From Zorobabel to the coming of Christ the Jews were at different times governed by Persia, Greece, Egypt. Syria. and Rome. Still the high priests were the immediate rulers.From Zorobabel to the coming of Christ the Jews were at different times governed by Persia, Greece, Egypt. Syria. and Rome. Still the high priests were the immediate rulers.
Their foreign masters often treated the Jews very cruelly. One of the these harsh rulers was Antiochus, King of Syria. He did not want the Jews to worship God or to obey His Laws. He commanded them to sacrifice to idols. Thousands gave up their lives, rather than break the Laws taught them by their fathers.
One of the martyrs was a 70-year-old man named Eleazar, who was beloved by the Jews for his piety and knowledge of the Law. Antiochus commanded him to eat the flesh of swine, threatening him with death if he refused. Now at that time the Jewish Law forbade the eating of the flesh of swine. Eleazar preferred dying to offending God. His friends tried to persuade him to yield. They even advised him to eat meats permitted by the Law, if only to make it appear that he had complied with the order of Antiochus.
But Eleazar said, "It does not become my age to pretend. Many of the youth may be deceived through my weakness. because of my desire for a little corruptible life. But by departing manfully out of this life, I shall show myself worthy of my old age, and leave an example of fortitude to youth."
So he was put to death, saying, "O Lord, I am well content to suffer, because I fear Thee."
For the same offence, a mother and her seven sons underwent a death preceded by the most cruel torture. One after the other, Antiochus had the brothers tortured in the presence of the rest. But all met their death with fortitude. The oldest said, "We are ready to hie rather than break the Laws of God." The second said, "The King of the world will raise us up, who die for His laws, in the resurrection."
The other brothers died as valiantly. Finally, the mother, who had trained her sons in this saintly fortitude, was also put to death.
- from My Bible History in Pictures, by Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, D.D., 1934; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael J O'Doherty of Manila, Philippines