1“In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be of assistance and a protection for him. 2 And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will stir up the entire empire against the realm of Greece. 3 And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases. 4 But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, because his sovereignty will be removed and given to others besides them. Daniel 11:1-4 NASB

Introduction

We're going to try to break Daniel 11 down into small chunks—so it doesn't get too overwhelming. This episode is about Daniel 11:1-4. This is a prophecy about the shift in major power in the Middle East moving from Persia to Greece. We'll talk about the kings prophesied to come and who seems to align with these prophecies.

Who is Darius the Mede

Persian history talks of a Darius I (also known as Darius the Great), Darius II, and Darius III, but who is Darius the Mede that the book of Daniel speaks of? There is no secular record referencing "Darius the Mede," therefore non-believing scholars suggest that Darius the Mede was not a real person. Scholars who are believers, however, have made cases for Darius the Mede being several different people from history. Some have claimed this was an alternate name for Cyrus, while others identify Darius the Mede with Cyaxares or Gobryas. No one believes that Darius the Mede is a reference to Dairus I, II or III of Persia (hence the distinction, "the Mede").[1][2][3]

The best arguement I've seen is for Darius the Mede being Cyaxares II.[4] I talked about this in The First Fall of Babylon.[5] Who you determine Darius the Mede to be will effect the next couple of people mentioned in Daniel's prophecy, so it's something you probably want to spend some time thinking about and researching.

The Three Kings of Persia

After Darius the Mede, three more kings were supposed to rule Persia. This is where context and meaning get dicey. Does Daniel mean three kings total, or three prominent kings? For instance, when I was in grade school, they made us learn the names of all the presidents, but the average person can only name presidents who made major impacts on our country—George Washington, Abe Lincoln, JFK, etc. Another question or angle to think about is joint rulership versus co-regency. It's possible that this could be a reference to sole reigning kings only, leaving room for many co-regent kings in between.

Scholars identify the three kings of Persia to be Cambyses (530 - 522 BC), Bardiya/Smerdis (522 BC), and Darius I (522 - 486). These kings are named (by different names) in Ezra 4.

The Fourth King

Sources agree that the fourth king is Xerxes. Xerxes was the fourth king of Persia, ruled from 486 – 465 BC, and began a campaign against the Greeks. The Battle of Thermopalye (the basis for the movie 300) is one of the battles led by Xerxes during his campaign against the Greeks. I couldn't find any evidence of Xerxes' wealth relative to the other kings to validate the prophecy in Daniel 2. However, most depictions of him do suggest he was wealthy and war requires wealth; the fact that he stirred up trouble with Greece and won many of his campaigns, suggests that he did amass a greater amount of wealth than his predecessors.[9]

Persia vs. Greek

The Greco-Persian wars lasted from 492 - 449 BC.[10]

The Mighty King

The mighty king isn't specified to be from Persia and if you look at history, it becomes apparent that this king arises in Greece as a counter to the pressure placed on Greece by Persia. This king is Alexander the Great, who is prophesied about elsewhere in Daniel as well! Alexandar the Great came to power in 336 BC. He greatly expanded the Greek (or Macedonian) empire during his reign and overthrew the Persian empire. In fact, Alexander the Great died in Babylon, the capital of Persia.[11]

Splitting the Empire

Alexander the Great died with no heir to the throne. Instead of the throne passing to his son or nephew, it passed to his four generals—known as the Diodachi. Because he did not name a successor, none of the generals could be the sole ruler of the empire without defeating the others. They did not continue in the same authority as Alexander the Great, as foretold in Daniel 11:4. They split the kingdom in to 4 territories (the imfamous 4 that appears in Daniel frequently), that stretched to the North, East, South, and West. Throughout Daniel 11, we will see the conflict build between the King of the North and the King of the South, created by this split. In the next episode we'll dive more into this division. One thing to remember is that they started out as one.

References & Footnotes

1. "Who is Darius the Mede?. Evidence Unseen; visited October 2024
2. Darius the Mede". Bible Gateway.com; visited October 2024
3. "Darius the Mede". Wikipedia; visited October 26, 2024
4. "Darius the Mede: A solution to his identity". Truth Only Bible. ; visited October 26, 2024
5. Ree Hughes. "The First Fall of Babylon". PSALMS to God. September 14, 2024
6. "Cambyses II". Encyclopedia Britannica; visited October 2024
7. "Bardiya". Encyclopedia Britannica; visited October 2024
8. J.M. Munn-Rankin. "Darius I". Encyclopedia Britannica; visited October 2024
9. Jean-Louis Huot. "Xerxes I". Encyclopedia Britannica. September 13, 2024; visited November 2024
10. "Greco-Persian Wars". Encyclopedia Britannica. October 26, 2024; visited November 2024
11. Frank W. Walbank. "Alexander the Great". Encyclopedia Britannica. November 2, 2024; visited November 2024