emselves against Jerusalem, with the desire of
profaning it, and of enjoying a pleasant spectacle. This took place
under Antiochus." That to which the prophet here simply alludes, but
yet in such a way that the right reference cannot possibly be mistaken
(since a great hostile aggression is here described, which should
happen [Pg 472] after the people have returned from Babylon, and which
is removed by the piety and courage of the people themselves; and
since, after this second oppression, there follows a third, which is
described in ver. 14, there certainly remains no other alternative: the
times of the Maccabees are those which can alone be thought of),
is further detailed by Zechariah in ix. 11 ff. At his time, the
deliverance from the first calamity had already taken place; and he
expressly states the names of the enemies; just as, in the prophecy
under review, the authors of the first calamity are expressly named.
That which is especially characteristic, and which points to the time
of the Maccabees, is, moreover, the special mention of many nations,
which are united in their decided hatred against Jerusalem as a city,
and against Judah as the people of the Lord, taken in connection
with the character of the war as a _religious war_ in the strictest
sense,--it being an attempt of heathenism to destroy the Congregation
of the Lord as such. _These features are found in no other catastrophe
during the time between Micah and Christ._ And that the aggression
belongs to the period before the appearing of the Saviour, is evident
from the whole context, as well as from v. 2 (3). In the time of the
Maccabees, it was not with Syria alone that Judah had to do; but all
the heathen nations without exception, with which Judah had any
connection at that time, united themselves for a decisive stroke
against the kingdom of God. Their purpose was to extirpate the whole
race of Jacob, 1 Macc. v. 2. Striking remarks upon the real nature of
the struggle at that period, as a struggle of faithful Judaism against
Heathenism, the latter of which had gained a considerable party
among the people themselves, are made by Stark, in "_Gaza und die
Philistaeische Kueste_," _Jena_, 52, S. 481 ff. Among other things, he
says: "The national distinctions in the boundaries of Palestine had by
no means ceased, but continued under the general cover of the Egyptian
and Syrian administration in a varied, unyielding, and hostile manner.
There were the Idume