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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.

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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.

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:

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.