2
Antiochus was killed in Egypt, they revolted and tried to take Jerusalem
but this revolt was not as successful as that of the Maccabees:
When these happenings were reported to the king Antiochus, he
thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he
set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his
soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to
slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre
of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of
virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand
were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same
number being sold into slavery. (2 Maccabees 5:11–14)
Antiochus decided that he was going
to make sure that the Jewish people
would become Hellenized one way or
another. He began by putting his own
priest into power. He quickly outlawed the
observance of Sabbaths, festivals, and new
moons. He also wanted to make sure that
Jews could not study their holy books nor
keep kosher. He sent a delegation with troops to add insult to injury – to
force the Jews to sacrifice a pig to the Greek gods.
The Greeks troops came to Modi’in and demanded that the Jews
there sacrifice a pig to the Greek gods. Mattathias, the priest, refused but
a Hellenized Jew loyal to Antiochus decided to do it. Mattathias killed
him and the Greek official with him. After two decades the Maccabees
forced the Seleucids from the Land of Israel. Antiochus was dead and
his successor gave the Jews independence. Mitchell Bard states, “In the
year 142 BC, after more than 500 years of subjugation, the Jews were
again masters of their own fate.”3
Antiochus IV ruled the Jews from 175 to 164 BC and if he had
succeeded in his nefarious plan to stamp out Judaism, the Hebrew
language, culture, biblical heritage and religion, many Jewish people
would have been wiped off the map of history. If this had happened,
then how could a Jewish Savior possibly have been born from the House
of David (a Jewish king), in Bethlehem (a Jewish town), to Mary (a
Jewish virgin)?
3 Mitchell G. Bard, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Middle East Conflict. 4th Edition. NY: Alpha Books, 2008.
As quoted on http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Maccabees.html