Daniel 11:44,45 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him Historians relate, that the Parthians on the east, and the Armenians on the north, declared war against Antiochus about the same time; so that this may very reasonably be supposed to relate to this fact. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace The word translated palace here, is a Syriac word, and therefore is very properly used when speaking of the Syrian king. The expression signifies, as we would speak now, his royal tent, or pavilion. By planting it between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain, is meant, his fixing it in Judea, called a mountain elsewhere, as well as here, because it is a mountainous country. The epithet glorious is the very same as Daniel generally uses in speaking of Judea as a peculiar mark of distinction. The epithet holy is also frequently applied to Judea, because the whole of it was dedicated to the true God, and was chosen by him for the residence of a nation which he intended to be a holy people. Judea is likewise situated between two seas, namely, the Mediterranean, and the sea of Sodom, or the Dead sea; which are its boundaries on each side. So the meaning of this sentence is, that Antiochus should place his royal pavilion in Judea, leaving there some of his principal generals, or officers, who should, by his command, keep up the pomp of majesty as if he himself were present. Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him God shall cut him off in the midst of his days, and none shall be able to prevent his fall. This is the same with what is foretold Daniel 8:25, He shall be broken without hand; where see the note. Observe, reader, when God's time is come to bring proud oppressors to their end, none shall be able, nor perhaps, inclined to help them, for those who, when they are in their grandeur, covet to be feared by all, will find, when they come to be in distress, that they are loved by none: none will lend them so much as a hand, or a prayer to help them: for if the Lord do not help, who shall? Of the kings that came after Antiochus nothing is here prophesied, for he was the most malicious, mischievous enemy to the church, and a type of the son of perdition, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming, and none shall help him. As a confirmation of the explanation of this prophecy given above, it may be proper to observe here, that Calmet, in like manner, confines the latter part of it to the persecutions of Antiochus against the Jews. He observes, however, at the close of the chapter, it is necessary to acknowledge that Antiochus was one of the most manifest, and most expressive figures of antichrist, and that these things which the angel foretold of Antiochus will receive a further accomplishment before the end of the world.