“The king of the south will increase in power, but one of his own officials will become more powerful than he and will rule his kingdom with great strength.” Daniel 11:5
Beginning in verse 5, the struggle between the various kings of the south, namely Egypt, and the kings of the north, namely Syria, began and was traced by Daniel in this prophecy to the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175– 164 B.C.), a period of about 150 years. In verse 8, the king of the south is identified as Egypt, and the Septuagint translates “south” as “Egypt” throughout this passage. Syria is not mentioned by name, as at the time of Daniel’s writing no such nation existed and such a reference would be confusing. In tracing the struggles between Egypt and Syria, the prophecy is selective and not all the rulers are mentioned, but usually the identification is clear. The king of the south in verse 5 was probably Ptolemy I Soter (323– 285 B.C.). The one referred to as “stronger than he” is the king of Syria, Seleucus I Nicator (312– 281 B.C.). These rulers took the title of king in 306 B.C. Seleucus had fled from Antigonus of Babylon and was temporarily associated with Ptolemy I. They combined their strength and defeated Antigonus, thus paving the way for Seleucus to gain control of the entire area from Asia Minor to India; and in time, he became stronger than Ptolemy who ruled Egypt. Hence the Scripture says that Seleucus “shall be stronger than he [Ptolemy] and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority.” This is qualified by the statement in the preceding verse, “nor according to the authority with which he ruled.” The emergence of Ptolemy as ruler of Egypt and Seleucus as ruler of Syria and surrounding territory laid the basis for these two lines of rulers in their respective countries, and also set up a situation where they became rivals. The king of the south was also strong, as verse 5 indicates. “One of his princes” probably refers to Seleucus, described in the clause that follows. A possible translation is “and one of his princes shall be stronger than he.” These prophecies show us that God is in control of the kingdoms of the world. It may not look like God even knows what is going on, but He is allowing rulers to reign so that His plan can be worked out.