2/28/10 Dan 10-12

Will continue our discussion on the end of Chap 9 and then begin on Chap 10.

Chap 10: This chapter is a prelude to 11 and 12. It is again focused on Israel and the return to their homeland.

This third year of Cyrus is 536BC. Daniel is about 84 years old.

He has been fasting and praying for three weeks.

He had company for a short time. I'm not sure hy they left, but Daniel was left alone.

I. First note, V12 applied your mind Heb (gave your heart). Daniel was aware I believe

v 20 -The Prince of Persia: Refer to Eph 1 & 6. There is a very weak argument that these "forces" were human. That is to say Michael and Gabriel were trying to intervene on behalf of the exiles. There return to Israel was still in question, See Ezra 4 and the fact that Cyrus's son Cambyses was opposed to the exiles leaving. This argument is extremely weak in that the text does not agree in any manner with that interpretation.

v 21 Michael- The "prince" of Israel.

There can be no misunderstanding about what Daniel wrote here. The implication and literal meaning is that there are "princes" at work behind these nations or "peoples". You can call them Demons or "fallen" angels, due to the fact that they are fighting with God's "angels". The best understanding is written by Paul in Eph 6:12. There is a spiritual realm in which we have very little understanding, we can reason or suppose but it has not been revealed to us for a good reason.



II. The message Chap 11

A. 3 more "Kings".

Here are the Kings of the Persian Empire:

Teispes of Anshan, son of Achaemenes
Cyrus I of Anshan, son of Teispes
Cambyses I of Anshan, son of Cyrus I
Cyrus II, the Great, son of Cambyses I, ruled from c.550-530 BCE E(ruler of Anshan c. 559 BCE – conquered Media 550 BCE)
Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the Great, ruled 529-522 BCE
Smerdis (Bardiya), alleged son of Cyrus the Great, ruled 522 BCE (Possibly a usurper)
Darius I the Great, brother-in-law of Smerdis and grandson of Arsames, ruled 521-486 BCE
Xerxes I the Great, son of Darius I, ruled 485-465 BCE
Artaxerxes I Longimanus, son of Xerxes I, ruled 465-424 BCE
Xerxes II, son of Artaxerxes I, ruled 424 BCE
Sogdianus, half-brother and rival of Xerxes II, ruled 424-423 BCE
Darius II Nothus, half-brother and rival of Xerxes II, ruled 423-405 BCE
Artaxerxes II Mnemon, son of Darius II, ruled 404-359 BCE (see also Xenophon)
Artaxerxes III Ochus, son of Artaxerxes II, ruled 358-338 BCE
Artaxerxes IV Arses, son of Artaxerxes III, ruled 338-336 BCE
Darius III Codomannus, great-grandson of Darius II, ruled 336-330 BCE

It is important to not that the text does not say that there will be four kings of Persia, however it refers to the next 4, Cambyses II, Darius I the Great, Smerdis and Xerxes I the Great. We can debate over the quick "rule" of Smerdis (Bardiya). There are many interesting stories here, but the reality is he ruled a few months and did some interesting things before Darius killed him.