September 20: TURNING POINT
He shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the South with a great army. And the king of the South shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand, for they shall devise plans against him. Daniel 11:25
Gabriel is going back to the beginning of the time (v.24) of pagan Rome’s supremacy. He lays out a summary of the conflicts between the king of the North (Rome) and the king of the South (Egypt). With the authority of the Senate, Caesar Augustus declared war on Egypt in 32BC to punish Mark Antony for turning his allegiance from Rome to Egypt. He was sent to Egypt on government business, but he allowed the charms of Cleopatra to overwhelm him; she convinced him to reject his wife, Octavia (the sister of Octavian, now Augustus), and transfer his political interests and loyalty to Egypt. In anticipation of the battle with Rome, Mark Antony and Cleopatra collaborated to assemble an impressively large army and a sizable fleet of warships. Then on September 2, 31BC, at the mouth of the gulf of Ambracia—near the city of Actium—the two navies engaged in battle. Egypt suffered a particularly humiliating defeat by Rome.
Yes, those who eat of the portion of his delicacies shall destroy him; his army shall be swept away and many shall fall down slain. v.26
The relationship between Mark Antony and Augustus Caesar (formerly Octavian) began in friendship and political collaboration. In 43BC, they were two of the three in the Second Triumvirate (along with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus) with a singleness of mind to bring to justice the conspirators who assassinated Julius Caesar. There was a time of much sharing of delicacies around a table between them as they discussed and made plans. The marriage between Mark Antony and Octavia was meant to cement the alliance (she was the sister of Octavian). But rifts developed, both political and personal, particularly over Antony’s involvement with Cleopatra, leading to the bitterest of rivalries and war.
During the Battle at Actium, Mark Antony’s forces were deserting him and joining with Rome, who welcomed them with open arms. To Antony’s dismay, his troops in Libya had also joined Rome. In despair, Mark Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra then appealed to Augustus on behalf of her four children (one by Julius Caesar and three by Mark Antony). Some historians record that this appeal was undergirded by a flirtatious manner. But Augustus was not affected by her charms. Soon thereafter, in 30BC, she committed suicide by subjecting herself to an asp. Resistance to Roman rule was broken with the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, a turning point in Roman history. The 3000-year Ptolemaic dynasty ended. Egypt lost independence and became a Roman province, and Rome itself changed from a republic to an empire. Thus, the 360-year time (v.24) of the Pagan Roman Empire began with Augustus Caesar as the first emperor.
Salvation history’s greatest turning point came when Jesus died in our place. And each man’s pivotal moment comes when he chooses to accept Jesus’s victory over sin and death as his own, submitting entirely to Him for strength day-by-day, and moment-by-moment.
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7 (see also Ephesians 6:11)