In the midst of this cruel persecution a rebellion flamed up under the leadership of a certain brave old priest named Mattathias.  After his death his sons took up the cause.  The greatest of them was Judas, who was surnamed Maccabeus, which some have thought meant the Hammerer.  The whole family is known as the Maccabees.  Under the skillful command of Judas victory after victory was won by his little band of Jewish warriors fighting against great armies of Greek hired soldiers.  The city of Jerusalem was cleared of the detested oppressors, all except a garrison that maintained itself in the citadel.  The temple was purified and rededicated to Jehovah.

After some twenty years the soldiers from Antioch were driven out altogether and the little Jewish kingdom under Simon, a brother of Judas, was recognized as independent.  For nearly a century the descendants of the Maccabees reigned in Jerusalem.  Most of them turned out to be greedy and selfish men unworthy of Judas and Simon.  Yet during this period the Jews tasted once again something of the joys of freedom.

THE VICTORIES OF ROME

During the last two centuries before Christ a new empire had been growing up in the west, that of Rome.  In the year B.C. 63, two princes of the Maccabean line fell into a quarrel as to which one should be king.  There was a civil war, which was ended by the Roman general Pompey, who annexed the country as a province of the Roman Empire.  This was the end of the independence of the Jewish nation.

=The Herods.=—­Sometimes Roman provinces were ruled by Roman governors, and at other times they were left to native kings who were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased so long as they paid tribute to Rome.  There was a certain Edomite, or Idumean, as the name was pronounced by the Greeks and Romans, who partly by flattery and partly by real ability persuaded Romans to make him king over the whole land of Palestine.

This man is known in the history books as Herod the Great, although he was sadly lacking in true greatness, being fearfully cruel and absolutely selfish.  He built many beautiful palaces in various Jewish cities and also rebuilt very beautifully the temple at Jerusalem.  He himself had no interest in religion, but he hoped in this way to win back with the Jews some of the popularity which he had lost through his many crimes.  It was during his reign that Jesus was born.  When Herod died the land was divided among his sons.  When Jesus began his public career as a teacher one of these sons, Herod Antipas, was the ruler of the northern part of the country, that is Galilee.  Judaea, in the south, and Samaria between Galilee and Judaea, were directly under Roman rule with a Roman governor or procurator.