The king ordered the Holy Books to be tom and burnt; he profaned the Temple, and forbade the observance of the divine laws under the penalty of death.
Unhappily, many of the Jews, yielding to a guilty fear, obeyed the king’s order; but many more refused to comply with the impious mandate, and chose to die rather than violate the holy precept of God. Among these was an old man named Eleazar, ninety-nine years of age, who was renowned as a doctor of the law.
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Fig. 59. Zeus (Jupiter).
Old Roman painting.
Naples Museum.When Eleazar refused to eat swine’s flesh, the use of which was forbidden by the law of Moses, they opened his mouth by force to compel him to eat. But he still refused, and declared that he would undergo any torment that might be inflicted on him, rather than stain his soul with sin by a violation of the commandment of God. Then some of those who stood by, pitying the good old man, advised him to eat of other meat which was not forbidden, so as to feign compliance with the king’s command.
Eleazar replied: “It does not become our age to dissemble[1].” He then explained to these false friends that even if he made a mere show of complying with the king’s orders in this matter, the young men of his nation might be tempted to follow his example, saying: “The aged Eleazar has become a pagan, why may not we do the same?” Moreover, he exclaimed: “Though for the present time I should be delivered from the punishment of men, yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty, neither alive nor dead.”
Having thus spoken, the holy old man was dragged to the place of execution, where he suffered a glorious death. In the
- ↑ To dissemble. But why did Eleazar refuse to eat meat which he was allowed to eat? Firstly, because he would have thereby dissembled and acted as if he had apostatised from the true faith. Secondly, because by this seeming apostasy he would have given a bad example and scandal to the Jewish young men.
Zeus (Fig. 59). All the Jews were forbidden under pain of death to practise any religion but that of the state. They did not dare to circumcise their male children, or observe their sabbaths and festivals, or offer sacrifice to the true God.
