Who were the

Maccabees

Mel"sa C. Pointer au#or

Israel was once a sovereign nation that was governed by holy laws. Within its borders

was the seat of truth and the most holy oracles.

However when Israel sinned and provoked the most

High God he they were force to serve the Gentile

nations. In the year 586 BC Nebuchadnezzer burned the temple built by Solomon. A second temple was

built after the Medes and Persians conquered

Babylon. Alexander the Great conquered the

civilized world in 331 BC and Israel found itself

under Greek rule.After Alexander the Great died his empire was

divided into four parts. At first Israel was under the

Ptolemaic rule. However due to constant conflicts

between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires it

eventually became a part of the Seleucid kingdom. At first there were no major changes in how Israel

kept the laws of God during the third affliction. In

fact it is written that Seleucus of Asia took money

from the treasury to assist with the sacrifices at the

temple. Seleucus was one of the original generals that fought under Alexander the Great.

Israel under Greek Rule

!e Seleucid EmpireIt would be over 150 years later when the 4th affliction would

cause enormous suffering for the children of God. It should be

noted that the Greeks viewed the high priest as a political

leader. It was a post that they believed they could appoint

whomever they decided would be best. When a righteous man was in the post the laws were kept and Jerusalem was at

peace. In II Maccabees 3 it reviews over a period of time

when Onias the high priest ensured that Israel kept the

covenant of God. It was because of this devotion to the

Almighty the inhabitants were protected from the Gentiles who intended to remove the money from the treasury that was set

aside for the care of the widows and orphans. II Maccabees 3:

9-10, 23-28. The Greeks acknowledged that God kept his eye

on the sanctuary and he defended it.

However when Antiochus IV also known as Ephiphanes took over the Seleucid kingdom Onias’s brother Jason hatched a

plot to take the priesthood from his brother. He offered the

new king 360 talents of silver and other revenue in the form of

80 talents. Jason promised to give Anitochus 150 talents on a

regular basis because he wanted to promote the Greek life style in Israel.

In I Maccabees 1: 11-15 it discusses in detail the intents of

Jason and his followers:

! !

... In those days went there out of Israel wicked ! men, who

persuaded many, saying, “ Let us go and make a covenant with the heathen

that are round

about us”: for

s i n c e w e

departed from them we have

h a d m u c h

sorrow. So this

d e v i c e m u c h

p leased them well. Then certain

of the people

were so forward

herein, that they

went to the king, who gave them

l icense to do

after the ! ordinances of the heathen: Whereupon they built

a place ! o f exe rc i se a t Je rusa l em

according to the customs of the heathen: And

made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to

the heathen, and were sold to do mischief.

Jason’s corruption did not stop there. He encourage the people to adapt all Greek

fashions and the sacrifices were neglected at

the temple. The rapid decline of obedience

into God occurred with the hellenization of the

Seleucid Empire. Antiochus was determined that the people that he ruled would be one

and used hellenization to accomplish that

goal.

Corruption &folly

The ruins of ancient gymnasium. Activities like discus were used to give honor to the Greek Gods.

Hellenization was the adaption of Greek religion, culture and customs. It required that all other customs and beliefs be discarded.

Lust and fil"y lucreJason the high Priest sent Menelaus to give 300 talents of silver to Antiochus. Menelaus then convinced the king to give him the office of the priesthood by offering him money above the 300 talents.

He was not interested in the priesthood but was interested in ruling his own people with cruelty. During this time Jason fled into the land of the Ammonites. Menelaus then took many of the holy vessels in the temple and sold them to the city of Tyus and gave them to a Greek official. He also had Onias murdered.

During this time Antiochus declared that all Israel should forsake their laws and sacrifice swine’s flesh. Those who would disobey the king would be killed. The details of this hardship is discussed in detail in I Maccabees 1:41-61.

Antiochus Ephiphanes came to

suppress what he believed to be a

Judea revolt. It had gotten back to him

that Jason had assaulted Menelaus’s

seat of power. Even though Jason had killed many of his own nation in the

process without mercy that did not

stop Antiochus from attacking

Jerusalem with great ferocity. He was

assisted by Menelaus.

They took

the holy

vessels

and removed

the things

other kings

in the past

that had sent to glorify the place.

To establish his authority over the Jews Antiochus decided that hellenization should be firmly established in Jerusalem and the their previous religion would have to be rooted out completely. He sent an Athenian to establish the worship of Jupiter in the holy temple; acts of prostitution, riotous behavior occurred in the same place that priests used to commune with God. Even the altar was profaned with swine’s flesh

a n d o t h e r u n c l e a n meats . The Gentiles drew p i c t u res o f their gods in the books of the law and the Jews were compelled to keep the fast of Bacchus (the god of wine). It was during this time that the woman

with seven sons were murdered because they refused to eat swine’s

flesh.

When you read over the history of our

people under the Greeks it is steeped

in tears, sorrow and blood. It should be

noted that if Israel had not rejected

God’s law that these afflictions would

not have occurred. It was the lust of the flesh and the pride of life that lead

to so much sorrow and pain. Even still

there are examples of great devotion

to God’s law. When you read about

Eleazar one of the principal scribes that stood up to the kings’s servants

and refused to take part of the

idolatrous feast; he did not want to

lead others a stray even by the appearance of eating swine.

!e Abomination of Desolation

He was given the option to bring his own meat to the feast but he would not because

he did not want to lead others a stray or anger the most high God. He took his position

as a leader seriously and while they flogged him he said these words...

! ! It is manifest unto the Lord, that hath the holy

! ! knowledge, that whereas I might have been

! ! delivered from death, I now endure sore pains

! ! in body by being beaten: but in soul am well

! ! content to suffer these things, because I fear him.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! II Maccabees 6: 30.

The powerful bonds of family and the love of children did not stop others for obeying God as well. One of the most notable example is the woman with with 7 sons. They

were flogged because they refuse to eat swine. The king decided that flogging was not

sufficent. He then heated pans and cut off the tongue and dismembered one of the

men in front of his brothers and mother. Now think about if a paper cut is painful or an

eyelash in your eye causes you grief; how would having your members being cut feel. Or the possible fear before it happens when you know what they are going to do to

you. Or for a woman to be willing to see her sons die and then to experience the same

painful death; it is an example to all of us that it is not impossible to be obedient under

adverse conditions.

%e Persecution

We all must remember that as long as Satan has access to our minds we must continue to fight to maintain our spiritual temples. We cannot be willing to sell ourselves to obtain wealth and prestige in this world. We also cannot allow abominations to be set up within us. There is simply no excuse to take part in corrupt traditions. Or to allow our fears and discomfort to sway us from being obedient. We must be dedicated to God in the way he was so dedicated to us that he was willing to give his only begotten son for us.

Remember

.The Maccabees were Levites that lived in the city of Modin. They did not a g r e e w i t h t h e p r o c e s s o f Hellenization. They believed firmly in keeping the covenants of God. In fact one of the first acts of the Maccabees was killing those who sacrificed to the greek gods. These are not the priests that people think of in today’s era. These men were fierce warriors and they had sincere devotion to God. They protected their people and fought against the Gentiles. Mattathias was a priest and he had five sons. The two books of Maccabees are named after his son Judas (who was also called Maccabeus). After he learned about how the temple was corrupted and people were being killed for obeying God his family was in great consternation and sorrow. It is true that the Greeks intended to use bribes, lucre, force and fear to cause Israel to reject God. The punishment for not yielding to the king

was severe. The re a re examples of women who circumcised their babies o f b e i n g thrown headlong with their children from a wall and them burning those in caves that tried to keep the Sabbath day holy. You can see that you would have to have true dedication to God and be f irmly planted on the foundation of his word to not move to the left or the right. What the Greeks were not counting on was the great devotion and zeal of the Maccabees. It was normal for hellenization to b e g i n w i t h t h e l e a d e r s ; government officials to use the native rulers as an example. If they could show that the leaders would obey; then they would have less problems with the residents of that particular city. Mattathias was one of those

rulers that they wanted to use to manipulate the people. He was offered gold and the friendship of the king if he would be the first one in Modin to offer sacrifice to idols. Here is a portion of his response...

!

...Then Mattathias answered and

spake with a loud voice, “Though all

the nations that are under the king’s

dominion obey him, and fall away everyone from the religion of their

fathers, and give consent to his

commandments: Yet will I and my

sons and my brethren walk in the

covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the law and

the ordinances. We will not hearken to

the king’s words to go from our

religion, either on the right hand or

the left.” I Maccabees 2: 19-22

%e Maccabees

He then backed up these words by killing a Jew that intended to sacrifice to idols on the altar. He then killed the government officials and destroyed that altar. His family followed him into the mountains and many of the inhabitants of the city went into the wilderness so that could serve God.

Here we can see a division of people. The

leaders were in the mountains and larger

multitudes of people were in the wilderness.

Those in the wilderness were killed on the

Sabbath day by the Gentiles. However the Maccabees refused to allow the Gentiles to

root them out. Instead they said they would

defend themselves from those who would try

to decimate them. People began to flee to the

mountains to gain protection from the persecution. In addition they were joined by

other brave men in Israel that love the laws of

God and were willing to defend them with their

lives.

Fighting for & tru#

With time the Maccabees began to remove the altars and pursue those that had try to change the ordinances and corrupt the statutes of God. What is remarkable is how much these men loved the words of God and esteemed them to be greater than their loved ones or their lives. They truly put God first. We must also learn to trust in God completely so that we do not fear what men can do to us. This ferocity can only occur because you reverence God’s law with your

w h o l e being. You will not be wi l l ing to l i ve you r l i fe as a l i v i n g sacrifice if

you do not revere God. They also exemplified that we must show sin no mercy because it will show no mercy to us.

Today we live in a society that has

very little use for the Word of God.

Sure they like the veneer of God but if

you pull back the thin layer of it you

see nothing but corruption. For those of us that live in the United States we

do not have the government forcing

us to choose between our living and

keeping God’s word. Often the choice

is about living a more comfortable life versus less comfort. We will not be

accepted by the people around us

because of our peculiar beliefs, that

strange religion that we seem to be

devoted to. Is it worth it? They will ask in multiple ways: you will deny your

children these opportunities, you will

prevent yourself from excelling at your

company, shouldn’t family be the

most important thing, isn’t life richer with friends and you have denied

yourself so much and you don’t know

for a fact what will come of it. In order

to withstand this assault we must

remember what Mattathias told his

sons before he died:

! Consider ye throughout all

ages, that none that put their trust in him shall be overcome. Fear not then

the words of a sinful man: for his

glory shall be dung and worms. To

day he shall be lifted up and to

morrow he shall not be found, because he is returned into his dust,

and his though is come to nothing.

Wherefore, ye my sons, be valiant

and shew yourselves men in the

behalf of the law; or by it shall ye obtain glory.”

Tru$ vs Fear

As the picture on the left shows Israel was surrounded by hostile nations. During the reign of Antiochus strongholds were placed throughout the land of the Jews to ensure Hellenization was maintained. He set up men that would vex Israel: Philip a Phrygian was given Jerusalem, Andronicus was given Garizim, Apollonius to slay the young men and to sell the women and young children and of course Menelaus who despised his own people. Just like the woman was not afraid to die for God’s word; the Maccabees were not afraid to fight for God’s word and to be able to serve him without interference from the heathen. Now of course those same men set up did not simply allow Israel to begin to serve God in peace. In fact they brought multitudes like the sand of the sea to fight against them.

However they did not know that the battle is not won by strength or valor. They did not know that trusting in a rock shaped like a man could and would not save you. Which is why they repeatedly faced Judas and failed. Apollonius was killed in his fight against the Maccabees and when Seron a s Syrian prince decided to obtain fame by trying to slaughter the Jews he was overthrown. In fact the small company led by Judas killed 800 men and the rest of them fled to Philistia. However during the rebellion of the Maccabees these strongholds were broken down and many of the enemies were removed. This information disturbed Antiochus and he decided to gather a great army to wipeout the children of Israel. Unfortunately this began to bankrupt him and he had to go to Persia to obtain additional revenue. While he seek to build up additional money he instructed Lysias to raise his son and to squash to the rebellion in Judah.

Surr'nded but not conquered

To ensure the that the strength of Israel was rooted out and

the remnant of the people removed Antiochus gave Lysias half

of his forces and all of his elephantry. He also instructed him

place strangers in the land that was inhabited by Israel. Just

like his father, Satan, Antiochus wanted remove the children of God immediately and would not be satisfied until no one would

remember who they were and more importantly who God was

and how to serve him. Being a good servant of the king;

Lysias worked hard to obey his instruction. Just like Satan’s

children obey the devil to fulfill his will. He gathered the mighty men from the king’s circle of friends: Ptolemee, Nicanor, and

Gorgias. He also sent 40,000 foot men and 7,000 footmen to

wipeout Israel. The fame of this army was known throughout

the lands and even the merchants took gold and servants so

they could buy the remaining Israelites

as slaves.

So what did Judas

do when he saw the

armies coming near their borders? They

decided to fast and call unto the Lord. They also brought the

tithes and the first fruits as offering. They acknowledge that

without God they could not stand...

! For thy sanctuary is trodden down and profaned,

! and thy priests are in heaviness, and brought low.

! And low, the heathen are assembled together

! to destroy us: what things they imagine against

! us, thou knowest. How shall we be able to stand

! against them, except thou, O God, be our help.

! ! ! ! I Maccabees 3: 51-53!

This is something we need to remember and have to apply to

be acceptable to God; we cannot do anything without him and

yielding to Satan never helps. We must remember if we give

our very best effort we will succeed.

Now we all know that when Satan tempts you and you resist he just doesn’t give up and Lysias did not give up when his

first attack on Jerusalem was not successful. Instead he

Enemies like & sands of & sea

decided to send 60,000 footmen and 5,000 horsemen to

subdue them. Think about it Judas had 10,000 men and he

had to face a force of 65,000; that is 6.5 times the amount of

people. This is more proof that Satan will continue to upgrade

his attack to break you. We have to remember that God will

not put more upon us than we can bear and we can do all things Christ who strengthens us.

Lysias did not win that battle and decided to regroup and

obtain more people to fight against the Jews. When the

nations surrounding Israel heard that Jews had rebuilt the

temple and began to serve God there again they sought to remove them form the earth: Edomites, Ammonites, the

children of Bean and many others. Even when King Antioch

died of a painful bowel affliction the heathen did not stop

persecuting God’s people. Instead his son Antiochus Eupator

escalated warfare with the children of Israel.

I suppose he decided that footmen and horsemen would not

be sufficient. Eupator utilized an elphantry against the children

of Israel as well. There were 1000 men for every elephant as

well as 500 horsemen. The men were heavily armed and

protected. There were wooden towers that had 32 men in

them besides the Indian that controlled the elephant. In

addition Eupator had agitated the elephants with grape and

mulberry juice.

When you read

about the battle in I Maccabees

6 it says that the

m o u n t a i n s

glistened when

the sun shined u p o n t h e m

because of the

amount of armor this army had. For many people this would

be intimidating but Judas fought courageously. The Maccabees

did when that battle. However the fighting did not end with the death of the Judas or the death of his brothers. Until the evil

root is removed from the children of God and Satan no longer

has access to their minds and bodies he will be able to afflict

them.

An army or war elephant was an elephant who was trained and guided by humans for battle. These elephants were mainly used to charge at the enemy and to trample upon them. A division or multitude of elephants are known as elephantry. These war elephants were first called to battle in India. This practice then got out into south east Asia and westwards into the Mediterranean. They were famously used in the West by a Greek general, Phyrrhus of Epirus. These war elephants were also used by the armies of Cathrage. Later, in the Mediterranean, elephants were reduced in battle. This was due to improved tactics in combat. The use of combat elephants came to a complete conclusion in the 19th century.This then restricted their use in labor roles.

War Elephants

by Drelen Williams

TheFea$ of Dedication

During the ninth month on the 25th day the temple was cleansed and the profane items of the heathen were removed. A new altar was erected and the sacrifices were now being offered as they should be. It does not give the exact length of time for the Abomination of Desolation unto the dedication. What we do know is that there were shrubs growing in the sanctuary like it was part of the wilderness. The gates were burned down and the priest’s chambers were pulled down as well.

The Maccabees understood the importance of the sanctuary and why it was important to cleanse it instead of building a fort to protect themselves against their many enemies. Why? Because God was the one who protected them and it was vital to revere him. They had to praise God for the wondrous miracle that he worked on their behalf. The Greeks used seemingly endless cruelty and violence to wipe them from the face of the earth but they were still standing. They had defiled the temple but God had enable them to restore the sanctuary so that they could serve him without the interference of the wicked.

It is written that the people fell upon their faces and praised the God of heaven for the

success that he had given them. Think about it they did not have to worry about being

burned alive for keeping the Sabbath day holy. They would not be forced to eat swine’s

flesh or have to see the holy books burned before them.

They were liberated from the reproach of the wicked. They also did not want to forget what God had done for them so they decided to keep the feast of the dedication of the

altar for 7 days every year during the month of Casleu. The Temple was maintained

even during the era of the Romans. It was only during 70AD that the temple was finally

destroyed.

"e fea# of De$cation & %

Maccabees

None of us like abandon buildings or

lots. It is a very shameful thing to look

upon. Now imagine if your home was

vandalized and part of it was burned.

You would feel like it was one of the worst forcible violations. A person’s

home is often their most costly

possession and has significant

symbolism. Now think about what the

Temple meant to the children of God. It was the place where the priest

would commune with God. It was a

place where you could learn about

the truth and give offerings to the

Almighty. When Israel was a sovereign nation the temple was the

most beautiful building in Israel and

the world. When it was violently

burned to the ground it had a

significant impact on the children of God.

When they were able to return to build

it a second time it showed how God

was still with them and had not left

them. He had not forgotten his

people. Israel was able for a short period of time to serve God in peace

even though they were under the rule

of others.

So you can see why the Maccabees

were in great sorrow to see bushes in what was suppose to be a holy place.

Caricatures were drawn in the oracles

of God. The altar was too corrupt to

even use. Satan has always tried to

violate the children of God whenever possible. It started with the garden of

Eden with him entering into our

minds. He had no right to be there

only God should have access to our

emotions and thoughts in that intimate way.

In order for us to truly be established

on the Words of Jesus; we have to

make sure our temples our clean just

like the Maccabees cleansed the

sanctuary. We have to remove anything that was used to reverence

idols. Old bricks to untrue

philosophies must be cast out. We

need to carefully evaluate our lives to

make sure we are acceptable to be a temple of God. For God will not dwell

in a corrupt vessel.

Our next step will be to do all acts of

righteousness no matter how small or

great: reading the bible daily, worshiping God daily, meditating,

singing praises, fasting, being

baptized, assembling and worshiping

God on the Sabbath, keeping the

feasts days and paying tithes.

%e Symbol"m of & Temple

Our works

Mel"sa Pointer au#or

published by:Little Dove Publications

©2012

This is not an all inclusive list and this does not mean that you will not have struggles, sacrifices or burdens during this life. The end result is worth it because if we get on the foundation successfully we will gain eternal life.