifs reflected elsewhere in Revelation as well.  Thus, the eighth king of Revelation 17 also represents at least one new cycle of non-Roman kings who would rise and continue to rule beyond 70 A.D.

Yet, the text of Revelation tells us that even these kings are destined for destruction.  In a future post, we’ll investigate just what it means for the these kings to be destroyed.

References

1. Gurney, Robert J.M. (1980). “God in Control” Chapter 7, pp. 9-10,12,16 [Adobe PDF version].  Retrieved from biblicalstudies.org.uk
2. Chase, George Davis (1897). “The Origin of Roman Praenomina”, in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII, pp. 131,151
3. Frost, Samuel (2018). “Daniel Unplugged” [Kindle version]. Retrieved from amazon.com
4. Photius, Excerpt of Ctesias’ “Persica”: 72.47
5. Suetonius, “Lives of the Twelve Caesars”: 2.1
6. Phillipson, J. (2013). C.P. Cavafy “Historical Poems: A Verse Translation with Commentaries” p. 489
7. Tacitus, “Annals”: 15.37
8. Dio Cassius, “Roman History”: 62.28; 63.22
9. Suetonius, “Lives of the Twelve Caesars”: 6.29
10. Iamblichus, “Life of Pythagoras”: 26.116-121
11. Joost-Gaugier, Christiane L. (2006), “Measuring Heaven: Pythagoras and his Influence on Thought and Art in Antiquity and the Middle Ages”, p. 161
12. Iamblichus, “Life of Pythagoras”: 21.98
13. Chilton, David (1987) “The Days of Vengeance”, pp. 346-352
14. Iamblichus, “Life of Pythagoras”: 8.44
15. Ibid. 8.44
16. Cicero, “Tusculan Disputations”: 5.3.8–9
17. Diogenes Laërtius, “Lives of Eminent Philosophers: Pythagoras”: 1.12, 8.1.41, 8.8
18. Iamblichus, “Life of Pythagoras”: 2.5-8
19. Diogenes Laërtius, “Lives of Eminent Philosophers: Pythagoras”: 8.1.4-5
20. Iamblichus, “Life of Pythagoras”: 1.1; 2.5-9
21. Porphyry, “The Life of Pythagoras”: 2,27-29
22. Iamblichus, “Life of Pythagoras”: 30.179
23. Ibid. 3.14
24. Hyginus, “Fabulae”: 140
25. Diogenes Laërtius, “Lives of Eminent Philosophers: Pythagoras”: 8.1.10
26. Ibid. 8.1.44
27. Iamblichus, “Life of Pythagoras”: 28.152
28. “Res Gestae Divi Augusti”: 12
29. Ibid. 13

Whirlwinds

Having covered the significance of the north vs. south symbolism in my previous post, we will now discuss the symbolism of the whirlwind as it pertains to our key verse of interest. Let’s look at that verse again.

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

Daniel 11:40 NKJV

In this verse, we see a peculiar reference to the King of the North rushing against the king of the south (the second ‘him’ in the verse) like a whirlwind. At first this probably just seems like nothing more than artistic embellishment by the heavenly man presenting it. That seems to be how most people throughout history have interpreted it.

However, just as the symbolism of the north vs. south has a significant biblical precedent, we’ll soon see that the whirlwind does as well. Let’s now take a look at how the ‘whirlwind’ is used in scripture.

Terms for Whirlwind

Now, let me say up front, that we do have to be a little careful here. Let me explain why.

The Hebrew word for “whirlwind” used in Daniel 11:40 is sa`ar. If you’d like to look it up in a Strong’s concordance, it’s Strong’s number H8175. This word is only used in a handful of places elsewhere in scripture but this occurrence in Daniel is the only place where any English translation renders it as “whirlwind”. In other places it’s translated as “fear” or “terror” or something similar. So, it may seem that our search for the significance of the biblical use of whirlwind wouldn’t go beyond the very verse we are starting in.

Fortunately, there are several other Hebrew words that can also mean ‘whirlwind’. Realizing that, to determine if there is some significance to the symbol of the ‘whirlwind’, we may need to expand our search a little to allow for words that may not be exactly the same Hebrew word as that used here in Daniel.

It turns out, that some of these additional words meaning ‘whirlwind’ actually bear a very close resemblance to the word used here in Daniel 11:40. With other words of similar meaning however, such a relationship to our whirlwind in this passage may not seem as strong. To be fair in our analysis, then, we will deliberately try to limit our options to only to the words that have a clear relationship to that which is used in Daniel 11:40.

With that explanation out of the way, let’s look at two of the other Hebrew words that can mean whirlwind. These are Strong’s numbers H5590 and H5591. Here is the Hebrew representation of these words.

Hebrew Words Meaning Whirlwind

After being transliterated into English, both words are spelled ca`ar. As noted earlier, the Hebrew word for “whirlwind” used in Daniel 11:40 is sa`ar. Notice how similar all three of these words look in both Hebrew and English. There’s a reason for that. They are pronounced similarly, if not exactly the same way in both languages. So here we have 3 words. They can all mean the same thing and they are all pronounced the same way. They are clearly related.

Keeping a conservative mindset, it seems very reasonable that our search for passages relating to whirlwinds should at least include these two Hebrew words. The following are English versions of key verses that employ the Hebrew words H5590 and H5591 and that also translate them as ‘whirlwind’:

Whirlwinds in Scripture

Turning to the New King James again, Ezekiel tells us

“Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.”

Ezekiel 1:4

Notice again that here this whirlwind – a symbolic image of God – is also coming out of the north.

“No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.”

Isaiah 40:24

“See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.”

Jeremiah 23:19

“When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. … As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

2 Kings 2:1,11

In this account of Elijah, notice the association of the whirlwind with the chariot and horses. All of these things are mentioned in our passage in Daniel 11:40 as well. Isaiah also makes this association:

See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

Isaiah 66:15

Again, in Habakkuk, we see God riding into battle:

“Were you angry with the rivers, Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode your horses and your chariots to victory?”

Habakkuk 3:8

Even God’s messengers are depicted in 2nd Kings as a mounted cavalry:

And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Kings 6:17

In Psalms, David says

“The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands; the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary.”

Psalm 68:17

Ezekiel 10 actually takes this imagery a step further and reveals that God’s chariot doubles as his throne.

And I looked, and there in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. Then he spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.”

Ezekiel 10:1-2

Later in verses 15, 20, and 22, Ezekiel realizes that this throne was the same chariot he had witnessed back in verse 1:4. Notice this throne has wheels like a chariot. Rather than being a stationary object as is the case with the thrones of most earthly kings, God is pictured as taking his throne wherever he goes into battle.

Jeremiah tells us that when God sets his chariot-throne within a nation, this signifies the execution of judgement on that nation.

“I will set my throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials,” declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah 49:38

Quick Comparison to Daniel 7:9-10

As a quick side note while this image of the fiery chariot-throne of God’s judgment is fresh in your mind, if you’re familiar with Daniel’s other prophecies, you’ll recall that in the vision of the 4 beasts of 7:9-10, immediately after the body of the 4th beast is destroyed by fire, Daniel sees the fiery throne of the Ancient of Days set in place. Based on what we’ve seen in scripture, we can conclude that this throne – God’s throne – has all the trappings it did elsewhere is scripture. In particular, we can infer that it has the appearance of a whirlwind-like chariot drawn by flaming horses.

At the very least, this demonstrates that imagery bearing a striking resemblance to that used in Daniel 11:40 was used at least one other time in Daniel as a symbolic portrayal of God’s judgment. Could it even suggest that these two visions of Daniel are actually describing contemporaneous events – perhaps even the same event?

That’s a topic for another time, so I’ll just let you think on that one on your own for a while. I just wanted to plant a little hint there that whatever we end up making of Daniel 11:40, it may also have a significant impact on how we understand earlier prophecies of Daniel.

Whirlwind: Recap and Summary

So, getting back to our original topic of the ‘whirlwind’, let’s take stock of what we’ve just learned.

Here in Daniel 11:40, we have a king representing the north rushing out like a whirlwind with chariots and horses against a king of the south. Elsewhere in scripture, we’ve seen whirlwinds coming out of the north that are clearly associated with God’s vehicle of judgment, his fiery chariot-throne. Within another oracle of Daniel, the vision of the 4 beasts from the sea, we saw a curiously similar judgment scenario unfold using comparable imagery.

Is it just me or does it seem that a person could be forgiven for concluding that the king of the north here in Daniel 11:40 is, somehow, a picture of God himself?

And if the king of the north represents God in this verse, maybe it’s represented God from the very beginning of the prophecy? This certainly would fit very well with all the biblical evidence we’ve seen up to this point.

Other Hints of God

In fact, in light of this realization, other seemingly irrelevant statements begin to take on heightened significance as indications that this king of the north may actually be a veiled reference to God.

Several times in Daniel, language very similar to that which is used to describe God’s prerogatives is applied to those of earthly kings. For instance, the phrase “does as he pleases” occurs 3 times in Daniel 11 itself. It appears in verses 3, 16, 36. In the first two of these verses, it’s the king of the north who does as he pleases. In the third verse, it’s just “the king”, with the term ‘north’ excluded but the last king referenced before this was the king of the north so it seems likely that this anonymous king is really another reference to the king of the north.

What’s interesting here is, that in Daniel 4:35, Daniel warns king Nebuchadnezzar that it’s God who does as he pleases. This means that 3 times in the same prophecy containing our puzzling verse, the king of the north is ascribed the unique privileges of God Himself.

We also find support for this idea in another book of the Bible which is from the same general time period as Daniel – the book of Esther. Let’s turn there for a moment.

It’s long been recognized that although God isn’t mentioned even once in Esther, His providence and guiding hand over the course of history are significant, if only implicit, themes. The assumption is that God is acting in history through the earthly characters and events of the account. These same themes are also predominant in Daniel. Further, a primary concern of the personalities of Esther is pleasing the earthly king of Persia. Statements referring to the “king’s pleasure” occur at least 14 times in Esther.

We should ask ourselves, is it just a coincidence that the pleasure of an earthly king, a king portrayed as one of the primary agents through whom God brings about His will, is such a prevalent subject of both Daniel and Esther? Could it be that these books demonstrate examples of the same sort of allusions to God’s invisible hand in history?

In another of Daniel’s prophecies, we also see mention of a king who does as he pleases. This is the king of Persia represented in a vision as a ram in Daniel 8:4. This same verse ties this concept of pleasing the king to another common theme of Daniel. The theme of irresistible destruction. Daniel 8:4 mentions that there was no one in existence who could stop the ram’s conquest. Or as Daniel puts it, “no animal could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand”. In fact, just a few verses later, the tables are turned on the ram as a male goat, symbolizing the king of Greece, enters the scene. The goat shatters the ram’s horn in Daniel 8:7 and it’s stated that “there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.”

In Daniel chapter 3, we find Nebuchadnezzar rhetorically asking what god could rescue those who refused to worship the image he had made. He specifically asks “what god could rescue them from my hand”. We also see king Darius in Daniel 6 trying to devise a plan to rescue Daniel from the lions. In the cases of both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, it’s God who is ultimately credited with the ability to rescue his servants from certain destruction. We see this when Nebuchadnezzar responds to the saving of Daniel’s friends from the fiery furnace in Daniel 3:28.

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king?s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”

Daniel 3:15

Likewise, Darius responds in similar terms to Daniel’s miraculous rescue from the lions:

So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” … When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” … He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Daniel 6:16, 20, 27

Is it then just an insignificant coincidence that the earthly kings of chapter 8 (the Ram and the Goat) are also said to have this power to rescue? And is it just shear happenstance, that verse 4 of that same chapter, chapter 8, also uses the phrase “does as he pleases” elsewhere attributed to God alone. And is it just by chance that the Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes, is the central Greek figure of that same chapter and also chapter 11 where he’s one of the Kings of the North?

Now if all these instances indicate that these nations and kings possess powers that are characteristic of God alone, is it any stretch of the imagination at all to think that the king of the north of Daniel 11 is to be understood as none other than God himself acting out his will in history through earthly nations?! It seems to me that a person could easily reach that conclusion.

Further, elsewhere in scripture, the whirlwind seems to be associated with the early warnings and initial phases of God’s judgment. We saw this earlier, where Ezekiel witnessed God’s whirlwind-like chariot-throne leaving the temple and the city of Jerusalem, coming to rest over the Mount of Olives, the mountain east of Jerusalem. This signified that God had abandoned the city and would not be fighting for her when the Babylonians came to invade.

Even before Ezekiel’s time, Hosea 8:7 has God stating that the destruction of the Northern King of Israel would be tantamount to reaping the whirlwind – the fitting punishment for sowing nothing but spiritual wind. This last occurrence of whirlwind is quite different than the three Hebrew words we looked at earlier. In keeping with our commitment to not consider such words, we will establish our case here independent of it. However, after this case is established, an investigation into this word can be quite fascinating itself. Perhaps we can do that in another article.

Suffice it to say, there is a longstanding tradition that the presence of God and the initial phases of his wrath are indicated by the concept of the whirlwind.

Returning to Our Question

So, let’s backup for a moment. Where exactly are we in relation to the question we set out to answer earlier? That question was “what justification is there for supposing that the kings of the north and south in the second part of Daniel 11:40 are different than they were in the first part?”. So far we’ve seen that similar changes in identity that are abrupt and undetectable by context alone do occur several times elsewhere in this prophecy. We’ve also seen convincing evidence that God is somehow to be understood as the true king of the north and spiritual forces in opposition to him are symbolized by the south. That is, the earthly kings associated with the symbol of the north are the agents of God’s judgment and the king of the south represents the recipients of God’s judgment. We’ve also seen evidence that he is most associated with this whirlwind during the early warnings and initial phases of his judgment. While all this is certainly interesting, it’s hard at this point to see how this all brings us any closer to the answer we are looking for. Something still seems to be missing from this equation.

Judgment Patterns in Scripture

There is in fact one more piece to the puzzle that we will need before the picture will be complete. This has to do with the pattern in which God portions out his judgment on nations.

Imagine, for example, a nation that has been under observation by God for a good long time. He finds that their actions continually displease Him. How does God deal with such a nation? According to the Bible, he generally lets their transgressions continue only to a predetermined point. When that transgression extends beyond this point, that’s when he brings judgment on that nation. God alludes to this principle of his judgment when he informs Abraham how long his descendants will remain outside the land of Canaan.

In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.

Genesis 15:16

Here, God acknowledges that the Amorites are sinful people but in his patient forbearance, he indicates that he has given them a certain threshold which their sin must exceed before he will bring judgment on them. In this passage, he also hints that when the time does come for judgment on the Amorites, Abraham’s descendants will be the executors of God’s judgment. That judgment will be the military might of Israel.

And we find this principle at work throughout scripture. God’s judgment against one nation takes the form of the military power of an opposing nation.

These nations are not chosen for this purpose because their rulers are necessarily more pleasing to God or because they have an established zeal for enforcing God’s laws. A nation is chosen in many cases simply because they already have a selfish disposition toward subjection of the nation that God wishes to judge. God, with his sovereign power to bend the forces of evil to his will, uses foreign nations as unwitting participants in His overall plan. As far as they are concerned, their aggressive actions towards other nations are for the purposes of furthering their own interests. They have little or no regard for the purposes of God. This evil intent does not escape God’s attention, but he tolerates it long enough to fulfill His purposes.

Therefore, just as with the nation that is currently the focus of God’s judgment, the nation executing that judgment -the executor- is assigned a specified point to which God will no longer tolerate its evil intentions either. When this point is reached, the executor of God’s judgment will be convicted itself. That nation will then become the new focal point of God’s judgment. And just as with the earlier nation, the executor of this judgment will be a nation itself, albeit, a different one. And so the cycle continues on and on.

Lest we assume that this observation is mere speculation on our part, God Himself says point blank that this is exactly how he operates. Consider how he describes the manner in which he would deal with ancient Assyria in these passages from Isaiah:

“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations. … When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.”

Isaiah 10:5-7,12

God fulfilled this promise when the forces of Babylonia conquered the Assyrian empire.

Combining this cyclical principle of judgment of nations by the military forces of other nations and the principle that God’s judgment emanates from the north, we can deduce that after the executor nation (symbolized by the north) finishes carrying out God’s judgment on the judged nation (symbolized by the south), the focus of God’s judgment should then tend to progress from the south toward the north.

To put it another way, as the judgment on the south subsides, it gives way to God’s compassion for the suffering remnant, and the new target of God’s judgment becomes the north, the former executor of God’s wrath. Here again, we don’t have to speculate. This principle is stated explicitly on several occasions in scripture:
God commands Ezekiel:

“Say to the southern forest: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to set fire to you, and it will consume all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and every face from south to north will be scorched by it”.

Ezekiel 20:47

A chapter later, God says,

“Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north.”

Ezekiel 21:4

This south-to-north progression of judgment even seems to be alluded to in the description of how the guards were arranged around the young king Joash to protect him from the evil Athaliah:
2 Kings 11:11, and 2 Chronicles 23:10 tell us that the guards, each with weapon in hand, stationed themselves around the young king Joash -near the altar and the temple and they were oriented from the south side to the north side of the temple. These guards, the agents of God’s wrath, were instructed to kill anyone who dared to come near the king. The description of their arrangement is yet another indication that the order in which judgment is executed is in the south first, then the north.

Conclusion

I think by now you’re maybe starting to see where this is all leading. So, let’s walk through it together.

A consistent theme of Daniel is that God is in control, as reflected in the title of Dr. Gurney’s book. Nations are always operating at God’s behest whether they realize it or not. As long as they refuse to acknowledge this and do not yield to his will, they are storing up wrath against themselves. Once their disobedience surpasses a certain point predefined by God, His pent up wrath will engulf them. God has chosen the cardinal direction of the north to signify the place from where He righteously executes this just punishment. The objects of this wrath are the earthly rulers who have chosen to align themselves with spiritual forces in opposition to God. These rulers are symbolized as taking their stance in the south.

Had we been aware of this symbolism at the outset of the vision, we could have immediately sensed that the account of the kings of the north and south was depicting a judgment scene. We would have been able to infer from the very start that the judgment on the recipient nation would gradually cease. Further, as that judgment would draw to a close, we could anticipate that God’s judgment would be shifting its focus northward all the while. Ultimately, the focus of judgment would rest completely on the north. It’s quite possible that this transfer of roles may occur implicitly and transparently so as to preserve the heavenly viewpoint symbolized by the north vs. south imagery. This by itself would seem to lend more credence to the idea that maybe the identities of the nations do change exactly as Dr. Gurney proposes. This would appear justifiable even with only the striking parallels between the text and the events of recorded history.

Fortunately, we have indicators well beyond that. We are not left to assume that this is only a mere possibility within the text. We actually see the intensity of the narrative increase in a very striking way. The whirlwind of the second half of verse 40 accompanied by the chariots and horses are well established Old Testament symbols. They represent the blinding suddenness with which God first blasts open the storehouses of his blazing hot wrath. This classic trademark is a dead giveaway that God’s disciplinary action, though it has been waning with regards to the south, has once more been revived. According to the Biblical pattern we’ve seen, this outpouring of wrath would seem to be the initial phase of a judgment from God. Since this is an initial phase of judgment, it would seem strange if the target were still the same nation whose judgment had been introduced at the beginning of the chapter. Rather, this judgment is in response to the sin of the nation of the north surpassing the tolerable limit which God had set for it. At this point, then, God’s wrath is terrifyingly manifest against his former, inadvertent allies. The force of God’s judgment once again returns to full strength but has come to bear fully focused on the nation that had previously represented His interests, when it was symbolized by the north.

You see, we have, for ages, wrongly assumed that the nations referred to by the north and south do not change. In reality, it is the lens through which God sees the world that does not change. And from His viewpoint, judgment comes from the north. Yet, no nation remains associated with the north forever. All nations are temporary agents of God’s wrath. Eventually, those agents will be judged themselves. And once judgment finally comes around for a nation associated with the north, that nation can no longer properly be seen by God as the north. It is no longer his agent, his executor. It becomes the target of His judgment and therefore a representative of the south. A new nation enters the scene as God’s executor and becomes associated with the north. This happens seamlessly and implicitly.

So, if we are going to detect this change in the text, we’ll need to either look to history or find something within the text itself that could serve as an indicator. Fortunately we have both. In the second half of verse 40, then, the King of the South changes from Egypt, to Syria, the former King of the North. Syria is being judged by Rome, who, according to history, has become the new king of the North.

Gurney’s Hypothesized Transition

So, there you have it. A biblically based explanation of why these verses have bewildered believers and emboldened skeptics for several thousand years. We’ve seen not only why the seemingly odd change of nations does occur but also why we should have probably been expecting the change to be necessary after reading only a few verses into the oracle. The rest is, well, history. History which we can learn more about by at another time.

We’ve covered a wealth of information in this session. Information that is hard to digest in one sitting. I’d encourage you to investigate these subjects more on your own and reach your own conclusions. Whether you ultimately agree or not with the views presented here, I’d love to hear you’re thoughts on this interpretation -positive or negative. Please post your comments below to join the conversation or email me for private inquiries. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Imagery: A View From Heaven

Having discussed the precedents in previous post, we now need to take a look at the imagery that’s being employed in this oracle.

First, it’s very important for us to understand the perspective from which this entire prophecy is being related to us.  There is a specific viewpoint from which this prophecy is made.  This perspective will become clear to us by making some observations regarding the context of the vision and the biblical use of the imagery of “north vs. south”.  We’ll look first at the immediate context.

While it can’t be denied that this prophecy has an obvious focus on the conflicts of earthly kingdoms, we’ll see that its primarily described from the standpoint of the corresponding conflicts in the spiritual realm.  From the very start of the vision containing this prophecy, there are indicators that it may have a predominantly spiritual focus.  For example, it’s instructive to consider who is speaking throughout this prophecy.  The vision actually starts in the previous chapter – chapter 10.

Here, we find the entity relating the prophecy to Daniel is someone who is described as having the appearance of a man, the implication being that he is some sort of spiritual being.  Doesn’t it seem somewhat reasonable that a heavenly being might tend to relate things to others from a spiritual perspective? This suspicion is soon confirmed for us because in that very chapter, this messenger alludes to battles of imperial proportions – one involving himself and the prince of Perisa, and another between himself and the prince of Greece.  Michael, the chief prince of Daniel’s people, is also said to be participating in these battles.

Most commentators agree that these princes are not direct references to human beings but rather spiritual beings.  The thing we should notice here is that the man in the vision refers to these spiritual beings based on the nations they are associated with – Persia, Greece, and Israel.  The prophecy of the kings of the north and south almost immediately follows the references to these spiritual beings.  Might we then suspect that the geographical language that the man uses in chapter 11 could also be referring to spiritual powers?  Could it be that these earthly nations are described as they are seen from a heavenly perspective?

A Peculiar Ambiguity

Notice also that, unlike the description of the princes of Persia, Greece, and Israel, the kings are not described by their national affiliations.  Only their geographic location.  Why this inconsistency?  If they were always the same nations, why not simply call them Syria and Egypt?  Why call them kings of the north and south?  Perhaps they can’t be called Syria and Egypt because they aren’t always those nations.  That may be one reason for the use of the more general terms north and south. We’ll see some other possible reasons for this later.

Some might argue that, geographic locations may have been used just to make the prophecy more ambiguous.  It is an apocalypse, isn’t it?  If it were too obvious as to how it would be fulfilled and it fell into the hands of the people to which it pertained, they may be able to use that information to their advantage and change the course of history, perhaps even thawrting the predicted outcome.

I could see some merit in that argument. But it’s interesting that if the man in the vision was so concerned about concealing the identities of these nations, why does he explicitly mention Egypt by name just a few verses later? In verses v. 42-43 we read

he shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt.

He goes on to mention other kingdoms as well.  Lybia.  Ethiopia.  And just a verse earlier he mentions Edom, Moab, and Ammon.  That’s not to mention the princes of Persia and Greece from chapter 10.  8 nations – all by name.  Why is ambiguity so important in the section concerning the kings of the north and south but not in the verses immediately preceding it or after it?

In particular, why introduce the phrase, the “King of the South” as generic name for Egypt, when it’s explicitly mentioned by name in nearby verses?

Significance of the Heavenly Viewpoint: Further Hints

The view that spiritual forces are behind the rulers of earthly kingdoms also finds specific support elsewhere in both the old and new testaments.  It’s a consistent principle throughout the bible that beings in the spiritual world constantly vie for the influence of beings in the physical realm.  Here are some of the passages that demonstrate this most directly.

• Saul and the tormenting spirit of 1 Samuel 16:14.
• The spirit that volunteered to deceive Ahab, the king of Israel, through his false prophets in 2 Chronicles 18:21 and 1 Kings 22:22.
• And the apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that the battles we are contending in are not against flesh and blood but rather rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world – the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
• The New Testament even records numerous cases of humans being possessed by demons. Not the least of which was Judas Iscariot.

Beyond Suspicion

In addition to these initial hints, there are two other far more compelling clues that the prophecy of the kings of the north and south is related to us from the perspective of the heavenly realm.  These clues are the vision’s use of:

1. the cardinal directions of north and south to describe the origins of the earthly conflicts
2. the whirlwind to describe a significant blow delivered to the King of the South.

Both of these lines of evidence are based on powerful literary images that are well established elsewhere in the Old Testament.

North vs. South Imagery

Interpreters have long concluded, somewhat arbitrarily so, that the north vs. south imagery employed in this vision is simply a reflection of the relative geographic locations of the two specific earthly nations involved in the prophecy, namely Syria and Egypt.  This symbolism then serves as a convenient mask to add an element of ambiguity or perhaps apocalyptic style to the prophecy.

However, this view reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the symbolism that’s being employed here. It’s this misunderstanding that has lead to much the confusion over the final few verses of this oracle.

In reality, the predominant thrust of the north vs. south imagery extends beyond the geography of the physical world into the heavenly realm.  These cardinal directions are a pictorial way of describing the opposing nature of the spiritual combatants raging behind the power struggles amongst earthly kingdoms.  This makes the visionary man’s use of north and south to designate rulers of nations very significant.

Let’s look at some of the biblical evidence that would confirm this idea.  A natural place to start our investigation may be with the most significant of all of these spiritual combatants – God himself.  On many occassions in scripture, God’s judgement on nations procedes from a single characteristic direction.  That direction is the North.  Here are some key verses to consider.

In Ezekiel, we read:

Wail, you gate! Howl, you city! Melt away, all you Philistines! A cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there is not a straggler in its ranks.

Ezekiel 32:30

In the same book, God says …

also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops-the many nations with you. … You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army.

Ezekiel 38:6,15

Later, He says

“I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel.”

Ezekiel 39:2

Turning to Isaiah

“All the princes of the north and all the Sidonians are there; they went down with the slain in disgrace despite the terror caused by their power.”

Isaiah 14:31

Much later, God tells Isaiah:

“I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes-one from the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay.”

Isaiah 41:25

Jeremiah has a lot to say on this subject.

“The word of the Lord came to me again: “What do you see?” “I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.” The Lord said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.”

Jeremiah 1:13-14

“Raise the signal to go to Zion! Flee for safety without delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, even terrible destruction.”

Jeremiah 4:6

“Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction. … “Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth.”

Jeremiah 6:1,22

Listen! The report is coming-a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.

Jeremiah 10:22

Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, the sheep of which you boasted?

Jeremiah 13:20

“I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. … and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other – all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.

Jeremiah 25:9,26

“Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly is coming against her from the north. … Daughter Egypt will be put to shame, given into the hands of the people of the north.”

Jeremiah 46:20-24

“See how the waters are rising in the north; they will become an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and everything in it, the towns and those who live in them.”

Jeremiah 47:2

In Jeremiah 50, judgement from the north is mentioned four times:

“A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land. No one will live in it; both people and animals will flee away. … For I will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the land of the north. They will take up their positions against her, and from the north she will be captured. … “Look! An army is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.”

Jeremiah 50:3,9,41

In the final chapter of Jeremiah,  a warning goes forth:

“Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The Lord has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The Lord will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple. … Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 51: 11,48

Finally, in Joel, God says

“I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.

Joel 2:20

There are even passages where, although it’s not explicitly stated that God is fighting from the north, the nations being judged are in the south.

Then the Lord will appear over them; his arrow will flash like lightning. The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south …

Zechariah 9:14

Back in Ezekiel again, we read:

“Son of man, set your face toward the south; preach against the south and prophesy against the forest of the southland.”

Ezekiel 20:46

The pattern that emerges is clear.  When God is seen coming in judgement, the direction from which he is coming is usually described as the north.

However, even in passages like Habakkuk 3, which seems to depict God’s judgement emanating from the south rather than the north, closer inspection reveals that its actually describing the exact opposite:

“God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. .. I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish.”

Habakkuk 3:3-5,7

Here we have an instance of God’s judgement of plague and pestilence proceeding forth from Teman.  “Teman” means “southlands”.  The man for which this area is named was also the firstborn of a chief named Eliphaz, who was himself the first born of Esau.  Esau, too, has connections to the south.  He was the father of the Edomites, who inhabited the regions south of Judah.

What’s interesting here is that the targets of this judgement are said to be Cush and Midian.  Cush and Midian were well south of Teman.  That is, Teman, despite being emblematic of the south with respect to Israel, was still north of the stated targets of God’s judgement.  It would seem likely that these passages may even deliberately refrain from using the term “south” to intentionally downplay the usual association of this region with the south in other biblical contexts so as to not conflict with the consistency of the north vs. south imagery used in other biblical judgement passages.

While we are on the subject, let me just say this. There are a few other instances of God coming from the south which may at first seem to violate this principle.  However, the point I’m making here is not that God’s movements are always viewed as proceeding out of the north.  An approach from north typically indicates God’s impending judgement.  However, he is seen journeying from the south on occassion.  Though, these trips from the south are for the purposes of delivering provisions and wealth.  Often, these are in the form of plunder from the southern kingdoms, the recipients of judgement.

Let’s look at some more verses.

“He let loose the east wind from the heavens and by his power made the south wind blow. He rained meat down on them like dust, birds like sand on the seashore.” …

Psalm 78:26-27

This is refering to God’s providential supply of quail for Israel to use for food while they were wandering in the desert.  The first hand account of this is given to us in the book of Numbers 11:31.

Further,

“The Lord came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes.”

Deuteronomy 33:2

Notice also the reference to Seir. The Edomites, which we mentioned earlier as having connections with the South are said to have settled in the hill country of Seir.”;

Even passages where God Himself is not mentioned but his provisions are, those provisions are often coming from the south.
In 2 Chronicles 9 and 1 Kings 10, we read the account of the Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon and all the gifts she gave him.

“When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. Arriving with a very great caravan-with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones-she came to Solomon and talked with him about all she had on her mind. … Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. There had never been such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

In Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31, Jesus referred to the Queen of Sheba, the one delivering the provisions to king Solomon, as the Queen of the south. Incidentally, he mentioned this during a pronouncement of judgement on Israel.

Again, in Isaiah, God says

“Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.”

Isaiah 60:6

These kingdoms from where the provisions would come – Midian, Ephah, Sheba – are all in the south.”

So, you can see, there is a clear pattern in scripture. God’s judgement is viewed as proceeding out of the north with his enemies residing in the south. Plunder from the conquest of the south is sent north.

Up Next

In my next post, we’ll explore the significance of the whirlwind.  We will then tie all these observations together to reach our conclusion about what is actually going on here in Daniel and why it has remained a mystery for so many centuries.

A King Who Exalts Himself

The cryptic prophecies of the biblical book of Daniel have been the subjects of controversy and speculation for thousands of years.  And few portions of Daniel are more fertile grounds for criticism from skeptics and heated debate among believers than the conclusion to the prophecy regarding the Kings of the North and South.  This prophecy can be found in Daniel chapter 11.

It is agreed by biblical scholars of all stripes, secular and non-secular alike, that the majority of this prophecy describes the exploits of and conflicts between various kings of ancient Syria and Egypt.  These events happened several hundred years before Christ.

Surprisingly, there is also nearly unanimous agreement among scholars as to which historical figures are being described at each point during this prophecy.

That is up until verse 36, at least.  Here, opinions begin to vary somewhat as to what historical events are in view.  This point in the prophecy starts the description of a figure who is sometimes known as “the King Who Exalts Himself”.

Some hold that this king is someone of unparalleled influence and malevolence who will arise to usher in the end of the world.  In fact, most Christians today understand this figure as a reference to a future Antichrist.

Still others see no justification at all for such a vast gap in the timeline of this prophecy and tend to correlate these events with history of more ancient times.

And yet others see no convincing correlation between the events described here and world events at any point in history.  They consider the predictions made beyond this point to be complete failures.  These groups consider the contrast between these obvious failures and the striking accuracy of the earlier predictions to be a strong indication that whoever authored this portion of Daniel, was a fraud.  To their minds, the evidence would indicate that the author of Daniel was actually recounting events that had already occurred at the time he wrote about them.  He simply wrote about them using language as if they were yet future.

It is supposed then, that somewhere between verse 36 and 41, that the author began his bold, perhaps delusional, attempt at making authentic predictions.  All of these predictions up to the very end of the chapter, appear to have been horribly inaccurate.  In other words, they believe Daniel was likely nothing more than a prophetic pretender, writing hundreds of years after the events he claimed to be predicting.

Who is correct?  Was Daniel actually a false prophet?  If not, how then are we to understand this portion of prophecy?  Why would God give us such a detailed oracle without providing convincing evidence to verify it?  After so many years of debate and speculative whims, is there any hope that the truth can ever be known with a reasonable degree of confidence?

Personally, I believe the prophecies revealed through Daniel were absolutely correct in every detail.  Yet, possibly like many of you, I feel that skeptics do raise some valid questions.  What exactly are we to conclude from their observations?

In this brief article, we’ll take a fresh look at this bewildering and fascinating portion of biblical prophecy.  I will be your guide to a fascinating walk through the Bible that will shed an immense amount of light on these perplexing passages.  After taking this walk myself, it finally, to my mind at least, laid to rest all of the apparent difficulties with viewing this portion of Daniel as an authentic prophecy -fulfilled in the distant past.  It is my sincere hope that this presentation will also bring closure to the minds of many, believers and skeptics alike, who have been wrestling with these very same difficulties.

While the discoveries put forth here will certainly never end the debates completely, I’m confident that as awareness spreads, this information will vindicate the book of Daniel in the eyes of many who may have doubts about its authenticity and accuracy.  Also, despite any preconceptions you might have, this prophecy is not nearly as intimidating as it may initially sound.  You will not need years of theological training or advanced degrees in history or theology from a prestigious seminary to comprehend it.  I’m just a lay person myself, a software developer by trade.  All you need is an inquisitive mind and your Bible.

With that, let’s begin.

Problems of the Prevailing View

As alluded to earlier, this pivotal point in biblical prophecy can be found in Daniel 11.  Here we read:

Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done.  He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.  But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things.  Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.  At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.  He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon.  He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.  He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels.  But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many.  And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.

Daniel 11:36-45 NKJV

Throughout history, it has been generally believed that the events described in these verses were references to some event well beyond the life of the historical Jesus.  This is true even in our day.  Most modern Christians at least, believe they refer to someone who will rise up in the end times.

Yet, there are very few indicators from the text itself, that would support such a view.  When given a fair and natural reading, the text certainly leaves one with at least an initial impression that it is a direct continuation of the events described earlier in the prophecy.  As stated in my introduction, scholars are in virtually unanimous agreement that those earlier events focus on the various kings of ancient Syria and Egypt.  It seems more than reasonable then to assume that we should only look to the distant future for possible identities of these kings after we can find no convincing parallels contemporary to them.

Some might say that thousands of years of fruitless searches through the annals of history for such parallels would be sufficient justification for thinking the events have not yet happened.  However, have these searches really been all that thorough or fruitless for that matter?

This is the mystery we are going to be investigating.  By the time we are finished piecing this puzzle together, I think you’ll find the conclusion we reach quite surprising.

Unique Proposal of Dr. Robert Gurney

Let’s just consider for the time being the possibility that this prophecy may have been fulfilled prior to the coming of Christ over 2,000 years ago.  Among the few interpretations that see this last section of the kings of the north and south as being fulfilled in ancient history, perhaps none is more intriguing than that of medical doctor and missionary to Africa, the late Dr. Robert Gurney.

In 1967, Dr. Gurney published an article in the “Theological Students Fellowship Bulletin” detailing what he believed to be the actual historic fulfillment of Daniel 11:36-45.  Later, in 1980, he also published a detailed exposition on a non-traditional view of the major prophecies of Daniel.  God in Control, as the book was titled, presented a convincing, yet unconventional interpretation of Daniel’s 4 kingdoms.  It also included a more detailed justification for his views on verses 36 through 45 of Daniel 11.  In both his article and book, Dr. Gurney proposed that these verses largely dealt with the destruction of the Greek empire followed by some of the failed yet significant military exploits conducted by the founders of the Roman empire.

He argued that, in addition to the already popular view that verses 36 through 39 were a continuation of earlier verses that described the Syrian tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes, verses 40 through the end of the chapter contained references to other ancient historical figures.  Figures such as Antiochus Asiaticus, the last of the kings from the Seleucid monarchy in Syria.  Also, Pompey and Crassus, men who, in conjunction with Julius Caesar, were the three most powerful rulers of Rome in the early days of the Roman Empire.

A detailed investigation of these events is discussed in Gurney’s book but are beyond the scope of this article.  It’s sufficient to note for our purposes that, in general, the events described in the biblical text correspond very well to the events from secular history with which Dr. Gurney associates them.

I say “in general”, because the fit would be nearly perfect if it weren’t for one small problem.  It’s this one problem that most critics of Gurney’s work consider to outweigh all of the other evidence he presents in favor of his arguments.  That issue lies in the seemingly bizarre transition which he proposes takes place in verse 40.  This transition involves the identity of the kings of the north and south.  Let’s take a look at that verse together:

At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.

Daniel 11:40 NKJV

You see, in order for Gurney’s theory to fit this text, the identities of these kings must make an abrupt and unexpected change right in the middle of the verse.  Up through the first clause of verse 40, Gurney’s interpretation is in agreement with the view we already discussed and to which many secular scholars hold.  That interpretation views the king of the north as a king of Syria and the king of the south (designated as ‘him’ in this case) as a king of Egypt.

However, where Gurney’s views depart with current scholarship, is in the second clause of verse 40.  In Gurney’s view, here, the king of the south refers to Syria instead of Egypt and the king of the north (‘him’ in this case) refers to a king associated with the Roman Empire, not Syria.

Gurney’s Hypothesized Transition

Critics of this view see no evidence whatsoever that such a change in identity is warranted.  To them, it seems an awkward and unnatural reading of the passage.  Gurney himself realized this weakness and freely acknowledged it.  This sort of transition does seem unprecedented, unexpected and inexplicable. Yet, he still believed that this interpretation was justifiable because the events of history fit so well with the context surrounding these verses and the overall context of most of Daniel’s other prophecies.  Other than that, he presented very little justification for why the identities would make such a drastic shift.

I have to admit, that once I fully grasped what Dr. Gurney was proposing, his interpretation did give me the impression of a naive and somewhat dubious attempt to evade a long-standing biblical difficulty.  For a long time after reading and thoroughly digesting this theory, I myself remained very skeptical.  In most other areas, his research struck me as quite convincing and seemed based on a sound interpretation of both biblical and extra-biblical evidence.  In particular, his views on Daniel’s 4 kingdoms had the most biblical justification I had seen of any other theory.  Yet, here, his explanation of this one verse seemed just as speculative and suspicious as any of the other interpretations I had encountered.  The biblical support seemed considerably lacking.  While I had initially felt he may have been onto something, over time my hopeful enthusiasm waned and my search for answers continued.

That all changed around March of 2016 with a few discoveries of my own that appear to have escaped the attention of Dr. Gurney.  As unlikely as it may sound, there is far more biblical justification for his view than he or his critics seem to have been aware.  I am now fully convinced that Dr. Gurney was, after all, completely on target regarding the historical reference of these passages.  And with this evidence in hand, one of the most persuasive arguments ever lodged against Daniel falls completely flat.

So, Daniel 11:40 is the crux of what we are going to explore today. We are going to try to answer the question “what justification is there for believing that the identities of the kings of the north and the south in the second half of this verse are different from those in the first half?”  The resolution is actually much simpler than one might expect.  To really grasp the gravity of this interpretation, we’ll need to explore 3 topics:

• Precedents
• Imagery
• Cues from the context

Biblical Precedents

Let’s discuss the precedents first.  As hard as we might find it to believe that such an implicit and abupt change in identities happens here in the middle of verse 40, there are other biblical examples of exactly this sort of thing.  It has been a long accepted, although little discussed fact, that, right here in this very chapter of Daniel, there are at least 6 other verses preceeding this section where such unannounced changes in identity do take place.  I’ve summarized these changes here in this table:

Unannounced Changes Accepted By Scholars

Here we see some of the many kings of Egypt and Syria.  Most kings of Egypt from this period were named Ptolemy, and the kings of Syria generally either Seleucus or Anthiochus.

The names are somewhat intimidating, but don’t let that bother you.  The important thing to understand here is that the individual kings in these 6 verses change their identities with absolutely no indication from the context.  The Ptolemy’s are all lumped under one lablel – the king of the south.  The Anthiochus’s and Seleucus’s are labeled the king of the north.

How then do we know to which historical king each label refers between these verses?  Well, we know from history who the various kings of Egypt and Syria from this period were.  All we have to is look at the lives of these kings as recorded in history and correlate them with the events in these verses.  When the events described no longer seem to apply to one king, we may take this as an indication that the label of north or south has then changed focus to a later ruler.  This is precisely the sort of evidence Dr. Gurney provides for his theory.  If scholars see this approach as being justifiable with these verses, why not in verse 40?

A Dramatic Contrast

Now, someone might say that in the cases in our table, at least the kings all still represent the same nations.  And at least there are breaks in the sentences indicating the possibility that such a change does take place.  Those facts seem to make these sorts of changes easier to accept in those cases.

However, the situation with verse 40 is considerably different.  There, not only are we proposing that the individuals represented by the labels “north” and “south” have changed but also the nationalities of these individuals.  As stated earlier, we are exploring the idea that in the first half of verse 40, the king of the north is Syria and the king of the south is Egypt while in the second half, they are Rome and Syria, respectively.  And all this is supposed to happen mid-sentence?!  There would seem to be no rational way in which to justify that.  The proposal that not one but both kings in these passages simultaneously change their identities and nationalities all in the middle of a single continuous expression of thought without the slightest prompt from the text sounds completely absurd.

However, we’ll see that we have every reason to expect that this sort of change will be required somewhere in this prophecy right from its very beginning and we also have very clear indicators as to exactly where that change occurs!  Unbelievable, right?

In my next post, we’ll begin to see just how this is possible.