“The king of the South will become strong, but one of his commanders will become even stronger than he and will rule his own kingdom with great power. After some years, they will become allies. The daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his powerwill not last. In those days she will be betrayed, together with her royal escort and her fatherand the one who supported her. Daniel 11:5-6 (NIV).
These verses discuss what would happen after Alexander the Great. According to my Concordia, “the king of the South” was Ptolemy I Soter (of Egypt). His commander was Seleucus I Nicator. The daughter of Ptolemy II Phiadelphus (also of Egypt), Bernice, would ally with Antiochus II Theos of Syria, whom she would eventually marry to form that alliance. The alliance stood until Antiochus’ former wife, Laodice, formed a conspiracy to have Bernice and Antiochus killed.
That sounds like soap opera, or some Hollywood mafia plot, but it actually happened. The Ptolemies were installed in power, as Greek satraps, in Egypt, after Alexander’s death. Ptolemy Soter, that first of the Ptolemies, was a general and possible relation of Alexander’s. He eventually declared himself pharaoh and began what would be the last pharaonic dynasty of ancient Egypt: a line that descended back over 3300 years. In all, there were twenty Ptolemy pharaohs (kings) who ruled Egypt for Greece. The rule of the Ptolemies lasted from 305 to 30 BC. After the pharaohs were ejected from power – nearly 500 years after Daniel – Rome would install its own rulers.
And it was predicted in detail two centuries before it actually happened, by an angel, to an old prophet living in captivity. Archaeology and historical documentation bear it out, confirming a prophecy that, in our timeline, is now over 2500 years old.
That shouldn’t be surprising. God can do as He pleases. We don’t need proof of Him: the proof is before your eyes, in in your beating heart, and in the love you feel for others. Yet, for our benefit so that we might believe more, He gave us fore-knowledge of things that would happen. He told us about things to come so that we humans might prepare for them. So that we might prosper to His glory. So that we might know and appreciate Him more. So that those who don’t yet know Him might come to see the truth of who He is: not some pharaoh overseer in a foreign land, but the one true King.
For further reading: Daniel 11:7
Lord, You give us prophecies that were proven by our own human history. How mighty and merciful You are!
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