Daniel 11 decoded

"Daniel 11 is one of the most difficult texts of the Bible. The history of interpretation reflects this difficulty, as it offers to the biblical student the confused picture of diverse and often contradictory interpretations. The difficulty has to do with the "coded" nature of the chapter, a characteristic feature that has been well recognized. As such, this text uses a symbolic language that should be elucidated, and contains allusions to other passages of Daniel or other biblical texts that need to be traced and established. This chapter deserves all the more the utmost attention of the biblical student because it is a key text for the understanding of the whole book. Indeed Daniel 11, the longest prophecy of the book of Daniel, radiates everywhere in the book, and illuminates its message"--