G. F. Maclear

“ No sooner did the Saviour hear their announcement, and perhaps behold these enquirers from the West, than He instantly broke forth into words of mysterious joy: The Hour, He declared, as if in a transport of holy rapture, The Hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me ”

“ Wearied of the struggle, and remembering the indignities offered to their sanctuary by Philopator, the Jews now threw off their subjection to Egypt, welcomed the conqueror as their deliverer, and furnished supplies for his army. Antiochus in his turn treated his new subjects with liberality and kindness. He not only guaranteed to them perfect freedom and protection in the exercise of their religion, but promised to restore their city to its ancient splendour, forbade the intrusion of strangers in their Temple, and contributed largely towards the regular celebration of its services. ”

“ Multitudes were butchered in the narrow streets, many crowded together in their homes, many flying for refuge to the Sanctuary. Herod used every effort to mollify the wrath of the legions, and even threatened to cut down any who attempted to penetrate into the Holy of Holies. Finding all was lost, Antigonus descended from the Baris, where he had taken refuge, and flung himself at the feet of Sosius. The Roman treated him with contempt and scorn, called him in derision Antigona, and put him in chains. ”

“ A disturber of the nation, he said, he was not, for on his recent visit to the Holy City but twelve days before, he had neither caused a disturbance, or even disputed in the temple, the synagogue, or the streets. As to his being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, he had never swerved from his belief in the Law and the Prophets; like his accusers, he believed the doctrine of a resurrection, and strove to keep a conscience void of offence towards God and man. ”

“ It was not, however, their interest to come to an open rupture with the high-priest, and Herod for the sake of conciliating the people, who still clung with unabated devotion to that noble race, resolved to ally himself with a princess of the Asmonean family. He had already married Doris, a native of Judæa, and by her had become the father of a son Antipater. He now was betrothed to the beautiful and accomplished grand-daughter of Hyrcanus, the famous Mariamne, who was as yet a child. ”

“ Between the Jews who spoke the sacred tongue of Palestine, and those scattered in different lands, who had adopted the Grecian language712; between the zealous Aramæan, who read the Scriptures in the Hebrew, and the Hellenists, who read the Septuagint, and whose most learned teachers strove to “accommodate Jewish doctrines to the mind of the Greeks, and to make the Greek language express the mind of the Jews,” there had long been a feeling of mutual jealousy and dislike. ”

“ THE death of their great leader was a terrible blow to the hopes of the Jewish patriots, and for a short time their plans were totally disorganized. The Syrians regained their ascendancy everywhere, Alcimus was reinstated in the high-priesthood, and Bacchides wreaked his vengeance on the adherents of Judas with unrelenting cruelty. All the advantages which that brave chieftain had gained during six years of incessant warfare, seemed to have been utterly thrown away, and the national cause to be on the verge of destruction. ”

“ Herod was, therefore, summoned before the Sanhedrin to answer for his conduct in putting so many to death without a trial. He came, not in the garb of a suppliant, but clothed in purple, accompanied by a strong escort, and bore with him a letter from Sextus Cæsar, ordering his acquittal of the capital charge77. The great council was terrified. Not a man dared to lift his voice to accuse him, backed as he was by the terrible power of the Roman governor, save Sameas, or Shammai, one of the most learned Rabbis and a man of unblemished character. ”

“ The Phœnicians and Chaldæans in his retinue, ancient enemies of the Jewish people, were only awaiting the signal to pillage the city and put the high-priest to the torture. They could not, therefore, conceal their astonishment, while the Syrian chiefs concluded that the great conqueror had lost his senses, and Parmenio addressing him enquired why he, whom all the world worshipped, should kneel before the high-priest. “It is not the high-priest,” replied the other, “whom I worship, but his God, who has honoured him with the priesthood. ”

“ What, therefore, had occurred in Syria and Cilicia, in Pamphylia and Lycaonia, need not excite any astonishment. God, to whom all things are known from the beginning, was but fulfilling His eternal counsels, and the words He had Himself spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets. His judgment, therefore, was that they should not trouble the minds of believers from amongst the Gentiles, or lay upon them any obligations beyond those necessary to ensure peace and goodwill amongst them and their Jewish brethren. ”

“ At this juncture news reached Jerusalem that a Roman army had seized Damascus, and was advancing towards the country. Bent on their plan of establishing a universal empire, the great republic of the West was now busily engaged in those wars, which gradually placed at her feet the old Asiatic monarchies. The Syrian kingdom, since B.C. 83, had passed into the power of Tigranes, king of Armenia. This monarch, as well as Mithridates, king of Pontus, was utterly defeated by Pompeius, B.C. 66, and the ancient realm of the Seleucidæ was now reduced to a Roman province. ”

“ BESIDES the new high-priest, Alexander had left another son named Aristobulus, a man of an ardent and impetuous temper, who took no pains to conceal his dislike of his mother’s proceedings. Placing himself at the head of the now offended and persecuted Sadducees, he encouraged them in their opposition to the triumphant Pharisees, and so far prevailed with the queen, that the leaders of the Sadducaic faction were allowed to retire to the frontier fortresses of the kingdom. ”

“ THE long-continued subjection of the Jews to Grecian monarchs had by this time exerted a very considerable influence on their habits and mode of life. Familiar not only with the language but the literature and philosophy of Greece, many had acquired a strong taste for Grecian studies, preferred the Grecian religion to their own, adopted Grecian manners, and practised Grecian arts. Amongst this Hellenizing party none was more active than Joshua the brother of the high-priest, who even assumed the Grecian name of Jason. ”

“ Holding that the actions of men depended entirely on their own free will, they denied that there was such a thing as destiny, and while they admitted the creation, they removed the Deity as far as possible from any actual administration of the world. It has been thought that they recognised as Scripture only the five books of Moses, but the truth appears to be that while holding the Law in higher estimation than the prophetical and other books of Scripture, they acknowledged the authority of the Old Testament like the rest of the Jews, but refused to hold the authority of tradition. ”

“ If he, born and bred a Jew, had made it his principle to discard Jewish customs and to live with the freedom of a Gentile, why did he practically937 coerce the Gentiles into Judaism. Both of them, though born to all the privileges of the elect nation, not sinners938, as they used proudly to call the Gentiles, convinced that a man could not be justified by the works of the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ, had become believers in Him, that of that justification they might become partakers. ”

“ Herod raised a body of troops to assist Antonius, but the latter declined his aid, and being thus excused taking any prominent part in a doubtful struggle, he turned his arms against Malchus, king of Arabia. The artful designs of Cleopatra had involved him in this war. Already mistress of Cœlesyria, and of the palm-groves around Jericho by the concessions of her Roman lover, she cast longing eyes upon Judæa also. The Arabian king, emboldened by the rupture between the Roman triumvirs, had withheld the payment to her of his annual tribute, an insult which Antonius directed Herod to avenge. ”

“ Peter, once more their spokesman, declared that obedience was due to God rather than to man, for he had raised up from the dead that same Jesus, whom they had crucified and slain, and exalted Him to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. To the fact of His resurrection they were witnesses, and their testimony they were bound to deliver (Acts v. 29–32) .
These words, breathing such dauntless resolution, roused the Council to the utmost fury, and the majority, especially the Sadducaic party, were eager for the execution of their prisoners. ”

“ Through the coming of some teacher, probably from Alexandria, the Colossians had become imbued with a spirit of a half-Jewish and half-Oriental philosophy, tending to corrupt the simplicity of their faith, and to obscure the dignity of Christ by a spurious union of Jewish observances with a worshipping of angels, and an extravagant asceticism. ”

“ Relying on this assurance, he ventured to quarrel openly with his brother in the Temple, and fell slain by his hand within the precincts of the sanctuary itself. So flagrant a crime roused the indignation of Bagoses. Advancing to Jerusalem he demanded admittance into the Temple, and when the Jews would have prevented his entrance, declared he was less unclean than the body of the murdered man, and not only polluted the sanctuary by entering it, but also levied a fine of 50 shekels on every lamb offered in sacrifice during the next seven years. ”

“ But now a different actor appeared upon the scene, destined to prove a far more fatal enemy to the Asmonean dynasty, and to raise his own house upon its ruins. This was Antipater, the son of an officer who had been high in the confidence of Alexander Jannæus, and had been appointed governor of Idumæa. A man of great courage, astuteness, and decision, he had acquired a complete mastery over the feeble Hyrcanus, and in concert with the Pharisees repeatedly urged him to attempt the recovery of his throne, but for a long time the indolent prince absolutely refused to listen to his suggestions. ”

“ No sooner, however, had the messengers departed than the Saviour took the opportunity of vindicating before the bystanders310, who, perhaps, from the enquiry he had put, might receive an unfavourable impression respecting the Baptist, the true greatness of his character. No reed shaken by the wind was he, whom, a little more than a year ago, all Judæa and Jerusalem had flocked forth into the wilderness to see; no effeminate prince clad in luxurious apparel; no prophet merely, such as those of the Old Testament dispensation. ”

“ A battle was fought in which that king was defeated, and the young prince was crowned at Antioch, and assumed the title of Theos, the God.
One of the first steps of the new monarch was to secure the co-operation of Jonathan and his people. Accordingly he not only confirmed all former grants made to the Jewish nation, and remitted all arrears of tribute, but sent him a purple robe and gold chain, and invested his brother Simon with the command of all the royal forces between the “ladder of Tyre” and the frontiers of Egypt. ”

“ A short time after Joseph and Mary had returned to Bethlehem, there appeared certain travel-stained pilgrims, whose arrival stirred Jerusalem to its very centre. In their native home in Arabia or Persia, their attention had been directed to a luminous body in the sky, which had guided them to Palestine, and they now enquired where was He that was born King of the Jews202, and declared that they had seen His star in the East, and had come to worship Him. ”

“ Freed by the circumstances of his birth and education from mere local and national prejudices, he appears to have spoken strongly of the fulfilment of the Mosaic ordinances720 by the Founder of the Christian Church, and to have proclaimed that a time was at hand when, in the words of the Holy One to the woman of Samaria721, men should worship the Father in spirit and in truth, not in the Temple only, or in Jerusalem only, but everywhere throughout the world. ”

“ Disorders of every kind, civil wars, murders, and mutinies of troops, now rapidly succeeded one another in the Syrian kingdom, and Hyrcanus, who had fortunately returned to Jerusalem before the overthrow of his late ally, now threw off the Syrian yoke altogether, and employed himself in extending his own kingdom. After reducing, therefore, various fortresses on the further side of the Jordan, he invaded Samaria, captured Sychem, and levelled with the ground the temple on Mount Gerizim, which for 200 years had been a constant offence to his subjects. ”