But the persecution did not end here. Like Nebuchadnezzar before him, Antiochus resolved on obtaining a uniformity of worship throughout his dominions. A decree therefore was issued from the Syrian capital enjoining his subjects to worship the gods of the king, and none other. Some of the Jews now fled from the land, or concealed themselves in caves or mountains. Others, long secretly attached to Grecian customs, consented to conform, sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the Sabbath (1 Macc. i. 43).
Before long a royal commissioner, named Athenæus, arrived with instructions to enforce a general compliance to the royal edict. He re-consecrated the Temple in honour of Zeus Olympius; erected on the brazen altar of burnt-offering another in honour of that god; offered swine’s flesh upon it; and introduced the heathen ritual with all its lascivious accompaniments. Having thus set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar (1 Macc. i. 54; comp. Dan. xi. 31), he made the observance of any portion of the law of Moses a capital offence. Circumcision, the keeping of the Sabbath, the reading of the Law, were strictly forbidden. Every copy of the sacred books that could be found was seized and defaced, torn to pieces or burnt. Groves were at the same time consecrated, heathen altars set up in every city, and every month, on the birthday of the king, the people were ordered to offer sacrifice and eat swine’s flesh. Moreover, in place of the Feast of Tabernacles, they were compelled to observe the licentious festival of the Bacchanalia, to join in the procession, and to appear crowned with the ivy wreaths sacred to the god of wine (2 Macc. vi. 3–7).
Proceedings equally tyrannical were enacted in other parts of the land. The Samaritans, on the occasion of the visit of Alexander the Great, had claimed relationship with the Jews. They now wrote to Antiochus, stating that they were Zidonians, and offering to dedicate their temple on Mount Gerizim to Zeus Xenios, the Defender of Strangers. With this proposal the Syrian monarch complied, and the temple was dedicated accordingly. Meanwhile all who refused to yield to the orders of the persecutor suffered the most fearful tortures. Two women, who had dared to circumcise their children, were led round the streets of Jerusalem with their babes hanging round their necks, and were cast down the battlements into the deep valley below the city-walls. Eleazar, an aged man, and one of the principal of the scribes, for refusing to eat swine’s flesh was beaten to death, while a mother and her seven sons for the same offence were executed after enduring the most revolting and horrible tortures (1 Macc. i. 61; 2 Macc. vi. vii.).
PART III.
RISE OF THE ASMONEAN DYNASTY.
CHAPTER I.
MATTATHIAS AND JUDAS MACCABÆUS.
B.C. 167–165.
NEVER did the fortunes of the Chosen People look so dark and troubled as now; never did the nation itself, never did the religion of Jehovah appear so near to total extermination. But it was at this very time, when the gradual prevalence of Grecian manners, Grecian idolatry, and Grecian corruption threatened to eradicate all real attachment to the Law of Moses, that God interposed in behalf of His people, and through the genius, bravery, and heroic devotion of one noble-minded family, raised them from their prostrate misery to a height of power, which recalled the glory and the splendour even of the reign of David.
At Modin[27], a town situated on an eminence on the road between Jerusalem and Joppa, there lived a priest, named Mattathias, of the line of Joiarib, the first of the 24 courses (1 Chron. xxiv. 7). The son of Jochanon, the son of Simon, the son of Asamonæus or Chasmon, from whom the family took its name, he could boast of noble blood. At this time he was advanced in years, but his sons were in the prime of life, and were five in number, Johanan, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan.
The sad declension of the nation and the ruthless persecution of Antiochus had already roused his keenest indignation, when a royal commissioner, Apelles, arrived at Modin, charged to carry out the edict against the Jewish religion, and to require the people to offer idolatrous sacrifice. Knowing his influence in the place, the commissioner used his utmost efforts to induce Mattathias to conform to heathen customs. But it was in vain. The aged priest not only declared his resolution to live and die in the faith of his fathers, but when an apostate Jew approached the altar which Apelles had erected to offer sacrifice, struck him down, and then, aided by his sons and the men of the town, rushed upon the commissioner himself, slew him and his retinue, and tore down the altar (1 Macc. ii. 15–29). The first blow thus struck, he called upon all such of his fellow-townsmen as were zealous for the Law of Moses to follow him, and, unfurling the banner of the national Faith, fled to the dark and rugged mountains of Judæa, where he was soon joined by many who feared God, and hated idolatry.
Tidings of these events quickly reached the ears of the Phrygian governor at Jerusalem, and he dispatched a large force, which attacked the patriots on the Sabbath-day, when they were unlikely to offer any resistance, and slew upwards of 1000, with their wives, children, and cattle (1 Macc. ii. 31–38). This untoward incident awoke the little army of Mattathias to the conviction that they would be rooted out of the earth (1 Macc. ii. 40), if they persisted in their resolve not to act in self-defence on the Sabbath-day. With the sanction, therefore, of their brave leader, they determined to break through this overscrupulous observance, and though they would not attack, they henceforth considered it lawful to defend themselves on this day.