FRIDAY, JUNE 22
Daniel 11:21-29
Mark 13:14-16

“… (let him that
readeth understand) …”

THE RISE OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES

Are you a little tired, perhaps puzzled, by the dry historical details? Whitcomb’s words will encourage the flagging spirit. “Old Testament predictive prophecy does not indulge in irrelevant minutiae but rather in persons and events that are significant in the outworking of God’s purpose for the world through His people Israel, just as biblical history is highly selective … and thus truly ‘prophetic’ in character, bringing rich rewards to those who search out and ponder God’s precious words.”

Today’s passage concerns a most vile enemy of Israel, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Whitcomb commented: “The importance of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-64 BC) in prophetic Scripture is very great. … he gained eternal notoriety through his devastating attack upon the people of God and their religion. Thus he prefigured the final Antichrist. Seizing the Syrian throne illegally from the son of his murdered brother, Antiochus soon demonstrated his qualification for the nickname ‘Epimanes’ (madman). … His ultimate goal was to hellenize his empire thoroughly in order to unify it against Rome. Only Judea resisted him in this, though some Jews acted ‘wickedly against the covenant’ (11:32) and even murdered the high priest Onias III, ‘the prince of the covenant’ (11:22). After a successful invasion of Egypt in 169 BC, he plundered the Temple in Jerusalem and carried the spoils off to Antioch (11:28). But it was his second invasion of Egypt (168 BC) that brought him into deep frustration … he was met by the Roman general, Gaius Popillius Laenas, who demanded that he abandon his Egyptian campaign (11:29-30). … he vented his rage upon the holy city, slaughtering and enslaving as many as 80,000 Jews. … a systematic desecration of the Temple, including the erection of ‘the abomination of desolation’ (Dan 11:31), probably a statue of the Olympian Zeus with the features of Antiochus. Torah scrolls were destroyed, the Sabbath and circumcision forbidden, swine’s flesh forced upon the population, and the official sacrifices abolished. Some historians believe this was the first time in history that religious martyrdom occurred.”

THOUGHT: (Read John 16:33.)
PRAYER: Lord, history is within Thy control. I will not fear.