32 TIME-LIFE MIRACLES OF FAITH
JERUSALEM’SRECKONING
SPARKING
AHOLIDAY
A people’s devotion to God brings
a divine glow to the worldF
or the Jews, life under Antiochus IV Epi-
phanes, the tyrannical leader of the Seleucid
Empire, is unbearable. Intent on wiping out
Jewish culture, the 2nd-century Greek king
has outlawed the Sabbath and Jewish sacri-
ficial offerings. He has ordered the burning of all Torahs—
Judaism’s most important sacred text—and condemned to
death anyone found possessing a copy. (Students study-
ing the Torah hid their scrolls and started spinning tops,
or dreidels, to make it look like they were gambling when
soldiers approached.) He also has banned circumcision, a
ritual required of all Hebrew males, making it a capital of-
fense. But a double miracle will soon turn the tide.
To demean and offend the Jewish people, Antiochus
hideously defiles their temple, ordering that a statue of the
Greek god Zeus be set atop the altar for the performance of
pagan rites. Among these is the sacrifice of pigs, animals
that the Jews considered unclean. The despot even forces
Jewish leaders to offer sacrifices to his idols.Outraged, the people of Judea begin to rebel, and the
scattered uprisings coalesce into a large-scale revolt.
Led by Jewish priest Mattathias the Hasmonean and his
five sons—known as the Maccabees—the people launch
a guerilla war against the Seleucids. Miraculously, the
ragtag collection of dissidents triumph over the mighty
Antiochus IV.
When the victorious Maccabees return to Jerusalem,
they find “the Temple abandoned, the altar profaned, the
gates burned down, the courtyards grown up in a forest of
weeds, and the priests’ rooms torn down,” according to the
Books of Maccabees. Mattathias and other priests repairOLD TESTAMENT