peoples made no difficulty; for the change was to them little more than a change of names. To the Jews it was a final test of their fidelity to God and their country. Many of them were glad of an excuse to do what they had before been inclined to: and many others yielded at once through fear. A master was sent to Jerusalem to instruct them in the new rites; he dedicated the Temple to Jupiter Olympius; set up an altar to that deity on the altar of Jehovah; forbade the keeping of the Sabbath; destroyed every copy of the Law that could be found; and compelled the people to eat swine’s flesh, and to attend the sacrifices to Jupiter in their own Holy Place. The story of the old scribe Eleazer, ninety years old, and of the mother and her seven sons, tortured to death because they would not worship Jupiter, is remembered by us all. How it must have wrought upon Mattathias and his sons we may conceive.
Their own day of trial was approaching; and they saw it coming. Every day groves were consecrated to heathen gods and goddesses; altars were set up in the highways; and the people of the villages and farms were compelled to carry the ivy in the processions of Bacchus, and bound over to eat swine’s flesh once a month. At last, the king’s officer, Apelles, came to Modin,—all graciousness in manner, and full of splendid promises, if Mattathias would be a good subject to the heathen king. The old man not only refused, but made public announcement of his intention to live and die by the faith of his race. He took his stand near the altar set up by Apelles; and, as a Jew approached it to offer sacrifice, he struck him dead,—not in a transport of passion, but under warrant of the Law. This was the first act of the Maccabees in their immortal defence of their Holy Land. Apelles was next struck down; and the old man called upon all true men who heard him to follow him to the mountains. Many joined him at the moment; and more followed, from day to da}-: but the enemy had learned the secret of conquering in that strange country where the people would not fight on one day in seven. Above a thousand of the Maccabees’ followers were watched to a cave in the limestone hills, and slaughtered on the Sabbath. Staunch as the family were, while all was giving way around them, they saw that this was a point which must be yielded, for the service of Jehovah and His Temple: and henceforth they encountered the enemy on all days alike. For a time they made the mountains their head-quarters, keeping watch over the country below, and swarming down upon the towns and the plains, overthrowing the heathen altars, restoring the synagogues, collecting every copy of the Law that could be heard of, for preservation in the hills; and punishing apostates, and cheering up all faithful Jews who had feared that all was lost. The Temple was indeed no place now for the Messiah to appear in. It was utterly defiled, and in heathen hands; but what had been once might be again, and the Holy of Holies be sanctified once more.
Mattathias was too old for such leadership as this. He soon sank under it, leaving it in charge to his sons to fulfil the task he had begun, and selecting Judas, the third, to be their general. It is a proof of the impression already made on the enemy, that the body of Mattathias was allowed to be brought down to the family sepulchre, and deposited there with all the honours of his name and rank, without any opposition from the soldiery of Antiochus.
For twenty-six years did the Maccabees carry on the war, through the reigns of five hostile kings. They destroyed 200,000 of the best troops of their enemy, and established the independence of their country, with all the religious restoration which was implicated with it.
Judas was chosen by his father for his military qualities; but Simon, the next eldest, was joined with him for prudence in counsel. The others seem to have co-operated as if no personal jealousy could enter into so holy a cause.
Their first act, after their father was buried, was to unfurl the banner of the Maccabees, by which Judas proclaimed his pretensions, and afforded a rallying point for all patriots. Next, he exercised and proved his small force by secret and rapid expeditions against towns, which he invariably seized and fortified, leaving garrisons in each. When sure of his hold over his soldiers, he adventured a pitched battle, in which his small force defeated that of the cruel Apollonius, who had made Jerusalem run with blood, and who was now Governor of Samaria. Judas slew him, and ever after used his sword, as a sort of talisman in the eyes of his followers. The name of the great Maccabee spread through neighbouring countries after one or two more considerable victories; but the effect was only to multiply his enemies. Antiochus himself travelled into his eastern provinces to raise money, and direct future attacks thence, while a vast Syrian army poured down by Cœle-Syria. The general of that army brought with him a large company of slave-merchants, having made proclamation that he should soon have, for the slave-market, the insurgent remnant of the Jewish people, whose price was wanted for arrears of tribute to Rome. The next conflict affords us the fullest information we have of Judas as a military commander. He summoned his force (which was only 6000 men, against 47,000 of the enemy) to a service of fasting and prayer, reminding them of the desolation of the Temple as the most intolerable of their humiliations. At the close of the observances he informed them fully of the danger, which would allow of no half-hearted men being employed; and he insisted upon the withdrawal of all men who had married, or built houses, or planted vineyards, and of all who were more or less afraid. This reduced his 6000 to 3000. With this handful of troops he marched towards Emmaus, where the enemy were encamped: but the enemy did not intend that he should ever reach their camp. A commander, at the head of 5000 men, was detached to cut him off in the hills; but the news was carried to Judas, who eluded the force in the night, and fell upon the camp in the early morning. The Syrians fled, but the Jews were so well under command that they abstained from plunder till the detachment had returned, and was conquered. It returned weary from its search for Judas and his band among the mountains: the camp was in a flame,
