And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven
The people of the Jews, the army of the living God, the church
militant, among whom were many of the citizens of heaven, whose
names are written there; such was the insolence of this king, as
to molest and disturb them: and it cast down some of the
host and of the stars to the ground, and
stamped them;
some of the common people he persecuted and destroyed, or
prevailed upon them, either by threats or flatteries, to
relinquish their religion; and even some of the "stars", the
lights of the people, the priests and Levites, that ministered
unto them; or the princes, and elders of the people, whom he
slew, as Jacchiades interprets it; or removed from their posts so
that they could not do their office; or they turned apostates;
and those that did not he barbarously put to death, and insulted
over them, and used them in a very contemptuous manner, as old
Eleazar, the mother and her seven sons; see 2 Maccabees chapter
7.