The king of the North of Daniel 11:40 is a long-suffering, sleeping giant that is pushed, poked, and terrorized by the king of the South until it rises like a whirlwind and strikes him down so that he cannot rise again. Prophecy is reckoned from Jerusalem, so the king of the North is the power centered north of the city, and "king" means any ruler or leader, not necessarily a crowned monarch. Through most of Daniel 11 the title passes from one ruler to the next, first the Seleucids of Syria, with the Ptolemies of Egypt as the king of the South. Verses 36-39 give the character of Rome, which swallowed Syria in 65 BC and took the title. Those verses also foreshadow the end-time beast, and the real end-time detail begins at verse 40. Rome's heirs, the Western civilization lying north of Jerusalem, now hold the role, with Israel leading the West. The king of the South is the Arab-Islamic confederacy of Psalm 83, made up of Edom, Ishmael, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre, and Assyria, the perpetual enemies of Israel. Islam has held Egypt and Syria since about 636 AD, and its center in Arabia lies to the south. Islamic terrorism, immigration, and cultural conflict are the pushing and prodding of the king of the South. The whirlwind of Daniel 11:40 matches the whirlwind and tempest by which God takes these nations down in Psalm 83. The West is now clashing with Islam, a conflict that has lasted for millennia and is reaching a crisis point.

The Bible calls the end-time Beast, or Antichrist, the King of the North, a title last held by Rome. Scripture gives no name or national origin for him, only a jigsaw puzzle of behaviors and characteristics, along with clues drawn from historical types. Identifying him early helps believers warn others and prepare for the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord that he will catalyze. His defining trait is militarism: he is a formidable, almost invincible general and conqueror. Historical types such as Napoleon, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, and Antiochus IV Epiphanes spent most of their lives at war. Part of Daniel 11 rests on Antiochus, who campaigned against Egypt, took Jerusalem, abolished the Temple worship, and imposed Greek religion on the Jews. Daniel 11:36-39 shows the King of the North exalting himself above every god and blaspheming the God of gods. He honors instead a "god of fortresses," so that warfare becomes his religion, and he conquers, plunders, and divides the land for gain. Revelation 13 and 17 add that the whole world thinks him unbeatable ("Who is able to make war with him?"). He earns authority through his own ability and personality, and Satan empowers him. God permits it to accomplish His plan. Ten kings give him their power and use him as a front man, and he holds his dominion only by military means. In his arrogance he even gathers the world's armies to fight Christ at His return, only to be captured and cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 19). Daniel 8:23-25 describes him as fierce, cunning, and proud, destroying many, and finally broken without human hand. He is less a politician than a man who loves war, urging swift, decisive, overwhelming force and imposing harsh terms on the conquered.

Daniel 11 describes the conflict between the Seleucid Empire of Syria, the king of the North, and the Ptolemaic Empire of Egypt, the king of the South. Both are gone, but verse 40 looks to the time of the end, just before Christ's return. Rome absorbed both older empires, then split into East and West. The Western Empire fell and was followed by several revivals of a Holy Roman Empire, while the Eastern Empire fell to the Turks in 1453. That event formalized the long struggle between Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East, and the same clash between Western and Islamic civilizations continues today. The king of the North is therefore Europe, and the king of the South is the Arab peoples of the Middle East. Because the king of the North invades and overwhelms many countries, the king of the South must be several nations. The king of the South "pushes at" him, a thrust that could be military, economic, religious, or cultural, and the king of the North answers swiftly and forcefully like a whirlwind. Verses 41-42 name his targets: the Glorious Land of Israel, Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Egypt. Waves of Muslim immigrants and the resulting cultural friction, crime, and harsh new immigration laws may be rousing Europe, and major terrorist attacks on European soil would make an armed response unavoidable. The leader, the king of the North himself, has not yet appeared, but the stage is being set for a strong ruler to unite Europe's leaders and citizens against the enemies of their civilization (Revelation 17:9-14). Immigration woes are probably not the catalyst, but they could fuel the coming conflict, and Christians should watch (Mark 13:32-37).