2. The war, thus brought to a noble issue, if less fa- mous, is not less glorious than any of those in which a few brave men have successfully maintained the cause of freedom or religion against overpowering might. The answer of Judas to those who counselled retreat (1 Mace, ix, 10) was as true-hearted as that of Leonidas ; and the exploits of his followers will bear favorable comparison with those of the Swiss, or the Dutch, or the Americans. It would be easy to point out parallels in MaccabiBan history to the noblest traits of patriots and martyrs in other countries; but it may be enough here to claim for the contest the attention which it rarely receives. It seems, indeed, as if the indifference of classical writers were perpetuated in our own days, though there is no struggle — not even the wars of Joshua or David — which is more profoundly interesting to the Christian student ; for it is not only in their victory over external difficulties that the heroism of the Macca- bees is conspicuous : their real success was as much im- perilled by internal divisions as by foreign force. They had to contend on the one hand against open and subtle attempts to introduce Greek customs, and on the other against an extreme Pharisaic party, which is seen from time to time opposing their counsels (1 Mace, vii, 12- 18). It was from Judas and those whom he inspired that the old faith received its last development and final impress before the coming of our Lord.
3. For that view of the Maccabrean war which re- gards it only as a civil and not as a religious conflict is essentially one-sided. If there were no other evidence than the book of Daniel — whatever opinion be held as to the tlate of it — that alone would show how deeply the noblest hopes of the theocracy were centred in the suc- cess of the struggle. When the feelings of the nation were thus again turned with fresh power to their an- cient faith, we might expect that there would be a new creative epoch in the national literature; or, if the form of Hebrew composition was already fixed b)' sacred types, a prophet or psalmist would express the thoughts of tlie new age after the models of old time. Yet, in l)art at least, the leaders of jMaccabrean times felt that tlioy were separated by a real chasm from the times of the kingdom or of tlie exile. If they looked for a prophet in the future, they acknowledged that the spirit of proi)hecy was not among them, the volume of the prophetic writings was completed, and, as far as ap- pears, no one ventured to imitate its contents. But the llagiographa, though they were already long fixed as a definite collection [see Canon], were' equally far re- moved from imitation. The apocalyptic visions of Daniel [see Daniel] served as a pattern for the vi-
sions incorporated in the book of Enoch [see Enoch, Book of] ; and it has been commonly supposed that the Psalter contains compositions of the Maccabrean date. This supposition, which is at variance with the best evidence that can be obtained on the history of the Canon, can onlj- be received upon the clearest inter- nal proof; and it may well be questioned whether the hypothesis is not as much at variance with sound inter- pretation as with the history of the Canon. The ex- treme forms of the hypothesis, as that of Hitzig, who represents Psa. i, ii, xliv, Ix, and all the last three books of the Psalms (Psa. Ixxiii-cl) as Maccabtean (Grimm, 1 Mace. Einleit. § 9, 3), or of Just. OlshauscSi (quoted by Ewald, Jahrh. 1853, p. 250 sq.), who is inclined to bring the whole Psalter, with very few exceptions, to that date, need only be mentioned as indicating the kind of conjecture which finds currency on such a subject. The real controversy is confined to a much narrower field ; and the psalms which have been referred with the greatest sho-w of reason to the ]\Iaccab»an age are Psae xliv, Ix, Ixxiv, Ixxix, Ixxx, Ixxxiii. It has been ar- gued that all these speak of the dangers to which the house and peojile of God were exposed from heathen enemies, at a period later than the captivity ; and the one ground for referring them to the time of the Mac- cabees is the general ct)incidence which they present with some features of the Greek oppression. But, if it were admitted that the psalms in question are of a later date than the cai;tivity, it by no means follows that they are Maccabwan. On the contrary, they do not contain the slightest trace of those internal divisions of the peo]ile which were the most marked features of the jMaccabffian struggle. The dangers then were as much from within as from without; and party jealousies brought the divine cause to the greatest peril (Ewald, Psalmen, p. 355). It is incredible that a series of Mac- cabffian psalms should contain no allusion to a system of enforced idolatry, or to a temporizing priesthood, or to a faithless multitude. While the obscurity which hangs over the history of the Persian supremacy from the time of Nehemiah to the invasion of Alexander makes it impossible to fix with any precision a date to which the psalms can be referred, the one glimpse which is given of the state of .Jerusalem in the interval (Jose- phus. Ant. xi, 7) is such as to show that they may well have found some suflicient occasion in the wars and dis- orders which attended the decline of the Persian power (comp. Ewald). It may, however, be doubted whether the arguments for a post-Babylonian date are conclu- sive. There is nothing in the psalms themselves which ma}' not apply to the circumstances which attended the overthrow of the kingdom ; and it seems incredible that the desolation of the Temple should have given occasion to no hymns of pious sorrow.