were offered as in the Eleusinian mysteries. At the same time the Samaritan temple at Shechem was made over to Zeus Xenius: it is probable that the Samaritans were, like the Jews, divided into two parties. The practice of Judaism was prohibited by a royal edict (1 Macc. i. 41–63; 2 Macc. vi.-vii. 42), and some of the Jews died rather than disobey the law of Moses. It is legitimate to suppose that this attitude would have surprised Antiochus if he had heard of it. His Jewish friends, first Jason and then Menelaus, had been enlightened enough to throw off their prejudices, and, so far as he could know, they represented the majority of the Jews. Zeus was for him the supreme god of the Greek pantheon, and the syncretism, which he suggested for the sake of uniformity in his empire, assuredly involved no indignity to the only God of the Jews. At Athens Antiochus began to build a vast temple of Zeus Olympius, in place of one begun by Peisistratus; but it was only finished by Hadrian in A.D. 130. Zeus Olympius was figured on his coins, and he erected a statue of Zeus Olympius in the Temple of Apollo at Daphne. More, he identified himself—Epiphanes, God Manifest—with Zeus, when he magnified himself above all other gods (Dan. xi. 37). To the minority of strict Jews he was therefore “the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not”; but the majority he carried with him and, when he was dying (165 B.C.) during his eastern campaigns, he wrote to the loyal Jews as their fellow citizen and general, exhorting them to preserve their present goodwill towards him and his son, on the ground that his son would continue his policy in gentleness and kindness, and so maintain friendly relations with them (2 Macc. ix.).
For the Jews who still deserved the name the policy of Antiochus wore a very different aspect. Many of them became martyrs for the Law, and for a time none would raise his hand to defend himself on the Sabbath if at all. No record remains of the success of the Athenian missionary whom Antiochus sent to preach the Jewish Revolt. new Catholicism; but the soldiers at any rate did their work thoroughly. At last a priestly family at a village called Modein committed themselves to active resistance; and, when they suspended the Sabbath law for purposes of self defence, they were joined by the Hasidaeans (Assidaeans), who seem to have been the spiritual ancestors of the Pharisees. The situation was plain enough: unless the particular law of the Sabbath was suspended there would soon have been none to keep the Law at all in Palestine. Jerusalem had apostatized, but the country so far as it was populated by Jews was faithful. Under Judas Maccabeus the outlaws wandered up and down re-establishing by force their proscribed religion. In 165 B.C. they attained their end, the regent of Syria conceded the measure of toleration they required with the approval of Rome; and in 164 B.C. the temple was purged of its desecration. But Judas did not lay down his arms, and added to his resources by rescuing the Jews of Galilee and Gilead and settling them in Judaea (1 Macc. v.). The Nabataean Arabs and the Greeks of Scythopolis befriended them, but the province generally was hostile. In spite of their hostility Judas more than held his own until the regent defeated him at Bethzachariah. The rebels were driven back on Mount Zion and were there besieged (163 B.C.). The rumour of a pretender to the throne saved them from destruction, and they capitulated, exchanging the strongholds they had for their lives. At any rate the time of compulsory fusion with the Greeks was ended once for all. In 162 B.C. Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, escaped from Rome and was proclaimed king. Like Antiochus Epiphanes, who also had spent his youth as a hostage in Rome, he was inclined to listen to the Hellenizing Jews, whom he found assembled in full force at Antioch, and to support them against Judas, who was now supreme in Judaea. But he dealt more Alcimus. subtly with them: instead of a pagan missionary he sent them Alcimus, a legitimate high-priest, who detached the Hasidaeans from Judas. Indeed, Alcimus and his company did more mischief among the Israelites than the heathen (1 Macc. vii. 23) and Judas took vengeance upon those who deserted from him. Nicanor was appointed governor and prevailed upon Judas to settle down like an ordinary citizen. But Alcimus complained to the king and Judas fled just in time to escape being sent to Antioch as a prisoner. In the battle of Adasa, which soon followed, Nicanor was defeated and his forces annihilated, thanks to the Jews who came out from all the villages of Judaea (1 Macc. vii. 46). At this point (161 B.C.) Judas sent an embassy to Rome and an alliance was concluded (1 Macc. viii.), too late to save Judas from the determined and victorious attack of Demetrius. The death of Judas at Elasa left the field open to the apostates, and his followers were reduced to the level of roving brigands. The Syrian general made fruitless attempts to capture them, and build forts in Judaea whose garrisons should harass Israel (1 Macc. ix. 50–53), but Jonathan and Simon, brothers of Judas, found their power increase until Jonathan ruled at Michmash as judge and destroyed the godless out of Israel (1 Macc. ix. 73).
In 153 B.C. there appeared another of the series of pretenders to the Syrian throne, to whose rivalry Jonathan, and Simon after him, owed the position they acquired for themselves and their nation. Jonathan was recognized as the head of the Jews, and his prestige and power were such that the charges of the Hellenizing Jews Jonathan and Simon. received scant attention. As the years went on he became Strategus and the Syrian garrisons were withdrawn from all the strongholds except Jerusalem and Bethzur. In 147 B.C. he defeated the governor of Coele-Syria in another civil war and received Ekron as his personal reward—as it was said in the name of the prophet Zachariah (ix. 7), “and Ekron shall be as a Jebusite.” The king for whom he fought was defeated; but his successor acceded to the demands of Jonathan, added three districts of Samaria to Judaea and freed the whole from tribute. The next king confirmed this and appointed Simon military commander of the district stretching from Tyre to Egypt. So with Syrian as well as Jewish troops the brothers set about subduing Palestine; and Jonathan sent ambassadors in the name of the high-priest and people of the Jews to Rome and Sparta. In spite of the treacherous murder of Jonathan by the Syrian general, the prosperity of the Jews was more than maintained by Simon. The port of Joppa, which was already occupied by a Jewish garrison, was cleared of its inhabitants and populated by Jews. Finally, in 141 B.C., the new era began: the yoke of the heathen was taken away from Israel and Simon was declared high-priest and general and ruler of the Jews for ever until there should arise a faithful prophet (1 Macc. xiii. 41, xiv. 41).
In 135 B.C. the political ambitions of the Jews were rudely checked: a new king of Syria, Antiochus Sidetes, resented their encroachments at Joppa and Gazara and drove them back into Jerusalem. In 134 famine compelled John Hyrcanus, who had succeeded his father Simon, to a belated compliance with the king’s demands. The Jews laid John Hyrcanus. down their arms, dismantled Jerusalem, and agreed to pay rent for Joppa and Gazara. But in 129 B.C. Antiochus died fighting in the East and for sixty-five years the Jews enjoyed independence. John Hyrcanus was not slow to take advantage of his opportunities. He conquered the Samaritans and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim. He subdued the Edomites and compelled them to become Jews. Soon after his death his sons stormed Samaria, which Alexander the Great had colonized with Macedonian soldiers, and razed it to the ground. Judas Aristobulus, who succeeded and was the first of the Hasmonaeans, called himself king and followed his father’s example by compelling the Ituraeans to become Jews, and so creating the Galilee of New Testament times. In this case, as in that of the Edomites, it is natural to suppose that there existed already a nucleus of professing Jews which made the wholesale conversion possible. By this time (103 B.C.) it was clear that the Hasmonaeans were—from the point of view of a purist—practically indistinguishable from the Hellenizers whom Judas had opposed so keenly, except that they did not abandon the formal observances of Judaism, and even enforced them upon foreigners. Consequently the Jews were divided into two parties—Pharisees and Sadducees—of whom the Pharisees cared only for doing or
