10 Q. Was there any thing remarkable in the time or day of this restoration of <temple-worship?

A. That very day three years wherein the heathen had profaned the altar by the offering of unclean beasts on it, it was dedicated with songs, and harps, and cymbals, and burnt-offerings of God's appointment, and that for eight days together. This was two years after Judas had the chief command, and three years and a half after the city and temple had been laid desolate by Apollonius.

11 Q. What lasting memorial was appointed for this restoration of the worship of God in the temple?

A. Judas and his brethren, and the whole congregation ordained that these days of the dedication of the altar should be kept yearly with mirth and gladness.

12 Q. Did the worship of God continue long here after this solemnity?

A. We are told by historians, that it continued from this time without any interruption from the heathens till the destruction of the temple by the Romans, though Jerusalem and the temple were often in the hands of the heathens.

Note, Some say this was that very feast of dedication which our Saviour honoured with his presence at Jerusalem, though others think it was the dedication of Solomon's temple; yet the season being winter, it rather agrees to the time of Maccabeus's dedication.

13 Q. Were not the Jews at all annoyed or disturbed by the enemy in this pious work?

A. There was still that fortress built by Apollonius remaining in the hand of the heathens and apostate Jews; it stood on Mount Açra, a rising ground over-against the mountain of the temple, and rather higher than that mountain, whence the Jews received some annoyance in going to the temple.

14 Q. What further care did Judas and his people take for their own security?

A. When they could not drive out the enemy at once, they built up Mount Sion with high walls and strong towers, and put a garrison there to keep it, and as far as possible to secure the priests and people when they went to worship, and to prevent the gentiles from treading down the sanctuary again.

15 Q. Did Judas and the people continue to enjoy peace?

A. Though they maintained the temple-worship, yet they were still engaged in war: For all the nations round about them were much displeased that the sanctuary was restored, and they attacked the Jews on every side; but God gave Judas and his brethren the victory in many battles, and they returned to Jerusalem, and gave thanks to God in Sion for his remarkable protection of them, that they had not lost one man; 1 Mac.

v. 54.

16 Q.. Did Judas make any more expeditions against his enemies?

A. He led forth his forces against Gorgias one of Antiochus's generals, and against the Idumeans who had been very vexatious to the Jews; and though several of the Jews were slain, yet Judas renewing the courage of his army by singing psalms with a loud voice, and rushing upon their enemies, put them to flight.

17 Q. What remarkable crime was found among the Jews that were slain?

A. When they came to bury their dead they found things consecrated to idols under the garment of every Jew that was slain, whereupon the people praised the Lord, the

righteous Judge of men: But without any encouragement from scripture, they offered sacrifices and prayers for the pardon of the dead; 2 Mac. xii. 34-45.

Note, It is from this place in the second book of the Maccabees that the papists borrow their prayers for the dead.

18 Q. Where was Antiochus, the king, all this while?

A. He was gone to Persia, not only to receive his tribute, as 1 Mac. iii. 31. but to plunder the temple of Diana, who among the Persians is called Zaretis, which temple stood at Elymas, and had incredible riches of gold and silver, and golden armour, which were laid up there..

19 Q. Did he succeed in this enterprize?

A. The people of the country having notice of his design, joined together in defence of that idol's temple, and beat him off with shame.

20 Q. How did he receive the news of the defeat of his generals and armies in Judea?

A. With utmost rage and indignation, as well as grief of mind, but he resolved to make haste thither, and threatened to make the city of Jerusalem as one grave for the Jews, where he would bury the whole nation.

21 Q. What followed upon this insolent speech of Antiochus the king?

A. He was immediately smitten with an incurable plague in the midst of his journey, his bowels were seized with grievous torment, his chariot was overthrown, and he was sorely bruised, and forced to be confined to his bed in a little town on the road, where he lay languishing under foul ulcers of body and sharp terror of mind till he died.

Note, It hath been observed by historians, that such a sort of death by foul ulcers hath befallen many persecutors in elder and later times.

22 Q. Had he any regret upon his conscience, particularly for his cruelty and wickedness practised upon the Jews?

A. Both Jews and heathens give us an account of the dreadful anguish of mind which he then suffered; and though the heathen historian attributes it to the intended sacrilege and robbery designed upon the temple of Diana, yet the jewish historians acquaint us, that Antiochus himself imputed his calamities to the horrid impieties and cruelties that he had been guilty of against the God of Israel and his people, and bitterly repented of them with inward horror on his death-bed.

Note, This Antiochus Epiphanes having been a great oppressor of the jewish church, and the type of antichrist, there is a larger account of him in Daniel's prophecy than of any other prince. The eleventh chapter, verse 11-45. relates wholly to him, as well as some passages in the eight and twelfth chapters; the explication and accomplishment of which may be read in Doctor Prideaux's Connexion, Part II. Book 3. And the accomplishment is so exact, that Porphyry, a learned heathen in the third century, pretends that it is mere history, and that it was written after the event.

23, Q. What became of the garrison of the Syrians in the tower of Acra, which so much molested the Jews in Jerusalem?

A. Judas Maccabeus besieged them, whereupon Antiochus Eupator, the son and successor of Epiphanes, brought a vast army against Judas, consisting of a hundred thousand foot, twenty thousand horse, thirty-two elephants, and three hundred armed chariots of war.

24 Q. What could the Jews do against so great an army?

A. Judas having given this watch-word, "Victory is of the Lord," fell upon them in the night, and having slain four thousand immediately, and six hundred the next morning, made a safe retreat to Jerusalem.

25 Q. What remarkable instance of courage was given by Eleazar the brother of Judas in this battle?

A. When he saw one elephant higher, and more adorned than the rest, he supposed the king himself was on it, therefore he ran furiously through the troops, and made his way to the beast, he thrust up his spear under his belly, and the beast with the tower that was upon him falling down crushed him to death.

26 Q. Had Antiochus Eupator's army any success afterward against the Jews?

A. They marched to Jerusalem under the command of Lysias, they besieged the sanctuary, and when the Jews were near surrendering for want of provision, they were strangely relieved by the providence of God.

27 Q. In what manner did this relief come?

A. Lysias hearing that the city of Antioch was seized by one Philip, a favourite of the late king, who had taken upon him the government of Syria, persuaded the present king to grant peace to the Jews, which he did: Yet, contrary to his own promise, he pulled down the fortifications of the temple, when he came and saw how strong they were. 28 Q. What became of Menelaus the wicked high-priest?

A. He had attended the king's army in this expedition against Jerusalem, in hopes to recover his office, and to be made governor there: But Lysias finding this war exceeding troublesome, accused Menelaus to the king as the author of all this mischief; whereupon he was condemned to a miserable death, being cast headlong into a tower of ashes fifty cubits high.

29 Q. Who was his successor in the priesthood?

A. Onias the son of Onias the third, and nephew to Menelaus, was the more rightful successor, but the king rejected him; and being disappointed of it, he fled into Egypt; while Alcimus or Jacimus, one of the family of Aaron, though not in the right line of Josedek to which the priesthood belonged, was made high-priest by Antiochus Eupator the king.

Note, It was Joshua the son of Josedech or Jozadak, was the rightful high-priest at the return from Babylon. See Ezra iii. 2. and Hag. i. 1.

30 Q. Was Alcimus admitted to the exercise of the office in Jerusalem?

A. He was refused by the Jews, because he complied with the heathen superstition in the time of the persecution; but he besought the aid of Demetrius, the new king, against Judas and the people, who refused to receive him.

31 Q. How came this Demetrius to be king?

A. He was the son of Seleucus Philopator, who was the eldest brother of Antiochus Epiphanes; and though he could not persuade the Romans to assist him in seizing the kingdom of Syria, since Antiochus Epiphanes was dead, yet he landed in Syria, and persuaded the people that the Romans had sent him: Whereupon Antiochus Eupator and Lysias were seized by their own soldiers, and put to death by order of Demetrius. 32 Q. Did Demetrius establish Alcimus in the priesthood in opposition to Judas and his people.

A. He endeavoured to do it by sending one Bacchides against them, but without

success; afterwards making Nicanor, who was master of his elephants, governor of Judea, he sent him to slay Judas, and to subdue the Jews.

33 Q. What success had Nicanor in this attempt?

A. Though at first he was unwilling to make war on Judas, yet being urged by the king, he pursued it with fury; and having spoken many blasphemous words against the temple and the God of Israel, and threatening to demolish it, and to build a temple to Bacchus in the room of it, he himself was slain, and his army was shamefully routed by Judas.

34 Q. What encouragement had Judas to hope for victory in this battle?

A. Not only from the blasphemies of Nicanor, but he was animated also by a divine vision, and thus he encountered his enemies with cheerfulness, and with earnest prayer to God; 2 Mac. xiv. and xv.

35 Q. What rejoicing did Judas and the Jews make on this occasion?

A. He cut off Nicanor's head, and his right hand, which he had stretched out against the temple, and hanged them up upon one of the towers of Jerusalem, and appointed a yearly day of thanksgiving in memory of this victory, which is called Nicanor's day. 36 Q. What was the next act of Judas for the good of his country?

A. Hearing of the growing greatness of the Romans, he sent to make a league for mutual defence with them, to which the Romans consented, and established it, acknowledging the Jews as their friends and allies, and ordered Demetrius to vex them no more. 37 Q. Did Demetrius obey his orders?

A. Before this order came to his hand, he had sent Bacchides the second time to revenge Nicanor's death, and to establish Alcimus in the priesthood.

38 Q. What success had this second expedition of Bacchides against the Jews?

A. A very unhappy one indeed for the Jews; for he so much overpowered Judas with the number of his forces, who had then but three thousand men with him, that even the greatest part of these three thousand fled from him for fear: And Judas, being ashamed to fly for his life, he was slain through an excess of courage.

39 Q. What mischiefs ensued on the death of Judas?

A. The Jews were greatly disheartened, Bacchides prevailed every where, took Jerusalem, subdued the greatest part of the country, and put to death the friends of Judas where he could find them; many apostate Jews sided, with him. Alcimus exercised the high-priesthood in a very wicked manner, and imitated the heathen superstition in the worship of God, he gave orders to pull down the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary, and is supposed also to break down the wall which divided the more holy part of the mountain of the temple from the less holy, and gave the gentiles equal liberty with the Jews to enter there. Note,

First, It is said in 1 Mac. ix. 54. that he actually pulled down the work of the prophets, whatever that was; but that he only gave order for pulling down the wall of the inner court, which may be supposed to be the court of the priests. Note,

Secondly, It is hard to determine how far the wall which separated the gentiles from that outer court of the temple, which was made for the Jews, was of God's appointment, or how early it was built; we do not read of it in scripture, neither in the building of the temple of Solomon, where there was only the court of the priests, and the great court; nor in the rebuilding it by Zerubbabel does scripture tell us of such a separa

tion. Indeed, in Jehosaphat's time we read of a new court; 2 Chron. xx. 5. What it was no man knows certainly; perhaps it was only one court renewed. For in Manasseh's days, which was about two hundred years after, there were but two courts; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 5. Doctor Prideaux indeed supposes, that the latter prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, ordered a low wall, or rather inclosure, to be built, called Chel, in the second temple, within which no uncircumcised person should enter: And one reason of that opinion is, because, 1 Mac. ix. 54. it is said, that Alcimus pulled down also the work of the prophets. That there was such a separating wall in the days of the Maccabees, or before, is generally supposed; that this court of the gentiles was also in Herod's temple is agreed, and there seems to be a reference to it in Eph. ii. 14. Having broken down the middle wall of partition. See Lowth on Ezek. xl. 17. But whether any of the arguments are effectual to prove it was of divine appointment, the learned reader must judge. See Prideaux's Connexion of the Old and New Testament, Part II. Book the fourth, page 251. in octavo, and Lightfoot of the Temple, Chapter 17.

If it be, as some have maintained, that the Jews, in rebuilding that temple under Zerubbabel, took a pattern, in a great measure, from the prophetical temple in Ezekiel's vision, then there seems to have been a court large enough for the court of the gentiles; for chapter xl. 5. and xlii. 20. There was a wall on the outside of the house round about of five hundred reeds square, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place. See Lowth on these texts. Perhaps in these times this was called the mount of the temple.

40 Q. What became of Alcimus when he practised these things with insolence?

A. He was smitten by the hand of God with a palsy, his speech was taken away, so that he could give no further wicked commands, nor so much as set in order his own house, and he died in great torment; 1 Mac. ix. 54, 55.

41 Q. Did the surviving brethren of Judas Maccabeus make no efforts against these their enemies?

A. Yes; his brother Jonathan being chosen by the people, took on him the government: And though their brother John was slain by the Jambrites, yet Simon remained; and these two made such a continual resistance, that in some years time, Alcimus being dead, Bacchides grew weary of the war, and he was inclined at last to make a firm peace; and then he restored the Jews which had been his prisoners, and departed from Judea without ever returning.

42 Q. What use did Jonathan make of this peace?

A. He governed Israel according to the law; he restored the jewish religion, reformed every thing as far as he could, both in church and state, and rebuilt the walls and fortifications of Sion.

43 Q. Who performed the office of high-priest all this time?

A. There was a vacancy of the office for seven years after the death of Alcimus; till Alexander, an impostor, pretending to be the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, seized the kingdom of Syria, and made high proposals to engage Jonathan on his side against Demetrius, who had been their enemy. Among these proposals, one was this, That he should be constituted and maintained the governor and the high-priest of the Jews, and be called the king's friend; 1 Mac. x. 18-20.

Note, I think Josephus supposes Judas to have been made high-priest before his death; but Doctor Prideaux does not seem to follow him in this matter, nor doth the