THE TWO KINGS CHANGE IDENTITIES: CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SYRIAN monarch Antiochus IV  invades Egypt and crowns himself its king. At the request of Egyptian King Ptolemy VI, Rome sends Ambassador Caius Popilius Laenas to Egypt.  He has with him an impressive fleet and orders from the Roman Senate that Antiochus IV renounce his kingship of Egypt and withdraw from the country. At Eleusis, a suburb  of Alexandria, the Syrian king and the Roman ambassador come fact-to-face. Antiochus IV requests time for consultation with his advisers, but Laenas draws a circle around the king and tells him to answer before stepping across the line. Humiliated, Antiochus IV complies with Roman demands and returns to Syria in 168 B.C.E. Thus ends the confrontation between the Syrian king of the north and the Egyptian king of the south.

Playing a dominant role in the affairs of the Middle East, Rome goes on dictating to Syria. Hence, even though other kings of the Seleucid dynasty rule Syria after Antiochus IV dies in 163 B.C.E., they do not occupy the position of  "the king of the north." (Daniel 11:15) Syrian finally becomes a Roman province  in 64 B.C.E.

Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty continues to hold the position of  "king of the south" for a little over a 130 years after the death of Antiochus IV.  (Daniel 11:14) During the battle of Actium, in 31 B.C.E., Roman ruler Octavian defeats the combine forces of the last Ptolemaic queen-Cleopatra VII-and her Roman lover, Mark Antony. After Cleopatra's suicide the following year, Egypt too becomes  a Roman province  and no longer plays the role of the king  of the south. By the year 30 B.C.E., Rome has supremacy over both Syrian and Egypt.   Should we now expect other rulerships to assume the roles of the king of the north and the king of the south?  

Next time: A NEW KING SENDS OUT "AN EXACTOR"

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