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1 Maccabees says Antiochus IV died of grief and disappointment after hearing of his failed campaigns, contrasting with 2 Maccabees where God strikes him with a bodily affliction and his flesh is eaten by worms.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Maccabees 6:8
Deuterocanon
8 When the king heard this news, he was astounded and badly shaken. He took to his bed and became sick from disappointment, because things had not turned out for him as he had planned. 9 He lay there for many days, because deep disappointment continually gripped him, and he realized that he was dying. 10 So he called all his Friends and said to them, "Sleep has departed from my eyes and I am downhearted with worry. 11 I said to myself, "To what distress I have come! And into what a great flood I now am plunged! For I was kind and beloved in my power.' 12 But now I remember the wrong I did in Jerusalem. I seized all its vessels of silver and gold, and I sent to destroy the inhabitants of Judah without good reason. 13 I know that it is because of this that these misfortunes have come upon me; here I am, perishing of bitter disappointment in a strange land."
2 Maccabees 9:9
Deuterocanon
5 But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him with an incurable and invisible blow. As soon as he stopped speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels, for which there was no relief, and with sharp internal tortures— 6 and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. 7 Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, and giving orders to drive even faster. And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. 8 Thus he who only a little while before had thought in his superhuman arrogance that he could command the waves of the sea, and had imagined that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance, was brought down to earth and carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all. 9 And so the ungodly man's body swarmed with worms, and while he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of the stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay. 10 Because of his intolerable stench no one was able to carry the man who a little while before had thought that he could touch the stars of heaven.
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Notes and References
"... 2 Maccabees' presentation of this episode differs greatly from 1 Maccabees', particularly in the characterization of Antiochus himself and in the emphasis on his painful death as an appropriate reward for his treatment of the Jews. In 1 Maccabees, Antiochus receives news of the successes of Judas, including the refortification of the temple area (1 Macc 6:5-7); in 2 Maccabees Antiochus hears of the defeat of Nicanor ..."
Dunn, James D. G., and J. W. Rogerson
Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible
(p. 841) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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