Post on 13-Mar-2016
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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.