And when he shall stand up, {e} his kingdom shall be broken, {f} and shall be divided toward the {g} four winds of heaven; and not to his {h} posterity, nor according to {i} his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside {k} those.

(e) For when his estate was most flourishing, he overcame himself with drink, and so fell into a disease: or as some write, was poisoned by Cassander.

(f) For his twelve chief princes first divided his kingdom among themselves.

(g) After this his monarchy was divided into four: for Seleucus had Syria, Antigonus had Asia minor, Cassander had the kingdom of Macedonia, and Ptolemeus had Egypt.

(h) Thus God avenged Alexander's ambition and cruelty, in causing his posterity to be murdered, partly by their father's chief friends, and partly by one another.

(i) None of these four will be able to be compared to the power of Alexander.

(k) That is, his posterity having no part of it.

Wesley's Notes

11:4 When he shall stand up - When he is come to his highest point. Nor according to his dominion - They did not reign as kings at first, but only as captains; and as to the extent of their dominion, it was far less than Alexander's, yea, all four fell short of his. Even for others - Some lesser commanders shared several parts of the empire.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. kingdom . divided toward . four winds-the fourfold division of Alexander's kingdom at his death (Da 8:8, 22), after the battle of Ipsus, 301 B.C.

not to his posterity-(See on [1102]Da 8:8; [1103]Da 8:22).

nor according to his dominion-None of his successors had so wide a dominion as Alexander himself.

others besides those-besides Alexander's sons, Hercules by Barsine, Darius' daughter, and Alexander by Roxana, who were both slain [Maurer]. Rather, besides the four successors to the four chief divisions of the empire, there will be other lesser chiefs who shall appropriate smaller fragments of the Macedonian empire [Jerome].

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-30 The angel shows Daniel the succession of the Persian and Grecian empires. The kings of Egypt and Syria are noticed: Judea was between their dominions, and affected by their contests. From ver. 5-30, is generally considered to relate to the events which came to pass during the continuance of these governments; and from ver. 21, to relate to Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a cruel and violent persecutor of the Jews. See what decaying, perishing things worldly pomp and possessions are, and the power by which they are gotten. God, in his providence, sets up one, and pulls down another, as he pleases. This world is full of wars and fightings, which come from men's lusts. All changes and revolutions of states and kingdoms, and every event, are plainly and perfectly foreseen by God. No word of God shall fall to the ground; but what he has designed, what he has declared, shall infallibly come to pass. While the potsherds of the earth strive with each other, they prevail and are prevailed against, deceive and are deceived; but those who know God will trust in him, and he will enable them to stand their ground, bear their cross, and maintain their conflict.