And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.
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Aquinas Study Bible
AD 2017
The king of the south: Ptolemeus the son of Lagus, king of Egypt, which lies south of Jerusalem. One of his princes: that is, one of Alexander's princes, shall prevail over him: that is, shall be stronger than the king of Egypt. He speaks of Seleucus Nicator, king of Asia and Syria, whose successors are here called the kings of the north, because their dominions lay to the north in respect to Jerusalem. (Challoner)
South: Ptolemeus, the son of Lagus, king of Egypt, which lies south of Jerusalem. (Challoner)
St. Iren us (iv. 43.) observes, that all prophecies are obscure till they be fulfilled. History shows that this relates to Ptolemy. The kingdoms of Egypt and of Syria are more noticed, as they had much to do with the Jews. (Worthington)
Ptolemy took Cyprus (Calmet) and Jerusalem. (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities xii. 12.)
His princes (that is, one of Alexander's princes) shall prevail over him; that is, shall be stronger than the king of Egypt. He speaks of Seleucus Nicator, king of Asia and Syria, whose successors are here called the kings of the north, because their dominions lay to the north in respect to Jerusalem. (Challoner)
Nicator means a "conqueror. "(Haydock)
This king was master of all from Media and Babylonia to Jerusalem. (Appian; Calmet)
Philadelphus was more powerful than his father. (Worthington) Ver. 6. South. Bernice, daughter of Ptolemeus Philadelphus, given in marriage t...
The person mentioned is Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second king of Egypt and the son of the former Ptolemy. It was in his reign that the Seventy (Septuaginta) translators are said to have translated the Holy Scripture into Greek. He also sent many treasures to Jerusalem for the high priest Eleazar, and votive vessels for the Temple. The curator of his library was Demetrius of Phalerum, a man of reputation among the Greeks as an orator and philosopher. Philadelphus is reported [reading narratur instead of the inappropriate narrantur] to have possessed such great power as to surpass his father Ptolemy. For history relates that he possessed two hundred thousand infantrymen, twenty thousand cavalry, and even two thousand chariots and four hundred elephants, which he was the first to import from Ethiopia. He also had a thousand five hundred (p. 560) war galleys of the type now known as Liburnian, and a thousand others for the transporting of military provisions. So great was his treasure of g...
The reference is to Ptolemy, son of Lagos, who was the first to become king in Egypt, and was a very clever, mighty and wealthy man, and possessed such power that he was able to restore Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, to his kingdom after he had been driven out, and also to seize Cyprus and Phoenicia. And after he had conquered Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, he restored to Seleucus that portion of his kingdom which Antigonus had taken away from him. He also acquired Caria and many islands, cities, and districts unnecessary to detail at this time. But no further notice is taken of the other kingdoms, Macedonia and Asia Minor, because Judaea lay in a midway position and was held now by one group of kings and now by another. And it is not the purpose of Holy Scripture to cover external history |121 apart from the Jews, but only that which is linked up with the nation of Israel.
