These brave men rent their clothes and wept at the sight;
and then set at once to repair the holy place, their priest-leader
choosing out the most spotless among them for the work. They pulled down
the Altar that had been defiled, and setting aside its stones, built
a new one, and out of the spoil that was in their hands, renewed the
Candlestick, the shewbread table, and the Altar of incense; and then
they newly dedicated the Temple, after three years of desolation. The
anniversary was ever after kept with gladness, and was called the winter
feast of dedication. Still Judas was not strong enough to take the
castle on Mount Zion; but he built strong walls round the Temple, so
that it too became a fortress, and he then went to Bethshan to defend
the south border of Judea against the Edomites.
These tidings terribly enraged Antiochus, who was gone on an expedition
to Persia, and he designed to form a league with his neighbours for the
utter destruction of the Jews; but "he came to his end, and none could
help him," for an overturn of his chariot so much increased an inward
disease that had already begun, that he fell into most horrible
tortures, and was in such a state of decay that scarcely anyone could
bear to come near him.
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