2. He was also to defile their Temple by dedicating it to the Olympian god Zeus. The temple on Mount Gerizim was to be officially named “Temple of Zeus the God of Hospitality,” as the people who lived there had requested.
3. The oppression was harsh and almost intolerable.
4. Gentiles filled the Temple with drinking parties and all sorts of immorality. They even had intercourse with prostitutes there. Forbidden objects were brought into the Temple,
5. and the altar was covered with detestable sacrifices prohibited by our Law.
6. It was impossible to observe the Sabbath, to celebrate any of the traditional festivals, or even so much as to admit to being a Jew.
7. Each month when the king's birthday was celebrated, the Jews were compelled by brute force to eat the intestines of sacrificial animals. Then, during the festival in honour of the wine god Dionysus, they were required to wear ivy wreaths on their heads and march in procession.
8. On the advice of Ptolemy, the neighbouring Greek cities were also instructed to require Jews to eat the sacrifices;
9. they were told to put to death every Jew who refused to adopt the Greek way of life. It was easy to see that hard times were ahead.
19-20. But he preferred an honourable death rather than a life of disgrace. So he spat out the meat and went willingly to the place of torture, showing how people should have courage to refuse unclean food, even if it costs them their lives.
21-22. Those in charge of the sacrifice had been friends of Eleazar for a long time, and because of this friendship they told him privately to bring meat that was lawful for him to eat. He need only pretend to eat the pork, they said, and in this way he would not be put to death.
23. But Eleazar made a decision worthy of his grey hair and advanced age. All his life he had lived in perfect obedience to God's holy laws, so he replied, “Kill me, here and now.
24. Such deception is not worthy of a man of my years. Many young people would think that I had denied my faith after I was ninety years old.
25. If I pretended to eat this meat, just to live a little while longer, it would bring shame and disgrace on me and lead many young people astray.
26. For the present I might be able to escape what you could do to me, but whether I live or die, I cannot escape Almighty God.
27. If I die bravely now, it will show that I deserved my long life.
28. It will also show a good example of the way young people should be willing and glad to die for our sacred and respected laws.”As soon as he said these things, he went off to be tortured,
29. and the very people who had treated him kindly a few minutes before, now turned against him, because they thought he had spoken like a madman.