Judas and his party, grateful to heaven for this great and glorious success over such powerful enemies, immediately repaired to Mount Sion, where they saw the sanctuary of God made desolate, deserted and neglected; even the altar was polluted, the gates and walls thrown down, the courts of the Temple, the beautiful edifice itself bedecked, not with sweet or odoriferous herbs, but with wild shrubs and grass which the hand of time had allowed to grow on that sacred spot. What a heart-rending scene for the pious Judas and his followers! Grieved at beholding such a devastation of God's holy place, they fell on their faces, rent their clothes, and made great lamentations; at the same time imploring the aid of heaven to repair the loss thus sustained. Judas and his party diligently applied themselves to repair the Temple, and to restore the worship of God. They selected some of the good priests to purify the sanctuary; they removed the altar, which had been profaned by the heathens, and built a new one as the law directs. They then made some new vessels for the use of the Temple, from the gold which they had taken from the enemy in the late battle. The regular order of divine worship was again introduced, and sacrifices offered up according to the law of Moses. It is somewhat remarkable, and worthy of our attention, that that very day three years, on which the heathen had profaned the altar by offering up unclean beasts, the Temple was dedicated with great rejoicings and grateful acknowledgments to God, which continued during eight days. It was on this occasion that Judas and his brethren ordained that this feast of dedication should be celebrated annually on the return of this period, with mirth and gladness, together with praises and thanksgiving to God. This feast of dedication is known among Israelites by the name "_Honucha_," Hebrew word for dedication. The fact related is, that when Judas and his men had purified the Temple, a very small lamp of consecrated oil was miraculously found, capable of furnishing sufficient to supply all the established holy lights in the Temple during eight days, until a fresh portion could be procured. This circumstance occurred about two years after Judas had the chief command, and upwards of three years after the city and the Temple had been laid desolate by Appollonius. History informs us, that the holy worship in the Temple continued with little interruption from the heathen, until the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, though Jerusalem itself was often in the power of its enemies.