I see Daniel 8 as a sort of Evil Counterpart to Nathan's Prophecy in 2 Samuel 7. Nathan foretells a Son of David who will build The Temple and reign over a prosperous time of peace. It's near fulfillment was in Solomon, but it's ultimate fulfillment is the Reign of The Messiah. Daniel 8 foretells a Little Horn of the Hellenistic Kingdoms who will violate the Temple and "by peace shall destroy many". It's near fulfillment was Antiochus Epiphanes, but it's finale ultimate fulfillment will be in the Man of Sin spoken of by Paul in Second Thessalonians.
In Christ White's study of Daniel 8, he mentioned something valid that I never noticed before. The first thing said about The Little Horn seems to apply to Seleucus I who founded the dynasty, and doesn't fit Epiphanes well at all. In verse 9
"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land."The "one of them" is one of the Four Horns. Epiphanes did have campaigns that tried to emulate this, but his were all ultimately failures. This fits well however the original Seleucus's campaigns during the Wars of the Diadochi.
I've often struggled with the fact that there were ultimately really Five not Fours kingdoms to emerge from Alexander's divided Empire. Antipater-Cassander, Lysimachus, Antigonos-Demetrius, Ptolmey, and Seleucus. I don't like allegorizing The Bible's usage of numbers. Thanks to Chris White's insight I now have a solution.
The Little Horn is the Seleucid Dynasty itself, not
simply two random individuals who descended from it. And the one of the
first four that it emerged out of is Ptolemy. Daniel 11:5 described the
first "King of The North" as "one of his princes" in reference to the
"King of The South". Also the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties
intermarried a number of times, as I will address in the future.
I want to address how people take from the "King of the South" and "King of the North" terminology in Daniel 11 that the other two (cause their still forcing themselves to see things in terms of four total) must be Kings of the East and West. This is reading something into the text that isn't there however. Yes at the beginning of this period Daniel 11 refers to "shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven" but this is simply an expression, and as such a rare case where I do consider it valid not to dogmatically take the number used there literally.
The Seleucid Empire, which is for many reasons indisputably the one defined as the "King of The North", is called that because it's immediately to the north of Israel. It was NOT the northernmost of the Kingdoms, indeed, during the time period in which these wars took place all of the remaining Hellenistic kingdoms were both further north and further west then the Seleucid lands were. Likewise Seleucus is the ONLY one that could be described as The East. The reason I think The Bible preferred to define it on it's Northerness rather then Easterness in relation to Israel is because it's Capitol, Antioch, was directly north of Jerusalem.
The Seleucid Dynasty came from the Macedonian aristocracy, the royal and other elite families of Macedon claimed, like the Spartan rulers, descent from Herakles. Herakles was a descendant of Perseus and Andromeda, Perseus was a descendant of the Danoi and Andromeda came from Joppa, a port city of Dan. Seleucus was one of the very few of Alexander's generals to keep the wife Alexander made him marry at Susa. Her name was Apama and her ancestry can be traced back to the earliest Persian rulers and trough them to Median rules and trough them to Assyrian rulers. She was the mother of his successor as well as other children.
Two important lesser royal houses become genealogically linked to the Seleucids, the rulers of Pontus and Commagene. Gaius Julius Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Commagene assisted the Romans at the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. And his children and grandchildren would intermarry with descendants of the Herodian and Hamonean dynasties, as well as Roman Patricians descended from Augustus though his Granddaughter Julia The Younger, and also Gaius Cassius Longinus. Interesting how the "Spear of Longinus" becomes linked to The Holy Grail in Arthurian romances. I suspect this Bloodline can be linked to the Merovingian Bloodline, and thus to all Modern European Royalty and Aristocracy.
However, the children of Antiochus I of Commagene also intermarried with Parthrian royalty, and through them became ancestral to all Persian and Armenian rulers by the Second Century A.D. It is actually this Eastern descent from the Seleucid dynasty that is far easier to reliably trace to modern times.
Now I go back to my suggestion that the Seleucid Dynasty is Satan's counterpart to the Davidic Dynasty. Jesus comes from two distinct lines of descent from two different sons of David, as Matthew and Luke demonstrate (though only Luke's through Mary is biological). What if The Antichrist likewise reunites these two separate Eastern and Western lines of descent from the Seleucids?
This analysis in continued in Part II and Part III.
I want to address how people take from the "King of the South" and "King of the North" terminology in Daniel 11 that the other two (cause their still forcing themselves to see things in terms of four total) must be Kings of the East and West. This is reading something into the text that isn't there however. Yes at the beginning of this period Daniel 11 refers to "shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven" but this is simply an expression, and as such a rare case where I do consider it valid not to dogmatically take the number used there literally.
The Seleucid Empire, which is for many reasons indisputably the one defined as the "King of The North", is called that because it's immediately to the north of Israel. It was NOT the northernmost of the Kingdoms, indeed, during the time period in which these wars took place all of the remaining Hellenistic kingdoms were both further north and further west then the Seleucid lands were. Likewise Seleucus is the ONLY one that could be described as The East. The reason I think The Bible preferred to define it on it's Northerness rather then Easterness in relation to Israel is because it's Capitol, Antioch, was directly north of Jerusalem.
The Seleucid Dynasty came from the Macedonian aristocracy, the royal and other elite families of Macedon claimed, like the Spartan rulers, descent from Herakles. Herakles was a descendant of Perseus and Andromeda, Perseus was a descendant of the Danoi and Andromeda came from Joppa, a port city of Dan. Seleucus was one of the very few of Alexander's generals to keep the wife Alexander made him marry at Susa. Her name was Apama and her ancestry can be traced back to the earliest Persian rulers and trough them to Median rules and trough them to Assyrian rulers. She was the mother of his successor as well as other children.
Two important lesser royal houses become genealogically linked to the Seleucids, the rulers of Pontus and Commagene. Gaius Julius Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Commagene assisted the Romans at the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. And his children and grandchildren would intermarry with descendants of the Herodian and Hamonean dynasties, as well as Roman Patricians descended from Augustus though his Granddaughter Julia The Younger, and also Gaius Cassius Longinus. Interesting how the "Spear of Longinus" becomes linked to The Holy Grail in Arthurian romances. I suspect this Bloodline can be linked to the Merovingian Bloodline, and thus to all Modern European Royalty and Aristocracy.
However, the children of Antiochus I of Commagene also intermarried with Parthrian royalty, and through them became ancestral to all Persian and Armenian rulers by the Second Century A.D. It is actually this Eastern descent from the Seleucid dynasty that is far easier to reliably trace to modern times.
Now I go back to my suggestion that the Seleucid Dynasty is Satan's counterpart to the Davidic Dynasty. Jesus comes from two distinct lines of descent from two different sons of David, as Matthew and Luke demonstrate (though only Luke's through Mary is biological). What if The Antichrist likewise reunites these two separate Eastern and Western lines of descent from the Seleucids?
This analysis in continued in Part II and Part III.
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