A KING AVENGES HIS SISTER'S MURDER

"One from the sprout of her roots will certainly stand up in his position," said the angel, "and he will come to the military force and come against the fortress of the king of the north and will certainly act against them and prevail." (Daniel 11:7)  "One from the sprout" of Berenice's parents or "roots," was her brother.  At his father's death, he 'stood up' as the king of the south, the Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy III.  At once he set out to avenge his sister's murder. Marching against Syrian King Seleucus II, who Laodice had used to murder Berenice and her son, he came against "the fortress of the king of the north."  Ptolemy III took the fortified  part of Antioch and dealt a deathblow to Laodice.  Moving eastward through the domain of the king of the north he plundered Babylonia and marched on to India.

What happened next? God's angel tells us: "And also with their gods, with their molten images, with their desirable articles of silver and gold, and with the captives he will come to Egypt. And he himself for some years stand off from the king of the north." (Daniel 11:8) Over 200 years earlier, Persian King Cambyses II had conquered Egypt and carried home Egyptian gods, "their molten images." Plundering Persia's former royal capital Susa, Ptolemy III recovered these gods and took them 'captive' to Egypt.  He also brought back as spoils of war a great many "desirable articles of silver and of gold." Obliged to quell revolt at home, Ptolemy III 'stood off from the king of the north,' inflicting no further injuries upon him. 

Next time: THE SYRIAN KING RETALIATES

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