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Now about this time Antiochus made his second invasion into Egypt.
Verse 1. Second. After he had sent Apollonius, he proceeded no farther then Joppe and Jerusalem; being perhaps afraid of the Romans. Calmet. 4:21. Three years after, as the regents of Egypt demanded Celosyria, he went to meet them in their own country. A. 3834.
It happened that throughout all the city, for almost forty days, cavalry appeared in the midst of the sky in swift motion, wearing robes woven with gold and carrying spears, equipped with troops for battle—
Verse 2. Days. These things were not seen only by people inclined to superstition, or for a short time. There must be true prodigies, as so many false ones have been published. Josephus records what happened before the last siege of Jerusalem, de Bel. vii. 12. Calmet.—Miraculous visions foreshew the wrath of God against sinners, and admonish all to repent, as the emperor Charlemagne interpreted the appearance of a great comet. Fascic. rerum. Worthington.—Yet such things are sometimes only natural effects, which the ignorant misapply. This was not here the case. Bible.
drawing swords, squadrons of cavalry in array, encounters and pursuits of both armies, shaking shields, multitudes of lances, throwing of missiles, flashing of golden trappings, and putting on all sorts of armor.
Therefore everyone prayed that the manifestation might have been given for good.
When a false rumor had arisen that Antiochus was dead, Jason took not less than a thousand men, and suddenly made an assault upon the city. When those who were on the wall were being routed, and the city was at length nearly taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.
Verse 5. Dead. This rumour caused much evil to the Jews. Antiochus was informed that they had rejoiced at the news, and therefore fell upon the city.
But Jason slaughtered his own citizens without mercy, not considering that good success against kinsmen is the greatest misfortune, but supposing himself to be setting up trophies over enemies, and not over fellow countrymen.
Verse 6. Evil, as the numbers are thus lessened. Thus Tacitus, speaking of the civil wars between Otho and Vitellius, says, detestanda vota, inter duos quorum bello solum id scires deteriorem fore qui vicisset.
He didn’t win control of the government, but receiving shame as the result of his conspiracy, he fled again as a fugitive into the country of the Ammonites.
At last therefore he met with a miserable end. Having been imprisoned at the court of Aretas the prince of the Arabians, fleeing from city to city, pursued by all men, hated as a rebel against the laws, and abhorred as the executioner of his country and his fellow citizens, he was cast ashore in Egypt.
Verse 8. Shut up in prison, out of which he escaped to Egypt; ( Menochius.) or he was hard pressed, ( Calmet.) or accused. Grot.
He who had driven many from their own country into exile perished in exile, having crossed the sea to the Lacedaemonians, hoping to find shelter there because they were near of kin.
Verse 9. Lacedemon. Lit. “the Lacedemonians,” ( Bible.) who served in the army of Philometor. Grot.—It is certain that this nation was then part of the Achean league, in alliance with Egypt. Polyb. Calmet.—Kindred. The Spartans sprung from Abraham. 1 B. 12:2. ( Worthington.) 21. Calmet.
See 1 Maccabees 12:7.
He who had thrown out a multitude unburied had none to mourn for him. He didn’t have any funeral at all and no place in the tomb of his ancestors.
Verse 10. Burial. Such as was not refused to strangers. The thirty pieces of silver purchased ground for that purpose. Matthew 27:7. Calmet.
Now when news came to the king concerning that which was done, he thought that Judea was in revolt. So, setting out from Egypt in a rage, he took the city by force of weapons,
Verse 11. Alliance with him, or refuse to submit. Bible.—The enterprise of Jason, and the account of their rejoicing, made him form this judgment.—Arms. Josephus (B. i. 1. and vi. p. 929) says the Jews came to meet him, and that he besieged and took the city. But (Ant. xii. 7.) he asserts that his partisans opened the gates without fighting. How shall we reconcile these things!
and commanded his soldiers to cut down without mercy those who came in their way, and to kill those who went into their houses.
Then there was killing of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaying of virgins and infants.
In a total of three days, eighty thousand were destroyed, of which forty thousand were slain in close combat, and no fewer were sold into slavery than slain.
Verse 14. Slain, or sold, the latter amounting to one-half of the 80,000.
Not content with this, he presumed to enter into the most holy temple of all the earth, having Menelaus for his guide (who had proved himself a traitor both to the laws and to his country),
even taking the sacred vessels with his polluted hands, and dragging down with his profane hands the offerings that had been dedicated by other kings to enhance the glory and honor of the place.
Antiochus was lifted up in mind, not seeing that because of the sins of those who lived in the city the Sovereign Lord had been provoked to anger a little while, and therefore his eye was turned away from the place.
But had it not been so that they were already bound by many sins, this man, even as Heliodorus who was sent by King Seleucus to view the treasury, would, as soon as he came forward, have been scourged and turned back from his daring deed.
However the Lord didn’t choose the nation for the place’s sake, but the place for the nation’s sake.
Verse 19. Place. Temples and victims are for our own advantage. Isaiah 1:11. Jeremiah 6:20 and 3 Kennicott. 8:27. God has often suffered sacred places to be profaned, when piety had been disregarded. Calmet.—All religious rites are designed for God’s glory and men’s welfare; and hence, when they cease to serve God, they holy things are destroyed or taken away. Worthington.
Therefore also the place itself, having shared in the calamities that happened to the nation, did afterward share in its benefits; and the place which was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was, at the reconciliation of the great Sovereign, restored again with all glory.
As for Antiochus, when he had carried away out of the temple one thousand eight hundred talents, he hurried away to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he could sail on land and walk on the sea, because his heart was lifted up.
Verse 21. Foot. These are hyperbolical expressions, denoting the extravagance of Epiphanes after victory. Thus Xerxes made a bridge to join Asia and Europe together; and Caligula made one on the Lucrine lake, that he might have the pleasure of riding upon it. Just. 2. Sueton.—Epiphanes had met with little resistance, so that he had no reason to boast.
Moreover he left governors to afflict the race: at Jerusalem, Philip, by race a Phrygian, and in character more barbarous than him who set him there;
and at Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these, Menelaus, who worse than all the rest, exalted himself against his fellow citizens. Having a malicious mind toward the Jews whom he had made his citizens,
Verse 23. Garizim, or the country of Samaria, over which Andronicus alone was governor.—Who bore. Greek and Syr. read in the singular, as this regards Menelaus.
Some authorities read toward the Jews, he sent. The Greek text of this sentence is uncertain.
Compare 2 Maccabees 4:9, 19; 9:19.
he sent that lord of pollutions Apollonius with an army of twenty-two thousand, commanding him to kill all those who were of full age, and to sell the women and the boys as slaves.
Verse 24. He. Syr. “Epiphanes.”—Hateful. Greek μυσαρχην, ( Bible.) “prince of Mysia,” (Grot.) or of sinners. Bible.
Greek Μυσάρχην, which also may mean ruler of the Mysians.
He came to Jerusalem, and pretending to be a man of peace, waited till the holy day of the Sabbath, and finding the Jews at rest from work, he commanded his men to parade fully armed.
He put to the sword all those who came out to the spectacle. Running into the city with the armed men, he killed great multitudes.
Verse 26. To see, or celebrate the festival. 1 Maccabees 1:30. and so forth Calmet.
But Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus, with about nine others, withdrew himself, and with his company kept himself alive in the mountains like wild animals do. They continued feeding on what grew wild, that they might not be partakers of the defilement.
Verse 27. Was the tenth. That is, he had nine others in his company. Challoner.—He was the tenth lawful pontiff, under the Greeks. Worthington.—Judas is specified, because he was the most renowned. His father and five sons, joined by four others retired into desert places, and eat what they could find. Calmet.—These ten dwelt in the mountains. Salien.—They were conducted to battle by Judas, ( Bible.) the Decurio. Menochius.