The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-02-15
Pictures of Great Men.
Judas Maccabeus
BY SAMUEL A. CHAPLIN, JR.

JUDAS MaCCdDeuS.
BY SAMUEL A. CHAPLIN, JR
Like William of Orange in the Neither
lands, George Washington in America,
Judas Maccabeus holds the most conspicu-
Gus place in remarkable period of Jewish
history. Under his leadership the Jews
fought successfully to free themselves
from subsection to people whose customs
and religion, very different from their
own, had commenced to displace the
sacred law and traditions which had come
down to them, through a long line of
ancestors, from Moses s time.
The events which made Judas famous
took place within the short period of
eight years, and the great end which he
sought was not attained during his life
time, yet such was his great valor and
patriotism that he has ever been regarded
as a national Geliverer, and his deeds have
been immortalized.
Less than two hundred years before
Christ, while Judas and his four brothers
were yet youths living in Jerusalem with
their aged father Mattathias, who was Of
priestly descent, the land of Judea, which
with the whole of Palestine had been for
many generations under Grecian rule,
was gradually approaching the time when
the Jews, exasperated by the manners
and ceremonies which the Greeks forced
upon them, should rise in revolt that
must cost them much misery and blood
shed. The Grecian power that controlled
Palestine was then centered at the great
and beautiful city of Antioch in Syria
and was vested in the person of a power
full but eccentric monarch, Antiochus ~
who was known also by the two names,
Epiphanes, "the Brilliant, and Epimanes,
the Mailman" He inflicted upon the
unhappy Jews all manner of indignities
and persecution. He was ambitious for
power therefore he seized upon Jerusa-
lem, slaughtering the frightened populace
that fed before him. He was Jealous
for the Greek religion, which worshiped
many gods, and he hated the Jewish re-
hgion, which worshiped but the one true
God therefore he entered the temple in
Jerusalem, carried away the sacred en-
blems and utensils, and deiled the holy
building. He was avaricious and there
fore he seized upon all the riches within
his grasp the golden altar of incense;
the golden candlestick which contained
the perpetual light; the large masses Of
pie and the golden crowns and shields that
adorned it. You remember how sacred
the temple utensils were to the Jews, and
yet this tyrant seized them and bore
them away. Soon after the unhappy
people were assailed by one of the king
officers, a tax gatherer named Apollonius,
who took the cowardly advantage Of at
lacking them on the Sabbath day, which
they observed very strictly, and which
they would not desecrate by defending
themselves On this occasion many were
seized and hurried away to the slave
markets and afterwards they suffered
even greater losses than these by their
strict obedience to the Sabbath law which
forbade them to do work of any sort.
In this manner the Jews were torment
ed by their cruel oppressors but, hard
and merciless as this treatment had been,
there was even worse persecution to come.
The fayorite and unwavering plan of
of King Antiochus was to have a rigid
and uniform system of life and law
throughout his entire kingdom, and so
the Apollonius Of whom we have heard
was made Governor of Palestine and or
dered to put down, by force if necessary,
all Jewish customs, and to supplant them
with the Grecian manners and religion.
Mattathias the old priest, and his FIVE
sons, now grown to manhood, were still
in Jerusalem, and their hearts were
stirred with sorrow for their country
wrongs and with anger toward their
prosecutors. The new Governor merciless-
ly executed his orders, which fell with
terrible effect upon the Jewish nation
Circumcision was forbidden, the Sabbath
was desecrated, the copies Of the law col
lected and burnt, the Jews forced to eat
swine's flesh, and the Temple desecrated
by foreign worship, and ordered to be re-
consecrated to Jupiter Olympus 70 a
nation like the Jews, who regarded with
sacred love and reverence their ancient