The Holy Place contained the Tables of Shewbread, the Golden Candlestick, and the Altar of Incense. In the "Holy of Holies" a solitary stone marked the place where should have stood the ark, which Nebuchedrezzar had taken away.—From The Wonderful Story of Old.]
CHAPTER VII.
PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES.
Simon.
The new kingdom acquired de jure (by treaty), must yet be fought for to be maintained de facto. The citadel of Jerusalem, as well as that key to the mountain passes, Gazara, had still to be mastered. Successful in both enterprises, Israel could enjoy some years of long needed peace. Simon furthered the religious as well as the political welfare of his country. The people could till their ground in peace and for a time at least "sit under their own vine and their own fig-tree"; though it could not yet be said "there was none to fray them away." Simon, moreover, "strengthened those who had been brought low, the Law he searched out, and he beautified the sanctuary." He used the time of quiet for building a haven at Joppa, for enlarging the boundaries and for encouraging agriculture.
The office of High Priest, maintained hitherto in a hereditary priestly family, had been gradually transferred to the Hasmonean House, and hence now devolved on Simon. By this time the people had become reconciled to the transfer. He renewed the treaty with Rome, which had taken the place of Greece in becoming the greatest power in the world and in deciding the fate of nations.
When Tryphon was slain, Antiochus turned against the Jews, but was defeated by Simon's sons. Alas, Simon's fate was not to be an exception to that of the rest of his warrior brothers. None died a peaceful death. Simon, together with two of his sons, was treacherously slain by his own son-in-law, Ptolemy, an unscrupulous man, cruelly ambitious for the throne.