Ver. 13.--Twelve years later (B.C. 205) Ptolemy Philopator died, leaving an infant son, Ptolemy Epiphanes. Antiochus, smarting from his defeat at Raphia, again assembled an army which was still greater than before (B.C. 203), and much war-material. In the intervening years he had won great victories in the East as far as India. Ver. 14.--Antiochus shall be aided by the fact that many--including his ally Philip, King of Macedon, and various rebel-subjects of Ptolemy Epiphanes--stood up against the King of Egypt and wrested Phœnicia and Southern Syria from him. The Syrians were further strengthened by the assistance of the "children of the violent" among the Jews, "_who shall lift themselves up to fulfil the vision of the oracle;_[684] _but they shall fall_." We read in Josephus that many of the Jews helped Antiochus;[685] but the allusion to "the vision" is entirely obscure. Ewald supposes a reference to some prophecy no longer extant. Dr. Joël thinks that the Hellenising Jews may have referred to Isa. xix. in favour of the plans of Antiochus against Egypt. Vv. 15, 16.--But however much any of the Jews may have helped Antiochus under the hope of ultimately regaining their independence, their hopes were frustrated. The Syrian King came, besieged, and took a well-fenced city--perhaps an allusion to the fact that he wrested Sidon from the Egyptians. After his great victory over the Egyptian general Scopas at Mount Panium (B.C. 198), the routed Egyptian forces, to the number of ten thousand, flung themselves into that city.[686] This campaign ruined the interests of Egypt in Palestine, "the glorious land."[687] Palestine now passed to Antiochus, who took possession "_with destruction in his hand_." Ver. 17 (B.C. 198-195).--After this there shall again be an attempt at "equitable negotiations"; by which, however, Antiochus hoped to get final possession of Egypt and destroy it. He arranged a marriage between "_a daughter of women_"--his daughter Cleopatra--and Ptolemy Epiphanes. But this attempt also entirely failed. Ver. 18 (B.C. 190).--Antiochus therefore "_sets his face in another direction_," and tries to conquer the islands and coasts of Asia Minor. But a captain--the Roman general, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus--puts an end to the insolent scorn with which he had spoken of the Romans, and pays him back with equal scorn,[688] utterly defeating him in the great Battle of Magnesia (B.C. 190), and forcing him to ignominious terms. Ver. 19 (B.C. 175).--Antiochus next turns his attention ("_sets his face_") to strengthen the fortresses of his own land in the east and west; but making an attempt to recruit his dissipated wealth by the plunder of the Temple of Belus in Elymais, "_stumbles and falls, and is not found_." THIRD SECTION (vv. 20-27).--Events under Seleucus Philopator down to the first attempts of Antiochus Epiphanes against Egypt (B.C. 170).