Scripture Notes: Abominable Changes (Maccabees 1)

King Antiochus Epiphanes enjoyed throwing around his power. He longed to solidify his rule over his entire kingdom, so he decreed that everyone had to adopt Greek customs. Everyone. No exceptions. All the people in his domain had to abandon their old ways, including their old religions, and conform to the Greeks. This meant the Jews, too.

Many Jews obeyed. They thought it best to conform to their king’s commands. They wanted peace. They wanted economic benefits. They wanted a bit of power. And apparently they didn’t care all that much about their own customs or religion...or God.

The king’s representatives arrived to enforce the decree. They made the Jews sacrifice to the Greek gods. They removed the altar and the lampstand and the tables and the vessels from the Temple and replaced them with an idol of some sort, perhaps a statue of Zeus. And many of the Jews watched without protest. Many of them sacrificed according to the decree. They threw away the Scriptures. They abandoned the covenant. They took the easy way, the path of least resistance, and accepted the abominable changes.

But not all Jews. There were a few willing to hold on to their religion and their law and their worship and their God even at the cost of their lives. They were willing to die rather than betray God. The Maccabee family quickly stepped forward as leaders of this group, which headed into the hills, leaving behind all they had to remain faithful. Was it easy? No. Was it dangerous? Yes. But they did it anyway.