And you thought AntiChrist was a Jew!

Today: A short look at one verse - Daniel 11:37.
Why?
This one verse had led many to believe that Anti-Christ is of Jewish descent. In the King James Version it reads...

37"Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all."

Seems easy enough. A good friend of mine indicated that the term "God of His fathers" is almost always used when speaking of the God of the Hebrew nation. So, at first glance, it appears that this man (Anti-Christ?) will be a Jew. That is pretty much what I had always believed in the past. So, he could not be the Islamic Mahdi! He will be a Jew. Case closed. Blog over!!

Well, hold,,,, hold on now...ju, jus... just a minute, there. (Spoken like Jimmy Stewart will be most effective.)
Let's dig into it a little.

What do we find with a quick verse search at good old BibleGateway.com. I grabbed 5 translations and immediately found a translation issue. Here they are:

KJV
37Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.

NASB
37"He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.

NIV
37 He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all.

Darby
37And he will not regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women; nor regard any +god: for he will magnify himself above all.

ESV
37He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all.

Why do two translations say, "God of his fathers," and three say, "Gods of his fathers"?

The next step was to look at the online Hebrew interlinear:
http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Hebrew_Index.htm
I invite you to do the same.

It turns out, the first word for God in Daniel 11:37 is Elohim; the second word is Eloah. As many of you know, Elohim is the plural of the root for God, El. Although plural, Elohim is almost always translated with the singular, God. BUT, there are exceptions. Psalm 82:1 being a good one.

NASB
1God(Elohim) takes His stand in His own congregation;
He judges in the midst of the rulers(Elohim)

KJV
1God (Elohim) standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods(Elohim)..

NIV
1 God (Elohim) presides in the great assembly;
he gives judgment among the "gods"(Elohim) :

Darby
1 God (Elohim)standeth in the assembly of God, he judgeth among the gods(Elohim).

Young's Literal Translation
1-- A Psalm of Asaph. God (Elohim)hath stood in the company of God, In the midst God doth judge(Elohim)

The word for word from the Hebrew interlinear is:
psalm to·Asaph Elohim one-being-stationed in·congregation-of El in·within-of Elohim he-is-judging

Conclusion (from one with no formal Hebrew background): Even the major AND minor translators don't know quite how to handle this verse. I like NIV's attempt, putting gods in " ". It seems to me to be an attempt to say, "We're not sure how to translate this."

So,... here is the NDMV translation.

NDMV (New Dave Multinational Version)
"1 The three-in-One God (Elohim) presides forever over the assembly of the mighty ones. He is the supreme judge over all that are called gods(Elohim)."
Okay, okay! I added in a little... but it was good stuff!!

Getting back to Daniel 11:37...
I think it is fair to say that the translation in Daniel could/should? be "gods (Elohim) of his fathers". If that were the case we no longer require a Jewish man to be Anti-Christ. Instead, we are looking for one whose "fathers" have a long line of "gods" (plural) in their history. His roots and lineage are rich with false gods and idolatry.

The theory still holds. AntiChrist is a Moslem!
Your comments are welcome!!