April 18, 2018 (Wednesday)
Wednesday blogs usually present studies of the Psalms. This evening at Bethel Baptist Church, Ingleside, we will study Psalm 74. I published this study in last week’s blog. If you would like to review it, please click here.
The Apocrypha offers relevant information about Hebrew history during the years between the Old Testament history and the New Testament history. After the death of Alexander the Great, his kingdom was divided into four parts, headed by military generals. The two groups most prominent were the Ptomelies (ruling Egypt) and the Seleucids (ruling Syria), who waged war against each other.
Psalm 74 seems to be about Antiochus Epiphanes, a Syrian king who tried to destroy the Jews and their religion. Our information comes from 1 Maccabees, a book of the Apocrypha, 14 books originally published in the 1611 King James Bible, but removed in 1885. Click here for a simple introduction to the Apocrypha.
Al Maxey shares the history of Antiochus Epiphanes:
“In the year 175 BC, Antiochus IV, also known as Epiphanes, murdered Seleucus IV and took the throne. He earned his nickname from Jews: Antiochus — “Epimanes” (“the madman”).
In 169 BC Antiochus entered the Temple and stole a great deal of valuable treasure, an act which the pious Jews looked upon as an abomination before God.
“The following year (168 BC) Antiochus renewed his campaign against the Egyptians, but he was stopped by the Roman representative Popilius Laenus, and was ordered to leave Egypt and never come back. This so infuriated Antiochus that he came back and took out his frustration on the city of Jerusalem. He tore down the city walls, slaughtered a great many of the Jews, ordered the Jewish Scriptures to be destroyed, and he and his soldiers brought prostitutes into the Temple and there had sex with them in order to defile the Temple. He also issued orders that everyone was to worship the Greek gods, and he established the death penalty for anyone who practiced circumcision, or who observed the Sabbath or any of the Jewish religious feasts and sacrifices. He committed many atrocities against the Jews and his cruelty became legendary.
