Antiochus Epiphanes

  In 198 BC Ptolemaic (Egyptian) rule over Palestine was replaced by the Seleucids. In 175 BC the then Seleucid king, Seleucus IV Philopater was assassinated. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, his brother, usurped the throne to the exclusion of Philopater's son Demetrius, the rightful heir. Some historians have been amazed at how quickly Antiochus came to the throne.

  "Antiochus was in his late thirties when he seized power...<and>...our sources agree that he was high-spirited, capable, energetic and self confident; he also was ambitious" (C Habicht, The Seleucids and their rivals, Cambridge Ancient History, 2nd Edition, Vol.8 - Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 B.C., p.341)

  He "was by nature a genuine despot, eccentric and unpredictable, at one moment lavishly generous, affectedly fraternising with the common people, and then again, ferocious and tyrannical, as his treatment of Judea demonstrates... Polybius; Diodorus and Livy emphasise his love of luxury and his munificence. Brilliant spectacles, magnificent buildings, regal presents, these were his chief delights. But in everything he inclined towards senseless extremes" (Schurer, pages 146-147).

  "When Antiochus Epiphanes ascended the throne, the hereditary High Priesthood was held by Onias III, a 'zealot for the laws' (2 Maccabees 4:2). The leader of the pro-Greek faction was his brother Jesus, or, as he preferred a Greek name, Jason. The tendency to favour things Greek was already so strong that the pro-Greek faction could venture to seize power and attain their aims by force. Jason promised the king great sums of money...if he would transfer the High Priesthood to him, permit him to erect a gymnasium, establish a corps of ephebes, and finally, consent to 'the inscription of the inhabitants of Jerusalem as Antiochenes'...i.e. (probably) transform Jerusalem into a Greek polis called Antioch and draw up a list of its citizens. Antiochus agreed to everything. Onias was deposed and Jason was appointed as High Priest. The process of Hellenisation was now set in vigorous motion" (Schurer, page 148).

  "Jason had enjoyed his ill-gotten office only three years when he was outbid by one Menelaus, ousted and obliged to flee to Transjordan (2 Maccabees 4:23-26). Who this Menelaus was is uncertain; some have doubted that he was even of priestly lineage. But his name indicates that he was also of the Helllenizing party. Menelaus soon showed that he had even fewer scruples than his predecessor" (John Bright, A History of Israel, page 420).

  In 170-169 BC Antiochus invaded Egypt: "As soon as the kingdom was firmly in Antiochus' hands, he began to think of becoming king over the land of Egypt so as to rule over both empires. He invaded Egypt with a strong army, with chariotry and elephants, and with a large fleet, and waged war against Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Routed by Antiochus, Ptolemy fled, <but later captured>, and many of his troops fell slain. The fortified cities of Egypt were captured <except Alexandria>, and Antiochus took the spoils of Egypt" (1 Maccabees 1:16-19, RSV).

  After his campaign was over, Daniel recorded in advance that, "While returning to his own land with great riches, his heart shall be moved against the holy covenant; so he shall do damage and return to his own land" (Daniel 11:28).

  It appears that when Antiochus was in Egypt a false report circulated that he had "passed away". "On the strength of this, Jason <the deposed High Priest> marched on Jerusalem with 1,000 men, took the city, and forced Menelaus to take refuge in the citadel...Jason soon alienated everyone by a senseless massacre and was driven once more from the city" (Bright, page 421).

  "When the king received the news of the events, he concluded that Judea was in revolt. Accordingly he broke camp and set out from Egypt. With the fury of a wild beast he took the city, treating it as enemy territory captured in war. He ordered the soldiers to slay mercilessly whomever they met and to butcher those who withdrew into their houses. Young and old were put to death, women and children perished, and maidens and infants were butchered... forty thousand fell by the sword and an equal number were sold as slaves. Unsatisfied with these atrocities, Antiochus had the audacity to enter the holiest temple in the whole world, taking as his guide Menelaus, the man who had betrayed the laws and his country. With polluted hands he seized the sacred vessels...<and>...after carrying off one thousand eight hundred talents from the temple, hastened back to Antioch" (2 Maccabees 5:11-21).

  Menelaus is a type of the false prophet.

  "At the appointed time he shall return and go towards the south; but it shall not be like the former or the latter <this is yet future for us>. For the ships from Cyprus shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the holy covenant, and do damage (Daniel 11:29-30a).
 
  In 168 BC Antiochus again invaded Egypt. But the Romans forced him to leave.

  "So he shall return and show regard for those [of the Jews] who forsake the holy covenant. And forces shall he muster by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then shall he take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation" (Daniel 11:30b-31).

  It appears, because of his humiliation by the Romans he was "Disposed to hate the Jews, he sent the Mysarch Apollonius with an army of twenty-two thousand, under orders to butcher all men who were of age and to sell the women as slaves. On his arrival at Jerusalem, Apollonius pretended to have peaceful intentions. He waited until the sacred Sabbath day. Sure that the Jews were resting, he ordered his troops to fall into armed formation and had them stab all who had gone out to see the spectacle. Then, dashing into the city with his soldiers, he laid a considerable multitude low" (2 Maccabees 5:23b-26).

  "The city was looted and partially destroyed, and its walls pulled down. There was then erected, perhaps on the site of the old Davidic palace south of the Temple, perhaps the hill opposite it to the west, a citadel called the Acra. A Seleucid garrison was installed there - a hateful symbol of foreign domination - for some twenty-five years.

  "The Acra was not merely a citadel with a military garrison, but something far more objectionable. It was a colony of Hellenized pagans (1 Mac 3:45; 14:36) and renegade Jews (1 Mac 6:21-24; 11:21) - a Greek polis with a constitution of its own, surrounded by walls, within the now undefended city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem itself was probably reckoned to the territory of this polis. This meant that the temple ceased to be the property of the Jewish people as such and became the shrine of the polis, which in turn meant - since the apostate Menelaus and his highly placed colleagues were involved - that all barriers to the thoroughgoing Hellenization of the Jewish religion were removed" (Bright, pages 421-22).

  "The king wrote to all his kingdom, for all to become one people and for each to abandon his own  customs. All the Gentiles agreed to the terms of the king's proclamation. Many Israelites, too accepted his religion and sacrificed to idols and violated the Sabbath. The king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah to follow customs foreign to the land" (1 Maccabees 1:41-44).

  "Both 1 Maccabees (1:41-51) and 2 Maccabees (6:1-2) mark as a new phase the arrival of instructions from Antiochus for the abolition of the Temple cult and of the observance of the Law, and the substitution of pagan cults. The observance of all Jewish ordinances, in particular those relating to the Sabbath and circumcision, was prohibited on the pain of death. In every town in Judea sacrifice was to be offered to the heathen gods. Overseers were sent every where to see that the royal command was carried out. Where the people did not comply willingly, they were obliged to do so by force. Once a month a check was made, and whoever was found with a scroll of the Torah or had a child circumcised, was put to death. On 15 Kislev of the Seleucid year 145 = December 167 B.C., a heathen altar was built in Jerusalem on the great altar of burnt-offering, and on 25 Kislev the first heathen sacrifice was offered on it (1 Maccabees 1:54,59); this is 'the abomination of desolation'...to which the Book of Daniel refers... The sacrifice, according to 2 Maccabees, was offered to Olympian Zeus, to whom the temple in Jerusalem had been dedicated. On the feast of Dionysus, the Jews were compelled to walk in Bacchanalian procession with their heads crowned with ivy" (Schurer, page 155). (cp. Daniel 3).

  Jerusalem was eventually retaken by the Jews. The temple was rededicated in December 164 BC three years to the day after the setting up of the abomination of desolation.

  "In the summer of 166 or 165 Antiochus marched out from Antioch at the head of an army for the reconquest of the North and East" (Edwyn Robert Bevan, The House of Seleucus, Vol. 2, p.158). This is the near-future application of Daniel 11:44. "The facts so far related show that Antiochus regained control of Armenia and that he attempted to regain lost territories in Persis and Elymais...Antiochus' ultimate goal, it seems, was the subjugation of the Parthians, but he died <of an illness> before hostilities began and his army was soon led home" (Habicht, Vol.8, pp.352-353). He had died in his prime.


ANTIOCHUS AND THE LITTLE HORN

  Antiochus IV Epiphanes is not the little horn of the fourth beast. But he has many things in common with him. The exploits of Antiochus are similar to those carried out by the 'little horn'/'beast' in the end-time.

  So while Antiochus is not the 'little horn' of the fourth beast, the horn of Daniel 8 is both Antiochus and the pompous-speaking horn of Daniel 7. How can this be? It is through the principle of telescopic prophecy.

  Here in Daniel 8 the horns, because of their similarity, are telescoped together so that they appear to be one single horn. The type Antiochus blends into and is replaced by the horn of the fourth beast, the antitype. Antiochus's career partially fulfils the prophetic vision, while the end-time pompous-speaking horn's career completes it.

  For the near-future witnesses, and later observers of the near-future fulfilment, Antiochus would have been identified with the prophecies of Daniel.

  As mentioned before, prophecy is mainly concerned with events leading up to and surrounding the return of Christ. So when a near-future prophetic person, event or subject is telescoped with a far-future person, event or subject the main focus of the prophecy is on the far-future fulfilment. The details of the prophecy, when compared with the near-future/typical fulfilment, which is not always easy to do, point to a yet future application. This is why we outlined Antiochus' career so when we look at the prophecies for the far-future we can see what Antiochus did not do and what will be done by the end-time 'little horn/beast'.
   
  With this as background we will now look at the rest of the vision of Daniel 8 and the interpretation.

  Antiochus did grow exceedingly great towards the south, towards the east and towards the Glorious Land (verse 9), and it is from here that Antiochus blends into the end-time 'little horn':

  Looking briefly at the vision we see a number of things that Antiochus did not completely fulfil, which imply a later fulfilment:

(1) Although Antiochus assumed divine epithets, such as 'god-manifest', (Theos Epiphanes) he still identified with Zeus Olympius. Which is not quite the same as exalting and magnifying "himself above every god" (Daniel 11:36a); and "opposing and exalting "himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped" (2 Thessalonians 2:4a).

(2) Under Antiochus though the temple was defiled, it was not destroyed (cast down) - (cp. Daniel 9:26b).

(3) Antiochus "had considerable resources" (Habicht, Vol.7, p.342). But "his reckless expenditure" bankrupted his kingdom. His campaign in the North and East in the later part of his reign were compelled by the "urgent necessity of money"  (Bevan, p.158). The campaigning followed soon after the suppression of Jerusalem so that "He did all this and prospered" could be argued does not quite fit Antiochus.

  Coming then to the interpretation of the vision, after the statement "And in the latter time of their kingdom", we believe, that the prophecy jumps to the horn of Daniel 7 the one "who was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them". Though describing the antitype, these events are relevant for the latter part of the Seleucid kingdom because they describe in type the events that took place then.

  Therefore, the interpretation continues by describing the time of the end-time pompous-speaking horn:

  Looking now at the details of the interpretation:

(1) When the transgressors have reached their fullness - The Jewish transgression in the time of Antiochus, in the sense of adopting Greek culture in a concerted way began with the accession of Antiochus when he was approached by a Jewish faction for leave to hellenise Jerusalem. Here, the king arises "when the transgressors have reached their fullness." The period of "fullness", in keeping with the end-time emphasis of prophecy, is described by the apostle Paul: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanders, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:1-6).

(2) Who understands sinister schemes: literally meaning "understanding hidden things." This horn will be full of wisdom, understanding the hidden workings to life, turning them to his own advantage. This will enable him to change, as we saw earlier, "the seasons and fundamental conditions ordained by God for the life and actions of men".

  Solomon king of Israel could also understand 'sinister schemes'. God gave Solomon "wisdom and exceedingly great understanding" (1 Kings 4:29). So great was his fame that "men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth...came to hear the wisdom of Solomon" (1 Kings 4:34). The queen of Sheba paid a state visit to test his wisdom by asking him hard questions (1 Kings 10:1). The Aramaic word for 'sinister schemes' is the equivalent to the Hebrew for 'hard questions'.

  Daniel was another who could understand hard "questions" or "sentences".  Daniel was said to have "an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpretation of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts" (Daniel 5:12, AV).

  The 'little horn' is also said to be wiser than Daniel; see below. Using this wisdom he will usher in a time of great prosperity - "It will be as brief as it will be brilliant" (E W Bullinger, Commentary on Revelation, page 428).

(3) His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power" (2 Thessalonians 2:9a).

(4) Through his cunning He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule: with "lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11).

(5) And shall prosper and thrive: "...and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished" (Daniel 11:36c)

(6) And he shall exalt himself in his heart: "he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god" (Daniel 11:36a); and "opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped" (2 Thessalonians 2:4a).

(7) He shall even rise against the Prince of princes: "He shall speak pompous words against the Most High" (Daniel 7:25); and "shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods" (Daniel 11:36b); "And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him [Jesus Christ]" (Revelation 19:19).

(8) But he shall be broken without human means: "...the lawless one...whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming" (2 Thess 2:9; cp. Daniel 2:45).

  This 'little horn' is also described in Ezekiel. The historical 'prince of Tyre' is a type of this 'king of fierce features'. God said through Ezekiel, describing the antitypical prince of Tyre - that is the 'little horn/beast'  - that: