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Augustine uses Judas’s cleansing of the temple in 1 Maccabees as an example to show that its recovery brought no lasting peace. For Augustine, Haggai’s promise of greater glory points to Jesus and the church.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Maccabees 4:43
Deuterocanon
41 Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary. 42 He chose blameless priests devoted to the law, 43 and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. 44 They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned. 45 And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar, 46 and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them. 47 Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one. 48 They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple, and consecrated the courts.
Augustine, City of God 18.45
On the City of God Against the Pagans
Early Christian
Then they were crushed by the wars which are explained in the books of the Maccabees. Afterward they were taken captive by Ptolemy king of Alexandria, who was called Epiphanes. Then Antiochus king of Syria compelled them by many and most grievous evils to worship idols, and filled the temple itself with the sacrilegious superstitions of the Gentiles. Yet their most vigorous leader Judas, who is also called Maccabæus, after beating the generals of Antiochus, cleansed it from all that defilement of idolatry. But not long after, one Alcimus, although an alien from the sacerdotal tribe, was, through ambition, made pontiff, which was an impious thing. After almost fifty years, during which they never had peace, although they prospered in some affairs, Aristobulus first assumed the diadem among them, and was made both king and pontiff. Before that, indeed, from the time of their return from the Babylonish captivity and the rebuilding of the temple, they had not kings, but generals or principes. Although a king himself may be called a prince, from his principality in governing, and a leader, because he leads the army, but it does not follow that all who are princes and leaders may also be called kings, as that Aristobulus was. He was succeeded by Alexander, also both king and pontiff, who is reported to have reigned over them cruelly.
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Notes and References
“... 4:36-54. There is a mystery in Judas' long delay in recovering and purifying
the temple, though Lysias had withdrawn by early spring, 164. Clearly, he was
not waiting for royal permission. Judas did purify the temple in the autumn of
164/3, though Antiochus V officially restored the temple to the Jews only in
162 (II 11:23-26). Even the Abomination of Desolation long continued to
stand, until the beginning of the seventh month of the Jewish year; see below.
Why did Judas wait so long? ...”
Goldstein, Jonathan A.
I Maccabees: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
(p. 273) Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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