A GREAT KINGDOM DIVIDED INTO FOUR

"A mighty king  will certainly stand up and rule with  extensive dominion and do according to his will," said the angel. (Daniel 11:3) Twenty-year-old Alexander 'stood up' as king of Macedonia in 336 B.C.E. He did become "a mighty king"-Alexander the Great.  Driven by a plan of his father,Philip II, he took the Persian provinces in the Middle East. Crossing the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, his 47,000 men scattered the 25,000 troops of Darius III at Guagamela.  Subsequently, Darius fled and was murdered, ending the Persian dynasty.  Greece now became the world power, and Alexander 'ruled with extensive dominion and did according to his will.'

Alexander's rulership over the world was to be brief, for God's angel added: "When he will have stood up, his kingdom will be broken and be divided toward the four winds of the heavens, but not to his posterity and not according to his dominion with which he had ruled; because his kingdom will be uprooted, even for others than these." (Daniel 11:4) Alexander was not quite 33 years old when sudden illness took his life in Babylon in 323 B.C.E.

Alexander's vast empire did not pass to "his posterity."  His brother Philip III Arrhidaeus reigned  for less than seven years and was murdered at the instance of Olympias, Alexander's mother, in 317 B.C.E.  Alexander's son Alexander IV ruled until 311 B.C.E. when he met death at the hands of Cassander, on of his father's generals.  Alexander's illegitimate son Heracles sought to rule in his father's name but was murdered in 309 B.C.E. Thus ended the line of Alexander, "his dominion" departing from his family.

Following the death of Alexander, his kingdom was "divided toward the four winds." His many generals quarreled among themselves as they grabbed for  territory.  One-eyed General Antigonus I tried to bring all of Alexander's empire under his control.  But he was killed in a battle of Ipsus in Phrygia.  By the year 301 B.C.E., four of Alexander's generals were in power over the vast territory that their commander  had conquered.  Cassander ruled Macedonia and Greece. Lysimachus gained control over Asia Minor and Thrace. Seleucus I Nicator secured Mesopotamia and Syria. And Ptolemy Lagus took Egypt and Palestine.  True to the prophetic word, Alexander's great empire was divided into four Hellenistic kingdoms.  

Next time: TWO RIVALS EMERGE

From the book:  PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999