'THE DESPISE ONE STANDS UP

Continuing with the prophecy, the angel said:  "There must stand up in his [Augustus'] position one who is to be despised, and they will certainly not set upon him the dignity of the kingdom; and he will actually come in during a freedom from care and take hold of the kingdom by means of smoothness. And as regards the arms of the flood, they will be flooded  over on account of him, and they will be broken' as will also the Leader of the covenant." -Daniel 11:21, 22.

The "one who is to be  despised" was Tiberius Caesar, the son of Livia, Augustus' third wife.   Augustus hated this this stepson because of his bad traits and did not want  him to become the next Caesar.  "The dignity of the kingdom"  was unwillingly bestowed upon him only after all other likely successors were dead.  Augustus adopted Tiberius in 4 C.E. and made him heir to the throne. After the death of Augustus, 54-year-old Tiberius-the despised one-'stood up,' assuming power as the Roman emperor and the king of the north. 

"Tiberius," says, The New Encyclopedia Britannica, "played politics with the Senate and did not allow it to name him emperor for almost a month [after Augustus died]." He told the Senate that no one but Augustus was capable of carrying the burden of ruling the Roman Empire and asked the senators to restore the republic by entrusting such authority to a group of men rather than to one man. "Not daring to take  him at his word,"  wrote historian Will Durant, "the Senate exchanged bows with him until at last he accepted power."  Durant added:  "The play was well acted on both sides.  Tiberius wanted the principate, or he would have found some way to evade it; the Senate feared and hated  him, but shrank from re-establishing  a republic based, like the old, upon theoretically sovereign assemblies." Thus Tiberius 'took hold of the kingdom  by means of smoothness.' 

"As regards the arms of the flood"-the military forces of the surrounding kingdoms-the angel said: "They will be flooded over and will be broken.' When Tiberius became the king of the north, his nephew Germanicus Caesar was commander of the Roman troops on the Rhine River.  In 15 C.E., Germanicus led his forces against the German hero Arminius with some success.  However, the limited victories were won at great cost, and Tiberius thereafter aborted operations in Germany. Instead, by promoting civil war, he tired to prevent German tribes from uniting. Tiberius generally favored a defensive foreign policy and focused on strengthening the frontiers.  This stance was fairly successful.  In this way "the arms of the flood" were controlled and were "broken." 

"Broken" too was "the Leader of the covenant" that Jehovah God had made with Abraham for blessing all the families of the earth.  Jesus Christ was the Seed of Abraham promised in that covenant.  (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:16)  On Nisan 14, 33 C.E., Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate in the Roman governor's palace in Jerusalem.  The Jewish priests had charged Jesus with treason against the  emperor.  But Jesus told Pilate: "My kingdom is no part of this world. . . .My kingdom is not from this source." So that the Roman governor might not free the faultless Jesus, the Jews shouted: "If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar. Every man making himself a king speaks against Caesar." After calling for Jesus' execution, they said:  "We have no king but Caesar." According to the law of injured majesty," which Tiberius had broadened to include virtually any insult to Caesar,m Pilate handed Jesus over to be "broken," or impaled on a torture stake. -John 18:36; 19:12-16; Mark 15:14-20. 

Next time: A TYRANT 'SCHEMES OUT HIS SCHEMES'

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