Alexander
1 ① Everything began with the conquests of Alexander the first, son of Philip, the Macedonian. Setting out from Greece, he killed Darius, king of the Persians and the Medes. Being already King of Greece, he took the throne of Darius. 2After fighting many battles, conquering strongholds and putting to death the kings of those nations, 3he reached the ends of the earth and plundered several nations. And when the world became quiet and subject to his power, he became proud. 4He gathered a strong army, ruled over provinces and nations, and rulers paid him taxes. 5But he fell sick, and knowing he was going to die, 6he summoned his generals and the noblemen who had been brought up with him from his youth; and while still alive, he divided his kingdom among them. 7Alexander had reigned for twelve years when he died.
8His generals assumed power, each one in the region assigned to him. 9And immediately after Alexander’s death, they made themselves kings and their sons after them, filling the earth with evil for many years. 10From their descendants there came a godless offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus, who had been held as hostage in Rome. He became king in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the Greek era (175 B.C.).
11It was then that some rebels emerged from Israel, who succeeded in winning over many people. They said, “Let us renew contact with the peoples around us for we had endured many misfortunes since we separated from them.”
12This proposal was well-received 13and some eagerly went to the king. The king authorized them to adopt the customs of the pagan nations. 14With his permission, they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem in the pagan style. 15And as they wanted to be like the pagans in everything, they made artificial foreskins for themselves and abandoned the Holy Covenant, sinning as they pleased.
Antiochus despoils the Temple
16When Antiochus felt confident of his power, he decided to seize Egypt and rule over the two nations. 17He entered Egypt with a strong army, with chariots of war, elephants, horses and a great fleet 18and attacked Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Ptolemy had to retreat and was defeated, and many of his men died. 19The victors seized the fortified cities of Egypt and plundered the land. 20In the year one hundred and forty-three (169 B.C.), when Antiochus returned after defeating Egypt, he passed through Israel and went up to Jerusalem with a strong army.
21He arrogantly broke into the sanctuary and removed the golden altar, the lampstand for the light with all its accessories, 22the table for the bread of offering, the libation vessels, the cups, the golden censers, the curtains and the crowns, and stripped away all the decorations, the golden moldings that used to cover the Temple entrance. 23He also took possession of the silver, gold, valuable objects and all the hidden treasures he could find. 24He took everything with him and left for his country, after shedding much blood and making arrogant statements.
25There was great mourning throughout the land of Israel: 26The leaders and the elders groaned, young men and maidens lost courage, and women grew pale; 27bridegrooms sang lamentations, and the young bride wept in her marriage-bed. 28The earth quaked, in sorrow for its inhabitants, and all the people of Jacob were humiliated.
29After two years, the king sent to the cities of Judah the chief tax collector and he came to Jerusalem with a strong army. 30He spoke to the people with words of peace in order to deceive them. But when he had gained their confidence, he suddenly fell on the city and dealt it a terrible blow, killing many Israelites. 31He plundered the city, burning and destroying the palaces and the surrounding walls.
32He took women and children captive and seized the livestock. 33Then they rebuilt the city of David with a high and solid wall protected by strong towers, and this became their fortress. 34There they set evil men and apostates who defended it. 35They stored up weapons and provisions, and everything they looted in the city, posing a constant threat. 36It became an ambush for the sanctuary, a grave and constant threat to Israel. 37They shed innocent blood around the sanctuary and defiled the sanctuary itself.
38The inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them. She became a colony of strangers, and was a stranger to her children who abandoned her. 39Her sanctuary became empty as the desert, her feasts became days of mourning, her Sabbaths were ridiculed, and her fame became an object of contempt. 40As her glory had been great, so now was her dishonor, for her greatness was turned into grief.
Religious persecution
41 ② Antiochus issued a decree to his whole kingdom. 42All the peoples of his empire had to renounce their particular customs and become one people. 43All the pagan nations obeyed and respected the king’s decree, and even in Israel many accepted the imposed cult. They offered sacrifices to idols and no longer respected the Sabbath. 44The King sent messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judea to carry the decree which imposed strange customs. 45In accordance with it, burnt offerings, sacrifices and other offerings in the sanctuary were suppressed. It also ordered that Sabbaths and sacred feasts be like ordinary days. 46The sanctuary and its ministers were no longer to be regarded sacred, 47instead, altars, sacred enclosures and temples were to be dedicated to idols. They were to offer pigs and unclean animals in sacrifice, 48and not perform on their sons the rite of circumcision. To sum up, they were to defile themselves by all kinds of impurity and profanity 49in order to forget the Law and change all their customs. 50The decree finally declared: “Anyone who does not fulfill the king’s order shall die.”
51The king published this obligation throughout the province and inspectors appointed by him went around the land of Judea. They saw to it that sacrifices were offered in all cities. 52Many Israelites joined them, abandoned the Law and committed countless evils 53obliging the true Israelites to find places of refuge to hide themselves.
54On the fifteenth day of the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five, Antiochus erected the “abominable idol of the invaders” on the altar of the temple. Pagan altars were built throughout the whole land of Judea; 55incense was offered at the doors of their houses and in the squares. 56There wicked men tore up the books of the Law they found and burned them. 57They killed anyone they caught in possession of the book of the Covenant and who fulfilled the precepts of the Law, as the royal decree had ordered. 58And being men in power, they pursued the Israelite rebels they found month after month in the cities. 59On the twenty-fifth day of every month, they offered their sacrifices on the new altar they had built upon the altar of the Temple.
60The women who, in defiance of the decree, had the rite of circumcision performed on their children, were put to death with their babies hung around their necks. 61Their families and all who had taken part in the circumcision were also put to death.
62But in spite of all this, many Israelites still remained firm and determined not to eat unclean food. 63They preferred to die rather than to make themselves unclean with those foods (prohibited by the Law) that violated the Holy Covenant. 64And Israel suffered a very great trial.
- This first paragraph summarizes the period of history from Alexander until Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria. Note the passage 1:11-15 where the beginning of the moral crisis in Judah is emphasized.
Two things characterize the Greek civilization of the Syrians:
- Art and the multiplicity of statues which, however beautiful they may have been, were used in pagan worship.
- Physical education: stadiums, sports, swimming pools. Sports were practiced in the nude, which scandalized the Jews. This explains why those who were ashamed to be known as Jews had to have their missing foreskins - after circumcision - replaced through a surgical procedure. - This chapter presents two aspects of the crisis:
1) A moral crisis. The Jews were in contact with a more advanced, though pagan, civilization. Could one adapt to and take advantage of this culture without giving up one's faith?
At that time the Jews were about to pay for the error they had made in keeping apart from the cultural progress of neighboring nations. For three centuries they emphasized that all the laws and customs of Israel came directly from God and could not be revised. So, when modern currents emerged, the most open among them went through a conscience crisis: could they perhaps change the customs without betraying God? It was very difficult to open up to Greek civilization without being seen as a renegade, that those who wanted to be modern, not only changed their life style, but also abandoned their religion. Think about what happens today when young people, educated in super-conservative colleges or parishes, discover revolutionary currents which inspire them.
2) Then came organized persecution. The powerful kings wanted to unite all the groups within their empire. They said that religion was divisive. Freedom of conscience seemed dangerous to them. The kings struggled against those who wanted to serve God and to follow their consciences.
The people were worried: up to what point can one endure the undermining and the making fun of one's religious practices?
In 1:54, there is mention of the abominable idol of the invaders, which is also mentioned in Daniel 9:27. This is the way they refer to a pagan altar built on the site of the ancient altar of the Temple. Jesus will give a new meaning to this expression in Mark 13:14.
