Daniel 11:20

Seleucus IV. (Philopator), b.c. 187 175.

Antiochus the Great left two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus (Epiphanes), both of whom successively followed him on the throne.

And in his place (Daniel 11:7) shall stand up one that shall cause an exactor to pass through the glory of the kingdom Seleucus IV. The words are generally considered to allude to an event from the reign of this monarch which affected the Jews. In 2 Maccabees 3 we read, namely, how one Simon, guardian of the Temple, having quarrelled with the high-priest Onias, gave information to Apollonius, governor of Cœle-Syria and Phœnicia, of the treasures contained in the Temple, with the suggestion that they might prove useful to the king: Seleucus thereupon commissioned his chief minister (τὸν ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων), see Niese, op. cit.p. 29, to proceed to Jerusalem and appropriate them. Heliodorus accordingly visited Jerusalem for the purpose; but was prevented from carrying it out (according to the author of 2 Macc.) by a supernatural apparition, which appeared to him just as he was on the point of entering the treasury [369]. We are however imperfectly informed as to the events of Seleucus IV."s reign; and it is possible that the allusion may be of a general kind: Seleucus (below, note) had to pay for nine years an annual sum of 1000 talents to the Romans, which he would naturally exact of his subject provinces; and perhaps the reference may be to the -exactor" who visited Palestine regularly for the purpose [370].

[369] Cf. Ewald v. 292; Stanley, Jewish Church, iii. 287.

[370] Antiochus Epiphanes shortly afterwards sends into Judah an officer called ἅρχων φορολογίας (1Ma 1:29).

an exactor] cf. the cognate verb in 2 Kings 23:35.

the glory of the kingdom a prophet (Isaiah 13:19) had called Babylon -the beauty of kingdoms"; and so here the land of Judah is called -the glory of the kingdom" (viz. of the Seleucidae), their noblest and choicest province. The Heb. in this part of the verse is however unusual; and Bevan, transposing two words, would read, -shall stand up an exactor (Seleucus IV. himself), who shall cause the glory of the kingdom (i.e. of his own kingdom) to pass away," with allusion to the inglorious reign of Seleucus IV.

but within few days(Genesis 27:44; Genesis 29:20, Heb.) he shall be broken, but not in anger, or in battle not by a passionate deed of violence, and not in open fight, but (it is implied) in some less honourable way: in point of fact, Seleucus, after an uneventful reign of 12 years, met his death, perhaps by poison, through a plot headed by his chief minister, Heliodorus (Appian, Syr.c. 45 ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς Ἡλιοδώρου). The -few days" may be reckoned either from the mission of Heliodorus, or perhaps from the inception of the plot: in either case the general meaning will be that he would come to a speedy and untimely end.

broken] i.e. ruined; of a person, as Proverbs 6:15; Proverbs 29:1; ch.Daniel 8:25. Cf. Daniel 11:26, below.

in anger if this is the meaning, the Heb. is very unusual; Behrmann suggests, on the strength of Aramaic analogies (cf. P.S [371] col. 278, bottom), that the expression may perhaps mean openly.

[371].S. R. Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus.