“And with The Arms [Force] of a Flood,

Shall They [Daniel’s People, The Jews] shall be overflown [swept away] before Him [Antiochus IV (175 B.C.E. – 164 B.C.E.)];

And shall be broken.

Yea!

Also,

The Prince of The Covenant [The High Priest, Onias III]!

(Daniel 11:22)

Wise rulers of The Ancient World honoured and appreciated The Jewish People, Daniel’s People. Foolish, cruel, and proud monarchs did not.

Perhaps the most foolish, cruel and proud ruler of The Babylonians, The Persians, The Ptolemies and The Seleucid Monarchs, up to The Time of The Messiah, was the king who is the subject of the prophecy given to The Aged Daniel in The Third Year of Cyrus, The Persian, in The Year 535 B.C.E. Antiochus IV is the focus of eleven verses: 11:21 – 32.

The irony of Antiochus IV’s foolish, cruel and proud rule of The Jewish People is that by the end of his rule, The Jewish People had risen up against The Seleucid Monarch, and become an independent kingdom.

This independence was not without a terrible price, however, and the one who paid the greatest price, his own life and the seeming end of The Aaronic High Priest-Hood, Onias III, is the subject of this verse twenty two.

The Jewish People were a people sanctified and set apart by THE LORD GOD. For Antiochus IV to try to Hellenize them – to make Them worship Greek gods and adopt Greek practices – was an abomination.

THE LORD GOD had made[Cut] A Covenant with Abram. He promised that unto Abram’s Seed HE would give The Land of The Kenites, The Kenizzites, The Kadmonites, The Hittites, The Perizzites, The Rephaims, The Amorites , The Canaanites, The Girgashites, and The Jebusites (Genesis 15:1 – 21).

When Abram was ninety years old and nine, THE LORD GOD had amplified The Covenant with Abram. HE had renamed Him Abraham and had commanded Him to circumcise every Man-Child (Genesis 17:1 -21).

When THE LORD brought HIS PEOPLE out from The Land of Egypt, HE appointed Aaron, The Brother of Moses to minister unto THE LORD GOD in The Priest’s Office in The Sacred Tabernacle.

The Sabbath was also to be kept by Daniel’s People perpetually.

From The Time of The Exodus of The Jewish People Under Moses until The Time of Antiochus IV, The Aaronic High-Priesthood had been maintained.

Principally because of covetousness and His over-weening desire to Hellenize all in His Empire, Antiochus IV, who came into The Land of Judah, like a destructive flood, committed the gravest of evils. He:

• replaced the godly Onias III with Onias III’s Hellenizing brother, Jason;
• replaced Jason with an avaricious Benjamite, Menelaus, another Hellenistic Jew;
• allowed the murder of Onias III to take place.

It was from this time in the history of The Jewish People that The Office of High-Priest became a purely political office. Being a descendant of Aaron was no longer mandatory, which was why at The Time of The Messiah, The High Priest was appointed by The Romans. Annas and His Son-In-Law, Caiaphas, were not of The High Priestly Line of Aaron.

Under Antiochus IV, the king most hated by the Jews even until this day, the Aaronic High-Priesthood, as it were, was forced into The Wilderness.

Nevertheless, at The Time Of JESUS, there was An Aaronic High Priest descended from Aaron (Luke 1:5), but He was hidden in The Wilderness until He began to herald, ironically, A Greater High Priest, A PRIEST AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK (Hebrews 6:20 and Hebrews Chapter 7)

It was this lawful High Priest, John The Baptist, who was cruelly slain by a corrupt king, just as Antiochus IV was responsible for the death of the godly Onias III.

Next Week: Daniel 11:23