CHRIST AND THE PHARISEES 125 



After the death of Alexander, however, his great 

 empire was divided amongst his generals, and after 

 much fighting between the Ptolemies of Egypt and the 

 Seleucidae of Syria — much marching and counter- 

 marching along this great military road — Palestine at 

 last came under the sway of a Syrian tyrant named 

 Antiochus Epiphanes* Now Antiochus had been 

 brought up at Rome, and there he had acquired a great 

 enthusiasm for Greek culture* So he determined that 

 when he came to the throne his empire should be unified : 

 it should be Greek in language, in religion, and in 

 culture ; therefore the Jews must be Hellenised, He built 

 a Greek gymnasium outside the walls of the Temple 

 in Jerusalem, where Jewish youths of noble birth might 

 practise Greek athletics* He forbad the worship of 

 Jehovah, and the performance of all Jewish rites on pain 

 of death* And, to crown these indignities, he built a 

 small altar to the Greek god Zeus on top of the High 

 Altar of Burnt Offering in the Temple at Jerusalem* 

 This was *' the abomination that maketh desolate ** 

 which we read of in the Book of Daniel* The Book of 

 Daniel was written at this time, and although it is not 

 strictly historical, yet with the help of scholarship, a 

 great deal of fascinatmg history maybe extracted from it. 

 Take for example the story of Shadrach, Meshach and 

 Abednego* When threatened by Nebuchadnezzar with 

 a raging fiery furnace, because they refused to fall down 

 and worship the golden image which the King had set 

 up — they replied that they had faith to believe that 

 their God Jehovah could and would deliver them ; but 

 they added, ** If not, be it known unto thee, O King, 

 we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image 

 which thou hast set up*** This heroic tale, though not 

 true of the Babylonian period, did actually represent 

 the attitude of many Jewish youths at this time of awful 

 persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes* Gladly did 



