Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Daniel · About this commentary
A Contemptible Person Rises
Daniel 11:20-28
20 “Then one who will cause a tax collector to pass through the kingdom to maintain its glory will stand up in his place; but within few days he shall be destroyed, not in anger, and not in battle. · WEB
A tax gatherer, then a man who takes power by flatteries rather than by battle — and the prince of the covenant is broken.
Then one who will cause a tax collector to pass through the kingdom to maintain its glory will stand up in his place; but within few days he shall be destroyed, not in anger, and not in battle Daniel 11:20.
A brief reign summarized by its fiscal policy. A ruler who funds imperial glory by sending a collector through the provinces, and who is gone quickly — not in anger, and not in battle, so neither in a rebellion nor at war. The vision has no further interest in him; he occupies one verse and exists to mark the succession.
In his place a contemptible person will stand up, to whom they had not given the honor of the kingdom; but he will come in time of security, and will obtain the kingdom by flatteries Daniel 11:21.
And here the chapter's manner changes. This figure is introduced by a moral judgment rather than a title — a contemptible person — and by a defect of legitimacy: the kingdom's honor had not been given to him. He did not inherit it and did not win it in the field. He got it in time of security, when nobody was watching, by flatteries.
That word governs the rest of the chapter's account of this power. It rises by flatteries Daniel 11:21, works deceitfully after a treaty Daniel 11:23, becomes strong with few people Daniel 11:23, and corrupts by flatteries again Daniel 11:32 — with a further note that men join its cause with flatteries even in a time of persecution Daniel 11:34. This is a power whose instrument is persuasion, and the earlier visions had said the same about the horn: eyes like a man's, an arrogant mouth, and deceit prospering in its hand Daniel 7:8 Daniel 8:25. Not primarily a conqueror. Something that talks its way in.
The overwhelming forces will be overwhelmed from before him, and will be broken. Yes, also the prince of the covenant Daniel 11:22.
Armies broken, and then a phrase that does not belong to military history at all: also the prince of the covenant. Whatever else this stretch is describing, its casualties include one whose title is covenantal, not political — and the chapter's interest in the holy covenant from here on is unmistakable Daniel 11:28 Daniel 11:30 Daniel 11:32. The prophecy given in this book about a covenant and an Anointed One being cut off Daniel 9:26–27 is the material this phrase sits closest to.
He will do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers... he will devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time Daniel 11:24.
Something genuinely new — a power doing what no predecessor had done — with scattered wealth as its method and a limit built in: only for a time. The same limit governs every power in this book Daniel 7:25 Daniel 8:19.
The southern campaign that follows is undone by treachery rather than by arms: those who eat of his delicacies will destroy him Daniel 11:26, and the two kings sit at one table lying to each other Daniel 11:27. The vision's comment on the summit is its most quietly devastating: it won't prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time. Two rulers negotiating in bad faith, and the outcome is already dated by somebody else.
Then he will return into his land with great wealth. His heart will be against the holy covenant. He will take action Daniel 11:28.
And the subject settles where it stays. Not the south, not the islands, not the treasure — his heart will be against the holy covenant, and he acts on it.
held with reason What this mark means