Apadno

APADNO. Daniel speaking of Antichrist, according to the generality of the Commentators, or of Antiochus Epiphanes according to the literal meaning, says (as the Vulgate reads it) He shall plant his tabernacles at Apadno between the Seas, in the glorious holy mountain, that he shall ascend to the very top of it, and none shall help him. The question is to know where Apadno is situated. Some understand by it the Mount of Olives, where the faithful shall be assembled, where Antichrist shall march to attack them, and pitch his tent between the two Seas, the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. Others take Apadno in an appellative sense¹ for his Palace, He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the Seas and the glorious holy Mountain. Porphyry² says, that Apadno was the name of a place in the mountains of Elimæa or Persia, where Antiochus Epiphanes pitched his tents, between the Euphrates and the Tigris, when he undertook to pillage the Temple of Belus or Diana of Elimaïs; but his design having been discovered he was obliged to retreat. Symmachus translates ito, He will set up the tents of his cavalry, between the Mountains. Fuller³, He shall plant the tabernacles of his tunick between the two Seas. Among the Romans there was a Cuirass or Tunick of a purple colour, put sometimes at the top of the General’s tent as a signal for battle⁴.

We translate the Hebrew after this manner, He shall pitch his tents in Apadno of two Seas, or in Padan of two Rivers, Mesopotamia situated between the Euphrates and the Tigris, two large rivers, and justly compared with the sea, particularly for their inundations. Antiochus Epiphanes being upon an expedition against Artaxias King of Armenia, who had rebelled against him⁵, led his Army, and pitched his Tents in Mesopotamia, between Gen.xxiv. 10. Deut. xxiii. 4. Judg.iii.8. Gen. xxv. 20. xxviii. 2.the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates. He shall place himself upon the glorious Mountain; in the Hebrew, upon the Mountain of Zobi. He shall go up to the very top of it, and shall die there, without any one’s giving him the least assistance. Antiochus Epiphanes returning from Persia to Babylon, fell from his chariot, and bruised all his limbs. He died miserably, in the Mountains of Tabes, as the Historians inform us⁶.

Theodoret⁷ believes, that Apadno was a place in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. St. Jerom⁸ says, in a more particular manner, that Apadno was near Nicopolis, otherwise called Emmaus, where the Mountains of Judæa have their beginning. M. Reland v has shewn, that Emmaus, which was called Nicopolis, was very different from the Emmaus mentioned by St. Luke, Luk. xxiv. 13.which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem. Procopius⁹, speaking of certain places which were rebuilt by Justinian, about Amida in Mesopotamia, mentions in particular Apadna and Byrthus. Which confirms our opinion, viz. that by Apadno of the two Seas, we are to understand Mesopotamia, called in Hebrew, Padan- Aram, or Aram Naharaim; the Plain of Aram, or Aram of the two Rivers.

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