Today, I am reading and commenting on  Daniel 11-12.

The prophecy in chapter 11 looks much like what the people of Maccabean Judea may have understood of world events from the time of Daniel to themselves.  Or to put that another way, it looks somewhat like what happened with the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and the wars between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms which followed him, but not quite.  Or, in other words, it sounds like what someone knowledgeable about world affairs living in Judea at the time of the Maccabees might have thought had happened.  I want to state that, considering the degree to which the records left by the people of the time were self-serving (just as the records being left by people today) I am not convinced that it disagrees with actual history by as much as modern historians generally conclude.  This prophecy tells us that powerful rulers will make many plans, but they cannot foresee every eventuality and those unforeseen things will cause their plans to work out differently than they intend.  On the other hand, for God there are no unforeseen eventualities, so His plans always work out as He intended.

Then we have the finale of the Book of Daniel which discusses the main point of the latter half (approximately) of the book. Daniel did not understand (and neither do I) so he asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?” The answer he received was this: “Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.”  So, throughout history many things will happen, some good, many terrible, and those who seek God will be purified by these events, will be inspired to do ever more good.  While the wicked will continue to miss the point and not understand that doing God’s will would bring them greater joys than all of the selfish actions they choose instead.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.