And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in [these] times.
Ver. 6. And in the end of years.] In process of time, after that these two kings had sufficiently worried and wearied out one another in bloody wars.
They shall join themselves together.] Heb., Shall associate themselves, viz., in a friendly amity, and shall make interchangeable marriages, but to little purpose, as it proved. So Calo Joannes, the Christian emperor of Trebizond, gave his daughter Despina in marriage to Usuncassanes, king of Persia, but with ill success; for he soon after lost his empire. a
For the king's daughter of the south.] Bernice, or, as others call her, Berenice or Beronice, i.e., the daughter of innocence or purity, the daughter Ptolemy Philadelph so called for that he married his own sister, and therefore his daughter Beronice was not rightly named. b
Shall come to the king of the north.] To Antiochus Theos, king of Syria, so the Milesians first surnamed him, because he had driven out their tyrant Timarch, and he took it upon him, to his utter undoing; for this god was afterwards poisoned by his wife, Laodice. c
To make an agreement.] Marriages made in policy, to serve dishonest ends, are ever of ill success. 1 Samuel 18:21 ; 1Sa 18:28
But she shall not retain the power of the arm.] Her interest in her husband, her queendom, and her life were soon after lost. She was not sent home again, as Anne of Cleves was here, but sent out of the world, together with her son and all her retinue, by Laodice, whom Appian maketh to be her own sister; but that is not likely.
Neither shall he stand,] i.e., Antiochus Theus, who was poisoned by his jealous wife - a just punishment from a "jealous God."
Nor his arm.] His young son by Bernice.
And he that begat her.] Her father, Ptolemy Philadelph, who died soon after.
a Turkish History, 464.
b Junius.
c Pausan., Appian.