Ver. 20.--Seleucus Philopator (B.C. 187-176) had a character the reverse of his father's. He was no restless seeker for glory, but desired wealth and quietness.[689] Among the Jews, however, he had a very evil reputation, for he sent an _exactor_--a mere tax-collector, Heliodorus--"_to pass through the glory of the kingdom_."[690] He only reigned twelve years, and then was "broken"--_i.e._, murdered by Heliodorus, neither in anger nor in battle, but by poison administered by this "tax-collector." The versions all vary, but I feel little doubt that Dr. Joël is right when he sees in the curious phrase _nogesh heder malkooth_, "one that shall cause a raiser of taxes to pass over the kingdom"--of which neither Theodotion nor the Vulgate can make anything--a cryptographic allusion to the name _Heliodorus_;[691] and possibly the predicted fate may (by a change of subject) also refer to the fact that Heliodorus was checked, not by force, but by the vision in the Temple (2 Macc. v. 18, iii. 24-29). We find from 2 Macc. iv. 1 that Simeon, the governor of the Temple, charged Onias with a trick to terrify Heliodorus. This is a very probable view of what occurred.[692] Ver. 21.--Seleucus Philopator died B.C. 175 without an heir. This made room for a contemptible person, a reprobate, who had no real claim to royal dignity,[693] being only a younger son of Antiochus the Great. He came by surprise, "_in time of security_," and obtained the kingdom by flatteries.[694] Ver. 22.--Yet "_the overflowing wings of Egypt_" (or "the arms of a flood") "_were swept away before him and broken; yea, and even a covenanted or allied prince_." Some explain this of his nephew Ptolemy Philometor, others of Onias III., "the prince of the covenant"--_i.e._, the princely high priest, whom Antiochus displaced in favour of his brother, the apostate Joshua, who Græcised his name into Jason, as his brother Onias did in calling himself Menelaus.[695] Ver. 23.--This mean king should prosper by deceit which he practised on all connected with him;[696] and though at first he had but few adherents, he should creep into power. Ver. 24.--"_In time of security shall he come, even upon the fattest places of the province._" By this may be meant his invasions of Galilee and Lower Egypt. Acting unlike any of his royal predecessors, he shall lavishly scatter his gains and his booty among needy followers,[697] and shall plot to seize Pelusium, Naucratis, Alexandria, and other strongholds of Egypt for a time.