The Jews were dragged into exile in Babylon by the armies of the Babylonian empire about 587 BC. When the Babylonian empire was overthrown by the Persian empire about 539 BC, the Persians encouraged the Jews to return to the Promised Land. The Persian empire, in turn, was overthrown by Alexander the Great and his Greek armies. After he died, his empire was eventually divided among four of his generals, including the “Kingdom of the North” (ruled by the Seleucids, based in Syria, to the north of Judah) and the “Kingdom of the South” (ruled by the Ptolemies, based in Egypt, to the southwest of Judah). These remnants of Alexander’s empire tried to impose Greek culture and religion on the lands they controlled. Several of the Seleucid kings were named Antiochus, including Antiochus IV, who ruled about 175-163 BC and gave himself the title Epiphanes, which means “God manifest.” Like many dictators, he claimed divine power and demanded to be worshiped. In the early years of the Persian empire, Daniel was given a prophecy about the political future of the Middle East. The prophecy described in accurate detail the incessant wars between the King of the North and the King of the South, with the Jewish people living between these two brutal kingdoms and suffering through many invasions. Daniel 11:21-32 outlines the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, describing him as a “contemptible person,” cruel and deceitful, who went about invading and pillaging other countries. Daniel prophesied: “His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation” (Daniel 11:31). About 167 BC, Antiochus entered the temple in Jerusalem and erected an altar to the Greek god Jupiter (which Daniel called “the abomination that causes desolation”). This spurred the Jews to rebel and regain their independence for a time. Antiochus was a nasty dictator, one of many nasty dictators throughout the history of the world and a model of Antichristian rulers.

Sixteen cities were named “Antioch” after the kings named Antiochus, including Antioch in northern Syria, which, in the time of Jesus, was one of the largest cities in the Roman empire. (Another was Antioch in Pisidia in the central part of what is now Turkey: Acts 13:14). Antioch in Syria was a center of Greek culture. It was also the home of one of the first predominantly gentile churches and the place where believers in Jesus were first called Christians (Acts 11:19-26). And it was the church which sent out Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy (Acts 13:1-3), launching the missionary movement which evangelized the Roman empire and eventually many other parts of the world. In this way, God quietly goes about bringing good, even from the most evil of places.