Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-12-04


VIII be eehebarte5 I ia children
service and there VII hp reeuatIons
by TN tsst ami SECOND cJas#o5=
rfisa'ia4 at The Ii4bG~. VIII IN eI4ra
Athe epildeen#et tbe=DHfl and -temot
eIassez y haheoRlfn zaae=~fff he
rendered IL aaIr=Na5= 5eaoP6ue=
johnson. and doll sal4. doet.. .heI
Ruth Bloom and l:tte Scaloss- som
thing eeod viii bc distributed amoua
the obT1dr9a The public is cordially
inxit.= 10 attend The service
lho foueWiue historical account ol
The Feast OF Dedication VA wrfttra
specially for Tee Graphic b7 Rabbi
Frisch
The sources Tor the HISTORY or= The
time in which the events connects
with the Feast of Dedication took
place are found in the Books Of the
Maccabees, he tir7t book OF which Is
reearded by scholars as reliable his
tory and probably WAS written about
the year l35 b. G: and in tosoPhus.
who wrote in the FIRST century A. d.
When Alexander the Great died IN
30 Il. {. his great empire was divided
between three of his followers. Syria
constituted one of til" three great di
visions, and Palestine fell to the lot
of Syria Though its possession was
contested by the King OF Egypt, It
was still under the suzerainty of
Syria in the year l6S b. {.
In that year Syrian soldiers polluted
and detilcd the temple in Jerusalem
by Offering there sacrifices to the
pagan dcities of Syria notably the
"Zeus Olympius,' To whom statue
was erected in the temple. The Wor=
ship Of Jehovah WAS forbidden The
observance of Jewish regulations ana
customs having the penalty OF death
attached to them.
This action of the Syrian military III
Palestine was no detached occurrence,
but II formed a part Of Antiochns
LARGER scheme TO introduce an nnEary=
inc uniformity in all the phases OF
tho l:fe of his subjects. Not only
their government but also their SEclal
customs and their mode Of religious
wor. hin were TO be the same. He dld
not .eenl 10 realize that the attempt
tg make a homogcneous p"op.c out o.
the numerous hctcro9eneous nation
aIftfp- under his sway Wa an impos-
sibility. Yes. an atsnmI.tF. The
Ionjans could not act and i've
Ike Che Jews nor The Damascans Hike
the phcenfe:ans In those day there
W. very little Of travel. which il such
powerful agency n Introducing cos
mnpoitan customs and ideas. Nor
were there the railroads and teIe-
Graphs aud cables which nowadays
practically make all the peopIe5 ot the
ca,ah ono in feeling and in thoashi.
Tho Eope that all the d.scordant Gle
n}ents which made up The empire OF
AntiocAns would be assimilated into
one harmonious nation Waa d"ius on.
sill more absurd however, was HI
method of carrying cut his scheme.
+ The work OF removing differences m
tho life of the subject nations was To
he daao without delay. Ne gradual
disappearanees OF religious d.stlne=
lions would do. In Jerusalem the
lows were forced to adopt the Official
rclioion or suffer death. Many o1 the
Inhabitants Of the city fed TO the
.ucantaiu Businesses or to the sur
rounding villages. An aged priest
Nattathias by name, took refuge m
NGdfn. q village not far from Jerl a
Ien. When AppcIIes, Syrian ofil-
oor and his men came TO Modin and
erected a heathen altar and demand
Cd fhaf the people Of the town take
ran in The sacrifices Mattathias ana
his -ons Killed AppelIes and his fol.
lowers and raised the standard OF re-
volt
Idrrfe by urIe the band Of Ma'a-
thias crew. AT The death OF the aged
nriesr ri. son Juda Naccab"os "
came he commanders For time the
>Iaccabean Judas and his broth
ers we're carried on a eoefr.ia
warfare. making sanies from the
mountains and retreating as soon a.
they had harassed the Syrians " 'h
rhe Growth Of their force and IN.
rising =af their courage however, tAeE
took 10 he omen