Antiochus – Apocalyptic Literature

Antiochus

A name borne by a number of the kings of Syria subsequent to the period of Alexander the Great.

1. Antiochus I. (b.c. 280-261) was the son of Seleucus Nikator, the chiliarch under Perdiccas who was regent immediately after the death of Alexander. On the murder of his father he came into possession of practically the entire region of Asia Minor as far east as the provinces beyond Mesopotamia. The most important fact of his reign was his defeat of the Celts, who, after devastating Macedonia and Thrace, swarmed into Asia Minor and established a kingdom which was subsequently known as Galatia. The date and place of the victory are unknown, but it won him the name of Soler (‘Saviour’). His capital was Antioch in Syria, but he was never able to bring his vast empire into complete subjection. He was a friend of literature and art, and it is possible that under him the beginning was made for the Greek translation of the Pentateuch.

2. Antiochus H., Theos (b.c. 261-246). — Son of the foregoing, essentially a warrior, carrying on interminable struggles both with the free Greek cities of his own territory, to which he finally gave something like democratic rights, and with Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt. Under him, however, the Jews of Asia Minor gained many civic rights.

3. Antiochus m., the Great. — He ascended the throne when only 15 years of age, and he reigned from b.c. 223 to 187. Along with Antiochus i. and Antiochus ii. he may be referred to in the early portions of Daniel 11. His reign, like that of most of his contemporaries, was one of constant war, particularly with Egypt. In the course of these wars he gained possession of Palestine through the battle of Banias (b.c. 198), and established the Syrian administration over Judsea, although for a time he ruled the province jointly with Ptolemy Epiphanes of Egypt. Like Antiochus i., he was a great colonizer, and induced 2000 Jewish families to go. from Mesopotamia into Lydia and Phrygia, thus laying the foundation for the influential Jewish Dispersion in those regions. So warlike a monarch could not fail to come into conflict sooner or later with Rome. He was defeated in the battle of Magnesia in b.c. 190, and three years later was killed, according to some authorities, while plundering a temple at Elymais.

4. Antiochus IV., Epiphanes (‘the Illustrious’; also nicknamed Epimanes, ‘the Madman’). — The son of the preceding, who had been sent as a hostage to Rome. In b.c. 175 he seized the Syrian throne, and began a series of conquests which bade fair to rival his father’s. While in Egypt, however, he was ordered by the Romans to leave that country, and thus found himself forced to limit his energies to Syria. In the course of his conflict with Egypt he had becomesuspicious of Judaea, and determined to force that country into complete subjection to his will. His motives were probably more political than religious, but as a part of his programme he undertook to compel the Jews to worship heathen gods as well as, if not in place of, Jehovah. His plans were first put into active operation probably towards the end of b.c. 170, when he returned from Egypt, although the chronology at this point is very obscure and it may have been a couple of years later. He plundered the Temple of some of its treasures, including the seven-branch candlestick, the altar of incense, and the table of shewbread. He also placed a garrison in the citadel of Jerusalem, and set about the complete Hellenizing of Judaea. Circumcision and the observance of the Sabbath were forbidden under penalty of death. Pagan sacrifices were ordered in every town in Judeea, and every month a search was made to discover whether any Jew possessed a copy of the Law or had circumcised his children. In December 168 B.C. a pagan altar, probably to Olympian Zeus, was erected on the altar of burnt-offering, and the entire Jewish worship seemed threatened with extinction. This probability was increased by the apostasy of the high priest.

This excess of zeal on the part of Antiochus led to the reaction, which, under the Chasidim and Mattathias, the founder of the Maccabsean house, ultimately brought about the release of Judaea from Syrian control. The events of this period of persecution are related in detail,— though with a large element of legend, — in 2 Maccabees, and reference is to be found to them also in Daniel 11:21–45. Antiochus finally died on an expedition against the Parthians in b.c. 164. (For an account of the struggle of Mattathias and Judas against Antiochus, see Maccabees).

5. Antiochus V., Eupalor. — Son of the preceding; began to reign at the death of his father, when a mere boy of 9 (or 12) years. He was left by his father under the control of Lysias, his chief representative in Palestine, and with him was present at the victory of Beth-zacharias, b.c. 163, when Judas Maccabseus was defeated (1 Maccabees 6:32–47). xhe complete conquest of Judaea was prevented by the rise of the pretender Philip, who, however, was conquered. In the midst of their success, both young Antiochus and Lysias were assassinated by Demetrius i. (b.c 162). Their death reacted favourably on the circumstances surrounding the rising Maccabaean house.

6. Antiochus VI., — Son of Alexander Balas. Trypho, one of the generals of Alexander Balas, at first championed the cause of this boy after his father had been killed in Arabia. After a few months, however, he caused the assassination of Antiochus by the physicians of the court, and reigned in his stead (1 Maccabees 13:31 f.).

7. Antiochus VH., Sidetes (b.c. 138-128), the last of the energetic Syrian monarchs, came to the throne during the imprisonment of Demetrius 11. After defeating Trypho, he undertook to establish his sovereignty over the Jews. Simon partially won his favour by presents and by furnishing auxiliary troojw, but at last refused to meet his excessive demands for permitting such independence as Judaea had come to enjoy under theweak predecessorof Antiochus. Thereupon Antiochus sent his generals into Judaea, but they were defeated by the sons of Simon (1 Maccabees 15. 16). He himself came during the first year of John Hyrcanus (135-134), and after devastating Judaea shut up Hyrcanus in Jerusalem. He was about to capture the city through starvation when he unexpectedly made terms with Hyrcanus, probably because of the interference of the Romans. These terms laid very heavy demands upon the Jews, and included the destruction of the fortifications of the city. UntU b.c. 129-128 Judffia was again subject to the Syrian State, but at the end of that year Antiochus was killed in a campaign against the Parthians, and Hyrcanus was enabled to reassert his independence. See Maccabees. Shailee Mathews.

Antipas

1. See Herod, No. 3.-2. A martyr of the church of Pergamum, mentioned only in Revelation 2:13. unless some credit is to be given to the late accounts of his martyrdom. According to these, he was roasted to death in a brazen bowl in the days of Domitian. Cures of toothache were believed to be accomplished at his tomb. Shailek Mathbwb.

Antipater

Son of Jason, one of two ambassadors sent by Jonathan to the Romans and to the Spartans to renew ‘the friendship and the confederacy’ (1 Mac

1216 1422).

Antipatris

Hither St. Paul was conducted by night on the way from Jerusalem to Csesarea (Acts 23:31). It was founded by Herod the Great, and probably stood at the head of the river ‘Aujeh (now Ras el-‘Ain). Here are the remains of a large castle of the Crusaders, probably to be identified with Mirabel,

R. A. S. Macalister.

Antonia

See Jerusalem.

Amtjb

A man of Judah (1 Chronicles 4:8). ___ANvili. — See Arts and Chatts, 2.

Apace

Apace in AV means ‘at a quick pace,’ as Psalms 68 ‘kings of armies did flee apace.’

Apame

Daughter of Bartacus, and concubine of Darius i. (1 Esdras 4:29).

Ape

Apes were imported along with peacocks from Ophlr by Solomon (1 Kings 10:22. 2 Chronicles 9:21). In importing monkeys, Solomon here imitated the custom of the Assyrian and Egyptian monarchs, as we now know by the monuments. No kind of monkey is Indigenous in Palestine. E. W. G. Mastehman.

Apelles

The name of a Christian who is greeted by St. Paul in Romans 16:10. and who is described as the ‘approved in Christ.’ It was the name borne by a distinguished tragic actor, and by members of the household. ‘

Afhmkema

Afhmkema (1 Maccabees 11:34). A district taken from Samaria and added to Judaaa by Demetrius Soter (.Ant. xin. iv. 9). See Eprhaim, No. 1.

Apharsachites

See next article.

Apharsathchites

Apharsathchites (probably the same as the Apharsachites, Ezra 5 6:6). — A colony of the Assyrians in Samaria; an eastern people subject to the Assyrians.

Aphabsites

Aphabsites (Ezra 4:9). One of the nations transported to Samaria by the Assyrians. Otherwise unknown. The text is doubtful.

Aphek

1. An unidentified city in the plain of Sharon (Joshua 12:18). It may be the same as Aphek of 1 Samuel 4:1. and of Jos BJ 11. xlx. 1. 2. A city which Asher failed to take (Joshua 13:4 19:30. Judges 1:31). It may be Afqa, on Nahr Ibrahim. 3. Some authorities identify this (1 S 29) with No. 1, and make the Philistines advance upon Jezreel from the S.W. But if they approached from Shunem (28). Aphek must have been in Esdraelon in the neighbourhood of d-Fuleh. 4. The place where Ahab defeated Benhadad (1 Kings 20), in the MlshSr, probably the modern Fig, or Aflg, on the brow of the plateau, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Possibly Joash smote the Syrians here (2 Kings 13:17 ff.). W. Ewing.

Aphekah

Aphekah (Joshua 16). Probably same as Aphek, 1.

Apherra

(1 Esdras 5:34). His descendants were among the ‘sons of Solomon’s servants’ who returned with Zerubbabel; omitted in the parallel lists (Ezr. and Neh.).

Aphtah

One of Saul’s ancestors (1 Samuel 9:1).

Aphik

A city of Asher (Judges 1), the same aa Aphek, 2.

Aphrah

See Beth-le-Ajphrah.

Apocalypse

See Revelation [Book of].

Apocalyptic Literature

The apocalypse as a literary form of Jewish literature first appears during the Hellenistic period. Its origin is to a considerable degree in dispute, but is involved in the general development of the period. Among the Hebrews its forerunner was the description of the Day of Jehovah. On that day, the prophets taught, Jehovah was to punish the enemies of Israel and to establish His people as a world power. In the course of time this conception was supplemented by the further expectation of a judgment for Jews as well as for heathen (Amos 2 Sn-" S’"-" Zee l^-" 2:4–15. Joel 2:18–28. Ezekiel 30:2 f.). The first approach to the apocalyptic method is probably to be seen in Zee 9-14. It was in the same period that the tendencies towards the sesthetic conceptions which had been inherited from the Babylonian exile were beginning to be realized under the influence of Hellenistic culture. Because of their religion, literature was the only form of sesthetic expression (except music) which was open to the art impulses of the Jews. In the apocalypse we thus can see a union of the symbolism and myths of Babylonia with the religious faith of the Jews, under the influence of Hellenistic culture. By its very origin it was the literary means of setting forth by the use of symbols the certainty of Divine judgment and the equal certainty of Divine deliverance. The symbols are usually animals of various sorts, but frequently composite creatures whose various parts represented certain qualities of the animals from which they were derived.

Apocalyptic is akin to prophecy. Its purpose was fundamentally to encourage faith in Jehovah on the part of those who were in distress, by ‘revealing’ the future. Between genuine prophetism and apocalyptic there existed, however, certain differences not always easy to formulate, but appreciable to students of the two types of religious instruction, (a) The prophet, taking a stand in the present, so interprets current history as to disclose Divine forces at work therein, and the inevitable outcome of a certain course of conduct. The writers of the apocalypses, however, seem to have had little spiritual insight into the providential ordering of existing conditions, and could see only present misery and miraculous deliverance. (6) Assuming the name of some worthy long since dead, the apocalyptist re-wrote the past in terms of prophecy in the name of some hero or seer of Hebrew history. On the strength of the fulfilment of this alleged prophecy, he forecast, though in very general terms, the future, (c) Prophecy made use of symbol in literature as a means of enforcing or making intelligible its Divinely inspired message. The apocalyptlsts employed allegorically an elaborate machinery of symbol, chief among which were sheep, bulls, birds, as well as mythological beings like Beliar and the Antichrist.

The parent of apocalyptic is the book of Daniel, which, by the almost unanimous consensus of scholars, appeared in the Maccabsean period (see Daniel [Bk. of]). From the time of this book until the end of the 1st cent. A.D., and indeed even later, we find a continuous stream of apocalypses, each marked by a strange combination of pessimism as to the present and hope as to the future yet to be miraculously established. These works are the output of one phase of Pharisaism, which, while elevating both Torah and the Oral Law, was not content with bald legalism, but dared trust in the realization of its religious hopes. The authors of the various works are utterly unknown. In this, as in other respects, the apocalypses constitute a unique national literature. Chief among apocalyptic literature are the following: —

1. The Enoch Literature. — The Enoch literature has reached us in two forms: (o) The Ethiopic Enoch; (6) The Slavonic Book of the Secrets of Enoch. The two books are independent, and indicate the wide-spread tendency to utilize the story of the patriarch in apocalyptic discourse.

(a) The Ethiopic Book of Enoch is a collection of apocalypses and other material written during the last two centuries before Christ. It was probably written In Hebrew or Aramaic, and then translated into Greek, and from that into Ethiopic and Latin. As it now exists, the collection is a survival of a wide-spread Enoch literature, and its constituent sections have been to a considerable extent edited by both Jews and Christians. Critics, while varying as to details, are fairly well agreed as to the main component sources, each probably representing a different author or school.

(i.) The original ground-work of the present book is to be found in chs. 1-36 and 72-104, in the midst of which are, however, numerous interpolations (see iv. below). These chapters were probably written befores.c. 100. Chs. 1-36 deal chiefly with the portrayal of the punishment to be awarded the enemies of the Jews and sinners generally on the Day of Judgment. The esohatology of these chapters is somewhat sensuous as regards both the resurrection and rewards and punishments. In them we have probably the oldest piece of Jewish literature touching the general resurrection of Israel and representing Gehenna as a place of final punishment (see Gehenna).

The dream visions (chs. 83-90) were probably written in the time of Judas Maccabaeus or John Hyrcanus. By the use of symbolic animals — sheep, rams, wild beasts — Hebrew history is traced to the days of the Hasmonsean revolt. The years of misery are represented by a flock under seventy shepherds, who, in the new age about to dawn, are to be east with the evil men and angels into an abyss of fire. The Messiah is then to appear, although his function is not definitely described. In en. 91 the future is somewhat more trauscendentally described.

In the later chapters of this oldest section the new eschatology is more apparent. In them are to be found representations of the sleep of the righteous, the resurrection of the spirit of the Messiah, though human, as God’s Son (105). the Day of Judgment, and the punishment of the wicked in hell.

(ii.) Whether ornotthesecond groupof chapters (37-71), or the Similitudes, is post- or pre-Christian has been thoroughly discussed. The general consensus of recent critics, however, is that the Similitudes were probably written somewhere between B.C. 94 and 64: at all events, before the time of Herod. The most remarkable characteristic of these Similitudes is the use of the term ‘Son of Man’ for the Messiah. But it is not possible to see in the use of this term any reference to the historical Jesus. More likely it marks a stage in the development of the term from the general symbolic usage of Daniel 7:13 to the strictly Messianic content of the NT. In the Similitudes we find described the judgment of all men, both alive and dead, as well as of angels. Yet the future is still to some extent sensuous, although transcendental influences are very evident in the section. The Messiah pre-exists and is more than a man. The share which he has m the reorganization of the world is more prominent than in the older sections.

(iii.) Interspersed throughout the book are sections which Charles calls the book of celestial physics.’ These sections are one of the curiosities of scientific literature, and may be taken as a fair representative of the astronomical and meteorological beliefs of the Palestinian Jews about the time of Christ.

(iv.) Interpolations from the so-called Book of Noah, which are very largely the work of the last part of the pre- Christian era, although it is not possible to state accurately the date of their composition.

The importance of Enoch is great for the understanding of the eschatology of the NT and the methods of apocalyptic.

(6) The (Slavonic) Secrets of Enoch probably had a pre-Christian original, and further, presupposes the existence of the Ethiopic Enoch. It could not, therefore, have been written much prior to the time of Herod, and, as the Temple is still standing, must have been written before a.d. 70. The author (or authors) was probably a Hellenistic Jew living in the first half of the 1st cent. A.D. The book is particularly interesting in that in it is to be found the first reference to the millennium (xxxii. 2-xxxiii. 2), which is derived from a combination of the seven creative days and Psalms 90:4. At the close of the six thousand years, the new day, or Sabbath of the thousand years, was to begin. The Secrets of Enoch is a highly developed picture of the coming age and of the structure of the heaven, which, it holds, is seven-fold. Here, too, are the Judgment, though of individuals rather than of nations, the two seons, the complete renovation or destruction of the earth. There is no mention of a resurrection, and the righteous are upon death to go immediately to Paradise.

2. The Book of Jubilees is a Haggadist commentary on Genesis, and was probably written in the Maccabsean period, although its date is exceedingly uncertain, and may possibly be placed in the latter half of the last cent. B.C. In this writing angelology and demonology are well developed. While there is no mention of the Messiah, the members of the Messianic age are to live a thousand years, and are to be free from the influence or control of Satan. The book contains no doctrine of the resurrection; but spirits are immortal. While there is punishment of the wicked, and particularly of evil spirits and the enemies of Israel, the Judgment is not thoroughly correlated with a general eschatological scheme. The chief object of the book is to incite the Jews to a greater devotion to the Law, and the book is legalistic — rather than idealistic.

The ‘new age’ was to be inaugurated by wide-spread study of the Law, to which the Jews would be forced by terrible suffering. Certain passages would seem to imply a resurrection of the dead and a renewing of all creation along with the endless punishment of the wicked.

3. The Psalms o£ Solomon — a group of noble songs, written by a Pharisee (or Pharisees) probably between B.C. 70 and 40, the dates being fixed by reference to the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the death of Pompey (Ps-Sol ii. 30, 31). The collection is primarily a justification of the downfall of the Maccabiean house because of its sins. Its author (or authors) was opposed to monarchy as such, and looked forward to the time when the Messiah would really be king of Judaea. The picture of this king as set forth in Psalms xvii-xviii is one of the noblest in Jewish literature. He is to be neither sufferer nor teacher, pre-existent nor miraculously born. He is not to be a priest, or warrior. He is to be sinless, strong through the Holy Spirit, gaining his wisdom from God, conquering the entire heathen world without war, ‘by the word of his mouth,’ and to establish the capital of the world at Jerusalem. AU the members of the new kingdom, which, like the Messiah, is miraculous, are to be ‘sons of God.’ These two Psalms are not of a kin with the ordinary apocalyptic literature like the Enoch literature, and probably represent a tendency more religious than apocalyptic. At the same time, the influence of the apocalyptic is not wanting in them.

4. The Assumption of Moses was probably written in the opening years of the 1st cent, a.d., and narrates in terms of prophecy the history of the world from the time of Moses until the time of its composition, ending in an eschatological picture of the future. As it now stands, the writing is hardly more than a fragment of a much larger work, and exists only in an old Latin translation. The most striking characteristic is the importance given to Satan as the opponent of God, as well as the rather elaborate portrayal of the end of the age it narrates. The Judgment is to be extended to the Gentiles, but no Messiah is mentioned, the Messianic kingdom rather than He being central. Further, the writer, evidently in fear of revolutionary tendencies among his people, says distinctly that God alone-is to be judge of the Gentiles.

5. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a composite work purporting to preserve the last words of the twelve sons of Jacob. It was probably written during the first two centuries of the Christian era, although some of its material may be earlier. As it now stands, it is full of Christian interpolations, and it has little apocalyptic material, being rather of the nature of homilies illustrated with much legendary matter, including eschatological pictures and references to demons and their king Beliar. The new age is not distinctly described, but apparently involves only earthly relationships. God’s judgment on wicked men and demons is, however, elaborately pictured, sometimes in terms hard to reconcile with the less transcendental accounts of the blessings assured to the Jewish nation. Each of the patriarchs is represented as dealing with that particular virtue or vice with which the Biblical account associates him, and also as foretelling appropriate blessings or curses. The work is preserved in Greek and Armenian translations.

6. The Ascension of Isaiah is a composite book which circulated largely among the Christian heretics of the 3rd century. At its basis lies a group of legends of uncertain origin, dealing with the Antichrist and Beliar. These in turn are identified with the expectation that Nero would return after death. The book, therefore, in its present shape is probably of Christian origin, and is not older than the 2nd cent., or possibly the latter part of the 1st. The Isaiah literature, however, was common in the 1st cent., and the book is a valuable monument of the eschatological tendencies and beliefs of at least certain groups of the early Christians. Particularly important is it as throwing light upon the development of the Antichrist doctrines. It exists to-day in four recensions — Greek, Ethiopic, Latin, and Slavonic.

7. The Apocalypse of Ezra (Second Esdras), written about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. It is the most complete expression of Pharisaic pessimism. Written in the midst of national misery, it is not able to see any relief except in the creation of a new world. The age was coming to an end, and the new age which was to belong to Israel would presently come. The udgment of Israel’s enemies was presently to be established, but not until the number of the righteous was complete. The book is no doubt closely related to the Apocalypse of Baruch, and both apparently reproduce the same originally Jewish material. It has been considerably affected by Christian hopes. Both for this reason and because of its emphasis on generic human misery and sin, with the consequent need of something more than a merely national deliverance, it gives a prominent position to the Messiah, who is represented as dying. As Second Esdras the book has become part of the Apocrypha of the OT, and has had considerable influence in the formation of Christian eschatology. In vll. 30-98 is an elaborate account of the general Resurrection, Judgment, and the condition of souls after death; and it is this material quite as much as the Messianic prediction of chs. xii-xiv that make it of particular interest to the student. It is possessed, however, of no complete unity in point of view, and passes repeatedly from the national to the ethical (individual) need and deliverance. The separation of these two views is, however, more than a critical matter. As in Mark 13, the two illustrate each other.

8. The ApocalypseofBaruchisacompositework which embodies in itself a ground-work which is distinctly Jewish, and certain sections of which were probably written before the destruction of Jerusalem. Criticism, however, has not arrived at any complete consensus of opinion as regards its composition, but there can be little doubt that it represents the same apocalyptic tendencies and much of the material which are to be seen in Second Esdras. Just what are the relations between the two writings, however, has not yet been clearly shown. The probability is that the Apocalypse of Baruch, as it now stands, was written in the second half of the 1st cent, a.d., and has come under the influence of Christianity (see esp. chs. xlix-li). Like Second Esdras, it is marked by a despair of the existing age, and looks forward to a transcendental reign of the Messiah, in which the Jews are to be supremely fortunate. It exists to-day in Greek and Syriac versions, with a strong probability that both are derived from original Hebrew writing. This apocalypse, both from its probable origin and general characteristics, is of particular value as a document for understanding the NT literature. In both the Apocalypse of Baruch and Second Esdras we have the most systematized eschatological picture that has come down to us from Pharisaism.

9. The Sibylline Oracles are the most important illustration of the extra-Palestinian-Hellenistic apocalyptic hope. As the work now exists, it is a collection of various writings dealing with the historical and future conditions of the Jewish people. The most important apocalyptic section is in Book iii. 97-828, written in Maccabaean times. In it the punishment of the enemies of the Jews is elaborately foretold, as are also the future and the Messianic Judgment. This third book was probably edited in the middle of the 2nd century by a Christian. In general, however, this Sibylline literature, although of great extent, gives us no such distinct pictures of the future as those to be found in the Ezra-Baruch apocalypses.

Shaileb Mathews.