What does 1 Maccabees 4:36-59 really mean?

³⁶ Then Judas and his brothers said, “See, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.”
³⁷ Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one.
³⁸ Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary.
³⁹ Then Judas and his brothers said, “See, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.”
⁴⁰ Then Judas and his brothers saw that misfortunes had increased and that the forces were encamped in their territory. They also learned what the king had commanded to do to the people to cause their final destruction.
⁴¹ Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary.
⁴² Then Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.”
⁴³ And they said to one another, “Let us restore the ruins of our people, and fight for our people and the sanctuary.”
So they tore down the altar and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them.
⁴⁵ And they thought it best to tear it down, lest it bring reproach on them, for the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar,
⁴⁶ Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built.
⁴⁷ Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one.
⁴⁸ And they opened the book of the law to inquire into those matters about which the Gentiles were consulting the images of their idols.
⁴⁹ Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built.
⁵⁰ Then Judas and his brothers saw that the situation was critical, now that the forces were encamped in their territory. They also learned that the king had commanded the people to destroy them.
⁵¹ And they all took branches in their hands, and with loud voices praised Him who had given success to the purifying of His own holy place.
⁵² Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built.
⁵³ And they offered sacrifice on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built, according to the time, and according to the day on which the heathen had defiled it.
⁵⁴ Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built.
⁵⁵ Then all the people fell prostrate and worshiped and praised Heaven, who had given them success.
⁵⁶ And so they kept the dedication of the altar eight days and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise.
⁵⁷ And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals.
⁵⁸ And all the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them.
⁵⁹ Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.