A History of the Literature of Ancient Israel; From the Earliest Times to 135 B. C. (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1912. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXVI LITERATURE OF THE EARLY MACCABEAN ERA (168 to about 135 B.C.) When Palestine was incorporated in the Syrian kingdom by Antiochus the Great (198 B.C.),1 the influence of the degenerated Greek civilization of Antioch became dominant in Jerusalem; the Judaism that had survived Babylonian exile seemed doomed to disintegrate under the pervasive influence of Greek athletics, theatres, and gay religious festivals. Antiochus Epiphanes, who succeeded to the Syrian throne, was not satisfied with the progress Hellenistic civilization was making among his Jewish subjects and determined to root out completely all the rites and usages which made in any way an heterogeneous element in his kingdom. He forbade the observance of Sabbath and circumcision, ordered all copies of the Law burned, and all Jews to worship the Greek gods; horrible torture and death were the only alternatives. The temple was polluted by vile orgies of the Syrian soldiers, and an altar of Zeus, the "abomination of desolation," set upon the great altar of Jehovah, with swine's flesh used in sacrifice. Such measures could have but one result; they kindled into life all the loyalty to the law that had been developed under the Nehemiah-Ezra reform. The roll of martyrs became long and glorious; many fled to the caves of the wilderness, where a thousand were found and killed unresisting on a Sabbath day. Then the fires leaped forth in the Maccabean revolt, begun (168 B.c.) by an aged priest Mattathias and continued by his sons, at first under the leadership of Judas called Maccabeus. This son of Mattathias proved himself, not only one of the most devoted patriots, but one of the cleverest strategists of military history. With his growing band of heroic followers, he entrapped and cut See p. 351 I. ...