VI.  Restoration of the Temple Service.  With mingled sadness and rejoicing Judas proceeded at once to Jerusalem and with his followers took up the task of restoring the desecrated temple and its service.  The citadel of Acra, which appears to have been situated on the Hill of Ophel to the south of the temple, was still strongly garrisoned by apostate Jews and Syrian soldiers.  For nearly a quarter of a century, until the days of Simon, it continued to be held by Syrian forces, and remained a constant menace to the peace of Jerusalem.  The vivid account of the purification of the temple reveals the intense devotion of the Jews to this ancient sanctuary, and throws clear light upon the nature of its service.  This epoch-making act is commemorated even to-day by the Jews throughout the world and is known as the Feast of Lights.  It is a memorial of that successful struggle for religious freedom in which Principles were established that have affected the thought and action of all succeeding generations.  Through all their many vicissitudes and under their many Gentile rulers, with few exceptions, the Jews have enjoyed uninterruptedly the right of worshipping in accordance with the dictates of their law and the customs of their fathers.

VII.  The New Spirit in Judaism.  Henceforth the law for which their fathers had poured out their life-blood and for which the Jews had fought so valiantly was regarded with new and deeper veneration and its commands gained a new authority.  Again the Jews had enjoyed a taste of freedom and had learned that by united and courageous action they could shake off the hated heathen yoke.  This new warlike note is sounded in many of the later psalms of the Psalter.  Chapters 9-14, appended to the older books of Zechariah, apparently come from this same period and voice the thought of the conquerors.  The words of the ninth chapter express their joy and exultation: 

For I have bent Judah to me,
As a bow which I have filled with Ephraim;
I will urge thy sons against the sons of Greece,
And I will make thee like the sword of a hero. 
Then Jehovah shall be seen above them,
And his shaft shall go forth like lightning. 
Jehovah shall blow a blast upon a trumpet,
And travel on the whirlwinds of the south. 
Jehovah of hosts shall defend them;
And they shall devour and tread down the slingstones,
They shall drink their blood like wine,
They shall be filled with it like the crevices of an altar. 
And Jehovah their God shall give them victory in that day. 
Like sheep he shall feed them in his land. 
Yea, how good and how beautiful shall it be! 
Corn shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens.

The victories of Judas in all probability also inspired the messianic hope expressed in 9:9-10: