The Eastern Question

DANIEL’S VISION

In the eleventh chapter of the book of Daniel the angel reveals to the prophet the events which should befall the nations of the earth “in the latter days.” He naturally begins at the time where he and Daniel then were, and follows events straight through to the end of the world and the resurrection of the dead. The eleventh chapter of Daniel is all in the words of the angel, who says:- EQ 10.1

“Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia [Cambyses, Smerdis, and Darius Hystaspes]; and the fourth [Xerxes, the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther] shall be far richer than they all; and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.” Xerxes led an army of five millions across the Hellespont and against Greece. EQ 10.2

As soon as the angel mentions Grecia, he skips the remaining history of Persia, and sketches Greece, saying: “And a mighty king shall stand up [Alexander the Great], that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will [see also Daniel 8:20, 21]. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven [see Daniel 8:22]; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides those.” EQ 10.3

At Alexander’s death there was confusion for about twenty years among the many able governors and generals of his great dominion. Finally a fourfold division was accomplished, in harmony with the words of the angel, “toward the four winds of heaven.” Seleucus secured the eastern portion, extending from Syria to the river Indus. Cassander obtained Macedon and other Greek territory on the west. Lysimachus held Thrace and Bithynia on the north, territory of which Byzantium was then, and Constantinople is now, the center. And Ptolemy had Egypt, on the south. EQ 10.4