27 And both these kings' hearts [shall meditate] mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.
And it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, and [one] of the king's chief men, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam unto Mizpah, and there they ate bread together, in Mizpah. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah arose, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land. And Ishmael smote all the Jews that were with him, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, the men of war.
And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood, and not for fidelity are they valiant in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah. Take ye heed every one of his friend, and confide not in any brother; for every brother only supplanteth, and every friend goeth about with slander. And they act deceitfully every one with his neighbour, and speak not the truth: they teach their tongue to speak falsehood, they weary themselves with perverse dealing.
Eat thou not the food of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties. For as he thinketh in his soul, so is he. Eat and drink! will he say unto thee; but his heart is not with thee. Thy morsel which thou hast eaten must thou vomit up, and thou wilt have wasted thy sweet words.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Daniel 11
Commentary on Daniel 11 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 11
The angel Gabriel, in this chapter, performs his promise made to Daniel in the foregoing chapter, that he would "show him what should befal his people in the latter days,' according to that which was "written in the scriptures of truth:' very particularly does he here foretel the succession of the kings of Persia and Grecia, and the affairs of their kingdoms, especially the mischief which Antiochus Epiphanes did in his time to the church, which was foretold before (ch. 8:11-12). Here is,
Dan 11:1-4
Here,
Dan 11:5-20
Here are foretold,
Dan 11:21-45
All this is a prophecy of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the little horn spoken of before (ch. 8:9) a sworn enemy to the Jewish religion, and a bitter persecutor of those that adhered to it. What troubles the Jews met with in the reigns of the Persian kings were not so particularly foretold to Daniel as these, because then they had living prophets with them, Haggai and Zechariah, to encourage them; but these troubles in the days of Antiochus were foretold, because, before that time, prophecy would cease, and they would find it necessary to have recourse to the written word. Some things in this prediction concerning Antiochus are alluded to in the New-Testament predictions of the antichrist, especially v. 36, 37. And as it is usual with the prophets, when they foretel the prosperity of the Jewish church, to make use of such expressions as were applicable to the kingdom of Christ, and insensibly to slide into a prophecy of that, so, when they foretel the troubles of the church, they make use of such expressions as have a further reference to the kingdom of the antichrist, the rise and ruin of that. Now concerning Antiochus, the angel foretels here,
Of the kings that came after Antiochus nothing is here prophesied, for that was the most malicious mischievous enemy to the church, that was a type of the son of perdition, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming, and none shall help him.