Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Daniel 11:10 - 11:10

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Daniel 11:10 - 11:10


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The decisive wars - Dan 11:10-12

Here the suffix in בָּנָו refers to the king of the north, who in Dan 11:9 was the person acting. Thus all interpreters with the exception of Kranichfeld, who understand בנו of the son of the Egyptian prince, according to which this verse ought to speak of the hostilities sought, in the wantonness of his own mind, of the king of the south against the king of the north. But this interpretation of Kranichfeld is shattered, not to speak of other verbal reasons which oppose it, against the contents of Dan 11:11. The rage of the king of the south, and his going to war against the king of the north, supposes that the latter had given rise to this rage by an assault. Besides, the description given in Dan 11:10 is much too grand to be capable of being referred to hostility exercised in mere wantonness. For such conflicts we do not assemble a multitude of powerful armies, and, when these powerful hosts penetrate into the fortresses of the enemy's country, then find that for the victorious invaders there is wanting the occasion of becoming exasperated for new warfare. The Kethiv בנו is rightly interpreted by the Masoretes as plur., which the following verbs demand, while the singulars וְעָבָר וְשָׁטַף וּבָא (shall come, and overflow, and pass through) are explained from the circumstance that the hosts are viewed unitedly in הָמֹון (multitude). בֹּוא בָּא expresses the unrestrained coming or pressing forward, while the verbs וְעָבָר שָׁטַף, reminding us of Isa 8:8, describe pictorially the overflowing of the land by the masses of the hostile army. וְיָשֹׁב (jussive, denoting the divine guidance), and shall return, expresses the repetition of the deluge of the land by the hosts marching back out of it after the עָבַּר, the march through the land, - not the new arming for war (Häv.), but renewed entrance into the region of the enemy, whereby they carry on the war מָעֻזֹּה עַד, to the fortress of the king of the south, corresponding with the הַצָּפוֹן מֶלֶךְ בְּמָעוֹז in Dan 11:7 (to the fortress of the king of the north). יִתְגָּרוּ signifies properly to stir up to war, i.e., to arm, then to engage in war. In the first member of the verse it has the former, and in the last the latter meaning. The violent pressing forward of the adversary will greatly embitter the king of the south, fill him with the greatest anger, so that he will go out to make war with him. The adversary marshals a great multitude of combatants; but these shall be given into his hand, into the hand of the king of the south. רָב הָמֹון הֶעֱמִיד (he raised up a great multitude) the context requires us to refer to the king of the north. בְּיָדוֹ נִתַּן, v. Leng., Maurer, and Hitzig understand of the acceptance of the command over the army - contrary to the usage of the words, which mean, to give into the hand = to deliver up, cf. 1Ki 20:28; Dan 1:2; Dan 8:12-13, and is contrary also to the context. The marshalling of the host supposes certainly the power to direct it, so that it needs not then for the first time to be given into the power of him who marshalled it. The expression also, “to give into his hand,” as meaning “to place under his command,” is not found in Scripture. To this is to be added, that the article in הֶהָמֹון refers back to רָב הָמֹון. But if הֶהָמֹון is the host assembled by the king of the north, then it can only be given up into the hand of the enemy, i.e., the king of the south, and thus the suffix in בְּיָדוֹ can only refer to him. The statements in Dan 11:12 are in harmony with this, so far as they confessedly speak of the king of the south.