The Maccabeean Type of the forthcoming Antitype -- Decree by Antiochus Epiphanes (Type of the Antichrist) to Israel to abandon its Jewish faith and conform to that of the Pagans; and the refusal by the Maccabees and their followers. Defilement of the Jewish Temple by the Pagans, and fleeing to the countryside by the Faithful of Jewish Israel.
Forthcoming Antitype: Desecration of the Catholic Church by the Antichrist; his declaration for all to worship him in his one-world New Age religion; and the fleeing of New Israel (the Faithful of the Catholic Church) to the previously-prepared Refuges of the Woman Clothed with the Sun in the countryside.
1Ma 1:31 He [Antiochus Epiphanes,] plundered the city, burned it with fire, and tore down its houses and its surrounding walls.
1Ma 1:32 They took captive the women and children, and seized the livestock.
1Ma 1:33 Then they fortified the city of David with a great strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.
1Ma 1:34 They stationed there a sinful people, men who were renegades. These strengthened their position;
1Ma 1:35 they stored up arms and food, and collecting the spoils of Jerusalem they stored them there, and became a great menace,
1Ma 1:36 for the citadel became an ambush against the sanctuary, an evil adversary of Israel at all times.
1Ma 1:37 On every side of the sanctuary they shed innocent blood; they even defiled the sanctuary.
1Ma 1:38 Because of them the residents of Jerusalem fled; she became a dwelling of strangers; she became strange to her offspring, and her children forsook her.
1Ma 1:39 Her sanctuary became desolate like a desert; her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into a reproach, her honour into contempt.
1Ma 1:40 Her dishonour now grew as great as her glory; her exaltation was turned into mourning.
1Ma 1:41 Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people,
1Ma 1:42 and that all should give up their particular customs.
1Ma 1:43 All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.
1Ma 1:44 And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land,
1Ma 1:45 to forbid burnt-offerings and sacrifices and drink-offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and festivals,
1Ma 1:46 to defile the sanctuary and the priests,
1Ma 1:47 to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice
swine and other unclean animals,
1Ma 1:48 and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane,
1Ma 1:49 so that they would forget the law and change all the ordinances.
1Ma 1:50 He added, 'And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die.'
1Ma 1:51 In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the towns of Judah to offer sacrifice, town by town.
1Ma 1:52 Many of the people, everyone who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land;
1Ma 1:53 they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had.
1Ma 1:54 Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt-offering. They also built altars in the surrounding towns of Judah,
1Ma 1:55 and offered incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets.
1Ma 1:56 The books of the law that they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire.
1Ma 1:57 Anyone found possessing the book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the law, was condemned to death by decree of the king.
1Ma 1:58 They kept using violence against Israel, against those who were found month after month in the towns.
1Ma 1:59 On the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar that was on top of the altar of burnt-offering.
1Ma 1:60 In accordance with the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised,
1Ma 1:61 and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers' necks.
1Ma 1:62 But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food.
1Ma 1:63 They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die.
1Ma 1:64 Very great wrath came upon Israel.
1Ma 2:6 He [Mattathias] saw the blasphemies being committed in Judah and Jerusalem,
1Ma 2:7 and said, 'Alas! Why was I born to see this, the ruin of my people, the ruin of the holy city, and to live there when it was given over to the enemy, the sanctuary given over to aliens?
1Ma 2:8 Her temple has become like a person without honour;
1Ma 2:9 her glorious vessels have been carried into exile. Her infants have been killed in her streets, her youths by the sword of the foe.
1Ma 2:10 What nation has not inherited her palaces and has not seized her spoils?
1Ma 2:11 All her adornment has been taken away; no longer free, she has become a slave.
1Ma 2:12 And see, our holy place, our beauty, and our glory have been laid waste; the Gentiles have profaned them.
1Ma 2:13 Why should we live any longer?'
1Ma 2:14 Then Mattathias and his sons tore their clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned greatly.
1Ma 2:15 The king's officers who were enforcing the apostasy came to the town of Modein to make them offer sacrifice.
1Ma 2:16 Many from Israel came to them; and Mattathias and his sons were assembled.
1Ma 2:17 Then the king's officers spoke to Mattathias as follows: 'You are a leader, honoured and great in this town, and supported by sons and brothers.
1Ma 2:18 Now be the first to come and do what the king commands, as all the Gentiles and the people of Judah and those that are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons will be numbered among the Friends of the king, and you and your sons will be honoured with silver and gold and many gifts.'
1Ma 2:19 But Mattathias answered and said in a loud voice: 'Even if all the nations that live under the rule of the king obey him, and have chosen to obey his commandments, everyone of them abandoning the religion of their ancestors,
1Ma 2:20 I and my sons and my brothers will continue to live by the covenant of our ancestors.
1Ma 2:21 Far be it from us to desert the law and the ordinances.
1Ma 2:22 We will not obey the king's words by turning aside from our religion to the right hand or to the left.'
1Ma 2:23 When he had finished speaking these words, a Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein, according to the king's command.
1Ma 2:24 When Mattathias saw it, he burned with zeal and his heart was stirred. He gave vent to righteous anger; he ran and killed him on the altar.
1Ma 2:25 At the same time he killed the king's officer who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar.
1Ma 2:26 Thus he burned with zeal for the law, just as Phinehas did against Zimri son of Salu.
1Ma 2:27 Then Mattathias cried out in the town with a loud voice, saying: 'Let everyone who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me!'
1Ma 2:28 Then he and his sons fled to the hills and left all that they had in the town.
1Ma 4:1 Now Gorgias took five thousand infantry and one thousand picked cavalry, and this division moved out by night
1Ma 4:2 to fall upon the camp of the Jews and attack them suddenly. Men from the citadel were his guides.
1Ma 4:3 But Judas [Maccabee] heard of it, and he and his warriors moved out to attack the king's force in Emmaus
1Ma 4:4 while the division was still absent from the camp.
1Ma 4:5 When Gorgias entered the camp of Judas by night, he found no one there, so he looked for them in the hills, because he said, 'These men are running away from us.'
1Ma 4:6 At daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men, but they did not have armour and swords such as they desired.
1Ma 4:7 And they saw the camp of the Gentiles, strong and fortified, with cavalry all around it; and these men were trained in war.
1Ma 4:8 But Judas said to those who were with him, 'Do not fear their numbers or be afraid when they charge.
1Ma 4:9 Remember how our ancestors were saved at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh with his forces pursued them.
1Ma 4:10 And now, let us cry to Heaven, to see whether he will favour us and remember his covenant with our ancestors and crush this army before us today.
1Ma 4:11 Then all the Gentiles will know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel.'
1Ma 4:12 When the foreigners looked up and saw them coming against them,
1Ma 4:13 they went out from their camp to battle. Then the men with Judas blew their trumpets
1Ma 4:14 and engaged in battle. The Gentiles were crushed, and fled into the plain,
1Ma 4:15 and all those in the rear fell by the sword. They pursued them to Gazara, and to the plains of Idumea, and to Azotus and Jamnia; and three thousand of them fell.
1Ma 4:16 Then Judas and his force turned back from pursuing them,
1Ma 4:17 and he said to the people, 'Do not be greedy for plunder, for there is a battle before us;
1Ma 4:18 Gorgias and his force are near us in the hills. But stand now against our enemies and fight them, and afterwards seize the plunder boldly.'
1Ma 4:19 Just as Judas was finishing this speech, a detachment appeared, coming out of the hills.
1Ma 4:20 They saw that their army had been put to flight, and that the Jews were burning the camp, for the smoke that was seen showed what had happened.
1Ma 4:21 When they perceived this, they were greatly frightened, and when they also saw the army of Judas drawn up in the plain for battle,
1Ma 4:22 they all fled into the land of the Philistines.
1Ma 4:23 Then Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they seized a great amount of gold and silver, and cloth dyed blue and sea purple, and great riches.
1Ma 4:24 On their return they sang hymns and praises to Heaven--'For he is good, for his mercy endures for ever.'
1Ma 4:25 Thus Israel had a great deliverance that day.
1Ma 4:26 Those of the foreigners who escaped went and reported to Lysias all that had happened.
1Ma 4:27 When he heard it, he was perplexed and discouraged, for things had not happened to Israel as he had intended, nor had they turned out as the king had ordered.
1Ma 4:28 But the next year he mustered sixty thousand picked infantry and five thousand cavalry to subdue them.
1Ma 4:29 They came into Idumea and encamped at Beth-zur, and Judas met them with ten thousand men.
1Ma 4:30 When he saw that their army was strong, he prayed, saying, 'Blessed are you, O Saviour of Israel, who crushed the attack of the mighty warrior by the hand of your servant David, and gave the camp of the Philistines into the hands of Jonathan son of Saul, and of the man who carried his armour.
1Ma 4:31 Hem in this army by the hand of your people Israel, and let them be ashamed of their troops and their cavalry.
1Ma 4:32 Fill them with cowardice; melt the boldness of their strength; let them tremble in their destruction.
1Ma 4:33 Strike them down with the sword of those who love you, and let all who know your name praise you with hymns.'
1Ma 4:34 Then both sides attacked, and there fell of the army of Lysias five thousand men; they fell in action.
1Ma 4:35 When Lysias saw the rout of his troops and observed the boldness that inspired those of Judas, and how ready they were either to live or to die nobly, he withdrew to Antioch and enlisted mercenaries in order to invade Judea again with an even larger army.
1Ma 4:36 Then Judas and his brothers said, 'See, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.'
1Ma 4:37 So all the army assembled and went up to Mount Zion.
1Ma 4:38 There they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket, or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins.
1Ma 4:39 Then they tore their clothes and mourned with great lamentation; they sprinkled themselves with ashes
1Ma 4:40 and fell face down on the ground. And when the signal was given with the trumpets, they cried out to Heaven.
1Ma 4:41 Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary.
1Ma 4:42 He chose blameless priests devoted to the law,
1Ma 4:43 and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place.
1Ma 4:44 They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt-offering, which had been profaned.
1Ma 4:45 And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar,
1Ma 4:46 and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them.
1Ma 4:47 Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one.
1Ma 4:48 They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple, and consecrated the courts.
1Ma 4:49 They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple.
1Ma 4:50 Then they offered incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple.
1Ma 4:51 They placed the bread on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.
1Ma 4:52 Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year,
1Ma 4:53 they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt-offering that they had built
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