Page 117 - Biblical Backgrounds

profane the temple and fortress and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the
abomination that makes desolate (Daniel 11:31). But just as Daniel 11:32-34 suggests, the faithful Jews
were eager to react, but it seems that they needed someone to lead them.

Antiochus continued to advance his orders by sending army officers across Judea to enforce his rule on
the people. In a mountain village of Modin, west of Jerusalem, these officers met a local priest named
Mattathias and his five children. The local priest was ordered to fulfill his duty to the state and be the
first to sacrifice an animal to an altar of an idol. He refused, and when another Jewish man stepped
forward to do it, he murdered both the Jew and an officer. Tearing down the idol, Mattathias preached,
"Let everyone who is zealous for the law and who stands by the covenant follow me!" (I Maccabees
2:27). The Jewish people had their leader. He and his five sons, John, Simon, Judah, Eleazer, and
Jonathan, rallied the Jewish population. In 167 BCE, the Jewish people rose with Mattathias as their
leader.

Soon after 167 BCE, the family of Mattathias became known as the Maccabees or “the hammer”.
Starting as guerrilla fighters, they recruited tough Jewish people along the way and formed an organized
army. Their efforts began a guerrilla war as they started to take over the northern villages of Judea. They
tore down the altars of idols and killed those who worshipped them, even many Hellenistic Jews.
Mattathias died in 166 BCE, but just before his death, he left Judah in charge of his army.

Judah’s army managed to drive out the much more formidable Seleucid army from the Holy City. When
Judah and his brothers went to the Temple, he saw the destruction and defilement that Antiochus
caused upon it and was overwhelmed by grief (I Maccabees 4:36-40). On December 25, 165 BCE, after
months of work clearing and cleaning, the Temple was finally rededicated to God. Their celebrations
continued for eight days as is known to this day as the celebration of Hanukkah. Since the rebuilding and
rededication of the Temple (515 BCE), the past three years (167-165 BCE) were the only time that
regular worship was halted in the Temple.

The Maccabean revolt ultimately brought about Israel’s political independence, and it certainly yielded
religious liberty. However, the religious landscape repeatedly changed under the different subsequent
leaders. Secularism gradually crept in, and politics and religion were dangerously mixed.

Interestingly, the two prominent groups in the New Testament times, the Sadducees and Pharisees,
emerged during the Hasmonean dynasty. Although Josephus does not provide their origins, he traces
them to the reign of Jonathan (Ant. 13.171–73). By the time of the reign of Hyrcanus, the two groups
were clearly in opposition.

The Sadducees were the heirs and major supporters of the Hasmonean dynasty. They accepted only the
Pentateuch as Scripture. Since they embraced Hellenism and Secularism, they pursued Greek naturalistic
philosophy. This explains why they denied the resurrection and the existence of Angels (Matt 22:23–33
and parallels; Acts 23:6–8). Josephus attributed to them a denial of divine sovereignty.

The Hasidim, on the other hand, a pious Jewish group who were initially supportive of the Hasmoneans,
eventually turned against them. They split into two main groups: the Pharisees, who remained in
Jerusalem; and the Essenes, who withdrew and most likely produced the Qumran sectarian literature
known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Pharisees accepted the entire Old Testament, and in their
interpretation of the Torah added their own laws. They were strict about the law and viewed
themselves as separate from those who were lax about keeping it.

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