Antiochus IV Epiphanes Seleucid King Who Profaned the Temple

Antiochus IV Epiphanes was a Seleucid king who began to reign in 175 BC; 1 Maccabees calls him "a wicked root". Returning from Egypt, he plundered the Temple of Jerusalem, then ordered the Jews to abandon their law and set up the abomination of desolation on the altar. His persecution provoked the revolt of Mattathias and Judas Maccabeus. Both books of Maccabees tell of his miserable death far from home after a failed attempt to plunder a temple in Persia, though they differ on the details.

1. Becomes King175 BC

   Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus and once a hostage at Rome, begins to reign in the 137th year of the kingdom of the Greeks; the book calls him "a wicked root".

   1MA 1:10

2. Plunder of the Templec. 169 BC

   Returning from his campaign in Egypt, he goes up against Jerusalem, enters the sanctuary and carries off the golden altar, the lampstand, the table and the hidden treasures, after a great massacre.

   1MA 1:20-24

3. Decree against the Lawc. 167 BC

   He orders his whole kingdom to become one people and sends letters to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah forbidding sacrifices, Sabbaths and circumcision, on pain of death.

   1MA 1:41-50

4. Abomination of Desolationc. 167 BC

   On the 15th of Casleu in the 145th year, the abomination of desolation is set up on the altar; 2 Maccabees adds that the Temple is dedicated to Jupiter Olympius.

   1MA 1:54-61

5. The Seven Brothersc. 167 BC

   2 Maccabees shows the king in person trying to force seven brothers and their mother to eat swine's flesh; each dies refusing, professing hope in the resurrection.

   2MA 7:1-41

6. Failure in Persiac. 164 BC

   Trying to plunder a rich temple in Persia (Elymais in 1 Maccabees, Persepolis in 2 Maccabees), he is driven off by its inhabitants and then hears that his armies have been routed in Judea.

   1MA 6:1-7

7. Death of the Kingc. 164 BC

   In 1 Maccabees he falls sick with grief, recalls the evils he did at Jerusalem and dies in a strange land in the 149th year; 2 Maccabees describes an incurable plague, a late vow to free Jerusalem, and death in the mountains.

   1MA 6:8-16