And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind. The difficulty of reconciling this with Antiochus' history is, no historian but Porphyry mentions an expedition of his into Egypt toward the close of his reign. This Daniel 11:40, therefore, may be a recapitulation, summing up the facts of the first expedition to Egypt (171, 170 BC), as already described in Daniel 11:22; Daniel 11:25; Daniel 11:41.
At the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships. The Saracen Arabs "of the south" "pushed at" the Greek emperor Heraclius, and deprived him of Egypt and Syria. But the Turks of "the north" not merely pushed at, but destroyed the Greek empire; therefore more is said of them than of the Saracens. Their "horsemen" are specified, being their chief strength. Their standards still are horse tails. Their "ships," too, often gained the victory over Venice, the great naval power of Europe in that day.
And he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. They "over-flowed" west Asia, and then "passed over" into Europe, fixing their seat of empire at Constantinople, under Mohammed II (Newton).