Daniel 11:32

Antiochus deceived many Jews with his flattery and promises (cf. 1 Maccabees 1:11-15). They participated in the worship of Zeus.

"This tyrant was a past master in manipulating Jewish leaders who were divided in their loyalties, winning them over to his cause by glowing promises of preferment and reward. As a matter of fact, Antiochus already had as partisans for his cause a considerable number of influential leaders in Jerusalem society and politics who were convinced of the expediency of a pro-Hellenic policy. . . .

"In some ways this defection of the would-be ’progressives’ among the Jews themselves was an even more serious threat to the survival of Israel as a nation than the tyrannical measures of Antiochus. For it was the same kind of large-scale betrayal of their covenant obligations toward the Lord that had made inevitable the former destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity in the days of Jeremiah." [Note: Archer, "Daniel," p. 140.]

This most repulsive of all insults to the Jews precipitated the Maccabean revolt, in which thousands of Jews rebelled against Antiochus. Initiated by a priest named Mattathias from the town of Modein in Ephraim, and led by three of his sons, Judas, Jonathan, and Simon (cf. 1 Maccabees 2:23-28), this nationalistic movement eventually overthrew the Seleucids in Palestine. The word "Maccabee" is the Greek form of the surname of Judas ben Mattathias (1 Maccabees 2:4). The Jews applied this name to the whole family of Mattathias and to the party within Israel that his sons led. The word itself also meant "hammer" or "eradicator" as in "the terminator." Judas Maccabeus slew Antiochus’ general, Apollonius, in battle, and later he and his brothers achieved many important victories that freed the Jews.