A Great Danger for the Faith
Chapter 1[a]
The Succession of Alexander the Great.[b] 1 After Alexander of Macedon, the son of Philip, had come from the land of Kittim[c] and defeated Darius, the king of the Persians and the Medes, he succeeded him as king, in addition to his position as king of Greece. 2 He engaged in many campaigns, captured strongholds, and executed kings. 3 In his advance to the ends of the earth, he plundered countless nations. When the earth was reduced to silence before him, his heart swelled with pride and arrogance.[d] 4 He recruited a very powerful army, and as provinces, nations, and rulers were conquered by him, they became his tributaries.
5 However, when all this had been accomplished, Alexander became ill, and he realized that his death was imminent. 6 Therefore, he summoned his officers, nobles who had been brought up with him from his youth, and he divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive. 7 Then, in the twelfth year[e] of his reign, Alexander died.
8 After that, his officers assumed power in the kingdom, each in his own territory. 9 They all put on royal crowns after his death, as did their heirs who succeeded them for many years, inflicting great evils on the world.
10 From these there sprang forth a wicked offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, the son of King Antiochus. Previously he had been a hostage in Rome. He began his reign in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the Greeks.[f]
11 Hellenism in Palestine.[g] In those days there emerged in Israel a group of renegades who led many people astray, saying, “Let us enter into an alliance with the Gentiles around us. Many disasters have come upon us since we separated ourselves from them.” 12 This proposal received great popular support, 13 and when some of the people immediately thereafter approached the king; he authorized them to introduce the practices observed by the Gentiles. 14 Therefore, they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem according to Gentile custom, 15 concealed the marks of their circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. Thus they allied themselves to the Gentiles and sold themselves to the power of evil.
16 The Temple of Jerusalem Is Sacked.[h] Once his kingdom had been firmly established, Antiochus was determined to become king of Egypt so that he might reign over both kingdoms. 17 He invaded Egypt with a massive force of chariots, elephants, and cavalry, supported by a large fleet. 18 When he engaged Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, in battle, Ptolemy fled in fear before him, amidst a great number of casualties. 19 The fortified cities in the land of Egypt were captured, and Antiochus plundered the kingdom.
20 After his return from his conquest of Egypt in the year one hundred and forty-three, Antiochus advanced upon Israel and Jerusalem with a massive force. 21 In his arrogance he entered the sanctuary and removed the golden altar, the lampstand for the light with all its fixtures, 22 the table for the loaves of offering, the libation cups and bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, and the crowns. He stripped off all the gold decorations on the front of the temple, 23 and he seized the silver and gold and precious vessels and all the hidden treasures he could find. 24 Taking all this, he returned to his own country, having caused great bloodshed and boasted arrogantly of what he had accomplished.
25 There was great mourning throughout Israel,
26 and the rulers and the elders groaned.
Girls and young men wasted away,
and the beauty of the women waned.
27 Every bridegroom raised up laments,
and the bride sat mourning in her bridal chamber.
28 The land trembled for its inhabitants,
and the entire house of Jacob was clothed in shame.
29 Two years later the king sent his chief collector of tribute to the cities of Judah. When he came to Jerusalem with a powerful force, 30 he deceitfully addressed the people there with sentiments of peace. Once he had gained their confidence, he suddenly launched a savage attack on the city and exterminated many of the people of Israel. 31 He plundered the city and set it on fire. He demolished its dwellings and the walls that encircled the city, 32 took the women and children captive, and seized the livestock. 33 Then they rebuilt the City of David with a massive high wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.[i] 34 There they stationed a sinful race of renegades, who fortified themselves inside it, 35 storing up arms and provisions, and depositing there the plunder they had collected from Jerusalem. Thus they posed a significant threat.
36 The citadel became an ambush against the sanctuary,
an evil adversary for Israel at all times.
37 They spilled innocent blood all around the sanctuary,
and even defiled the sanctuary itself.
38 Because of them the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled,
and the city became a dwelling place of strangers.
She became estranged from her own offspring,
and her children abandoned her.
39 Her sanctuary became as desolate as a desert;
her feasts were turned into mourning,
her sabbaths into reproach,
her honor into contempt.
40 Her dishonor was equal to her former glory,
and her exaltation was turned into mourning.
41 The Great Persecution.[j] Then the king issued an edict to his whole kingdom that all of his subjects should become a united people, 42 with each nation abandoning its particular customs. All the Gentiles accepted the decree of the king, 43 and many among the Israelites adopted his religion, sacrificing to idols and profaning the Sabbath.
44 The king also sent messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah with edicts commanding them to adopt practices that were foreign to their country: 45 to prohibit holocausts, sacrifices, and libations in the sanctuary, to profane the Sabbaths and feast days, 46 to defile the temple and its priests, to build altars, temples, and shrines for idols, 47 to sacrifice swine[k] and other unclean beasts, 48 to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to allow themselves to be defiled with every kind of impurity and abomination, 49 so that they would forget the law and change all their observances. 50 Anyone who refused to obey the command of the king was to be put to death.
51 These were the terms of the edicts he issued throughout his kingdom. He appointed inspectors to supervise all the people, and he commanded all the towns of Judah to offer sacrifices, town by town. 52 Many of the people, abandoning the law, joined them and committed evil deeds in the land, 53 thereby driving Israel into hiding in every possible place of refuge.
54 On the fifteenth day of the month Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five, the king erected upon the altar of holocausts the abomination that causes desolation, and pagan altars were built in the surrounding towns of Judah. 55 Incense was offered at the doors of the houses and in the streets. 56 Any scrolls of the law that were found were torn to pieces and destroyed by fire. 57 If any people were discovered in possession of a book of the covenant or acting in conformity with the law, they were condemned to death by the decree of the king.
58 Month after month these wicked people used their power against any loyal Israelite found in the towns. 59 On the twenty-fifth day of each month they offered sacrifice on the altar erected on top of the altar of holocausts. 60 In accordance with the royal decree, any women who had their children circumcised were put to death, 61 with their infants hung from their necks; also put to death were their families and those who had circumcised them.
62 Despite all this, many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat any unclean food. 63 They preferred to die rather than to be defiled by such food and profane the holy covenant, and they suffered death for their convictions. 64 Great affliction was unleashed upon Israel.
Footnotes
- 1 Maccabees 1:1 In the sixth century B.C., the Exile had endangered the existence of Israel as a nation. Out of this crisis, the national hope came forth purified: the vocation of Israel, reduced to a little protectorate, was not that of being a power but of remaining, above all, the people bearing witness to God. The crisis of the Maccabean period is more grave. For the first time, Israel is threatened as a spiritual family: it is the trial of hope.
- 1 Maccabees 1:1 The young Macedonian conqueror had formed an immense empire for himself (333–324 B.C.). He died prematurely, and his kingdom was divided among the generals who quarreled over his inheritance. Judea profited from the benevolence of the Lagids who ruled Egypt. However, at the beginning of the second century B.C., it became subjugated by the successors of Seleucus, the Seleucids, who ruled in Syria and spread Hellenism throughout the Middle East. With the advent of Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 175 B.C., the pressure reaches its zenith.
- 1 Maccabees 1:1 Kittim: designates primarily Cyprus but encompasses other foreign countries among which was Macedonia. Greece here designates the region of Asia Minor that had already been colonized by the Greeks for a long time.
- 1 Maccabees 1:3 After defeating the Persians, Alexander the Great reached the Indian Ocean.
- 1 Maccabees 1:7 Twelfth year: 334 B.C.
- 1 Maccabees 1:10 The year 137 of the Seleucid era corresponds to 175 B.C.
- 1 Maccabees 1:11 In order to unify his kingdom, the new monarch Antiochus IV Epiphanes imposed Greek customs everywhere. These were contradictory to the Jewish religious requirements, which were made precise from the end of the Exile. Nonetheless, the king could rely—especially at Jerusalem—on a current of opportunists favorable to Hellenism because of ambition or a desire for cultural integration: the clan of Jason whose members are termed renegades.
- 1 Maccabees 1:16 This event took place in 169 B.C. The plunderer of the temple had great need of money after his first campaign in Egypt; after the second, he brutally occupied the city of Jerusalem. The arrogance of the king, who wanted to incarnate Zeus, impressed his contemporaries and especially the author of the Book of Daniel (Dan 7:8-25; 8:11-14; 9:27; 11:31, 36; 12:11ff). The prince who makes himself a god and plays with the life of human beings becomes the type of the Antichrist (Rev 13:15).
- 1 Maccabees 1:33 The ancient Jebusite fortress defeated by David (see 2 Sam 5:7-9). This fortification, called Acra, will present the Maccabees with much work for them (see 1 Mac 6:18-32; 11:20-24; 13:49-51).
- 1 Maccabees 1:41 King Antiochus IV Epiphanes adds sacrileges as the zenith of his doings, erecting at the heart of the temple of Jerusalem, on the very altar of holocausts, an altar to Zeus, the great god of the pagans: this is the abomination that causes desolation (Dan 9:27; 11:31). We are in early December 167 B.C. The people of the covenant are obliged to choose: to become pagan or to suffer violence.
- 1 Maccabees 1:47 Swine: the pig was the unclean animal par excellence (see Lev 11:7; Deut 14:8).