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| | Schwartz: Antiochus IV Epiphanes in Jerusalem |
 | | I Macc dates the visit to 143 SE, which, virtually all agree, means 170/169 BCE and hence refers the aftermath of Antiochus first invasion of Egypt, but II Macc 5 reports his visit to Jerusalem only after the chapter opens with an explicit reference to Antiochus second invasion of Egypt. |
 | | This reconstruction is more reasonable than that in I Macc 1, as noted, insofar as it doesnt require us to believe that the Jews twiddled their thumbs until the ends of two years time after a major attack on the Temple and removal of its central appurtenances. |
 | | So we conclude, with Tcherikover, that non-Hasmonean Jews rebelled against Seleucid rule in 168 BCE, and that it was their rebellion which elicited Antiochus massive attack on Jerusalem, the massacre and enslavement of multitudes of Jerusalemites, and the pillage of the Temple. |
| orion.mscc.huji.ac.il /symposiums/4th/papers/Schwartz99.html (3861 words) |
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