The Great Persecution: The great crises in the history of the Jewish people in Palestine came in 175 B.C., when Antiochus Epiphanes became King of Syria. He determined, not only on the complete subjugation of Palestine, but on rooting out Jewish faith practice, and making the Greek cult paramount throughout his empire. He captured Jerusalem and proceeded to desecrate the sacred places. An alter to the Greek deity, Zeus, was set up in the Temple, swine were offered in sacrifice and their blood was sprinkled on the holy places. To make the work complete, all the copies of the law that could be found were burned. Nor was the tyrant satisfied with these outrages. He demanded that the Jewish priest should take part in the desecration, by offering sacrifices to Zeus. In the course of his journeys through the country, the representative of Antiochus came to Modein, a little town twenty miles northwest of Jerusalem. An aged priest named Mattathias lived there with his five sons. The family was known by the name of Hasmonean, from Hasmon, their ancestor, though they were afterwards more famous as the Maccabees or Hammerers. Mattathias was required to offer sacrifices to Zeus. He indignantly refused, and being threatened by representatives of Antiochus, he slew him. Like the Egyptian, whom Moses slew in Egypt, the blood of that man became the signal for a struggle for deliverance. Antiochus took fierce vengeance for the death of his servant, but he failed to punish Mattathias, who, with his five sons, fled to the mountains. They were soon joined by a host of desperate men, who preferred death to the service required by Antiochus. From that time, a struggle was waged unparalled from heroism in history. Mattathias died almost before it began, but his third son, Judas, took command of the insurgents and held alof the standard of resistance to Anticochus. Knowing the country thoroughly, he was able to take possession of defiles in which a handful of men could hold an army at bay. He was too astute to meet Antichus in the open field, but he harrassed the Syrian army, slaughtering detached divisions and inflicting severe losses. Soon, the enemy was so decimated and dispirited, that Judas felt strong enough to fight a pitched battle. The Syrian army was utterly routed and Judas marched in trumph to Jerusalem. The Temple was cleared and the services of Jehovah resumed. Again and again did Antiochus invade the country, but the genius and courage of Judas drove him back in ignominious defeat. Once only, the Syrian forces penetrated to the walls of Jerusalem and in a fierce engagement in which the Jews were hopelessly outnumbered, Eleazar, the youngest brother of Judas, was slain. But before an assault could be made on the walls, news reached the Syrian general from Antiochus, the capital of Syria, which affected his interests more deeply than did the conquest of Jerusalem. His presence in Antioch was essential to his own fortune and he was eager to return. He offered terms of peace which Judas gladly accepted and he departed, leaving the Jews in possession of their capital. The Syrian monarchs, however, were a persistent race, and were irritated at the opposition offered by so despicable an enemy. Once more, an attempt was made to subjugate the brave little people, and this time on a gigantic scale. In 161 B.C. a huge army was collected for the invasions of Judea, and in a desperate battle at Iiasa, near Bethoron, the Jews were defeated, and Judas, their valiant and heroic leader, one of the noblest characters in history, was slain. --- Zeus, was set up in the Temple(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abomination_of_desolation ) ------ Maccabees or Hammerers (biblegateway/passage/?search=1+Maccabees+1&version=GNT )
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 01:11:15 +0000
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