17. What prophetic history of the king of the north and the king of the south does Daniel now record?

¹⁷ As it opens, this enthralling vision speaks of the Persian dynasty and a coming struggle with Greece. A mighty king will stand up with extensive dominion, but his kingdom will be broken into four parts. Eventually there will be two long lines of kings, the king of the south as opposed to the king of the north. The power struggle will surge back and forth. These incorrigibly bad kings will keep speaking a lie at one table. “At the time appointed,” the warfare will flare up again. There is to be a profaning of God’s sanctuary, and “the disgusting thing that is causing desolation” is to be set in place. (11:29-31) The king of the north will speak marvelous things against the God of gods and give glory to the god of fortresses. When “in the time of the end” the king of the south engages with the king of the north in a pushing, the king of the north will flood over into many lands, entering also “into the land of the Decoration.” Disturbed by reports out of the east and north, he will rage forth and plant “his palatial tents between the grand sea and the holy mountain of Decoration.” So “he will have to come all the way to his end, and there will be no helper for him.”​—11:40, 41, 45.

(4) Finally, we have the vision of the king of the south and the king of the north. Daniel 11:5-19 accurately describes the rivalry between the Egyptian and Seleucid offshoots of Alexander’s Grecian Empire following Alexander’s death in 323 B.C.E. From 11 verse 20 the prophecy continues to trace the course of successor nations of the south and north. Jesus’ reference to “the disgusting thing that is causing desolation” (11:31), in his prophecy about the sign of his presence, shows that this power struggle of the two kings continues right down to “the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matt. 24:3) How comforting the prophecy’s assurance that in the “time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time,” Michael himself will stand up to remove ungodly nations and bring peace to obedient mankind!​—Dan. 11:20–12:1.