In those days there went out of Israel wicked men, and they persuaded many, saying: Let us go, and make a covenant with the heathens that are round about us: for since we departed from them, many evils have befallen us.

“Men. Jason attempted to supplant Onias III and introduced pagan customs, when he was dead. Menelaus treated him in like manner. Being cited to pay what he had promised, he left Lysimachus in his place, who was slain in the temple, which he was robbing, 2 Machabees iv. — Us. Thus the Jews complained in the days of Jeremias, (xliv. 18.) and the Christian religion was blamed for all the miseries which fell upon the Roman empire. (Calmet) — St. Augustine proves in his City of God, that this accusation was false. (Haydock)”