Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_300.lzh/6_363.TXT

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courage; but to the treachery of his own courtiers and
commanders, particularly Eulaeus and Lennaeeus to
whom the blame was laid, and to the desertion of
Ptolemy Macron; which is more clearly expressed in
the following verse.
Vet. 26. - Yea, they that .feed of the portion of his meat
shall destroy him, &c.] Those of his own household,
his familiar friends, his courtiers and counsellots, and
the generals of his army; his destruction, or the loss
of the battle, was owing .either to the bad counsels
they gave him, or to their desertion of him, being
corrupted by Antiochus: and his army shall overflow:
that is, the army of Antiochus, like a mighty inundation
ofwater, which carries all before it, should overflow,
or bear down and destroy, the army of Ptolemy, and
overrun all Egypt, as it did, as before related; no more
resistance being to be made to it than to a rapid flood
of water: and many shall fall down slain: of the army
of the king of Egypt. The account given of this affair
in 1 Maccab. i. 19, is, that Ptolemy was afraid of him
(Antiochus), and fled, and many wounded fell ; and they
seized the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and took
the spoils of the land of Egypt. Josephus says {x}, that An-
tiochus, "being with a great army at Pelusium, and
"circumventing Ptolemy Philometor by fraud, seized
"on Egypt; and being in the parts near to Memphis,
"and taking it, he hastened to Alexandria to besiege
"it, and got Ptolemy, reigning there, into his hands."
Vet. 27. And both these kings' hearts shall be to do
mischief, &c.3 Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria,
and Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, the latter
being now in the hands of the former; whether he
was taken by him, or voluntarily came to him, is not
certain; but though they seemed to carry it very
friendly to one another, yet at the same time they were
contriving in their minds to do as much mischief to
each other as they could: and they/shall speak lies at
one table: at an entertaiument at Memphis, where they
met to eat food together, which shows great familiarity;
or at the council-table, where they pretended to con-
suit each other's good, and to secure the peace of both
kingdoms, but imposed on each other with lies. An-
tiochus pretended a great respect for Ptolemy, and
that he had nothing more at heart than to take care
of his affairs, and defend him against his brother
Euergetes, whom the Alexandrians had set up for
king; when iris design was no other than to seize the
kingdom of Egypt for himself: on the other hand,
Ptolemy seemed greatly satisfied with his uncle's pro-
tection, and to place great confidence in him; when
his view was to disappoint his scheme, and come to
an agreement with his brother; neither of them meant
what they said: but it shall not prosper; the consulta-
tions they held, the schemes they laid, succeeded not;
 the peace made between them did not last:for yet
the end shall be at the time appointed; by the Lord, by
whom all events are predetermined; whose counsel
shall stand, notwithstanding all the devices in the
hearts of men, and of kings themselves: the end of
this peace between these two kings, and the end of
the Wars between them, yea, the end of the two king-
doms, when they should cease, and come into other
hands; all was fixed to a time appointed of God, and
should surely come to pass, as he had decreed.
Ver. 28. Then shall he return into his land tvith great
riches, &c.] That is, Antiochus, with tim spoils o.f
Egypt, and the gifts and presents he had received
there; so the auth,or of the first book of Maccabees
says, ch. i. o.0, o. 1. he took the spoils of the land of Egypt,
and Antiochus returned after he had smote Egypt, in.
the hundred and forty-third year; that is, of the era of
the Selucidae, and the fifth or sixth year of his reign:
and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; not
the covenant he had made with Ptolemy, which was
a fraudulent one; but the covenant between God and
the Jews; whereby they became a distinct and peculiar
people, having a religion, laws, and ordinances, dif-
ferent from all others; for which reason they were
hated by other nations, and particularly by Antiochus;
and his heart was the more enraged against them at
this time, for the following reason; a false rumour
being spread in Judea that Antiochus was dead, Jason
took the opportunity to recover the office of high-
priest from his brother Menelaus; and, with a thou-
sand men, took thge city of Jerusalem, drove his brother
into the castle, and slew many he took for Iris enemies.
Antiochus, hearing of this, concluded the whole nation
of the Jews had revolted from him; and therefore took
Judea in his way from Egypt, in order to suppress
this rebellion; see 2 Maccab. v. 5, 6, 11. and he shall
do exploits; in Jerusalem, very wicked ones indeed !
he ordered his soldiers to slay all they met, without
mercy, old and young, women and children, virgins
and young men; and in three days' time eighty thou-
sand were slain, forty thousand bound, and no less
sold: he went into the temple, and took all the vessels
in it, and all the gold and silver, and hidden treasures
of it, to the value of a thousand and eight hundred
talents, 2 Maccab. v. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21. 1 Maccab.
i. 23, 24, 25 : and return to his own land; having done
these exploits, he made what haste he could to_An-
tioch, with the spoils of Egypt, and the plunder of
the temple at Jerusalem, 1 Maccab. i. 24. 2 Maccab.
v. el.
Ver. £9. At the time appointed he shall return, wld
come toward the south, &c.] At the time appointed
of God, he should return from Syria again to Egypt;
which-was his third expedition thither, and was oc-
casioned by the Alexandrians setting up the brother of
Ptolemy Philometor for king; wherefore he hastened
to Egypt with a large army, , under a profence of re-
storing the deposed king; but in reality to seize the
kingdom for himself {y}: but it shall not be as the former,
or as the latter; this expedition should not succeed so
well as the two former, as it did not; he could not
carry his point, neither subdue Egypt, nor get any of
the two brothers into his hands, as he had done betbre;
the reason of which follows:
Ver. 30. For the ships of Chittim shall come against
him, &c.] Ptolemy king of Egypt, and Iris brother,
being come to an agreement, sent an embassy to the
senate of Rome, to implore their help and assistance
against Antiochus, who was preparing to besiege
them in Alexandria; upon which they sent their am-

{x} Antiqu. I, 12. c. 5, sect. 2.
{y} See the Universal History, vol. 9. p. 282, 409.