Daniel: Far From HomeSample

We continue to read of the vision given to Daniel. However, from verse 21 the pace slows and our attention is focused on the successor to Seleucid IV. He was Seleucid’s brother, rather than direct royal descent, and his rise to power is unexplained. Although from the start we know his reign will not be long, a large amount of space is given to this man, Antiochus Epiphanes. We came across him in 8:23.

Verses 21 to 28 describe his hunger for power. He sweeps away huge armies, and also the ‘prince of the covenant’, most likely a pro-Egyptian high priest in Judah (v. 22). He wants to invade Egypt. Powerful armies stand against each other (vv. 25,26). Verse 27 hints at an attempt by the king of Egypt at diplomacy – they sit at the same table. Neither party can be trusted, and Antiochus will leave to return home.

In verse 28, on his return, Antiochus travels through Israel, and his heart is set against God’s people. In verse 29 Antiochus tries to invade Egypt, but he is unable to. Ships from the western coastlands will oppose him. This is a probably a reference to the emerging Roman Empire.

This setback will make Antiochus furious. We have been told, in verse 21, he is ‘a contemptible person’, proud and arrogant. When he loses, he lashes out at God’s people (v. 30). Some will forsake the covenant. Antiochus’s forces will come to Jerusalem (v. 31). He will stop the daily sacrifices there. And he will set up the abomination that causes desolation. Historians tell us that Antiochus put an altar to the Greek god Zeus on the place where the burnt offering was made. And there he offered pigs as a sacrifice.

Verse 32 tells us that there are two responses that Jews will make. Some will be corrupted by flattery, but others will remain faithful and resist Antiochus. Those who know God, called the ‘wise’ (v. 33), stand firmly, but some will die by the sword. Under the persecution Antiochus brings, as he totally destroys the second temple built in Jerusalem, some ‘will stumble’ (v. 35), which probably means they will die. They won’t be saved from death by a miracle, like Daniel and his friends were. But it will be for a purpose. Their death will be the means by which they are ‘refined, purified and made spotless’. For God’s true people death is not the end, but merely the final means of God making us like Jesus.

One idea runs through these verses. God’s people are being told awful trouble will come ‘but only for a time’ (v. 24); things will happen at the ‘appointed time’ (vv. 27,35). God’s people will later read these verses and be encouraged. God allows men like Antiochus to do dreadful things; it is still under His control. Jesus uses the language that describes what Antiochus will do (setting up an ‘abomination that causes desolation’) and says it will happen again (Matt. 24:15). Antiochus wasn’t the first and won’t be the last to contemptibly set himself against God’s people. But ultimately they don’t last for ever.

Reflection

Ponder how the world seeks to tempt us to be ‘flattered’ and to ‘violate the covenant’. The only way to ‘resist’ is to know their God (v. 32). How can we do that more and more?