§ 1. These are the Prophet’s words:
And after their kingdom, when iniquities have increased, there will arise a king shameless in face and understanding propositions; and his strength will be made strong, but not by his own powers. And beyond what can be believed he will lay waste all things, and amid an abundance of all things he will kill very many, and he will rise against the Prince of princes, and without a hand he will be crushed.
First, he says, “after their kingdom,” namely, that of the kings of Syria, who were nineteen in number. Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes and, from his character, Ἐπιμανής, “the Mad,” was not among the last of them, but the eighth. He therefore began to reign after the reign of certain kings of Syria. Yet because our interpreter translates generally, “after their kingdom,” while the Hebrew text has באחרית, beʾaḥarît, “at the end,” and the Septuagint has ἐπ’ ἐσχάτων τῆς βασιλείας αὐτῶν, “near the ends of their kingdom,” the phrase of the Holy Spirit must be considered more accurately. For in truth the final days of the kingdom of the Greeks were already at hand. When Antiochus began to reign, Greece and even Macedonia were already in the power of the Romans, and a great part of the kingdom had also been alienated. Sixteen years earlier tribute had been imposed upon Antiochus the Great, his father, who had been stripped of a great part of Asia and of the islands, compelled to surrender his arms, elephants, and fleet, and ordered, though himself a king, to reign within modest boundaries on this side of Taurus. Antiochus Epiphanes himself had been a hostage at Rome and a pledge of servitude; nor was the condition of Egypt better, for the Romans protected its boy king. Since, therefore, the kingdom of the Greeks then clung to one part alone, and was not free but subject to another, the Holy Spirit rightly says, “after their kingdom.”
§ 2. Second, the cause of so great a persecution is stated: “when iniquities have increased.” Others translate: “when those transgressors will complete their defection.” Luther: Wann die Übeltäter überhand nehmen, “when the evildoers gain the upper hand.” Others: “the wicked have been brought to completion.” Thus there is a twofold interpretation. The first is: when God brings the transgressors to an end, for this was done under Antiochus by Judas and others. The second is the common interpretation, τετελεσμένων τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, “when the sins have been completed”—when they were already ripe for punishment. Thus Moses speaks concerning the Amorites, and 2 Maccabees 4. The Hebrew is behattēm happōšeʿîm. Our interpreter, with altered points, read it according to the second sense, “when the transgressors are to be brought to an end.” This is explained more clearly in chapter 11, in 1 Maccabees 1:11, and in 2 Maccabees 4:7 and following; and verse 12 indicates this: “But strength was given to him.”
§ 3. Third, all these things agree with Antiochus, and some with Antichrist. For, first, Antiochus is the little horn: a horn because, although born of a royal father, he himself obtained the kingdom when outsiders were invading it; little because he was the younger of the brothers, had been a hostage at Rome, had flattered all the powerful, and had all but served as a slave—yet, coming from exile to rule, he reigned through much bloodshed.
It became great by occupying Palestine and establishing garrisons in Egypt, which was overcome in various wars; yet it did not equal the power of the ancient kings.
Fourth, “a king shameless in face.” The Hebrew ʿaz pānîm means “strong of faces,” ἀναιδὴς προσώπῳ, “shameless in face.” There are two features in that shamelessness on account of which Polybius, Athenaeus, Cedrenus, and Gorionides call him Ἐπιμανής, “the Mad”: for there was in him both the greatest ambition of one aspiring to divinity and the greatest lack of shame, since he gratified his lusts in public and in the sight of the people.
Fifth, “understanding propositions.” The Hebrew text calls them ḥîdôt, riddles. Some translate φρονῶν κρυφὰ τοῦ σκότους, “devising the hidden things of darkness.” For he was extraordinarily skilled in frauds and deceits.
Sixth, “his strength will be made strong, but not by his own powers.” Jerome explains that these things were permitted on account of the people’s sins, since otherwise he could have accomplished nothing. This is true both in the taking of Egypt, whose king was altogether languishing in sloth, so that excessive fatness deprived him not only of the duties of royal majesty but even of human feeling, while the corruption of the court, the nobles, and the cities was equal to his; and also because Antiochus accomplished few things by force, but most by fraud and perjury.
§ 4. Seventh: “Beyond what can be believed he will lay waste all things, and he will prosper and act, and will kill the strong and the people of the Saints.”
The Hebrew niplāʾôt means “wonders” or “marvelous things”; the Septuagint has θαυμαστὰ διαφθερεῖ, “he will destroy marvelous things.” Graser translates, “he will destroy most secretly.” But he has the authority neither of a good nor of a bad interpreter.
Eighth, the success of so wicked a man is also indicated in verse 25:
According to his will he will be directed; deceit is in his hand, and he will magnify his heart, and amid an abundance of all things he will kill very many, and he will rise against the Prince of princes, and without a hand he will be crushed.
The Hebrew על שכלו, ʿal śiklô, means, “upon his understanding his deceit will prosper.” That is, as the man himself used to say, he will handle deceits astutely and the outcome will be successful. The Septuagint interpreters translate thus: ὁ ζυγὸς τοῦ κλοιοῦ κατευθυνθήσεται, “the yoke of the collar”—or of punishment—“will be directed.” They read ב, a letter akin to it, in place of כ, namely על שבלו, ʿal šiblô, “the yoke of his bond.” For שבל, šābal, means “a bond”; hence šibbōlet, “association,” and sablōnôt, “ornaments, little chains, rings,” among the Chaldeans. The Greek reading thus has a twofold sense. The first is that Antiochus himself was the yoke of a bond, or the yoke of a bound man and hostage, which prospered when he was made king from being a prisoner. The other is that he bound many and led them into captivity, so that the prediction is of what is said at 2 Maccabees 5:14: “Within the whole space of three days eighty thousand were killed, forty thousand were bound, and no fewer were sold.” And these things happened in a single disaster.
We, however, following the Hebrew and the ancient interpreter, understand it of Antiochus’s temporary good fortune.
§ 5. Ninth, “he will magnify his heart.” Some join the Hebrew words ûbilbô, “and in his heart,” to the preceding words: “his deceit will be directed in his hand and in his heart.” But our interpreter has: “And in his heart he will magnify”—that is, he will magnify his heart, when he ought to have magnified the Lord. Thus the Septuagint: καὶ ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ μεγαλυνθήσεται, “and in his heart he will be magnified.” The same thing is related in 2 Maccabees 5:1: “Thinking in his pride that he could make the land navigable and the sea traversable on foot, because of the exaltation of his mind”; and in chapter 9:7:
Moreover, filled with pride on this account, breathing fire in his spirit against the Jews, and commanding that the business be hastened, it happened that as he was rushing onward he fell from the chariot, and through the severe collision of his body his limbs were tormented. And he who seemed to himself even to command the waves of the sea, filled with pride beyond human measure, and to weigh the heights of mountains in a balance, now, humbled to the ground, was carried in a litter, bearing witness in his own person to the manifest power of God, so that worms swarmed from the body of the impious man and, while he still lived in pain, his flesh flowed away; his army also was burdened by his stench and foul odor. And no one could carry him who a little before thought that he touched the stars of heaven, because his stench was intolerable. Hence, therefore, cast down from his grave pride, he began to come to a knowledge of himself, admonished by the divine scourge, while his pains increased at every moment; and when he could no longer bear even his own stench, he said thus: “It is just to be subject to God, and for a mortal not to think himself equal to God.”
§ 6. Tenth, “and amid abundance he will kill very many.” Bešalwâ, which others interpret “in peace”; the Septuagint has καὶ ἐν δόλῳ πολλοὺς διαφθερεῖ, “and by deceit he will destroy many.” All these things are true. For when he returned from plundered Egypt, abounding in all things, he perpetrated slaughter at Jerusalem and elsewhere; and he did it in peace, for there was no war, but he sought an opportunity to rage and plunder; finally, all those things were accomplished by deceit. Nor does the Hebrew term resist this, for šālâ means to act in peace and to be prosperous. Thus Jeremiah 12:1, Psalm 15:7, and Psalm 72:21.
Eleventh, “he will rise against the Prince of princes.” Thus the Hebrew. The Roman edition of the Septuagint does not have ἐπ’ ἄρχοντα ἀρχόντων στήσεται, “he will rise against the Prince of princes,” but ἐπ’ ἀπωλείᾳ πολλῶν στήσεται, “he will rise for the destruction of many.” Thus it read daleth in place of resh. Other editions too, the Frankfurt edition and others, combine the readings in one fashion or another: ἐπ’ ἀπωλείᾳ πολλῶν στήσεται, ἐπ’ ἄρχοντα ἀρχόντων στήσεται, “he will rise for the destruction of many; he will rise against the Prince of princes.” But the latter reading must be retained as authentic and the others omitted.
§ 7. Twelfth, ὡς οὐ χειρὶ συντρίψει, “so that he will be crushed not by a hand”; for the reading expounded by Theodoret is found in Greek books as ὡς ᾠὰ συντρίψει, “as eggs he will crush.” Although the Hebrew אפס, ʾepes, has various significations, it is taken for “egg” only in this place; but I rather believe that ὡς was made from οὐκ. Otherwise, they read כ in place of ב, and the active yišbōr, “he will crush,” in place of the passive yiššābēr, “he will be crushed.” From this it is apparent how necessary it is for tradition to be joined to Scripture; for without the tradition of the points I may read both “he will crush” and “he will be crushed.” Serarius, on 1 Maccabees 6 and 2 Maccabees 9, shows that the two books of Maccabees do not contain contradictory accounts of Antiochus’s death.
Thirteenth, our adversaries labor to accommodate all these evils to the Pontiffs in the manner I described above. But there is no argument for it; or, if there is one, it is turned back upon them.
For, first, all these things can be said of any impious king—of Muhammad and of the others. Second, if we read the records of France, England, and Belgium, we shall without doubt find that everything which the Calvinists have done cruelly, sacrilegiously, and lustfully surpasses these deeds of Antiochus. Third, the Lutherans complain—as is manifest from the words I cited from the Secular Palm—that the Calvinists are scarcely more merciful toward them than the Papists are. Melanchthon complains, as I showed in the Jubilee, that the rigid Lutherans impose a heavier yoke upon the moderate than had been imposed by the Pontiff. The Arminians in Belgium complain that the Gomarists exercise a greater tyranny against them than the Spanish Inquisition did. The Calvinists complain that the Lutherans are more savage against them than the Papists are. Since their complaints are mutual, therefore, there is no reason why they should cast everything upon the Pontiff.
Fourth, this one king Antiochus, having risen from modest beginnings, shameless in face, and so forth, is set against one Antichrist. One man is established as a type—an evil man of the worst man—not one man of an entire kingdom, nor one man of many men. What cause or basis of likeness is there for one Antiochus to be chosen from the nineteen kings of Syria to be the type of all the Pontiffs, rather than all the kings or the kingdom of Syria? For although Antiochus wrested the palm of wickedness from all the others, they were nevertheless all extraordinarily wicked, cruel, and lustful—even that Seleucus who in some fashion worshiped God with sacrifices. Consideration of this history removes every force which our adversaries, by lying and trifling in their jubilees, endeavor to smear upon an unwilling history.
Fifth, Scripture too removes the whole charge from the Pontiff. For thus Daniel 8:8 says:
But the he-goat became exceedingly great; and when he had grown, the great horn was broken, and four horns arose beneath it toward the four winds of heaven. But from one of them there came forth one little horn, and it became great toward the south and toward the east and toward the host. And it was magnified even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars, and trampled them. And it was magnified even to the Prince of the host; and from him it took away the continual sacrifice and cast down the place of his sanctuary. But strength was given against the continual sacrifice on account of sins; and truth will be cast down upon the earth, and it will act and prosper. And I heard one of the saints speaking; and one saint said to another whom I did not know, who was speaking: “How long will be the vision, and the continual sacrifice, and the sin of desolation which has been made, and the sanctuary and the host be trampled?” And he said to him: “Until evening and morning, two thousand three hundred; and the sanctuary will be cleansed.”
Daniel describes the times of desolation and tyranny as 2,300 days, and he takes them as true days, not enigmatic ones. But since our adversaries admit that Daniel and John speak about the same things, they must also accept John’s days and months properly. Then days are accepted properly in this passage; therefore they must also be accepted properly in chapter 12, verse 12. For there is no reason why we should accept enigmas elsewhere but proper speech here, especially since the discourse concerns the same things. And since the tyranny of Antiochus is explained in true and proper days, the affairs of Antichrist, which are signified by them, ought not to be indicated by improper days. Hence Pareus admits that thus far no interpreters have been able to connect that prophecy which concerns Antichrist, because they torture either Daniel or John. Moreover, those days must not be begun from the time when Antiochus placed the idol of abomination in the temple, but from the time when Jason began to rage in slaughter. But if they interpret these days enigmatically concerning Antichrist, they must still grant him many years, for 2,300 days will be the same number of years.
Sixth, Antichrist, like Antiochus, will be crushed without a hand; but now all their ministers exhort their kings to pursue the Pope in war and devour his flesh. They advise this in vain if the Pope is not to be crushed by hands.