After the death of Ptolemy Philopater, Ptolemy Epiphanes came to the throne. The Jews, having experienced severe persecutions at the hands of the Ptolemys, surrendered to the power of Antiochus the Great, King of Syria; and when he came to Jerusalem, the people went out to meet him in great procession, and very graciously welcomed him to their city. Antiochus, flattered by this mark of their attention granted them the same privileges as he had done to their brethren who had settled themselves in Babylon and Mesopotamia. He had at all times expressed himself satisfied with the conduct of the people, having found them on all occasions true and loyal subjects. Antiochus, wishing to show his confidence in the Jews, and with a view of encouraging them, sent many of them from Babylon to Lower Asia, to guard and protect his forts and garrisons, and allowed them good settlements; hence many of the Jewish nation peopled that part of the country. At the death of Antiochus, his son, Seleucus Philopater, succeeded him. In his day, Simon, a Benjamite, was made Governor of the Temple. He had some difference with Onias, the high priest, who was a very good man. Simon, however, not succeeding in his expectations with the high priest, reported to Appolonius, the Governor of the Province under Seleucus, that great treasures were deposited in the Temple; upon which information Heliodorus, the treasurer, was sent to seize them. Heliodorus accordingly repaired to the Temple to make this seizure. When he entered the Temple he found the priests and all the people engaged in solemn prayer to Almighty God, imploring his divine assistance in their present distress. The scene which thus presented itself to him at that moment so powerfully affected him, that he fell prostrate before the Lord of Hosts, whose power he publicly acknowledged, and resolved not to interfere with the people of God, as he called them, and immediately left the city. Antiochus Epiphanes succeeded his brother Seleucus in the kingdom of Syria. When seated on the throne, Jason, the brother of Onias the high priest, bribed Antiochus with a large sum of money to deprive Onias of the priesthood and to banish him to Antioch; at the same time Jason wished to have the priesthood conferred on him; not, as it is supposed, that he wished to have it as a religious office, but because it would invest him likewise with the power of the civil government. Antiochus received the bribe; banished Onias to Antioch, and then appointed Jason to the office of high priest.