A TYRANT 'SCHEMES OUT HIS SCHEMES'

Still prophesying about Tiberius, the angel said:   "Because of their allying themselves with him he will carry on deception and actually come up and become mighty by means of a little nation." (Daniel 11:23)  Members of the Roman Senate had constitutionally 'allied themselves' with Tiberius, and he formally depended upon them.  But he was deceptive, actually becoming "mighty by means of a little nation."  That little nation was the Roman Praetorian Guard, encamped close to Rome's walls.  Its proximity intimidated the Senate and helped Tiberius keep in check any uprisings against his authority among the populace.  By means of some 10,000 guards, Tiberius remained mighty. 

The angel added prophetically:  "During freedom from care, even into the fatness of the jurisdictional district he will enter in and actually do what his fathers and the fathers of this fathers have not done. Plunder  and spoil and goods he will scatter among them; and against fortified places he will scheme out his schemes, but only until a time." (Daniel 11:24)  Tiberius was extremely suspicious and his reign abounded with ordered killings. Largely because of the influence of Sejanus, commander of the Praetorian Guard, the latter part of his reign was marked by terror.  Finally, Sejanus himself fell under suspicion and was executed.  In tyrannizing over people, Tiberius exceeded his forefathers. 

Tiberius, however, scattered "plunder and spoil and goods" throughout the Roman provinces. By the time of his death, all the subject peoples were enjoying prosperity. Taxes were light, and he could be generous to those  in areas undergoing hard times. If soldiers  or officials oppressed anyone or promoted irregularity in handling matters, they could expect imperial vengeance. A firm grip on power maintained public security, and an improved communications system helped commerce.  Tiberius made sure that affairs were administered fairly and steadily  inside and outside Rome. The laws were improved, and social and  moral codes were enhanced by the furthering of reforms instituted by Augustus Caesar. Yet, Tiberius  'schemed his schemes,' so that Roman historian Tacitus described him as hypocritical man, skilled  at putting on false appearances.  By the time he died in March 37 C.E., Tiberius  was considered to be a tyrant. 

The successors to Tiberius who filled the role of the king of the north included Gaius Caesar (Caligula), Claudius I, Nero , Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian. "For the most part," says The New Encyclopedia Britannica, "the successors to Augustus continued his administrative policies  and buidling program, though with less innovation and more ostentations."  The same reference work further points out:  "In the late 1st and early 2nd centuries Rome was at the peak of its grandeur and population." Although Rome  had some trouble on the imperial frontiers during this time, its first foretold confrontation with the king of the south did not occur until the third century C.E. 

Next time: AROUSED AGAINST THE KING OF THE SOUTH

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