Continued from previous post
Verse 23 “And after the league made with him [the Senate recognizing him as emperor] he shall work deceitfully; for he will come up and become strong with a small number of people.”
“Tiberius organized the Praetorian Guard, at first of 10,000, afterward doubled. This small number of people, as the emperor's bodyguard, was continually at Rome and under his control. By it he overawed the people and the senate, abolished popular elections, assemblies, etc.” (C 30)
Verse 24 “He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province, and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his father's fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: and he shall think thoughts against the strongholds, even for a time."
“It was the policy of both Augustus and his successors to preserve peacefully the control of the dominions previously gained, rather than to seek by conquest further additions; and, to secure this hold, it was their policy to divide the spoil by appointing local governors, with dignity and authority, whose tenure of office was made to depend upon the preservation of order in their provinces, their fealty to the Caesars and the prompt collection of taxes. They no longer, as at first, pursued the policy of sacking and plundering the world merely to carry the spoils as trophies to Rome. By this diplomatic policy, by thus "forecasting devices," Rome now ruled the world more completely and with greater prestige than when her armies went hither and thither.” (C 30, 31)
“It should be recognized that while the prophecy has particularized, and in the cases of Augustus and Tiberius has almost individualized the account, yet this has been only a means to an end. The end to be accomplished is to mark the time of transfer of universal dominion, from Greece to Rome, from the four generals of Alexander the Great, representing four divisions of that empire (the "four horns" of the Grecian "goat" mentioned in Daniel 8:8), to the Roman Empire which was at that time and previously a part of Greece. These four generals who succeeded Alexander the Great are no less distinctly marked in history than in prophecy. (The division among these four is distinctly referred to in Dan 8:8 and 11:4, 5)
The historian says: "The [Grecian] empire was now divided into four parts, and one part assigned to each of the generals who formed the league. Ptolemy assumed the regal power in Egypt; Seleucus, in Syria and Upper Asia; Lysimachus, in Thrace and Asia Minor as far as Taurus; and Cassander took as his share Macedonia."
In this division Italy belonged to Cassander's department, which was the northern division, designated "King of the North," while Egypt was the southern division, or "King of the South." Gradually the Roman influence prevailed, and piece by piece the territory originally held by Seleucus, Lysimachus and Cassander was brought into subjection to Rome, which was part of the northern division, and left only Egypt, the southern division.
This king of the south, Egypt, became subject to the power of the northern division, as above narrated, in the days of Cleopatra, Antony and Augustus Caesar, partly by the will of the father of Cleopatra, who dying while his children were young, left the kingdom under the protection of the Roman Senate, and partly by Mark Antony's defeat. For a while, indeed, the "King of the South," Egypt, was quite as powerful as the "King of the North," Rome.
Historians tell us that "it was the greatest mercantile nation then existing"; that it had "33,000 cities"; and that its annual revenue "amounted to 14,800 silver talents," about $20,000,000.
Recognizing the sense and design of the prophecy, we should not expect detailed, personal accounts of the monarchs of these kingdoms, but by "King of the North" we should understand the Roman Empire's representative, and by "King of the South" a representative of Egypt's kingdom.” (C 31, 32)
We will continue with our look at Sister Ann’s comments in our next post.
