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land ," of course, refers to Judea,
the Holy Land. Antiochus the
Great besieged and took Sidon
from Egypt, ruined the interests of
Egypt in Judea at the Battle of
Mount Panium, 198
a.c.,
and then
Anti ochus took possession o f
Judea.
Verse 17- " upright ones" (see
margin) in Hebrew means "equal
conditions, or marriage," but the
one he marries will not stand on his
side. In 198
a.c.,
Antiochus ar–
ranged a marriage between bis
daughter, Cleopatra (not t he
Cleopatra of 31
a.c.
in Egypt) and
young Ptolemy Epiphanes, king of
the south , by which he hoped sub–
tly to gain complete possession of
Egypt; but the plan fai led .
Says Raw l inson, page 254,
"Coe le-Sy ria and P a l es ti n e
promised as a dowry, but not del iv–
e red ." Cleopatra did not truly
stand on the side of Antiochus, for
it was only a trick to gain posses–
sion of Egypt.
Ve rse 18- and so Ant iochus
turned his attention in another di–
rection and tried to conquer, 197 to
196
a.c.,
the islands and coasts of
Asia Minor. But the Roman gen–
eral, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asi–
aticus, utterly defeated him at the
Batt le of Magnesia, 190
a.c.
Verse 19-Antioc hu s next
turn ed hi s attent io n t o the
fortresses of his own land, in the
east and west. But, attempting to
recruit his dissipated wealth by the
plunder of the Oriental Temple of
Belus, in Elymais, he was killed,
187
a.C.
Verse 20-Seleucus IV Phi lopa–
tor ( 187-176), his son, in an effort
to raise money, sent a tax collector,
Heliodorus, through Judea. But he
reigned only 11 years, when He–
liodorus poisoned him.
Verse 2 1- he left no heir. But
bis brother, a younger son of An–
ti och u s t h e Great , n amed
Epiphanes (Antiochus IV), a con–
temptible reprobate, carne by sur–
prise and through flattery took the
kingdom. To his aid carne his
assistant, Eumenes. Rawl inson
says, page 255, " Ant iochus
[Epiphanes], assisted by Eumenes,
drives out Heliodorus, and obtains
the throne,
a.c.
176. He astonishes
his subjects by an affectation of
Roma n manners" and "good -
28
natured profuseness [ fl attery] ."
Antiochus Epiphanes
Verse 22- "the prince of the
covenant" does not refer to Christ.
This was the attempt of Antiochus
to replace the J ewish high priest by
another who would be subservient
to him.
Verses 23-24- although only a
few were with him at first, yet by
this "Roman manner," by deceit
and flattery, he crept into power
and prospered . H e also invaded
Galilee and Lower Egypt. His fa–
thers, the former kings of Syria,
had favored the J ews, but says
Rawlinson, page 255, they " were
driven to desperation by the mad
project of this self-willed mon–
arch."
Verse 25-Rawlinson, pages
255-256, says, "Threatened with
war by the ministers of Ptolemy
Philometor [ now king of the
south] , who claim Coele-Syria and
Palestine as the dowry of Cleopa–
tra, the late queen-mother, Anti–
ochus marches against Egypt . ..
a.c.
171 " (pp. 227-278). But he
was met by his nephew, Ptolemy
Phi lometor, king of the south, with
another immense a rmy. But the
Egyptian king was defeated
through the treachery of his own
officers and was outwitted by Anti–
ochus.
Verses 26-27- continuing in
Rawl inson, page 278: " After his
victory at Pelusium, Antiochus ad–
vanced to Memphis, and having
obtained possession of the young
king's person [Ptolemy Philometor,
king of the south], endeavored to
use him as a too! for effecting the
entire reduction of the country." In
174 a.c. , the uncle of the king of
the south sat at a banquet. Anti–
ochus pretended to ally himself
with the young Ptolemy, against
his brother, Euergetes Il, bur eacb
was trying to deceive the other.
The Abomination of Desolation
Verse 28- in 168
a.c.,
returning
from Egypt with g reat plunder,
Antiochus set himself against the
J ews, massacred many, and then
returned to Antioch with golden
vesse l s fr om the T emple at
J erusalem.
Verse 29- the same year, he
again invaded Egypt, but with none
of his former success, because
Philometor, king of the south, got
help from Rome.
Verse 30- the Roma n fleet
carne against Antiochus, he was
forced to surrender to the terms of
Popillius, commander of the Ro–
roan fl eet, and retire from Egypt
and restore Cyprus to Egypt. Re–
turning through J udea, smarting
under the defeat, he vented his ex–
asperation agai nst the Jews, and
extended special favors to those
J ews who would turn from thei r
religion.
Verse 31 - then, 167
a.c.,
the
next year, carne the climax of the
horror. Antiochus sent troops to
the Holy Land, who desecrated the
Temple and sanctuary, abolished
the daily sacri fice (see also Daniel
8:11, 24) and (Kislev 15, Hebrew
calendar) placed the a bomina–
tion- an image- on the altar in
the Temple precincts, making it
desolate ( Rawlinson, page 255).
Many who claim to teach the Bible
try to apply the prophecy of this
verse to Moslems in the seventh
century
A.D.,
building the Dome of
the Rock on the supposed site of
the ancient Temple at J erusalem!
But every verse of this prophecy,
step by step, verse by verse, un–
folded in actual history, just as
here recounted, so there can be not
the slightest shadow of doubt as to
this abominat ion that "maketh des–
olate"- it was an idol set up in 167
a.c.,
by Antiochus Epiphanes.
The Prophecy Comes to Christ and
the Apostles
Verse 32- Antiochus tried to end
the religion of the Jews. He took
away the daily sacrifice, forbade
the ministration at the Temple. He
perver ted by flatteries the Jews
who were wi ll ing to forsake their
religion.
But- right here, the prophecy
cuts off from the continuation of
events in the history of those an–
cient north and south kingdoms.
Up to this point, the prophecy was
unfolded , step by step, in the actual
history of the northern kingdom of
the Seleucidae, or Syr ia, and the
southern kingdom of Egypt. But,
say most commentaries, al l accu–
rate details seem suddenly to stop
shor t with this verse.
Now Jet us notice verse 32 in
The
PLAIN TRUTH