Another Interesting “Coincidence” in 2nd Maccabees – And It Landed on Page 666
Church family,
I came across another interesting coincidence as I finish up this run through the Septuagint Old Testament.
I’ve been going through 2nd Maccabees, and the story really jumped out at me. It's about the revolt that saw a brief period of relative freedom in the run up to Rome conquering them and Jesus’s birth. Antiochus (the king of the bad guys/world system back then) makes a peace treaty with Judas Maccabeus (the main good guy whose family kicks off the revolt when pagan worship is mandated) after God gives Israel victory. Antiochus even provides a sacrifice for the priests at the temple and treats the place with respect. This peace actually lasts for a bit more than three years. (Sounds familiar?)
Then the political intrigue kicks in. The new king sends a dude named Nikanor, which literally means “Man of Victory” (Nike + anēr), with orders to kill Judas. Nikanor falsely confirms a peace treaty with three dudes and with Judas (the many), all while intending to break it and take him out on the king’s orders.
He asks the priests at the temple to give up Judas. When they say they don’t know where he is, Nikanor storms off after threatening to raze the temple and erect a temple to Dionysus in its place swearing an oath to do that with his right hand raised. (breaking the covenant, stopping the sacrifice, and leading to the abomination that causes desolation) Then comes the battle, and Nikanor’s head and right arm are cut off, the very arm he raised in that arrogant oath… on the day before Purim (clean dried up?).
The echoes are impossible to miss:
• Daniel 11:31 and 12:11 (straight abomination-of-desolation territory)
• Zechariah 11:17 (that worthless shepherd whose right arm gets struck)
• 2 Thessalonians 2:4 (perhaps, but we aren’t given what Nikanor’s specific plan was)
• Revelation 13:3 (the beast whose head takes a mortal wound)
And get this… the whole section lands right on page 666 in the edition I’m reading.
I’m not saying it’s divinely inspired word for word, or that the pagination is some secret code. Different Bibles paginate differently anyway. But that’s either a very strong typology and partial fulfillment pattern, or the author of 2 Maccabees was seriously trying to make it fit the prophetic mold we see in Daniel, Zechariah, and the New Testament.
Either way, these kinds of discoveries keep reminding me how tightly the Scriptures are woven together. False peace, temple threats, the “victorious man” brought low, the same patterns keep showing up. God really is amazing! It’s one more reason to keep watching, praying, and walking soberly as we discern the times (1 Chronicles 12:32).
What do you think, watchers? Strong typology or just a wild coincidence? What have you studied recently?
Maranatha!