Daniel 11:36-39 “Patterns and Choices”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

³⁶And the king will do according to his will and he will exalt himself and he will magnify himself above every god and upon the God of gods. He will speak things being amazing and he will succeed until the fury is accomplished according to what is decreed shall be accomplished. ³⁷And he will not regard upon the gods of his forefathers, nor upon the desire of women, nor will he regard upon any god because he will magnify himself upon all. ³⁸And a god of fortresses he will honor upon his place, and he will honor a god which his forefathers have not known, in gold and in silver and in precious stone and in desirable things. ³⁹And he will do to fortresses of fortresses with a foreign god which he will regard. He will increase glory and he will make them rule in many and [he/they will] divide the land in a price.

As I said at the start of my last post, at this point, commentators differ over whether the angel is still talking about Antiochus Epiphanes or if he has morphed ahead to anticipate the Antichrist himself. After studying almost all the way through the book of Daniel, along with all the other reading and studying of the various prophetical sections of the Bible, I would like to record a number of thoughts I have on the subject.

After all these years, I have come to two observations regarding prophecy. First of all, I am amazed how all the prophecy of the Bible fits together. If we just let it say what it says, we believers have a very thorough outline for the course of human history right into eternity. I feel I have not sufficiently appreciated what a blessing that is. We may not know all the particulars, but we can literally watch history unfold before our eyes and say, “Yup. That’s exactly what the Lord said would happen.”

At the same time, the other thing that amazes me is how cryptic most prophecy is. The passage in front of us is “case in point.” Read it again and ask yourself, “What on earth does this mean?” It seems to me,very often, the overall thrust and meaning of a prophecy can be clear enough, while particular words and phrases are simply baffling. As Jesus said, “I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe…I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you” (John 14:29; 16:4). “When it does happen…” Prophecy is just cryptic enough that we all should hold our interpretations “with an open hand,” waiting for their fulfillment to reveal for sure what they meant.

Then, I suppose that should have at least two impacts on us. One is to keep us humble. When someone has a different interpretation, I should be “quick to listen and slow to speak.” I need to constantly remind myself that what is “true” is not necessarily my interpretation of prophecy, but rather the Bible itself. In fact, as those “cryptic” passages unfold before our eyes, I need to be quite ready to shuck my preconceived notions and believe what the Lord Himself reveals. I can only say, “God, help me to hang on tightly not to my interpretations, but rather to Your words, whether they make sense or not.”

The second impact should be to drive us to personal study. I need to know His words. Though we may not know what Daniel 11:36-39 means, still we are greatly profited just to know it. As I read books and listen to sermons, I want to know when what they’re saying is true to Scripture. The “test” is not my interpretation, but rather the Scriptures themselves. That is only possible if I actually know the Scriptures – and that can come only from my own personal study and/or reading. It may sound cliché, but we believers need to “know our Bibles” – including prophetical sections that may not appear today to make any sense at all.

Another thought that bears on this passage is this business of the morphing. As I said, at this point, many commentators differ whether this is still about Antiochus or if it has morphed into the Antichrist. I’ve addressed this before, but most exegetes call this sort of thing “types.” They might admit that it is hard to tell whether it is the former or the latter, but they explain the first was a “type” of the last. That is all well and good, but I personally think it’s missing an enormous reality of the Lord’s entire created universe.

This entire Creation is fractal. A fractal is a pattern that repeats itself a million different times, in a million different ways, and on a million different scales. If we have the eyes to see, everywhere we look, we see fractals. When Adam fell, he set about a pattern – his image – which would thereafter define the human race. We all naturally act like Adam. The prayer from the old hymn was “Adam’s image now efface; Stamp Thine image in its place.” One of the Lord’s purposes in saving us is “that we might be conformed to the image of His Son.” Our lives either follow the fractal (pattern) of Adam’s rebellion or that of God’s Son Jesus. The longer I live, the more clearly I realize how all true believers are Jesus people. They may express that in a million different ways, but there’s no mistaking a person who is clearly “like” Jesus.

I could go on and on. Trees are trees. A whole forest is full of trees. We look at each one and say, “That’s a tree.” They are all following a pattern which we recognize as a “tree.” Yet, no two trees are exactly alike, even though they follow that same pattern. Then there are different kinds of trees – oak trees, maple trees, sycamore trees. Although they are all trees, yet there is a different pattern that defines which kind of tree they are. We can go further and notice there are different kinds of oaks – white oaks, and red oaks, and black oaks – still following patterns of their own – yet still all “oaks” and all “trees.” We could even talk about a family “tree.” We call it a tree because it follows that same pattern.

The very logic of life itself is fractal. We exist as and in a world of endlessly repeating patterns. Those are fractals. To say one thing is a “type” of another is to recognize a repeated pattern, but it limits that pattern to those two seemingly similar things. It misses the fact that the fractal is much, much bigger than just one thing being a “type” of another.

When we observe Antiochus and then see so much similarity in who he is and what he does, we shouldn’t be considering whether he is a “type” of the Antichrist; we should be recognizing a fractal. Stop a minute and ask yourself, what is that fractal? What is the pattern they both follow? “The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard of things against the God of gods” (v.36). Who does that remind you of? “I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High…” (Isa. 14:13,14).

Both Antiochus and the Antichrist are Satan’s men. They are like their father, the devil. They’re not similar because one is some sort of “type” of the other. They’re similar because they’re both like their father! Then step back and realize that pattern isn’t limited to those two men. It is Satan’s pattern – the pattern of total rebellion against God. They are both examples of what men (and women) become when, like the devil, they purposefully and willfully spit in God’s face.

One of the things that leads me to believe the text has, in fact, morphed ahead to the Antichrist is how commentators struggle, from v.36 to the end of the chapter, trying to say Antiochus fits this description. The fact is he does, but then he doesn’t. Much about him is similar, yet it takes some hermeneutical gymnastics to squeeze him into this mold. Like two oak trees, though they are both oaks and are very similar, and though they follow forever the same distinct fractal pattern, yet they are not the same.  

In II Thes. 2:3,4, Paul says, “Do not let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and man of lawlessness is revealed…He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”

Sound familiar? It should. Anyone who has studied Daniel would say immediately, “It’s the little horn! – the one with “the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully” (7:8). Paul is speaking some two hundred years after Antiochus died and yet speaks of the future. When Jesus spoke of the “Abomination of Desolation,” He specifically referenced the one foretold by Daniel (Matt. 24:15), and, at that time, it was yet future. Even John’s prophecies of Revelation were yet future. All was long after Antiochus was dead. Interestingly, commentators observe that much about the Romans and their destruction of the temple fits “the pattern” of these verses, yet, again, it takes a lot of hermeneutical wiggling to “make them fit.”

Later expositors tried hard to make these passages refer to the Catholic Church and the popes, and to this day, people find them fulfilled in Adolf Hitler and even Barack Obama! How can this be? It is because all these people or situations may fit the pattern in some way or another, yet not quite. As in Paul’s day, though “the spirit of Antichrist” may abound around us, yet, as far as we know, his coming is yet future. One thing you can be assured – when he finally is revealed, if we’re still around and if we know our Bibles, it will be obvious “he’s the man.”

As far as I’m concerned, all of this explains the constant struggle of commentators to see in these passages all sorts of different historical figures who “fit” the pattern, yet don’t. The reason why is because they are all part of the same fractal, the same infinite pattern. Yet, may we all be reminded what pattern it is – the pattern of the father of lies, the devil. It is Satan’s image which permeates this world, with all it’s lies and murder and stealing and rebellion against God. And who is the Antichrist? He is the ultimate, totally unrestrained version of a human being completely yielded to the image of his father, the devil.

I believe it explains much about prophecy to understand fractals and to see that their patterns define the world around us. In fact, if we have the eyes to see, fractals greatly define us. Anyone who knows my family will immediately note that I look like my father and my son looks like me. Much is the same, but, then again, we are not the same. I am me and they are them. Human history proceeds pretty much as it always has. “People eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.” Buying and selling, fighting and killing, civilizations rising and falling. It’s all fractals.

If I could end with a practical observation, one of the biggest questions this leaves with each of us is simply this: Who’s image do you want to bear? In this one case, it is your choice – and there are only two. You’ll either bear the image of Jesus or you will bear the image of Satan. This is a fractal world. Most of the fractals you cannot control, but this one you can. Unfortunately, we were born in the default position – Adam’s image, which is ultimately Satan’s. To think we do not have to make a choice is to have already chosen. Romans 10:9 echoes down through the centuries, “That if you will acknowledge Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” “Whosoever will may come.” Having made that choice, each of us will find that “the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace,” a world where the Lord Himself has promised us “a future and a hope.”  To refuse the choice is to already have chosen to live in Satan’s fractal – a world of broken relationships and endless frustration and confusion, a world of constantly dashed hopes, a world of “ever learning, yet never coming to a knowledge of the truth.”

Prophecies are fractal. Our world is fractal. Our lives are fractal. In one case alone, we choose the fractal we’ll live (and die) in. It’s either Jesus or the devil. No other choices.

What have you chosen?

Daniel 11:36-37 “Love of Babies”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

³⁶And the king will do according to his will and he will exalt himself and he will magnify himself above every god and upon the God of gods. He will speak things being amazing and he will succeed until the fury is accomplished according to what is decreed shall be accomplished. ³⁷And he will not regard upon the gods of his forefathers, nor upon the desire of women, nor will he regard upon any god because he will magnify himself upon all.

At this point, commentators differ over whether the angel is still talking about Antiochus Epiphanes or if he has morphed ahead to anticipate the Antichrist himself. I will come back to that discussion, but first, I want to note what is a particularly cryptic portion of v. 37. We’re told “He will have no regard for the gods of his forefathers,” then the next phrase is variously translated. The old KJV (and many others) translates it “nor the desire of women.” The NIV translates it “or for the one desired by women,” while others say something like, “or for the God women love.”

The problem, as is often the case in Hebrew (and especially in prophecy), is that Hebrew is a picture language. There are actually only two Hebrew words that make up the phrase, which then explains the wide variety of translations. In Hebrew, you just have to “get the picture.” Things are almost never “spelled out” like we do in English – hence the variety of translations of these two Hebrew words. Notice that the old KJV had to use five words, while the NIV uses up seven! They’re all trying to express “the picture” presented in two simple words.

Just to make life interesting, I’ll throw my own translation/interpretation into the cacophony. What is the picture obviously being presented by these verses? Is it not clearly trying to present to us an extremely unusual man? Especially in the ancient polytheistic world, it would have been unheard of that any man had no regard for the gods of his forefathers. Each nation had their own god, and I’m sure each family only further reinforced that practice. It goes on, in fact, to say he won’t regard any god, but magnifies himself above them all! Especially in that ancient culture, the picture is a man who doesn’t fit anyone’s mold.

Right in the middle of all of this we’re told he’ll also think himself above something like “the desire of women.” As we saw above, that can be translated many ways, but what fits “the picture?” In regard to something to do with “desire” and “women,” what would make him shockingly unusual? …that he would have no desire for women. When was there ever a king who didn’t want a harem? When was there any man who gained riches or power and didn’t immediately use those things to secure to himself a beautiful woman (or women)?

I personally think this person will be shockingly unusual in that he rejects his own people’s “god,” even claiming to be God himself, and that he exhibits absolutely no desire for women. These things (and especially the latter!) would mark him out, so that, knowing this beforehand, believers will have no doubt recognizing him whenever he does appear.

I try to always be warned by John Eadie’s observation, “Interpretations are generally false, in proportion to their ingenuity.” In this case, I am certainly vulnerable to the accusation of ingenuity – since I don’t think I’ve found anyone else who proposes it. However, I also have to study the Bible, know what exactly it does (and doesn’t) say, consider what others suggest, then make my own final decision what makes sense to me. I freely acknowledge that others can draw their own conclusions, especially when we’re all talking about how to translate two Hebrew words and then offer an interpretation of them. So, I may be wrong, but I personally think that the best understanding is that this man will stand out as unusual in that he gains riches and power, then exhibits no desire at all for women.

What I’d like to do now is stray into an excursus which, in my mind, only further reinforces this understanding. Again, I acknowledge that others can differ with me and their thoughts are certainly worthy of consideration, but I offer the following as a man who has been studying the Bible for nearly fifty years.

That thought – “He has no desire for women” – reminds me of I Tim. 4:1-3, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons…They forbid people to marry…”

“They forbid people to marry.” “Things taught by demons” Why would demons forbid people to marry? Because demons hate babies. People are God’s creation. God’s desire is that we should be “fruitful and multiply.” God loves people. God loves babies. In God’s world, He would say, “The more the better!” Satan hates God’s creation. He hates people. If he could, he would kill us all in a heartbeat. Obviously, the Lord won’t let him, so he turns to a thousand other strategies of how to destroy us.

What happens if people don’t marry? One of two things. You either then get no babies, or you have children being born out of wedlock. God’s plan from the very beginning was for one man to marry one woman, to commit themselves to each other for life, then to bring babies into a world where their parents love each other and their parents love them. God’s plan is for children to grow up in a wonderfully secure world of love and nurturing and guidance, where their parents model for them all that a person should be.

I am no psychologist, but I believe the majority of them would say that any other model will be brutal for the children. It is very hard on children to grow up with no father, or in a home where every month or two there is another “man” in the house. Most of the time, they struggle in “step” families. Obviously, in our fallen world, the Lord can help any “family,” but would we not all agree that the Lord’s basic plan is the best for babies?

So Satan and his minions discourage marriage because he hates people and he hates babies. We have before us a man who has “no desire for women.” What would happen if that were true of all men? The entire human race would be extinct in a single generation! In this case, Satan’s man is the ultimate baby hater. Demons would teach people not to marry and Satan’s man has “no desire for women,” precisely because they all hate us humans and they hate babies.

Just to keep my excursus going, if we all understood this, we would understand a LOT of what else goes on in this world. We believers shudder at even the thought of abortions. How could any mother want to kill the baby in her own womb? Why is it that people of faith tend to have more children, while, in a godless society, the birthrate dwindles to nothing? Why is it invariably the case that when a nation forsakes the Lord, the young people stop marrying and just “move in” together? Why is there suddenly an explosion of “single mothers?” Why does the divorce rate skyrocket? Why is there suddenly so much child abuse and neglect? How could America ever become a nation where there is any such thing as child sex trafficking?

Satan hates babies. We live in the very crossfire of a massive but unseen spiritual war. The Bible would tell us, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” And why is that? Because, whether we realize it or not, He is our only hope. “My enemies are too strong for me!” (Ps. 142:6). If we would care at all about our children, about their happiness, about their own futures, then we cannot recognize enough, “We need the Lord!” Without Him, everything about our country, our culture, even our families are doomed to devolve into baby-hating, to providing an environment that destroys our children’s lives, even before they know why. Solving the problem is not about some new government program. We live in the crossfire of a massive, swirling spiritual war!

So, back to our text, Satan’s man is “the exact representation” of his father. What characterizes him is the ultimate attack on the human race – a man with no desire for a woman, when God’s plan was for us to “be fruitful and multiply.” Once again, if only Satan could get all men to that point, the human race would be extinct in a generation and the devil could celebrate the victory of his malevolence.

In this sense, I don’t think it matters exactly who this man is -- what we all need to recognize is that he will be the very picture of evil. When he appears, one of the very unusual qualities he will possess is his complete disinterest in women.

I again allow for the fact we’re trying to understand the meaning of two Hebrew words. Maybe I’m wrong and, even for myself, I would want to simply remember the words which are literally just “nor for the desire of women.” However, I believe my understanding “fits the picture.” Even if I am completely wrong, I hope anyone reading this realizes that what I have written is true. While God loves babies and just wants us to have more, every expression we see of baby and child hating comes straight from the pits of hell. Every expression we see of baby and child hating should only remind us we live in the midst of a spiritual war.

Oh, how dearly we need to pray for our families! Oh, how dearly we need to pray for revival across our country, when the Lord “turns the hearts of the fathers to their children and children to their fathers.” In the end, we believers live in the wonderful confidence that “the rock, cut without hands, … will become a huge mountain and fill the whole earth.” However, in the meantime, may we all be the more committed to prayer for our families, our nation, and our world. May we take every opportunity to encourage people to love babies, to build strong families, and do all possible to provide for our children a world that encourages them to worship the true and the living God!