…the only women we’ve seen so far were Belshazzar’s wives and concubines, and they contributed little to the character of our gender.
“(The queen mother was wise and helpful 5:10)”
What does Daniel 11:59 tell you about this woman?
“She is the daughter of the king of the South.”
Let’s have a quick review and make sure we’re grasping it: What two Greek dynasties (out of the four) had ongoing conflicts according to the information in this paragraph? Give the original generals’ names:
“Ptolemy” and “Seleucus”
Their connection to the Holy Land is the very reason why prophecies concerning these empires and their divisions find their place in Scripture and not just secular history books.
Let’s nail some of this down. Be relieved to know that you won’t need to memorize this segment of history and know all these names by heart to grasp the book of Daniel. However, I certainly want you to have studied them. According to the previous four paragraphs, identify the following:
The original king of the South: “Ptolemy I”
What land is referenced as ‘South’? “Egypt”
The original king of the North: “Seleucus I”
What land is referenced as ‘North’? “Syria & Babylon”
The daughter of the king of the South: “Berenice”
What happened to her? “murdered on Laodice’s orders”
What is your response to such a realization? Share it in the form of a prayer in the space below as you conclude today’s lesson.
“Lord, it blows my mind when I ponder how You know every detail of everything that has ever, and will ever happen, and probably every possible alternate timeline, though you don’t need to because You already know every choice everyone will choose. Wow! Amen!”
Dearest Rachel –
It is wild to read the second half of Daniel and, with the help of reference material and the like, be able to point to the specific dramatis personae on the world stage – who wouldn’t take the stage for centuries to come – that he’s being told about. The names would have meant nothing to Daniel, but the places where they stand on the chessboard of history rendered them significant all the same.
And while some scholars apparently claim that this accuracy indicates that this second half was written later, so as to date it as contemporary with Antiochus IV Epiphanes (thereby considering it a forgery that doesn’t belong in Scripture in the first place; the fact that it’s been included in the general canon seems to defy that), that still doesn’t explain how the seventy weeks (minus one reserved for the much more distant future) line up so well with the appearance of (and the ‘cutting off’ of) the ‘anointed one’ in chapter nine – you, of course, know Who it’s referring to by that.
With that in mind, it’s no wonder you offer up such a prayer about being amazed at His foreknowledge, while at the same time understanding that, while we may think of this world having alternates due to every decision taken or spurned, He knows what each decision had been and will be even before it comes to those supposedly making those choices. We see a branching tree, with decisions hither and thither; He sees history as a straight line that always existed since the beginning of time.
Of course, the question then becomes: did He draw that line, thereby fixing us on a path that we could not deviate from? Or is the line that He sees a matter of His foreknowledge, due to the fact that He exists outside of what we experience as time? That’s a debate for scholars wiser than I; and even in your place, where you supposedly have the answers revealed to you, it may be hard to grasp. For my part, I always assumed that He created us with the free will to choose Him (or not) because He didn’t want to railroad us into following and loving Him. The idea that He deliberately directed what probably comes to seventy or eighty percent of humanity (or at the very least, an obvious majority) to ‘ignore’ or ‘reject’ Him – again, is it either if there is no choice? – implies a malevolence or indifference to Him that seems so out of character with One who takes the time to fill Daniel in on the events to come, while adding reassurances of His love and favor to him.
But this is just me speculating on the matter, with little to back it up but my own opinions and thoughts. Then again, if I’m wrong about this, then right now, I’m writing exactly what He intended me to write from the beginning of time at this moment; do my thoughts even enter into it?
I think I may need to take some aspirin after contemplating that.
In any event, I hope that you understand things better than I do at the moment, honey, and on the strength of this prayer, I can imagine you offering praise to Him for this foreknowledge, at the very least. If you can spare a moment now and then to look in on me while I wait to join you, I’d be most grateful. Oh, and wish me luck; I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 