TOWARD A SPIRITUAL READING OF DANIEL 11:40-45

Frank Hardy
GC, Retired

ABSTRACT: This presentation presents a model of interpretation that seeks to convey Daniel's fourth
and final prophecy as the continuation and fullest expression of the three that precede it, giving each
power and emphasis proportional to what it receives in chapters 2, 7, 8, and 9. It emphasizes the parallel
between Daniel 11:40a and Revelation 13:3, binding Daniel together with Revelation. It also emphasizes
the parallel between Daniel 11:40b–45 and The Great Controversy chapters 35–40, binding Daniel
together with the Spirit of Prophecy.
_______________________

At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, (vs. 40a)

but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with

many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come
into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand:

Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the

countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold
and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his
train. (vss. 40b-43)

44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to

destroy and devote many to destruction. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and
the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him. (vss. 44-45) 1

1 English Scripture quotations not otherwise marked are from the English Standard Version (ESV), copyright © 2001 by

Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

1
 Introduction

The simplest interpretation of any passage will always be a literal one, in which word meanings
lie on the surface and everything is as it first appears. In the present case, interpreting literally would
mean "north" is north, "south" is south, "Egypt" is Egypt, and so on. The problem is that if "Egypt" refers
to literal Egypt, then "Edom, Moab, and the main part of the Ammonites" (vs. 41) refers to literal Edom,
literal Moab, and literal Ammonites. “Edom” and “Moab” could be read as toponyms or ethnonyms, but
“Ammonites” can only be latter. It refers, not to Ammon as a place, but to Ammonites as a people, 2 which
introduces the possibility that “Edom and Moab” should also be read as references to people groups. The
problem for literalism is, these no longer exist. If the people are gone, their history and the relationships
they have left behind remain. These we should learn from.
In a literal interpretation of Dan 11:40-45, the events are military because the language is
military. But saying that because words create an impression, the impression they create must be
accurate, is a less than optimal basis for exegesis. Words can have figurative meaning without being
symbolic and there are a number of reasons for applying Dan 11:40-45 figuratively, or typologically.
Insisting on the same literalism at the end of Dan 11 that we find at the beginning of the chapter
is out of step with the rest of the book. Dan 2 ends with the establishment of the kingdom of God; Dan 7
ends with the judgment; Dan 8 ends with the cleansing of the sanctuary. All three of these earlier
prophecies focus on God or the people of God. Thus we would expect Dan 11 also to end with reference
to spiritual realities, and all the more since this is the culminating prophecy in the set of four.

Background

Verse 40 begins with the words, "At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him."
Notice the word "him." The use of a pronoun here implies that what it refers to has been introduced
before. This takes us back to vss. 36-39. Verse 36 begins with the words, "And the king shall do as he
wills." Notice the expression "the king." Saying "the king" (hammelek), rather than "a king," implies that
the party in question is already familiar to the reader. This takes us back to vss. 29-35. Verse 29 begins
with the words, "At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south." Notice the word "he."
Again, the power in question was introduced earlier. Something changes here, but it is not the identity of
the power in question. In vss. 29-35 we find religious terms, starting with vs. 30, whereas before vs. 29
the terminology is predominantly secular. But the empire in question was introduced previously.

2 See Brill's New Pauly (Leiden: Brill, 2006, 2004, 2002), 9:103; 4:813; 1:587. Idumeans fought in the First Jewish War

and Ammonites are last mentioned in Trypho 119. We find no mention of either group after the first Christian century. Moab is
last heard from in the time of Alexander.

2
 The first place we encounter the power that dominates vss. 29-35, 36-39, and 40-45, is in vss.
16-28. In vs. 16 the Hebrew says, weyaʿaś habbā ʾ ʾē lā yw kirṣônô , "But he who comes against him shall do
as he wills" (ESV, NAS, NRS, RSV). Here ESV uses a pronoun ("he"), but the words habbā ʾ ʾē lā yw could
also be translated, "the one advancing against him" (NET); "the invader" (NAB, NIV, NJB). When one king
advances against another or invades his territory, that king is arriving from a different place. Here we
have a new power.
An equivalent of the outer words of the above clause (weyaʿaś . . . kirṣ ônô , "shall do as he wills")
appears four times in Daniel (8:4; 11:3, 16, 36), and each time it introduces the successor to an existing
power. 3 Whatever the current power is at a given time, it is said to be current because it can do what it
wants and no other can tell it no. When a rising power successfully asserts itself against the current
power, it becomes the current power and displaces its predecessor. The words weyaʿaś . . . kirṣônô are a
transition formula.
The inner words (habbā ʾ ʾē lā yw, "the one who comes against him") show that a new power is
coming on the scene of action (that's what habbā ʾ means, "the one who comes"), but in 11:16 they tell us
more than this, because of the lexical parallel with nā gı̂d habbā ʾ ("the prince who comes") in 9:26. The
prince who comes in 9:26 destroys Jerusalem. This is an important fact because Jerusalem was only
destroyed twice in history – first by Babylon, then by Rome. Since Babylon is not mentioned anywhere
in Dan 8-12, nā gı̂d habbā ʾ will not be Babylon; it must then be Rome, and habbā ʾ ʾē lā yw (11:16), which is
the parallel in chap. 11 to the power that destroys Jerusalem, marks Rome's entry in that prophecy.
Verse 16 is a major transition in Dan 11.
In Daniel as a whole, wherever Rome is mentioned it is mentioned twice (iron, then iron mixed
with clay [2]; nondescript beast, then little horn [7]; the little horn, then the destroyer of Jerusalem [the
historical sequence is chap. 9, then 8]). Rome is dealt with twice in the final prophecy as well. In Dan
11:16-28 Rome's interests are horizontal. (Rome viewed what it did to Jesus in vs. 22 as an entirely
secular matter.) In vss. 29-45, however, it's interests become vertical. When we refer to Rome in these
verses, it is not the Republic or the Empire that is in view, but the papacy. The papacy's power during
the middle ages was absolute and unchallenged. The end of this period is where our story begins in the
present paper.

3 If weʿā sa
́ ̂ kirso
̣ ̂nô is an introductory formula in vs. 3, there is a question why it doesn't it appear in vs. 2 where Greece is
mentioned for the first time in the chapter. But Greece does not rise to power in vs. 2; instead it is attacked. It is a transition
formula, and in vs. 2 there is no transition.

3
 Text of the Passage

There are three distinct verse groupings in Dan 11:40-45. In vs. 40a South attacks North, in vss.
40b-43 North attacks South, and in vss. 44-45 North and South together attack "the glorious holy
mountain." This is one point of view. Later it will be useful to distinguish 40b from 41-43, such that 40b
is a proleptic overview of the Northern response and 41-43 is the response itself.

Verse 40a
“At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him” (Dan 11:40a).

The Southern attack of vs. 40a can be dated from Berthier's abduction of Pius VI (1775-
99) on February 20, 1798, 4 but the weakness this brought to the papacy lasted well over a century. Here
the focus is on 1798. In that year the pope was taken from Rome.
At his death, after one of the longest pontificates in history, many assumed that the destruction
of the holy see had at last been accomplished, and the fortunes of the papacy had indeed reached
their nadir under him; but Pius had left instructions (13 Jan. 1797 and 13 Nov. 1798) for the
holding of the next conclave in emergency conditions. 5

On September 20, 1870, Victor Immanuel took Rome from the papacy. It has been the capital of
Italy ever since. 6 The papal states were gone and Pius IX (1846-78) had become a virtual prisoner in the
Vatican. 7 Later popes shared this status until the time of Pius XI, who signed the famous concordat with
Mussolini on February 11, 1929, returning Vatican City to the papacy as a secular possession. 8 In the
years from 1798 to 1929 the papacy's circumstances did not improve, and in 1870 they got worse. From
this I draw that 1798 was a turning point in the history of the papacy and not merely an isolated event.
But this is not really the point. If the papacy was becoming weak in 1798, something else was
becoming strong. I am not referring here to France, but to the spirit of secularism which would emerge
as a political force in France during the Revolution and come to full maturity as the Enlightenment. Here
is what Ellen White meant by "a new manifestation of Satanic power." 9 Satan had tried to accomplish his
purposes through religion; now he would accomplish them through irreligion.
On November 24, 1859, Charles Darwin published his book, On the Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. 10 Over time Darwin's

4 Cedric Ward, "Napoleon and the Pope: What Really Happened in 1798?" Ministry, June 1979, p. 6.
5 J.N.D. Kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (Oxford UP, 1956), s.v. Pius VI, p. 302.
6 http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9408.

7 New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 2003), s.v. "Pius IX, Pope, BL."

(11:386).
8 David Kertzer, The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe (New York:

Random House, 2014), pp. 106-110.

9 The Great Controversy (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1911), p. 268.
10 In its sixth edition the word "On" was dropped from the title. The book is now popularly referred to as,

The Origin of Species.

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ideas became firmly fixed in people's minds, and have affected the thinking of both secular people and
religionists. Atheist writer Jerry A. Coyne states:
The Catholic Church is in a tough spot, straddling an equipoise between modern science and
antiscientific medieval theology. When it jettisons the idea of the soul, of God’s intervention in
the Big Bang and human evolution, and the notion of Adam and Eve as our historical ancestors,
then Catholicism will be compatible with evolution. But then it would not be Catholicism. 11

The word "straddling" is filled with meaning. The papacy has tried to compromise with science
in its public statements, and some scientists appear to be trying to meet it half way. Paleontologist
Stephen J. Gould hints that there might be room for faith if it doesn't overstep its bounds. His concept is
that some areas of thought are not amenable to scientific analysis. Science and religion are non-
overlapping magisteria. Richard Dawkins, on the other hand, holds that no area of human thought is off
limits to science. Faith does not impinge on science, not because the two fail to overlap, but because faith
is not a legitimate intellectual construct.
In his book, Dawkins vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittest, 12 Australian philosopher Kim Sterelny
attempts to represent the positions of Dawkins and Gould in a balanced manner but eventually comes
down on the side of Dawkins. 13 Science is our only engine for generating objective knowledge about the
world. God has no place in matters of science or of origins.
It gets worse. In New Republic magazine Isaac Chotiner criticizes Adam Gopnik for arguing that
atheists and people of faith have more in common than they think, because even atheists search for the
meaning of life. Chotiner's position is that they have more in common than they think, because even
people of faith exhibit a rationalistic worldview indistinguishably similar to that of unbelieving
scientists. 14 These are the people in the pew.
Religion is no longer dominant. Theologians must now ask permission of science to believe what
they do and ordinary Christians have adopted the assumptions of those they think they oppose. In this
way science at the present occupies a level of authority not unlike what the papacy enjoyed a thousand
years ago. The church was once a source of absolute truth – a court of final appeal for human thought.
Now this role has been usurped by science. Here is the real significance of what happened in vs. 40a.

Verse 40b
Verse 40b introduces the Northern response. It does this by providing a proleptic overview of
what was to follow, similar to what we find elsewhere in vss. 2a, 3, 5, 16-17, 23-24, 29, and 36 (also 2:29,

11 New Republic, October 29, 2014 (https://newrepublic.com/article/120025/pope-francis-quotes- evolution-big-

bang-are-nothing-celebrate).
12 Cambridge: Icon, 2001.
13 He would later contribute a chapter to a festschrift in Dawkins' honor. See "The Perverse Primate" in Richard

Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 213-26.
14 New Republic, September 10, 2010 (https://newrepublic.com/tags/jerry-coyne).

5
36; 7:2-3; 9:24; 10:1). Preview statements are a characteristic feature of the angel's narrating style in
chap. 11 and in the book of Daniel.
The four clauses of 40 must be considered together to understand the way they balance each
other. The battle goes South-North in 40a and North-South in 40b, but three metaphorical expressions
bind the verse together as a literary unit. These metaphors compare the actions of the king of the South
with one animal goring another (*ngḥ “gore”) (cf. Dan 8:7), and the actions of the king of the North first
with wind (*ś ʿr “whirl away”), then water (*š tp “overflow”). See table 1.

It might seem possible to treat ûbā ʾ bā ʾarā ṣôt weš ātap weʿā bar as one clause, but the Hebrew
accents support the idea of treating these as two clauses (hannegeb = Zaqep Qatan, rabbot = Atnach,
baʾarasot = Tipcha, weʿabar = Silluq). While Tipcha is only a moderately strong disjunctive accent, in its
context here it is quite strong. Taking only the last two clauses (40c, 40d), the sequence of accents is ûbāʾ
= Mereka (weak conjunct) bāʾarāṣôt = Tipcha (fairly strong disjunct), wešāṭap = Mereka (weak conjunct)
weʿābar = Silluq (strongest disjunct). In the proposed analysis, ûbāʾ bāʾarāṣôt (40c) proleptically
references vss. 41-43 and wešāṭap weʿābar (40d) proleptically references vss. 44-45.
Thus the clause that says “he shall rush upon him like a whirlwind” (ESV), “storm out against
him” (lit. gloss) is a general statement. It is interesting to note how many passages associate God with a
whirlwind in the Old Testament (2 Kgs 2:1, 11; Job 38:1; 40:6; Ps 77:18; Isa 29:6; 66:15; Nahum 1:3).
The association of the king of the North with a whirlwind therefore already has a spiritual flavor. A
godless power is being answered by a religious one. Along these same lines notice Isa 5:28 (“their
arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the
whirlwind”). Here the word is different (sû pâ “storm, gale”), but notice the context from vs. 24 (“for they
have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel”). Even
here, in an otherwise military context, the underlying issues are spiritual. In vs. 40 we have a godless
power attacking a representative of religion. By using the figure of a whirlwind the angel hints at the
religious background of the conflict.
The clause that says, “and he will come into lands” (lit. gloss) focuses specifically on those verses
(41-43) where the angel tells us which lands (“the glorious land,” “Edom and Moab and the main part of
the Ammonites,” “Egypt,” “the Libyans and the Cushites”). We note that “Ammonites [werē ʾš ıt̂ benê
ʿammô n]” are not a land, and neither are “the Libyans and the Cushites [welū bı̂m wekū š ım
̂ ].” Even in
specifying the geographical details of this extended metaphor, the focus remains on people. Historical

6
relationships are in view, and we should learn from these, but the main thing is people. The angel is not
directing our attention to the lands once occupied by the groups he mentions; by referring to their lands,
he is directing our attention to them.
In the case of “the glorious land [ʾereṣ haṣṣebı̂],” the word “land” is explicitly used. So Is the focus
here on land, or on people? On people. Real estate in and of itself is neither glorious nor inglorious,
except as it fails to be pretty, which has nothing to do with what the angel is saying. If we interpret
geographically and literally, the reference would have to be to the modern state of Israel, which is
completely unrelated to anything we could call the people of God. God’s special people today are those
who accept God’s special Person today. Saying God’s special people are still literal Jews makes Christ
irrelevant to our relationship with God, which brings with it an endless array of theological implications.
That is an Evangelical position (based we should note on literalism). Saying the people associated with
the “glorious land” are Christians, however, is the same as saying our interpretation is not and cannot be
based on literalism. Hans LaRondelle comes to the heart of the matter when he names chap. 2 of his
book, The Israel of God in Prophecy, "The Key to the Old Testament: Literalism or the New Testament?" 15
These are precisely the choices.
Looking forward, the clause that says the king “shall overflow and pass through” (ESV) focuses
on vss. 44-45, where the king is not only aggressive, but has become angry, and is no longer seeking to
regain the power he once had. He has regained it. And now he no longer needs to be nice. The mask
comes off and he openly seeks to destroy the people of God, just as Antiochus did on his way back home
after being expelled from Egypt by a single unarmed Roman legate. 16
The king’s behavior in vss. 44-45 is widely different from that of his entry into “Egypt” in vss. 41-
43. When he finally arrives in “Egypt” he doesn’t sweep anything away; he simply makes himself at
home. “He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt”
(vs. 43).
So the verse groups and clauses of our passage must be carefully distinguished. Verse 40a
describes a Southern attack on the king of the North (launched from the South). Verses 40b and 41-43
describe a Northern attack on the king of the South (launched from the North). And vss. 44-45 describe a
Northern attack on the people of God (launched from the South). Both parts of the Northern response
can already be seen in the clauses of vs. 40. Of these, vs. 40b has all of 41-45 in view, vs. 40c focuses on
41-43, and vs. 40d focuses on 44-45. The parts of this verse resemble the whole of its passage.

15 See Hans LaRondelle, The Israel of God in Prophecy: Principles of Prophetic Interpretation (Berrien Springs, MI:

Andrews UP, 1983). This book speaks to the heart of the present debate about literalism, especially chap. 2, "The Key to the Old
Testament: Literalism or the New Testament?" pp. 10-22.n
16 Polybius: Histories, 29.27.2-8.

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Verses 41-43
The proleptic overview of vs. 40 ends with the words, "And he shall come into countries and
shall overflow and pass through" (11:40c). Eventually we learn what countries the angel has in mind, as
the king passes through them. But none of this happens immediately. In vs. 40a the king of the North is
gored, in a manner similar to what happens to the Persian ram in 8:7. This is a serious wound. John calls
it “a mortal wound” (Rev 13:3). The final confrontation between South and North occupies six of the
prophecy’s 46.5 verses (11:2b-12:3), or 1/8 (12.9%) of the total prophecy. 17 The pace of narration is
unhurried. The campaign unfolds gradually. The figure of a whirlwind is part of a proleptic overview of
the next four verses. It is not a description of what the king does the very next day after he is gored.
None of the specific countries mentioned in vs. 41 can be assigned literal meaning today. Even in
vs. 16, where Judea is referred to as "the glorious land," the reference is evocative. The corresponding
expression "the glorious holy mountain" in vs. 45 is certainly figurative. Other terms used in vss. 41-43
include "Edom, Moab, and the main part of the Ammonites" (41b), "the countries" (42), "Egypt" (42-43),
and "the Lybians and the Cushites" (43). Of these, "Egypt," "Libya," and possibly "Cushites" could have
literal meaning in the end time. 18 But is not the preferred option, even though under other
circumstances iy would be possible, because of the six other references in the same passage which
cannot be literal. Since some can be literal or figurative, and others can only be figurative, all should be
considered figurative. Consistency requires that we use one set of rules. Literal or figurative applies to
the passage, not to the individual term.
Exegetically the fact that the king of the North passes through "the glorious land" would imply
that he influences God's people in some way. This is something we have been saying since 1858 when
Early Writings was first published. In that book Ellen White says there would be a "shaking" among us.19
Just as some are shaken out (from "the glorious land"), others are shaken in (from "Edom and Moab and
the main part of the Ammonites"). 20
Notice that in vs. 41 the text does not say the king of the South would pass through "the glorious
land" on his way North; instead it says the king of the North would pass through "the glorious land" on
his way South. If an idea affects God's people in vs. 41, we should ask where it comes from. The
secularization of science which took place during the Enlightenment was an open attack on the
creatorship of God. This is a Southern idea. Theistic evolution is a veiled attack on His creatorship. This
is the Northern compromise position. It tries to meet secularism half way, while still leaving some room
for God – whatever we can generously preserve for Him. Pure secularism has not affected the thinking of

17 Of the 47 verses in 11:2-12:3, we subtract 11:2a and 11:40a, for a total of 46.
18 Forty-five Cushitic languages are spoken in six countries primarily: Eritrea (2), Ethiopia (22), Kenya (7), Somalia (7),
Sudan (1), and Tanzania (6) (https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/afro-asiatic). In antiquity Cush was associated with
Nubia – the area south of Egypt.
19 See pp. 261-72.
20 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1904), 8:41.

8
many among us, but the Northern compromise has. Many speak favorably of theistic evolution, which is
biblically unsustainable. Ours must be a biblical faith.
Another question is where North gets its compromise idea. If secularism is a Southern idea,
North gets it from South, on the only occasion where contact between the two is documented (vs. 40a).
What this tells me is that, although South attacks North and is hostile to North because of its association
with God, it also influences North, and it passes this influence on in modified form when it enters "the
glorious land" on its way South in vs. 41. I suggest that North is influenced further by South as it
expropriates Southern wealth in vss. 42-43. What we have here is a gradual process of assimilation
which proceeds in one form or another until in vss. 44-45 the king of the North is entirely at home in
Southern territory. At this point the king of the North has effectively changed roles and become a king of
the South, i.e., a secular power entirely at home in this world. Here is the context for vss. 44-45.

Verses 44-45
Before papal Rome gets all its former power back, it is aggressive in its attempts to regain it (vss.
41-43), but when it is in full possession of such power again, it is not only aggressive, but hostile (vss.
44-45). This happens twice in history. First, "he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be
enraged and take action against the holy covenant" (vs. 30).
Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the
32
regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. He shall
seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall
33
stand firm and take action. And the wise among the people shall make many understand,
though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. (Dan
11:31-33)

Then fourteen verses later, in the end time, the king of the North becomes alarmed and "shall go
out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction" (vs. 44). Verse 40a is a fulcrum balancing
the before and after of this comparison, because it describes an interim period of weakness between two
periods of strength (cf. vs. 29.) See table 2.

Table 2
Parallels Between Dan 11:30 and 44
Vs. 30 Vs. 44

[H]e shall be afraid and withdraw, But news from the east and the north shall alarm him,

and shall turn back and be enraged and take and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and
action against the holy covenant. devote many to destruction.

9
 It is not hard to understand the role of the king of the North in this context, but who is the king
of the South? The answer is in the question. The terms North and South are opposites of each other and
therefore counterparts to each other. The Southern idea is to attack the king of the North (vss. 6, 30, 40);
the Northern idea is to attack the people of God (vss. 22, 31-35). And so, if in vss. 40b and 41-43 the king
of the North is the pope along with everyone he can influence, the king of the South is everyone he
cannot influence. Or at least these are the people of the king of this South. Identifying a specific king of
the South is problematic once we pass 1798. In 1798 Napoleon was the king of the South (or his general
Berthier), but afterward, when Napoleon stops doing Southern things, the role appears to lapse. This is
an argument against any who would interpret û beʿē t qē ṣ (40a) as a time within the time of the end rather
than the historical moment which marks its beginning. This much has to do with the king of the South.
Finally the distinction between North and South collapses even as an abstract idea, and the two
become one. When the king of the North changes directions and starts marching back toward the North,
he combines the roles of king of the North and king of the South. We know he is still a king of the North
from the fact that in vs. 44 he attacks the people of God. And we know that the roles have been combined
from the fact that he now marches out of the South at the head of all Northern and all Southern forces.
Even “the Libyans and the Cushites [former satellites of Egypt] shall follow in his train” (vs. 43). The
point is that the king’s victory is complete. There is nothing left to conquer.

10
 Here is the meaning of Rev 16:16, which says, "And they assembled [synā gagen] them at the
place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon," to which the sequel is Rev 19:19, "And I saw the beast and
the kings of the earth with their armies gathered [synā gmena] to make war against him who was sitting
on the horse and against his army." When the whole world is assembled as one, that is one side in the
final conflict. The other side is described in Rev 19:11-18 as all the angels of heaven following Christ to
the earth riding white horses. When the two forces join battle we call that the second coming.

Biblical Parallels

The imagery of Dan 11:40-45 has been understood variously by different scholars.
Shea sees the final verses as an end time counterpart to Cambyses' Egyptian campaign of 525
BC. 21 Rodríguez sees them as an end time counterpart to the Exodus from Egypt.22 I see vss. 41-43 as an
end time counterpart to Antiochus IV Epiphanes' invasion of Egypt in 170 BC (1 Macc 1:16-24) and vss.
44-45 as a counterpart to his expulsion from Egypt and subsequent attack on Jerusalem in 168 BC. 23 On
his way back from Egypt, livid with rage, he massacred thousands of people in the streets according to 1
Macc 1:29-50.
I do not suggest that Antiochus' actions fulfill the prophecy of Dan 11:40-45. They do not. What
the passage has in view is an end time king. There are important similarities between type and antitype,
and important differences. The one king was expelled from Egypt, the other will be expelled from "the
glorious holy mountain" (11:45). The passage draws on our memory of Antiochus IV, but does not match
his actions in every particular. And it is important that this should be the case. Otherwise scholars would
have good reason for saying he represents the final and only fulfillment of the final verses.
The immense power the king of the North exercises at the end of Dan 11 is part of a larger pattern
of strength, then weakness, then strength again. Here we are dealing with a second period of strength. We
saw this before in vs. 29 and now, in the end time, in vs. 40. And we see the same thing in Rev 13.
One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the
whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. (Rev 13:3)

The structure of Rev 13:3 parallels that of Dan 11:40-45. The sentence, "One of its heads seemed
to have a mortal wound," corresponds to the Southern attack of vs. 40a; "but its mortal wound was
healed" corresponds to the Northern counter-attack of vss. 40b and 41-43. The clause, "and the whole
earth marveled as they followed the beast," corresponds to vss. 44-45, where North and South together
attack "the glorious holy mountain." See table 3.

21 William H. Shea, Daniel 7-12, The Abundant Life Bible Amplifier (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press, 1996), p. 210.
22 Ángel Rodríguez, "Daniel 11 and the Islam Interpretation," BRI Release 13 (Silver Spring, MD: BRI, 2015), pp. 3 and
elsewhere.
23 Polybius, The Histories, trans. W. R. Patos, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1980), 6:88-91.

11
 Table 3
Parallels Between Dan 11:40-45 and Rev 13:3

Dan 11 Rev 13
One of its heads seemed to have a
At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, (vs. 40a)
mortal wound, (vs. 13a)

but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with
chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into

countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into
the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be
delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the but its mortal wound was healed,
Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, (vs. 13b)

and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of
the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of
Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. (vss.
40b-43)

But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go

out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. 45

and the whole earth marveled as
And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious
they followed the beast. (vs. 13c)
holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help
him. (vss. 44-45)

Ultimately the king has so many forces they can't all reach the city they are trying to attack.
Their numbers extend outward from "the glorious holy mountain" as far as the sea. Throughout,
although such language is military and local, the application must be spiritual and global. It is one thing
to make such an assertion, but how can we be sure?

Spirit of Prophecy

A look at the Comprehensive Index to the Writings of Ellen G. White leaves the impression that
Ellen White had virtually nothing to say about Dan 11. 24 This is a misapprehension. She wrote
extensively on the topic, and especially about vss. 40-45. Her comments are not locked away in a vault,

24 1:83 (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1962).

12
nor were they discovered recently in an attic.25 They have been sold by colporteurs for a century and a
half in one of her most widely circulated books, i.e., The Great Controversy. 26

Overview

Consider the last eight chapters of Great Controversy (chaps. 35-42). Of these, the first six (chaps.
35-40) provide a verse by verse, clause by clause commentary on Dan 11:40b-45, while the last two
(chaps. 41-42) bear a close relation to Dan 12:1-3. Whereas all of Great Controversy can be mapped onto
Dan 11 in one way or another, the closest parallels are with vss. 40-45. These do not begin with the
Southern attack in vs. 40a. (That would take us all the way back to chap. 15). It is the Northern response
that concerns us here. See table 4.

Table 4
Parallels Between Dan 11:40b-45 and Great Controversy chaps. 35-40
Dan 11 ESV GC Chapter Title

Group 1

[B]ut the king of the north shall rush upon him like a
Liberty of Conscience
whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many
40b 35 Threatened
ships.

And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and

40c 36 The Impending Conflict
pass through.

He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands

shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom

and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall

stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of The Scriptures a
41-43 37
Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the Safeguard

treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of

Egypt, and the
Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train.

Group 2

25 A statement referring to the fulfillment of Dan 11 appears four times in the writings of Ellen White (Review and

Herald Articles, 5:94 [November 24, 1904]; Testimonies for the Church [Mountain View: Pacific Press, 1948], 9:14; Welfare
Ministry [Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1952], p. 136; Letter 103, 1904, pp. 5-6; Review and Herald, July 8, 1976). The last
of these was indeed found in an attic.
26 Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1888, 1911.

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 44a But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, 38 The Final Warning

[A]nd he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote

44b 39 The Time of Trouble
many to destruction.

And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea

and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his 40 God's People Delivered
45
end, with none to help him.

While the link between Dan 11:44-45 and GC chaps. 38-40 is immediately obvious, that between
Dan 11:40b/41-43 and GC chaps. 35-37 requires scrutiny. The case for including group 1 materials in
the system of parallels is as follows: If Dan 11:40b/41-43 and 44-45 jointly represent a single unbroken
narrative, and if Great Controversy chaps. 35-37 and 38-40 jointly represent a single unbroken narrative,
and if the last parts of both sequences (11:44-45 and chaps. 38-40) are clearly parallel to each other,
then the first parts of both sequences (11:40b/41-43 and chaps. 35-37) should also be considered
parallel. See fig. 1.

Dan 11:40b-43 Dan 11:44-45

GC Chaps. GC Chaps.
35-37 38-40

Fig. 1. Let the blue double arrows represent textual relationships that are immediately obvious,
and the red double arrow, a relationship that is less intuitive, but follows from and is required by the
others.
We now consider both groups of chapters (35-37, 38-40), starting with the second group, where
the relationship to Dan 11 are admittedly clearer than they are in the first group.

Chapters 38-40
First, the "news from the east and the north," which alarms the king in vs. 44a, corresponds to
Ellen White's chapter, "The Final Warning" (chap. 38). The word "news" (ESV, NLT) in this clause is

14
Hebrew šemū ʿô t (lit., "things heard"; "tidings" KJV, ASV, RSV; "reports" NAB, NET, NIV, NJB, NRS), which
could also be translated "messages" (see Isa 28:9, 19; Jer 49:14). 27 The reference in the end time is to
"the loud cry" or "the loud cry of the third angel." 28 Second, when the king comes with "great fury to
destroy and devote many to destruction" in vs. 44b, that corresponds to "The Time of Trouble" (chap.
39). This is the king's response to the loud cry. And third, when the king"shall come to his end, with
none to help him" in 11:45, that corresponds to "The Final Deliverance" (chap. 40). The second coming is
Christ's response to the time of trouble. It is a tightly organized sequence. This is group 2.

Chapters 35-37
We now consider group 1. In chap. 35 of Great Controversy (“Liberty of Conscience Threatened”)
Ellen White states that, "Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former
years" (GC 563). As an illustration of this point, in 1854, while the Washington Monument was still
under construction and before the above statement was published, Pope Pius IX (1846-78) contributed
a bloc of fine Italian granite for the project, but a mob came at night, smashed it to pieces, and threw it
into the Potomac. 29
Seventy-four years later, in 1928, a Catholic candidate, Al Smith, ran for president of the United
States. Herbert Hoover soundly defeated him (by a 20% margin), but Smith made history by running. 30
In 1929 Pius XI (1922-39) and Mussolini signed a concordat that re-established Vatican City as an
independent state, with the pope as its sovereign. In 1960 the United States elected its first Catholic
president (John F. Kennedy, 1961-63). 31 In 1980 the rise of the trade union Solidarity led to the fall of
communism in Poland and then, in 1991, the Soviet Union self-destructed. In both cases the Polish pope,
John Paul II (1978-2005), was widely credited with playing a pivotal role in what happened.32 This
brought the papacy to international prominence and invested it with considerable prestige and
popularity.
What would Ellen White say if she could hear Billy Graham's admiring pronouncement that,
"Pope John Paul II was unquestionably the most influential voice for morality and peace in the world
during the last 100 years," 33 or if she could know that John Paul II would be invited to address a General

27 These examples are all from ESV and all are singular.
28 Ellen White, Early Writings (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1882), pp. 277, 261.
29 The granite in question is called the "Pope's Stone." The men who destroyed it were associated with the Know-

Nothing party. See "The Pope's Stone Mystery: Is the Evidence in [the] Smithsonian?" (The Washington Post, June 1, 1978).
30 In 1928 Herbert Hoover's margin was 58.2% to 40.8%.
31 In 1960 John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon by a popular vote margin of 118,000 votes out of 69,000,000 cast.

See https://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/JFK-and-Religion.aspx;
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1108.html#article.
32 Compare the following accounts. They are widely different. https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/posts/john-paul-ii-

poland-s-pope; http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pope/communism/.
33 "Statement by Evangelist Billy Graham On the Death of Pope John Paul II," April 2, 2005,

https://billygraham.org/press-release/statement-by-evangelist-billy-graham-on-the-death-of-pope-john- paul-ii/.

15
Assembly of the Union Nations, 34 or that in 2004 he would be awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom by George W. Bush (With Distinction), 35 or that Francis I (2005-) would be invited to address
not only the General Assembly 36 but also a joint session of the United States congress? 37 Apart from this,
what would she say if she could have lived to see a pope figuring prominently in the international

celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation (1517-2017)? The prestige of the
papacy has multiplied and is growing rapidly. Clearly, "Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with
far greater favor than in former years" (GC 563).
Verse 40b says that "the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots
and horsemen, and with many ships." Under any interpretation, this would mean that the king is using
every resource at his disposal. When Catholics can win presidential campaigns, receive invitations to
address the United Nations, and shape events like the downfall of communism, that's a pretty wide array
of resources. The document Laudato Si offers another example in its appeal to public concern for the
planet. 38 The church has no inherent interest in global ecology – that is not one of its topics – but it does
have an intense interest in the people it can influence by making public statements about global ecology.
What we are seeing is truly warfare, but not the one anyone expects. This is one reason why it is
so effective. The battle is for popularity, prestige, and universal approval. Thus by the one act of gaining
popularity, the papacy simultaneously defeats enemies and gains followers. His opponents are his
friends; his friends are his defeated opponents.
In chap. 36 (“The Impending Conflict”) Ellen White talks about two widely held beliefs which
will be a test for God's people in the end time, i.e., that the dead are not dead and that the seventh-day
Sabbath is no longer binding on Christians. Both are important, but the primary focus is on the Sabbath. I
have a theory that Satan could grant the creatorship of God. In Isa 14 he does not aspire to be greater
than God, but only to be “like the Most High” (Isa 14:14). His problem with the Sabbath is not that the
Father created all things, but that He did it through His Son (John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2). Satan’s entire
program is devoted to breaking the link between God and humankind, but what this means to him is

34 "Address of His Holiness John Paul II to the 34th General Assembly of the United Nations," New York, Tuesday, 2
October 1979, http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul- ii/en/speeches/1979/october/documents/hf_jp-
ii_spe_19791002_general-assembly-onu.html.
35 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom_recipients.
36 Meagan Keneally, ABC News, September 25, 2015, "Pope Francis: What He Told the United Nations General

Assembly," http://abcnews.go.com/US/pope-francis-told-united-nations-general- assembly/story?id=34034426.

37 Peter Baker and Jim Yardley, New York Times, September 24, 2015, "Pope Francis, in Congress, Pleads for Unity on

World's Woes," https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/25/us/pope-francis-congress- speech.html.

38 In the opening paragraph of Laudato Si we find the words "our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us."

This is a quotation from St. Francis, and therefore nothing new, but such language today is immediately associated the New Age,
which is spiritualistic and devoid of faith, but these are people pope Francis wants to win. There is more. “Everything is related,
and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each
of his creatures and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth.” See
http://m.vatican.va/content/francescomobile/en/encyclicals/documents/papafrancesco_20150524_enciclic a-laudato-si.html, pp. 1,
68.

16
between Christ and humankind. The Sabbath is not a mere doctrinal quibble. It comes to the heart of the
great controversy, i.e., the one-sided competition and antipathy that Satan feels for the second Person of
the Godhead. If the Sabbath is the sign and seal of God’s connection with mankind, that makes it an
object of Satan’s special hatred. Here are the issues on which we should be focusing. Anything that
diverts us from this focus is a distraction.
In chap. 37 ("The Scriptures a Safeguard") she tells us, not what will happen, but how to get
ready for what will happen, which is vastly more important. Our only safety, she says, lies in studying
the Scriptures. Only these can tell us what is true and what is not. As the remnant studies and focuses
more intently on timely truths, and as others (e.g., "Edom and Moab and the main part of the
Ammonites" [vs. 41]) learn these things for the first time, they become convicted that others need to
hear them. This leads them to give "The Final Warning" (chap. 38) and they start proclaiming it loudly.
This at first alarms and then enrages the king, who brings "The Time of Trouble" (chap. 39). His purpose
is not merely to cause trouble, though, it is to eliminate once and for all any remaining opposition. Then,
when it seems that success is within his grasp, Jesus comes with all His holy angels and rescues His
people, hence the chapter entitled, "God's People Delivered" (chap. 40). There is a direct connection
between God’s people studying and giving the final warning, and this connection links the two groups of
chapters into an unbroken series.

Summary

The language of vss. 40b and 41-43 is military in appearance, but not in application. The king's
campaign toward the South is a battle for influence and popular acceptance. He can only lead if someone
is following, and will adopt any position that brings about this result. His opponent in vss. 41-43 is
spiritual “Egypt,” i.e., the unbelieving world. He seeks to win them with whatever pleasing words will
suffice. This kind of warfare is hard to defend against because few realize it’s happening, and this is one
reason why it is so successful.
In vss. 44-45 the king's course is different, his mood is different, his opponent is different, and I
would suggest his role is different. No longer is he fighting the king of the South; now he is fighting the
people of God. This is different from merely passing through their land. As the king retraces his steps
toward the North (i.e., toward "the east and the north," vs. 44a), he sets out "with great fury to destroy
and devote many to destruction" (vs. 44b). He comes with all the forces of North and South united in one
confederacy. The “many” he seeks “to destroy and annihilate” (NIV) are those associated with “the
beautiful holy mountain” (NIV), or "the glorious holy mountain" (ESV, vs. 45).

17
 Conclusion

The present model seeks to convey Daniel's fourth and final prophecy as the continuation and
fullest expression of the three that precede it, giving each power an emphasis that is proportional to
what it received earlier in chaps. 2, 7, and 8-9. It emphasizes the parallel between Dan 11:40a and Rev
13, binding Daniel together with Revelation. And it emphasizes the parallel between Dan 11:40b-45 and
Great Controversy chaps. 35-40, binding Daniel together with the Spirit of Prophecy.
The model accepts Smith's interpretation up through vs. 35 and corrects what he did in vss. 36-
45 by using the same principles he himself used in earlier verses. The result is a set of three
recapitulations (11:16-22/23-28; 29-35/36-39; 44-45/12:1), rather than the one Smith proposed
(11:29-35/36-39). Notice that Smith goes off at vs. 36, which lies at the center of our second
recapitulation, and does not come back until after vs. 45, which lies at the center of our third
recapitulation. His problems in Dan 11 are largely confined within a bloc of ten verses (36-45), which led
him to miss two important points about the structure of the chapter – one at the beginning of this bloc
and another at the end.
The present model focuses on two appearances of Christ in the chapter, at His first coming
(11:22) and His second (12:1), which extend a series of references to the Messiah that runs through the
book like a thread.39 Here is the special genius of Smith's recapitulation in the middle section of Dan 11
(16-22/23-28). He doesn’t see the recapitulation as such, but he does see Christ in vs. 22 and captures
some of the structural implications of His presence there. If Christ in vs. 22 is the center of a section, as I
suggest, there must be other verses on either side of this reference to Him, in a manner similar to His
position at the center of the seventieth week, with three and a half years on either side (Dan 9:24-27).
This is the nature of a chiasm, or a recapitulation. And since there are three major sections (2b-15; 16-
28; 29-12:3), if Jesus occupies the center verse, He occupies the center of the section and the chapter,
and with three chapters in the prophecy, He represents the structural fulcrum of the prophecy, which is
especially significant in view of the fact that this is the culminating prophecy of the book – the one that
brings together all earlier themes. A model that puts Christ at the center of everything (verse, section,
chapter, prophecy) does provide a good exegetical fit. It brings us to the heart of the themes the angel is
setting forth.
The church has never had a consensus view on Dan 11. If one is ever achieved, I hope it will rest
on a genuine confluence of sources. It is not enough for us to speak with one voice, for it is possible for
all to be wrong. Instead our sources (Daniel, Revelation, Spirit of Prophecy) must be allowed to speak
with one voice. For literalism this is an impossible challenge. Because a literal application is not a

39 There are at least sixteen references to Christ in Daniel (2:34, 45; 3:25; 7:13; 8:11, 25; 9:25, 26; 10:5, 13, 21; 11:22,

37; 12:1, 6, 7).

18
spiritual application, it runs a risk of being a secular application – one that is confined to purely human
issues and concerns (a major war occurs in the Middle East), even if it is a war between the papacy and
the West and Islam and the East. North, South, East, West – these are geographical coordinates. Earthly
coordinates. But when Christ comes the whole world will oppose Him, and in such a context the above
distinctions are meaningless. They all blend into one. Let us realize the fact now rather than waiting
until the events occur.
The problem with literalism does not lie in what it says, but rather in what it prevents us from
hearing. God is trying to say something through Daniel, and in doing that, what He says will have
something to do with Him and with His people. When our interpretation brings us to these issues and
revolves, like a constellation, around Christ, then we can now we are tapping into something good..

19