Goldstein's Problems

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I Maccabees was somewhat propagandist and was written some time after the events. While it says all the arrangements were made as quickly as possible, this impression of speed does not fit the chronology.

Megillat Taanit, the rabbinic list of days on which fasting was prohibited, gives many dates connected with events in the Maccabean war.

	The end of the prohibition of Jewish observance should be observed annually on 28th Adar, nearly 8 lunar months before the rededication, (Cf. 2 Maccabees 11:27-33). The High Priest musy have been back in action by then.
	Meal offerings were resumed on the new altar on 27th Cheshvan, 1 month before the rededication.
	If meal offerings were going on, the "abomination of desolation" must already have been removed from the altar, so why doesn't Megillat Taanit doesn't mention the date of its removal? Goldstein speculates, {based on Daniel 9:27}, that it must have been done on a date that was already a festival. Then you could not proclaim a special celebration for future years and the event would therefore not have been listed in Megillat Taanit. He therefore concludes the removal of the abomination must have been on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur of the year 3597 (164 BCE), i.e., at the beginning of Tishri - about 2 months before the rededication.

Given that the everything seemed to be ready in July or August and sacrifices were happening in September, why might the Maccabees have waited until October? Firstly, they would have been under pressure to comply with some prophecies and precedents.