Compass directions in Daniel: Catty-cornered??

I now see what to me is a glaring flaw in the grounding of this article... The uprooting of the three by the Antichrist is an uprooting of three existing nations by a ruler who appears as if out of nowhere. He is not just called one of the ten but is called an eleventh ruler who belongs to the ten. Meaning there are ten rulers, then he comes, takes out three, and replaces them with him. So... whichever nation he actually springs from, three nations will be under him in the beginning, and it's only AFTER this that the eastward, southward, and toward Beulah expansion takes place.

For now at least, that makes the question of his origins a lot murkier. Iran's not excluded, but because of the Seleucid bounds and the original power center of Seleucia being more toward Syria and Iraq, not to mention Islamic hadiths of the Dajjal point right at Syria and Iraq, it seems more likely to me that the Beast will be an Iraqi or a Syrian, perhaps of one of the many ethnic minorities in either country. Also I think he will overthrow by flatteries in terms of it being a peaceful or bloodless, but unconstitutional coup... the small number of people that help him are just as likely to be a cabal of powerful men like those who helped put Saddam in power in the early 1970s, in his case, not bloodlessly and not because he flattered them. There's still useful info in here, but beware of the conclusions I initially drew.

Dan 7:8	I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn [were] eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Dan 8:9	And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant [land].

What does Daniel mean by uproot three horns? Horns are always symbolic of power in the Bible, of kings, rulership, countries. So when a little horn arises, this is a horn with a little power at first, or from a small people:

Dan 11:23

And after the league [made] with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.

Examples of a small people in the Middle East today could include the Kurds, the Armenians, the Circassians, the Samaritans, the Assyrians, or possibly the Azerbaijanis, and I'm sure there are many others. The Arabs are certainly not a "small people" for the area, they are the largest ethnicity in the region. Therefore the Little Horn cannot be an Arab himself, though he may certainly rule over Arabs. Probably not a Persian either. This means he is a non-Arab ruler uprooting three nations.

East: 1. qedem, which means east, front, or old/ancient, and refers to the direction of the deserts of Arabia -- also said of the children of the East or the direction taken to get to Mesopotamia. 2. mizrach, which means the place of sunrise or rising (due east -- supposedly.)

South: 1. negev, which refers to the Negev desert which extends south and west of Jerusalem toward Sinai; 2. teyman meaning to the right hand (of mizrach.)

West: 1. yam, the sea or seaward, toward the Mediterranean, west and toward the northwest of Jerusalem; 2. ma 'arab, "setting place" or "sunset."

North: 1. mezareh, figuratively meaning scatterer (as north winds scatter) 2. tsaphown, the direction of darkness, place that is hidden or obscure.

Confused? It gets worse.

Daniel uses mizrach ("east") and tsaphown ("north") in 11:44, "But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him:", and then he uses mizrach again in 8:9 "little horn... to the east and to the south..." with negeb for south. For "west" Daniel uses ma 'arab, "setting place" or "sunset."

Locating mizrach seems straightforward -- just go to the sunrise -- but the kings of the North and South, that is, tsaphown and negeb, when deciphered from prophecy are the kings respectively of Seleucid Syria and Ptolemaic Egypt. If you look at Israel on a map between these two nations, these nations are not oriented straight north and south on the modern compass, but are canted clockwise about 45 degrees. Syria, the "North," lays northeast of Israel -- what Daniel calls tsaphown, and Egypt, the "South," lays southwest of Israel... directly opposite Syria in the negeb direction. If we take this as a cue, the directions in clockwise order are:

mizrach = southeast (towards Arabia)

tsaphown = northeast (towards Syria)

ma 'arab = northwest (towards Greece)

negeb = southwest (towards Egypt)

Hence we find the rough he goat coming not from due west, but from the northwest, from the direction of Greece:

Dan 8:5	And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat [had] a notable horn between his eyes.
Dan 8:8	Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
Dan 8:21	And the rough goat [is] the king of Grecia: and the great horn that [is] between his eyes [is] the first king.

If the rough he goat (who by the way is Alexander the Great of Macedonia; the four "notable ones" were his generals who split up the empire after his premature death) were just coming from due west, he could much more easily come from Libya or even Egypt than Greece. The due-west direction is all the vaguer if you consider west could be considered the direction of either Greece or Egypt especially if by overland travel. But if in fact the term ma 'arab is being precisely applied, as northwest, then it fits right in with Syria being tsaphown "northeast" and Egypt being negeb "southwest" -- via the Negev Desert. In fact, heading just slightly south of due west takes you from Jerusalem right over the Suez Canal to the end of the Nile Delta at Alexandria, Egypt. Cairo and the Pyramids of Giza are actually west-southwest of Jerusalem. If you travel overland to Greece from Jerusalem, you have to take a route that veers a bit east of north before making a westward turn in Anatolia! Admittedly I have been referring to Jerusalem for these compass directions as that is the ancestral home of Daniel's people whom the angel keeps referring to in his visions, but even if you take his locations in either Babylon or Persia as starting points, Greece still lays west- northwest of Babylon and Susa, and Egypt is west-southwest of both cities. Hence applying west to Greece and not to Egypt tells me the orientation of west, south, and north were different to the ancient Jews than they are to us today.

So if these are the compass points for Syria, Egypt, and Greece, then why not apply them throughout the book of Daniel at least? Daniel uses the same language of directions for the movements of the Little Horn as he does for the prophecies of the kings of the North and South. This means the compass as we know it must be shunted clockwise (right of north) 45 degrees to interpret Daniel correctly. We can reduce it with the King James Version or other English versions like this:

East = Southeast (toward Arabia.)

South = Southwest (toward Egypt.)

West = Northwest (toward Greece.)

North = Northeast (toward Syria.)

Translated to the Seleucid kingdom per se, occupying the countries from Turkey to Iran, gives this set of directions points:

East = towards the Persian Gulf region, Iran, Pakistan, and India

South = towards Arabia or Egypt

West = towards Europe

North = towards Russia, Central Asia (including Afghanistan) and China

Dan 11:44

But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

The final end of the Little Horn is his fall in battle against non-Muslim powers India, China, Russia, and their allies.

Country by country in the Seleucid zone:

Toward Beulah means toward the Beautiful Land (Israel);

Italics for seas;

Bold italics for countries the Beast may not enter in Biblical prophecy (Ammon, Moab, and Edom.) Israel is not included, but is not part of the ten horns and will not be invaded until the middle of the week of years.

Turkey

East = Iraq and Syria (toward Beulah)

South = Mediterranean Sea, Cyprus

West = Greece, Macedonia, the Balkans

North = Russia

East and South count: Two, Iraq and Syria; Cyprus is already under two other nations, Turkey and Greece.

Lebanon

East = southern Syria, Jordan

South = Israel (Beulah), the Mediterranean

West = Mediterranean toward Cyprus

North = Syria

East and South count: One, Syria; Israel not to fall early.

Syria

East = Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia

South = Jordan, Israel (Beulah), Lebanon, the Mediterranean

West = The Mediterranean, Turkey

North = Turkey, Iraq

East and South count: Two, Iraq and Lebanon; Israel not to fall early.

Iraq

East = Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Persian Gulf

South = Saudi Arabia, Jordan (toward Beulah)

West = Jordan, Syria, Turkey

North = Turkey, Iran

East and South count: Two; Iran and Kuwait.

Kuwait

East = Persian Gulf

South = Saudi Arabia

West = Iraq (toward Beulah)

North = Iraq, Iran after that.

East and South count: One, Iraq, toward Beulah.

Iran

East = Pakistan, Gulf of Oman

South = Kuwait, Iraq (toward Beulah), Persian Gulf

West = Iraq, Turkey, Caucasus states, Caspian Sea

North = Central Asian states, Afghanistan

East and South count: Three; Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq (which is also toward Beulah.)

Now, again, in the book of Daniel the Little Horn has to fulfill certain conditions:

Dan 7:8	I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn [were] eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Dan 8:9	And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant [land].

Conclusion:

One country among the six to have parts of their territories in the old Seleucid Empire, and one country only, can expand "south" (southwest) and "east" (southeast), and toward Beulah (due west) and seize three other nations who are not disqualified as parts of Edom, Moab, and Ammon by expanding in those directions. This country is large, populous, and has a number of interesting ethnic minorities, among them the Kurds, the Azerbaijanis, and the Pashtuns; the dominant group is the Persians. Its name is Iran.

(All bible quotes from www.blueletterbible.org.)