Daniel — Chapter 11
The most detailed predictive prophecy in the Bible: Lapide follows Jerome's verse-by-verse identification of the kings of the North (Seleucids) and South (Ptolemies) through Greek-Egyptian history, culminating in Antiochus Epiphanes (vv. 21-45). He uses the precision of the historical fulfillment as a principal argument for divine inspiration against rationalist critics.
Verse 31
'Et arma ex eo stabunt, et polluent sanctuarium fortitudinis, et auferent iuge sacrificium, et dabunt abominationem in desolatione' — They shall desecrate the Temple and take away the regular burnt offering and set up the abomination that makes desolate: Lapide gives careful historical commentary on the Maccabean period, citing 1 Mc. 1:54 and Josephus's Jewish Antiquities, and then develops the eschatological antitype in Antichrist's final desecration of the sacred.
Verse 32
He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action: Lapide reads this as the central prophetic description of the Church under persecution — some apostatize through flattery and temptation, while those who 'know their God' (habentes sensum de Deo) remain firm. He cites the Maccabean martyrs as the historical model and applies to Catholic resistance to Protestant coercion.
Verse 36
The willful king who exalts himself above every god: Lapide identifies this figure as simultaneously Antiochus Epiphanes (literal sense) and Antichrist (anagogical sense), following Jerome and Theodoret. He provides an extended treatise on the characteristics of Antichrist drawn from 2 Thess. 2, Apoc. 13, and the patristic tradition.
Verse 40
At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall rush against him like a whirlwind: Lapide's eschatological reading of the kings of north and south as final world powers aligned against or with Antichrist. He presents multiple patristic interpretations (Jerome, Theodoret, Hippolytus) and declines to identify the powers precisely, given the prophecy's future reference.