A sharp eyed Bible commentator noticed that the UK and US both 'push' at Russia in Ukraine, and suggest that this fulfils Daniel 11. However this may be too narrow a reading of the fulfilment of the prophecy in events in history.
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. (Daniel 11:40)
To set the context Daniel 11 is about the wars that began after the fall of the Persian empire to the Greeks in 449BC. These wars were between the Greek based 'North' and the Egyptian based 'South'. Daniel predicts significant events, wars and struggles until the end of Jewish rule by the Romans 313CE. The power of the Roman system controlling church and state of the North is described, then there is a gap until verse 40 where the prophecy begins again : “At the time of the End”.
World Watch UK posted:
Push Russia out of whole of Ukraine, says Truss
BBC, April 28, 2022
For over a decade we have been saying that Daniel 11 verse 40 - which reads “at the time end of the end the king of the south shall push at him” should be interpreted like this “at the time of the end the US / UK will militarily provoke Gog / Putin.” And now we have the exact headlines before us. The UK is leading the way in “pushing” at Putin the ruler of Russia. We don’t know how far this push will go. But as each week passes the push gets stronger and Putin’s rhetoric increases too. The “push”(Hebrew word for “gore”) causes the king of the north (Russia itself) to descend into the Middle East – specifically into Israel and also Egypt.
And
U.S. push for Ukraine "win" raises the stakes for Russia
The Economist, April 29, 2022
The US is also “pushing” Putin. So does this “push” from the king of the south immediately lead to Russia invading Israel? There is a clue in the text that there is a slight gap between the push (in Ukraine) and Russia invading Israel. Notice the colon at the end of the phrase “push at him:”
There is no doubt whatsoever that the UK and US are both pushing at Russia. Russia, as the prophecy of Daniel requires is indeed North of Israel. Russia fits with the terms of the Prophecy as a nation that directly inherited the Byzantine Greco-Roman legacy, not just in the Greek text they use, or the Greek name 'Ros' they took, but also in the structures of power. The king of the North, must be North of Israel. Moscow is directly North of Israel and is called the third Rome.
But in the matter of Ukraine, how is the UK or US pushing at Russia King of the North - as the 'king of the South'? In the matter of Ukraine they are West and are called “The West”.
Afghanistan: The Great Game
By contrast in Afghanistan pushing against Russian influence since 1979 and for 19 years from 2001 fighting the Taliban to maintain control of the buffer against Russia's reach to Pakistan and increased power over India and Iran (Persia) the UK and US were located in the South. The push came out of Pakistan. However in addition the push against the possibility of Russian control of Afghanistan (and all of Central Asia) also came out of the US base in Qatar. This directly places the US as a possible king of the South. The UK had an operational base for the conflict in Afghanistan in the UAE. This also places the UK as king of the South. More so as Britain has a long history of Pushing against Russia in Afghanistan dating back to 1839. But neither the UK or US are pushing at Russia in Ukraine from the South. Instead they are pushing at Russia in Ukraine via Poland.
Syria: Bringing Russia down
Then we come to the ongoing conflict in Syria begun in 2011 where we find the king of the North called in by the Syrian Leader Assad to become actively engaged in fighting the forces set against him by a King of the South. The King of the South could accurately describe the Arabs backed with 'boots on the ground' deployed and led from both the US and UK, with UK supplying the deputy commander of the Combined Joint Task Force. When we look for a circumstance to match the prophecy, remembering the historical identity of the King of the South, how can we fail to miss the African American US President Barak Obama's famous call for the push of the Arab Spring - out of Egypt? Though US forces have 'pulled out' of Syria after US President Trump's infamous call with Turkey, they still have a presence. Now Russia has been brought into Syria, they already have a military presence to allow them come like a whirlwind into Israel. By contrast to the Push in Syria, the UK and US are not admitting to any forces deployed as 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine.
Iraq: Made in 1920 by Britain
Then we go back to the now infamous push in 2003 into Iraq against Saddam due to 'weapons of mass destruction'. The US allied closely with UK (and Australia) led an invasion as massive push into the Middle East, to change the regime in Iraq to return it to be Anglo-friendly. At the time Russia was still weak after the dissolution of the USSR, and though they protested the invasion they did not oppose in action the US-led 'consensus'. However Turkey would not allow its area to be used, so the invasion of Iraq was from the South, by the Kings of the South, the maker of Kings of the Middle East. In the scheme of the 'great game' of Great Powers they were retaining the influence in Iraq won by Britain in WW1 of the buffer against the formerly great Power of the North. Persia had been lost in 1979. If Saddam had prevailed Iraq would have been lost as well. Without specially leaving Iraq the US-UK alliance has lost the peace.
Him: unnamed Middle East peoples
At this point we note that the prophecy of Daniel does not say that at the end time the King of the South pushes at the king of the North – but rather “at him”. Who is “him”? The prophecy of Daniel 11 had 3 players – the king of the North, the King of the South and the peoples of the lands between in the Middle East including Jews. When there was no struggle between North and South over the Middle East due to the overwhelming reach of Roman power followed by Islam, the prophecy is silent as to King of North and South their struggles having abruptly stopped when both Jewish and Egyptian political power is dispersed. If “him” is the peoples of the Middle East when US - UK being based South of the Middle East are kings of the South, then the war against Iraq was a push at “him” by the King of the South. We can then also see the push of the King of the South against “him” in both Syria and Afghanistan – and also the Balkans...
Yugoslavia: NATO's great sin
Back a bit further in time and we find that US and UK were pushing at Russia via the Balkans area from 1999. Yugoslavia had elements that supported Russia. Ostensibly to help the Albanians, US -led NATO bombed Yugoslavia, with a staggering 15,000 bombing raids in 38,000 missions to force Yugoslavia out of Kosovo and so cause the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The US-led NATO bombing was carried out from bases in Germany (to West) and Italy (South). Today the Serbians have come out bitterly railing against NATO for that action in 1999 and are supporting Russia on the matter of Ukraine. US president Trump ended that era of US-led intervention with a peace deal between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia.
Push against the Ottomans from Egypt
The war in the Balkans is an echo of the greatest sacrifice and loss of life from the King of the South pushing at the “him” of the Middle East in World War One. When Britain was the absolute power over Egypt and Arabia making them an inheritor of the role of the King of the South, they fought long and hard giving many young lives for many years against “him” - the Ottoman Empire. Why do people think that the 'time of the end' must be one day, when already we have found over 23 years of 'a push' by Anglo-American power in the Middle East? When we consider it the push endures 100 years! Not a day but a 'time'. The push of Britain against Ottoman Turkey turns out in retrospect to be among the most dramatic events in world history, indeed the beginning of the modern age (time) and the re-establishment of the political Jewish presence in the Holy Land after nearly 2,000 years with the ratification in victory at San Remo of the Balfour declaration. In proportion, what is providing a few weapons to Ukraine for a few months compared to providing 61,877 lives (16,880 dead) over 3 years, 9 months and 2 days? What is rather ineffectual interfering in an eight year old civil war over a partition outcome, which is already a given and likely not to change much except to give rather more territory to Russia, compared to an absolute change in the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and redrawing the map of the Middle East?
Done Suddenly: after going towards an opposite
Prophecy tends to play out over generations. We should be wary of reading the news out of context. The Exodus is a pattern where Israel was in Egypt 400 years to come out by miracle. There is experience of Brexit where events from 1973 where Britain went into Europe step by step, which went against expectation based on prophecy all my young life, to then swing to hover in expectation of a change for years of my work life until the election of the Cameron government, to then face a further 4 year battle. People strong in faith died of old age before their faith was made my sight! Brexit followed the pattern: they go into slavery, it suddenly changes and it finally comes to pass they go out after wandering in the wilderness and rebelling against their leaders...
I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. (Isaiah 48:3)
What if Zelensky is a shooting star of media and not in reality powerful? Let us not mistake words for deeds, and appearance for reality. Shall the progress in German-Russian or French-Russian relations be halted? Shall Europe shake itself from the chains of cheaper Russia gas, oil and coal? India who is buying more oil from Russia is pointing at Europe as complicit with Russia. Will the German and French issues with UK and US prevail, considering how the US-UK policy in Ukraine hurts Germany and French terribly?
As the God of Israel likes sudden miracle, will Russia be given Kiev so Gog of Ezekiel 38 can emerge? We have considered that Russia grew and came out of the Kievian Rus of Ukraine, taking the key of Byzantine Orthodoxy. Ukraine was part of the 'Russian pale' of Jewish settlement and it was the Jews of the Pale who helped ferment the Russian revolution of 1917, and from the beginning of Modern Ukraine they chose to ally with the USSR. For much of my life Ukraine was part of greater Russia, and until the revolution of 2014 the Ukrainians tended to Russia. It was not remarkable to say Russia's leader was of Magog and that Magog included Ukraine, Hungary Belarus and into Germany. Then suddenly in 2014 Russia is not a guard over Kiev. Suddenly, it would now be remarkable that Russia has power over Kiev. Russia came to Kiev but withdraws to take Mariupol, but in the end will the US remain a guard at Russia's very door, in Russia's historic heartland or will Kiev fall to Russia?
The 'push' in Ukraine with no official boots on ground and no US or UK bombing is very weak when seen in the previous pattern of significant pushing before – indeed pushing into the Middle East, the very ground of the prophecy of Daniel! Yes, Ukraine is a push, but it is the weakest push of all recent history of a pattern of pushing. It is a sign of the end of pushing.. The King of the North is pushing back.
In the 1980s the US had allied with the European alliance they were building and the Catholic Church to push against the Soviet Union to destroy it – and in so doing with the dissolution of the Soviet Union reduced a bi-polar world to a uni-polar world. This work of pushing against Russia continued with the Building of NATO. The red line for Putin was the aim of the US to add Georgia and Ukraine to NATO. In 2008 (08.08) the king of the North pushed back into Georgia.
Now Russia after being pushed against by the US led coalition in a colour revolution in 2014 the king of the North is in 2022 is making a push into Eastern Ukraine.
Russian forces capture villages in push into eastern Ukraine Guardian
Russia is continuing its push into neighbouring Ukraine. NPR and ABC Australia.
There is no 'gap' – there has been, as the Hebrew verb implies, a constant ongoing push st (or goring) of the “him” of the Middle East. It has been a continuous matter since 1914 to 2016 when the tide turned and Turkey (the “him” of the Middle East) made a deal with Russia that it be a guard to them with the Russian missile defence system. Israel finds it needs to talk to Russia to fly over Syria. When the push fails – then we see the King of the North can come down on him (the Middle East) like a whirlwind.
The king of the South (if we can use that term now?) in its push against the king of the North is facing Nuclear Annihilation and has lost power over the air – the calls for a no fly zone go unanswered as it is not possible in the same way it is not possible over Russian guarded Syria. In addition the Arabs are not standing, at this time on the matter of Ukraine, with the US or UK. Even India, despite threats, is not standing with US or UK on the matter of Russia in Ukraine.
Daniel 2
It may well be that the matter of Ukraine though a push, is not so much a matter of Daniel 11 but of Daniel 2. The fault line is not North South but East West. It is a distraction of a US-UK intervention as 'busybodies' in a matter of the two legs of the image Nebuchadnezzar saw – the underlying divide of the Eastern Russo-Greek Orthodox and the Western Roman Catholic and their power in politics. This East-West fault line runs right though Ukraine. This war despite the interference of UK and US can only now resolve as a functional re-divide. The US-UK intervention saw it become a bloody war rather than a negotiated settlement, and gave Russia opportunity to take more. Russia prevailing in the matter in Ukraine to divide off the portions it sees fit, however will restore Russia's role as a leader of the Byzantine half and restore them as equal leg as the image stands in the last day, partly weak and partly strong, where each of the nations in both legs has issues and disagreements with the other nations.
If the image Nebuchadnezzar saw is to be destroyed together as implied, whether they cleave together or not, they will all stand together against God. Then the Kingdom of God destroys them together - so the Kingdom of God is established on earth forever.
Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. (Daniel 2:43-44)