enied the Hebrew should cleanse. With
indignant horror Maccabeus and his followers beheld the image of
Jupiter, which for years had desecrated the Temple. Since the
departure of Antiochus, no worshipper indeed had bowed down before the
idolatrous shrine: the edifice had been deserted and left to neglect.
The place had now an appearance of wildness and desolation, as if the
curse of God were upon it, and presented such a contrast to what it had
been in former days as struck sadness into the hearts of Maccabeus and
his warriors. In the words of the historian: "When they saw the
sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned up,
and shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest or in one of the
mountains, yea, and the priests' chambers pulled down, they rent their
clothes and made great lamentations, and cast ashes upon their heads,
and fell down to the ground upon their faces, and blew an alarm with
the trumpets, and cried towards heaven."

But no long time was given to lamentations. With all the energy of his
nature, Maccabeus at once set about the work of restoration. He chose
out the most zealous and virtuous of the priests to cleanse the
sanctuary, destroy every vestige of idolatry, carry away even the
stones that had been defiled, and pull down the altar which had been
profaned. New vessels were made, shew-bread and incense were prepared,
all in the renovated sanctuary was made ready, for the joyful Feast of
Dedication, This festival was appointed by Judas Maccabeus to be
annually held; and it was from thenceforth celebrated from year to year
for more than two centuries--till her darkest, most lengthened trial
came upon Jerusalem. Who shall now keep the Feast of the Dedication of
the Temple when that glorious Temple has itself become a thing of the
past?

[1] Answering to December. Of this time of the year, Dr. Kitto tells
us: "Gumpenberg in Jerusalem, on the 6th, 10th, 11th, and 16th,
experienced weather which he describes as almost equal to that of May
in our latitudes."

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE FEAST OF DEDICATION.

Loud was the burst of joyous music from citherns, harps, and
cymbals--Mount Zion rang with songs of gladness--when in the early
morning the worshippers of the Lord of Hosts appeared in His Temple, to
offer sacrifices of thanksgiving! The front of the building was decked
with crowns of gold, and with shields; and, in the forcible language of
the ancient historian, "