Antiochus Epiphanes

Antiochus Epiphanes: Pre-Type of the Antichirst

Which Antiochus was a type of the modern vile person? There were many different individuals named Antiochus.

Antiochus Epiphanes is the type. He was a ruler in the down-sized Greco-Macedonian Empire. His original plan was to attack Egypt. However the leaders in Rome told him to leave Egypt alone. So instead Antiochus took Jerusalem. However this was without warfare. Through treachery he managed to get the people he knew to open the gates of the city. He used peace, not war, to gain power. He elevated himself quickly in power. When he had possession of most of the city he killed many of the opposition party. He plundered the city. He trashed the temple. He took all the treasures out of the temple. He placed an idol (Jupiter or Zeus) upon the altar of God and sacrificed a pig. He identified himself with Jupiter, which is representative of Nimrod, the first powerful ungodly politician. Antiochus made the Jews build idol altars and sacrifice pigs. He required everyone to worship his god. He commanded the Jews not to circumcise their children. He outlawed the Sabbath. Many of the Jews did not obey his commands and many of them gave their lives for their religion. Some of the mothers were crucified when it was discovered that their sons had been circumcised. The mothers and the sons would both be killed. Any people with scriptures in their possession were also killed.

Antiochus appointed supervisors among the Jews, especially the ones that were betraying their God voluntarily. Those who did not submit to Antiochus and his commands were crucified or torn in pieces.

On one occasion, when Antiochus wanted to begin the religious ceremonies he was requiring, he wanted a prominent citizen to be the first to sacrifice a pig on the altar. Mattathias was chosen to be the one to sacrifice. Antiochus expected that others would follow the example of Mattathias. However Mattathias refused to perform the sacrifice. Then another Jew came and performed the sacrifice. When Mattathias saw this he and his sons ran over to the man performing the sacrifice and killed him. They also killed one of the king’s cronies. Then they fled to the desert. Others also fled with them. When the king’s generals found there were people living in the desert they went out and tried to persuade then to repent. They refused and many of them were killed by the military.

The Samaritans saw the suffering the Jews were going through. So they allied themselves with Antiochus. They basically claimed they had disassociated themselves with the Jews and that they considered the observance of the Sabbath as a superstition. They also requested that their temple be named Jupiter Hellenius. Antiochus granted their request. In a letter to Antiochus the Samaritans addressed him as “king Antiochus the god Epiphanes.” He was indeed a type of the modern vile person yet to come!

The opposing forces, led by the sons of Mattathias, were eventually victorious. But by that time the Temple of God had been deserted for over three years. Judas (son of Mattathias) took over the temple and purified it.

Copyright © 1999 Wily Elder, AFSS Corp., 3512 E Silver Sp Blvd, PMB 246, Ocala, FL 34470, United States.

References:

Arndt, William F., and Gingrich, F. Wilbur, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, London, England: University of Chicago Press, Ltd., 1957.

Bettenson, Henry, Documents of the Christian Church, London, Oxford University Press, 1943.

Bullinger Publications Trust, The Companion Bible, London, England: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1974.

Josephus, Flavius, Antiquities of The Jews, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kregel Publications, 1981. Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux, LL.D., Gesenius' Hebrew and Caldee Lexicon, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House Company, 1979.

Vaughan, Th.D., General Editor, The Word, The Bible From 26 Translations, Gulfport, MS, Mathis Publishers, 1988.

Vine, W.E., Unger, Merril F., and White, William Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1968.

Wigram, George V., The Englishman's Hebrew Concordance of the Old Testament, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, MA, 1997. The original concordance without Strong's numbers was printed by Samuel Bagster and Sons, London, 1874.

-- wilyelder

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