It is an intensely painful history,1 in the course of which Herod made his way to the

throne. We look back nearly two and a half centuries to where, with the empire of

Alexander, Palestine fell to his successors. For nearly a century and a half it continued

the battle- field of the Egyptian and Syrian kings (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ). At

last it was a corrupt High-Priesthood - with which virtually the government of the land

had all along lain - that betrayed Israel's precious trust. The great- grandson of so noble a

figure in Jewish history as Simon the Just (compare Ecclus. 1.) bought from the Syrians

the High-Priestly office of his brother, adopted the heathen name Jason, and sought to

Grecianise the people. The sacred office fell, if possible, even lower when, through

bribery, it was transferred to his brother Menelaus. Then followed the brief period of the

terrible persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, when Judaism was all but exterminated in

Palestine. The glorious uprising of the Maccabees called forth all the national elements

left in Israel, and kindled afresh the smouldering religious feeling. It seemed like a

revival of Old Testament times. And when Judas the Maccabee, with a band so inferior in

numbers and discipline, defeated the best of the Syrian soldiery, led by its ablest generals,

and, on the anniversary of its desecration by heathen rites, set up again the great altar of

burnt-offering, it appeared as if a new Theocracy were to be inaugurated. The ceremonial

of that feast of the new 'dedication of the Temple,' when each night the number of lights

grew larger in the winter's darkness, seemed symbolic of what was before Israel. But the

Maccabees were not the Messiah; nor yet the kingdom, which their sword would have

restored - that of Heaven, with its blessings and peace. If ever, Israel might then have

learned what Saviour to look for.

The period even of promise was more brief than might have been expected. The fervour

and purity of the movement ceased almost with its success. It was certainly never the

golden age of Israel - not even among those who remained faithful to its God - which

those seem to imagine who, forgetful of its history and contests, would trace to it so much

that is most precious and spiritual in the Old Testament. It may have been the pressure of

circumstances, but it was anything but a pious, or even a 'happy' thought2 of Judas the

Maccabee, to seek the alliance of the Romans. From their entrance on the scene dates the

decline of Israel's national cause. For a time, indeed - though after varying fortunes of

war - all seemed prosperous. The Maccabees became both High-Priests and Kings. But

party strife and worldliness, ambition and corruption, and Grecianism on the throne, soon

brought their sequel in the decline of morale and vigour, and led to the decay and

decadence of the Maccabean house. It is a story as old as the Old Testament, and as wide

as the history of the world. Contention for the throne among the Maccabees led to the

interference of the foreigner. When, after capturing Jerusalem, and violating the sanctity

of the Temple, although not plundering its treasures, Pompey placed Hyrcanus II. in the

possession of the High-Priesthood, the last of the Maccabean rulers3 was virtually shorn