First Maccabees - Marriage and Giving in Marriage

First Maccabees - Marriage and Giving in Marriage
Maccabees to Mishna
Modern background to Homosexuality in Jerusalem defined in First Maccabees.
The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party (Paperback)
by Scott Lively, Kevin E. Abrams

The influence of the Greek homosexuals on Nazi culture is perhaps explained best by contemporary German psychoanalyst, Wilhelm Reich in his 1933 classic, The Mass Psychology of Fascism:

Among the ancient Greeks, whose written history does not begin until patriarchy has reached a state of full development, we find the following sexual organization: male supremacy...and along with this the wives leading an enslaved and wretched existence and figuring solely as birth machines. The male supremacy of the Platonic era is entirely homosexual...The same principle governs the fascist ideology of the male strata of Nazi leaders (Bluher, Roehm, etc.). For the fascists, therefore, the return of natural sexuality is viewed as a sign of decadence, laciviousness, lechery, and sexual filth...the fascists ...affirm the most severe form of patriarchy and actually reactivate the sexual life of the Platonic era in their familial form of living...Rosenberg and Bluher [the leading Nazi ideologists] recognize the state solely as a male state organized on a homosexual basis (Reich:91ff).

The Clash of Cultures
A key to understanding the cause of the German social collapse, which culminated in the atrocities of the Third Reich, is found in the conflict of Hellenic and Hebrew (Judeo-Christian) value systems. This war of philosophies, as old as Western civilization itself, pits the homoeroticism of the Greeks against the marriage-and-family-centered heterosexuality of the Jews. Johansson and Percy write of this conflict from the homosexualist perspective: [58]

1 Kings 15:10 And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.
1 Kings 15:11 And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father.1 Kings 15:12 And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.1 Kings 15:13 And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.
H4656 miphletseth mif-leh'-tseth From H6426 ; a terror, that is, an idol:--Idol.

Iamblichus: Following every point in its turn, we remark that the planting of "phallic images" is a special representing of the procreative power by conventional symbols, and that we regard this practice as an invocation to the generative energy of the universe. On this account many of these images are consecrated in the spring, when all the world is receiving from the gods the prolific force of the whole creation. 4

4. The custom here described was universal in ancient times, and it is still found in parts of India. Its remains also exist in architecture and ornamentation. In the worship of the Ashera and Venus of Eryx, and of the Great Mother in Syria and Western Asia, the observances were carried to greater extremes. King Asa of Judea is said to have deposed his mother, Maacha, from royal dignity for her participation -- "because she made a phallos to an Ashera," I Kings XV: XIII. It has been generally believed that the Festivals and Initiatory, or Perfective Rites, of the different countries, included the same feature, as indeed, is here admitted. It should be borne in mind, however, before any hasty judgment, that the different faiths had their two sides, like the right or the left, and that worshippers regarded them and took part in them according to their inherent disposition. Thus, in India, there are the Asceticsiva-worshippers, and the Saktas, to this day. In this way the Mysteries presented themes for the highest veneration, as well as phases that are esteemed as gross and lascivious. Every curious person, therefore, sees in them what he has eyes to see, and is often blind to the rest.

2 Kings 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.

H3627 keliy kel-ee' From H3615 ; something prepared, that is, any apparatus (as an implement, utensil, dress, vessel or weapon): armour ([-bearer]), artillery, bag, carriage, + furnish, furniture, instrument, jewel, that is made of, X one from another, that which pertaineth, pot, + psaltery, sack, stuff, thing, tool, vessel, ware, weapon, + whatsoever.

2 Kings 23:5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

H4208 mazzalah maz-zaw-law' Apparently from H5140 in the sense of raining; a constellation, that is, Zodiacal sign (perhaps as affecting the weather):planet. Compare H4216 .

2 Kings 23:6 And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.

2 Kings 23:7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

H6945 qadesh kaw-dashe' From H6942 ; a (quasi) sacred person, that is, (technically) a (male) devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry: sodomite, unclean.

Grove is:

H842 Asherah ash-ay-raw', ash-ay-raw' From H833 ; happy; asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess; also an image of the same:--grove. Compare H6253 .

H6253 Ashtoreth ash-to'-reth Probably for H6251 ; Ashtoreth, the Phoenician goddess of love (and increase):--Ashtoreth.

2 Kings 23:8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a mans left hand at the gate of the city.

2 Kings 23:9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.

While the Greeks cultivated paiderasteia as a fundamental institution of male society and attribute of gods and heros, in two centuries, under Persian rule (538-332 B.C.), Biblical Judaism came to reject and penalize male homosexuality in all forms. Jewish religious consciousness deeply internalized this taboo, which became a distinctive feature of Judaic sexual morality, setting the worshippers of the god of Israel apart from the gentiles whose idols they despised. This divergence set the stage for the confrontation between Judaism and Hellenism (Johansson and Percy:34).
In implying that the rejection of homosexuality by the Jews began in this time period, Johansson and Percy ignore the Biblical record, but they are correct that the Jews’ opposition to homosexuality was a central factor in their hostility to the Greeks. They continue (somewhat bitterly), describing the context in which the first clash of these value systems occurred:
At the heart of the “sodomy delusion” lies the Judaic rejection of Hellenism and paiderasteia, one of the distinctive features of the culture brought by the Greek conquerors of Asia Minor. It is a fundamental, ineluctable clash of values within what was destined to become Western civilization. Only in the Maccabean era did the opposition to Hellenization and everything Hellenic lead to the intense, virtually paranoid hatred and condemnation of male homosexuality, a hatred that Judaism bequeathed to the nascent Christian church (ibid.:36).

In his article “Homosexuality and the Maccabean Revolt,” Catholic scholar Patrick G. D. Riley also identifies homosexuality as the focal point of conflict between the Jews and the Greeks. The Greek King, Antiochus, had ordered that all the nations of his empire be “welded... into a single people” (Riley:14). This created a crisis for the Jews, forcing them to choose between faithfulness to Biblical commandments (at the risk of martyrdom) and participation in a range of desecrations from “the sacrificing of pigs and the worshiping of idols, to ‘leaving their sons uncircumsized, and prostituting themselves to all kinds of impurity and abomination’ (1 Macc. 1:49-51)” (ibid.:14).

The Greeks also built one of their gymnasia in Jerusalem, which “attracted the noblest young men of Israel...subduing them under the petaso” (emphasis ours -- 2 Macc. 4:12). In the traditional Latin translation the above phrase is rendered “to put in brothels” (Riley:15). The gymnasia were notorious throughout the ancient world for their association with homosexual practices. In fact, Flaceliere concludes from Plutarch’s writings that from the beginning of its acceptance in Greece, “the development of homosexuality was connected to the rise of gymnasia...[which usually contained] not only a statue or Hermes, but also one of Eros” (Flaceliere:65).

The tensions which led to the Jewish revolt were exacerbated when the Jewish high priest, a Hellenist himself, offered a sacrifice to Heracles (Hercules), who was a Greek symbol of homosexuality. Riley adds, “The Jewish temple itself became the scene of pagan sacrificial meals and sexual orgies [including homosexuality].” The final insult (for which Antiochus is identified in the Bible as the archetype of the antichrist) “was the installation in the temple of a pagan symbol, possibly a representation of Zeus [Baal], called by a sardonic pun ‘the abomination of desolation’” (Riley.:16).

In the ensuing religious revolt, the Maccabees “preserved what would become the moral charter of Christendom, just as in defending marriage they saved what would be the very material of its construction, namely, the family” (ibid.:17). Yet, though they preserved the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic, the Maccabees did not vanquish Greek philosophy as a rival social force. Of the two irreconcilable belief systems, the Judeo-Christian one would prevail, allowing the development of what we know today as Western culture; yet Hellenism survived.

Most of the Israelites had fled or been driven out of Canaan because they refused--as did Jesus--to "bow to Baal" by singing and dancing the Dionysus Choral when the Jews Piped. John refused to baptize them and called them a generation of Vipers. Jesus used only parables to HIDE the truth from them. And Peter said that they should save themselves FROM that crooked generation. The Skolios singers were marked by the skolion songs the perverted male symposia sang. See Acts 2 and the crooked generation.

See wearing the Greek Hat related to Hermes in 2 Maccabees

First Maccabees - Marriage and Giving in Marriage

Jonathan in First Maccabees illustrates the connection between mind-altering music and marriage and giving in marriage. There were no recorded writing prophets during the 400 years of the Intertestament period. The Jews has sold themselves to Greek worship where A NEW STYLE MUSIC and the GYMNASIUM were demanded by the people so that they did not have to follow the hard discipline of being God's people.
I Maccabees presents a historical account of political, military, and diplomatic events from the time of Judaea's relationship with Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria (reigned 175-164/163 BC) to the death (135/134 BC) of Simon Maccabeus, high priest in Jerusalem. It describes the refusal of Mattathias to perform pagan religious rites, the ensuing Jewish revolt against Syrian hegemony, the political machinations whereby Demetrius II of Syria granted Judaea its independence, and the election of Simon as both high priest and secular ruler of the Judaean Jews.

See how Rubel Shelly uses NARRATIVE THEOLOGY to TRANSMUTE the DESTRUCTION OF unlawful shrines into an approval for FELLOWSHIPING them

Bible, Revised Standard Version

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is copyright © National Council of Churches of Christ in America and distributed to registered users (see User Agreement) with their kind permission. The HTI is grateful to NCC and the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Computer Analysis of Texts (CCAT) for their permission to provide this WWW-accessible version.

Second Maccabees
Third Maccabees
Fourth Maccabees

Following the Gentiles in Building a Gymnasium
The Desolating Altar
Purifying The Temple and destroying the ungodly "churches."

1 Maccabees

First Maccabees 1

1 - After Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius, king of the Persians and the Medes, he succeeded him as king. (He had previously become king of Greece.)

2 - He fought many battles, conquered strongholds, and put to death the kings of the earth.

3 - He advanced to the ends of the earth, and plundered many nations. When the earth became quiet before him, he was exalted, and his heart was lifted up.

4 - He gathered a very strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and princes, and they became tributary to him.

5 - After this he fell sick and perceived t
he was dying.

6 - So he summoned his most honored officers, who had been brought up with him from youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive.

7 - And after Alexander had reigned twelve years, he died.

See how Tom Burgess uses the PLUCKING or the word PSALLO to prove that churches should do likewise.
The Deipnosophists of Athenaeus of Naucratis

And among the barbarians the Celts also, though they have very beautiful women, enjoy boys more; so that some of them often have two lovers to sleep with on their beds of animal skins.

As for the Persians, Herodotus says they learned the use of boys from the Greeks.

King Alexander also was madly devoted to boys. Dicaearchus, at any rate, in his book On the Sacrifice at Ilium, says that he was so overcome with love for the eunuch Bagoas that, in full view of the entire theatre, he, bending over, caressed Bagoas fondly, and when the audience clapped and shouted in applause, he, nothing loath, again bent over and kissed him. But Carystius in Historical Notes says:
"Charon of Chalcis had a beautiful boy who was dear to him. But when Alexander, at a drinking-party in the house of Craterus, praised the boy, Charon bade him kiss Alexander

8 - Then his officers began to rule, each in his own place.

9 - They all put on crowns after his death, and so did their sons after them for many years; and they caused many evils on the earth.

10 - From them came forth a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king; he had been a hostage in Rome. He began to reign in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.

11 - In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many, saying,

"Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us."

The Homosexual Roots of the Nazi Party:

At the heart of the 'sodomy delusion' lies the Judaic rejection of Hellenism and paiderasteia, one of the distinctive features of the culture brought by the Greek conquerers of Asia Minor. It is a fundamental, ineluctable clash of values within what was destined to become Western civilization. Only in the Maccabean era did the opposition to Hellenization and everything Hellenic lead to the intense, virtually paranoid hatred and condemnation of male homosexuality, a hatred that Judaism bequeathed to the nascent Christian church (ibid.:36).

In his article'Homosexuality and the Maccabean Revolt,' Catholic scholar Patrick G. D. Riley also identifies homosexuality as the focal point of conflict between the Jews and the Greeks. The Greek King, Antiochus, had ordered that all the nations of his empire be 'welded... into a single people' (Riley:14). This created a crisis for the Jews, forcing them to choose between faithfulness to Biblical commandments (at the risk of martyrdom) and participation in a range of desecrations from'the sacrificing of pigs and the worshipping of idols, to 'leaving their sons uncircumsized, and prostituting themselves to all kinds of impurity and abomination' (1 Macc. 1:49-51)' (ibid.:14). The Greeks also built one of their gymnasia (these were notorious throughout the ancient world for their association with homosexual practices) in Jerusalem, which 'attracted the noblest young men of Israel...subduing them under the petaso' (emphasis ours -- 2 Macc. 4:12). In the traditional Latin translation the above phrase is rendered'to put in brothels' (Riley:15).

The tensions which led to the Jewish revolt were exacerbated when the Jewish high priest, a Hellenist himself, offered a sacrifice to Heracles (Hercules) who was a Greek symbol of homosexuality. Riley adds,'The Jewish temple itself became the scene of pagan sacrificial meals and sexual orgies [including homosexuality].' The final insult (for which Antiochus is identified in the Bible as the archtype of the antichrist)'was the installation in the temple of a pagan symbol, possibly a representation of Zeus [Baal], called by a sardonic pun 'the abomination of desolation'' (ibid.:16).

In the ensuing religious revolt, the Maccabes'preserved what would become the moral charter of Christendom, just as in defending marriage they saved what would be the very material of its construction, namely, the family' (ibid.:17). Yet, though they preserved the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic, the Maccabees did not vanquish Greek philosophy as a rival social force. Of the two irreconcilable belief systems the Judeo-Christian one would prevail, allowing the development of what we know today as Western culture, yet Hellenism survived.

12 - This proposal pleased them,

13 - and some of the people eagerly went to the king. He authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles.

14 - So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom,

See Second Maccabees on the Gymnasium

If you are to totally understand the Intertestament Period which had no writing prophets you have to go to the Apocrypha or Apocylyptic records which are HISTORY if not inspired. The Jewish "religion" was so lost that Jesus refused to speak to them except in parables to hide SPIRITUAL truth from those who would "repackage free truth and retail it." If we want to understand the fall of Judaism we have to look to Joshepus to understand the resurfacing of the "musical Levites" and to the Maccabees to understand the worshipers of Dionysus who tried to pervert Jesus into the song and dance when they "piped."

"As for the contests at Delphi, there was one in early times between citharoedes, who sang a paean in honor of the god; it was instituted by the Delphians. But after the Crisaean war, in the time of Eurylochus,the Amphictyons instituted equestrian and gymnastic contests in which the prize was a crown, and called them Pythian Games. And to the citharoedes they added both fluteplayers and citharists who played without singing, who were to render a certain melody which is called the Pythian Nome. There are five parts of it: angkrousis, ampeira, katakeleusmos, iambi and dactyli, and syringes (brass pipes). Now the melody was composed by Timosthenes, the admiral of the second Ptolemy, who also compiled The Harbours, a work in ten books; and

"By "melody he means to celebrate the contest between Apollo and the dragon, setting forth the prelude as anakrousis, the first onset of the contest as ampeira, the contest itself as katakeleusmos, the triumph following the victory as iambus and dactylus, the rhythms being in two measures, one of which, the dactyl, is appropriate to hymns of praise, whereas the other, the iamb, is suited to reproaches (compare the word "iambize"), and the expiration of the dragon as syringes, since with syringes (reed or brass pipes related to the serpent) 4 players imitated the dragon as breathing its last in hissings. 5 (Strabo Geography 9.3.10)

Greek Music: The prevailing doctrine of ethos, as explained by ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle,

was based on the belief that music has a direct effect upon the soul and actions of mankind.
As a result, the Greek political and social systems were intertwined with music, which had a primary role in the dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.And the Grecian educational system was focused upon musica and gymnastica,
the former referring to all cultural and intellectual studies, as distinguished from those related to physical training. (See ethos, dramatic literature.)

Of Aeschylus:
Of the CROOKED GENERATION of Skolion singers:

Just so, when philosophers midst their cups dive into minute and logical disputes, they are very troublesome to those that cannot follow them through the same depths;

and those that bring in idle songs, trifling disquisitions, common talk, and mechanical discourse destroy the very end of conversation and merry entertainments, and abuse Bacchus.

Therefore, as when Phrynichus and Aeschylus brought tragedy to discourse of fictions and misfortunes, it was asked, What is this to Bacchus?--so methinks, when I hear some pedantically drawing a syllogism into table-talk, I have reason to cry out, Sir, what is this to Bacchus?

Perchance one, the great bowl standing in the midst, and the chaplets given round, which the god in token of the liberty he bestows sets on every head, sings one of those songs called [Skolios] (CROOKED OR OBSCURE); this is not fit nor agreeable to a feast.

Though some say these songs were not dark and intricate composures; but that the guests sang the first song all together, praising Bacchus and describing the power of the god; and the second each man sang singly in his turn, a myrtle bough being delivered to every one in order, which they call an [Greek omitted] because he that received it was obliged [Greek omitted] to sing;

and after this a harp being carried round the company, the skilful took it, and fitted the music to the song; this when the unskilful could not perform, the song was called [Greek omitted] because hard to them, and one in which they could not bear a part.
Ra.1302 Aristophanes, Frogs

Dionysus
What is this phlattothrat? Is it from Marathon, or
where did you assemble these songs of a rope-twister?

Aeschylus
Well, to a fine place from a fine place did I
bring them, lest I be seen garnering from the same meadow as Phrynichos.
But this guy gets them from everywhere, from little whores,
Meletus' drinking songs, Carian flute solos,
Dirges, dances. This will all be made clear immediately.
Someone bring in a lyre. And yet, what need
of a lyre for this guy? Where's the girl who clacks the castanets?
Hither, Muse of Euripides, [singing prostittes, Revelation 18:22}
for whom these songs are appropriate to sing.

Dionysus

This Muse never did the Lesbian thing, oh no..

Athenian There is a tradition or story, which has somehow crept about the world,

that Dionysus was robbed of his wits by his stepmother Hera,
and that out of revenge he inspires Bacchic furies and dancing madnesses in others;
for which reason he gave men wine.

Such traditions concerning the gods I leave to those who think that they may be safely uttered; I only know that no animal at birth is mature or perfect in intelligence; and in the intermediate period,

in which he has not yet acquired his own proper sense, he rages and roars without rhyme or reason;
and when he has once got on his legs he jumps about without rhyme or reason; and this, as you will remember, has been already said by us to be the origin of music and gymnastic.

Oracles
In the prosperous times of the oracle two Pythias acted alternately, with a third to assist them. In the earliest times the Pythia ascended the tripod only once a year, on the birthday of Apollo, the seventh of the Delphian spring month Bysius.

But in later years she prophesied every day, if the day itself and the sacrifices were not unfavourable.
These sacrifices were offered by the supplicants, adorned with laurel crowns and fillets of wool.
Having prepared herself by washing and purification, the Pythia entered the sanctuary, with gold ornaments in her hair and flowing robes upon her;she drank of the water of the fountain Cassotis, which flowed into the shrine, tasted the fruit of the old bay-tree standing in the chamber, and took her seat.

No one was present but a priest, called the prophêtês (and prophêtis),

who explained the words she uttered in her ecstasy,
and put them into metrical form, generally hexameters.

In later times the votaries were contented with answers in prose. The responses were often obscure and enigmatical, and couched in ambiguous and metaphorical expressions, which themselves needed explanation. The order in which the applicants approached the oracle was determined by lot, but certain cities, as Sparta, had the right of priority.

Rhapsodus

(rhapsôidos). A Greek term derived from rhabdô, originally designating the man who adapted the words to the epic song--i. e. the epic poet himself, who in the earlier time recited his own poetry. Afterwards the term especially denoted one who made the poems of others a subject of recitation.

At first such rhapsodists were generally poets themselves; but, with the gradual dying out of epic poetry, they came to hold the same position as was afterwards held by the actors, professionally declaiming the lays of the epic poets.

Epic verses were originally sung to musical accompaniment, but after the time of Terpander, as lyric poetry became more independently cultivated, the accompaniment of stringed instruments fell into disuse;

and then gradually, instead of a song-like recitation, a simple declamation, in which the rhapsodist held a branch of bay in his hand, came to be generally adopted. This had happened even before the time of Plato and Aristotle (see especially Plato's Ion).

Terpander flourished c. 647 BC, , Lesbos, Asia Minor [Greece] Greek poet and musician of the Aegean island of Lesbos. Terpander was proverbially famous as a singer to the accompaniment of the kithara, a seven-stringed instrument resembling a lyre, which he was said to have invented, and from the name of which the word "guitar" derives. He was also credited with important developments in music for that instrument and is said to have won a prize for music at the 26th Olympiad held in Sparta (676/672).

DONKA D. MARKUS in Performing the Book observes
These effects have implications for understanding who controls the production and dissemination of a prestigious high genre like epic (the politics of literary production) and what role the public, non-dramatic, authorial reading aloud of epic plays in the construction of gender and social status.

In fact, behind the criticisms of the epic recital often lie issues about the performance of gender and social status. In that regard, epic's position is parallel to that of rhetoric. Beginning with Aristotle's Rhetorica (1404a), critics of rhetorical performance have ascribed to lively delivery the same effect as that of acting. There is a persistent association between theatrics, bad rhetoric and effeminacy.

Rhetoric was forever at pains to disentangle itself from unwanted associations with female deception and histrionic art, because it was viewed as the art of socially weak women and slaves, and rhetoricians of all ages have assiduously fought against any trace of bodily and vocal practice associated with these groups.

However, from the examples that I have just used, it is evident, I believe, which art of music I consider appropriate in the training of the orator and to what extent.

Nevertheless, I think that I need to be more explicit in stating that the music which I prescribe is not the modern music which has been emasculated by the lascivious melodies of the effeminate stage and has to no small extent destroyed the amount of manly vigor that we still possessed.

I refer rather to the music of old with which people used to sing the praises of brave men and which the brave themselves used to sing.

But above all the reading must be manly and combine dignity and charm;

it must be different from the reading of prose, for poetry is song and poets claim to be singers. But this fact does not justify degeneration into sing-song or the effeminate modulations now in vogue. There is an excellent saying on this point attributed to Gaius Caesar while he was still a boy: "If you are singing, you sing badly; if you are reading, you sing."

145 indeed, they consider a speech a form of composition that ought not to be corrected. I would willingly ask them why they allow (if indeed they do allow) that history may be recited,

since it is written in the interests of truth and honesty, not for display?
Or why tragedy, when it requires a stage and actors, not an audience-hall?

Or lyric poetry, which requires not a reader, but a chorus and a harp-accompaniment? They will respond that in these instances recitation has been established by custom.

Athenian Is not the origin of gymnastics, too, to be sought in the tendency to rapid motion which exists in all animals; man, as we were saying,

having attained the sense of rhythm, created and invented dancing;
and melody arousing and awakening rhythm, both united formed the choral art?

The Greek philosophers believed that music in education made lasting effects upon the human soul. However, this music was for its own educational value and not for worship. There are very few fragments of musical notation which survived. However, these musical fragments show that

"Greek music was predominantly vocal,
although instrumental pieces were sometimes presented.
The music was homophonic (not polyphonic); i.e., it consisted of single melodic lines. Britannica.

Tertullian

Chapter XI. Jupiter, Muses' Arts Dedicated to Mars Sounds of Trumpets

In fulfilment of our plan, let us now go on to consider the combats. Their origin is akin to that of the games (ludi). Hence they are kept as either sacred or funereal, as they have been instituted in honour of the idol-gods of the nations or of the dead. Thus, too, they are called Olympian in honour of Jupiter, known at Rome as the Capitoline; Nemean, in honour of Hercules; Isthmian, in honour of Neptune; the rest mortuarii, as belonging to the dead. What wonder, then,

if idolatry pollutes the combat-parade with profane crowns, with sacerdotal chiefs, with attendants belonging to the various colleges, last of all with the blood of its sacrifices? (Note: the old must always be sacrificed)

To add a completing word about the "place"- in the common place for the college of the arts sacred to the Muses, and Apollo, and Minerva, and also for that of the arts dedicated to Mars, they with contest and sound of trumpet emulate the circus in the arena,

which is a real temple-I mean of the god whose festivals it celebrates.
The gymnastic arts also originated with their Castors, and Herculeses, and Mercuries.
Poets also, trembling not before the judgment-seat of Rhadamanthus or Minos, but of the unexpected Christ!
I shall have a better opportunity then of hearing the tragedians, louder-voiced in their own calamity;
of viewing the play-actors, much more "dissolute" in the dissolving flame;
of looking upon the charioteer, all glowing in his chariot of fire; of beholding the wrestlers, not in their gymnasia, but tossing in the fiery billows; unless even then I shall not care to attend to such ministers of sin, in my eager wish rather to fix a gaze insatiable on those whose fury vented itself against the Lord.

"This," I shall say, "this is that carpenter's or hireling's son, that Sabbath-breaker, that Samaritan and devil-possessed!

This is He whom you purchased from Judas!

This is He whom you struck with reed and fist, whom you contemptuously spat upon, to whom you gave gall and vinegar to drink!

This is He whom His disciples secretly stole away, that it might be said He had risen again, or the gardener abstracted, that his lettuces might come to no harm from the crowds of visitants!"

What quµstor or priest in his munificence will bestow on you the favour of seeing and exulting in such things as these? And yet even now we in a measure have them by faith in the picturings of imagination.

But what are the things which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and which have not so much as dimly dawned upon the human heart? Whatever they are, they are nobler, I believe, than circus, and both theatres, (Viz., the theatre and amphitheatre. [This concluding chapter, which Gibbon delights to censure, because its fervid rhetoric so fearfully depicts the punishments of Christ's enemies, "appears to Dr. Neander to contain a beautiful specimen of lively faith and Christian confidence." See Kaye, p. xxix.] ) and every race-course.

(Armstrong, Karen, A History of God, p. 67f)

The Jews of Palestine and the diaspora were surrounded by a Hellenic culture which some found disturbing,

but others were excited by Greek theater, philosophy, sport and poetry. They learned Greek, exercised at the gymnasium and took Greek names. Some fought as mercinaries in the Greek armies.

"Thus some Greeks came to know the God of Israel and decided to worship Yahweh (Iao) alongside Zeus and Dionysus.

Some were attracted to the synagogue... There they read scriptures, prayed and listened to sermons (explanations).

The synagogue was unlike anything else in the rest of the ancient religous world.

Since there was no ritual or sacrifice, it must have seemed more like a school of philosophy, and many flocked in the synagogue if a well-known Jewish preacher came to town...

"By the second century BC this hostility was entrenched: in Palestine there had even been a revolt when Antiochus Epiphanes, the Selucid governor, had attempted to Hellenize Jerusalem and introduce the cult of Zeus into the temple....This paganizing involved MUSIC and the GYMNASIUM: both directed to the body and senses.

Plato understood that MUSIC and the GYMNASIUM are the places where LAWS ARE CHANGED

"Music and gymnastic (must) be preserved in their original form, and no innovation made. They must do their utmost to maintain them intact. And when anyone says that mankind must regard...


they will be afraid that he may be praising, not some new songs, but a new kind of song; and this ought not to be praised, or conceived to be the meaning of the poet; for any musical innovation is full of danger in the whole State, and ought to be prohibited. So Damon tells me, and I can quite believe him; he says that

15 - and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil. [This would be like repudiating baptism]

16 - When Antiochus saw that his kingdom was established, he determined to become king of the land of Egypt, that he might reign over both kingdoms.

17 - So he invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and elephants and cavalry and with a large fleet.

18 - He engaged Ptolemy king of Egypt in battle, and Ptolemy turned and fled before him, and many were wounded and fell.

19 - And they captured the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and he plundered the land of Egypt.

20 - After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred and forty-third year. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force.

21 - He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils.

22 - He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off.

23 - He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures which he found.

24 - Taking them all, he departed to his own land. He committed deeds of murder, and spoke with great arrogance.

This is how you lead people or property IN TRIUMPH as Psalm 41 prophesied of Judas the Flute Player trying to TRIUMPH OVER Jesus with musical MOCKING. Using banners and music the ENEMY hijacks the symbols from the Holy Place. In the church the Menorah represents the seven spirits of knowledge (Isaiah 11) or education, the table of bread representing fellowship and the incense altar representing personal prayers. By leading these symbols into BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY the temple is turned into a Greek temple and the people DO "church" in they synagogues.

25 - Israel mourned deeply in every community,

26 - rulers and elders groaned, maidens and young men became faint, the beauty of women faded.

27 - Every bridegroom took up the lament; she who sat in the bridal chamber was mourning.

28 - Even the land shook for its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was clothed with shame.

29 - Two years later the king sent to the cities of Judah a chief collector of tribute, and he came to Jerusalem with a large force.

30 - Deceitfully he spoke peaceable words to them, and they believed him; but he suddenly fell upon the city, dealt it a severe blow, and destroyed many people of Israel.

31 - He plundered the city, burned it with fire, and tore down its houses and its surrounding walls.

32 - And they took captive the women and children, and seized the cattle.
33 - Then they fortified the city of David with a great strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.
34 - And they stationed there a sinful people, lawless men. These strengthened their position;
35 - they stored up arms and food, and collecting the spoils of Jerusalem they stored them there, and became a great snare.
36 - It became an ambush against the sanctuary, an evil adversary of Israel continually.

The description of the trumpets.

[The Rule of the Trumpets: the trumpets] of alarm for all their service for the [ . . . ] for their commissioned men, 17[by tens of thousands and thousands and hundreds and fifties] and tens. Upon the t[rumpets . . . ]

[ . . . ] )8[ . . . ] 19[ . . . which ] 20 [,, . they shall write . . . the trumpets of Col. 3 the battle formations, and the trumpets for assembling them when the gates of the war are opened so that the infantry might advance, the trumpets for the signal of the slain, the trumpets of 2 the ambush, the trumpets of pursuit when the enemy is defeated, and the trumpets of reassembly when the battle returns.

37 - On every side of the sanctuary they shed innocent blood; they even defiled the sanctuary.

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.

39 - Her sanctuary became desolate as a desert; her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into a reproach, her honor into contempt.

40 - Her dishonor now grew as great as her glory; her exaltation was turned into mourning.

41 - Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people,

42 - and that each should give up his customs.

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.

44 - And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land,

45 - to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and feasts,

46 - to defile the sanctuary and the priests,

47 - to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols (Dionysus), to sacrifice swine and unclean animals,

48 - and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane,

49 - so that they should forget the law and change all the ordinances.

50 - "And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die."

51 - In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. And he appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city.

52 - Many of the people, every one who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land;

53 - they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had.
54 - Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year,

they erected a desolating sacrilege upon the altar of burnt offering.
They also built altars in the surrounding cities of Judah,

Notice in verse 59 that this desolating sacrilege could be another altar placed upon the regular altar for burnt offerings.

Of Dancing by the prophets of Jezebel:

"It was probably usual to welcome a king or general with music and dancing...The distinctly religious dance is more frequently mentioned. The clear instances of it in the Bible are the dance of the women of Israel at the Red Sea, headed by Miriam with her tambourine (Exodus 15:20); the dance of the Israelites round the golden calf (Exodus 32:19); the dance of the maidens of Shiloah at the annual feast (Judges 21:19 ff);

the leaping or limping of the prophets of Baal round their altar on Carmel (1 Kings 18:26);
and the dancing of David in front of the ark (2 Samuel 6:14-16) (Int. Std. Bible Ency., p. 1169-70)

See how Miriam who helped lead Israel into the sentence of being "turned over to worship the starry host."

55 - and burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets.

56 - The books of the law which they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire.

57 - Where the book of the covenant was found in the possession of any one, or if any one adhered to the law, the decree of the king condemned him to death.

58 - They kept using violence against Israel, against those found month after month in the cities.

59 - And on the twenty-fifth day of the month

they offered sacrifice on the altar
which was upon the altar of burnt offering.

60 - According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised,

61 - and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers' necks.

62 - But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food.

63 - They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die.

64 - And very great wrath came upon Israel.

Nebuchadnezzar's Abomination of Desolation

NEBUCHADNEZZAR the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Dan 3:1

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Dan 3: 2

Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Dan 3: 3

Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, Dan 3: 4

That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: Dan 3: 5

And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Dan 3: 6

Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Dan 3: 7

Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. Dan 3: 8

They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. Dan 3: 9

Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image: Dan 3: 10

And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Dan 3: 11

The End- Time Abomination of Desolation

And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; Rev 18:22

And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. Rev 18: 23

And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. Rev 18: 24

First Maccabees 2
1 - In those days Mattathias the son of John, son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib, moved from Jerusalem and settled in Modein.
2 - He had five sons, John surnamed Gaddi,
3 - Simon called Thassi,
4 - Judas called Maccabeus,
5 - Eleazar called Avaran, and Jonathan called Apphus.
6 - He saw the blasphemies being committed in Judah and Jerusalem,
7 - and said, "Alas! Why was I born to see this, the ruin of my people, the ruin of the holy city, and to dwell there when it was given over to the enemy, the sanctuary given over to aliens?
8 - Her temple has become like a man without honor;
9 - her glorious vessels have been carried into captivity. Her babes have been killed in her streets, her youths by the sword of the foe.
10 - What nation has not inherited her palaces and has not seized her spoils?
11 - All her adornment has been taken away; no longer free, she has become a slave.
12 - And behold, our holy place, our beauty, and our glory have been laid waste; the Gentiles have profaned it.
13 - Why should we live any longer?"

14 - And Mattathias and his sons rent their clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned greatly.
15 - Then the king's officers who were enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to make them offer sacrifice.16 - Many from Israel came to them; and Mattathias and his sons were assembled.
17 - Then the king's officers spoke to Mattathias as follows: "You are a leader, honored and great in this city, and supported by sons and brothers.
18 - Now be the first to come and do what the king commands,

as all the Gentiles and the men 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 honored with silver and gold and many gifts."

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 do his commandments, departing each one from the religion of his fathers,
20 - yet I and my sons and my brothers will live by the covenant of our fathers.
21 - Far be it from us to desert the law and the ordinances.
22 - We will not obey the king's words by turning aside from our religion to the right hand or to the left."23 - When he had finished speaking these words, a Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice upon the altar in Modein, according to the king's command.
24 - When Mattathias saw it, be burned with zeal and his heart was stirred. He gave vent to righteous anger; he ran and killed him upon the altar.
25 - At the same time he killed the king's officer who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar.
26 - Thus he burned with zeal for the law, as Phinehas did against Zimri the son of Salu.27 - Then Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: "Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me!"
28 - And he and his sons fled to the hills and left all that they had in the city.
29 - Then many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to dwell there,
30 - they, their sons, their wives, and their cattle, because evils pressed heavily upon them.31 - And it was reported to the king's officers, and to the troops in Jerusalem the city of David, that men who had rejected the king's command had gone down to the hiding places in the wilderness.
32 - Many pursued them, and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the sabbath day.33 - And they said to them, "Enough of this! Come out and do what the king commands, and you will live."
34 - But they said, "We will not come out, nor will we do what the king commands and so profane the sabbath day."
35 - Then the enemy hastened to attack them.
36 - But they did not answer them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places,
37 - for they said, "Let us all die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly."
38 - So they attacked them on the sabbath, and they died, with their wives and children and cattle, to the number of a thousand persons.39 - When Mattathias and his friends learned of it, they mourned for them deeply.
40 - And each said to his neighbor: "If we all do as our brethren have done and refuse to fight with the Gentiles for our lives and for our ordinances, they will quickly destroy us from the earth."
41 - So they made this decision that day: "Let us fight against every man who comes to attack us on the sabbath day; let us not all die as our brethren died in their hiding places."

42 - Then there united with them a company of Hasideans, mighty warriors of Israel, every one who offered himself willingly for the law.
43 - And all who became fugitives to escape their troubles joined them and reinforced them.
44 - They organized an army, and struck down sinners in their anger and lawless men in their wrath; the survivors fled to the Gentiles for safety.
45 - And Mattathias and his friends went about and tore down the altars;
46 - they forcibly circumcised all the uncircumcised boys that they found within the borders of Israel.
47 - They hunted down the arrogant men, and the work prospered in their hands.
48 - They rescued the law out of the hands of the Gentiles and kings, and they never let the sinner gain the upper hand.

49 - Now the days drew near for Mattathias to die, and he said to his sons: "Arrogance and reproach have now become strong; it is a time of ruin and furious anger.
50 - Now, my children, show zeal for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers.
51 - "Remember the deeds of the fathers, which they did in their generations; and receive great honor and an everlasting name.
52 - Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness?
53 - Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and became lord of Egypt.
54 - Phinehas our father, because he was deeply zealous, received the covenant of everlasting priesthood.
55 - Joshua, because he fulfilled the command, became a judge in Israel.
56 - Caleb, because he testified in the assembly, received an inheritance in the land.
57 - David, because he was merciful, inherited the throne of the kingdom for ever.
58 - Elijah because of great zeal for the law was taken up into heaven.
59 - Hannaniah, Azariah, and Mishael believed and were saved from the flame.
60 - Daniel because of his innocence was delivered from the mouth of the lions.

61 -"And so observe, from generation to generation, that none who put their trust in him will lack strength.
62 - Do not fear the words of a sinner,
for his splendor will turn into dung and worms.

63 - Today he will be exalted,

but tomorrow he will not be found, because he has returned to the dust, and his plans will perish.

64 - My children, be courageous and grow strong in the law, for by it you will gain honor.
65 -"Now behold, I know that Simeon your brother is wise in counsel; always listen to him; he shall be your father.
66 - Judas Maccabeus has been a mighty warrior from his youth; he shall command the army for you and fight the battle against the peoples.
67 - You shall rally about you all who observe the law, and avenge the wrong done to your people.
68 - Pay back the Gentiles in full, and heed what the law commands."
69 -Then he blessed them, and was gathered to his fathers.
70 - He died in the one hundred and forty-sixth year and was buried in the tomb of his fathers at Modein. And all Israel mourned for him with great lamentation.

First Maccabees 3
1 -Then Judas his son, who was called Maccabeus, took command in his place.
2 - All his brothers and all who had joined his father helped him; they gladly fought for Israel.
3 - He extended the glory of his people. Like a giant he put on his breastplate; he girded on his armor of war and waged battles, protecting the host by his sword.
4 - He was like a lion in his deeds, like a lion's cub roaring for prey.
5 - He searched out and pursued the lawless; he burned those who troubled his people.
6 - Lawless men shrank back for fear of him; all the evildoers were confounded; and deliverance prospered by his hand.
7 - He embittered many kings, but he made Jacob glad by his deeds, and his memory is blessed for ever.
8 - He went through the cities of Judah; he destroyed the ungodly out of the land; thus he turned away wrath from Israel.
9 - He was renowned to the ends of the earth; he gathered in those who were perishing.
10 -But Apollonius gathered together Gentiles and a large force from Samaria to fight against Israel.
11 - When Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him, and he defeated and killed him. Many were wounded and fell, and the rest fled.
12 - Then they seized their spoils; and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, and used it in battle the rest of his life.13 -Now when Seron, the commander of the Syrian army, heard that Judas had gathered a large company, including a body of faithful men who stayed with him and went out to battle,
14 - he said, "I will make a name for myself and win honor in the kingdom. I will make war on Judas and his companions, who scorn the king's command."
15 - And again a strong army of ungodly men went up with him to help him, to take vengeance on the sons of Israel.
16 -When he approached the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with a small company.
17 - But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, "How can we, few as we are, fight against so great and strong a multitude? And we are faint, for we have eaten nothing today."
18 - Judas replied, "It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few, for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few.
19 - It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven.
20 - They come against us in great pride and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to despoil us;
21 - but we fight for our lives and our laws.
22 - He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them."
23 -When he finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against Seron and his army, and they were crushed before him.24 - They pursued them down the descent of Beth-horon to the plain; eight hundred of them fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines.
25 - Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and terror fell upon the Gentiles round about them.
26 - His fame reached the king, and the Gentiles talked of the battles of Judas.
27 -When king Antiochus heard these reports, he was greatly angered; and he sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army.
28 - And he opened his coffers and gave a year's pay to his forces, and ordered them to be ready for any need.
29 - Then he saw that the money in the treasury was exhausted, and that the revenues from the country were small because of the dissension and disaster which he had caused in the land by abolishing the laws that had existed from the earliest days.
30 - He feared that he might not have such funds as he had before for his expenses and for the gifts which he used to give more lavishly than preceding kings.
31 - He was greatly perplexed in mind, and determined to go to Persia and collect the revenues from those regions and raise a large fund.
32 -He left Lysias, a distinguished man of royal lineage, in charge of the king's affairs from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt.
33 - Lysias was also to take care of Antiochus his son until he returned.
34 - And he turned over to Lysias half of his troops and the elephants, and gave him orders about all that he wanted done. As for the residents of Judea and Jerusalem,

35 - Lysias was to send a force against them to wipe out and destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem; he was to banish the memory of them from the place,
36 - settle aliens in all their territory, and distribute their land.
37 - Then the king took the remaining half of his troops and departed from Antioch his capital in the one hundred and forty-seventh year. He crossed the Euphrates river and went through the upper provinces.
38 -Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, mighty men among the friends of the king,
39 - and sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and destroy it, as the king had commanded.

40 - so they departed with their entire force, and when they arrived they encamped near Emmaus in the plain.
41 - When the traders of the region heard what was said to them, they took silver and gold in immense amounts, and fetters, and went to the camp to get the sons of Israel for slaves. And forces from Syria and the land of the Philistines joined with them.42 -Now Judas and his brothers saw that misfortunes had increased and that the forces were encamped in their territory. They also learned what the king had commanded to do to the people to cause their final destruction.
43 - But they said to one another, "Let us repair the destruction of our people, and fight for our people and the sanctuary."
44 - And the congregation assembled to be ready for battle, and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion.45 - Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness; not one of her children went in or out.

The sanctuary was trampled down, and the sons of aliens held the citadel; it was a lodging place for the Gentiles.

Joy was taken from Jacob; the flute and the harp ceased to play. [Note this was not worship]

46 -So they assembled and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem,

because Israel formerly had a place of prayer in Mizpah.

47 - They fasted that day, put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads, and rent their clothes.
48 - And they opened the book of the law to inquire into those matters about which the Gentiles were consulting the images of their idols.

49 - They also brought the garments of the priesthood and the first fruits and the tithes, and they stirred up the Nazirites who had completed their days;
50 - and they cried aloud to Heaven, saying, "What shall we do with these? Where shall we take them?
51 - Thy sanctuary is trampled down and profaned, and thy priests mourn in humiliation.52 - And behold, the Gentiles are assembled against us to destroy us; thou knowest what they plot against us.

53 - How will we be able to withstand them, if thou dost not help us?"
54 -Then they sounded the trumpets and gave a loud shout.
55 - After this Judas appointed leaders of the people, in charge of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens.
56 - And he said to those who were building houses, or were betrothed, or were planting vineyards, or were fainthearted, that each should return to his home, according to the law.
57 - Then the army marched out and encamped to the south of Emmaus.
58 -And Judas said, "Gird yourselves and be valiant. Be ready early in the morning to fight with these Gentiles who have assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.

59 - It is better for us to die in battle than to see the misfortunes of our nation and of the sanctuary.
60 - But as his will in heaven may be, so he will do."

First Maccabees 4

1 -Now Gorgias took five thousand infantry and a thousand picked cavalry, and this division moved out by night

2 - to fall upon the camp of the Jews and attack them suddenly. Men from the citadel were his guides.

3 - But Judas heard of it, and he and his mighty men moved out to attack the king's force in Emmaus

4 - while the division was still absent from the camp.

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 fleeing from us."

6 -At daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men, but they did not have armor and swords such as they desired.

7 - And they saw the camp of the Gentiles, strong and fortified, with cavalry round about it; and these men were trained in war.

8 - But Judas said to the men who were with him,

"Do not fear their numbers or be afraid when they charge.

9 - Remember how our fathers were saved at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh with his forces pursued them.

10 - And now let us cry to Heaven, to see whether he will favor us and remember his covenant with our fathers and crush this army before us today.

The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come. Numbers 10:8

When you