Daniel 11:17 occurs in the year 253 B.C.E. and 252 B.C.E. It is the second mention of A Princess in The Six Hundred Years from 536/5 B.C.E. (The Year of Daniel’s Exile to Babylon) unto The Birth of The MESSIAH, THE PRINCE OF ISRAEL in 6/5 B.C.E.

Daniel 11:17

• “He [Antiochus III (223 B.C.E.- 187 B.C.E)] shall also set His face to enter [Egypt] with the strength of His Whole Kingdom, and upright ones with Him [bringing equitable terms with Him].

• And He [Antiochus III (223 B.C.E. – 187 B.C.E.)] shall give Him [Ptolemy V (204 B.C.E. – 180 B.C.E.)] The Daughter of Women [Cleopatra I ‘SYRA’ (c.210 B.C.E. – 176 B.C.E.)].

• But She [Cleopatra I ‘SYRA’ [c. 210 B.C.E. – 176 B.C.E.)] shall not stand on His [Antiochus III (223 B.C.E. – 187 B.C.E) ‘s] side, neither for Him [Antiochus III (223 B.C.E. – 187 B.C.E.)]”

Daniel 11:17

The First Princess noted (Daniel 11:6) is the tragic Berenice, a princess of The Ptolemaic House, who was married to The Seleucid King, Antiochus II as part of The Peace Treaty signed after The Second Syrian War (260 B.C.E. – 253 B.C.E). Her assassination and the assassination of her son led to The Third Syrian War (246 B.C.E. – 241 B.C.E.) This war saw Berenice’s brother, Ptolemy III, win a significant victory over The Seleucid Empire.

The Princess, noted in today’s verse (Daniel 11:17), is the daughter of Antiochus III, Cleopatra I. Her marriage to Ptolemy V was part of The Peace Treaty signed after The Fifth Syrian War (202 B.C.E. – 195 B.C.E.) when Antiochus III as a seasoned campaigner defeated Ptolemy IV at The Battle of Panium in 198 B.C.E. The marriage took place in 192 B.C.E. in Raphia, (the place where Antiochus III as a young monarch had been defeated by Ptolemy IV in 217 B.C.E).

Antiochus III’s design in having his daughter, Cleopatra I, marry the Ptolemaic king was to become the ruler of Egypt by stealth. He presumed that his daughter would be sympathetic to his intentions. Although, Cleopatra had no desire to alienate her father, (and indeed prevented a war with her father’s usurping heir, Antiochus IV, in 180 B.C.E. when her husband Ptolemy V died,) Cleopatra knew that the most powerful protector of Egypt and her sons would not be The Seleucid Empire but The Burgeoning Roman Republic.

Perhaps she had read ‘The Prophecy of Daniel’ where Nebuchadnezzar (605 B.C.E. – 562 B.C.E.), The King of Babylon, in his second year dreamed a dream which the young captive Hebrew, Daniel, had interpreted. Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a great image whose legs were of iron.

This Fourth Kingdom would be as strong as iron, “forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth [crushes] all things” (Daniel 2:40). The Fourth Kingdom [Rome] would shatter The Third Kingdom of Brass [The Kingdoms of Alexander The Great’s Warring Generals] (Daniel 2: 32).

In persuading her husband Ptolemy V to ally himself with Rome as early as 192 B.C.E., Cleopatra showed herself to be more astute than her father, Antiochus III, who – as Daniel 11:18 details, – attempted to fight the Romans in Greece and Asia Minor. Antiochus was driven by his ambition to be greater than the founder of The Seleucid Empire [Seleucus I 305 B.C.E. – 281 B.C.E.)] and suffered the most devastating defeat. He even ignored the advice of one of the greatest generals of all time, Hannibal, who warned him not to attempt to invade Greece, but to attack Rome directly if he intended to conquer the Roman Republic.

Next Week: Daniel 11: 18 The Beginning of The End of Antiochus III