And the king of the south - The angel here leaves the general history of the empire, and confines himself, in his predictions, to two parts of it - the kingdom of the south, and the kingdom of the north; or the kingdoms to the north and the south of Palestine - that of Syria and that of Egypt; or that of the Seleucidae, and that of the Ptolemies. The reason why he does this is not stated, but it is, doubtless, because the events pertaining to these kingdoms would particularly affect the Jewish people, and be properly connected with sacred history. Compare the notes at Daniel 8:7-8. The “king of the south” here is, undoubtedly, the king of Egypt. This part of the empire was obtained by Ptolemy, and was in the hands of his successors until Egypt was subdued by the Romans. Between the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria long and bloody wars prevailed, and the prospective history of these wars it is the design of the angel here to trace. As the remainder of the chapter refers to these two dynasties, until the death of the great persecutor, Antiochus Epiphanes, and as the events referred to were very important in history, and as introductory to what was to follow in the world, it may be useful here, in order to a clear exposition of the whole chapter, to present a list of these two lines of princes. It is necessary only to premise, that the death of Alexander the Great occurred 323 b.c.; that of his brother, Philip Aridaeus, b.c. 316; that of his son, Alexander AEgus, by Roxana, 309 b.c.; and that a short time after this (about 306 b.c.), the chief Macedonian governors and princes assumed the royal title. The following list of the succession of the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies - or the kings of the north and the south - of Syria and Egypt, is copied from Elliott “on the Apocalypse,” iv. 123: -
| Lines of Princes of Ptolemy and Seleucidae | |||
| B.C. | The Ptolemies | B.C. | The Seleucidae |
| 323 | Ptolemy Soter, son of Ptolemy Lagus, governor of Egypt. | 323 | Seleucus Nicator, governor of Babylon |
| | | 312 | Seleucus Nicator recovers Babylon, and the Era of the Seleucidae begins |
| 306 | Ptolemy Soter takes the title of king of Egypt | | |
| 284 | Ptolemy Philadelphus. | | |
| | | 280 | Antiochus Soter |
| | | 261 | Antiochus Theus |
| 246 | Ptolemy Euergetes | 246 | Seleucus Callinicus |
| | | 226 | Seleucus Ceraunus |
| | | 225 | Antiochus the Great |
| 221 | Ptolemy Philopator | | |
| 204 | Ptolemy Epiphanes | | |
| | | 187 | Seleucus Philopator |
| 180 | Ptolemy Philometor | | |
| | | 175 | Antiochus Epiphanes |
| | | 164 | Antiochus Eupator, of the the Romans assume guardianship |
“After this, fourteen mere Syrian kings reigned, in reigns of short and uncertain power, until Syria was occupied and formed into a Roman province under Pompey, at which time the era of the Seleucidae properly ends; and six more Egyptian princes, to the death of Ptolemy Auletes, who dying b.c. 51, left his kingdom and children to Roman guardianship - one of these children being the ‘Cleopatra’ so famous in the histories of Caesar and Anthony.” - Elliott, “ut supra.”
Shall be strong - This is in accordance with the wellknown fact. One of the most powerful of those monarchies, if not “the” most powerful, was Egypt.
And one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him - The meaning of this passage is, that there would be “one of his princes,” that is, of the princes of Alexander, who would be more mighty than the one who obtained Egypt, or the south, and that he would have a more extended dominion. The reference is, doubtless, to Seleucus Nicator, or the conqueror. In the division of the empire he obtained Syria, Babylonia, Media, Susiana, Armenia, a part of Cappadocia, and Cilicia, and his kingdom stretched from the Hellespont to the Indus. See the notes at Daniel 8:8. Compare Arrian, “Exp. Alex.” vii. 22; Appian, p. 618; and Lengerke, in loc. The proper translation of this passage probably would be, “And the king of the south shall be mighty. But from among his princes (the princes of Alexander) also there shall be (one) who shall be mightier than he, and he shall reign, and his dominion shall be a great dominion.” It was of these two dominions that the angel spake, and hence follows, through the remainder of the chapter, the history pertaining to them and their successors. Seleucus Nicator reigned from 312 b.c. to 280 b.c. - or thirty-two years. In his time lived Berosus and Megasthenes, referred to in the Introduction to Daniel 4.