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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Daniel 11:28 - 11:28
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The success gained by the crafty king of the north in his war against the king of the south (Dan 11:25.) increases his endeavours after the enlarging of his dominions. Returning from Egypt with great riches, i.e., with rich spoil, he raises his heart against the holy covenant. By the potentialis יָשֹׁב (he shall return) this new undertaking is placed in the point of view of a divine decree, to denote that he thereby brings about his own destruction. קֹדֶשׁ בְּרִית signifies not the holy people in covenant with God (v. Lengerke, Maurer, and many older interpreters), but the divine institution of the Old Covenant, the Jewish Theocracy. The Jews are only members of this covenant, cf. Dan 11:30. Calvin is right when he says: Mihi simplicior sensus probatur, quod scilicet bellum gerat adversus Deum. The holy covenant is named instead of the covenant people to represent the undertaking as an outrage against the kingdom of God, which was founded in Israel. וְעָשָׂה, and he shall do, perform, that which his heart thinks, or that which he has in his mind against the holy covenant. The historical fulfilment is narrated in 1 Macc. 1:22-29. לְאַרְצוֹ וְשָׁב resumes אַרְצוֹ וְיָשֹׁב, and teaches us that Antiochus undertook the first assault against the holy covenant on his return from Egypt into his kingdom (to Antioch), as is expressly stated in 1 Macc. 1:20.