Daniel 11:36 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 11:36
And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
do
וְעָשָׂ֨הve.'a.Sah
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
will
כִרְצוֹנ֜וֹkhir.tzo.No
H7522
delight (especially as shown) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
exalt
וְיִתְרוֹמֵ֤םve.yit.ro.Mem
H7311
to be high actively · conjunction + verb, hithpael, 3rd person masculine singular
magnify
וְיִתְגַּדֵּל֙ve.yit.ga.Del
H1431
to be (causatively make) large (in various senses · conjunction + verb, hithpael, 3rd person masculine singular
god
אֵ֔ל'El
H410
strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
speak
יְדַבֵּ֖רye.da.Ber
H1696
perhaps properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
things
נִפְלָא֑וֹתnif.la.'ot
H6381
properly · verb, niphal active participle, feminine plural absolute
God
אֵ֣ל'el
H410
strength · noun, common masculine singular construct
gods
אֵלִ֔ים'e.Lim
H410
strength · noun, common masculine plural absolute
prosper
וְהִצְלִ֙יחַ֙ve.hitz.Li.ach
H6743
to push forward · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
indignation
זַ֔עַםZa.'am
H2195
strictly froth at the mouth · noun, common masculine singular absolute
accomplished
כָּ֣לָהKa.lah
H3615
to end · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
determined
נֶחֱרָצָ֖הne.che.ra.Tzah
H2782
properly · verb, niphal active participle, feminine singular absolute
done
נֶעֱשָֽׂתָהne.'e.Sa.tah
H6213
to do or make · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Revelation 13:5-6 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
2 Thessalonians 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewi…
Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh rewa…
Isaiah 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount…
Daniel 8:19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.
Daniel 11:16 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land,…
Daniel 2:47 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, s…
Psalms 136:2 O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 11:21–end
All this is a prophecy of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the little horn spoken of before (Dan 8:9) a sworn enemy to the Jewish religion, and a bitter persecutor of those that adhered to it. What troubles the Jews met with in the reigns of the Persian kings were not so particularly foretold to Daniel as these, because then they had living prophets with them, Haggai and Zechariah, to encourage them; but these troubles in the days of Antiochus were foretold, because, before that time, prophecy would cease, and they would find it necessary to have recourse to the written word. Some things in this prediction concerning Antiochus are alluded to in the New Testament predictions of the antichris…
The wilful king here, though primarily Antiochus, is antitypically and mainly Antichrist, the seventh head of the seven-headed and ten-horned beast of Rev. 13:1-18, and the "beast" of Armageddon (Rev 16:13, Rev 16:16; Rev 19:19). Some identify him with the revived French emperorship, the eighth head of the beast (Rev 17:11), who is to usurp the kingly, as the Pope has the priestly, dignity of Christ--the false Messiah of the Jews, who will "plant his tabernacle between the seas in the holy mountain," "exalting himself above every god" (Th2 2:4; Rev 13:5-6). This last clause only in part holds good of Antiochus; for though he assumed divine honors, identifying himself with Jupiter Olympius, y…
And the king shall do according to his will - This may apply to Antiochus, who exalted himself above every god, called himself a god, sported with all religion, profaned the temple, etc., etc. But others think an antichristian power in the Church is intended; for in the language of this prophecy king is taken for power, a kingdom, etc. That such a power did spring up in the Church that acted in an arbitrary manner against all laws, human and Divine, is well known. This power showed itself in the Greek emperors in the east, and in the bishops of Rome in the west. And this is to continue.
Till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done - This is the same as what…
The Church Fathers
Antiochus will enjoy success, but not forever: "until his wrath has been spent," that is, until he kindles and draws out God's exceedingly great wrath. He calls the retribution God inflicts "his wrath," for the divine nature has no passion.
And so the prophet, having described what has already occurred and has been accomplished in its own time, he proclaims another mystery to us, making an indication of the end of times. For he speaks in this way, "And another shameless king shall arise and he shall be exalted over every god and shall be magnified and he shall say immoderate things and he shall prosper until the wrath is consummated. For it is to be consummated. And he shall not regard any god of his fathers nor desire women and he shall not regard any god, because he shall be magnified over all. And he shall glorify the god of Moazeim in his place and a god which his fathers did not know; he shall honor in gold and silver and precious stones and he shall multiply glory and shall subject many to them and divide the earth in gifts. And these shall be preserved from his hand, Edom and Moab and the chief of the sons of Ammon. And he shall stretch forth his hand upon the earth and the land of Egypt shall not be saved and he shall rule over the secret things of gold and silver and of all the desirable things of Egypt and Libya and Ethiopia in their fortresses. And he shall pitch his tent Efadano between the seas near the holy Mountain of Sabir and he shall come to his lot." [Daniel 11:36-45]
And so these things the prophet described in this way concerning the Antichrist, as he will be shameless and warlike and a tyrant daring to exalt himself over every god, who boasts in his own power and pillages the fortresses of cities, and bearing lofty things in gold and silver and precious stone, he shall speak immoderate words against God, wishing that he himself alone be worshiped as God. Concerning him all Scripture is not silent and the prophets announced beforehand his coming for the destruction of many, and the Lord has testified to these things, and the apostles taught these things concerning him, and John in the Apocalypse mystically revealed his name through a number. The Lord displayed this abomination of desolation and the apostle taught that this son of the devil arrives according to the working of Satan. This one, having struck the city of Tyre, will also desolate the land of Egypt, having waged war he will extend and destroy all the land of Libya, and he shall ruin the kingdom of the Ethiopians with his might in the slaughter of the sword. He, being lifted up over every king and every god, shall build the city of Jerusalem and he shall raise the converted Temple, he shall restore both all the land and its borders to the Jews, and having summoned their people from the slavery of the nations, he shall exhibit himself to them as king, and at this the faithless shall worship him as God and shall bend the knee to him, considering him to be the Christ, not apprehending what was spoken by the prophet, how he is a deceiver and not truth. For Jeremiah says, "Instead they disobeyed the truth, then a spirit shall deceptively speak to this people and to Jerusalem." [Jeremiah 4:11] From which the apostle, when he saw a deceiver of the people, who will also be the work of Satan in them, said, "Whenever they say 'Peace,' and 'Security,' then suddenly ruin shall come upon them, just as the pain of birthing, and they shall not escape." [1 Thessalonians 5:3]
Dictionary and topics
Infidelity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Syria · Prophecies respecting: Its history in connection with the Macedonia empire — Prophecies respecting: Its history in connection with the Macedonia empire
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And the king shall do according to his will,.... Not Antiochus, for he could not do as he would, being curbed by the Romans, as has been observed; and there are many things which follow that cannot be applied to him; rather the Roman people, under the name of a king or kingdom, rising up to universal monarchy, upon the decline of the Grecian empire, are meant; and who did what they would, subdued kingdoms at pleasure, and gave laws to the whole world; and particularly in the little horn, or Rome Papal, antichrist, Daniel 7:8, of which Antiochus was a type, and is called by the same name, Daniel 8:9 and the transition is easy from the type to the antitype, with whom everything said agrees: fo…
Daniel 11:36
36. And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
36. Et faciet secundum voluntatem suam, vel, libidinem, rex: et extollet se, et magnificabit se supra omnem Deum, et contra Deum deorum loquetur mirabilia, et prospere aget usque ad consummationem irae, quoniam decisio facta est, vel decisa est, nempe consumptio.
This passage is very obscure, and has consequently been explained in very opposite ways by interpreters. And whatever is obscure, is usually doubtful…
The Hostile King Exalting Himself above All Divine and Human Ordinances at the Time of the End - Dan 11:36-39
This exaltation of the king is here introduced by the formula כרצנו ועשׂה, which expresses the self-will and the irresistible might of his proceeding; cf. Dan 3:16 and Dan 8:4 - "a feature common to Antiochus and Antichrist" (Klief.). He shall raise himself above every god, not merely "subjectively in his lofty imagination" (Hitzig), but also by his actions. כּל־אל, every god, not merely the God of Israel, but also the gods of the heathen. This does not agree with Antiochus. The ἰσόθεα φρονεῖν ὑπερηφανῶς which is said of him, 2 Macc. 9:12, is not an exalting of himself above eve…
Some interpreters see these verses as a transition from the earthly Antiochus IV to a character larger than history (7:8).
11:36 Antiochus IV thought himself equal to God (2 Maccabees 9:1–10:12), but God would hem him in until the time of wrath was completed. • what has been determined will surely take place: Antiochus suddenly contracted a painful disease and died in 163 BC in the mountains of Persia (see 8:25; 1 Maccabees 4:52-53; 6:16; 2 Maccabees 9:4, 28; 10:5).
Rashi on Daniel 11:36
And the king will do as he wishes the kingdom of Rome.
and he will succeed until the fury is spent until the wrath of the Holy One, blessed be He, returns from Israel.
when it will be finished and executed when His decree will be finished. כִּי is like כַּאֲשֶׁר, when.
