Smoodock's Blog

In my previous study we saw that the corruption of the high priesthood had become so prevalent that the Temple duties of the priests had been ignored in favor of spending time in the gymnasium, bowing to Hellenism. In other words, the desire to become like the nations around them was so intensified among the Jews that true worship of God had been virtually abandoned. In fact, to accentuate his displeasure with his people, the Lord brought the vile Antiochus Epiphanes to Jerusalem, where he sacrificed swine’s flesh upon the brazen altar in the Temple, polluting it and officially ending worship in the Place where God had put his name

Howbeit the Lord didn’t choose the nation for the Place’s sake, but the Place for the nation’s sake. Wherefore also the Place itself, having partaken in the calamities that befell the nation, did afterward share in its benefits; and the Place which was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was, at the reconciliation of the great Sovereign, restored again with all glory (2Maccabees 5:19-20).

In other words, as the people go, so goes the Temple of God. Therefore, the abomination that polluted the Temple occurred long before the official deed of Antiochus Epiphanes. The religious revolution among the dueling high priests at this time had taken away the hearts of the people from God and caused them to seek to become like the nations around them, thus, ignoring the Covenant they had made with the Lord, and in the wake of the events that occurred, caused men of valor to revolt against Antiochus, which eventually ended in self-rule through a Maccabean high priesthood.

What occurred was Antiochus, through the efforts of Jason and Menelaus, sought to bring the Jews under the same laws of the gentiles, Hellenizing them through the abandonment of their covenant with God through Moses. This is what the text referred to as “the abomination that makes desolate” (Daniel 11:31). Temple worship had become spiritually desolate, and, if left unchecked, would bring total destruction of the Temple, as had become the case during the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and would be, later, in the days of Vespasian, Caesar, in AD 70. So, “the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong for resisting all temptation to apostatize, and work effectually” (Daniel 11:32). In the context of this study, this refers to Mattathias (Maccabees), the priest, and his descendants who waged guerrilla warfare against Antiochus and his Syrian army. The Maccabees are, perhaps, better known as the Hasmonaeans, because Mattathias’ great-great-grandfather was called Hasmoneus, which refers to “the princes that shall come out of Egypt” (Psalm 68:31).

The Maccabees or the Hasmonaeans are referred to as “the wise among the people” (Daniel 11:33). They would be the ones who would instruct and inspire the people to take up arms against Antiochus. They weren’t a professional army, and by no means a match for the Syrian army, and some important figures like Judas Maccabees would fall in battle. Yet they would be helped a little by the people and avoid annihilation. Nevertheless, perhaps due to internal problems, Antiochus signed a treaty with Jonathan Maccabees, Judas’ brother, sons of Mattathias, and permitted the Jews to rule themselves under the governorship of the Hasmonaean princes/priests, and they would rule until the time of the end (Daniel 11:34-35).

At this point, the chronology of unbroken events seems to stop. No one seems to fit in with verse-36 and onward during the period of history that follows Antiochus Epiphanes. For this reason, verses-36 through 45 are believed to be yet future, forecasting the times of the very end of human history, just prior to the Second Coming of Christ. However, the times of the Maccabees begin here, which is a period of self-rule, and a pause from the Jews’ servitude under the Kings of the North and the Kings of the South occurs. This is a period of self-rule in Israel, unbroken until the time of the “willful king” of verse-36. Who is he? He is identified as the ruler in authority, when the Hasmonaean line ends, and this is none other than Herod the Great!