Daniel 11:20

Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom,.... This was not Antiochus Epiphanes, as Theodoret, he is designed in the next verse; nor Ptolemy Epiphanes; as

Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.

This was Seleucus Philopater, a very covetous griper, who peeled his subjects; who being told by his friends this would alienate his friends from him, answered, Money was his best friend; and therefore spared not to rob the temple, for which cause he sent Heliodorus to rifle that treasury, /APC , therefore said to raise taxes in the glory of his kingdom. But within few days he shall be destroyed; for he lived not out the thirst part of his father’ s reign. Neither in anger, nor in battle; not by open force, but by poison or secret wiles, and treachery of Heliodorus, as some write of him: the seed of evil-doers are never renowned, in life or death.

Daniel 11:20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes [in] the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.Ver. 20. Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes.] Heb., One that causeth an exactor to pass over, who shall gather no less sums of curses than of coin. This was Seleucus Philopator, son to Antiochus the Great, and his father’ s darling - whence also he had his surname - but not the people’ s darling, as Scipio was at Rome, whom they called Corculum, or sweet heart; for this Seleucus, king of Syria, being the Romans’ tribute gatherer - to whom he was to pay, according to his father’ s agreement, a thousand talents by the year - he was hated of the people, and poisoned by Heliodorus, a great man about him, in favour of Antiochus Epiphanes, his brother and successor in the kingdom.

(20) A raiser of taxes.—The marginal version is to be preferred, as it gives the meaning of the word “exactor,” or “oppressor,” which it has in Exodus 3:7, and in every passage where it occurs, except perhaps Isaiah 9:4. The new king of the north causes the “oppressor” to pass through “the majesty of the kingdom” (a phrase occurring elsewhere only in Psalms 145:12; but comp. 1 Chronicles 29:25), meaning the “richest parts of his kingdom,” and not necessarily Palestine. The effect of this policy was that the king fell a victim to a conspiracy in a few days. According to St. Jerome, the person alluded to was Seleucus Philopator. With this verse the first part of the prophecy concludes. It is to be observed that thus far (1) notes of time are very scanty; we only meet with indefinite expressions, such as “in the end of years” (Daniel 11:6), “certain years” (Daniel 11:13), “within few days” (Daniel 11:20), and vague terms expressing sequence of time. (2) There is nothing in the text which implies any change of sovereigns, except in Daniel 11:7; Daniel 11:19. It follows from a careful study of these verses that according to their natural and literal sense they speak of only two southern kings and only one northern king. The southern king of whom we read most is apparently the offspring of the daughter of the first southern king, mentioned in Daniel 11:5, and it is he who engages in conflict with the first northern king, and with his sons (Daniel 11:10). The whole prophecy is eschatological, and refers to two opposing earthly powers which will affect the destiny of God’s people in the last times. It relates a series of wars and political intrigues between these two powers, all of which prove futile, and it concludes with the account of the death of the first northern king. Daniel 11:20 is a transition verse, in which another character is introduced, who will mark the approach of the end; while Daniel 11:21 introduces the most prominent object of the prophecy—a person who remains before the reader till the end of the chapter, while the southern king gradually disappears (Daniel 11:25; Daniel 11:27; Daniel 11:40), and what is apparently his country is mentioned without its sovereign in Daniel 11:43.

Verse 20. Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes] Seleucus Philopater succeeded his father Antiochus. He sent his treasurer Heliodorus to seize the money deposited in the temple of Jerusalem, which is here called the glory of the kingdom, see 2Macc 9:23. He was so cramped to pay the annual tax to the Romans, that he was obliged to burden his subjects with continual taxes. He shall be destroyed, neither in anger - fighting against an enemy, nor in battle - at the head of his troops; but basely and treacherously, by the hand of Heliodorus his treasurer, who hoped to reign in his stead.

20. Seleucus IV. (Philopator), b.c. 187–175. Antiochus the Great left two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus (Epiphanes), both of whom successively followed him on the throne. And in his place (Daniel 11:7) shall stand up one that shall cause an exactor to pass through the glory of the kingdom] Seleucus IV. The words are generally considered to allude to an event from the reign of this monarch which affected the Jews. In 2 Maccabees 3 we read, namely, how one Simon, guardian of the Temple, having quarrelled with the high-priest Onias, gave information to Apollonius, governor of C�le-Syria and Ph�nicia, of the treasures contained in the Temple, with the suggestion that they might prove useful to the king: Seleucus thereupon commissioned his chief minister (τὸνἐπὶτῶνπραγμάτων), see Niese, op. cit. p. 29, to proceed to Jerusalem and appropriate them. Heliodorus accordingly visited Jerusalem for the purpose; but was prevented from carrying it out (according to the author of 2 Macc.) by a supernatural apparition, which appeared to him just as he was on the point of entering the treasury[369]. We are however imperfectly informed as to the events of Seleucus IV.’s reign; and it is possible that the allusion may be of a general kind: Seleucus (below, note) had to pay for nine years an annual sum of 1000 talents to the Romans, which he would naturally exact of his subject provinces; and perhaps the reference may be to the ‘exactor’ who visited Palestine regularly for the purpose[370]. [369] Cf. Ewald v. 292; Stanley, Jewish Church, iii. 287. [370] Antiochus Epiphanes shortly afterwards sends into Judah an officer called ἅρχωνφορολογίας (1Ma 1:29).an exactor] cf. the cognate verb in 2 Kings 23:35. the glory of the kingdom] a prophet (Isaiah 13:19) had called Babylon ‘the beauty of kingdoms’; and so here the land of Judah is called ‘the glory of the kingdom’ (viz. of the Seleucidae), their noblest and choicest province. The Heb. in this part of the verse is however unusual; and Bevan, transposing two words, would read, ‘shall stand up an exactor (Seleucus IV. himself), who shall cause the glory of the kingdom (i.e. of his own kingdom) to pass away,’—with allusion to the inglorious reign of Seleucus IV. but within few days (Genesis 27:44; Genesis 29:20, Heb.) he shall be broken, but not in anger, or in battle] not by a passionate deed of violence, and not in open fight, but (it is implied) in some less honourable way: in point of fact, Seleucus, after an uneventful reign of 12 years, met his death, perhaps by poison, through a plot headed by his chief minister, Heliodorus (Appian, Syr. c. 45 ἐξἐπιβουλῆςἩλιοδώρου). The ‘few days’ may be reckoned either from the mission of Heliodorus, or perhaps from the inception of the plot: in either case the general meaning will be that he would come to a speedy and untimely end. broken] i.e. ruined; of a person, as Proverbs 6:15; Proverbs 29:1; ch. Daniel 8:25. Cf. Daniel 11:26, below. in anger] if this is the meaning, the Heb.

Then shall stand up in his estate - Margin, “or, place.” The word used - כן kên - means, properly, “a stand, station, place” (see the notes at Daniel 11:7), and the idea here is simply that he would

20. Estate — Rather, place (as in Daniel 11:7; Daniel 11:21; Daniel 11:38). A raiser of taxes, etc. — Or, one that shall cause an exactor to pass over (through) the glory of the kingdom. The various versions greatly differ.