Larger Context

As Hans K. LaRondelle reflects on the new discoveries of the composition of Daniel and Revelation he notices that "an interpretation of Daniel and Revelation can no longer detach a text or chapter from the total composition and try to fit the dissected part with some event of world history. The literary approach provides a new standard for evaluating the exegesis of Daniel and the Revelation by previous historicists."^[32]

In order to put the conflict between the king of the South and the king of the North, one should necessarily consider the threefold structure and dynamics of Daniel 11 - perhaps a reflection on the threefold ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sanctuary. We will call them early, intermediate, and last periods. While the borders of those historical periods scholars see differently, most conservative scholars recognize this kind of chapter's division.

First part of the chapter 11, or the early period, is dealing with the national Israel, second one, intermediate, focuses on the activities of the emerged Christian Church,^[33] and the third and the last period presents the history "at the time of the end" (v. 40). The dynamic of Daniel's narrative is such that with each successive section its horizon inevitably broadens from the local, national issues, to the international and geopolitical affairs. Thus, the identities of the main players, such as the King of the South and the King of the North should also inevitably broaden and evolve with each section. They never remain the same (James White's oversight), they always progress forward (not backward, as it was a case with Uriah Smith), and the kings never switch roles. To understand this would be a significant step toward revisiting of the Eastern Question. Proving this principle, however, would be beyond the point that this paper is making. Thus, we take it as an assumption.

In the early verses of Daniel 11 the prophecy is dealing with the national Israelite history, where the King of the South is certainly Egypt, the old foe of Israel. At the same time, close to the end of this period the identity of the King of the North evolves from old Syria to "his successor" (v. 20), the newly emerged power of Rome. After the First Coming of Christ designated in v. 22 the previously political conflict gains also a religious prominence. The military conflict is certainly still there, while the added religious issues give this conflict a new dynamic. The King of the North is now an explicitly religious power, usually associated with papacy, and its war against the King of the South is more than a political conflict - it is a religious war, implying that the King of the South, at least religiously, is more than what it previously used to be. Note the evolutionary, progressive and inclusive dynamic of Daniel's vision of history.