Daniel 11:1-4
Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible
The angel Gabriel, in this chapter, performs his promise made to Daniel in the foregoing chapter, that he would "show him what should befal his people in the latter days,’’ according to that which was "written in the scriptures of truth:’’ very particularly does he here foretel the succession of the kings of Persia and Grecia, and the affairs of their kingdoms, especially the mischief which Antiochus Epiphanes did in his time to the church, which was foretold before (ch. 8:11–12).
Daniel 8:5-14. And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable ehorn between his eyes. 6 Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. 7 And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, 5attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.
8 Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it ffour notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. 9 gAnd out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, htoward the east, and toward the iGlorious Land. 10 jAnd it grew up to kthe host of heaven; and lit cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11 mHe even exalted himself as high as nthe Prince of the host; oand by him pthe daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of 6His sanctuary was cast down. 12 Because of transgression, qan army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast rtruth down to the ground. He sdid all this and prospered.
13 Then I heard ta holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?”
14 And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred 8days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.”
Here is:
I. A brief prediction of the setting up of the Grecian monarchy upon the ruins of the Persian monarchy, which was now newly begun (v. 1-4). II. A prediction of the affairs of the two kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, with reference to each other (v. 5–20).
III. Of the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes, and his actions and successes (v. 21–29).
IV. Of the great mischief that he should do to the Jewish nation and religion, and his contempt of all religion (v. 30–39).
V. Of his fall and ruin at last, when he is in the heat of his pursuit (v. 40–45).
Daniel 11:1-4
“Also in the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood up to confirm and strengthen him.. 2 And now I will tell you the truth: Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. 3 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 4 And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be uprooted..."
1. The angel Gabriel lets Daniel know the good service He has done to the Jewish nation (v. 1): "In the first year of Darius the Mede, who destroyed Babylon and released the Jews out of that house of bondage... We must acknowledge the hand of God in the strengthening of those that are friends to the church for the service they are to do it, and confirming them in their good resolutions; herein he uses the ministry of angels more than we are aware of. And the many instances we have known of God’s care of his church formerly encourage us to depend upon him in further straits and difficulties.
2. He foretels the reign of four Persian kings... [apparently] Cyrus, Artaxasta or Artaxerxes... and Ahasuerus that married Esther, called Darius son of Hystaspes.... There shall be a fourth, far richer than they all, that is, Xerxes.... Daniel needed not to be told what disappointment he would meet with, for he was a hinderer of the building of the temple; but soon after, about thirty years after the first return from captivity, Darius, a young king, revived the building of the temple...
3. He foretels Alexander’s conquests and the partition of his kingdom,
v. 3. He is that mighty king that shall stand up against the kings of Persia,
and he shall rule with great dominion, over many kingdoms, and with a despotic
power, for he shall do according to his will, and undo likewise, which, by the
law of the Medes and Persians, their kings could not. When Alexander, after
he had conquered Asia, would be worshipped as a god, then this was
fulfilled, that he shall do according to his will.... But (v. 4) his kingdom
shall soon be broken, and divided into four parts, but not to his
posterity, nor shall any of his successors reign according to his dominion; none
of them shall have such large territories nor such an absolute power.... .Arideus,
his brother, was made king in Macedonia; Olympias, Alexander’s mother, killed
him, and poisoned Alexander’s two sons, Hercules and Alexander. Thus was his
family rooted out by its own hands. See what decaying perishing things worldly
pomp and possessions are, and the powers by which they are got. Never was the
vanity of the world and its greatest things shown more evidently than in the
story of Alexander....
Verses 5-20. Here are foretold,
I. The rise and power of two great kingdoms out of the remains of Alexander’s
conquests, v. 5. 1. The kingdom of Egypt, which was made considerable by
Ptolemaeus Lagus, one of Alexander’s captains, whose successors were, from him,
called the Lagidae. He is called the king of the south, that is, Egypt, named
here, v. 8, 42, 43. The countries that at first belonged to Ptolemy are reckoned
to be Egypt, Phoenicia, Arabia, Libya, Ethiopia, etc. Theocr. Idyl. 17. 2. The
kingdom of Syria, which was set up by Seleucus Nicanor, or the conqueror; he was
one of Alexander’s princes, and became stronger than the other, and had the
greatest dominion of all, was the most powerful of all Alexander’s successors.
It was said that he had no fewer than seven-two kingdoms under him. Both these
were strong against Judah (the affairs of which are particularly eyed in this
prediction); Ptolemy, soon after he gained Egypt, invaded Judea, and took
Jerusalem on a sabbath, pretending a friendly visit. Seleucus also gave
disturbance to Judea.
II. The fruitless attempt to unite these two kingdoms as iron and clay in
Nebuchadnezzar’s image (v. 6): "At the end of certain years, about seventy after
Alexander’s death, the Lagidae and the Seleucidae shall associate, but not in
sincerity. Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, shall marry his daughter
Berenice to Antiochus Theos, king of Syria,’’ who had already a wife called
Laodice. "Berenice shall come to the king of the north, to make an agreement,
but it shall not hold: She shall not retain the power of the arm; neither she
nor her posterity shall establish themselves in the kingdom of the north,
neither shall Ptolemy her father, nor Antiochus her husband (between whom there
was to be a great alliance), stand, nor their arm, but she shall be given up and
those that brought her,’’ all that projected that unhappy marriage between her
and Antiochus, which occasioned so much mischief, instead of producing a
coalition between the northern and southern crowns, as was hoped. Antiochus
divorced Berenice, took his former wife Laodice again, who soon after poisoned
him, procured Berenice and her son to be murdered, and set up her own son by
Antiochus to be king, who was called Seleucus Callinicus.
III. A war between the two kingdoms, v. 7, 8. A branch from the same root with
Berenice shall stand up in his estate. Ptolemaeus Euergetes, the son and
successor of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, shall come with an army against Seleucus
Callinicus, king of Syria, to avenge his sister’s quarrel, and shall prevail;
and he shall carry away a rich booty both of persons and goods into Egypt, and
shall continue more years than the king of the north. This Ptolemy reigned
forty-six years; and Justin says that if his own affairs had not called him home
he would, in this war, have made himself master of the whole kingdom of Syria.
But (v. 9) he shall be forced to come into his kingdom and return into his own
land, to keep peace there, so that he can no longer carry on the war abroad.
Note, It is very common for a treacherous peace to end in a bloody war.
IV. The long and busy reign of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria. Seleucus
Callinicus, that king of the north that was overcome (v. 7) and died miserably,
left two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus; these are his sons, the sons of the king
of the north, that shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great
forces, to recover what their father had lost, v. 10. But Seleucus the elder,
being weak, and unable to rule his army, was poisoned by his friends, and
reigned only two years; and his brother Antiochus succeeded him, who reigned
thirty-seven years, and was called the Great. And therefore the angel, though he
speaks of sons at first, goes on with the account of one only, who was but
fifteen years old when he began to reign, and he shall certainly come, and
overflow, and over-run, and shall be restored at length to what his father lost.
1. The king of the south, in this war, shall at first have very great success.
Ptolemaeus Philopater, moved with indignation at the indignities done by
Antiochus the Great, shall (though otherwise a slothful prince) come forth, and
fight with him, and shall bring a vast army into the field of 70,000 foot, and
5000 horse, and seventy-three elephants. And the other multitude (the army of
Antiochus, consisting of 62,000 foot, and 6000 horse, and 102 elephants) shall
be given into his hand. Polybius, who lived with Scipio, has given a particular
account of this battle of Raphia. Ptolemaeus Philopater, having gained this
victory, grew very insolent; his heart was lifted up; then he went into the
temple of God at Jerusalem, and, in defiance of the law, entered the most holy
place, for which God has a controversy with him, so that, though he shall cast
down many myriads, yet he shall not be strengthened by it, so as to secure his
interest. For, 2. The king of the north, Antiochus the Great, shall return with
a greater army than the former; and, at the end of times (that is, years) he
shall come with a mighty army, and great riches, against the king of the south,
that is, Ptolemaeus Epiphanes, who succeeded Ptolemaeus Philopater his father,
when he was a child, which gave advantage to Antiochus the Great. In this
expedition he had some powerful allies (v. 14): Many shall stand up against the
king of the south. Philip of Macedon was confederate with Antiochus against the
king of Egypt, and Scopas his general, whom he sent into Syria; Antiochus routed
him, destroyed a great part of his army; whereupon the Jews willingly yielded to
Antiochus, joined with him, helped him to besiege Ptolemaeus’s garrisons. They
the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, to
help forward the accomplishment of this prophecy; but they shall fall, and shall
come to nothing, v. 14. Hereupon (v. 15) the king of the north, this same
Antiochus Magnus, shall carry on his design against the king of the south
another way. (1.) He shall surprise his strong-holds; all that he has got in
Syria and Samaria, and the arms of the south, all the power of the king of
Egypt, shall not be able to withstand him. See how dubious and variable the
turns of the scale of war are; like buying and selling, it is winning and
losing; sometimes one side gets the better and sometimes the other; yet neither
by chance; it is not, as they call it, the fortune of war, but according to the
will and counsel of God, who brings some low and raises others up. (2.) He shall
make himself master of the land of Judea (v. 16): He that comes against him
(that is, the king of the north) shall carry all before him and do what he
pleases, and he shall stand and get footing in the glorious land; so the land of
Israel was, and by his hand it was wasted and consumed, for with the spoil of
that good land he victualled his vast army. The land of Judea lay between these
two potent kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, so that in all the struggles between
them that was sure to suffer, for to it they both bore ill will. Yet some read
this, By his hand it shall be perfected; as if it intimated that the land of
Judea, being taken under the protection of this Antiochus, shall flourish, and
be in better condition than it had been. (3.) He shall still push on his war
against the king of Egypt, and set his face to enter with the strength of his
whole kingdom, taking advantage of the infancy of Ptolemy Epiphanes, and the
upright ones, many of the pious Israelites, siding with him, v. 17. In
prosecution of his design, he shall give him his daughter Cleopatra to wife,
designing, as Saul in giving his daughter Cleopatra to David, that she should be
a snare to him, and do him a mischief; but she shall not stand on her father’s
side, nor be for him, but for her husband, and so that plot failed him. (4.) His
war with the Romans is here foretold (v. 18): He shall turn his face to the
isles (v. 18), the isles of the Gentiles (Gen. 10:5), Greece and Italy. He took
many of the isles about the Hellespont-Rhodes, Samos, Delos, etc., which by war
or treaty he made himself master of; but a prince, or state (so some), even the
Roman senate, or a leader, even the Roman general, shall return his reproach
with which he abused the Romans upon himself, or shall make his shame rest on
himself, and without his own shame, or any disgrace to himself, shall pay him
again. This was fulfilled when the two Scipios were sent with an army against
Antiochus. Hannibal was then with him, and advised him to invade Italy and waste
it as he had done; but he did not take hid advice; and Scipio joined battle with
him, and gave him a total defeat, though Antiochus had 70,000 men and the Romans
but 30,000. Thus he caused the reproach offered by him to cease. (5.) His fall.
When he was totally routed by the Romans, and was forced to abandon to them all
he had in Europe, and had a very heavy tribute exacted from him, he turned to
his own land, and, not knowing which way to raise money to pay his tribute, he
plundered a temple of Jupiter, which so incensed his own subjects against him
that they set upon him, and killed him; so he was overthrown, and fell, and was
no more found, v. 19. (6.) His next successor, v. 20. There rose up one in his
place, a raiser of taxes, a sender forth of the extortioner, or extorter. This
character was remarkably answered in Seleucus Philopater, the elder son of
Antiochus the Great, who was a great oppressor of his own subjects, and exacted
abundance of money from them; and, when he was told he would thereby lose his
friends, he said he knew no better friend he had then money. He likewise
attempted to rob the temple at Jerusalem, which this seems especially to refer
to. But within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle,
but poisoned by Heliodorus, one of his own servants, when he had reigned but
twelve years, and done nothing remarkable.
V. From all this let us learn, 1. That God in his providence sets up one, and
pulls down another, as he pleases, advances some from low beginnings and
depresses others that were very high. Some have called great men the foot-balls
of fortune; or, rather, they are the tools of Providence. 2. This world is full
of wars and fightings, which come from men’s lusts, and make it a theatre of sin
and misery. 3. All the changes and revolutions of states and kingdoms, and every
event, even the most minute and contingent, were plainly and perfectly foreseen
by the God of heaven, and to him nothing is new. 4. No word of God shall fall to
the ground; but what he has designed, what he has declared, shall infallibly
come to pass; and even the sins of men shall be made to serve his purpose, and
contribute to the b ringing of his counsels to birth in their season; and yet
God is not the author of sin. 5. That, for the right understanding of some parts
of scripture, it is necessary that heathen authors be consulted, which give
light to the scripture, and show the accomplishment of what is there foretold;
we have therefore reason to bless God for the human learning with which many
have done great service to divine truths.
Verses 21-45
All this is a prophecy of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the little horn
spoken of before (ch. 8:9) a sworn enemy to the Jewish religion, and a bitter
persecutor of those that adhered to it. What troubles the Jews met with in the
reigns of the Persian kings were not so particularly foretold to Daniel as
these, because then they had living prophets with them, Haggai and Zechariah, to
encourage them; but these troubles in the days of Antiochus were foretold,
because, before that time, prophecy would cease, and they would find it
necessary to have recourse to the written word. Some things in this prediction
concerning Antiochus are alluded to in the New-Testament predictions of the
antichrist, especially v. 36, 37. And as it is usual with the prophets, when
they foretel the prosperity of the Jewish church, to make use of such
expressions as were applicable to the kingdom of Christ, and insensibly to slide
into a prophecy of that, so, when they foretel the troubles of the church, they
make use of such expressions as have a further reference to the kingdom of the
antichrist, the rise and ruin of that. Now concerning Antiochus, the angel
foretels here,
I. His character: He shall be a vile person. He called himself Epiphanes—the
illustrious, but his character was the reverse of his surname. The heathen
writers describe him to be an odd-humoured man, rude and boisterous, base and
sordid. He would sometimes steal out of the court into the city, and herd with
any infamous company incognito—in disguise he made himself a companion of the
common sort, and of the basest strangers that came to town. He had the most
unaccountable whims, so that some took him to be silly, others to be mad. Hence
he was called Epimanes—the madman. He is called a vile person, for he had been a
long time a hostage at Rome for the fidelity of his father when the Romans had
subdued him; and it was agreed that, when the other hostages were exchanged, he
should continue a prisoner at large.
II. His accession to the crown. By a trick he got his elder brother’s son,
Demetrius, to be sent a hostage to Rome, in exchange for him, contrary to the
cartel; and, his elder brother being made away with by Heliodorus (v. 20), he
took the kingdom. The states of Syria did not give it to him (v. 21), because
they knew it belonged to his elder brother’s son, nor did he get it by the
sword, but came in peaceably, pretending to reign for his brother’s son,
Demetrius, then a hostage at Rome. But with the help of Eumenes and Attalus,
neighbouring princes, he gained an interest in the people, and by flatteries
obtained the kingdom, established himself in it, and crushed Heliodorus, who
made head against him with the arms of a flood; those that opposed him were
overflown and broken before him, even the prince of the covenant, his nephew,
the rightful heir, whom he pretended to covenant with that he would resign to
him whenever he should return, v. 22. But (v. 23) after the league made with him
he shall work deceitfully, as one whose avowed maxim it is that princes ought
not to be bound by their word any longer than it is for their interest. And with
a small people, that at first cleave to him, he shall become strong, and (v. 24)
he shall enter peaceably upon the fattest places of the kingdom of Syria, and,
very unlike his predecessors, shall scatter among the people the prey, and the
spoil, and riches, to insinuate himself into their affections; but, at the same
time, he shall forecast his devices against the strong-holds, to make himself
master of them, so that his generosity shall last but for a time; when he has
got the garrisons into his hands he will scatter his spoil no more, but rule by
force, as those commonly do that come in by fraud. He that comes in like a fox
reigns like a lion. Some understand these verses of his first expedition into
Egypt, when he came not as an enemy, but as a friend and guardian to the young
king Ptolemaeus Philometer, and therefore brought with him but few followers,
yet those stout men, and faithful to his interest, whom he placed in divers of
the strong-holds in Egypt, thereby making himself master of them.
III. His war with Egypt, which was his second expedition thither. This is
described, v. 25, 27. Antiochus shall stir up his power and courage against
Ptolemaeus Philometer king of Egypt. Ptolemy, thereupon, shall be stirred up to
battle against him, shall come against him with a very great and mighty army;
but Ptolemy, though he has such a vast army, shall not be able to stand before
him; for Antiochus’s army shall overthrow his, and overpower it, and great
multitudes of the Egyptian army shall fall down slain. And no marvel, for the
king of Egypt shall be betrayed by his own counsellors; those that feed of the
portion of his meat, that eat of his bread and live upon him, being bribed by
Antiochus, shall forecast devices against him, and even they shall destroy him;
and what fence is there against such treachery? After the battle, a treaty of
peace shall be set on foot, and these two kings shall meet at one council-board,
to adjust the articles of peace between them; but they shall neither of them be
sincere in it, for they shall, in their pretences and promises of amity and
friendship, lie to one another, for their hearts shall be at the same time to do
one another all the mischief they can. And then no marvel that it shall not
prosper. The peace shall not last; but the end of it shall be at the time
appointed in the divine Providence, and then the war shall break out again, as a
sore that is only skinned over.
IV. Another expedition against Egypt. From the former he returned with great
riches (v. 28), and therefore took the first occasion to invade Egypt again, at
the time appointed by the divine Providence, two years after, in the eighth year
of his reign, v. 29. He shall come towards the south. But this attempt shall not
succeed, as the two former did, nor shall he gain his point, as he had done
before once and again; for (v. 30) the ships of Chittim shall come against him,
that is, the navy of the Romans, or only ambassadors from the Roman senate, who
came in ships. Ptolemaeus Philometer, king of Egypt, being now in a strict
alliance with the Romans, craved their aid against Antiochus, who had besieged
him and his mother Cleopatra in the city of Alexandria. The Roman senate
thereupon sent an embassy to Antiochus, to command him to raise the siege, and,
when he desired some time to consider of it and consult with his friends about
it, Popilius, one of the ambassadors, with his staff drew a circle about him,
and told him, as one having authority, he should give a positive answer before
he came out of that circle; whereupon, fearing the Roman power, he was forced
immediately to give orders for the raising of the siege and the retreat of his
army out of Egypt. So Livy and others relate the story which this prophecy
refers to. He shall be grieved, and return; for it was a great vexation to him
to be forced to yield thus.
V. His rage and cruel practices against the Jews. This is that part of his
government, or mis-government rather, which is most enlarged upon in this
prediction. In his return from his expedition into Egypt (which is prophesied
of, v. 28) he did exploits against the Jews, in the sixth year of his reign;
then he spoiled the city and temple. But the most terrible storm was in his
return from Egypt, two years after, prophesied of v. 30. Then he took Judea in
his way home; and, because he could not gain his point in Egypt by reason of the
Romans interposing, he wreaked his revenge upon the poor Jews, who gave him no
provocation, but had greatly provoked God to permit him to do it, Dan. 8:23.
1. He had a rooted antipathy to the Jews’ religion: His heart was against the
holy covenant, v. 28. And (v. 30) he had indignation against the holy covenant,
that covenant of peculiarity by which the Jews were incorporated a people
distinct from all other nations, and dignified above them. He hated the law of
Moses and the worship of the true God, and was vexed at the privileges of the
Jewish nation and the promises made to them. Note, That which is the hope and
joy of the people of God is the envy of their neighbours, and that is the holy
covenant. Esau hated Jacob because he had got the blessing. Those that are
strangers to the covenant are often enemies to it.
2. He carried on his malicious designs against the Jews by the assistance of
some perfidious apostate Jews. He kept up intelligence with those that forsook
the holy covenant (v. 30), some of the Jews that were false to their religion,
and introduced the customs of the heathen, with whom they made a covenant. See
the fulfilling of this, 1 Mac. 1:11–15, where it is expressly said, concerning
those renegado Jews, that they made themselves uncircumcised and forsook the
holy covenant. We read (2 Mac. 4:9) of Jason, the brother of Onias the high
priest, who by the appointment of Antiochus set up a school at Jerusalem, for
the training up of youth in the fashions of the heathen; and (2 Mac. 4:23, etc.)
of Menelaus, who fell in with the interests of Antiochus, and was the man that
helped him into Jerusalem, now in his last return from Egypt. We read much in
the book of the Maccabees of the mischief done to the Jews by these treacherous
men of their own nation, Jason and Menelaus, and their party. These upon all
occasions he made use of. "Such as do wickedly against the covenant, such as
throw up their religion, and comply with the heathen, he shall corrupt with
flatteries, to harden them in their apostasy, and to make use of them as decoys
to draw in others,’’ v. 32. Note, It is not strange if those who do not live up
to their religion, but in their conversations do wickedly against the covenant,
are easily corrupted by flatteries to quit their religion. Those that make
shipwreck of a good conscience will soon make shipwreck of the faith.
3. He profaned the temple. Arms stand on his part (v. 31), not only his own army
which he now brought from Egypt, but a great party of deserters from the Jewish
religion that joined with them; and they polluted the sanctuary of strength, not
only the holy city, but the temple. The story of this we have, 1 Mac. 1:21, etc.
He entered proudly into the sanctuary, took away the golden altar, and the
candlestick, etc. And therefore (v. 25) there was a great mourning in Israel;
the princes and elders mourned, etc. And (2 Mac. 5:15, etc.) Antiochus went into
the most holy temple, Menelaus, that traitor to the laws and to his own country,
being his guide. Antiochus, having resolved to bring all about him to be of his
religion, took away the daily sacrifice, v. 31. Some observe that the word
Tammidh, which signifies no more than daily, is only here, and in the parallel
place, used for the daily sacrifice, as if there were a designed liberty left to
supply it either with sacrifice, which was suppressed by Antiochus, or with
gospel-worship, which was suppressed by the Antichrist. Then he set up the
abomination of desolation upon the altar (1 Mac. 1:54), even an idol altar (v.
59), and called the temple the temple of Jupiter Olympius, 2 Mac. 6:2.
4. He persecuted those who retained their integrity. Though there are many who
forsake the covenant and do wickedly against it, yet there is a people who do
know their God and retain the knowledge of him, and they shall be strong and do
exploits, v. 32. When others yield to the tyrant’s demands, and surrender their
consciences to his impositions, they bravely keep their ground, resist the
temptation, and make the tyrant himself ashamed of his attempt upon them. Good
old Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, when he had swine’s flesh thrust into
his mouth, did bravely spit it out again, though he knew he must be tormented to
death for so doing, and was so, 2 Mac. 6:19. The mother and her seven sons were
put to death for adhering to their religion, 2 Mac. 7. This might well be called
doing exploits; for to choose suffering rather than sin is a great exploit. And
it was by faith, by being strong in faith, that they did those exploits, that
they were tortured, not accepting deliverance, as the apostle speaks, probably
with reference to that story, Heb. 11:35. Or it may refer to the military
courage and achievements of Judas Maccabaeus and others in opposition to
Antiochus. Note, The right knowledge of God is, and will be, the strength of the
soul, and, in the strength of that, gracious souls do exploits. Those that know
his name will put their trust in him, and by that trust will do great things.
Now, concerning this people that knew their God, we are here told, (1.) That
they shall instruct many, v. 33. They shall make it their business to show
others what they have learned themselves of the difference between truth and
falsehood, good and evil. Note, Those that have the knowledge of God themselves
should communicate their knowledge to those about them, and this spiritual
charity must be extensive: they must instruct many. Some understand this of a
society newly erected for the propagating of divine knowledge, called Assideans,
godly men, pietists (so the name signifies), that were both knowing and zealous
in the law; these instructed many. Note, In times of persecution and apostasy,
which are trying times, those that have knowledge ought to make use of it for
the strengthening and establishing of others. Those that understand aright
themselves ought to do what they can to bring others to understand; for
knowledge is a talent that must be traded with. Or, They shall instruct many by
their perseverance in their duty and their patient suffering for it. Good
examples instruct many, and with many are the most powerful instructions. (2.)
They shall fall by the cruelty of Antiochus, shall be put to the torture, and
put to death, by his rage. Though they are so excellent and intelligent
themselves, and so useful and serviceable to others, yet Antiochus shall show
them no mercy, but they shall fall for some days; so it may be read, Rev. 2:10,
Thou shalt have tribulation ten days. We read much, in the books of the
Maccabees, of Antiochus’s barbarous usage of the pious Jews, how many he slew in
wars and how many he murdered in cold blood. Women were put to death for having
their children circumcised, and their infants were hanged about their necks, 1
Mac. 1:60, 61. But why did God suffer this? How can this be reconciled with the
justice and goodness of God? I answer, Very well, if we consider what it was
that God aimed at in this (v. 35): Some of those of understanding shall fall,
but it shall be for the good of the church and for their own spiritual benefit.
It shall be to try them, and to purge, and to make them white. They needed these
afflictions themselves. The best have their spots, which must be washed off,
their dross, which must be purged out; and their troubles, particularly their
share in the public troubles, help to do this; being sanctified to them by the
grace of God, they are means of mortifying their corruptions, weaning them from
the world, and awakening them to greater seriousness and diligence in religion.
They try them, as silver in the furnace is refined from its dross; they purge
them, as wheat in the barn is winnowed from the chaff; and they make them white,
as cloth by the fuller is cleared from its spots. See 1 Pt. 1:7. Their
sufferings for righteousness’ sake would try and purge the nation of the Jews,
would convince them of the truth, excellency, and power of that holy religion
which these understanding men died for their adherence to. The blood of the
martyrs is the seed of the church; it is precious blood, and not a drop of it
should be shed but upon such a valuable consideration. (3.) The cause of
religion, though it be thus run upon, shall not be run down. When they shall
fall they shall not be utterly cast down, but they shall be holpen with a little
help, v. 34. Judas Maccabaeus, and his brethren, and a few with them, shall make
head against the tyrant, and assert the injured cause of their religion; they
pulled down the idolatrous altars, circumcised the children that they found
uncircumcised, recovered the law out of the hand of the Gentiles, and the work
prospered in their hands, 1 Mac. 2:45, etc. Note, Those that stand by the cause
of religion when it is threatened and struck at, though they may not immediately
be delivered and made victorious, shall yet have present help. And a little help
must not be despised; but, when times are very bad, we must be thankful for some
reviving. It is likewise foretold that many shall cleave to them with
flatteries; when they see the Maccabees prosper some Jews shall join with them
that are no true friends to religion, but will only pretend friendship either
with design to betray them or in hope to rise with them; but the fiery trial (v.
35) will separate between the precious and the vile, and by it those that are
perfect will be made manifest and those that are not. (4.) Though these troubles
may continue long, yet they will have an end. They are for a time appointed, a
limited time, fixed in the divine counsels. This warfare shall be accomplished.
Hitherto the power of the enemy shall come, and no further; here shall its proud
waves be stayed.
5. He grew very proud, insolent, and profane, and, being puffed up with his
conquests, bade defiance to Heaven, and trampled upon every thing that was
sacred, v. 36, etc. And here some think begins a prophecy of the antichrist, the
papal kingdom. It is plain that St. Paul, in his prophecy of the rise and reign
of the man of sin, alludes to this (2 Th. 2:4), which shows that Antiochus was a
type and figure of that enemy, as Babylon also was; but, this being joined in a
continued discourse with the foregoing prophecies concerning Antiochus, to me it
seems probably that it principally refers to him, and in him had its primary
accomplishment, and has reference to the other only by way of accommodation.
(1.) He shall impiously dishonour the God of Israel, the only living and true
God, called here the God of gods. He shall, in defiance of him and his
authority, do according to his will against his people and his holy religion; he
shall exalt himself above him, as Sennacherib did, and shall speak marvellous
things against him and against his laws and institutions. This was fulfilled
when Antiochus forbade sacrifices to be offered in God’s temple, and ordered the
sabbaths to be profaned, the sanctuary and the holy people to be polluted, etc.,
to the end that they might forget the law and change all the ordinances, and
this upon pain of death, 1 Mac. 1:45. (2.) He shall proudly put contempt upon
all other gods, shall magnify himself above every god, even the gods of the
nations. Antiochus wrote to his own kingdom that every one should leave the gods
he had worshipped, and worship such as he ordered, contrary to the practice of
all the conquerors that went before him, 1 Mac. 1:41, 42. And all the heathen
agreed according to the commandment of the king; fond as they were of their
gods, they did not think them worth suffering for, but, their gods being idols,
it was all alike to them what gods they worshipped. Antiochus did not regard any
god, but magnified himself above all, v. 37. He was so proud that he thought
himself above the condition of a mortal man, that he could command the waves of
the sea, and reach to the stars of heaven, as his insolence and haughtiness are
expressed, 2 Mac. 9:8, 10. Thus he carried all before him, till the indignation
was accomplished (v. 36), till he had run his length, and filled up the measure
of his iniquity; for that which is determined shall be done, and nothing more,
nothing short. (3.) He shall, contrary to the way of the heathen, disregard the
god of his fathers, v. 37. Though an affection to the religion of their
ancestors was, among the heathen, almost as natural to them as the desire of
women (for, if you search through the isles of Chittim, you will not find an
instance of a nation that has changed its gods, Jer. 2:10, 11), yet Antiochus
shall not regard the god of his fathers; he made laws to abolish the religion of
his country, and to bring in the idols of the Greeks. And though his
predecessors had honoured the God of Israel, and given great gifts to the temple
at Jerusalem (2 Mac. 3:2, 3), he offered the greatest indignities to God and his
temple. His not regarding the desire of women may denote his barbarous cruelty
(he shall spare no age or sex, no, not the tender ones) or his unnatural lusts,
or, in general, his contempt of every thing which men of honour have a concern
for, or it might be accomplished in something we meet not with in history. Its
being joined to his not regarding the god of his fathers intimates that the
idolatries of his country had in them more of the gratifications of the flesh
than those of other countries (Lucian has written of the Syrian goddesses), and
yet that would not prevail to keep him to them. (4.) He shall set up an unknown
god, a new god, v. 38. In his estate, in the room of the god of his fathers
(Apollo and Diana, deities of pleasure), he shall honour the god of forces, a
supposed deity of power, a god whom his fathers knew not, nor worshipped;
because he will be thought in wisdom and strength to excel his fathers, he shall
honour this god with gold, and silver, and precious stones, thinking nothing too
good for the god he has taken a fancy to. This seems to be Jupiter Olympius,
known among the Phoenicians by the name of Baal-Semen, the lord of heaven, but
never introduced among the Syrians till Antiochus introduced it. Thus shall he
do in the most strong holds, in the temple of Jerusalem, which is called the
sanctuary of strength (v. 31), and here the fortresses of munitions; there he
shall set up the image of this strange god. Some read it, He shall commit the
munitions of strength, or of the most strong God (that is, the city Jerusalem),
to a strange god; he put it under the protection and government of Jupiter
Olympius. This god he shall not only acknowledge, but shall increase with glory,
by setting his image even upon God’s altar. And he shall cause those that
minister to this idol to rule over many, shall put them into places of power and
trust, and they shall divide the land for gain, shall be maintained richly out
of the profits of the country. Some by the Mahuzzim, or god of forces, that
Antiochus shall worship, understand money, which is said to answer all things,
and which is the great idol of worldly people.
Now here is very much that is applicable to the man of sin; he exalts himself
above all that is called god or that is worshipped; magnifies himself above all;
his flatterers call him our lord god the pope. By forbidding marriage, and
magnifying the single life, he pretends not to regard the desire of women; and
honours the god of forces, the god Mahuzzim, or strong holds, saints and angels,
whom his followers take for their protectors, as the heathen did of old their
demons; these they make presidents of several countries, etc. These they honour
with vast treasures dedicated to them, and therein the learned Mr. Mede thinks
that this prophecy was fulfilled, and that it is referred to 1 Tim. 4:1, 2.
VI. Here seems to be another expedition into Egypt, or, at least, a struggle
with Egypt. The Romans had tied him up from invading Ptolemy, but now that king
of the south pushes at him (v. 40), makes an attempt upon some of his
territories, whereupon Antiochus, the king of the north, comes against him like
a whirlwind, with incredible swiftness and fury, with chariots, and horses, and
many ships, a great force. He shall come trough countries, and shall overflow
and pass over. In this flying march many countries shall be overthrown by him;
and he shall enter into the glorious land, the land of Israel; it is the same
word that is translated the pleasant land, ch. 8:9. He shall make dreadful work
among the nations thereabout; yet some shall escape his fury, particularly Edom
and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon, v. 41. He did not put these
countries under contribution, because they had joined with him against the Jews.
But especially the land of Egypt shall not escape, but he will quite beggar
that, so bare will he strip it. This some reckon his fourth and last expedition
against Egypt, in the tenth or eleventh year of his reign, under pretence of
assisting the younger brother of Ptolemaeus Philometer against him. We read not
of any great slaughter made in this expedition, but great plunder; for, it
should seem, that was what he came for: He shall have power over the treasures
of gold and silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, v. 43. Polybius, in
Athenaeus, relates that Antiochus, having got together abundance of wealth, by
spoiling young Philometer, and breaking league with him, and by the
contributions of his friends, bestowed a vast deal upon a triumph, in imitation
of Paulus Aemilius, and describes the extravagance of it; here we are told how
he got that money which he spent so profusely. Notice is here taken likewise of
the use he made of the Lybians and Ethiopians, who bordered upon Egypt; they
were at his steps; he had them at his foot, had them at his beck, and they made
inroads upon Egypt to serve him.
VII. Here is a prediction of the fall and ruin of Antiochus, as before (ch.
8:25), when he is in the height of his honour, flushed with victory, and laden
with spoils, tidings out of the east and out of the north (out of the
north-east) shall trouble him, v. 44. Or, He shall have intelligence, both from
the eastern and northern parts, that the king of Parthia is invading his
kingdom. This obliged him to drop the enterprises he had in hand, and to go
against the Persians and Parthians that were revolting from him; and this vexed
him, for now he thought utterly to ruin and extirpate the Jewish nation, when
that expedition called him off, in which he perished. This is explained by a
passage in Tacitus (though an impious one) where he commends Antiochus for his
attempt to take away the superstition of the Jews, and bring in the manners of
the Greeks, among them (ut teterrimam gentem in melius mutaret—to meliorate an
odious nation), and laments that he was hindered from accomplishing it by the
Parthian war. Now here is, 1. The last effort of his rage against the Jews. When
he finds himself perplexed and embarrassed in his affairs he shall go forth with
great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many, v. 44. The story of this we
have 1 Mac. 3:27, etc., what a rage Antiochus was in when he heard of the
successes of Judas Maccabaeus, and the orders he gave to Lysias to destroy
Jerusalem. Then he planted the tabernacles of his palace, or tents of his court,
between the seas, between the Great Sea and the Dead Sea. He set up his royal
pavilion at Emmaus near Jerusalem, in token that, though he could not be present
himself, yet he gave full power to his captains to prosecute the war against the
Jews with the utmost rigour. He placed his tent there, as if he had taken
possession of the glorious holy mountain and called it his own. Note, When
impiety grows very impudent we may see its ruin near. 2. His exit: He shall come
to his end and none shall help him; God shall cut him off in the midst of his
days and none shall be able to prevent his fall. This is the same with that
which was foretold ch. 8:25 (He shall be broken without hand), where we took a
view of his miserable end. Note, When God’s time shall come to bring proud
oppressors to their end none shall be able to help them, nor perhaps inclined to
help them; for those that covet to be feared by all when they are in their
grandeur, when they come to be in distress will find themselves loved by none;
none will lend them so much as a hand or a prayer to help them; and, if the Lord
do not help, who shall?
Of the kings that came after Antiochus nothing is here prophesied, for that was
the most malicious mischievous enemy to the church, that was a type of the son
of perdition, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth and
destroy with the brightness of his coming, and none shall help him.
Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible :
Complete and unabridged in one volume (Da 11:1). Peabody: Hendrickson.