Literally, “the sons of the breakers of thy people.” This expression may be understood subjectively, “the children of the violent among thy people” (ASV; cf. RSV). Thus understood, it probably applies to those among the Jews who saw in the international strife of their times an opportunity to further their own national interests, and were willing to go beyond the bounds of law to accomplish them. On the other hand, if understood objectively, the passage would mean, “those who act violently against thy people.” In this sense it has been taken as referring to the Romans, who eventually (63 B.C.) robbed the Jews of their independence, and later (in A.D. 70 and 135) destroyed the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. It was, in fact, during the reign of Antiochus III (see on vs. 10-13) that the Romans, interfering to protect the interests of their allies, Pergamum, Rhodes, Athens, and Egypt, first made themselves felt in the affairs of Syria and Egypt.

 Beginning with this verse, interpretations of the remainder of the chapter differ widely. One group of commentators considers that vs. 14-45 continue to narrate the subsequent history of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kings. Others hold the view that with v. 14 the next great world empire, Rome, enters the scene, and that vs. 14-35 sketch the course of that empire and of the Christian church.

Here or at some point later in the chapter many commentators find reference to Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), who ruled from 175 to 164/163 B.C., and to the national crisis that his policy of Hellenization brought upon the Jews. It is, of course, an undeniable historical fact that the attempt of Antiochus to force the Jews to give up their national religion and culture, and to adopt in its place the religion, culture, and language of the Greeks, is the most significant event in Jewish history during the entire intertestament period.

The threat posed by Antiochus Epiphanes confronted the Jews with a crisis comparable to the crises precipitated by Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, and Titus. During his brief reign of 12 years Antiochus very nearly exterminated the religion and culture of the Jews. He stripped the sanctuary of all its treasures, plundered Jerusalem, left the city and its walls in ruins, slew thousands of Jews, and carried others into exile as slaves. A royal edict commanded them to abandon all rites of their own religion and to live as heathen. They were forced to erect pagan altars in every Judean town, to offer swine’s flesh upon them, and to surrender every copy of their Scriptures to be torn up and burned. Antiochus offered swine before a pagan idol set up in the Jewish Temple. His suspension of the Jewish sacrifices (either 168-165 or 167-164 B.C., by two methods of reckoning the Seleucid Era; see Vol. V. p. 25n) endangered the survival of the Jewish religion and the identity of the Jews as a people.

 Eventually the Jews rose in revolt and drove the forces of Antiochus from Judea. They even succeeded in repelling an army sent by Antiochus for the specific purpose of exterminating them as a nation. Free once more from his oppressive hand, they restored the Temple, set up a new altar, and again offered sacrifice (1 Macc. 4:36-54). Entering into an alliance with Rome a few years later (161 B.C.), the Jews enjoyed nearly a century of comparative independence and prosperity under Roman protection, until Judea became a Roman ethnarchy in 63 B.C. Those who hold that Antiochus Epiphanes is mentioned in vs. 14, 15 see the “robbers” as those Jews who turned traitors to their own countrymen and assisted Antiochus in the execution of his cruel and blasphemous decrees and policies. For a detailed account of the bitter experiences of the Jews during this evil time, see 1 Macc. 1 and 2; Josephus Antiquities xii. 6, 7; Wars i. 1.

 It is possible that the crisis occasioned by the policies of Antiochus Epiphanes is referred to in ch. 11, though there is considerable difference of opinion as to which part of the prophecy takes notice of him. To recognize that the activities of Antiochus Epiphanes are referred to in ch. 11 does not require that he be considered the subject of prophecy in chs. 7 or 8, any more than the mention of other Seleucid kings requires that they be considered the subject of prophecy in those chapters.