by
Damien F. Mackey
‘Woe to the nations that rise up against my
people!
The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on
them in the day of judgement;
he will send fire and worms into their
flesh; they shall weep in pain for ever’.
Judith 16:17
After the
victory of Judith, in the neo-Assyrian era, this will be the fate also of king
Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ - upon whom I intend to focus in this article - and of
King Herod
(Acts
12:23): “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck [Herod] down,
because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and
breathed his last”.
For a range
of reasons, I have selected king Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ - whom I have previously
identified now in various articles with the Grecophile emperor Hadrian:
Antiochus
‘Epiphanes’ and Emperor Hadrian
(2) Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ and Emperor
Hadrian
as the
ill-fated King of Tyre about whom Ezekiel prophesied:
The
Fallen King of Tyre
In the
Introduction to that last article I wrote:
The tyrannical Seleucid
king, Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ so-called IV, when extended with his alter
ego, as the Grecophile (Graeculus) emperor Hadrian,
strikingly ticks some, at least, of the prophet Ezekiel’s main boxes concerning
the fallen King of Tyre.
For Antiochus
‘Epiphanes’:
·
Was associated with the city of Tyre.
·
He, despite his bright start, became more and more corrupt and
violent.
·
He was immensely wealthy, and he built on a gargantuan scale.
·
He stood in Eden (Jerusalem), in the Temple of Yahweh;
·
Accompanied by an anointed cherub, the priest Menelaus.
·
He began to imagine himself as a god.
·
His fall was sudden and dreadful.
….
The last point: His fall was sudden and dreadful, is the one that will interest me here. It was so singularly
disgusting, and public, that I think it may greatly serve to strengthen my identification
of Ezekiel’s “King of Tyre” with Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’.
Thus, I wrote:
….
7. A disgusting, horrific, sudden death
“Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings.
By your many sins and
dishonest trade
you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I made a fire come out from you,
and it consumed you,
and I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of all who were watching.
All the nations who knew you
are appalled at you;
you have come to a horrible end
and will be no more”.
Ezekiel
28:17-19
Daniel 11:45:
He will pitch
his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet
he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
2 Maccabees 9:1-29:
The
Lord Punishes Antiochus
About this
time Antiochus was retreating in disorder from Persia, where he had
entered the city of Persepolis and had attempted to rob a temple and take
control of the city. The people took up arms and attacked Antiochus, forcing
his army to retreat in disgrace. When he reached Ecbatana, he
was told what had happened to the forces of Nicanor and Timothy. He became
furious and decided to make the Jews pay for the defeat he had suffered. So he
ordered his chariot driver not to stop until they reached Jerusalem. With great
arrogance he said,
I will turn
Jerusalem into a graveyard full of Jews.
But he did
not know that he was heading straight for God's judgment. In
fact, as soon as he had said these words, the all-seeing Lord, the God of
Israel, struck him down with an invisible but fatal blow. He was seized with
sharp intestinal pains for which there was no relief— a fitting punishment
for the man who had tortured others in so many terrible ways! But this in
no way caused him to give up his pride. Instead he became more arrogant than
ever, and breathing out fiery threats against the Jews, he gave orders to drive
even faster. As a result he fell out of his chariot with such a thud that it
made every bone in his body ache. His arrogant pride made him think he had
the superhuman strength to make ocean waves obey him and to weigh high
mountains on a pair of scales. But suddenly he fell flat on the ground and had
to be carried off on a stretcher, a clear sign to everyone of God's
power. Even the eyes of this godless man were crawling with worms and he
lived in terrible pain and agony. The stink was so bad that his entire army was
sickened, and no one was able to come close enough to carry him around.
Yet only a short while before, he thought he could take hold of the stars.
Antiochus
Makes a Promise to God
Antiochus was
deeply depressed and suffered constant pain because of the punishment that God
had brought on him, so he finally came to his senses and gave up his arrogant
pride. Then, when he could no longer endure his own stink, he said,
It is right
that all mortals should be subject to God and not think that they are his
equal.
The time of
the Lord's mercy had come to an end for Antiochus, but this worthless man made
the Lord a promise: I once intended to level Jerusalem to the ground and make
that holy city a graveyard full of Jews, he said, but now I declare it a free
city. I had planned to throw out the dead bodies of the Jews and their
children for the wild animals and the birds to eat, for I did not consider them
worth burying. But now I intend to grant them the same privileges as the
citizens of Athens enjoy. I once looted the Temple and took its sacred
utensils, but I will fill it with splendid gifts and with better utensils than
before, and I will pay the cost of the sacrifices from my own
resources. Besides all this, I will become a Jew myself and go wherever
people live, telling them of God's power.
Antiochus’
Letter to the Jews
Antiochus was
in despair and could find no relief from his pain, because God was punishing
him as he deserved, so he wrote the following letter to the Jews:
King
Antiochus to the Jews, my most distinguished subjects. Warm greetings and best
wishes for your health and prosperity.
I hope that
you and your families are in good health and that all goes well with you. My
hope is in God, and I remember with a deep sense of joy the respect and
kindness that you have shown me.
On my way
home from Persia I fell violently ill, and so I thought it best to begin making
plans for the general welfare of the people. I have not given up hopes of
getting well; in fact I am fully confident that I will recover. But I
recall that my father used to appoint a successor whenever he went on a
military campaign east of the Euphrates. He did this so that if something
unexpected happened, or if some bad news came back, then his subjects would not
be afraid, for they knew who had been left in command. Also, I know how
the rulers along the frontiers of my kingdom are constantly on the lookout for
any opportunity that may come along. That is why I have appointed my son
Antiochus to succeed me as king. I have frequently entrusted him to your care
and recommended him to you when I went on my regular visits to the provinces
east of the Euphrates. (He is receiving a copy of the letter which
follows.) Now I strongly urge each of you to keep in mind the good things
that I have done for you, both individually and as a nation, and to continue in
your good will toward me and my son. I am confident that he will treat you
with fairness and kindness, just as I have always done.
And so, this
murderer, who had cursed God, suffered the same terrible agonies he had brought
on others, and then died a miserable death in the mountains of a foreign
land. One of his close friends, Philip, took his body home; but, because
he was afraid of Antiochus’ son, he went on to King Ptolemy Philometor of
Egypt.
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