and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. 18 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall terms with Ptolemy (φιλίαν καὶ σπονδὰς πρὸς τὸν Πτολεμαῖον ἐποιήσατο, Jos. Ant. XII. iv. 1). Antiochus had his eye on Asia Minor, and even on Europe: but being opposed by the Romans, he was glad to be on good terms with Egypt; he accordingly betrothed his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy Epiphanes, promising that she should receive as her dowry what was afterwards understood by the Egyptians to be the provinces of Cole-Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, though this was denied before the Roman legates by Antiochus Epiphanes (Polyb. xxviii. 17, who appears to think that Antiochus Epiphanes was right)1. The marriage actually took place in the winter of 194-3, Antiochus taking his daughter to Raphia for the purpose (Livy xxxv. 13). and he shall give him the daughter of women] his daughter Cleopatra. corrupting her] a very improbable rendering: Cleopatra was not (as was the case with many of the queens of the Ptolemies) her husband's sister; and (Mahaffy, p. 330) she "bears an excellent character in Egyptian history.' Keil renders to destroy her; but Cleopatra, so far as we know, lived happily in Egypt, and died a natural death. The only reasonable rendering is to destroy it,—the pronoun being referred ad sensum to Egypt. Antiochus was not really actuated by friendliness to Egypt; his true motives, no doubt, being (Hitz.) to protect himself against Roman interference, to gain a footing in Egypt, and, if the opportunity should offer, to secure the country for himself.' In 196, upon a false report of the death of Ptolemy reaching Lysimacheia (below, note), he actually started for the purpose of seizing Egypt (Livy xxxiii. 41). but it shall not stand, neither be for him (emph.)] his plan will not succeed (cf. for the expression, Is. vii. 7, xiv. 24), nor turn out to his advantage, but (as is implied by the position of the pron., ' and not for him shall it be') to that of another. Jerome writes, 'Neque enim obtinere potuit Aegyptum: quia Ptolemaeus Epiphanes et duces eius, sentientes dolum, cautius se egerunt, et Cleopatra magis viri partes quam parentis fovit.' In point of fact, Ptolemy retained the friendship of the Romans, while Antiochus, to his cost (see on v. 18), lost it. 18. And he shall turn his face to the isles (or coast-lands), and shall take many; but a commander shall cause his reproach to cease to him; nay, he shall even return his reproach unto him] Antiochus cherished ambitious designs towards the West. In 196 most of the cities in Asia Minor submitted to him; in the same year he even crossed the 1 The dowry seems in fact to have been not the provinces themselves, but their revenues (Wilcken [see p. 178 n.]; Mahaffy, p. 306). Cleopatra's betrothal is alluded to in Polyb. xviii. 51 end (whence Livy xxxiii. 40): in reply to the Roman legates who were sent to him in 196 at Lysimacheia (in Thrace) to demand (among other things) that he should restore the cities taken from Ptolemy, Antiochus replied that he was on friendly terms with Ptolemy, 'et id agere se, ut brevi etiam affinitas jungatur.' take many: but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him. Then he shall turn his face towards the fort of his own land: but he shall Hellespont and seized the Thracian Chersonese, and in 195 set about organizing it as a satrapy for his son Seleucus. In 192 he landed in Greece, and occupied various places to the N. of the Isthmus of Corinth, but was defeated by the Romans in 191 at Thermopylae, and compelled to retire to Ephesus. The Romans next determined to expel Antiochus from Asia. Immense preparations were made on both sides: in the end, the decisive battle was fought in the autumn of 190, at Magnesia, near Smyrna, and Antiochus's huge army of 80,000 men was defeated, with enormous loss, by Lucius Cornelius Scipio (Livy xxxvii. 39-44). Antiochus was now obliged to renounce formally all claims to any part of Europe, or of Asia Minor, west of the Taurus, and to submit to other humiliating conditions of peace1. His ruin was complete: "never, perhaps," remarks Mommsen, "did a great power fall so rapidly, so thoroughly, so ignominiously, as the kingdom of the Seleucidae under this Antiochus the Great." These are the events alluded to in the present verse of Daniel. turn his face] implying a change of purpose and direction: so v. 19. isles (or coast-lands)] Heb. 'iyyîm], the word used regularly (e.g. Gen. x. 5; Is. xi. 11) of the islands and jutting promontories (for it includes both) of the Mediterranean Sea. Here it denotes in particular the coasts and islands of Asia Minor and Greece. a commander] Lucius Cornelius Scipio, at the battle of Magnesia. The Heb. word (kāṣīn) means properly a decider (Arab. kādi), and is used of one who interposes, or acts, with authority: in Josh. x. 24, Jud. xi. 6, 11, of a military commander, as here; Is. iii. 6, 7, of a dictator, taking the lead in a civic emergency; of other authorities, civil or military, in Is. i. 10, xxii. 3; Mic. iii. 1, 9; Prov. vi. 7, XXV. 15 (all). his reproach] implied in the defiant attitude adopted by him towards the Romans: not only had he, for instance, attacked many of their allies, but he told their legates at Lysimacheia that they had no more right to inquire what he was doing in Asia, than he had to inquire what they were doing in Italy (Liv. xxxiii. 40). to him] a dative of reference, though certainly redundant, after the pron. his; cf. (without a pron.) Jer. xlviii. 35; Ruth iv. 14. return] hurl back, and at the same time requite,-viz. by the humiliating repulse at Magnesia, after which, in Appian's words (Syr. c. 37), men used to say, ἦν βασιλεὺς ̓Αντίοχος ὁ μέγας. For the expression, which forms here a climax on 'make to cease,' see Hos. xii. 14; Neh. iv. 4 (Heb. iii. 36). 19. Then he shall turn his face towards the strongholds of his own land; but he shall stumble, &c.] The end of Antiochus (B.C. 187). 1 See fuller particulars in Livy xxxvii. 39-45, 55; or in Mommsen's Hist. of Rome, Bk. III., chap. ix. 19 20 stumble and fall, and not be found. Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: After his discomfiture at Magnesia he was obliged to retire east of the Taurus, and confine himself to the 'strongholds of his own land.' To meet the heavy fine imposed upon him by the Romans1 (Polyb. xxi. 14; Livy xxxvii. 45), he had to levy contributions where he could, and deemed sacrilege excusable under the circumstances. Having plundered for this purpose a wealthy temple of Bel in Elymais (Persia), he quickly met, says Diodorus (xxix. 15), TŴS πрoσnkovσns EK DεWV Koλάoews, being attacked by the inhabitants and slain (cf. Justin xxxii. 2). The last words of the verse allude to this disastrous enterprise, which brought his life to an end. and not be found] implying complete disappearance: Ps. xxxvii. 36; Job xx. 8. 20. Seleucus IV. (Philopator), B.C. 187-175. Antiochus the Great left two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus (Epiphanes), both of whom successively followed him on the throne. And in his place (v. 7) shall stand up one that shall cause an exactor to pass through the glory of the kingdom] Seleucus IV. The words are generally considered to allude to an event from the reign of this monarch which affected the Jews. In 2 Macc. iii. we read, namely, how one Simon, guardian of the Temple, having quarrelled with the high-priest Onias, gave information to Apollonius, governor of Cole-Syria and Phoenicia, of the treasures contained in the Temple, with the suggestion that they might prove useful to the king: Seleucus thereupon commissioned his chief minister (τὸν ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων),Heliodorus, to proceed to Jerusalem and appropriate them. Heliodorus accordingly visited Jerusalem for the purpose; but was prevented from carrying it out (according to the author of 2 Macc.) by a supernatural apparition, which appeared to him just as he was on the point of entering the treasury. We are however imperfectly informed as to the events of Seleucus IV.'s reign; and it is possible that the allusion may be of a general kind: Seleucus (below, note) had to pay for nine years an annual sum of 1000 talents to the Romans, which he would naturally exact of his subject provinces; and perhaps the reference may be to the exactor' who visited Palestine regularly for the purpose. an exactor] cf. the cognate verb in 2 Kin. xxiii. 35. the glory of the kingdom] a prophet (Is. xiii. 19) had called Babylon 'the beauty of kingdoms'; and so here the land of Judah is called 'the glory of the kingdom' (viz. of the Seleucidae), their noblest and choicest province. The Heb. in this part of the verse is however unusual; and Bevan, transposing two words, would read, 'shall stand up an exactor (Seleucus IV. himself), who shall cause the glory of the 1 15,000 Eubœan talents; 500 at once, 2500 when the Romans ratified the peace, and 1000 yearly for 12 years. 2 A title given to him also on an inscription (Niese, op. cit. [p. 140], p. 28 f.). 4 Antiochus Epiphanes shortly afterwards sends into Judah an officer called apxwv φορολογίας (ι Macc. i. 29). but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall kingdom (i.e. of his own kingdom) to pass away,'-with allusion to the inglorious reign of Seleucus IV. but within few days (Gen. xxvii. 44, xxix. 20, Heb.) he shall be broken, but not in anger, or in battle] not by a passionate deed of violence, and not in open fight, but (it is implied) in some less honourable way in point of fact, Seleucus, after an uneventful reign of 12 years, met his death, perhaps by poison, through a plot headed by his chief minister, Heliodorus (Appian, Syr. c. 45 πißovλns 'Hodúpov). The 'few days' may be reckoned either from the mission of Heliodorus, or perhaps from the inception of the plot: in either case the general meaning will be that he would come to a speedy and untimely end. broken] i.e. ruined; of a person, as Prov. vi. 15, xxix. 1; ch. viii. 25. Cf. v. 26, below. in anger] if this is the meaning, the Heb. is very unusual; Behrmann suggests, on the strength of Aramaic analogies (cf. P. S. col. 278, bottom), that the expression may perhaps mean openly. 21-45. Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes), 175-164. 21. Antiochus' accession. Antiochus was the younger brother of Seleucus Philopator; and, in accordance with the terms of the peace concluded by Antiochus the Great with the Romans (p. 175), he had been, for 14 years, one of the Syrian hostages at Rome1: Seleucus, in his 12th year had recalled him, sending, to take his place at Rome, his own son Demetrius (a boy aged 11 or 12); and it was while he was at Athens, on his way back to Antioch, that Seleucus was murdered by Heliodorus (above, on v. 20). Heliodorus aspired naturally to the throne, but was thwarted in his designs by Eumenes, king of Pergamum, and his brother, Attalus, who, as Antiochus was proceeding homewards, met him, unsolicited (áπаρакλýτws), with great friendliness, supplied him with money and troops, and so enabled him to secure the throne. An inscription has been recently discovered at Pergamum, recording a vote of thanks passed by the Council and people of Antioch to Eumenes and Attalus for the help thus given by them to Antiochus (see p. 205 f.). And in his place shall stand up a contemptible person] Antiochus IV., called 'contemptible' (more lit. despised, Ps. xv. 4 (R.V.), cxix. 141) on account of his character (p. xxxviii f.), perhaps also in intentional opposition to the title 'Epiphanes.' In 1 Macc. i. 10 he is called a 'sinful root.' upon whom had not been conferred the majesty of the kingdom] 1 He had been well treated during these years, as he afterwards boasted in a message sent to the Senate (Livy xlii. 6), 'Ea merita in se senatus fuisse, quum Romae esset, eam comitatem iuventutis, ut pro rege, non pro obside, omnibus ordinibus fuerit.' 21 DANIEL 12 come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. The phrase, exactly as (in the Heb.) 1 Ch. xxix. 25 ('bestow,' lit. put), and Num. xxvii. 20 (A.V., R.V., weakly, 'honour'). The words, taken in conjunction with the two following clauses, imply that Antiochus had not been generally regarded as the heir to the throne, but that he gained it partly by a coup d'état, partly by address. His nephew, Demetrius, the son of Seleucus Philopator, was the lawful heir; but, as has been just said, he was a child, and also now a hostage at Rome. but he shall come in (time of) security] i.e. unawares (v. 24, viii. 25). by flatteries] or smooth sayings, i.e. plausible representations, the exact nature of which we do not know. Cf. viii. 23, which speaks of his mastery in dissimulation (17). The details are unknown to us: but it is quite possible that the support given to Antiochus by Eumenes and Attalus took the Antiochenes by surprise: it would be entirely in accordance with Antiochus' character that he should afterwards ingratiate himself with the people, and lead them to thank his two friends publicly for the part they had taken in securing him the kingdom. According to Jerome, there was a party in Syria, which supported the claims of his nephew (see on v. 17), the youthful son of Ptolemy Epiphanes and Cleopatra (afterwards Ptolemy Philometor), and refused to recognize Antiochus until he had disarmed their opposition simulatione clementiae. Before proceeding further, it will be convenient to give a summary of the chief events of Antiochus Epiphanes' reign1. Antiochus' first expedition into Egypt (B.C. 170). The death, soon after Antiochus' accession, in 174 or 173, of his sister, Cleopatra, widow of Ptolemy Epiphanes, was the signal for fresh complications with Egypt. His nephew, Ptolemy Philometor, who was a boy of not more than 15 years old, fell now under the influence of his guardians, the eunuch Eulaeus and a Syrian named Lenaeus, who assured him that, if he would but make the attempt, he would easily recover for Egypt her Syrian possessions. Antiochus, learning through Apollonius, the governor of Cole-Syria (whom he had sent to attend the enthronement of Philometor), Egyptian feeling towards himself, proceeded to act without further delay. First, with the intention, no doubt, of making himself popular with the Jews, he visited Jerusalem, and received there, at the instance of the Hellenizing high-priest Jason (above, on ix. 26), a magnificent welcome (2 Macc. iv. 21, 22). After this, he led his army into Phoenicia (ibid.). Both parties, now that 1 The principal authorities are Polybius xxvi. 10, xxvii. 17, xxviii. 1, 16, 17, 18, 19, xxix. 1, 11, xxxi. 3, 4, 5, 11; Livy xli. 20, xlii. 6, 29, xliv. 19, xlv. 11, 12; Porphyry (as cited by Jerome on Dan. xi. 21 ff.), who states (see p. 622, ed. Bened.) that he follows various Greek authorities, including some now lost. Some uncertainty arises (especially as regards the 1st and 2nd Egyptian expeditions) from the fact that the records (in particular those of Polyb.) are incomplete. Among modern authorities, reference may be made in particular to J. F. Hoffmann, Antiochus IV. Epiphanes, 1873; and U. Wilcken's art. Antiochus IV., in Pauly-Wissowa's RealEncyclopädie (1894). |
