Hanukkah- Day 3
During the reign of King Antiochus IV epiphanes, a series of persecution of traditional Judaism began. Because Alexander the Great’s Kingdom had become divided it was easy for the Seleucids to attack it and take over. A kingdom divided truly cannot stand.
Now, in my research I have read one person who claimed that the Jewish people were wrong in taking a stand against their persecutors and that they were simply refusing to modernize.
A. The person who said this clearly didn’t read their history.
B. How would you like it if your land was conquered and your ways were being destroyed?
History tells us that the Seleucids tortured to death anyone not willing to sacrifice to their idols. They took over and defiled the Temple of the one true God and killed those who opposed them. When the Jewish people were told to sacrifice to the idols it was an offense against God and their beliefs, but then they were told they had to also eat unclean meat which was an offense to their culture. Refusing to bow to oppression seems to be the staple of being a follower of God. These brave men and women chose death rather than turn away from God and their culture. All willingly gave up their lives. Except for one.
God’s chosen people have suffered so much for so many years. Go through history and you can mark many major world events with a tag that says, ‘Jewish persecution’ either it began or it increased. As a Gentile saved by Jesus’s sacrifice and adopted into His family I do understand this persecution to a point. Not of my culture, but of my religion. I have personally been attacked for just being a Christian, for wearing cross earrings, for softly singing Christian songs while at work, for posting about Jesus on my personal fb page, and yet all my attacks were only words. Words hurt yes, and you never forget them, but I can’t imagine being physically tortured. To be in agony and to still stand and say, “No! I will not bow!” What a mark of true Faith.
You can’t judge people who were attacked and murdered for standing against their enemies, you should applaud them and aim to hold that same standard. Do we love Jesus enough to refuse to defile oursleves before God just so we aren’t attacked by mortal men? Our we so in love with Christ that we are willing to suffer and or die?
Carried in the cross 