Chapter 6
On the death of Antiochus and the succession of his son, who sent an army to wage war against Judas and is defeated: he grants peace deceitfully, which he soon breaks; it is said that he made use of elephants in the wars.
6:1 And King Antiochus went through the upper regions, etc.
After the many works of wickedness that Antiochus committed in the holy place and among the people of God, he was justly destroyed by divine judgment, as he himself confirms in what follows, saying that he had come to know that these evils had found him out on account of those deeds, and that for that reason he would perish in sorrow in a foreign land. Although Polybius of Megalopolis, the historian, as Josephus bears witness, writes only that he perished because he wished to devastate the temple of Diana in Persia, yet this opinion is in no way accepted by the faithful, who know that all the gods of the nations are demons, and that the idols of the gentiles are silver and gold, the work of human hands (Ps. 135:15). But because he swelled with pride against the almighty Lord, he received fitting punishment; so also will all the wicked, and likewise, in the end, that new son of perdition himself, who exalts himself above everything that is called God or is worshiped (2 Thess. 2:4), of whom Antiochus was a type here, on account of the works of wickedness that he will commit, will perish under the judgment of the heavenly Visitor, whom the Lord Jesus, according to the words of Paul, will slay with the breath of his mouth (2 Thess. 2:8), and will destroy by the brightness of his coming. Therefore Antiochus here holds the role of a type of the persecutors of Christ and the Church.
6:16 And King Antiochus died there in the one hundred and forty-ninth year, etc.
It is not surprising that from a cruel father a savage son was born, who imitated the wicked deeds of his most wicked father. Of him the Lord says in the Gospel to the elders and the proud among the Jews: You are of your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father; for he was a murderer from the beginning (Jn. 8:44). And rightly the son of a murderer plans to commit murder, not only bodily but also spiritual, that is, the destruction of souls which die in sin and wickedness.
6:18 And those who were in the citadel had confined Israel around their holy ones, etc.
But who are those who in the citadel were shutting in Israel around their own people and were always seeking evil for them to the strengthening of the nations, if not those who, raising themselves up in the citadel of pride, persecute true religion so that they may suffocate the word of God and restore error and idolatry? Against them Judas prepares to do battle, because the whole purpose of the holy teachers especially strives to arrange this: that errors may be driven out and that errors may be overcome by the preeminence of truth. But stirred by this zeal, certain people from the nations, such as the philosophers, and certain also from the ungodly in Israel, who are the heretics, provoke the dominion of this world to hatred of the servants of God, so that, helped by this support, they may be able to exalt their wickedness more easily. Therefore it is read that these, approaching the king, said to him:
6:22-28 How long will you fail to render judgment and avenge the brothers of the city? We resolved to serve your father and to walk in his commandments, and to obey his words; and the sons of our people on this account alienated themselves from us, and whoever of us was found was killed, and our inheritances were plundered, and they did not stretch out their hand against us only, but against all our borders. And the king was angered when he heard these things and summoned all his friends and the leaders of his army, etc.
The typical Antiochus gathers an army not only from his own people, but also from foreigners, because the savagery of persecutors, not content with internal revolt, also rouses enormous wars from outside against the servants of Christ. They form infantry, arrange cavalry, prepare elephants, so that nothing may be lacking to their cruelty; but whatever wickedness can conceive, all massacre prepares. But figuratively, just as foot soldiers and horsemen can represent officers and executioners, so also elephants, because of the enormity of their bodies and the cruelty of their spirits, can represent the arrogance of princes; and it is fitting that they showed the blood of the grape and of the mulberry to the beasts to inflame their anger, because in the shedding of the blood of the martyrs the savagery of the persecutors was stirred up. And it is well said that
6:35 a thousand men in chain-linked breastplates and bronze helmets on their heads stood by each elephant, and five hundred horsemen were assigned to each beast:
for many are those who, by flattery, favor princes; whose chain-linked breastplates mean that they are entangled with one another in the deceits of wicked counsel; and they have a bronze helmet on their heads when they surround their minds with the hardness of iniquity; and there the horsemen are arranged, because the puffing up of pride will not be lacking where, through lack of mercy, the equality of common nature is not considered, but the vanity of worldly favor is sought. And the wooden towers, which, placed upon the beasts, contained thirty men within them, express the delicateness of that power by which persecutors always trust that they prevail over the martyrs. And it is rightly said:
6:37-38 Inside was the master of the beast and the rest of the horsemen on either side ,
because the cruelty of the minds that devised all this evil was burning within the hearts of the persecutors, which is the activity of pride, but outwardly it was stained in the torture of the innocent. And with these things therefore arranged, Judas set his army and resolved to exhort it, because holy preachers, when they engage in the wars of persecution, do not cease by words to strengthen the spirits of their hearers; and although earthly glory shines in worldly display, and although varied kinds of torments blaze in tortures, yet the martyrs of Christ remain unshaken, and, clinging to the side of their judge, Judas of course in the spiritual sense, they conquer and cast down the boldness of the wicked.
6:43 And Eleazar the son of Saura saw one of the beasts armored with the king’s armor, etc.
Now it should be noted that Josephus asserts Eleazar to be the brother of Judah, about whom it was narrated above that he was one of the five sons of Mattathias called by this name. But it can be asked how he is said to be the son of Saura, if he was the son of Mattathias, unless perhaps Mattathias himself was called Saura by another name. And what is signified by Eleazar, who, killing the elephant, fell in death, if not the person of the arrogant, who, while they wish to undertake something bravely, yet not with a simple heart but with a proud one, are overcome and cast down in their attempts. This event can also, not inappropriately, be transferred to the signification of hypocrites. For when hypocrites fight against lust, or against gluttony, or against bodily sins through abstinence, and, taming the flesh by fasting or by vigils and the other works of abstinence, do not keep careful watch over themselves against spiritual wickedness, so that they do not beware of pride or envy or greed, they are sometimes conquered in conquering, because while they overcome in one way of life, in this victory, being careless, they are crushed by others.
6:48-49 And the king’s camp was set against Judea and Mount Zion, and he made peace with those who were in Bethsura, etc.
The mystical Antiochus advances against Judea and Mount Zion, because he turns his entire war apparatus toward the overthrow of the Church of Christ and makes peace with those who were in Bethsura, since he does not offer true peace but false peace to those whom he wishes to deceive and mislead through fabrication. But only those go out to him from the city who had no food while shut in; for only those withdraw, seduced away from the protection of the Church, who do not have the nourishment of knowledge and love with which their soul may be fed. They also keep the sabbath badly, since they love not the pursuit of virtues but the idleness of sloth; and they themselves, seized by the enemy, return into his dominion, because they refuse to anticipate his snares. Now that it is said that the king turned his camp toward the place of sanctification for many days signifies that the persecutors of the faithful do not easily cease from the cruelty of persecution, but every day, up to the end of the age, wage wars, for the testing of some believers, for the deception of others. For while the mystical woman, who is expressed under the figure of Eve, crushes the serpent’s head, that poisonous snake will never cease to lie in wait for her heel. But that which is added:
6:54 And in the holy places there remained few men, because famine had overtaken them, and each was scattered to his own place,
signifies that, when the persecution of unbelievers burns hot, many of those who persisted in the Church only in outward appearance, and not in the constancy of faith, are scattered because of fear of punishment, according to that which the Lord foretold in the Gospel would happen in the last times: For there shall be, he says, great tribulation upon the earth and wrath against this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trampled by the Gentiles, until the times of the nations be fulfilled. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened (Luke 21:23-24).
6:55 And Lysias heard that Philip, whom King Antiochus had appointed while he was still alive, etc.
What Josephus reports on this point seems not unworthy to be inserted into this work; nor should it seem burdensome to the reader if the accounts of different histories are compared with one another, because they seem mutually to help in explaining the correctness of the matter and in historically weaving back the truth. Josephus, moreover, relates this in the following manner (Antiquities, 12.14): “When Lysias the general and King Antiochus were informed that Philip, coming from Persia, had dared to assume the government entrusted to him, and wished to take upon himself the commonwealth of Antiochus, they decided to leave the siege aside and go against Philip. This plan they were by no means willing to make clear to the other commanders, but the king ordered Lysias to tell the generals that a prolonged blockade could in no way benefit them, since it was evident that the enemy’s position was fortified and that they themselves were suffering from a shortage of provisions, and that it would be practical to make peace with the Jews and allow them to use their own ceremonies, from which, being before forbidden by us, they appear to have become alienated. Saying this, he decided that Philip’s tyranny should be passed over in silence, lest his army should be struck with wavering hearts. As Lysias said these things, the decision pleased the army and the generals. Then the king, sending to Judas, promised peace to the besieged and assured them that they might live according to their ancestral laws. They, on receiving his words, and with oaths and pledges confirmed, left the temple. When Antiochus entered and saw the fortified place, shamelessly violating the oaths, he ordered the whole army standing around to demolish the walls down to the foundations. After he had done this, Antiochus returned to Antioch, taking with him Onias, the chief of the priests, who was also called Menelaus. For Lysias persuaded the king to kill Menelaus if he wished to have the Jews at peace, saying that he had been the beginning of the evils, who had induced his father to compel the Jews to abandon their ancestral religion. Therefore the king, sending Menelaus to Berea, a city of Syria, put him to death, in the tenth year of his high priesthood; and in order that he himself might obtain the high priesthood, he had driven the Jews to transgress the laws. After the death of Menelaus, the ruler appointed was Alcimus, who was also called Joachim. But King Antiochus, finding Philip in command of affairs, fought against him, and having brought him under his own power, killed him. Now the son of the high priest Onias, of whom we have spoken before, still a little boy, left behind on his father’s death, seeing that the king had killed his uncle Menelaus and had given the high priesthood to Alcimus, who did not belong to the priestly line, but that Lysias had prevailed upon him to transfer the honor from that family to another house, fled to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, and received honor from him and from Cleopatra his wife, and requested a place in the region of Heliopolis, where he might build a temple similar to that in Jerusalem.” So far Josephus.
But the fact that Antiochus made a treaty with the Israelites, and he and his princes swore an oath, yet did not keep the oath, but broke his sworn promise and violated the covenant, signifies that with heretics and unbelievers there will in no way be a firm covenant agreement, because in them there is by no means a settled observance of law. Therefore in no way is a treaty to be made with vices and with the author of vices, even if they promise peace and fake prosperity; rather, at all times one must persistently fight against them with the shield of faith and the weapons of righteousness. Only then should one cease from battle, when the enemy Antiochus is not merely silent in the world, but is plunged down and thrust away into hell.