Heliodorus whipped by angels

This large-format painting is part of the Old Testament series, a set of paintings commissioned to Gregorio Vásquez for the temple of Santo Domingo in Santafé, in the 17th century.

The scene represented here is described in the third chapter of the second book of Maccabees, a text in which, in addition to other stories, the fight of the Jews against Seleucus IV, king of Syria between 187 and 175 B.C.E., is narrated.

As it is told, the Syrian king sent his minister Heliodorus to take the riches from the Temple of Jerusalem with the excuse they had been obtained fraudulently.

Upon finding out that the Temple treasure was in danger, the priest Onias and the Jewish people asked God for protection. Thus, to stop the looting, two angels and a rider with a golden sword appeared, the latter is not shown in the image.

The winged beings hit Heliodorus. In the painting they are represented in a serene but determined attitude, while they carry out the punishment.

Whipped, the foreign minister falls to the ground. His face expresses fear and suggests the intention of looking for an escape route.

God spared the life of Heliodorus, who returned to Seleucus and told him that the Jews had divine protection and that it was impossible to take away their wealth.

Likewise, the faithful are warned that, although God is merciful, he punishes those who stray from the path, especially those who defraud the coffers of the Church.

In the colonial context, these types of images were used to teach biblical history during evangelization processes. They also referred to New Granada social realities such as the corruption of civil and ecclesiastical functionaries.