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detai1, particu1arly the 1ast part:
"An d such as do wicked1 y
agai nst the covenant shall he cor–
rupt by flatteries." Th is, Antiochus
Epiphanes did do. But now not ice
the 1as t part of the verse: "but the
peop1e t hat do know their God
shall be strong, and do exp1oits."
So our question now is, wben,
beginning with, and following, 167
B.C.,
did peop1e begin to know God,
a nd to be spiritually strong, and to
do exp1oi ts in the Lo rd's service?
The answer is, at the time of the
Maccabees, beginning in 166
s.c.,
and, two centur ies 1ater, at the first
appearing of J esus Christ and in
the days of the apost1es!
Verse 33- "And they that un–
ders tand among the peop1e shall
instruct many: yet they shall fall by
the sword , and by flame, by captiv–
ity, and by spoi1, many days."
J esus and the apost1es did in–
st ruct many. But J esus was put to
death, and history indicates that all
the ear1 y apost1es were martyred,
except John. And this continued,
many days, even into the Midd1e
Ages, when millions were martyred
for their faith.
Verse 34- "Now when they
shall fall, they shall be holpen with
a little help: but many shall cleave
to them with flatteries. And [verse
35] sorne of them of unders tanding
shall fall, to try them, and to purge,
and to make them white, even to
the time of the end: because it is
yet for a time appointed."
Here is described in general the
whole course of God 's peop1e, from
the days of Christ to the present.
Compare with suc h passages as
Reve1ation 12:6, 11 , 13-17. And
notice the vision carries on down to
this present time of the end.
Verse 36- the kin g of the
north- who is he, now, in the early
and midd1e New Testament times,
to which our prophecy has come?
In 65
B.C.,
Syria was swallowed up
by the Roman Empire, and became
a Roman province. The Roman
emperor now controlled Judea, and
the ki ng of the north, here referred
to, is, at this time, the emperor of
the Roman Empire. This verse says
he shou1d do according to his will ,
a nd he did-exa1t himse1f, and
magnify himse1f above every god,
añd he did; for the Roman emper–
ors required all to worship tbem
February 1986
and sacri fice to them, as a god. He
was as a god. He was to speak
against the true God, and he did
and persecuted al1 Christians.
Verse 37- his fathers had wor–
shiped
ldols,
but the Roman em–
perors set themse1ves up as gods.
Verse 38-the Roman emperors
honored tbe god of forces, or (mar–
gin) munitions, and deve1oped the
Beni to Mussolini reviews ltalian
troops in 1940, four months after he
declares war on France and Britain.
greatest war-making power the
wor1d ever knew. " And a god
whom his fathers knew not shall he
honour with gold, and si lver, and
with precious stones, and pleasant
things." After setting themselves
up as gods, before
A.D.
476, the
emperors who followed, beginning
with Justinian,
A.D.
554, began to
honor with gold, s i1ver and power a
god in a high re1igious office never
known to their fathers. (Compare
this prophecy of Daniel with Reve-
1ation 17:4, 5 and 18:3, 16.)
Verse 39- the emperors did ac–
knowledge the supremacy of reli–
g ion, increased it with material
g1ory and caused it to rule over
many.
Prophecy Skips to Present
Now we come to this century.
the end shaJI the king of the south
push at hi m.... " Who is today
the "king of the south"?
l t cannot be the king of Egypt,
for in 31
B.C.
Egypt became a
province of the Roman Empire,
swal1owed up by the king of the
north. Today Egypt is a repub1ic
ru1ed by native Arabs. I t has no
king of its own.
But, in the reign of Ptolemy
I ll
Euergetes (verse 7), 247-222
s.c.,
Egypt annexed part of Ethiopia,
immediately south of Egypt (Raw–
linson, pp. 272, 273). Since that
time, the 11th edi tion of the
Ency–
clopaedia Britannica
says (article
"Ethiopia"), Egypt and Ethiopia
were two or three times under the
same gove rnment. Thus, the two
were as one land. And the onl y
portion of that land of the "king of
the south" that remained indepen–
dent unti1 the 20t h century is
Ethiopia!
Ethiopia, the King of the South
Ethiopia was the only country in all
East Africa that continued inde–
pendent, and had a government
and kingdom dating back before
the Roman Empi re. It was the
~
southern part of the kingdom of
i
the south. So it is the only possible
f
government that could be the king
of the south.
At the time of the end- our
time-this king of the south was to
push at the king of the north, now
at Rome!
In 1895 King Menelik , of
Ethiopia, sent an army of 9,000 to
10 ,000 me n agai nst Gener a l
Barat ieri's Italian army.
North of Ethiopia was Eritrea,
be1onging to ltaly. And southeast
was ltalian Somaliland .
In 1896 General Baratier i with
13,000 men tried to defend Eritrea
against the Ethiopians. They lost
4,600 whites a nd 3, 000 native
troops, and more than 3,500 were
taken prisoner.
In a later engagement the Ital–
ians were 9ut to pieces because of
their inexperience in fighting in
mountainous country and because
they were g reat ly outnumbered.
This defeat was disast rous to ltal–
ian expansion in Africa.
Verse 40-"And at the time of
ltaly demanded revenge! In 1927
Mussolini set the time, at just 40
years from that defeat, or 1935,
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