And a host was given him to oppose the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it did this, and prospered.
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Aquinas Study Bible
AD 2017
little horn: For Antiochus arose, surnamed Epiphanes, who was of the line of Alexander. And after he had reigned in Syria, and brought under him all Egypt, he went up to Jerusalem, and entered the sanctuary, and seized all the treasures in the house of the Lord, and the golden candlestick,and the table, and the altar, and made a great slaughter in the land; For it happened that the sanctuary remained desolate during that period, until Judas Maccabæus arose after the death of his father Matthias, and withstood him, and destroyed the encampment of Antiochus, and delivered the city, and recovered the sanctuary, and restored it in strict accordance with the law. (St. Hippolytus) ," this means that he lifted himself up against God and persecuted His saints. He even took away the endelekhismos or "continual offering" which was customarily sacrificed in the morning and at even, and he prevailed to the casting down of the "place of His sanctuary." And he did not do this by his own prowess, but...
Strength. Hebrew: "the army was delivered up to him, for the "While several contended for the high priesthood, and imitated the manners of the Greeks, the sacrifices were neglected, and then Antiochus prevailed, 2 Machabees iv. 7.
Ground. The ambitious pontiffs, as well as the king and his officers, kept not their promises. Onias, the lawful high priest, being displaced, went to seek redress at Antioch, in the asylum at Daphne. Andronicus prevailed on him to come out by treacherous promises, and slew him; whereupon even Epiphanes wept, and ordered the murderer to be punished, 2 Machabees iv. 32. The following year he entered Jerusalem, and committed horrible profanations.
