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June 16, 2015

The cruel painful illness of King Antiochus IV (2 Macc 9:5-9:10)

“But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him an incurable and unseen blow. As soon as he stopped speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels with sharp internal tortures, for which there was no relief. That was very just, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence. He was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews. He gave orders to drive even faster. So it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along. The fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. Thus only a little while before, he had thought in his super human arrogance that he could command the waves of the sea. He imagined that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance. Finally, he was brought down to earth. He was carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all. Worms swarmed all over the ungodly man’s body. While he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away. Because of the stench, the whole army felt revulsion at his decay. Because of his intolerable stench, no one was able to carry the man who a little while before had thought that he could touch the stars of heaven.”

Here the cause of the illness of King Antiochus IV was not depression but the God of Israel who struck him down. Notice that it is the God of Israel not the almighty Shaddai God who struck him down. This biblical author went into great detail about his illness. The king had a bowel problem because he had tortured others with infliction of various stomach disorders. He still wanted to get to Jerusalem so he asked his chariot to go faster. However, then he fell out of the chariot causing him even more pain. King Antiochus IV had been arrogant so that he thought that he could command the sea waves, measure the height of mountains, and touch the stars. However, his body swarmed with worms as it rotted away. There was a terrible smell about him that kept people away from him. The great king was reduced to a smelly sick pain filled old man.

June 11, 2015

The second son is brought forward to be mutilated (2 Macc 7:7-7:9)

“After the first brother had died in this way, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair. They asked him.

‘Will you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?

He replied in the language of his ancestors.

He said to them.

‘No.’

Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done. When he was at his last breath, he said.

‘You accursed wretch,

You dismiss us from this present life.

But the King of the universe will raise us up

To an everlasting renewal of life,

Because we have died for his laws.’”

After the 1st brother had died, they took a 2nd brother and scalped him. Then they asked him if he would eat the pork food or be punished limb by limb. He responded with an emphatic no. Thus he suffered the same tortures as his other brother. With his last breath he warned them that they could dismiss him from this present life, but the King of the universe would raise him up to everlasting life because he had died for the law. It is interesting to note that God is the king of the universe, not merely the God of his ancestors. He also expects an eternal afterlife.