“Deum autem Maozim in loco suo venerabitur : et deum, quem ignoraverunt patres ejus, colet auro, et argento, et lapide pretioso, rebusque pretiosis.”
“But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. forces: or, munitions: Heb. Mauzzim, or, as for the almighty God, in his seat he shall honour, yea he shall honour a god, etc pleasant: Heb. things desired”
“And in their place, he will honor a god of fortresses—a god his fathers did not know—with gold, silver, precious stones, and riches.”
“But in his place shall he honor the god of fortresses; and a god whom his fathers didn’t know shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.”
“But in his place shall he honor the god of fortresses; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.”
The god Maozim. That is, the god of forces or strong holds. (Challoner) — Mahuzzim denotes “strong ones,” (Haydock) guardians, &c. Dr. Newton (Diss.) explains, the king (ver. 36) of the Roman state; and supposes that here the guardian saints and angels are meant, whose worship he shews “began in the Roman empire, very soon after it became Christian. This exposition seems far preferable to that which interprets” Jupiter or the heavens, and understands the idol set up by Epiphanes. See Univ. Hist. x. Parkhurst. — If these authors speak of the inferior veneration shewn to saints and angels in the Catholic Church, it had a much earlier commencement, being coeval with religion itself. But only the blindest prejudice can represent this as idolatrous, and of course this system must fall to the ground. (Haydock) — Others suppose that Mars, Hercules, Azizus, or Jupiter, may be designated. Hebrew, “He will rise up against all, (38) and against the strong God (of Israel, ver. 31., and chap. viii.. 10.; Calmet) he will, in his place, worship a strange god, ” &c. (Junius) — None of the ancestors of Epiphanes had ever adored Jupiter on the altar of holocausts. (Calmet) — He and antichrist adore either the great Jupiter or their own strength. (Worthington)
Verses 31-45 The remainder of this prophecy is very difficult, and commentators differ much respecting it. From Antiochus the account seems to pass to antichrist. Reference seems to be made to the Roman empire, the fourth monarchy, in its pagan, early Christian, and papal states. The end of the Lord's anger against his people approaches, as well as the end of his patience towards his enemies. If we would escape the ruin of the infidel, the idolater, the superstitious and cruel persecutor, as well as that of the profane, let us make the oracles of God our standard of truth and of duty, the foundation of our hope, and the light of our paths through this dark world, to the glorious inheritance above.