Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The Angel predicts to Daniel the wars of the successors of Alexander the Great, namely the Seleucids, kings of Asia, and the Ptolemies, kings of Egypt; and finally, from verse 21, he descends to Antiochus Epiphanes, in whom he describes the Antichrist and his tyranny.
Vulgate Text: Daniel 11:1-45
1. And I, from the first year of Darius the Mede, stood to strengthen and confirm him. 2. And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, there shall yet stand three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be enriched with exceedingly great riches above all: and when he has grown strong by his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 3. But there shall arise a mighty king, and he shall rule with great power, and shall do as he pleases. 4. And when he shall have stood, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven: but not to his posterity, nor according to his power by which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be torn asunder even to outsiders, besides these. 5. And the king of the South shall be strengthened: and one of his princes shall prevail over him and shall rule with dominion: for his dominion shall be great. 6. And after the end of years they shall make an alliance: and the daughter of the king of the South shall come to the king of the North to make friendship, and she shall not obtain the strength of his arm, nor shall her offspring stand: and she shall be given up, and those who brought her, her young attendants, and those who supported her in those times. 7. And there shall stand up a shoot from the root of her roots: and he shall come with an army, and shall enter the province of the king of the North, and he shall deal against them and shall prevail. 8. Moreover their gods and their graven images, and also their precious vessels of silver and gold, he shall carry captive into Egypt: he shall prevail against the king of the North. 9. And the king of the South shall enter into the kingdom and shall return to his own land. 10. But his sons shall be provoked, and shall assemble a multitude of very great armies: and one shall come speedily like a flood: and he shall return and shall be stirred up, and shall join battle with his forces. 11. And the king of the South, being provoked, shall go forth and shall fight against the king of the North, and he shall raise up an exceedingly great multitude, and the multitude shall be given into his hand. 12. And he shall take the multitude, and his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many thousands, but he shall not prevail. 13. For the king of the North shall return and shall raise a multitude much greater than before: and at the end of the times of years he shall come speedily with a great army and exceeding riches. 14. And in those times many shall rise up against the king of the South: also the sons of the transgressors of your people shall lift themselves up to fulfill the vision, and they shall fall. 15. And the king of the North shall come and shall heap up a siege mound, and shall take the best fortified cities: and the arms of the South shall not withstand, and his chosen ones shall rise up to resist, but there shall be no strength. 16. And he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and no one shall stand before his face: and he shall stand in the glorious land, and it shall be consumed in his hand. 17. And he shall set his face to come to hold his whole kingdom, and shall make equitable conditions with him: and he shall give him the daughter of women to overthrow it: but she shall not stand, nor shall it be his. 18. And he shall turn his face to the islands and shall take many: and he shall cause the prince of his reproach to cease, and his reproach shall be turned upon him. 19. And he shall turn his face to the empire of his own land, and he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found. 20. And there shall stand in his place one most vile and unworthy of royal dignity: and in a few days he shall be destroyed, not in rage nor in battle. 21. And there shall stand in his place one despised, and royal honor shall not be given him: and he shall come secretly and shall obtain the kingdom by fraud. 22. And the arms of the fighter shall be overcome before his face and shall be broken: and moreover the prince of the covenant. 23. And after the league made with him, he shall work deceitfully: and he shall go up and shall overcome with a small people. 24. And he shall enter into rich and fruitful cities: and he shall do what his fathers never did, nor his fathers' fathers: he shall scatter their spoils and plunder and riches, and shall form designs against the strongest places: and this until a time. 25. And his strength and his heart shall be stirred up against the king of the South with a great army: and the king of the South shall be provoked to war with many and very strong auxiliaries: and they shall not stand, for they shall form designs against him. 26. And they that eat bread with him shall crush him, and his army shall be overwhelmed: and very many shall fall slain. 27. And the hearts of the two kings shall be set to do evil, and at one table they shall speak lies, and they shall not prosper: for the end is yet for another time. 28. And he shall return to his own land with much riches: and his heart shall be against the holy covenant, and he shall act, and shall return to his own land. 29. At the appointed time he shall return and shall come to the South: and the last shall not be like the first. 30. And galleys and Romans shall come upon him: and he shall be struck and shall return, and shall be indignant against the covenant of the sanctuary, and shall act: and he shall return and shall devise against those who have forsaken the covenant of the sanctuary. 31. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall defile the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice: and they shall place the abomination of desolation. 32. And the wicked against the covenant shall act deceitfully: but the people who know their God shall stand firm and act. 33. And the learned among the people shall teach many: and they shall fall by the sword and by flame and by captivity and by plunder for many days. 34. And when they shall have fallen, they shall be helped with a small help, and many shall be joined to them fraudulently. 35. And some of the learned shall fall, that they may be refined and chosen and made white until the appointed time: for there shall yet be another time. 36. And the king shall do according to his will, and shall be lifted up and shall magnify himself against every god: and against the God of gods he shall speak great things, and shall prosper until the wrath is accomplished: for the determination is made. 37. And he shall not regard the God of his fathers: and he shall be in the lusts of women, nor shall he care for any of the gods: for he shall rise up against all. 38. But the god Maozim he shall worship in his place: and a god whom his fathers knew not, he shall worship with gold and silver and precious stones and costly things. 39. And he shall act to fortify Maozim with a strange god, whom he has acknowledged, and he shall multiply glory and shall give them power over many, and shall divide the land for a price. 40. And at the appointed time the king of the South shall fight against him, and like a tempest the king of the North shall come against him with chariots and horsemen and a great fleet, and he shall enter the lands and shall crush and pass through. 41. And he shall enter the glorious land, and many shall fall: but these alone shall be saved from his hand: Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42. And he shall lay his hand upon the lands: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43. And he shall rule over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: through Libya also and Ethiopia he shall pass. 44. And news from the East and from the North shall trouble him: and he shall come with a great multitude to destroy and slay very many. 45. And he shall plant the tabernacle of his palace, Apadno, between the seas, upon the glorious and holy mountain: and he shall come even to its summit, and no one shall help him.
Verse 1: AND I, FROM THE FIRST YEAR OF DARIUS, STOOD TO STRENGTHEN HIM
These are not the words of Daniel, as St. Jerome supposes, but of the angel speaking with Daniel: for the angel here continues the discourse begun in the preceding chapter, as is clear from the very sequence of the text, especially from the end of the preceding chapter and from this and the following verses.
So Theodoret and the Hebrews. For he here continues the discourse about wars begun above, as is clear from the very sequence of the text, especially from the end of the preceding chapter and from this and the following verses.
it was not the concern of the prophetic spirit to follow the order of history, but only to touch upon those things which pertain to his purpose. And his purpose here is to describe the kingdom of the Greeks, namely of Alexander and his successors, the Seleucids and the Ptolemies. He therefore passes from Xerxes to the Greeks, because when they overthrew Xerxes with so infamous a defeat, then they began to rise up and to covet the wealth and kingdom of Xerxes and the Persians.
that is, I, the angel who am the guardian of the Jews, from the beginning ensured that the kingdom would be transferred from the Chaldeans and Belshazzar to the Medes and Persians, namely to Darius and Cyrus. For I knew that they would be more benevolent to the Jews than the Babylonian kings, and that they would send the Jews from Babylon back to their homeland; and therefore from the beginning I helped Darius, so that he might be confirmed and strengthened in the kingdom of Babylon.
Verse 2: Behold, three more kings shall stand in Persia
2. Behold, three more kings shall stand in Persia. — The Jews ignorantly count from this passage only five kings of the Persians: for, as St. Jerome, Eusebius, Josephus, Thucydides, Diodorus, Herodotus and others teach, there were altogether 14, namely: I. Cyrus, who reigned 30 years. II. Cambyses, son of Cyrus, reigned 7 years and 6 months. III. Smerdis the magus, a usurper, reigned 6 months. IV. Darius Hystaspis reigned 36 years. V. Xerxes, son of Darius, reigned 20 years. VI. Artabanus the prefect, who killed Xerxes, 7 months. VII. Artaxerxes, called Longimanus because one hand was longer than the other, son of Xerxes, reigned 40 years. VIII. Xerxes the second, a usurper, reigned 2 months. IX. Sogdianus, a usurper, reigned 7 months. X. Darius Nothus, that is, the son of Artaxerxes Longimanus, reigned 19 years. XI. Artaxerxes, called Mnemon for the excellence of his memory, reigned 43 years. XII. Artaxerxes Ochus reigned 23 years. XIII. Arses reigned 4 years. XIV. Darius Codomannus, who was conquered by Alexander, reigned 6 years. The kingdom of the Persians therefore stood for 230 years, although their monarchy as such stood only 203 years. For Cyrus in the 27th year of his reign took Babylon and killed Belshazzar, and then became a monarch, and reigned as monarch for only three years, as I showed at 1 Esdras 1:1.
You will say: Who then are these four, whom alone Daniel here counts after Cyrus? For he does not count Cyrus here, because Cyrus was already reigning. For Daniel received this prophecy from the angel in the third year of Cyrus, as is clear from chapter 10:1. I answer: They are the first four who immediately succeeded Cyrus, namely Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius, and Xerxes. For Xerxes is the last of these four, who, as Daniel says, was the most wealthy, and who waged war against the Greeks. The angel therefore passes over the other nine kings here, because, as St. Jerome says, it was not the concern of the prophetic spirit
The fourth shall be enriched with wealth. — All agree that this is Xerxes, whose wealth and forces were so great that rivers are said to have been dried up by his army, and he is said to have had a fleet numbering a million ships, says Justin, book II.
Verse 3: And a mighty king shall arise
3. And a mighty king shall arise. — This is Alexander of Macedon, who was in the highest glory, but briefly: for after twelve years of reign he died at Babylon, and his kingdom was divided into four parts — not to his posterity, that is, his sons (although he left two sons at his death: for Cassander excluded them from the kingdom and killed them by treachery), but to his generals, namely Aridaeus the brother of Alexander, Seleucus, Antigonus, and Ptolemy: and besides these, Perdiccas, Craterus, and Lysimachus held parts of the empire; moreover also foreigners, such as Arsaces among the Parthians; and the Macedonians and other Greeks shortly after created other kings for themselves. The angel here treats of Alexander, both because the Jews had dealings with him, as is clear from Josephus, Antiquities XI.viii; and so that from him as from a head he might descend to the Seleucids and the Ptolemies, about whom he intends to treat purposefully, so that through them he might descend to Antiochus Epiphanes, and to the Antichrist, as will be evident at verse 5.
Verse 4: It shall be divided toward the four winds
4. It shall be divided toward the four winds — that is, toward the four quarters of the world, as I showed at chapter 8:8. Kingdoms are compared to winds, as also in the dream at chapter 2:28, because they pass away and vanish like winds. Secondly, because they fight among themselves like winds. Moreover, the glory of Alexander was so great that many emperors coveted it, though foolishly. Antoninus Caracalla, as Spartianus testifies in his Life, used to say that the soul of Alexander had migrated into the body of Augustus Caesar, and then into himself, so that since Alexander's life had been short, he might live longer in Augustus, and then in himself. For this reason he called himself Alexander, the Eastern Augustus. Similarly, Julian the Apostate wished it to be believed that Alexander had transmigrated into him, and that he would win no lesser victory over the Persians than Alexander had, and he believed this from the persuasion of the philosopher Maximus, as Baronius relates from ancient historians at the year of Christ 636; but he was deceived and proven false: for Julian was defeated and killed in Persia. The Emperor Alexander Severus, as Lampridius testifies in his Life, received the name Alexander because he was born in a temple dedicated to Alexander the Great near the city of Arcaena, when by chance his father had come there with his wife for a local festival: and because he was born on the same day that Alexander the Great departed this life. He therefore wished to be another Alexander.
Verse 5: And the king of the South shall be strengthened
5. And the king of the South shall be strengthened. — This is Ptolemy, not Philopator, as Theodoret thinks, but the son of Lagus, the first king of Egypt after Alexander, and his son Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second king of Egypt. So St. Jerome. For Ptolemy son of Lagus, a most valiant man, occupied not only Egypt, but also Cyprus, Phoenicia, and many other islands and regions; he even restored Pyrrhus, king of the Epirots, who had been expelled, to his kingdom. He did the same for Seleucus, son of Antiochus, whom Antigonus, king of Asia, had driven out.
Note: The angel, having omitted two other successors of Alexander, namely Aridaeus and Antigonus, here narrates the deeds of only the other two, namely the kings of the South, that is, the Ptolemies who reigned in Egypt, which lies to the south of Judea; and the kings of the North, that is, the Seleucids, that is, the descendants of Seleucus, who dominated Asia and Syria, which lie to the north of Judea, for 270 years, says Appian. The angel does this because Judea lies between Syria and Egypt, and therefore was a participant in the wars waged between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies; just as an isthmus lying between two seas is battered on both sides by the waves of each sea. So St. Jerome. Let this therefore be established here: the kings of the South are the kings of Egypt; the kings of the North are the kings of Syria.
He therefore recounts here the wars that were waged between these kings over 140 years, namely from the third king of Syria, who was called Antiochus Theos, up to the eighth, namely Antiochus Epiphanes, and from the second king of Egypt, who was Ptolemy Philadelphus, up to the sixth, namely Ptolemy Philometor. I will list these kings here in order.
The Seleucids. I. The king of Syria who, 12 years after the death of Alexander, having conquered Antigonus, began to reign, was Seleucus Nicanor; he reigned 3 years. Called Nicanor, or, as others say, Nicator, from having slain Nicator, or rather from the many illustrious victories he won. So Appian, in the Syriaca. II. Antiochus Soter, son of Seleucus Nicanoris, reigned 19 years. III. Antiochus Theos, son of Soter, reigned 15 years. The angel describes him at verse 5. IV. Seleucus Callinicus reigned 20 years. The angel describes him at verse 7. V. Seleucus Ceraunius, that is, the Thunderer, because he seemed to be endowed with a bold and swift character, like a thunderbolt; he reigned 3 years. The angel describes him at verse 10. VI. Antiochus the Great reigned 37 years. The angel describes him at verse 10. VII. Seleucus Philopator reigned 12 years. The angel describes him at verse 20. VIII. Antiochus Epiphanes reigned 12 years. The angel describes him at verse 21 and following. This Epiphanes preceded the birth of Christ by 170 years.
The Ptolemies. I. After Alexander, the first king of Egypt was Ptolemy, son of Lagus, a most prudent and valiant man; he reigned 40 years. II. Ptolemy Philadelphus, who arranged for seventy interpreters to translate the Hebrew Bible into the Greek language; he reigned 38 years. The angel describes him at verse 5. III. Ptolemy Euergetes reigned 26 years. The angel describes him at verse 7. IV. Ptolemy Philopator reigned 17 years. The angel describes him at verse 10. V. Ptolemy Epiphanes reigned 24 years. The angel describes him at verse 13. VI. Ptolemy Philometor reigned 35 years. The angel describes him at verse 22. From this it is clear that Daniel predicted the wars between these kings 260 years before they began. For he predicted them near the end of the reign of Cyrus, who preceded Alexander the Great by 200 years. And these wars began under Antiochus, surnamed Theos, who was 69 years later than Alexander.
You will ask why Daniel does not clearly express and name these kings. I answer: because he writes prophecy, not history; for history is clear, but prophecy is symbolic and obscure. Secondly, God willed this, lest He disturb the secondary causes and the gentle disposition of His providence, which allows things, especially human affairs, to proceed by their own impulses, and permits them their own freedom. For this order and this freedom would be greatly hindered if men foreknew what was to be done by themselves or by others, or what would happen to them. Just as, if a man knew in detail all the tribulations that would befall him throughout his life, and saw their order, number, and severity at a single glance, he would lose heart and despair: but now, since they come forth one by one, and only one is present at a time, while the rest remain hidden, each is easily endured and overcome. This is what the angel says to Daniel at the end of this vision, in chapter 8:4: "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal them until the appointed time."
And one of his princes shall prevail over him. — Theodoret thinks this refers to Scopas, the general of Ptolemy Philopator, as if the war between Philopator and Antiochus the Great were being described here: but the angel treats of this at verse 11. Secondly, Maldonatus understands Antiochus Epiphanes: but this is treated at verse 21. Thirdly, St. Jerome understands Ptolemy Philadelphus, who surpassed his father Ptolemy son of Lagus in glory and wealth: but since the angel calls him not a son, but a prince, namely of the mighty king, that is, of Alexander the Great, of whom he treated at verses 3 and following; hence we shall better understand Antiochus, who was surnamed Theos, that is, God, by the Milesians because he had expelled their tyrant Timarchus, says Appian. This Theos "shall prevail over him," namely the king of the South,
that is, of Egypt, namely against Ptolemy Philadelphus: for against him he fought successfully and vigorously with all the forces of Asia and the East. The cause of the war was that Theos had been incited to it by his father-in-law Magas, who was the brother of Ptolemy Philadelphus: for this Magas had married a daughter of Antiochus, and hated his brother Philadelphus, and stirred up Antiochus against him, says Pausanias in the Attica. Philadelphus, seeing himself inferior to Antiochus, made an alliance with him, and gave him his daughter Berenice as wife, with a very large dowry: but "she shall not retain the strength of her arm, nor shall her seed endure," that is, Berenice will not long remain in the kingdom of Syria. For Laodice, the previous wife of Antiochus, not enduring that Berenice was preferred to her, by treachery killed Berenice with her son and supporters, and even Antiochus her husband by poison, and in his place made her own son by Antiochus, Seleucus Callinicus, king. So Justin, book XXVII, St. Jerome and others.
Note: He calls it the arm, meaning the strength of the kingdom of Syria, which was being reinforced by this marriage from the king of Egypt: for through marriage, as it were, an arm was extended from one kingdom to the other, by which the right hands of the two kings were given to confirm the friendship; and so both kingdoms were, as it were, joined and strengthened. So Maldonatus.
Verse 7: And from the shoot of her roots a plant shall stand
7. And from the shoot of her roots a plant shall stand. — This "plant," that is, offspring, was Ptolemy Euergetes, successor of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who was from the same stock, because he was his brother; for he avenged the wrong done to his brother Philadelphus, and at the same time the death of his niece Berenice. For having entered the province of the king of the North, namely the kingdom of Syria in which Callinicus reigned, he occupied it, and nearly all of Asia as well, and killed Laodice, the rival of Berenice. But when he heard that a sedition was being stirred up in Egypt, plundering the kingdom of Callinicus, he carried off from it forty thousand talents of gold, together with precious vessels and images of the gods numbering two thousand five hundred, among which were those which Cambyses, when he conquered Egypt, had carried off from there to Persia. These, I say, Euergetes brought back, and so returned to his kingdom and to his own land, namely Egypt, as the angel says here: and for this reason, because of the gods, namely the ancestral images, which he brought back to Egypt, the Egyptians named this Ptolemy Euergetes, that is, Benefactor. So St. Jerome.
He shall deal with them. — In Hebrew, he shall do with them, supply, according to his will, that is, at his pleasure he will capture, despoil, harass, and kill them.
But his sons. — "His," namely of the king not of the South, but of the North, that is, of Syria, namely Seleucus Callinicus, who had fought unsuccessfully against Ptolemy Euergetes, and finally, having lost his kingdom, perished by falling from his horse, as Justin testifies, book XXVII. For the two sons of this Callinicus were Seleucus Ceraunius and Antiochus the Great, who, to avenge the defeat and the wrong done to their father, gathered an army against the fourth Ptolemy, who was the son of Euergetes, and was called Philopator by antiphrasis, because he had killed his father, mother, brother, wife, and sister. But when Seleucus Ceraunius, the elder son of Callinicus, was treacherously killed by his own men, Antiochus the Great alone undertook the campaign and took from Ptolemy Philopator, the parricide given over to debauchery, all of Syria through the treachery of Theodotus. So from Justin and Polybius, St. Jerome; whence the angel says in the singular: "And one shall come hastening," namely Antiochus, "and overflowing," that is, like a river covering the land with a multitude of soldiers.
Verse 11: And the king of the South, being provoked
11. And the king of the South, being provoked. — For when Antiochus had recovered Syria, and had advanced as far as the city of Raphia, which is at the gates of Egypt, Philopator was roused and gathered very great forces, especially from Greece, and engaged with Antiochus near Raphia in the same year that Hannibal defeated the Romans at Lake Trasimene; in this battle Antiochus was defeated and lost his army, and fleeing through the deserts was nearly captured. For, as the beginning of 3 Maccabees narrates, when a fierce battle was joined and the fighting was going more strongly for Antiochus, Arsinoe, the sister of Ptolemy Philopator, walking among the troops, with tears besought the soldiers to bear her aid by fighting bravely and boldly, promising to give each man two gold minas if they were victorious; and so the soldiers, having regained their courage, routed the forces of Antiochus and captured many of them.
Verse 12: But he shall not prevail
12. But he shall not prevail — that is, Philopator: because he will not be able to capture his enemy Antiochus, or strip him of his kingdom; for Antiochus, having escaped by flight, made an alliance with Ptolemy Philopator, who loved peace and pleasures, on the condition that he would cede all of Syria and hand it over to Philopator. For this Philopator, says Justin, killed his sister Eurydice, who was also his wife, and attached himself to Agathoclea the harlot, spending his nights in debauchery and his days in feasting. Therefore Agathocles, the brother of Agathoclea, who was himself the king's paramour, governed the king and the kingdom; and when Philopator died, as he attempted to seize the royal treasury and the kingdom, both he and his sister Agathoclea were seized and hanged by the people who rose up.
Verse 13: For the king of the North shall return (because Antiochus the Great,...
13. For the king of the North shall return (because Antiochus the Great, seeing the debauchery and sloth of Philopator, rebuilt his army; and Philopator having meanwhile died) at the end of times and years — that is, after the passage of some years, he moved his forces against his son, Ptolemy Epiphanes, a boy of four years, aided by Philip, king of the Macedonians, on the condition that they would divide the kingdom of Egypt between themselves; and this is what the angel adds: "Many shall rise up against the king of the South," that is, of Egypt. So Justin, books XXX and XXXI. He also adds that the Alexandrians sent ambassadors to Rome, asking the Romans to undertake the guardianship of the boy ward, namely Ptolemy Epiphanes, which the Romans indeed did,
and from this arose the war between the Romans and Antiochus, in which Antiochus, being defeated, ceded Asia to the Romans, about which see verse 18.
Verse 14: And the sons of the transgressors
14. And the sons of the transgressors — that is, many Jews, transgressors of the law of God, taking occasion from these wars among neighboring kings, will revolt and defect, some to Ptolemy, others to Antiochus; and finally, after the death of Antiochus, against the law which commands that God be worshipped only in the temple at Jerusalem, they will be lifted up in pride and will build a temple at Heliopolis in Egypt, which would have its own sacrifices and priests, equal to the one at Jerusalem; and this in order to fulfill the vision of Isaiah 19:19, which says: "There shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt" — to fulfill it, I say, according to their perverse and twisted understanding. For Isaiah there does not speak of a Jewish temple, which God willed to be the only one, and that only at Jerusalem; but of the temples of Christians to be built in Egypt and throughout the whole world. The leader of these was Onias, son of the high priest Onias, who, fleeing from Antiochus Epiphanes invading Judea, went to Egypt to Ptolemy Philometor, and obtained from him this temple at Heliopolis, which stood for 230 years until Vespasian, who utterly destroyed it along with the city and the Jews. And this is what Daniel says here: "And they shall fall." So St. Jerome. See Josephus, Antiquities XIII.vi, and Wars VII.xxx. Note that Josephus errs in the number of years: for he puts 333 years from Philometor to Vespasian, when only 250 had elapsed, as Eusebius attests.
Verse 15: And the king of the North shall come
15. And the king of the North shall come. — Antiochus the Great, upon the death of Ptolemy Philopator, came with a vast army into Syria against his son Ptolemy Epiphanes, wishing to subject to himself Syria, which he had lost in the previous war, together with Judea; and he routed Scopas, the general of Ptolemy, near the sources of the Jordan, where later Paneas, that is, Caesarea Philippi, was founded, and after joining battle put him to flight, and besieged him with ten thousand soldiers in Sidon; to liberate whom Ptolemy sent his chosen and famous generals, Eropus, Menocles, and Damoxenus; but they could not raise the siege. And so Scopas, at last overcome by famine, surrendered to Antiochus, and was dismissed with his companions. Soon many other cities were also captured by Antiochus; and this is what the angel says here: "And" Antiochus "coming against him shall act according to his pleasure; indeed he shall stand in the glorious land" (in Hebrew it is tsebi, of which I spoke at chapter 8:9), that is, in Judea, which is most fertile and glorious for the worship of God and its temple. Whence the Syriac and Arabic translate: And he shall stand (remain, or endure) in the land of Israel.
Verse 16: And it shall be consumed by his hand
16. And it shall be consumed by his hand — that is, Judea will be devastated and afflicted by Antiochus, and he will subject it to himself, and will do there whatever he wishes; for the Jews voluntarily surrendered themselves, received him with honor, and aided him with all their resources and zeal, especially in capturing the citadel of Jerusalem that had been occupied by Ptolemy. So from Josephus and Polybius, St. Jerome.
Verse 17: And he shall make equitable terms with him
17. And he shall make equitable terms with him — that is, Antiochus will pretend to wish friendship with Ptolemy in good faith, but will act deceitfully, in order to overthrow him. Whence it follows: And the daughter of women. — Because Antiochus, wishing to take from Ptolemy Epiphanes, a boy of seven years, not only Syria, Cilicia, Lycia, and other territories, but also Egypt, betrothed to him his daughter Cleopatra, "the daughter of women," that is, the most beautiful, and after six years gave her to him, giving him Coelesyria and Judea in the name of a dowry, hoping that his daughter would either deceive or kill the inexperienced youth, and so his kingdom would come to himself. But "she shall not stand," that is, the scheme will not succeed: for Ptolemy Epiphanes and his generals, perceiving the treachery of Antiochus, acted more cautiously; and Cleopatra favored the cause of her husband more than that of her father. So from Josephus and Appian, St. Jerome.
Verse 18: He shall turn his face to the islands
18. He shall turn his face to the islands. — Antiochus, seeing his scheme in Egypt exposed, turned elsewhere, and took Rhodes, Samos, Colophon, Phocaea, and many other islands; but Lucius Scipio met him with his brother Publius Scipio Africanus, who had conquered Hannibal; and at length Antiochus was defeated by Lucius Scipio, who was therefore called Asiaticus, and he promised the Romans an annual tribute of a thousand talents, and gave as hostage his younger son Antiochus Epiphanes, who later devastated Judea. So Livy, book XXXVII, Plutarch in the Life of Scipio, Appian in the Syriaca, book XXXI, and from them St. Jerome. Whence it follows: And he shall cause the prince of his reproach to cease. — For "prince," the Septuagint translates "princes," that is, Antiochus shall cause to cease, that is, shall depose and cast down from their position, the princes of his reproach, that is, the hostile princes whom he defeated and exposed to disgrace and mockery by leading them in triumph; but his reproach fell back upon himself, when he was similarly defeated by the Romans at Thermopylae, and forced to pay an annual tribute of a thousand talents, becoming a laughingstock to the world. But since in Hebrew it is katsin, that is, "prince" in the singular; and since the Syriac and Arabic translate: "He shall cause to cease the prince who reproached him or reviled him"; hence you may better understand by the "prince of reproach" Scipio Africanus: for he, by his aid and counsel directing his brother Lucius Scipio, the commander of the war, defeated Antiochus, who had spurned the most prudent advice of Hannibal, and forced him to flee in disgrace. For Hannibal prudently counseled Antiochus to leave his neighbors alone and invade Italy, promising to arrange for reinforcements to be sent from Carthage; but Scipio and the Romans, in order to undermine Hannibal's sound advice, frequently and familiarly dealt with him, so as to make him suspect to Antiochus, as if he were courting the friendship of Scipio and the Romans.
Whence, among other things, Scipio asked Hannibal whom he considered to have been or to be the greatest among military commanders. Hannibal answered: Alexander the Great. Scipio pressed: Whom second? He answered: Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, for his courage and audacity. Again Scipio: Whom third? To which Hannibal replied: Myself. Scipio took notice of this, annoyed at being passed over, and added: What then if you had conquered me? Hannibal, sensing that Scipio was pleased, so as to flatter and praise him, said: I would rank myself above Alexander — tacitly indicating that Scipio was beyond comparison and greater than Alexander. Antiochus understood this, and held Hannibal suspect as though flattering Scipio: at the same time, lest the glory of victory be attributed to Hannibal rather than himself, he spurned his sound advice; and therefore he was defeated and overcome by the Romans. So Plutarch in the Life of Scipio, Appian in the Syriaca, and Justin, book XXXI, who also adds that Hannibal had given Antiochus this clear rationale for his plan to invade Italy: "Against a Roman," he said, "whether you have first seized some foreign territory, or have conquered him, you will still have to struggle with a defeated and prostrate enemy. Therefore, if anyone attacks them in Italy, he can defeat them with their own resources, their own strength, their own arms, as I myself did. But if anyone concedes Italy to them as the fountain of their strength, he is as much deceived as one who would attempt not to divert rivers from their very sources, but to turn aside or dry up the already amassed bodies of water."
Antiochus, therefore, having been defeated, endeavored to placate and win over Scipio, so that he would cease from further war. For "he shall cause to cease" means he will attempt and strive to make him cease: for the action indicated is one begun, not completed. And his reproach shall be turned back upon him. — For Antiochus, defeated, in order to cover his own disgrace with the disgrace of the victorious enemy, sent back to his father Scipio Africanus's son, whom he was holding captive, and sought peace. But this disgrace fell back upon himself; for Africanus placed the advantage of the republic above his own, and said, as Justin reports, book XXXI: "The duties of a father are one thing, the rights of the fatherland another, which are to be placed above not only children, but even life itself." Finally, he declared that "as was worthy of his majesty, he would recover his son by arms." And Livy, book XXXVII: When, he says, the legate of Antiochus had offered Scipio a vast amount of gold, and, with only the title excepted, a share of his entire kingdom, if he could obtain peace through him, Scipio answered: For my son I shall repay a private kindness; but publicly I shall neither accept anything from Antiochus, nor give anything. He therefore imposed these terms of peace on Antiochus: that Asia be ceded to the Romans, that he himself be content with the kingdom of Syria, that he hand over to the Romans all ships, captives, and deserters, including Hannibal the instigator of the war; that he reimburse the Romans for all the costs of the war and pay tribute. When these terms were reported to Antiochus, he answered that he was not yet so defeated as to allow himself to be stripped of his kingdom. And so, having rebuilt
his army, he fought again, and was again defeated, with fifty thousand of his soldiers slain and eleven thousand captured: then he was forced to ask for peace on those very conditions which he had previously refused: and nothing was added to them on account of the new victory by the Romans, Africanus proclaiming: "The Romans, if they are defeated, do not lose courage; nor if they conquer, do they grow insolent in success," as Justin, book XXXI, and Livy, book XXXVII, report. Yet this affair bred calumny against Scipio. For when he returned to Rome, he was accused by his rivals of having sold the public interest, corrupted by bribes: and when a day of trial was set for him, he appeared not as a defendant, but as if to celebrate a festival; and, dissembling and disdaining the accusation, with great confidence of conscience he said: "On this day, citizens, I once conquered the Carthaginians: it is therefore fitting that we give thanks to the gods." Then, with the whole assembly cheering, he ascended the Capitol in grand procession to offer sacrifice and celebrate a festival, and thus confounded his accusers. So Appian in the Syriaca, and Plutarch in the Life of Scipio, who also adds that Antiochus not only sent back his son to Scipio, but even offered Scipio his kingdom, reserving only the title to himself, if he would defend his cause; but Scipio, having thanked the king, remained steadfast in Roman loyalty: nevertheless his rivals took occasion from this to accuse him, and set a day of trial, but Africanus evaded the accusation in the way I have recounted: and after that day he left the city, to live in the country far from ambition and the forum; and so he retired to Liternum, and there died in the 54th year of his age. His epitaph at Gaeta on a marble tomb reads: Hannibal conquered, Carthage taken, and the Empire enlarged — these ashes, covered in marble, you hold. Neither Europe nor Africa could once withstand him — (Consider human affairs) — how small an urn confines him.
This indeed is the one to whom it was recently acclaimed: "Neither shall Rome fall while Scipio stands; nor shall Scipio live when the city falls."
Thirdly, you may aptly translate from the Hebrew with Vatablus: The prince shall cause to cease, or shall restrain, his reproaches, turning them back upon him without any disgrace to himself; that is, Scipio Africanus will force Antiochus to desist from the reproach with which he was afflicting the Roman people by invading their allied islands, and will indeed turn the reproaches back upon Antiochus himself, when he subdues him in war and prescribes the terms of peace: by which means he will wipe away all the disgrace which Antiochus could have inflicted on him through the captivity and return of his son. In Antiochus, therefore, the saying was true: "He who seeks to harm another harms himself." And that elegant Italian saying: "Welcome, he came to strike, but was struck."
Fourthly, Lyranus translates: And the prince, or lord, shall bring back his reproach upon him; and by prince, or lord, he understands God, that is, God will cause the blasphemies and reproaches hurled against Him by Antiochus to cease, and without any disgrace to Himself, will turn them back upon him. Whence also Aquinas translates: And the prince shall cause him who reproaches God to cease, lest anyone bring his disgrace upon him. But the word God is not in the Hebrew, nor do we read that this Antiochus blasphemed God.
Fifthly, the Gloss and from it Pererius explain: that is, Antiochus, turning from Egypt to Asia and the islands, caused the prince to be quiet, namely Ptolemy Epiphanes, by whom he had been put to shame, since Scopas, his general, had taken from him many cities, and especially by his father, Ptolemy Philopator, by whom he had been defeated with disgrace near Raphia. But "his reproach shall be turned back upon him," that is, the disgrace and losses with which he afflicted the nations he conquered shall be turned upon him: for he himself, defeated by the Romans, shall suffer similar misfortunes. But Antiochus had already avenged these reproaches of the Ptolemies by capturing Scopas, as I said at verse 15, and by giving his daughter as wife to Epiphanes, as verse 17 stated. Add that these were not his reproaches, that is, those which he himself had inflicted on conquered nations.
Verse 20: And there shall stand in his place one most vile
20. And there shall stand in his place one most vile. — Not Antiochus Epiphanes, as Theodoret thinks, for he is treated at the following verse; nor Ptolemy Epiphanes, as Porphyry holds according to St. Jerome: for he did not succeed Antiochus the Great. Nor Tryphon, who was the guardian of Antiochus, son of Alexander Balas, and who, having killed him, seized the kingdom, as the Hebrews would have it; for Tryphon only much later — namely after Seleucus, Epiphanes, Eupator, Demetrius, Alexander, and his son Antiochus — seized the kingdom in the sixth succession. Rather it is Seleucus Philopator, the elder son of Antiochus the Great, who succeeded his father in the kingdom and reigned for 12 years, but without any battles and without glory, says St. Jerome, greedy and sacrilegious; whence in Hebrew it reads: There shall stand in his place one who causes a tax collector to pass through the glory of the kingdom, that is, who will cause tax collectors to traverse the whole kingdom, to plunder its wealth and glory. For this Seleucus, to say nothing of other things, although at first
he supplied the costs for the sacrifices of the temple of the Jews, as is said in 2 Maccabees, chapter 3:2; yet afterward he sent Heliodorus to Jerusalem to plunder the treasury of the temple. But Heliodorus, scourged by an angel, was barely saved by the prayers of Onias, as is narrated in 2 Maccabees 3:33. Wherefore, by the just judgment of God, Seleucus, now sacrilegious and therefore "unworthy of royal dignity, within a few days," was killed by the same Heliodorus; and when, upon his death, Heliodorus attempted to seize the kingdom, the kings Eumenes and Attalus drove him out, and installed Antiochus Epiphanes, the younger son of Antiochus the Great, in the kingdom in place of his dead brother. So Appian in the Syriaca.
Verse 21: And there shall stand in his place one despised
21. And there shall stand in his place one despised. — This is Antiochus Epiphanes, the younger son of Antiochus the Great, and brother of Seleucus Philopator: who, when he was held as a hostage at Rome without hope of the kingdom, escaped from there secretly, or, as others would have it, with the knowledge of the senate, and seized the kingdom of Syria, having excluded the legitimate heir Demetrius, who was his nephew through his brother. For Demetrius was the son of Seleucus Philopator: and from this there were perpetual wars for the kingdom between the descendants of this Demetrius and of Antiochus, for 200 years, one after another slaying his rival and reigning in his place. About this Antiochus, the greatest persecutor of the Jews, the angel speaks from this point to the end of the chapter, and under his name treats partly allegorically, partly symbolically of the Antichrist. For this Antiochus was a type and precursor of the Antichrist. Just as Antiochus persecuted the Jewish Church, so the Antichrist will persecute the Christian Church. Whence the angel here, toward the end of the chapter, says many things that more properly apply to the Antichrist than to Antiochus: see Canon IV. Hence also the ancients, as St. Jerome attests, interpreted all these things of the Antichrist, not of Antiochus.
And royal honor shall not be given to him. — Because Antiochus Epiphanes was not at first accepted as king; for by those in Syria who favored Ptolemy, royal honor was not given to him. Moreover, this Antiochus was called Epiphanes, that is, Illustrious, more from the ambitious undertaking of great things than from their accomplishment. For he was of a restless, versatile, turbulent, wandering, and fickle character: whence he contrived many things, but brought few to a successful conclusion. To better perceive the character of this Antiochus, about whom Daniel says much here, and the books of Maccabees say more, hear what Leonicus writes about him in book III of the Varia Historia, chapter 91...
"That Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes was the most extravagant of all kings, and immoderately and excessively given over to pleasure and indulgence, Polybius records in his histories; with a slight change of his surname, he sometimes called him Epimanes instead of Epiphanes, that is, the Madman, the one bereft of mind. For he writes that this man squandered immense treasures of money in revels and banquets, and quickly dissipated them, and was accustomed, when playful and sometimes drunk, to throw rather large bags of coins into the public streets, and would then say: Let those receive these whom fortune or luck has long since destined for this bounty. He is also said to have been accustomed sometimes to wander about crowned with roses and wearing a golden cloak, carrying stones in his bosom with which he would pelt anyone he met. He was even accustomed (so it is said) to bathe in the public baths indiscriminately with the common people, and to be anointed with the most costly unguents. Whence when someone from the crowd once said to him: Blessed are you, O king, who smell so good! But I, he said, shall immediately make you satisfied in this regard, and fill you to overflowing: and with that, he ordered a large vessel full of the most precious ointment to be poured over the man's head, from which so powerful a fragrance arose that it drew to that place from the very forum and even the distant parts of the city many people, so that, with the eagerness of those jostling one another and the slipperiness of the thick ointment, many bathers fell to the ground, and the king himself, nearly overcome with uncontrollable laughter, fell headlong, and, as happens in a crowd, was not very gently handled and jostled. It is said that once at the games he celebrated at Antioch, he invited all the Greeks who were present, and having anointed them all with the most precious ointments from golden vessels — marjoram, fenugreek, cinnamon, saffron, and the most famous spikenard — he hosted a banquet of fifteen hundred couches, at which he himself is said to have reclined in turns and served the guests, and to have danced so freely and shamelessly with mimes and actors that all the guests were forced to turn their eyes away from him in shame. This is the Antiochus who had once been a hostage at Rome, and, elevated from there to the pinnacle of kingship, shamefully descended to these marks of madness with royal license and without restraint." Thus far Leonicus. Moreover, concerning the pride, avarice, cruelty, impiety, and sacrileges of this Antiochus, see 1 Maccabees 1:11 and following, and book II, chapter 5:11 and following, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 9.
And he shall come secretly — secretly fleeing from Rome, he came to Syria. And he shall obtain the kingdom by fraud. — In Hebrew bachalaclaccot, that is, by flatteries, namely by a pretense of benevolence and clemency: for pretending that he wished to act as guardian of his nephew, the boy Demetrius, he excluded him from the kingdom, and seized it with the help of Attalus and Eumenes, kings of Asia, as I have said. Such also will the Antichrist be, namely the greatest hypocrite. Hear Hippolytus, in his treatise On the Consummation of the Age: "The Antichrist," he says, "in his beginnings will be clement, peaceful, religious, hating injustice, detesting bribes, not admitting idolatry, loving the Scriptures, honoring priests, honoring the elderly, repudiating fornication and adultery, not lending his ears to slanderers, hospitable, zealous for the poor, defending orphans and widows, making peace between those who are at odds, showing no eagerness for riches: and all these things he will do with calculated and fraudulent counsel, so as to deceive everyone into making him king."
Verse 22: And the arms of the fighter shall be overcome before his face
22. And the arms of the fighter shall be overcome before his face. — By "arms" he means the forces and troops of those who fought against Antiochus on behalf of Demetrius, the heir to the kingdom; but they were overwhelmed by Antiochus. Whence in Hebrew it reads: And the arms of the flood shall be flooded, that is, the auxiliaries of Demetrius, which will flow together like streams from every direction, will be overwhelmed by Antiochus, as by some greater river. So Maldonatus. Moreover, also the prince of the covenant. — "The prince of the covenant," says Theodoret, was Onias the high priest, who was the leader of the Old Testament: for he was deprived of the high priesthood by Antiochus, at the instigation of Jason, the brother of Onias, who coveted the pontificate, as is clear from 2 Maccabees 4:9. Secondly, St. Jerome says: "The prince of the covenant" was Judas Maccabaeus, who was the leader of the Jewish people, bound to God by covenant, whom Antiochus overcame by treachery. Thirdly and best, Ptolemy Philometor is here called "the prince of the covenant," both because he made a covenant with his uncle Antiochus Epiphanes, and because he was the son of Cleopatra, sister of Antiochus Epiphanes, whom Antiochus the Great, the father of Antiochus Epiphanes, had betrothed to Ptolemy Epiphanes, the father of Philometor, for the purpose of forming an alliance. And so Ptolemy Philometor, born from that covenant, was as it were the bond and prince of the covenant. So St. Jerome. This Philometor, therefore, was crushed by Antiochus Epiphanes, because the generals of Philometor were defeated by Antiochus Epiphanes in battle between Pelusium and Mount Casius.
Verse 23: And after the alliances, he shall practice deceit with him
23. And after the alliances, he shall practice deceit with him. — Because Antiochus, after his victory, sparing the boy Philometor and feigning friendship, went up to Memphis, and there, receiving the kingdom according to Egyptian custom, and saying that he would provide for the boy's affairs, with a small force he subdued all the rich and commercial cities of Egypt (which none of his fathers had done) — cities abounding in leisure, peace, and wealth, as the Hebrew text has, and therefore unguarded — and seized and dissipated their riches; and he was so cunning that he overthrew by his fraud the prudent plans of those who were the generals of the boy king. Then, as the angel says: "Against" the fortified and "strongest" cities of Egypt "he shall form plans, and this until the time," that is, watching for the opportune time to capture them: or rather, as Maldonatus says, he will conceal his plans and counsels in his mind until the opportune time arrives: then he will invade the kingdom of Egypt by open war; and this is what follows:
Verse 25: And his strength shall be stirred up (namely of Antiochus Epiphanes) against...
25. And his strength shall be stirred up (namely of Antiochus Epiphanes) against the king of the South — against Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, so as to invade him no longer by treachery, but by open war. This war is described in 1 Maccabees, chapter 1, verse 19. And they shall not stand — namely, the forces and auxiliaries of the king of the South, that is, of Philometor: because Antiochus with his
subverted everything by his deceitful counsels, and induced certain Egyptian courtiers of King Philometor, who ate bread with him, by great promises to defect and bring about the ruin of their king, as follows:
Verse 27: And the heart of the two kings shall be
27. And the heart of the two kings shall be — that is, Antiochus and Philometor, or rather the nobles of the boy Philometor, will ratify a treaty, but each side will be feigning: for each will be plotting the destruction of the other; but neither will be able to completely destroy the other, because "the end is yet for another time," that is, because the time appointed by God for the end of both the king and the kingdom has not yet come. St. Jerome takes all these things literally of the Antichrist. But from the preceding and following context it is clear that all these things are said primarily of Antiochus.
Verse 28: And he shall return to his own land with great riches
28. And he shall return to his own land with great riches — after he had plundered Egypt under the pretext of guardianship of the boy king, as was said at verses 21 and 24. And his heart shall be against the holy covenant — Antiochus will plan to devastate Judea as well, and Jerusalem and the temple, where the divine law, which is called the "holy Covenant of God," was kept. And he shall act, and shall return — that is, having achieved his desire, namely having plundered Judea, Jerusalem, and the temple, he "shall return" to Syria.
Verse 29: At the appointed time he shall return
29. At the appointed time he shall return. — The angel signifies what the historians and St. Jerome teach, that Antiochus Epiphanes entered Egypt twice: for since his tricks had not completely succeeded on the first occasion, he returned a second time with very great forces and besieged King Philometor at Alexandria. This is what follows: "And he shall come to the South," that is, into Egypt; but "the last time shall not be like the first." For
Verse 30: Galleys and Romans shall come against him
30. Galleys and Romans shall come against him — that is, Roman envoys shall come against him, carried in triremes. For Publius Popilius Laenas, a Roman envoy who had been a friend of Antiochus Epiphanes at Rome, having sailed to Alexandria, drew a circle around Antiochus with his staff in the sand and said to him: "The Senate and People of Rome command you to withdraw from Egypt, and not to fight against the Ptolemies; and in this very spot give your answer as to what course you intend to follow: whether you desire peace or war." Terrified by this, he said: "If this is the will of the Romans, I must withdraw." And so he immediately moved his army. So Josephus, Antiquities XII.vii, Livy, book V, decade 5, Appian in the Syriaca, Justin and others. See here in Antiochus how true the saying is: "Every kingdom is under a heavier kingdom." Note: For "Romans," in Hebrew it is kittim; the Septuagint translates Citii. Citium is a city in Cyprus; and Vatablus translates "ships of Cyprus." Whence Theodoret thinks this means that reinforcements were sent to Antiochus fighting against Ptolemy Philometor from Cyprus and Greece. But this does not agree with the historians, and contradicts our Translator. Kittim therefore signifies Cyprus, and from there any islands and overseas peoples, such as the Romans and Italians: so also it is understood in Numbers 24:21 and Ezekiel 27:6. Hence also the Syriac and Arabic translate: Troops from Macedonia, or from the islands of Italy, shall come against him.
He shall be struck — Antiochus, not by the sword, but by fear of the Romans. Whence in Hebrew it is nicha, that is, he shall be weakened, and, as Vatablus translates, he shall be dismayed, afflicted with grief and anger, which he will soon pour out upon the Jews. Whence it follows: And he shall be indignant against the covenant of the sanctuary — that is, the anger he could not pour out upon the Egyptians, Antiochus will pour out upon the Jews, and upon their temple, which is here called the "Covenant of the sanctuary," that is, the sanctuary of the Covenant, or the holy temple, in which the Covenant was kept, that is, the law and the tablets of the law. This is a hypallage.
Learn here morally from the Antiochuses and the Ptolemies how changeable and unstable kingdoms are. The fortune of princes is golden, but fragile as glass. Hence a golden Fortune was once kept in the chambers of the Emperors, as the fate of the realm. The Emperor Severus, dying, ordered this to be divided between his two sons, so that it would be with each in turn. So Spartianus in the Life of Severus. Likewise Antoninus Pius, dying, says Capitolinus, "commended the republic and his daughter to Marcus Antoninus in the presence of the prefects, and ordered the golden Fortune, which was customarily placed in the chambers of the emperors, to be transferred to him." Rightly does Tacitus say, book XIII: "Nothing among mortal affairs is so unstable and fleeting as power not resting on its own strength." For "you will find fortune more easily than you will retain it." Wherefore the Romans worshipped Fortune the Birdlimed, so as to bind her with birdlime or glue, and make her firm and constant for themselves. But in vain would you bind one who wanders. For, as Philo says in the book That God is Immutable: "She is a shadow, or a breeze, passing by before she stands still. She approaches and recedes, like the Euripi and the tides of the sea." The darling of obedient Fortune was Servius Tullius, made king of the Romans from a slave, who used to boast that the goddess Fortune was intimate with him, and that she slipped through the windows into his chamber to visit him, and therefore he dedicated on the Capitol a shrine to Primigenia and Obsequens Fortune, says Plutarch in the Fortune of the Romans; but "Fortune makes a fool of him whom she favors too much," says Epictetus.
And he shall devise plans against those who have forsaken the covenant of the sanctuary. — Note: Certain Jewish traitors invited Antiochus against their fellow citizens, their homeland, and their own law; but afterward he sent those faithless men into exile or killed them with equal faithlessness: such were Simon, Jason, and Menelaus, of whom see 2 Maccabees 4 and following.
Verse 31: And arms shall stand on his part
31. And arms shall stand on his part. — These "arms" are the generals and princes whom Antiochus, two years after his entry into Jerusalem, sent into Judea to exact tribute, who afflicted the Jews even more than Antiochus himself had, 1 Maccabees 1:30 and 53; they profaned the "sanctuary of strength," that is, the temple of the almighty and most powerful God. See chapter 8, verses 10 and 11. Secondly, "of strength," because the temple was most strongly fortified like a citadel; and because for those praying in it against invisible enemies and invoking God, it was the firmest asylum and defense. And they shall set up the abomination (that is, the statue of Jupiter Olympius) unto desolation — that is, in the desolated and profaned temple, for its total desolation. See 2 Maccabees 6:4 and 2. In Hebrew it reads: They shall set up the abomination of desolation, that is, they shall place in the temple the idol of Jupiter, which will be both a sign and a cause of the temple's desolation and deprivation of its sacred rites. Vatablus translates: They shall set up the abomination of the devastator, that is, of Antiochus, or the stupefying thing, that is, which will render men stunned and astonished. Note: The Hebrews call an idol an abomination, that is, a thing supremely abominable.
Verse 32: And the wicked against the covenant shall dissemble fraudulently
32. And the wicked against the covenant shall dissemble fraudulently — that is, some of the treacherous Jews, pretending to burn with love of the divine worship and of the Covenant, that is, the law, will betray the people, the homeland, and the religion to Antiochus, as I said a little before. See 1 Maccabees 1:42. But the people who know their God shall stand firm and act. — In Hebrew it reads: The people who know God will be strengthened, namely in their hearts; and will act, that is, will act manfully and will steadfastly maintain their ancestral religion to their last breath, and will conquer the tyrant not by fighting but by dying: for Antiochus grieved that he was mocked by those seven brothers even as they were dying, 2 Maccabees 7:24 and 39.
Verse 33: And the learned among the people
33. And the learned among the people. — Those whom the preceding verse called the people who know their God, he now calls the learned; for whoever knows God well and worships Him holily is the most learned: for he possesses the knowledge of the Saints, that is, the pious Jews, such as above all were Mattathias, Eleazar, and others, especially the priests and scribes; these will resist Antiochus, and will teach their people both by word and even more by example to stand firm in the law of their fathers; and therefore they will suffer the worst from him, so that in a single three-day period, 80 thousand Jews were slain by Antiochus, 40 thousand bound, and as many sold into slavery, as is said in 2 Maccabees 5:14; whence it follows: And they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by the plunder of days. — By "plunder of days" he means the despoiling of goods, which the Jews suffered from Antiochus for some days, that is, years. Hear Josephus, Antiquities XII: Daily, he says, they were killed, tortured with the most cruel torments. For they were severely beaten with scourges and their bodies torn, and while still alive and breathing they were nailed to crosses; likewise their wives and their circumcised children were strangled and hung from the necks of their crucified parents.
Verse 34: And when they shall have fallen (the Jews), they shall be relieved...
34. And when they shall have fallen (the Jews), they shall be relieved by a little help — by a small band, with the small forces of Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers, who often overthrew the great armies of Antiochus by the help of God; yet many joined themselves to them deceitfully; for this is what follows: "And many shall join themselves to them (the Jews) deceitfully;" for many Jews, envying the glory of the Maccabees their liberators, laid snares for them. Hence it is clear that some Hebrews, as reported by St. Jerome, wrongly refer these things to Julian the Apostate, who pretended to help the Jews so as to oppress the Christians through them. But this help was small and of short duration: for from the context of the entire passage it is clear that these things pertain to Antiochus and the Maccabees, not to Julian.
Verse 35: And some of the learned (those who know God, as I said...
35. And some of the learned (those who know God, as I said at verse 32) shall fall. — In Hebrew there is a beautiful paronomasia between maskilim, that is, the learned, and iichscelu, that is, they shall fall: for it is the nature of the learned to fall, not in spirit, but in body; not by sinning, but by dying bravely for the law of God. Hence the Arabic translates less correctly: And some of the wise shall be overthrown, when they have been sought out. And they shall be refined (that is, like gold in fire they shall be smelted, so as to be proved and purified: for this is the Hebrew tsaraph), and chosen. — The Hebrew lebarer you may aptly translate as "and purified;" for it continues, "and made white." Our translator renders it "chosen," because things that have been purified are customarily selected and separated from impure things; as gold in a furnace is separated from dross. Hence the Hebrew barer means both to purify and to select what has been purified. Therefore, just as gold in a furnace by the force of fire is first smelted and refined; secondly, purified and selected; thirdly, gleams and shines: so the just man in tribulation through it is first agitated and refined; secondly, proved, purified, and selected; thirdly, whitened and made resplendent. And therefore, And they shall be chosen — namely for martyrdom, and for distinguished grace and glory, that is, God will permit so great a persecution and slaughter by Antiochus, that His chosen ones, learned in divine matters, may in it as in a furnace be refined, purified, made resplendent, and glorified: "For what fire is to gold, the file to iron, the winnowing fan to wheat, lye to cloth, salt to meat — this is tribulation to just men." The cautery seems to be a wound, but it is the remedy of the wound: so vexation seems to be an evil, but in reality it is the remedy of evils. This is what Malachi says, chapter 3:3: "God," he says, "is like a refining fire, and like fuller's herb: and He shall sit as a refiner and cleanser of silver, and He shall purge the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice." The alchemists relate wonders about their philosopher's stone, namely that by its power and that of fire, quicksilver and metals are converted into gold. I prefer to believe this speculatively rather than to test it practically. For I know that alchemy has in the past reduced many rich men to poverty. But mystically this is most true: for the philosopher's stone is patience, which converts all tribulations into gold, that is, into consolations, riches, and glory both present and eternal.
Again, tribulation in the just man consumes all carnal affections, and whatever is earthly and impure in him, so that he may become pure, refined, spiritual, heavenly, and divine: "For this purpose men are smelted by tribulations, so that as vessels of election they may escape wickedness and be filled with grace," says St. Augustine in the Sentences, no. 204. Thus "poverty advanced poor Lazarus to philosophy, suffering to virtue, contempt to patience," says Chrysologus, Sermon 124. "Three things," says Ausonius, "need no recommendation to be proved or disproved: a wise speech when it is delivered, good wine when it is drunk, a good man in calamities." Beautifully St. Augustine says in his commentary on Psalm 51: "Where you are pricked, there springs the rose with which you shall be crowned." Just as the rose from thorns, so from tribulations arises consolation. Wherefore the same Augustine in the Sentences, no. 23: "By the just judgment of God," he says, "power is often given to sinners to persecute His saints, so that those who are led by the Spirit of God may become more illustrious through the exercise of labors." I have said much about the usefulness of tribulations at the end of Genesis 33.
Allegorically, this persecution of Antiochus, and the patience and constancy of the Maccabees, was a type of the persecutions of the ten Emperors, the Persians, the Goths, and the heretics; and of the constancy and triumphs of Christians in those persecutions. The first was that of Nero, around the year of the Lord 68, when Rome was burned and consumed: the Emperor Nero threw the blame for this upon foreigners, Christians, and Jews, and suddenly, after an inquiry was held, they were cruelly tormented by his order. Mockeries were added to the dying, so that, covered with the hides of wild beasts, they perished by the tearing of dogs, or were affixed to crosses, or set on fire; and when daylight had failed, they were used as torches for nighttime illumination. This first persecution of Christians took place at Rome: then it raged with equal cruelty through all the provinces. So Baronius, volume I, year 68, from Severus, book II of the History. The Emperor Domitian succeeded to the accursed inheritance of Nero's hatred of God and impiety. For he was the second who kindled the fire of persecution against Christians. For he ordered John the Evangelist to be brought from Ephesus to Rome, and commanded him to be cast into a cauldron of boiling oil before the Latin Gate: and when he came out unharmed, he banished him to the island of Patmos. So Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, book III, chapter 13, John Nauclerus, volume I, Chronicon, generation III, Baronius, year of Christ 93, volume I.
In the year of Christ 300, Diocletian in the East and Maximian Herculeus in the West conducted the tenth persecution after Nero against Christians, which, more severe than all the others, afflicted the Church unceasingly for ten years and more: and although they had always persecuted Christians before, nevertheless in the 19th year of the reign of Diocletian so cruel and savage a persecution blazed forth that within a single month 17,000 are found to have suffered martyrdom. For an edict was issued that all churches throughout the world should be razed to the ground, that the Sacred Scriptures should everywhere be burned with fire, that all who presided over churches should be put in chains, and then forced by exquisite tortures to sacrifice to the gods. And so, as Eusebius says, they seized all the leaders of the churches and the holy clergy, noble and ignoble, men and women together with children: and they tortured them with various, unheard-of, and ever more cruel punishments, as they could devise: some, wearied, gave in, while others maintained their patience to the end. So John Nauclerus, volume II of the Chronography, generation XI, from Eusebius. From these three persecutions, learn what the other seven were like.
In the year of the Lord 420, Isdegerdes, king of the Persians, stirred up a persecution against the Church, seizing the occasion from an event which I shall narrate. Bishop Audas, a man adorned with many kinds of virtue, yet inflamed with an inopportune zeal, demolished a Pyreum. For the temples in which pyr, that is, fire, their god, is worshipped, the Persians call Pyrea. When the king was informed of this through the magi, he summoned Audas: and at first he rebuked him gently, and ordered him to rebuild the Pyreum. When Audas contradicted him and declared he would not do it, the king threatened to destroy all the churches of the Christians, and he actually carried it out. For as soon as he had ordered that divine man Audas to be executed, he commanded the churches to be torn down. This storm lasted for thirty continuous years, driven as if by certain whirlwinds by the magi. Moreover, Gororanes, the son of Isdegerdes, succeeded his father both in the paternal kingdom and in the war against piety which his father had begun, for his father, dying, left these two things united to his son. The kinds of tortures and new cruelties inflicted on pious men by them can scarcely be described. For they strip the skin from the hands of some, and from the backs of others: from the heads of others, beginning at the forehead, they strip the skin down to the beard: then they bind them with strong fetters from head to foot, and press each one tightly with reeds, so that as the reeds tore at the part of the skin they touched, they would produce the bite of a sharper pain. They also dig pits, connect them with the utmost care, then enclose a huge number of mice in them; finally, they throw the athletes of piety, with their hands and feet bound so they cannot drive away the beasts, to the mice as if for food; and the mice, pressed by hunger, gradually devour the flesh of the Saints, and thus inflict a prolonged and bitter torment upon them. But even by this method they were unable to break the fortitude and constancy of the athletes. For they rushed forward of their own accord, inflamed with a great desire to meet death, through which the way to immortal life is opened. So Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History, book V, chapter 39.
Morally, we are taught many things here. First, that these afflictions are not to be feared by the Jews and other faithful, but that they come about by the judgment and counsel of God. Second, that God does not punish men in this life without measure and end, but sets a definite limit to His wrath. Third, that when men are judged by God, as St. Paul says, they are corrected by the Lord, so that they may not be condemned with this world. Fourth, that men are purified not only in the next life, but also in this one. So Maldonatus.
St. Basil says excellently in Homily 11 On Patience: "Just as a storm tests the helmsman of a ship, the arena the athlete, the battle line the soldier, calamity the magnanimous man, so temptation tests the Christian. And just as the labors of contests attract athletes with their crowns; so also the testing which descends from temptations leads Christian men to perfection, if with fitting endurance and all thanksgiving we accept those things which are ordained by the Lord. Are you poor? Do not lose heart, but place all your hope in the Lord. For He does not fail to see your distress, He has food in His hands; but yet He delays the provision, so as to test your constancy." And a little further on: "Are you ill? Bear it joyfully: because the Lord chastises the one He regards. Are you poor? Rejoice: because the blessings that were once bestowed on Lazarus shall be conferred on you. Are you disgraced for the name of Christ? O blessed are you! Because your disgrace shall be exchanged for the glory of an angel. Are you a slave? Give thanks even so: for you have someone far beneath you; give thanks, I say, that you have one thing to be grateful for, that you have not been thrown into the mill, and that you are not beaten with scourges. Have fetters been unjustly placed upon you? Sustain yourself with the hope of things to come. Have you been justly condemned? Even so, give thanks." He adds the examples of Pericles, who escorted home with a lamp the man who was reviling him; of Socrates, who inscribed on his own forehead the name of the man who was striking him; of Euclid, who, when someone threatened him with death, swore that he would appease him and make a friend out of an enemy.
Verse 36: And he shall act
36. And he shall act. — These things and what follows hereafter to the end of the chapter, Illyricus takes as referring to the Roman Pope, inasmuch as he asserts the Pope to be the Antichrist: but this is so absurd that even Calvin disapproved of it. Secondly, Calvin takes these things as referring to the king, that is, the kingdom of the Romans, which existed before and up to Christ: for the pagan Romans in that vast and proud empire of theirs worshipped gods and idols only in appearance, but in reality worshipped only one god, Maozim, that is, their own strength, prudence, and military fortune: as even now do faithless and worldly kings and princes, who say: My right hand is my god, and the weapon and the missile I hurl. See what was said at Ezekiel 29:3. Mars therefore and arms were their god Maozim: for gradually from empires and kings Daniel descends, in his customary manner, to Christ, the King of kings, of whom he treats in the following chapter. But this too is forced and violent, as is clear: for the angel here is not treating of the Romans, but of Antiochus and the Antichrist. Thirdly, therefore, the Catholics, both now and in ancient times, as St. Jerome and Theodoret attest, teach that this passage treats not of Antiochus, but of the Antichrist, the antitype of Antiochus: for in prophetic fashion the angel here soars to the Antichrist; for he treats of him expressly in the following chapter, verses 1 and 2.
But I say with Chrysostom and Maldonatus: The angel, as he began, so he continues in recounting the deeds of Antiochus, as is clear from the very connection and context of these verses; but in such a way that he only touches upon them in passing and lightly, and alludes to them parabolically as to a type, rather than describing them exactly: but in reality, under the guise of Antiochus, he describes the Antichrist and his ways. So Christ, in Matthew 24-25, passes from the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and soars to the destruction of the world. So Isaiah, chapter 14, treats of the king of Babylon as if of Lucifer: whence he says some things that more befit the king, and others that more befit Lucifer himself. See Canon IV. That this is so will be evident in what follows.
And he shall prosper. — In Hebrew vaiatsliach, that is, and he shall prosper, meaning that in a certain way Antiochus, and after him the Antichrist, will overcome God Himself — not by their own strength, but because God will allow Himself to be overcome, on account of the sins of the people, as was said in chapter 8:19. See also 2 Maccabees 6:12. Until the wrath is accomplished (until the wrath of God, provoked by the sins of His people, is satisfied; until God completes His indignation and vengeance; whereupon He will in turn rage against the enormous crimes of both Antiochus and, still more, of the Antichrist, whose type he was. For) the decree has been determined (that is, this has been decided and decreed by God) — that is, this fixed prescription of time, meaning that this time has been predetermined in the foreknowledge and predestination of God for his punishment.
Until the appointed time (until this storm passes, and ceases at the time predetermined by God): because there will yet be another time — namely of rest and joy after so much mourning and death, that is, take heart, hope, after the clouds comes the sun. In Hebrew it reads: until the end of the time, because still for the appointed time (the persecution will last), that is, this persecution will not cease until the time prescribed by God for punishing, testing, and purifying the Jews has passed.
Blessed Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe, whose most learned works are extant, having first fled the Moors who were persecuting him, fell in with the Arians, and having experienced their savage cruelty, returned to places near his own province, choosing rather to have the pagan Moors as neighbors than the most troublesome Arians. So the author of his Life records. Around the year of the Lord 770, under Constantine Copronymus the iconoclast, forty-two monks had their noses cut off and their beards smeared with pitch and set on fire, were shut up in the vault of a bath, and there, consumed by hunger, were crowned with martyrdom, as the Chronicle of Sigebert records, year of the Lord 770, and the Roman Martyrology, January 12. Macedonius the heresiarch, under the Emperor Constantius, killed Catholics tortured with unheard-of kinds of torment. Among other things, he had the breasts of faithful women crushed between the jaws of chests and cut off, and burned with red-hot iron. So the Roman Martyrology, March 30. The Eutychians of Alexandria, immediately after the death of the Catholic Emperor Marcian, killed their Catholic Bishop and Patriarch Proterius with other clergy with such cruelty that they tasted his entrails and ate his raw flesh, dragging the rest of his body through the streets of the city. So Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History, book II, chapter 9. See more in our d'Aurout in the Catechism, chapter On the Persecutions of the Faithful.
These are the deeds of the ancients, whom our own contemporaries of this age have not surpassed, whether in the cruelty of executioners or in the constancy of martyrs — those of England, France, and Belgium, as is clear from the Theater of Heretical Cruelty. Hear one illustrious case out of many. At Delft, a city of Holland, Cornelius Musius was captured, and by order of William, Prince of Orange, was tortured in various ways: he was hung by his bound hands from a very tall ladder, and an intolerable weight was tied to his feet, so that all his joints were dislocated: then his armpits were burned with blazing torches. Soon he was bound on his back, boiling water was poured into his mouth, and his entire belly was filled with it; then they beat his belly with clubs until all the water flowed out from every opening of his body. Afterward, with his head turned downward, he was hung by the two great toes of his feet: then, with the fingers of his hands and feet cut off, he was dragged through snow stained with his own blood to the city of Leiden, and at last, after so many tortures, was hanged by a noose. So the Belgian Annals, and from them Thomas Bozius, volume I, On the Signs of the Church, book 11, chapter 1.
Note: In the Hebrew these words can be joined to what follows, and thus translated in the opposite way with the Septuagint: And concerning the desire of women, and concerning every god, he shall not understand (the Syriac has, he shall not consider); because he shall be magnified above all. They can also be joined to what precedes, and thus translated with Vatablus: He shall not care even for the gods of his fathers, nor for the desire of women.
Verse 37: And he shall not regard the God of his fathers
37. And he shall not regard the God of his fathers. — Not that Antiochus did not worship the ancestral gods, for he compelled the Jews to worship them; but because he despised and persecuted the God of the Jews, whom nevertheless his predecessors, the kings of Syria, had so venerated that, although they still retained their idols, they adorned the temple at Jerusalem with many gifts and supplied the costs for the sacrifices, as is clear from 2 Maccabees 3:2. So from Polychronius and Cardinal Hugo, Maldonatus. Secondly and properly, Antiochus, being most proud, made little of the gods of his fathers, as I shall say presently. This will be truer of the Antichrist, who will sit in the temple and wish to be worshipped as god. About the Antichrist, his doctrine, morals, empire, miracles, etc., I have said much at 2 Thessalonians 2. I shall therefore not repeat it here.
And he shall be given to the lusts of women. — Which first St. Jerome and others explain thus, that is, the Antichrist, although in secret he will be most impure, will nevertheless outwardly display great chastity, and will pretend to abhor the lust of women, and will know the saying: If not chastely, at least cautiously. Secondly and more aptly, that is, Antiochus and the Antichrist, although they will be womanizers, nevertheless their ambition and cruelty will exceed their lust, to such an extent that they will care neither for women nor for gods when it comes to extending their honor and empire, as I said of Pompey, Caesar, and Antony at chapter 2:43. Indeed, they will be so cruel that they will have no regard even for women, who in war are usually spared: for Antiochus killed Jewish women equally with men, as is clear from 2 Maccabees 5:13. So Maldonatus.
But our Translator more aptly and truly separates and distinguishes these words, and translates them affirmatively: And he shall be given to the lusts of women; because it is certain that Antiochus was publicly a womanizer; and the Antichrist will be even more so. Whence the Jews also, among other earthly goods, expect a multitude of wives from their Messiah. Hence both Arabic versions translate: And he shall do according to his will with women. Wherefore absurdly, even with Calvin himself as witness, Illyricus refers these words to the celibacy imposed on the clergy by the Church, as if this were the dogma and decree of the Antichrist, that is, of the Pope, as he imagines. Nor shall he care for any of the gods. — These words weakly fit Antiochus: partly because he did not care for the God of the Jews, who alone is truly God, but persecuted Him with hostility — so Maldonatus, as though the angel here opposed all false gods to the true God, so that whoever does not care for Him should be said to care for no god at all; and more especially because, swollen with pride, he made little of his own gods and attributed more to himself and his own strength than to the gods themselves, thinking that he depended on no one, and that like God he could rule at will, not only over men, but also over the sea and mountains, as is said in 2 Maccabees 9:8; for thus worldly and atheistic men care for no God, and indeed deny all Divinity. That Antiochus therefore ordered a statue of Jupiter Olympius to be placed in the temple of the Jews, he did not so much out of religion and devotion to Jupiter, as to profane the temple of the Jews and overthrow the worship of God. But these things fully and perfectly apply to the Antichrist, as I shall say presently.
Verse 38: But the god Maozim he shall worship in his place
38. But the god Maozim he shall worship in his place. — Ignorantly, Porphyry, says St. Jerome, thought Maozim was Modin, which was the homeland of Mattathias and the Maccabees. Note: Maozim in Hebrew means "strengths," fortresses, garrisons, as Theodotion, Aquila, the Syriac, Arabic, Vatablus, and others translate: and so our Translator understands it in the following verse. Symmachus translates "refuges." Antiochus therefore built a citadel in Jerusalem, and in it and other cities placed strong garrisons, which in Hebrew were called Maozim: and from there Jupiter Olympius,
the same is clear from 2 Thessalonians 2:4, as I said there; thirdly, that nevertheless he will secretly worship his demon, by the name Maozim. Whence it is clear how absurdly the Reformers slander, when they assert that the Roman Pope is the Antichrist: for the Popes have done and do none of these things. Hippolytus relates, in the book On the Consummation of the Age, that the Antichrist will send his envoys, both men
as is clear from 1 Maccabees 1:57. Thus in the temple at Jerusalem he placed the statue of Jupiter Olympius, by which he wished the capital city of the kingdom to be protected, just as Rome was protected by Jupiter of the Capitol. So Maldonatus. Similarly Jeroboam, fearing that the people would return to the temple and to Rehoboam, set up golden calves in Dan and Bethel.
untouched; because there the saints will flee to the deserts, and to the mountains, and to the caves. The chief of the children of Ammon. — For "chief," in Greek it is aparche, that is, the first fruits or leadership, meaning the princes, or the chief, that is, the better and best part (the Syriac has, the remnant, or the remains) of the Ammonites, will also escape his hand.
with hyacinth, scarlet, and gems, just as the Ephod of the high priest was made: which the Italians call by a similar word: Padiglione di seta e d'oro (a pavilion of silk and gold). St. Jerome places Apadno near Nicopolis, which was formerly called Emmaus, where the mountains of Judea begin, and Adrichomius locates Apadno there in his Geographic Tables. But they seem to assign it there not from the history or topography of the ancients, but from the fact that Daniel here places the name Apadno between two seas: wherefore if, with those who understand these things only of the Antichrist, you take Apadno as a proper name, you would more aptly and truly say that these names Maozim and Apadno have not yet been given to their places, but will be given in the time of the Antichrist from the event, when he will there place either his throne or the idol of his demon Maozim. In like manner, the place where the Antichrist will be slain with his followers is not yet so called; but it will then be called from the event, namely from the slaughter of the Antichrist, Armageddon, that is, the destruction of destruction, that is, utter destruction, horma, or anathema, Revelation 16:16.
Verse 45: And he shall pitch his tabernacle Apadno
45. And he shall pitch his tabernacle Apadno. — Porphyry supposed that Apadno was on Mount Elymaeus, which is situated in Elymais between two seas, that is, great rivers, namely between the Tigris and the Euphrates: and that therefore Antiochus pitched his tent there; and when he wanted to plunder the temple of Diana in that place, he was driven away by the inhabitants and perished from grief. But St. Jerome rightly rejects this. For this mountain is not holy, nor in Judea, nor between two seas: for rivers are not seas. By the same reasoning is refuted the conjecture of certain others that Apadno is padan, that is, Mesopotamia, so called because it is in the middle of two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates; for pasan in Hebrew means the same as "equal" or "twin." Or else that it is Babylon, which is near Mesopotamia where the Tigris and Euphrates meet. For they think the Antichrist will either be born in Babylon or will reign there. Better is St. Jerome: Apadno, he says, is not a proper name, but a common noun, meaning his palace, or his seat or throne, as the Chaldean translates, Jeremiah 43:10. Whence Vatablus translates: And he shall plant the tents of his palace between two seas; and Symmachus and the Septuagint omit Apadno. The angel therefore signifies, not that Antiochus will build a palace in Jerusalem or Judea, but that he will capture it by war: for to pitch one's tent in some city means to capture it by war; for the word tent is a military term. So Maldonatus. To this agree the Syriac and Arabic, which likewise take Apadno as a common noun, derived from the Syriac padan, meaning "two, equal." For from this Mesopotamia is called in Hebrew Padan Aram, that is, Syria which lies between two rivers, namely the Tigris and the Euphrates. Whence one might suspect that Apadno is in Mesopotamia. Moreover, the Syriac and Arabic translate this passage thus: And he shall pitch his tent in a level place (equal, flat) between the sea and the mountain, and shall guard his holiness, and the time of his end shall come, and there shall be none to help him.
Secondly and more probably, Apadno seems to be a proper name of a place in Judea, to be so called from the throne of the Antichrist, which he will set up there; whence not only St. Jerome, but also Theodotion and Aquila translate "in Apadno"; and all write Apadno with a capital A, as if it were a proper name of a place. Marinus of Brescia in his Lexicon thinks Apadno alludes to the Ephod (for both are derived from the same root), that is, it will be precious like the Ephod, ornate; for it will be made of purple, fine linen, hyacinth, scarlet, and gems.
Between the seas. — So the Hebrew, the Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the Roman Latin Bible; although the Complutensian reads "between two seas," namely in Judea, and perhaps in Jerusalem, which is situated between two seas, namely between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. So St. Jerome and Theodoret. The angel signifies that Antiochus, and much more the Antichrist, will rule over all of Judea, from one sea to the other.
Upon the glorious and holy mountain. — For this mountain is either the mountain of the temple, namely Zion and Moriah; or the Mount of Olives, says St. Jerome, from which the Antichrist is thought to intend to ascend into heaven; but he will be cast down by the angel and slain, and no one will be able to help him. Hence it seems that Apadno and the tent of the Antichrist will not be near Nicopolis, as St. Jerome would have it, but rather on Zion, or the Mount of Olives.
And he shall come even to the summit thereof (of Mount Zion and the temple), and none shall help him — namely the mountain and the temple, says Maldonatus, that is, Antiochus, and much more the Antichrist, will capture Jerusalem and Mount Zion; and neither God nor men will defend it; as Antiochus is clear to have done from the books of Maccabees. But others generally explain "him" as referring to Antiochus or the Antichrist: for Antiochus, having captured and profaned Zion, was struck by God the avenger with a lethal disease, and no one could help him; much more will the Antichrist capture Jerusalem and Zion, and will there establish his palace and throne, as is clear from Revelation 11:8; and near it he will be slain, and no one will be able to help him, as I said a little before. For the prophets speak concisely as if in ecstasy, and therefore pass over many things in silence: so here the defeat and slaughter of the Antichrist are passed over. Whence Vatablus translates: When his end comes, namely the end of the kingdom and life of the Antichrist: No one shall help him.
Note: In Revelation 19:11 and following, St. John saw Christ seated on a white horse, wielding a sword from His mouth, and having on His head many diadems, and a garment sprinkled with blood, coming forth from heaven with heavenly hosts, and seizing the Antichrist with his false prophet alive and casting them into hell; and killing Gog and Magog, and all the soldiers of the Antichrist, with the sword that proceeded from His mouth.
Lactantius, book VII, chapters 17 and 18, seems to assert that this descent of Christ, the sword, the battle, etc., will literally come to pass just as they sound. Hear him: "When these things are thus happening," he says, "the just and the followers of truth will separate themselves from the wicked, and will flee into the deserts. Thither the impious king, inflamed with rage, will come with a great army, and bringing all his forces will surround the mountain on which the just will be dwelling, in order to capture them. But they, when they see themselves shut in and besieged on all sides, will cry out to God with a loud voice, and will implore heavenly aid. Moved by their critical danger and pitiful lamentation, God will immediately send a liberator. Then the midst of heaven will be opened in the dead of a dark night, so that throughout the whole world the light of the descending God may appear like lightning. Before He descends, He will give this sign: a sword will suddenly fall from heaven, so that the just may know that the leader of the holy army is about to descend: and he will descend accompanied by angels into the midst of the earth. And the power of the angels will deliver into the hands of the just that multitude which had surrounded the mountain, and they shall be cut down from the third hour until evening, and blood will flow like a torrent, and when all the forces have been destroyed, the impious one alone will escape, and his power will depart from him. This is he who is called the Antichrist: but he will falsely claim to be Christ, and will fight against the true one, and being defeated will flee, and will often renew the war, and will often be conquered, until in the fourth battle, all the impious having been destroyed, he is finally vanquished and captured and pays the penalty for his crimes."
But it seems more truly that these things were shown symbolically to John, merely signifying the authority, dominion, and command of Christ, by which He Himself, remaining in heaven, through Michael, as His general, accompanied by other angels, will strike and blast the Antichrist with an immense light as with lightning, and so will deprive him of all strength, power, and life, and will cast him down to hell. That this is so is clear, first, because it is certain that the things said there about the opened heaven, the white horses, the diadems of Christ and His garment sprinkled with blood, and the title written on His thigh: "King of kings, and Lord of lords," will not literally come to pass, but were only shown symbolically through a vision to John to represent the mysteries of Christ, which I explained in my commentary on Revelation 19; therefore the rest also, since they are similar, must be understood symbolically, not as literally going to happen. With a similar device the Psalmist, in Psalm 17 (18), symbolically and poetically describes God borne on clouds, armed with hail, thunder, lightning, etc., descending to crush His impious enemies.
Secondly, because the Apostle says in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 that Christ will kill the Antichrist not with a sword, but with the spirit, that is, by the command of His mouth, and by the "brightness," that is, by the radiance preceding and announcing "His coming." For by this radiance, like a lightning bolt sent from heaven — whether by Himself or rather through Michael — He will strike down and consume the Antichrist. Thirdly, because Daniel, chapter 12:1, says that then Michael will arise in battle for Christ and for Christians. Just as therefore a king wages war and destroys the enemy through his general: so Christ will destroy the Antichrist through Michael, for he is the guardian of the Church, and therefore the general of Christ. Whence also in Revelation 12, he is placed as the leader of the Christian war, in which he will fight at the end of the world against Lucifer and the Antichrist for Christ and Christians, and will rout the Antichrist. Fourthly, because St. Peter, in Acts 3:21, teaches that Christ, after His ascension into heaven, will remain there, and will not visibly descend from it except on the day of judgment when He will restore all things: therefore He will not descend to kill the Antichrist. For the Antichrist will be killed many days, and perhaps weeks and months, before the day of judgment, as I will show in the following chapter, verses 11 and 12.
Fifthly, the right ordering of divine providence requires this. For God is accustomed to execute His judgments through angels; for they are His ministering spirits, Hebrews 1:13. The contrary would befit neither Christ nor the Antichrist; for why would Christ, God, and Lord of all, descend from heaven with so many legions of angels and saints to destroy the Antichrist, who will be a wretched and worthless little man, whom He can kill, indeed annihilate, with a single breath, or even a nod? Why so many legions of angels, standing ready like soldiers at His every command, one of whom suffices to destroy many thousands of men? Sixthly, because the Sibyl, in book III, predicts that the Antichrist will be blasted by heavenly fire, namely lightning, when she says: "When a burning power (namely fire and a mighty thunderbolt) shall come flooding upon the earth, it shall burn Beliar and the proud men, all who put their trust in him." For Beliar (that is, Belial: for the letter l is sometimes changed to r) that is, the most impious man, without yoke, without restraint and law, is the Antichrist.
It is proved first: Christ will kill the Antichrist not with a sword, but with the spirit, that is, by the command of His mouth, and by the "brightness," that is, by the radiance preceding and announcing His coming. For by this radiance, like a lightning bolt sent from heaven, whether by Himself or rather through Michael, He will strike down and blast the Antichrist, and thus deprive him of all strength, power, and life, and cast him down to hell.
Note secondly: The Antichrist, to prove that he is Christ, like an ape of Christ, will pretend to die and after death to rise to life, as is clear from Revelation 13:12. Hear St. Gregory, book XI, epistle 4: "Coming into the world, the Antichrist will command that the Sabbath day and the Lord's Day be observed free from all work. For because he will pretend to die and to rise again, he will command the Lord's Day to be held in veneration: and because he will compel the people to follow Jewish practices (so as to appear to be the Messiah promised to the Jews), to revive the rites of the Mosaic law, and to subject the faithlessness of the Jews to himself, he will force the observance of the Sabbath day. After this feigned and hypocritical resurrection, before the whole people he will ascend the Mount of Olives (as Daniel here signifies), wishing
and like Christ to ascend into heaven, from which he will falsely claim to have originally descended: and the demons, assuming the appearance of angels, will lift him up in the air, while all marvel and acclaim his divinity, says Pererius. But soon he will be cast down into hell by Christ through Michael. Whence Haymo on Isaiah 11: "The Antichrist will be killed," he says, "as the doctors teach, on the Mount of Olives, in his pavilion and on his throne, in that place opposite which the Lord (Christ) ascended into heaven."