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The intense pressure the Greeks exerted upon the Jews sparked spiritual resistance. Most famously, when the Greeks arrived in the village of Modi’in, with the intention of forcing Mattathias (the son of Yoĥanan the High Priest) to worship idols, Mattathias rose up and killed the Greek officer and his Hellenized Jewish collaborator.
What was different about this was that instead of sanctifying God’s name through dying, like many other pious Jews, Mattathias decided to sanctify God’s name by staying alive and killing the oppressor. In this way, Mattathias and his sons (known as the Hasmoneans) raised the banner of rebellion against the Greeks and Hellenism.
The war was difficult. Mattathias’s son, Judah Maccabee, led the fighters. With courage and skill, the Hasmoneans overcame the Greek forces, and – after two years of fighting – liberated Jerusalem. On the 25th of Kislev, 3596 (164 BCE), they began purifying the Temple and restoring the sacrificial service to its original state. This is when the miracle of the oil took place.
Later, the Greeks returned to the Land of Israel in greater numbers, reconquered Jerusalem, and put Hellenized priests in charge of the Temple. To avoid increasing tension with the Jews, they abolished the evil decrees and allowed the Jews to study Torah and observe the mitzvot. This did not stop the rebellion though. The Hasmoneans continued to fight against the Greeks and Hellenism. The war effort had its ups and downs, but the Hasmoneans had a winning combination of strength, diplomacy, and cunning. Eventually, decades later, they succeeded in gaining political independence and creating a Jewish state. Granted, it was a tributary state of the mighty empires of the ancient world – first the Greeks and then the Romans – but the Land of Israel was ruled by the Jews and for the Jews.
It seems evident that had the Greeks been more patient, Judea would have succumbed to Hellenism, just like the other nations. However, the hand of God (which conceals itself in the historical process) hardened Antiochus’s heart, thus generating the conflict and revealing the Jewish people's faith, self-sacrifice, and courage.
