Antiquities of the
Jews - Book XII
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY YEARS.
FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT TO THE DEATH OF
JUDAS MACCABEUS.
CHAPTER 1.
HOW PTOLEMY THE SON OF LAGUS TOOK JERUSALEM AND JUDEA BY
DECEIT AND TREACHERY, AND CARRIED MANY THENCE, AND PLANTED THEM IN EGYPT.
1. NOW when Alexander, king of Macedon, had put an end to the dominion
of the Persians, and had settled the affairs in Judea after the forementioned
manner, he ended his life. And as his government fell among many, Antigonus
obtained Asia, Seleucus Babylon; and of the other nations which were there,
Lysimachus governed the Hellespont, and Cassander possessed Macedonia;
as did Ptolemy the son of Lagus seize upon Egypt. And while these princes
ambitiously strove one against another, every one for his own principality,
it came to pass that there were continual wars, and those lasting wars
too; and the cities were sufferers, and lost a great many of their inhabitants
in these times of distress, insomuch that all Syria, by the means of Ptolemy
the son of Lagus, underwent the reverse of that denomination of Savior,
which he then had. He also seized upon Jerusalem, and for that end made
use of deceit and treachery; for as he came into the city on a sabbath
day, as if he would offer sacrifices (1)
he, without any trouble, gained the city, while the Jews did not oppose
him, for they did not suspect him to be their enemy; and he gained it thus,
because they were free from suspicion of him, and because on that day they
were at rest and quietness; and when he had gained it, he ruled over it
in a cruel manner. Nay, Agatharchides of Cnidus, who wrote the acts of
Alexander's successors, reproaches us with superstition, as if we, by it,
had lost our liberty; where he says thus: "There is a nation called
the nation of the Jews, who inhabit a city strong and great, named Jerusalem.
These men took no care, but let it come into the hands of Ptolemy, as not
willing to take arms, and thereby they submitted to be under a hard master,
by reason of their unseasonable superstition." This is what Agatharchides
relates of our nation. But when Ptolemy had taken a great many captives,
both from the mountainous parts of Judea, and from the places about Jerusalem
and Samaria, and the places near Mount Gerizzim, he led them all into Egypt,
(2) and
settled them there. And as he knew that the people of Jerusalem were most
faithful in the observation of oaths and covenants; and this from the answer
they made to Alexander, when he sent an embassage to them, after he had
beaten Darius in battle; so he distributed many of them into garrisons,
and at Alexandria gave them equal privileges of citizens with the Macedonians
themselves; and required of them to take their oaths, that they would keep
their fidelity to the posterity of those who committed these places to
their care. Nay, there were not a few other Jews who, of their own accord,
went into Egypt, as invited by the goodness of the soil, and by the liberality
of Ptolemy. However, there were disoders among their posterity, with relation
to the Samaritans, on account of their resolution to preserve that conduct
of life which was delivered to them by their forefathers, and they thereupon
contended one with another, while those of Jerusalem said that their temple
was holy, and resolved to send their sacrifices thither; but the Samaritans
were resolved that they should be sent to Mount Gerizzim.
CHAPTER 2.
HOW PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS PROCURED THE LAWS OF THE JEWS TO
BE TRANSLATED INTO THE GREEK TONGUE AND SET MANY CAPTIVES FREE, AND DEDICATED
MANY GIFTS TO GOD.
1. WHEN Alexander had reigned twelve years, and after him Ptolemy Soter
forty years, Philadelphus then took the kingdom of Egypt, and held it forty
years within one. He procured the law to be interpreted, and set free those
that were come from Jerusalem into Egypt, and were in slavery there, who
were a hundred and twenty thousand. The occasion was this: Demetrius Phalerius,
who was library keeper to the king, was now endeavoring, if it were possible,
to gather together all the books that were in the habitable earth, and
buying whatsoever was any where valuable, or agreeable to the king's inclination,
(who was very earnestly set upon collecting of books,) to which inclination
of his Demetrius was zealously subservient. And when once Ptolemy asked
him how many ten thousands of books he had collected, he replied, that
he had already about twenty times ten thousand; but that, in a little time,
he should have fifty times ten thousand. But be said he had been informed
that there were many books of laws among the Jews worthy of inquiring after,
and worthy of the king's library, but which, being written in characters
and in a dialect of their own, will cause no small pains in getting them
translated into the Greek tongue; (3)
that the character in which they are written seems to be like to that which
is the proper character of the Syrians, and that its sound, when pronounced,
is like theirs also; and that this sound appears to be peculiar to themselves.
Wherefore he said that nothing hindered why they might not get those books
to be translated also; for while nothing is wanting that is necessary for
that purpose, we may have their books also in this library. So the king
thought that Demetrius was very zealous to procure him abundance of books,
and that he suggested what was exceeding proper for him to do; and therefore
he wrote to the Jewish high priest, that he should act accordingly.
2. Now there was one Aristeus, who was among the king's most intimate
friends, and on account of his modesty very acceptable to him. This Aristeus
resolved frequently, and that before now, to petition the king that he
would set all the captive Jews in his kingdom free; and he thought this
to be a convenient opportunity for the making that petition. So he discoursed,
in the first place, with the captains of the king's guards, Sosibius of
Tarentum, and Andreas, and persuaded them to assist him in what he was
going to intercede with the king for. Accordingly Aristeus embraced the
same opinion with those that have been before mentioned, and went to the
king, and made the following speech to him: "It is not fit for us,
O king, to overlook things hastily, or to deceive ourselves, but to lay
the truth open. For since we have determined not only to get the laws of
the Jews transcribed, but interpreted also, for thy satisfaction, by what
means can we do this, while so many of the Jews are now slaves in thy kingdom?
Do thou then what will be agreeable to thy magnanimity, and to thy good
nature: free them from the miserable condition they are in, because that
God, who supporteth thy kingdom, was the author of their laws as I have
learned by particular inquiry; for both these people, and we also, worship
the same God the framer of all things. We call him, and that truly, by
the name of GREEK, [or life, or Jupiter,] because he breathes life into
all men. Wherefore do thou restore these men to their own country, and
this do to the honor of God, because these men pay a peculiarly excellent
worship to him. And know this further, that though I be not of kin to them
by birth, nor one of the same country with them, yet do I desire these
favors to be done them, since all men are the workmanship of God; and I
am sensible that he is well-pleased with those that do good. I do therefore
put up this petition to thee, to do good to them."
3. When Aristeus was saying thus, the king looked upon him with a cheerful
and joyful countenance, and said, "How many ten thousands dost thou
suppose there are of such as want to be made free?" To which Andreas
replied, as he stood by, and said," A few more than ten times ten
thousand." The king made answer, "And is this a small gift that
thou askest, Aristeus?" But Sosibius, and the rest that stood by,
said that he ought to offer such a thank-offering as was worthy of his
greatness of soul, to that God who had given him his kingdom. With this
answer he was much pleased; and gave order, that when they paid the soldiers
their wages, they should lay down [a hundred and] twenty drachmas (4)
for every one of the slaves? And he promised to publish a magnificent decree,
about what they requested, which should confirm what Aristeus had proposed,
and especially what God willed should be done; whereby he said he would
not only set those free who had been led away captive by his father and
his army, but those who were in this kingdom before, and those also, if
any such there were, who had been brought away since. And when they said
that their redemption money would amount to above four hundred talents,
he granted it. A copy of which decree I have determined to preserve, that
the magnanimity of this king may be made known. Its contents were as follows:
"Let ail those who were soldiers under our father, and who, when they
overran Syria and Phoenicia, and laid waste Judea, took the Jews captives,
and made them slaves, and brought them into our cities, and into this country,
and then sold them; as also all those that were in my kingdom before them,
and if there be any that have been lately brought thither, - be made free
by those that possess them; and let them accept of [a hundred and] twenty
drachmas for every slave. And let the soldiers receive this redemption
money with their pay, but the rest out of the king's treasury: for I suppose
that they were made captives without our father's consent, and against
equity; and that their country was harassed by the insolence of the soldiers,
and that, by removing them into Egypt, the soldiers have made a great profit
by them. Out of regard therefore to justice, and out of pity to those that
have been tyrannized over, contrary to equity, I enjoin those that have
such Jews in their service to set them at liberty, upon the receipt of
the before-mentioned sum; and that no one use any deceit about them, but
obey what is here commanded. And I will that they give in their names within
three days after the publication of this edict, to such as are appointed
to execute the same, and to produce the slaves before them also, for I
think it will be for the advantage of my affairs. And let every one that
will inform against those that do not obey this decree, and I will that
their estates be confiscated into the king's treasury." When this
decree was read to the king, it at first contained the rest that is here
inserted, and omitted only those Jews that had formerly been brought, and
those brought afterwards, which had not been distinctly mentioned; so he
added these clauses out of his humanity, and with great generosity. He
also gave order that the payment, which was likely to be done in a hurry,
should be divided among the king's ministers, and among the officers of
his treasury. When this was over, what the king had decreed was quickly
brought to a conclusion; and this in no more than seven days' time, the
number of the talents paid for the captives being above four hundred and
sixty, and this, because their masters required the [hundred and] twenty
drachmas for the children also, the king having, in effect, commanded that
these should be paid for, when he said in his decree, that they should
receive the forementioned sum for every slave.
4. Now when this had been done after so magnificent a manner, according
to the king's inclinations, he gave order to Demetrius to give him in writing
his sentiments concerning the transcribing of the Jewish books; for no
part of the administration is done rashly by these kings, but all things
are managed with great circumspection. On which account I have subjoined
a copy of these epistles, and set down the multitude of the vessels sent
as gifts [to Jerusalem], and the construction of every one, that the exactness
of the artificers' workmanship, as it appeared to those that saw them,
and which workman made every vessel, may be made manifest, and. this on
account of the excellency of the vessels themselves. Now the copy of the
epistle was to this purpose: "Demetrius to the great king. When thou,
O king, gavest me a charge concerning the collection of books that were
wanting to fill your library, and concerning the care that ought to be
taken about such as are imperfect, I have used the utmost diligence about
those matters. And I let you know, that we want the books of the Jewish
legislation, with some others; for they are written in the Hebrew characters,
and being in the language of that nation, are to us unknown. It hath also
happened to them, that they have been transcribed more carelessly than
they ought to have been, because they have not had hitherto royal care
taken about them. Now it is necessary that thou shouldst have accurate
copies of them. And indeed this legislation is full of hidden wisdom, and
entirely blameless, as being the legislation of God; for which cause it
is, as Hecateus of Abdera says, that the poets and historians make no mention
of it, nor of those men who lead their lives according to it, since it
is a holy law, and ought not to be published by profane mouths. If then
it please thee, O king, thou mayst write to the high priest of the Jews,
to send six of the elders out of every tribe, and those such as are most
skillful of the laws, that by their means we may learn the clear and agreeing
sense of these books, and may obtain an accurate interpretation of their
contents, and so may have such a collection of these as may be suitable
to thy desire."
5. When this epistle was sent to the king, he commanded that an epistle
should be drawn up for Eleazar, the Jewish high priest, concerning these
matters; and that they should inform him of the release of the Jews that
had been in slavery among them. He also sent fifty talents of gold for
the making of large basons, and vials, and cups, and an immense quantity
of precious stones. He also gave order to those who had the custody of
the chest that contained those stones, to give the artificers leave to
choose out what sorts of them they pleased. He withal appointed, that a
hundred talents in money should be sent to the temple for sacrifices, and
for other uses. Now I will give a description of these vessels, and the
manner of their construction, but not till after I have set down a copy
of the epistle which was written to Eleazar the high priest, who had obtained
that dignity on the occasion following: When Onias the high priest was
dead, his son Simon became his successor. He was called Simon the Just
(5) because
of both his piety towards God, and his kind disposition to those of his
own nation. When he was dead, and had left a young son, who was called
Onias, Simon's brother Eleazar, of whom we are speaking, took the high
priesthood; and he it was to whom Ptolemy wrote, and that in the manner
following: "King Ptolemy to Eleazar the high priest, sendeth greeting.
There are many Jews who now dwell in my kingdom, whom the Persians, when
they were in power, carried captives. These were honored by my father;
some of them he placed in the army, and gave them greater pay than ordinary;
to others of them, when they came with him into Egypt, he committed his
garrisons, and the guarding of them, that they might be a terror to the
Egyptians. And when I had taken the government, I treated all men with
humanity, and especially those that are thy fellow citizens, of whom I
have set free above a hundred thousand that were slaves, and paid the price
of their redemption to their masters out of my own revenues; and those
that are of a fit age, I have admitted into them number of my soldiers.
And for such as are capable of being faithful to me, and proper for my
court, I have put them in such a post, as thinking this [kindness done
to them] to be a very great and an acceptable gift, which I devote to God
for his providence over me. And as I am desirous to do what will be grateful
to these, and to all the other Jews in the habitable earth, I have determined
to procure an interpretation of your law, and to have it translated out
of Hebrew into Greek, and to be deposited in my library. Thou wilt therefore
do well to choose out and send to me men of a good character, who are now
elders in age, and six in number out of every tribe. These, by their age,
must be skillful in the laws, and of abilities to make an accurate interpretation
of them; and when this shall be finished, I shall think that I have done
a work glorious to myself. And I have sent to thee Andreas, the captain
of my guard, and Aristeus, men whom I have in very great esteem; by whom
I have sent those first-fruits which I have dedicated to the temple, and
to the sacrifices, and to other uses, to the value of a hundred talents.
And if thou wilt send to us, to let us know what thou wouldst have further,
thou wilt do a thing acceptable to me."
6. When this epistle of the king was brought to Eleazar, he wrote an
answer to it with all the respect possible: "Eleazar the high priest
to king Ptolemy, sendeth greeting. If thou and thy queen Arsinoe, (6)
and thy children, be well, we are entirely satisfied. When we received
thy epistle, we greatly rejoiced at thy intentions; and when the multitude
were gathered together, we read it to them, and thereby made them sensible
of the piety thou hast towards God. We also showed them the twenty vials
of gold, and thirty of silver, and the five large basons, and the table
for the shew-bread; as also the hundred talents for the sacrifices, and
for the making what shall be needful at the temple; which things Andreas
and Aristeus, those most honored friends of thine, have brought us; and
truly they are persons of an excellent character, and of great learning,
and worthy of thy virtue. Know then that we will gratify thee in what is
for thy advantage, though we do what we used not to do before; for we ought
to make a return for the numerous acts of kindness which thou hast done
to our countrymen. We immediately, therefore, offered sacrifices for thee
and thy sister, with thy children and friends; and the multitude made prayers,
that thy affairs may be to thy mind, and that thy kingdom may be preserved
in peace, and that the translation of our law may come to the conclusion
thou desirest, and be for thy advantage. We have also chosen six elders
out of every tribe, whom we have sent, and the law with them. It will be
thy part, out of thy piety and justice, to send back the law, when it hath
been translated, and to return those to us that bring it in safety. Farewell."
7. This was the reply which the high priest made. But it does not seem
to me to be necessary to set down the names of the seventy [two] elders
who were sent by Eleazar, and carried the law, which yet were subjoined
at the end of the epistle. However, I thought it not improper to give an
account of those very valuable and artificially contrived vessels which
the king sent to God, that all may see how great a regard the king had
for God; for the king allowed a vast deal of expenses for these vessels,
and came often to the workmen, and viewed their works, and suffered nothing
of carelessness or negligence to be any damage to their operations. And
I will relate how rich they were as well as I am able, although perhaps
the nature of this history may not require such a description; but I imagine
I shall thereby recommend the elegant taste and magnanimity of this king
to those that read this history.
8. And first I will describe what belongs to the table. It was indeed
in the king's mind to make this table vastly large in its dimensions; but
then he gave orders that they should learn what was the magnitude of the
table which was already at Jerusalem, and how large it was, and whether
there was a possibility of making one larger than it. And when he was informed
how large that was which was already there, and that nothing hindered but
a larger might be made, he said that he was willing to have one made that
should be five times as large as the present table; but his fear was, that
it might be then useless in their sacred ministrations by its too great
largeness; for he desired that the gifts he presented them should not only
be there for show, but should be useful also in their sacred ministrations.
According to which reasoning, that the former table was made of so moderate
a size for use, and not for want of gold, he resolved that he would not
exceed the former table in largeness; but would make it exceed it in the
variety and elegancy of its materials. And as he was sagacious in observing
the nature of all things, and in having a just notion of what was new and
surprising, and where there was no sculptures, he would invent such as
were proper by his own skill, and would show them to the workmen, he commanded
that such sculptures should now be made, and that those which were delineated
should be most accurately formed by a constant regard to their delineation.
9. When therefore the workmen had undertaken to make the table, they
framed it in length two cubits [and a half], in breadth one cubit, and
in height one cubit and a half; and the entire structure of the work was
of gold. They withal made a crown of a hand-breadth round it, with wave-work
wreathed about it, and with an engraving which imitated a cord, and was
admirably turned on its three parts; for as they were of a triangular figure,
every angle had the same disposition of its sculptures, that when you turned
them about, the very same form of them was turned about without any variation.
Now that part of the crown-work that was enclosed under the table had its
sculptures very beautiful; but that part which went round on the outside
was more elaborately adorned with most beautiful ornaments, because it
was exposed to sight, and to the view of the spectators; for which reason
it was that both those sides which were extant above the rest were acute,
and none of the angles, which we before told you were three, appeared less
than another, when the table was turned about. Now into the cordwork thus
turned were precious stones inserted, in rows parallel one to the other,
enclosed in golden buttons, which had ouches in them; but the parts which
were on the side of the crown, and were exposed to the sight, were adorned
with a row of oval figures obliquely placed, of the most excellent sort
of precious stones, which imitated rods laid close, and encompassed the
table round about. But under these oval figures, thus engraven, the workmen
had put a crown all round it, where the nature of all sorts of fruit was
represented, insomuch that the bunches of grapes hung up. And when they
had made the stones to represent all the kinds of fruit before mentioned,
and that each in its proper color, they made them fast with gold round
the whole table. The like disposition of the oval figures, and of the engraved
rods, was framed under the crown, that the table might on each side show
the same appearance of variety and elegancy of its ornaments; so that neither
the position of the wave-work nor of the crown might be different, although
the table were turned on the other side, but that the prospect of the same
artificial contrivances might be extended as far as the feet; for there
was made a plate of gold four fingers broad, through the entire breadth
of the table, into which they inserted the feet, and then fastened them
to the table by buttons and button-holes, at the place where the crown
was situate, that so on what side soever of the table one should stand,
it might exhibit the very same view of the exquisite workmanship, and of
the vast expeses bestowed upon it: but upon the table itself they engraved
a meander, inserting into it very valuable stones in the middle like stars,
of various colors; the carbuncle and the emerald, each of which sent out
agreeable rays of light to the spectators; with such stones of other sorts
also as were most curious and best esteemed, as being most precious in
their kind. Hard by this meander a texture of net-work ran round it, the
middle of which appeared like a rhombus, into which were inserted rock-crystal
and amber, which, by the great resemblance of the appearance they made,
gave wonderful delight to those that saw them. The chapiters of the feet
imitated the first buddings of lilies, while their leaves were bent and
laid under the table, but so that the chives were seen standing upright
within them. Their bases were made of a carbuncle; and the place at the
bottom, which rested on that carbuncle, was one palm deep, and eight fingers
in breadth. Now they had engraven upon it with a very fine tool, and with
a great deal of pains, a branch of ivy and tendrils of the vine, sending
forth clusters of grapes, that you would guess they were nowise different
from real tendrils; for they were so very thin, and so very far extended
at their extremities, that they were moved with the wind, and made one
believe that they were the product of nature, and not the representation
of art. They also made the entire workmanship of the table appear to be
threefold, while the joints of the several parts were so united together
as to be invisible, and the places where they joined could not be distinguished.
Now the thickness of the table was not less than half a cubit. So that
this gift, by the king's great generosity, by the great value of the materials,
and the variety of its exquisite structure, and the artificer's skill in
imitating nature with graying tools, was at length brought to perfection,
while the king was very desirous, that though in largeness it were not
to be different from that which was already dedicated to God, yet that
in exquisite workmanship, and the novelty of the contrivances, and in the
splendor of its construction, it should far exceed it, and be more illustrious
than that was.
10. Now of the cisterns of gold there were two, whose sculpture was
of scale-work, from its basis to its belt-like circle, with various sorts
of stones enchased in the spiral circles. Next to which there was upon
it a meander of a cubit in height; it was composed of stones of all sorts
of colors. And next to this was the rod-work engraven; and next to that
was a rhombus in a texture of net-work, drawn out to the brim of the basin,
while small shields, made of stones, beautiful in their kind, and of four
fingers' depth, filled up the middle parts. About the top of the basin
were wreathed the leaves of lilies, and of the convolvulus, and the tendrils
of vines in a circular manner. And this was the construction of the two
cisterns of gold, each containing two firkins. But those which were of
silver were much more bright and splendid than looking-glasses, and you
might in them see the images that fell upon them more plainly than in the
other. The king also ordered thirty vials; those of which the parts that
were of gold, and filled up with precious stones, were shadowed over with
the leaves of ivy and of vines, artificially engraven. And these were the
vessels that were after an extraordinary manner brought to this perfection,
partly by the skill of the workmen, who were admirable in such fine work,
but much more by the diligence and generosity of the king, who not only
supplied the artificers abundantly, and with great generosity, with what
they wanted, but he forbade public audiences for the time, and came and
stood by the workmen, and saw the whole operation. And this was the cause
why the workmen were so accurate in their performance, because they had
regard to the king, and to his great concern about the vessels, and so
the more indefatigably kept close to the work.
11. And these were what gifts were sent by Ptolemy to Jerusalem, and
dedicated to God there. But when Eleazar the high priest had devoted them
to God, and had paid due respect to those that brought them, and had given
them presents to be carried to the king, he dismissed them. And when they
were come to Alexandria, and Ptolemy heard that they were come,and that
the seventy elders were come also, he presently sent for Andreas and Aristens,
his ambassadors, who came to him, and delivered him the epistle which they
brought him from the high priest, and made answer to all the questions
he put to them by word of mouth. He then made haste to meet the elders
that came from Jerusalem for the interpretation of the laws; and he gave
command, that every body who came on other occasions should be sent away,
which was a thing surprising, and what he did not use to do; for those
that were drawn thither upon such occasions used to come to him on the
fifth day, but ambassadors at the month's end. But when he had sent those
away, he waited for these that were sent by Eleazar; but as the old men
came in with the presents, which the high priest had given them to bring
to the king, and with the membranes, upon which they had their laws written
in golden letters (7)
he put questions to them concerning those books; and when they had taken
off the covers wherein they were wrapt up, they showed him the membranes.
So the king stood admiring the thinness of those membranes, and the exactness
of the junctures, which could not be perceived; (so exactly were they connected
one with another;) and this he did for a considerable time. He then said
that he returned them thanks for coming to him, and still greater thanks
to him that sent them; and, above all, to that God whose laws they appeared
to be. Then did the elders, and those that were present with them, cry
out with one voice, and wished all happiness to the king. Upon which he
fell into tears by the violence of the pleasure he had, it being natural
to men to afford the same indications in great joy that they do under sorrows.
And when he had bid them deliver the books to those that were appointed
to receive them, he saluted the men, and said that it was but just to discourse,
in the first place, of the errand they were sent about, and then to address
himself to themselves. He promised, however, that he would make this day
on which they came to him remarkable and eminent every year through the
whole course of his life; for their coming to him, and the victory which
he gained over Antigonus by sea, proved to be on the very same day. He
also gave orders that they should sup with him; and gave it in charge that
they should have excellent lodgings provided for them in the upper part
of the city.
12. Now he that was appointed to take care of the reception of strangers,
Nicanor by name, called for Dorotheus, whose duty it was to make provision
for them, and bid him prepare for every one of them what should be requisite
for their diet and way of living; which thing was ordered by the king after
this manner: he took care that those that belonged to every city, which
did not use the same way of living, that all things should be prepared
for them according to the custom of those that came to him, that, being
feasted according to the usual method of their own way of living, they
might be the better pleased, and might not be uneasy at any thing done
to them from which they were naturally averse. And this was now done in
the case of these men by Dorotheus, who was put into this office because
of his great skill in such matters belonging to common life; for he took
care of all such matters as concerned the reception of strangers, and appointed
them double seats for them to sit on, according as the king had commanded
him to do; for he had commanded that half of their seats should be set
at his right hand, and the other half behind his table, and took care that
no respect should be omitted that could be shown them. And when they were
thus set down, he bid Dorotheus to minister to all those that were come
to him from Judea, after the manner they used to be ministered to; for
which cause he sent away their sacred heralds, and those that slew the
sacrifices, and the rest that used to say grace; but called to one of those
that were come to him, whose name was Eleazar, who w a priest, and desired
him to say grace; (8)
who then stood in the midst of them, and prayed, that all prosperity might
attend the king, and those that were his subjects. Upon which an acclamation
was made by the whole company, with joy and a great noise; and when that.
was over, they fell to eating their supper, and to the enjoyment of what
was set before them. And at a little interval afterward, when the king
thought a sufficient time had been interposed, he began to talk philosophically
to them, and he asked every one of them a philosophical question (9)
and such a one as might give light in those inquiries; and when they had
explained all the problems that had been proposed by the king about every
point, he was well-pleased with their answers. This took up the twelve
days in which they were treated; and he that pleases may learn the particular
questions in that book of Aristeus, which he wrote on this very occasion.
13. And while not the king only, but the philosopher Menedemus also,
admired them, and said that all things were governed by Providence, and
that it was probable that thence it was that such force or beauty was discovered
in these men's words, they then left off asking any more such questions.
But the king said that he had gained very great advantages by their coming,
for that he had received this profit from them, that he had learned how
he ought to rule his subjects. And he gave order that they should have
every one three talents given them, and that those that were to conduct
them to their lodging should do it. Accordingly, when three days were over,
Demetrius took them, and went over the causeway seven furlongs long: it
was a bank in the sea to an island. And when they had gone over the bridge,
he proceeded to the northern parts, and showed them where they should meet,
which was in a house that was built near the shore, and was a quiet place,
and fit for their discoursing together about their work. When he had brought
them thither, he entreated them (now they had all things about them which
they wanted for the interpretation of their law) that they would suffer
nothing to interrupt them in their work. Accordingly, they made an accurate
interpretation, with great zeal and great pains, and this they continued
to do till the ninth hour of the day; after which time they relaxed, and
took care of their body, while their food was provided for them in great
plenty: besides, Dorotheus, at the king's command, brought them a great
deal of what was provided for the king himself. But in the morning they
came to the court and saluted Ptolemy, and then went away to their former
place, where, when they had washed their hands, (10)
and purified themselves, they betook themselves to the interpretation of
the laws. Now when the law was transcribed, and the labor of interpretation
was over, which came to its conclusion in seventy-two days, Demetrius gathered
all the Jews together to the place where the laws were translated, and
where the interpreters were, and read them over. The multitude did also
approve of those elders that were the interpreters of the law. They withal
commended Demetrius for his proposal, as the inventor of what was greatly
for their happiness; and they desired that he would give leave to their
rulers also to read the law. Moreover, they all, both the priest and the
ancientest of the elders, and the principal men of their commonwealth,
made it their request, that since the interpretation was happily finished,
it might continue in the state it now was, and might not be altered. And
when they all commended that determination of theirs, they enjoined, that
if any one observed either any thing superfluous, or any thing omitted,
that he would take a view of it again, and have it laid before them, and
corrected; which was a wise action of theirs, that when the thing was judged
to have been well done, it might continue for ever.
14. So the king rejoiced when he saw that his design of this nature
was brought to perfection, to so great advantage; and he was chiefly delighted
with hearing the Laws read to him; and was astonished at the deep meaning
and wisdom of the legislator. And he began to discourse with Demetrius,
"How it came to pass, that when this legislation was so wonderful,
no one, either of the poets or of the historians, had made mention of it."
Demetrius made answer, "that no one durst be so bold as to touch upon
the description of these laws, because they were Divine and venerable,
and because some that had attempted it were afflicted by God." He
also told him, that "Theopompus was desirous of writing somewhat about
them, but was thereupon disturbed in his mind for above thirty days' time;
and upon some intermission of his distemper, he appeased God [by prayer],
as suspecting that his madness proceeded from that cause." Nay, indeed,
he further saw in a dream, that his distemper befell him while he indulged
too great a curiosity about Divine matters, and was desirous of publishing
them among common men; but when he left off that attempt, he recovered
his understanding again. Moreover, he informed him of Theodectes, the tragic
poet, concerning whom it was reported, that when in a certain dramatic
representation he was desirous to make mention of things that were contained
in the sacred books, he was afflicted with a darkness in his eyes; and
that upon his being conscious of the occasion of his distemper, and appeasing
God [by prayer], he was freed from that affliction.
15. And when the king had received these books from Demetrius, as we
have said already, he adored them, and gave order that great care should
be taken of them, that they might remain uncorrupted. He also desired that
the interpreters would come often to him out of Judea, and that both on
account of the respects that he would pay them, and on account of the presents
he would make them; for he said it was now but just to send them away,
although if, of their own accord, they would come to him hereafter, they
should obtain all that their own wisdom might justly require, and what
his generosity was able to give them. So he then sent them away, and gave
to every one of them three garments of the best sort, and two talents of
gold, and a cup of the value of one talent, and the furniture of the room
wherein they were feasted. And these were the things he presented to them.
But by them he sent to Eleazar the high priest ten beds, with feet of silver,
and the furniture to them belonging, and a cup of the value of thirty talents;
and besides these, ten garments, and purple, and a very beautiful crown,
and a hundred pieces of the finest woven linen; as also vials and dishes,
and vessels for pouring, and two golden cisterns to be dedicated to God.
He also desired him, by an epistle, that he would give these interpreters
leave, if any of them were desirous of coming to him, because he highly
valued a conversation with men of such learning, and should be very willing
to lay out his wealth upon such men. And this was what came to the Jews,
and was much to their glory and honor, from Ptolemy Philadelphus.
CHAPTER 3.
HOW THE KINGS OF ASIA HONORED THE NATION OF THE JEWS AND
MADE THEM CITIZENS OF THOSE CITIES WHICH THEY BUILT.
1. THE Jews also obtained honors from the kings of Asia when they became
their auxiliaries; for Seleucus Nicator made them citizens in those cities
which he built in Asia, and in the lower Syria, and in the metropolis itself,
Antioch; and gave them privileges equal to those of the Macedonians and
Greeks, who were the inhabitants, insomuch that these privileges continue
to this very day: an argument for which you have in this, that whereas
the Jews do not make use of oil prepared by foreigners, (11)
they receive a certain sum of money from the proper officers belonging
to their exercises as the value of that oil; which money, when the people
of Antioch would have deprived them of, in the last war, Mucianus, who
was then president of Syria, preserved it to them. And when the people
of Alexandria and of Antioch did after that, at the time that Vespasian
and Titus his son governed the habitable earth, pray that these privileges
of citizens might be taken away, they did not obtain their request. in
which behavior any one may discern the equity and generosity of the Romans,
(12)
especially of Vespasian and Titus, who, although they had been at a great
deal of pains in the war against the Jews, and were exasperated against
them, because they did not deliver up their weapons to them, but continued
the war to the very last, yet did not they take away any of their forementioned
privileges belonging to them as citizens, but restrained their anger, and
overcame the prayers of the Alexandrians and Antiochians, who were a very
powerful people, insomuch that they did not yield to them, neither out
of their favor to these people, nor out of their old grudge at those whose
wicked opposition they had subdued in the war; nor would they alter any
of the ancient favors granted to the Jews, but said, that those who had
borne arms against them, and fought them, had suffered punishment already,
and that it was not just to deprive those that had not offended of the
privileges they enjoyed.
2. We also know that Marcus Agrippa was of the like disposition towards
the Jews: for when the people of Ionia were very angry at them, and besought
Agrippa that they, and they only, might have those privileges of citizens
which Antiochus, the grandson of Seleucus, (who by the Greeks was called
The God,) had bestowed on them, and desired that, if the Jews were
to be joint-partakers with them, they might be obliged to worship the gods
they themselves worshipped: but when these matters were brought to the
trial, the Jews prevailed, and obtained leave to make use of their own
customs, and this under the patronage of Nicolaus of Damascus; for Agrippa
gave sentence that he could not innovate. And if any one hath a mind to
know this matter accurately, let him peruse the hundred and twenty-third
and hundred and twenty-fourth books of the history of this Nicolaus. Now
as to this determination of Agrippa, it is not so much to be admired, for
at that time our nation had not made war against the Romans. :But one may
well be astonished at the generosity of Vespasian and Titus, that after
so great wars and contests which they had from us, they should use such
moderation. But I will now return to that part of my history whence I made
the present digression.
3. Now it happened that in the reign of Antiochus the Great, who ruled
over all Asia, that the Jews, as well as the inhabitants of Celesyria,
suffered greatly, and their land was sorely harassed; for while he was
at war with Ptolemy Philopater, and with his son, who was called Epiphanes,
it fell out that these nations were equally sufferers, both when he was
beaten, and when he beat the others: so that they were very like to a ship
in a storm, which is tossed by the waves on both sides; and just thus were
they in their situation in the middle between Antiochus's prosperity and
its change to adversity. But at length, when Antiochus had beaten Ptolemy,
he seized upon Judea; and when Philopater was dead, his son sent out a
great army under Scopas, the general of his forces, against the inhabitants
of Celesyria, who took many of their cities, and in particular our nation;
which when he fell upon them, went over to him. Yet was it not long afterward
when Antiochus overcame Scopas, in a battle fought at the fountains of
Jordan, and destroyed a great part of his army. But afterward, when Antiochus
subdued those cities of Celesyria which Scopas had gotten into his possession,
and Samaria with them, the Jews, of their own accord, went over to him,
and received him into the city [Jerusalem], and gave plentiful provision
to all his army, and to his elephants, and readily assisted him when he
besieged the garrison which was in the citadel of Jerusalem. Wherefore
Antiochus thought it but just to requite the Jews' diligence and zeal in
his service. So he wrote to the generals of his armies, and to his friends,
and gave testimony to the good behavior of the Jews towards him, and informed
them what rewards he had resolved to bestow on them for that their behavior.
I will set down presently the epistles themselves which he wrote to the
generals concerning them, but will first produce the testimony of Polybius
of Megalopolis; for thus does he speak, in the sixteenth book of his history:
"Now Scopas, the general of Ptolemy's army, went in haste to the superior
parts of the country, and in the winter time overthrew the nation of the
Jews?' He also saith, in the same book, that "when Seopas was conquered
by Antiochus, Antiochus received Batanea, and Samaria, and Abila, and Gadara;
and that, a while afterwards, there came in to him those Jews that inhabited
near that temple which was called Jerusalem; concerning which, although
I have more to say, and particularly concerning the presence of God about
that temple, yet do I put off that history till another opportunity."
This it is which Polybius relates. But we will return to the series of
the history, when we have first produced the epistles of king Antiochus.
KING ANTIOCHUS TO PTOLEMY, SENDETH GREETING.
"Since the Jews, upon our first entrance on their country, demonstrated
their friendship towards us, and when we came to their city [Jerusalem],
received us in a splendid manner, and came to meet us with their senate,
and gave abundance of provisions to our soldiers, and to the elephants,
and joined with us in ejecting the garrison of the Egyptians that were
in the citadel, we have thought fit to reward them, and to retrieve the
condition of their city, which hath been greatly depopulated by such accidents
as have befallen its inhabitants, and to bring those that have been scattered
abroad back to the city. And, in the first place, we have determined, on
account of their piety towards God, to bestow on them, as a pension, for
their sacrifices of animals that are fit for sacrifice, for wine, and oil,
and frankincense, the value of twenty thousand pieces of silver, and [six]
sacred artabrae of fine flour, with one thousand four hundred and sixty
medimni of wheat, and three hundred and seventy-five medimni of salt. And
these payments I would have fully paid them, as I have sent orders to you.
I would also have the work about the temple finished, and the cloisters,
and if there be any thing else that ought to be rebuilt. And for the materials
of wood, let it be brought them out of Judea itself and out of the other
countries, and out of Libanus tax free; and the same I would have observed
as to those other materials which will be necessary, in order to render
the temple more glorious; and let all of that nation live according to
the laws of their own country; and let the senate, and the priests, and
the scribes of the temple, and the sacred singers, be discharged from poll-money
and the crown tax and other taxes also. And that the city may the sooner
recover its inhabitants, I grant a discharge from taxes for three years
to its present inhabitants, and to such as shall come to it, until the
month Hyperheretus. We also discharge them for the future from a third
part of their taxes, that the losses they have sustained may be repaired.
And all those citizens that have been carried away, and are become slaves,
we grant them and their children their freedom, and give order that their
substance be restored to them."
4. And these were the contents of this epistle. He also published a
decree through all his kingdom in honor of the temple, which contained
what follows: "It shall be lawful for no foreigner to come within
the limits of the temple round about; which thing is forbidden also to
the Jews, unless to those who, according to their own custom, have purified
themselves. Nor let any flesh of horses, or of mules, or of asses, he brought
into the city, whether they be wild or tame; nor that of leopards, or foxes,
or hares; and, in general, that of any animal which is forbidden for the
Jews to eat. Nor let their skins be brought into it; nor let any such animal
be bred up in the city. Let them only be permitted to use the sacrifices
derived from their forefathers, with which they have been obliged to make
acceptable atonements to God. And he that transgresseth any of these orders,
let him pay to the priests three thousand drachmae of silver." Moreover,
this Antiochus bare testimony to our piety and fidelity, in an epistle
of his, written when he was informed of a sedition in Phrygia and Lydia,
at which time he was in the superior provinces, wherein he commanded Zenxis,
the general of his forces, and his most intimate friend, to send some of
our nation out of Babylon into Phrygia. The epistle was this:
KING ANTIOCHUS TO ZEUXIS HIS FATHER, SENDETH GREETING.
"If you are in health, it is well. I also am in health. Having
been informed that a sedition is arisen in Lydia and Phrygia, I thought
that matter required great care; and upon advising with my friends what
was fit to be done, it hath been thought proper to remove two thousand
families of Jews, with their effects, out of Mesopotamia and Babylon, unto
the castles and places that lie most convenient; for I am persuaded that
they will be well-disposed guardians of our possessions, because of their
piety towards God, and because I know that my predecessors have borne witness
to them, that they are faithful, and with alacrity do what they are desired
to do. I will, therefore, though it be a laborious work, that thou remove
these Jews, under a promise, that they shall be permitted to use their
own laws. And when thou shalt have brought them to the places forementioned,
thou shalt give everyone of their families a place for building their houses,
and a portion of the land for their husbandry, and for the plantation of
their vines; and thou shalt discharge them from paying taxes of the fruits
of the earth for ten years; and let them have a proper quantity of wheat
for the maintenance of their servants, until they receive bread corn out
of the earth; also let a sufficient share be given to such as minister
to them in the necessaries of life, that by enjoying the effects of our
humanity, they may show themselves the more willing and ready about our
affairs. Take care likewise of that nation, as far as thou art able, that
they may not have any disturbance given them by any one." Now these
testimonials which I have produced are sufficient to declare the friendship
that Antiochus the Great bare to the Jews.
CHAPTER 6.
HOW ANTIOCHUS MADE A LEAGUE WITH PTOLEMY AND HOW ONIAS PROVOKED
PTOLEMY EUERGETES TO ANGER; AND HOW JOSEPH BROUGHT ALL THINGS RIGHT AGAIN,
AND ENTERED INTO FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM; AND WHAT OTHER THINGS WERE DONE BY
JOSEPH, AND HIS SON HYRCANUS.
1. AFTER this Antiochus made a friendship and league with Ptolemy, and
gave him his daughter Cleopatra to wife, and yielded up to him Celesyria,
and Samaria, and Judea, and Phoenicia, by way of dowry. And upon the division
of the taxes between the two kings, all the principal men framed the taxes
of their several countries, and collecting the sum that was settled for
them, paid the same to the [two] kings. Now at this time the Samaritans
were in a flourishing condition, and much distressed the Jews, cutting
off parts of their land, and carrying off slaves. This happened when Onias
was high priest; for after Eleazar's death, his uncle Manasseh took the
priesthood, and after he had ended his life, Onias received that dignity.
He was the son of Simon, who was called The Just: which Simon was
the brother of Eleazar, as I said before. This Onias was one of a little
soul, and a great lover of money; and for that reason, because he did not
pay that tax of twenty talents of silver, which his forefathers paid to
these things out of their own estates, he provoked king Ptolemy Euergetes
to anger, who was the father of Philopater. Euergetes sent an ambassador
to Jerusalem, and complained that Onias did not pay his taxes, and threatened,
that if he did not receive them, he would seize upon their land, and send
soldiers to live upon it. When the Jews heard this message of the king,
they were confounded; but so sordidly covetous was Onias, that nothing
of things nature made him ashamed.
2. There was now one Joseph, young in age, but of great reputation among
the people of Jerusalem, for gravity, prudence, and justice. His father's
name was Tobias; and his mother was the sister of Onias the high priest,
who informed him of the coming of the ambassador; for he was then sojourning
at a village named Phicol, (13)
where he was born. Hereupon he came to the city [Jerusalem], and reproved
Onias for not taking care of the preservation of his countrymen, but bringing
the nation into dangers, by not paying this money. For which preservation
of them, he told him he had received the authority over them, and had been
made high priest; but that, in case he was so great a lover of money, as
to endure to see his country in danger on that account, and his countrymen
suffer the greatest damages, he advised him to go to the king, and petition
him to remit either the whole or a part of the sum demanded. Onias's answer
was this: That he did not care for his authority, and that he was ready,
if the thing were practicable, to lay down his high priesthood; and that
he would not go to the king, because he troubled not himself at all about
such matters. Joseph then asked him if he would not give him leave to go
ambassador on behalf of the nation. He replied, that he would give him
leave. Upon which Joseph went up into the temple, and called the multitude
together to a congregation, and exhorted them not to be disturbed nor aftrighted,
because of his uncle Onias's carelessness, but desired them to be at rest,
and not terrify themselves with fear about it; for he promised them that
he would be their ambassador to the king, and persuade him that they had
done him no wrong. And when the multitude heard this, they returned thanks
to Joseph. So he went down from the temple, and treated Ptolemy's ambassador
in a hospitable manner. He also presented him with rich gifts, and feasted
him magnificently for many days, and then sent him to the king before him,
and told him that he would soon follow him; for he was now more willing
to go to the king, by the encouragement of the ambassador, who earnestly
persuaded him to come into Egypt, and promised him that he would take care
that he should obtain every thing that he desired of Ptolemy; for he was
highly pleased with his frank and liberal temper, and with the gravity
of his deportment.
3. When Ptolemy's ambassador was come into Egypt, he told the king of
the thoughtless temper of Onias; and informed him of the goodness of the
disposition of Joseph; and that he was coming to him to excuse the multitude,
as not having done him any harm, for that he was their patron. In short,
he was so very large in his encomiums upon the young man, that he disposed
both the king and his wife Cleopatra to have a kindness for him before
he came. So Joseph sent to his friends at Samaria, and borrowed money of
them, and got ready what was necessary for his journey, garments and cups,
and beasts for burden, which amounted to about twenty thousand drachmae,
and went to Alexandria. Now it happened that at this time all the principal
men and rulers went up out of the cities of Syria and Phoenicia, to bid
for their taxes; for every year the king sold them to the men of the greatest
power in every city. So these men saw Joseph journeying on the way, and
laughed at him for his poverty and meanness. But when he came to Alexandria,
and heard that king Ptolemy was at Memphis, be went up thither to meet
with him; which happened as the king was sitting in his chariot, with his
wife, and with his friend Athenion, who was the very person who had been
ambassador at Jerusalem, and had been entertained by Joseph. As soon therefore
as Athenion saw him, he presently made him known to the king, how good
and generous a young man he was. So Ptolemy saluted him first, and desired
him to come up into his chariot; and as Joseph sat there, he began to complain
of the management of Onias: to which he answered, "Forgive him, on
account of his age; for thou canst not certainly be unacquainted with this,
that old men and infants have their minds exactly alike; but thou shalt
have from us, who are young men, every thing thou desirest, and shalt have
no cause to complain." With this good humor and pleasantry of the
young man, the king was so delighted, that he began already, as though
he had had long experience of him, to have a still greater affection for
him, insomuch that he bade him take his diet in the king's palace, and
be a guest at his own table every day. But when the king was come to Alexandria,
the principal men of Syria saw him sitting with the king, and were much
offended at it.
4. And when the day came on which the king was to let the taxes of the
cities to farm, and those that were the principal men of dignity in their
several countries were to bid for them, the sum of the taxes together,
of Celesyria, and Phoenicia, and Judea, with Samaria, [as they were bidden
for,] came to eight thousand talents. Hereupon Joseph accused the bidders,
as having agreed together to estimate the value of the taxes at too low
a rate; and he promised that he would himself give twice as much for them:
but for those who did not pay, he would send the king home their whole
substance; for this privilege was sold together with the taxes themselves.
The king was pleased to hear that offer; and because it augmented his revenues,
he said he would confirm the sale of the taxes to him. But when he asked
him this question, Whether he had any sureties that would be bound for
the payment of the money? he answered very pleasantly, "I will give
such security, and those of persons good and responsible, and which you
shall have no reason to distrust." And when he bid him name them who
they were, he replied, "I give thee no other persons, O king, for
my sureties, than thyself, and this thy wife; and you shall be security
for both parties." So Ptolemy laughed at the proposal, and granted
him the farming of the taxes without any sureties. This procedure was a
sore grief to those that came from the cities into Egypt, who were utterly
disappointed; and they returned every one to their own country with shame.
5. But Joseph took with him two thousand foot soldiers from the king,
for he desired he might have some assistance, in order to force such as
were refractory in the cities to pay. And borrowing of the king's friends
at Alexandria five hundred talents, he made haste back into Syria. And
when he was at Askelon, and demanded the taxes of the people of Askelon,
they refused to pay any thing, and affronted him also; upon which he seized
upon about twenty of the principal men, and slew them, and gathered what
they had together, and sent it all to the king, and informed him what he
had done. Ptolemy admired the prudent conduct of the man, and commended
him for what he had done, and gave him leave to do as he pleased. When
the Syrians heard of this, they were astonished; and having before them
a sad example in the men of Askelon that were slain, they opened their
gates, and willingly admitted Joseph, and paid their taxes. And when the
inhabitants of Scythopolis attempted to affront him, and would not pay
him those taxes which they formerly used to pay, without disputing about
them, he slew also the principal men of that city, and sent their effects
to the king. By this means he gathered great wealth together, and made
vast gains by this farming of the taxes; and he made use of what estate
he had thus gotten, in order to support his authority, as thinking it a
piece of prudence to keep what had been the occasion and foundation of
his present good fortune; and this he did by the assistance of what he
was already possessed of, for he privately sent many presents to the king,
and to Cleopatra, and to their friends, and to all that were powerful about
the court, and thereby purchased their good-will to himself.
6. This good fortune he enjoyed for twenty-two years, and was become
the father of seven sons by one wife; he had also another son, whose name
was Hyrcanus, by his brother Solymius's daughter, whom he married on the
following occasion. He once came to Alexandria with his brother, who had
along with him a daughter already marriageable, in order to give her in
wedlock to some of the Jews of chief dignity there. He then supped with
the king, and falling in love with an actress that was of great beauty,
and came into the room where they feasted, he told his brother of it, and
entreated him, because a Jew is forbidden by their law to come near to
a foreigner, to conceal his offense; and to be kind and subservient to
him, and to give him an opportunity of fulfilling his desires. Upon which
his brother willingly entertained the proposal of serving him, and adorned
his own daughter, and brought her to him by night, and put her into his
bed. And Joseph, being disordered with drink, knew not who she was, and
so lay with his brother's daughter; and this did he many times, and loved
her exceedingly; and said to his brother, that he loved this actress so
well, that he should run the hazard of his life [if he must part with her],
and yet probably the king would not give him leave [to take her with him].
But his brother bid him be in no concern about that matter, and told him
he might enjoy her whom he loved without any danger, and might have her
for his wife; and opened the truth of the matter to him, and assured him
that he chose rather to have his own daughter abused, than to overlook
him, and se him come to [public] disgrace. So Joseph commended him for
this his brotherly love, and married his daughter; and by her begat a son,
whose name was Hyrcanus, as we said before. And when this his youngest
son showed, at thirteen years old, a mind that was both courageous and
wise, and was greatly envied by his brethren, as being of a genius much
above them, and such a one as they might well envy, Joseph had once a mind
to know which of his sons had the best disposition to virtue; and when
he sent them severally to those that had then the best reputation for instructing
youth, the rest of his children, by reason of their sloth and unwillingness
to take pains, returned to him foolish and unlearned. After them he sent
out the youngest, Hyrcanus, and gave him three hundred yoke of oxen, and
bid him go two days' journey into the wilderness, and sow the land there,
and yet kept back privately the yokes of the oxen that coupled them together.
When Hyrcanus came to the place, and found he had no yokes with him, he
contenmed the drivers of the oxen, who advised him to send some to his
father, to bring them some yokes; but he thinking that he ought not to
lose his time while they should be sent to bring him the yokes, he invented
a kind of stratagem, and what suited an age older than his own; for he
slew ten yoke of the oxen, and distributed their flesh among the laborers,
and cut their hides into several pieces, and made him yokes, and yoked
the oxen together with them; by which means he sowed as much land as his
father had appointed him to sow, and returned to him. And when he was come
back, his father was mightily pleased with his sagacity, and commended
the sharpness of his understanding, and his boldness in what he did. And
he still loved him the more, as if he were his only genuine son, while
his brethren were much troubled at it.
7. But when one told him that Ptolemy had a son just born, and that
all the principal men of Syria, and the other countries subject to him,
were to keep a festival, on account of the child's birthday, and went away
in haste with great retinues to Alexandria, he was himself indeed hindered
from going by old age; but he made trial of his sons, whether any of them
would be willing to go to the king. And when the elder sons excused themselves
from going, and said they were not courtiers good enough for such conversation,
and advised him to send their brother Hyrcanus, he gladly hearkened to
that advice, and called Hyrcanus, and asked him whether he would go to
the king, and whether it was agreeable to him to go or not. And upon his
promise that he would go, and his saying that he should not want much money
for his journey, because he would live moderately, and that ten thousand
drachmas would be sufficient, he was pleased with his son's prudence. After
a little while, the son advised his father not to send his presents to
the king from thence, but to give him a letter to his steward at Alexandria,
that he might furnish him with money, for purchasing what should be most
excellent and most precious. So he thinking that the expense of ten talents
would be enough for presents to be made the king, and commending his son,
as giving him good advice, wrote to Arion his steward, that managed all
his money matters at Alexandria; which money was not less than three thousand
talents on his account, for Joseph sent the money he received in Syria
to Alexandria. And when the day appointed for the payment of the taxes
to the king came, he wrote to Arion to pay them. So when the son had asked
his father for a letter to the steward, and had received it, he made haste
to Alexandria. And when he was gone, his brethren wrote to all the king's
friends, that they should destroy him.
8. But when he was come to Alexaudria, he delivered his letter to Arion,
who asked him how many talents he would have (hoping he would ask for no
more than ten, or a little more); he said he wanted a thousand talents.
At which the steward was angry, and rebuked him, as one that intended to
live extravagantly; and he let him know how his father had gathered together
his estate by painstaking, and resisting his inclinations, and wished him
to imitate the example of his father: he assured him withal, that he would
give him but ten talents, and that for a present to the king also. The
son was irritated at this, and threw Arion into prison. But when Arion's
wife had informed Cleopatra of this, with her entreaty, that she would
rebuke the child for what he had done, (for Arion was in great esteem with
her,) Cleopatra informed the king of it. And Ptolemy sent for Hyrcanus,
and told him that he wondered, when he was sent to him by his father, that
he had not yet come into his presence, but had laid the steward in prison.
And he gave order, therefore, that he should come to him, and give an account
of the reason of what he had done. And they report that the answer he made
to the king's messenger was this: That "there was a law of his that
forbade a child that was born to taste of the sacrifice, before he had
been at the temple and sacrificed to God. According to which way of reasoning
he did not himself come to him in expectation of the present he was to
make to him, as to one who had been his father's benefactor; and that he
had punished the slave for disobeying his commands, for that it mattered
not Whether a master was little or great: so that unless we punish such
as these, thou thyself mayst also expect to be despised by thy subjects."
Upon hearing this his answer he fell a laughing, and wondered at the great
soul of the child.
9. When Arion was apprized that this was the king's disposition, and
that he had no way to help himself, he gave the child a thousand talents,
and was let out of prison. So after three days were over, Hyrcanus came
and saluted the king and queen. They saw him with pleasure, and feasted
him in an obliging manner, out of the respect they bare to his father.
So he came to the merchants privately, and bought a hundred boys, that
had learning, and were in the flower of their ages, each at a talent apiece;
as also he bought a hundred maidens, each at the same price as the other.
And when he was invited to feast with the king among the principal men
in the country, he sat down the lowest of them all, because he was little
regarded, as a child in age still; and this by those who placed every one
according to their dignity. Now when all those that sat with him had laid
the bones Of the several parts on a heap before Hyrcanus, (for they had
themselves taken away the flesh belonging to them,) till the table where
he sat was filled full with them, Trypho, who was the king's jester, and
was appointed for jokes and laughter at festivals, was now asked by the
guests that sat at the table [to expose him to laughter]. So he stood by
the king, and said, "Dost thou not see, my lord, the bones that lie
by Hyrcanus? by this similitude thou mayst conjecture that his father made
all Syria as bare as he hath made these bones." And the king laughing
at what Trypho said, and asking of Hyrcanus, How he came to have so many
bones before him? he replied," Very rightfully, my lord; for they
are dogs that eat the flesh and the bones together, as these thy guests
have done, (looking in the mean time at those guests,) for there is nothing
before them; but they are men that eat the flesh, and cast away the hones,
as I, who am also a man, have now done." Upon which the king admired
at his answer, which was so wisely made; and bid them all make an acclamation,
as a mark of their approbation of his jest, which was truly a facetious
one. On the next day Hyrcanus went to every one of the king's friends,
and of the men powerful at court, and saluted them; but still inquired
of the servants what present they would make the king on his son's birthday;
and when some said that they would give twelve talents, and that others
of greater dignity would every one give according to the quantity of their
riches, he pretended to every one of them to be grieved that he was not
able to bring so large a present; for that he had no more than five talents.
And when the servants heard what he said, they told their masters; and
they rejoiced in the prospect that Joseph would be disapproved, and would
make the king angry, by the smallness of his present. When the day came,
the others, even those that brought the most, offered the king not above
twenty talents; but Hyrcanus gave to every one of the hundred boys and
hundred maidens that he had bought a talent apiece, for them to carry,
and introduced them, the boys to the king, and the maidens to Cleopatra;
every body wondering at the unexpected richness of the presents, even the
king and queen themselves. He also presented those that attended about
the king with gifts to the value of a great number of talents, that he
might escape the danger he was in from them; for to these it was that Hyrcanus's
brethren had written to destroy him. Now Ptolemy admired at the young man's
magnanimity, and commanded him to ask what gift he pleased. But he desired
nothing else to be done for him by the king than to write to his father
and brethren about him. So when the king had paid him very great respects,
and had given him very large gifts, and had written to his father and his
brethren, and all his commanders and officers, about him, he sent him away.
But when his brethren heard that Hyrcanus had received such favors from
the king, and was returning home with great honor, they went out to meet
him, and to destroy him, and that with the privity of their father; for
he was angry at him for the [large] sum of money that he bestowed for presents,
and so had no concern for his preservation. However, Joseph concealed the
anger he had at his son, out of fear of the king. And when Hyrcanus's brethren
came to fight him, he slew many others of those that were with them, as
also two of his brethren themselves; but the rest of them escaped to Jerusalem
to their father. But when Hyrcanus came to the city, where nobody would
receive him, he was afraid for himself, and retired beyond the river Jordan,
and there abode, but obliging the barbarians to pay their taxes.
10. At this time Seleucus, who was called Soter, reigned over Asia,
being the son of Antiochus the Great. And [now] Hyrcanus's father, Joseph,
died. He was a good man, and of great magnanimity; and brought the Jews
out of a state of poverty and meanness, to one that was more splendid.
He retained the farm of the taxes of Syria, and Phoenicia, and Samaria
twenty-two years. His uncle also, Onias, died [about this time], and left
the high priesthood to his son Simeon. And when he was dead, Onias his
son succeeded him in that dignity. To him it was that Areus, king of the
Lacedemonians, sent an embassage, with an epistle; the copy whereof here
follows:
"AREUS, KING OF THE LACEDEMONIANS, TO ONIAS, SENDETH
GREETING.
"We have met with a certain writing, whereby we have discovered
that both the Jews and the Lacedemonians are of one stock, and are derived
from the kindred of Abraham (14)
It is but just therefore that you, who are our brethren, should send to
us about any of your concerns as you please. We will also do the same thing,
and esteem your concerns as our own, and will look upon our concerns as
in common with yours. Demoteles, who brings you this letter, will bring
your answer back to us. This letter is four-square; and the seal is an
eagle, with a dragon in his claws."
11. And these were the contents of the epistle which was sent
from the king of the Lacedemonians. But, upon the death of Joseph, the
people grew seditious, on account of his sons. For whereas the elders made
war against Hyrcanus, who was the youngest of Joseph's sons, the multitude
was divided, but the greater part joined with the elders in this war; as
did Simon the high priest, by reason he was of kin to them. However, Hyrcanus
determined not to return to Jerusalem any more, but seated himself beyond
Jordan, and was at perpetual war with the Arabians, and slew many of them,
and took many of them captives. He also erected a strong castle, and built
it entirely of white stone to the very roof, and had animals of a prodigious
magnitude engraven upon it. He also drew round it a great and deep canal
of water. He also made caves of many furlongs in length, by hollowing a
rock that was over against him; and then he made large rooms in it, some
for feasting, and some for sleeping and living in. He introduced also a
vast quantity of waters which ran along it, and which were very delightful
and ornamental in the court. But still he made the entrances at the mouth
of the caves so narrow, that no more than one person could enter by them
at once. And the reason why he built them after that manner was a good
one; it was for his own preservation, lest he should be besieged by his
brethren, and run the hazard of being caught by them. Moreover, he built
courts of greater magnitude than ordinary, which he adorned with vastly
large gardens. And when he had brought the place to this state, he named
it Tyre. This place is between Arabia and Judea, beyond Jordan, not far
from the country of Heshbon. And he ruled over those parts for seven years,
even all the time that Seleucus was king of Syria. But when he was dead,
his brother Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, took the kingdom. Ptolemy
also, the king of Egypt, died, who was besides called Epiphanes. He left
two sons, and both young in age; the elder of which was called Philometer,
and the youngest Physcon. As for Hyrcanus, when he saw that Antiochus had
a great army, and feared lest he should be caught by him, and brought to
punishment for what he had done to the Arabians, he ended his life, and
slew himself with his own hand; while Antiochus seized upon all his substance.
CHAPTER 5.
HOW, UPON THE QUARRELS ONE AGAINST ANOTHER ABOUT THE HIGH
PRIESTHOOD ANTIOCHUS MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST JERUSALEM, TOOK THE CITY
AND PILLAGED THE TEMPLES. AND DISTRESSED THE JEWS' AS ALSO HOW MANY OF
THE JEWS FORSOOK THE LAWS OF THEIR COUNTRY; AND HOW THE SAMARITANS FOLLOWED
THE CUSTOMS OF THE GREEKS AND NAMED THEIR TEMPLE AT MOUNT GERIZZIM THE
TEMPLE OF JUPITER HELLENIUS.
1. ABOUT this time, upon the death of Onias the high priest, they gave
the high priesthood to Jesus his brother; for that son which Onias left
[or Onias IV.] was yet but an infant; and, in its proper place, we will
inform the reader of all the circumstances that befell this child. But
this Jesus, who was the brother of Onias, was deprived of the high priesthood
by the king, who was angry with him, and gave it to his younger brother,
whose name also was Onias; for Simon had these three sons, to each of which
the priesthood came, as we have already informed the reader. This Jesus
changed his name to Jason, but Onias was called Menelaus. Now as the former
high priest, Jesus, raised a sedition against Menelaus, who was ordained
after him, the multitude were divided between them both. And the sons of
Tobias took the part of Menelaus, but the greater part of the people assisted
Jason; and by that means Menelaus and the sons of Tobias were distressed,
and retired to Antiochus, and informed him that they were desirous to leave
the laws of their country, and the Jewish way of living according to them,
and to follow the king's laws, and the Grecian way of living. Wherefore
they desired his permission to build them a Gymnasium at Jerusalem. (15)
And when he had given them leave, they also hid the circumcision of their
genitals, that even when they were naked they might appear to be Greeks.
Accordingly, they left off all the customs that belonged to their own country,
and imitated the practices of the other nations.
2. Now Antiochus, upon the agreeable situation of the affairs of his
kingdom, resolved to make an expedition against Egypt, both because he
had a desire to gain it, and because he contemned the son of Ptolemy, as
now weak, and not yet of abilities to manage affairs of such consequence;
so he came with great forces to Pelusium, and circumvented Ptolemy Philometor
by treachery, and seized upon Egypt. He then came to the places about Memphis;
and when he had taken them, he made haste to Alexandria, in hopes of taking
it by siege, and of subduing Ptolemy, who reigned there. But he was driven
not only from Alexandria, but out of all Egypt, by the declaration of the
Romans, who charged him to let that country alone; according as I have
elsewhere formerly declared. I will now give a particular account of what
concerns this king, how he subdued Judea and the temple; for in my former
work I mentioned those things very briefly, and have therefore now thought
it necessary to go over that history again, and that with great accuracy.
3. King Antiochus returning out of Egypt (16)
for fear of the Romans, made an expedition against the city Jerusalem;
and when he was there, in the hundred and forty-third year of the kingdom
of the Seleucidse, he took the city without fighting, those of his own
party opening the gates to him. And when he had gotten possession of Jerusalem,
he slew many of the opposite party; and when he had plundered it of a great
deal of money, he returned to Antioch.
4. Now it came to pass, after two years, in the hundred forty and fifth
year, on the twenty-fifth day of that month which is by us called Chasleu,
and by the Macedonians Apelleus, in the hundred and fifty-third olympiad,
that the king came up to Jerusalem, and, pretending peace, he got possession
of the city by treachery; at which time he spared not so much as those
that admitted him into it, on account of the riches that lay in the temple;
but, led by his covetous inclination, (for he saw there was in it a great
deal of gold, and many ornaments that had been dedicated to it of very
great value,) and in order to plunder its wealth, he ventured to break
the league he had made. So he left the temple bare, and took away the golden
candlesticks, and the golden altar [of incense], and table [of shew-bread],
and the altar [of burnt-offering]; and did not abstain from even the veils,
which were made of fine linen and scarlet. He also emptied it of its secret
treasures, and left nothing at all remaining; and by this means cast the
Jews into great lamentation, for he forbade them to offer those daily sacrifices
which they used to offer to God, according to the law. And when he had
pillaged the whole city, some of the inhabitants he slew, and some he carried
captive, together with their wives and children, so that the multitude
of those captives that were taken alive amounted to about ten thousand.
He also burnt down the finest buildings; and when he had overthrown the
city walls, he built a citadel in the lower part of the city, (17)
for the place was high, and overlooked the temple; on which account he
fortified it with high walls and towers, and put into it a garrison of
Macedonians. However, in that citadel dwelt the impious and wicked part
of the [Jewish] multitude, from whom it proved that the citizens suffered
many and sore calamities. And when the king had built an idol altar upon
God's altar, he slew swine upon it, and so offered a sacrifice neither
according to the law, nor the Jewish religious worship in that country.
He also compelled them to forsake the worship which they paid their own
God, and to adore those whom he took to be gods; and made them build temples,
and raise idol altars in every city and village, and offer swine upon them
every day. He also commanded them not to circumcise their sons, and threatened
to punish any that should be found to have transgressed his injunction.
He also appointed overseers, who should compel them to do what he commanded.
And indeed many Jews there were who complied with the king's commands,
either voluntarily, or out of fear of the penalty that was denounced. But
the best men, and those of the noblest souls, did not regard him, but did
pay a greater respect to the customs of their country than concern as to
the punishment which he threatened to the disobedient; on which account
they every day underwent great miseries and bitter torments; for they were
whipped with rods, and their bodies were torn to pieces, and were crucified,
while they were still alive, and breathed. They also strangled those women
and their sons whom they had circumcised, as the king had appointed, hanging
their sons about their necks as they were upon the crosses. And if there
were any sacred book of the law found, it was destroyed, and those with
whom they were found miserably perished also.
5. When the Samaritans saw the Jews under these sufferings, they no
longer confessed that they were of their kindred, nor that the temple on
Mount Gerizzim belonged to Almighty God. This was according to their nature,
as we have already shown. And they now said that they were a colony of
Medes and Persians; and indeed they were a colony of theirs. So they sent
ambassadors to Antiochus, and an epistle, whose contents are these: "To
king Antiochus the god, Epiphanes, a memorial from the Sidonians, who live
at Shechem. Our forefathers, upon certain frequent plagues, and as following
a certain ancient superstition, had a custom of observing that day which
by the Jews is called the Sabbath. (18)
And when they had erected a temple at the mountain called Gerrizzim, though
without a name, they offered upon it the proper sacrifices. Now, upon the
just treatment of these wicked Jews, those that manage their affairs, supposing
that we were of kin to them, and practiced as they do, make us liable to
the same accusations, although we be originally Sidonians, as is evident
from the public records. We therefore beseech thee, our benefactor and
Savior, to give order to Apollonius, the governor of this part of the country,
and to Nicanor, the procurator of thy affairs, to give us no disturbance,
nor to lay to our charge what the Jews are accused for, since we are aliens
from their nation, and from their customs; but let our temple, which at
present hath no name at all be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius. If
this were once done, we should be no longer disturbed, but should be more
intent on our own occupation with quietness, and so bring in a greater
revenue to thee." When the Samaritans had petitioned for this, the
king sent them back the following answer, in an epistle: "King Antiochus
to Nicanor. The Sidonians, who live at Shechem, have sent me the memorial
enclosed. When therefore we were advising with our friends about it, the
messengers sent by them represented to us that they are no way concerned
with accusations which belong to the Jews, but choose to live after the
customs of the Greeks. Accordingly, we declare them free from such accusations,
and order that, agreeable to their petition, their temple be named the
Temple of Jupiter Hellenius." He also sent the like epistle to Apollonius,
the governor of that part of the country, in the forty-sixth year, and
the eighteenth day of the month Hecatorabeom
CHAPTER 6.
HOW, UPON ANTIOCHUS'S PROHIBITION TO THE JEWS TO MAKE USE
OF THE LAWS OF THEIR COUNTRY MATTATHIAS, THE SON OF ASAMONEUS, ALONE DESPISED
THE KING, AND OVERCAME THE GENERALS OF ANTIOCHUS'S ARMY; AS ALSO CONCERNING
THE DEATH OF MATTATHIAS, AND THE SUCCESSION OF JUDAS.
1. NOW at this time there was one whose name was Mattathias, who dwelt
at Modin, the son of John, the son of Simeon, the son of Asamoneus, a priest
of the order of Joarib, and a citizen of Jerusalem. He had five sons; John,
who was called Gaddis, and Simon, who was called Matthes, and Judas, who
was called Maccabeus, (19)
and Eleazar, who was called Auran, and Jonathan, who was called Apphus.
Now this Mattathias lamented to his children the sad state of their affairs,
and the ravage made in the city, and the plundering of the temple, and
the calamities the multitude were under; and he told them that it was better
for them to die for the laws of their country, than to live so ingloriously
as they then did.
2. But when those that were appointed by the king were come to Modin,
that they might compel the Jews to do what they were commanded, and to
enjoin those that were there to offer sacrifice, as the king had commanded,
they desired that Mattathias, a person of the greatest character among
them, both on other accounts, and particularly on account of such a numerous
and so deserving a family of children, would begin the sacrifice, because
his fellow citizens would follow his example, and because such a procedure
would make him honored by the king. But Mattathias said he would not do
it; and that if all the other nations would obey the commands of Antiochus,
either out of fear, or to please him, yet would not he nor his sons leave
the religious worship of their country. But as soon as he had ended his
speech, there came one of the Jews into the midst of them, and sacrificed,
as Antiochus had commanded. At which Mattathias had great indignation,
and ran upon him violently, with his sons, who had swords with them, and
slew both the man himself that sacrificed, and Apelles the king's general,
who compelled them to sacrifice, with a few of his soldiers. He also overthrew
the idol altar, and cried out, "If," said he," any one be
zealous for the laws of his country, and for the worship of God, let him
follow me." And when he had said this, he made haste into the desert
with his sons, and left all his substance in the village. Many others did
the same also, and fled with their children and wives into the desert,
and dwelt in caves. But when the king's generals heard this, they took
all the forces they then had in the citadel at Jerusalem, and pursued the
Jews into the desert; and when they had overtaken them, they in the first
place endeavored to persuade them to repent, and to choose what was most
for their advantage, and not put them to the necessity of using them according
to the law of war. But when they would not comply with their persuasions,
but continued to be of a different mind, they fought against them on the
sabbath day, and they burnt them as they were in the caves, without resistance,
and without so much as stopping up the entrances of the caves. And they
avoided to defend themselves on that day, because they were not willing
to break in upon the honor they owed the sabbath, even in such distresses;
for our law requires that we rest upon that day. There were about a thousand,
with their wives and children, who were smothered and died in these caves;
but many of those that escaped joined themselves to Mattathias, and appointed
him to be their ruler, who taught them to fight, even on the sabbath day;
and told them that unless they would do so, they would become their own
enemies, by observing the law [so rigorously], while their adversaries
would still assault them on this day, and they would not then defend themselves,
and that nothing could then hinder but they must all perish without fighting.
This speech persuaded them. And this rule continues among us to this day,
that if there be a necessity, we may fight on sabbath days. So Mattathias
got a great army about him, and overthrew their idol altars, and slew those
that broke the laws, even all that he could get under his power; for many
of them were dispersed among the nations round about them for fear of him.
He also commanded that those boys which were not yet circumcised should
be circumcised now; and he drove those away that were appointed to hinder
such their circumcision.
3. But when he had ruled one year, and was fallen into a distemper,
he called for his sons, and set them round about him, and said, "O
my sons, I am going the way of all the earth; and I recommend to you my
resolution, and beseech you not to be negligent in keeping it, but to be
mindful of the desires of him who begat you, and brought you up, and to
preserve the customs of your country, and to recover your ancient form
of government, which is in danger of being overturned, and not to be carried
away with those that, either by their own inclination, or out of necessity,
betray it, but to become such sons as are worthy of me; to be above all
force and necessity, and so to dispose your souls, as to be ready, when
it shall be necessary, to die for your laws; as sensible of this, by just
reasoning, that if God see that you are so disposed he will not overlook
you, but will have a great value for your virtue, and will restore to you
again what you have lost, and will return to you that freedom in which
you shall live quietly, and enjoy your own customs. Your bodies are mortal,
and subject to fate; but they receive a sort of immortality, by the remembrance
of what actions they have done. And I would have you so in love with this
immortality, that you may pursue after glory, and that, when you have undergone
the greatest difficulties, you may not scruple, for such things, to lose
your lives. I exhort you, especially, to agree one with another; and in
what excellency any one of you exceeds another, to yield to him so far,
and by that means to reap the advantage of every one's own virtues. Do
you then esteem Simon as your father, because he is a man of extraordinary
prudence, and be governed by him in what counsels be gives you. Take Maccabeus
for the general of your army, because of his courage and strength, for
he will avenge your nation, and will bring vengeance on your enemies. Admit
among you the righteous and religious, and augment their power."
4. When Mattathias had thus discoursed to his sons, and had prayed to
God to be their assistant, and to recover to the people their former constitution,
he died a little afterward, and was buried at Modin; all the people making
great lamentation for him. Whereupon his son Judas took upon him the administration
of public affairs, in the hundred fbrty and sixth year; and thus, by the
ready assistance of his brethren, and of others, Judas cast their enemies
out of the country, and put those of their own country to death who had
transgressed its laws, and purified the land of all the pollutions that
were in it.
CHAPTER 7.
HOW JUDAS OVERTHREW THE FORCES OF APOLLONIUS AND SERON AND
KILLED THE GENERALS OF THEIR ARMIES THEMSELVES; AND HOW WHEN, A LITTLE
WHILE AFTERWARDS LYSIAS AND GORGIAS WERE BEATEN HE WENT UP TO JERUSALEM
AND PURIFIED THE TEMPLE.
1. WHEN Apollonius, the general of the Samaritan forces, heard this,
he took his army, and made haste to go against Judas, who met him, and
joined battle with him, and beat him, and slew many of his men, and among
them Apollonius himself, their general, whose sword being that which he
happened then to wear, he seized upon, and kept for himself; but he wounded
more than he slew, and took a great deal of prey from the enemy's camp,
and went his way. But when Seron, who was general of the army of Celesyria,
heard that many had joined themselves to Judas, and that he had about him
an army sufficient for fighting, and for making war, he determined to make
an expedition against him, as thinking it became him to endeavor to punish
those that transgressed the king's injunctions. He then got together an
army, as large as he was able, and joined to it the runagate and wicked
Jews, and came against Judas. He came as far as Bethhoron, a village of
Judea, and there pitched his camp; upon which Judas met him; and when he
intended to give him battle, he saw that his soldiers were backward to
fight, because their number was small, and because they wanted food, for
they were fasting, he encouraged them, and said to them, that victory and
conquest of enemies are not derived from the multitude in armies, but in
the exercise of piety towards God; and that they had the plainest instances
in their forefathers, who, by their righteousness, exerting themselves
on behalf of their own laws, and their own children, had frequently conquered
many ten thousands, - for innocence is the strongest army. By this speech
he induced his men to contenm the multitude of the enemy, and to fall upon
Seron. And upon joining battle with him, he beat the Syrians; and when
their general fell among the rest, they all ran away with speed, as thinking
that to be their best way of escaping. So he pursued them unto the plain,
and slew about eight hundred of the enemy; but the rest escaped to the
region which lay near to the sea.
2. When king Antiochus heard of these things, he was very angry at what
had happened; so he got together all his own army, with many mercenaries,
whom he had hired from the islands, and took them with him, and prepared
to break into Judea about the beginning of the spring. But when, upon his
mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his treasures were deficient,
and there was a want of money in them, for all the taxes were not paid,
by reason of the seditions there had been among the nations he having been
so magnanimous and so liberal, that what he had was not sufficient for
him, he therefore resolved first to go into Persia, and collect the taxes
of that country. Hereupon he left one whose name was Lysias, who was in
great repute with him governor of the kingdom, as far as the bounds of
Egypt, and of the Lower Asia, and reaching from the river Euphrates, and
committed to him a certain part of his forces, and of his elephants, and
charged him to bring up his son Antiochus with all possible care, until
he came back; and that he should conquer Judea, and take its inhabitants
for slaves, and utterly destroy Jerusalem, and abolish the whole nation.
And when king Antiochus had given these things in charge to Lysias, he
went into Persia; and in the hundred and forty-seventh year he passed over
Euphrates, and went to the superior provinces.
3. Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy, the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor,
and Gorgias, very potent men among the king's friends, and delivered to
them forty thousand foot soldiers, and seven thousand horsemen, and sent
them against Judea, who came as far as the city Emmaus, and pitched their
camp in the plain country. There came also to them auxiliaries out of Syria,
and the country round about; as also many of the runagate Jews. And besides
these came some merchants to buy those that should be carried captives,
(having bonds with them to bind those that should be made prisoners,) with
that silver and gold which they were to pay for their price. And when Judas
saw their camp, and how numerous their enemies were, he persuaded his own
soldiers to be of good courage, and exhorted them to place their hopes
of victory in God, and to make supplication to him, according to the custom
of their country, clothed in sackcloth; and to show what was their usual
habit of supplication in the greatest dangers, and thereby to prevail with
God to grant you the victory over your enemies. So he set them in their
ancient order of battle used by their forefathers, under their captains
of thousands, and other officers, and dismissed such as were newly married,
as well as those that had newly gained possessions, that they might not
fight in a cowardly manner, out of an inordinate love of life, in order
to enjoy those blessings. When he had thus disposed his soldiers, he encouraged
them to fight by the following speech, which he made to them: "O my
fellow soldiers, no other time remains more opportune than the present
for courage and contempt of dangers; for if you now fight manfully, you
may recover your liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to
all men, so it proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording
us the liberty of worshipping God. Since therefore you are in such circumstances
at present, you must either recover that liberty, and so regain a happy
and blessed way of living, which is that according to our laws, and the
customs of our country, or to submit to the most opprobrious sufferings;
nor will any seed of your nation remain if you be beat in this battle.
Fight therefore manfully; and suppose that you must die, though you do
not fight; but believe, that besides such glorious rewards as those of
the liberty of your country, of your laws, of your religion, you shall
then obtain everlasting glory. Prepare yourselves, therefore, and put yourselves
into such an agreeable posture, that you may be ready to fight with the
enemy as soon as it is day tomorrow morning."
4. And this was the speech which Judas made to encourage them. But when
the enemy sent Gorgias, with five thousand foot and one thousand horse,
that he might fall upon Judas by night, and had for that purpose certain
of the runagate Jews as guides, the son of Mattathias perceived it, and
resolved to fall upon those enemies that were in their camp, now their
forces were divided. When they had therefore supped in good time, and had
left many fires in their camp, he marched all night to those enemies that
were at Emmaus. So that when Gorgias found no enemy in their camp, but
suspected that they were retired, and had hidden themselves among the mountains,
he resolved to go and seek them wheresoever they were. But about break
of day Judas appeared to those enemies that were at Emmaus, with only three
thousand men, and those ill armed, by reason of their poverty; and when
he saw the enemy very well and skillfully fortified in their camp, he encouraged
the Jews, and told them that they ought to fight, though it were with their
naked bodies, for that God had sometimes of old given such men strength,
and that against such as were more in number, and were armed also, out
of regard to their great courage. So he commanded the trumpeters to sound
for the battle; and by thus falling upon the enemies when they did not
expect it, and thereby astonishing and disturbing their minds, he slew
many of those that resisted him, and went on pursuing the rest as far as
Gadara, and the plains of Idumea, and Ashdod, and Jamnia; and of these
there fell about three thousand. Yet did Judas exhort his soldiers not
to be too desirous of the spoils, for that still they must have a contest
and battle with Gorgias, and the forces that were with him; but that when
they had once overcome them, then they might securely plunder the camp,
because they were the only enemies remaining, and they expected no others.
And just as he was speaking to his soldiers, Gorgias's men looked down
into that army which they left in their camp, and saw that it was overthrown,
and the camp burnt; for the smoke that arose from it showed them, even
when they were a great way off, what had happened. When therefore those
that were with Gorgias understood that things were in this posture, and
perceived that those that were with Judas were ready to fight them, they
also were affrighted, and put to flight; but then Judas, as though he had
already beaten Gorgias's soldiers without fighting, returned and seized
on the spoils. He took a great quantity of gold, and silver, and purple,
and blue, and then returned home with joy, and singing hymns to God for
their good success; for this victory greatly contributed to the recovery
of their liberty.
5. Hereupon Lysias was confounded at the defeat of the army which he
had sent, and the next year he got together sixty thousand chosen men.
He also took five thousand horsemen, and fell upon Judea; and he went up
to the hill country of Bethsur, a village of Judea, and pitched his camp
there, where Judas met him with ten thousand men; and when he saw the great
number of his enemies, he prayed to God that he would assist him, and joined
battle with the first of the enemy that appeared, and beat them, and slew
about five thousand of them, and thereby became terrible to the rest of
them. Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of the Jews, how they
were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty, and being afraid of
their desperate way of fighting, as if it were real strength, he took the
rest of the army back with him, and returned to Antioch, where he listed
foreigners into the service, and prepared to fall upon Judea with a greater
army.
6. When therefore the generals of Antiochus's armies had been beaten
so often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them, that after
these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to Jerusalem,
and purify the temple, and offer the appointed sacrifices. But as soon
as he, with the whole multitude, was come to Jerusalem, and found the temple
deserted, and its gates burnt down, and plants growing in the temple of
their own accord, on account of its desertion, he and those that were with
him began to lament, and were quite confounded at the sight of the temple;
so he chose out some of his soldiers, and gave them order to fight against
those guards that were in the citadel, until he should have purified the
temple. When therefore he had carefully purged it, and had brought in new
vessels, the candlestick, the table [of shew-bread], and the altar [of
incense], which were made of gold, he hung up the veils at the gates, and
added doors to them. He also took down the altar [of burnt-offering], and
built a new one of stones that he gathered together, and not of such as
were hewn with iron tools. So on the five and twentieth day of the month
Casleu, which the Macedonians call Apeliens, they lighted the lamps that
were on the candlestick, and offered incense upon the altar [of incense],
and laid the loaves upon the table [of shew-bread], and offered burnt-offerings
upon the new altar [of burnt-offering]. Now it so fell out, that these
things were done on the very same day on which their Divine worship had
fallen off, and was reduced to a profane and common use, after three years'
time; for so it was, that the temple was made desolate by Antiochus, and
so continued for three years. This desolation happened to the temple in
the hundred forty and fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day of the month
Apeliens, and on the hundred fifty and third olympiad: but it was dedicated
anew, on the same day, the twenty-fifth of the month Apeliens, on the hundred
and forty-eighth year, and on the hundred and fifty-fourth olympiad. And
this desolation came to pass according to the prophecy of Daniel, which
was given four hundred and eight years before; for he declared that the
Macedonians would dissolve that worship [for some time].
7. Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices
of the temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon;
but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored
God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so very glad
at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time of intermission,
they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their worship, that they
made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival, on
account of the restoration of their temple worship, for eight days. And
from that time to this we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights.
I suppose the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared
to us; and that thence was the name given to that festival. Judas also
rebuilt the walls round about the city, and reared towers of great height
against the incursions of enemies, and set guards therein. He also fortified
the city Bethsura, that it might serve as a citadel against any distresses
that might come from our enemies.
CHAPTER 8.
HOW JUDAS SUBDUED THE NATIONS ROUND ABOUT; AND HOW SIMON
BEAT THE PEOPLE OF TYRE AND PTOLEMAIS; AND HOW JUDAS OVERCAME TIMOTHEUS,
AND FORCED HIM TO FLY AWAY, AND DID MANY OTHER THINGS AFTER JOSEPH AND
AZARIAS HAD BEEN BEATEN
1. WHEN these things were over, the nations round about the Jews were
very uneasy at the revival of their power, and rose up together, and destroyed
many of them, as gaining advantage over them by laying snares for them,
and making secret conspiracies against them. Judas made perpetual expeditions
against these men, and endeavored to restrain them from those incursions,
and to prevent the mischiefs they did to the Jews. So he fell upon the
Idumeans, the posterity of Esau, at Acrabattene, and slew a great many
of them, and took their spoils. He also shut up the sons of Bean, that
laid wait for the Jews; and he sat down about them, and besieged them,
and burnt their towers, and destroyed the men [that were in them]. After
this he went thence in haste against the Ammonites, who had a great and
a numerous army, of which Timotheus was the commander. And when he had
subdued them, he seized on the city Jazer, and took their wives and their
children captives, and burnt the city, and then returned into Judea. But
when the neighboring nations understood that he was returned, they got
together in great numbers in the land of Gilead, and came against those
Jews that were at their borders, who then fled to the garrison of Dathema;
and sent to Judas, to inform him that Timotheus was endeavoring to take
the place whither they were fled. And as these epistles were reading, there
came other messengers out of Galilee, who informed him that the inhabitants
of Ptolemais, and of Tyre and Sidon, and strangers of Galilee, were gotten
together.
2. Accordingly Judas, upon considering what was fit to be done, with
relation to the necessity both these cases required, gave order that Simon
his brother should take three thousand chosen men, and go to the assistance
of the Jews in Galilee, while he and another of his brothers, Jonathan,
made haste into the land of Gilead, with eight thousand soldiers. And he
left Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, to be over the rest of
the forces; and charged them to keep Judea very carefully, and to fight
no battles with any persons whomsoever until his return. Accordingly, Simon-went
into Galilee, and fought the enemy, and put them to flight, and pursued
them to the very gates of Ptolemais, and slew about three thousand of them,
and took the spoils of those that were slain, and those Jews whom they
had made captives, with their baggage, and then returned home.
3. Now as for Judas Maccabeus, and his brother Jonathan, they passed
over the river Jordan; and when they had gone three days journey, they
lighted upon the Nabateans, who came to meet them peaceably, and who told
them how the affairs of those in the land of Gilead stood; and how many
of them were in distress, and driven into garrisons, and into the cities
of Galilee; and exhorted him to make haste to go against the foreigners,
and to endeavor to save his own countrymen out of their hands. To this
exhortation Judas hearkened, and returned to the wilderness; and in the
first place fell upon the inhabitants of Bosor, and took the city, and
beat the inhabitants, and destroyed all the males, and all that were able
to fight, and burnt the city. Nor did he stop even when night came on,
but he journeyed in it to the garrison where the Jews happened to be then
shut up, and where Timotheus lay round the place with his army. And Judas
came upon the city in the morning; and when he found that the enemy were
making an assault upon the walls, and that some of them brought ladders,
on which they might get upon those walls, and that others brought engines
[to batter them], he bid the trumpeter to sound his trumpet, and he encouraged
his soldiers cheerfully to undergo dangers for the sake of their brethren
and kindred; he also parted his army into three bodies, and fell upon the
backs of their enemies. But when Timotheus's men perceived that it was
Maccabeus that was upon them, of both whose courage and good success in
war they had formerly had sufficient experience, they were put to flight;
but Judas followed them with his army, and slew about eight thousand of
them. He then turned aside to a city of the foreigners called Malle, and
took it, and slew all the males, and burnt the city itself. He then removed
from thence, and overthrew Casphom and Bosor, and many other cities of
the land of Gilead.
4. But not long after this, Timotheus prepared a great army, and took
many others as auxiliaries; and induced some of the Arabians, by the promise
of rewards, to go with him in this expedition, and came with his army beyond
the brook, over against the city Raphon; and he encouraged his soldiers,
if it came to a battle with the Jews, to fight courageously, and to hinder
their passing over the brook; for he said to them beforehand, that "if
they come over it, we shall be beaten." And when Judas heard that
Timotheus prepared himself to fight, he took all his own army, and went
in haste against Timotheus his enemy; and when he had passed over the brook,
he fell upon his enemies, and some of them met him, whom he slew, and others
of them he so terrified, that he compelled them to throw down their arms
and fly; and some of them escaped, but some of them fled to what was called
the Temple of Camaim, and hoped thereby to preserve themselves; but Judas
took the city, and slew them, and burnt the temple, and so used several
ways of destroying his enemies.
5. When he had done this, he gathered the Jews together, with their
children and wives, and the substance that belonged to them, and was going
to bring them back into Judea; but as soon as he was come to a certain
city, whose name was Ephron, that lay upon the road, (and it was not possible
for him to go any other way, so he was not willing to go back again,) he
then sent to the inhabitants, and desired that they would open their gates,
and permit them to go on their way through the city; for they had stopped
up the gates with stones, and cut off their passage through it. And when
the inhabitants of Ephron would not agree to this proposal, he encouraged
those that were with him, and encompassed the city round, and besieged
it, and, lying round it by day and night, took the city, and slew every
male in it, and burnt it all down, and so obtained a way through it; and
the multitude of those that were slain was so great, that they went over
the dead bodies. So they came over Jordan, and arrived at the great plain,
over against which is situate the city Bethshah, which is called by the
Greeks Scythopolis. (20)
And going away hastily from thence, they came into Judea, singing psalms
and hymns as they went, and indulging such tokens of mirth as are usual
in triumphs upon victory. They also offered thank-offerings, both for their
good success, and for the preservation of their army, for not one of the
Jews was slain in these battles.(21)
6. But as to Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, whom Judas left
generals [of the rest of his forces] at the same time when Simon was in
Galilee, fighting against the people of Ptolemais, and Judas himself, and
his brother Jonathan, were in the land of Gilead, did these men also affect
the glory of being courageous generals in war, in order whereto they took
the army that was under their command, and came to Jamnia. There Gorgias,
the general of the forces of Jamnia, met them; and upon joining battle
with him, they lost two thousand of their army, (22)
and fled away, and were pursued to the very borders of Judea. And this
misfortune befell them by their disobedience to what injunctions Judas
had given them, not to fight with any one before his return. For besides
the rest of Judas's sagacious counsels, one may well wonder at this concerning
the misfortune that befell the forces commanded by Joseph and Azarias,
which he understood would happen, if they broke any of the injunctions
he had given them. But Judas and his brethren did not leave off fighting
with the Idumeans, but pressed upon them on all sides, and took from them
the city of Hebron, and demolished all its fortifications, and set all
its towers on fire, and burnt the country of the foreigners, and the city
Marissa. They came also to Ashdod, and took it, and laid it waste, and
took away a great deal of the spoils and prey that were in it, and returned
to Judea.
CHAPTER 9.
CONCERNING THE DEATH OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANE. HOW ANTIOCHUS
EUPATOR FOUGHT AGAINST JUDA AND BESIEGED HIM IN THE TEMPLE AND AFTERWARDS
MADE PEACE WITH HIM AND DEPARTED; OF ALCIMUS AND ONIAS.
1. ABOUT this time it was that king Antiochus, as he was going over
the upper countries, heard that there was a very rich city in Persia, called
Elymais; and therein a very rich temple of Diana, and that it was full
of all sorts of donations dedicated to it; as also weapons and breastplates,
which, upon inquiry, he found had been left there by Alexander, the son
of Philip, king of Macedonia. And being incited by these motives, he went
in haste to Elymais, and assaulted it, and besieged it. But as those that
were in it were not terrified at his assault, nor at his siege, but opposed
him very courageously, he was beaten off his hopes; for they drove him
away from the city, and went out and pursued after him, insomuch that he
fled away as far as Babylon, and lost a great many of his army. And when
he was grieving for this disappointment, some persons told him of the defeat
of his commanders whom he had left behind him to fight against Judea, and
what strength the Jews had already gotten. When this concern about these
affairs was added to the former, he was confounded, and by the anxiety
he was in fell into a distemper, which, as it lasted a great while, and
as his pains increased upon him, so he at length perceived he should die
in a little time; so he called his friends to him, and told them that his
distemper was severe upon him; and confessed withal, that this calamity
was sent upon him for the miseries he had brought upon the Jewish nation,
while he plundered their temple, and contemned their God; and when he had
said this, he gave up the ghost. Whence one may wonder at Polybius of Megalopolis,
who, though otherwise a good man, yet saith that "Antiochus died because
he had a purpose to plunder the temple of Diana in Persia;" for the
purposing to do a thing, (23)
but not actually doing it, is not worthy of punishment. But if Polybius
could think that Antiochus thus lost his life on that account, it is much
more probable that this king died on account of his sacrilegious plundering
of the temple at Jerusalem. But we will not contend about this matter with
those who may think that the cause assigned by this Polybius of Megalopolis
is nearer the truth than that assigned by us.
2. However, Antiochus, before he died, called for Philip, who was one
of his companions, and made him the guardian of his kingdom; and gave him
his diadem, and his garment, and his ring, and charged him to carry them,
and deliver them to his son Antiochus; and desired him to take care of
his education, and to preserve the kingdom for him. (24)
This Antiochus died in the hundred forty and ninth year; but it was Lysias
that declared his death to the multitude, and appointed his son Antiochus
to be king, (of whom at present he had the care,) and called him Eupator.
3. At this time it was that the garrison in the citadel of Jerusalem,
with the Jewish runagates, did a great deal of harm to the Jews; for the
soldiers that were in that garrison rushed out upon the sudden, and destroyed
such as were going up to the temple in order to offer their sacrifices,
for this citadel adjoined to and overlooked the temple. When these misfortunes
had often happened to them, Judas resolved to destroy that garrison; whereupon
he got all the people together, and vigorously besieged those that were
in the citadel. This was in the hundred and fiftieth year of the dominion
of the Seleucidse. So he made engines of war, and erected bulwarks, and
very zealously pressed on to take the citadel. But there were not a few
of the runagates who were in the place that went out by night into the
country, and got together some other wicked men like themselves, and went
to Antiochus the king, and desired of him that he would not suffer them
to be neglected, under the great hardships that lay upon them from those
of their own nation; and this because their sufferings were occasioned
on his father's account, while they left the religious worship of their
fathers, and preferred that which he had commanded them to follow: that
there was danger lest the citadel, and those appointed to garrison it by
the king, should be taken by Judas, and those that were with him, unless
he would send them succors. When Antiochus, who was but a child, heard
this, he was angry, and sent for his captains and his friends, and gave
order that they should get an army of mercenaries together, with such men
also of his own kingdom as were of an age fit for war. Accordingly, an
army was collected of about a hundred thousand footmen, and twenty thousand
horsemen, and thirty-two elephants.
4. So the king took this army, and marched hastily out of Antioch, with
Lysias, who had the command of the whole, and came to Idumea, and thence
went up to the city Bethsnra, a city that was strong, and not to be taken
without great difficulty. He set about this city, and besieged it. And
while the inhabitants of Bethsura courageously opposed him, and sallied
out upon him, and burnt his engines of war, a great deal of time was spent
in the siege. But when Judas heard of the king's coming, he raised the
siege of the citadel, and met the king, and pitched his camp in certain
straits, at a place called Bethzachriah, at the distance of seventy furlongs
from the enemy; but the king soon drew his forces from Bethsura, and brought
them to those straits. And as soon as it was day, he put his men in battle-array,
and made his elephants follow one another through the narrow passes, because
they could not be set sideways by one another. Now round about every elephant
there were a thousand footmen, and five hundred horsemen. The elephants
also had high towers [upon their backs], and archers [in them]. And he
also made the rest of his army to go up the mountains, and put his friends
before the rest; and gave orders for the army to shout aloud, and so he
attacked the enemy. He also exposed to sight their golden and brazen shields,
so that a glorious splendor was sent from them; and when they shouted the
mountains echoed again. When Judas saw this, he was not terrified, but
received the enemy with great courage, and slew about six hundred of the
first ranks. But when his brother Eleazar, whom they called Auran, saw
the tallest of all the elephants armed with royal breastplates, and supposed
that the king was upon him, he attacked him with great quickness and bravery.
He also slew many of those that were about the elephant, and scattered
the rest, and then went under the belly of the elephant, and smote him,
and slew him; so the elephant fell upon Eleazar, and by his weight crushed
him to death. And thus did this man come to his end, when he had first
courageously destroyed manyof his enemies.
5. But Judas, seeing the strength of the enemy, retired to Jerusalem,
and prepared to endure a siege. As for Antiochus, he sent part of his army
to Bethsura, to besiege it, and with the rest of his army he came against
Jerusalem; but the inhabitants of Bethsura were terrified at his strength;
and seeing that their provisions grew scarce,. they delivered themselves
up on the security of oaths that they should suffer no hard treatment from
the king. And when Antiochus had thus taken the city, he did them no other
harm than sending them out naked. He also placed a garrison of his own
in the city. But as for the temple of Jerusalem, he lay at its siege a
long time, while they within bravely defended it; for what engines soever
the king set against them, they set other engines again to oppose them.
But then their provisions failed them; what fruits of the ground they had
laid up were spent and the land being not ploughed that year, continued
unsowed, because it was the seventh year, on which, by our laws, we are
obliged to let it lay uncultivated. And withal, so many of the besieged
ran away for want of necessaries, that but a few only were left in the
temple.
6. And these happened to be the circumstances of such as were besieged
in the temple. But then, because Lysias, the general of the army, and Antiochus
the king, were informed that Philip was coming upon them out of Persia,
and was endeavoring to get the management of public affairs to himself,
they came into these sentiments, to leave the siege, and to make haste
to go against Philip; yet did they resolve not to let this be known to
the soldiers or to the officers: but the king commanded Lysias to speak
openly to the soldiers and the officers, without saying a word about the
business of Philip; and to intimate to them that the siege would be very
long; that the place was very strong; that they were already in want of
provisions; that many affairs of the kingdom wanted regulation; and that
it was much better to make a league with the besieged, and to become friends
to their whole nation, by permitting them to observe the laws of their
fathers, while they broke out into this war only because they were deprived
of them, and so to depart home. When Lysias had discoursed thus to them,
both the army and the officers were pleased with this resolution.
7. Accordingly the king sent to Judas, and to those that were besieged
with them, and promised to give them peace, and to permit them to make
use of, and live according to, the laws of their fathers; and they gladly
received his proposals; and when they had gained security upon oath for
their performance, they went out of the temple. But when Antiochus came
into it, and saw how strong the place was, he broke his oaths, and ordered
his army that was there to pluck down the walls to the ground; and when
he had so done, he returned to Antioch. He also carried with him Onias
the high priest, who was also called Menelaus; for Lysias advised the king
to slay Menelaus, if he would have the Jews be quiet, and cause him no
further disturbance, for that this man was the origin of all the mischief
the Jews had done them, by persuading his father to compel the Jews to
leave the religion of their fathers. So the king sent Menelaus to Berea,
a city of Syria, and there had him put to death, when he had been high
priest ten years. He had been a wicked and an impious man; and, in order
to get the government to himself, had compelled his nation to transgress
their own laws. After the death of Menelaus, Alcimus, who was also called
Jacimus, was made high priest. But when king Antiochus found that Philip
had already possessed himself of the government, he made war against him,
and subdued him, and took him, and slew him. Now as to Onias, the son of
the high priest, who, as we before informed you, was left a child when
his father died, when he saw that the king had slain his uncle Menelaus,
and given the high priesthood to Alcimus, who was not of the high priest
stock, but was induced by Lysias to translate that dignity from his family
to another house, he fled to Ptolemy, king of Egypt; and when he found
he was in great esteem with him, and with his wife Cleopatra, he desired
and obtained a place in the Nomus of Heliopolis, wherein he built a temple
like to that at Jerusalem; of which therefore we shall hereafter give an
account, in a place more proper for it.
CHAPTER 10.
HOW BACCHIDES, THE GENERAL OF DEMETRIUS'S ARMY, MADE AN EXPEDITION
AGAINST JUDEA, AND RETURNED WITHOUT SUCCESS; AND HOW NICANOR WAS SENT A
LITTLE AFTERWARD AGAINST JUDAS AND PERISHED, TOGETHER WITH HIS ARMY; AS
ALSO CONCERNING THE DEATH OF ALCIMUS AND THE SUCCESSION OF JUDAS.
1. ABOUT the same time Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, fled away from
Rome, and took Tripoli, a city of Syria, and set the diadem on his own
head. He also gathered certain mercenary soldiers together, and entered
into his kingdom, and was joyfully received by all, who delivered themselves
up to him. And when they had taken Autiochus the king, and Lysias, they
brought them to him alive; both which were immediately put to death by
the command of Demetrius, when Antiochus had reigned two years, as we have
already elsewhere related. But there were now many of the wicked Jewish
runagates that came together to him, and with them Alcimus the high priest,
who accused the whole nation, and particularly Judas and his brethren;
and said that they had slain all his friends, and that those in his kingdom
that were of his party, and waited for his return, were by them put to
death; that these men had ejected them out of their own country, and caused
them to be sojourners in a foreign land; and they desired that he would
send some one of his own friends, and know from him what mischief Judas's
party had done.
2. At this Demetrius was very angry, and sent Bacchides, a friend of
Antiochus Epiphanes, (25)
a good man, and one that had been intrusted with all Mesopotamia, and gave
him an army, and committed Alcimus the high priest to his care; and gave
him charge to slay Judas, and those that were with him. So Bacchides made
haste, and went out of Antioch with his army; and when he was come into
Judea, he sent to Judas and his brethren, to discourse with them about
a league of friendship and peace, for he had a mind to take him by treachery.
But Judas did not give credit to him, for he saw that he came with so great
an army as men do not bring when they come to make peace, but to make war.
However, some of the people acquiesced in what Bacchides caused to be proclaimed;
and supposing they should undergo no considerable harm from Alcimus, who
was their countryman, they went over to them; and when they had received
oaths from both of them, that neither they themselves, nor those of the
same sentiments, should come to any harm, they intrusted themselves with
them. But Bacchides troubled not himself about the oaths he had taken,
but slew threescore of them, although, by not keeping his faith with those
that first went over, he deterred all the rest, who had intentions to go
over to him, from doing it. But as he was gone out of Jerusalem, and was
at the village called Bethzetho, he sent out, and caught many of the deserters,
and some of the people also, and slew them all; and enjoined all that lived
in the country to submit to Alcimus. So he left him there, with some part
of the army, that he might have wherewith to keep the country in obedience
and returned to Antioch to king Demetrius.
3. But Alcimus was desirous to have the dominion more firmly assured
to him; and understanding that, if he could bring it about that the multitude
should be his friends, he should govern with greater security, he spake
kind words to them all, and discoursed to each of them after an agreeable
and pleasant manner; by which means he quickly had a great body of men
and an army about him, although the greater part of them were of the wicked,
and the deserters. With these, whom he used as his servants and soldiers,
he went all over the country, and slew all that he could find of Judas's
party. But when Judas saw that Alcimus was already become great, and had
destroyed many of the good and holy men of the country, he also went all
over the country, and destroyed those that were of the other party. But
when Alcimus saw that he was not able to oppose Judas, nor was equal to
him in strength, he resolved to apply himself to king Demetrius for his
assistance; so he came to Antioch, and irritated him against Judas, and
accused him, alleging that he had undergone a great many miseries by his
means, and that he would do more mischief unless he were prevented, and
brought to punishment, which must be done by sending a powerful force against
him.
4. So Demetrius, being already of opinion that it would be a thing pernicious
to his own affairs to overlook Judas, now he was becoming so great, sent
against him Nicanor, the most kind and most faithful of all his friends;
for he it was who fled away with him from the city of Rome. He also gave
him as many forces as he thought sufficient for him to conquer Judas withal,
and bid him not to spare the nation at all. When Nicanor was come to Jerusalem,
he did not resolve to fight Judas immediately, but judged it better to
get him into his power by treachery; so he sent him a message of peace,
and said there was no manner of necessity for them to fight and hazard
themselves; and that he would give him his oath that he would do him no
harm, for that he only came with some friends, in order to let him know
what king Demetrius's intentions were, and what opinion he had of their
nation. When Nicanor had delivered this message, Judas and his brethren
complied with him, and suspecting no deceit, they gave him assurances of
friendship, and received Nicanor and his army; but while he was saluting
Judas, and they were talking together, he gave a certain signal to his
own soldiers, upon which they were to seize upon Judas; but he perceived
the treachery, and ran back to his own soldiers, and fled away with them.
So upon this discovery of his purpose, and of the snares laid for Judas,
Nicanor determined to make open war with him, and gathered his army together,
and prepared for fighting him; and upon joining battle with him at a certain
village called Capharsalama, he beat Judas, (26)
and forced him to fly to that citadel which was at Jerusalem.
5. And when Nicanor came down from the citadel unto the temple, some
of the priests and elders met him, and saluted him; and showed him the
sacrifices which they offered to God for the king: upon which he blasphemed,
and threatened them, that unless the people would deliver up Judas to him,
upon his return he would pull clown their temple. And when he had thus
threatened them, he departed from Jerusalem. But the priests fell into
tears out of grief at what he had said, and besought God to deliver them
from their enemies But now for Nicanor, when he was gone out of Jerusalem,
and was at a certain village called Bethoron, he there pitched his camp,
another army out of Syria having joined him. And Judas pitched his camp
at Adasa, another village, which was thirty furlongs distant from Bethoron,
having no more than one thousand soldiers. And when he had encouraged them
not to be dismayed at the multitude of their enemies, nor to regard how
many they were against whom they were going to fight, but to consider who
they themselves were, and for what great rewards they hazarded themselves,
and to attack the enemy courageously, he led them out to fight, and joining
battle with Nicanor, which proved to be a severe one, he overcame the enemy,
and slew many of them; and at last Nicanor himself, as he was fighting
gloriously, fell: - upon whose fall the army did not stay; but when they
had lost their general, they were put to flight, and threw down their arms.
Judas also pursued them and slew them, and gave notice by the sound of
the trumpets to the neighboring villages that he had conquered the enemy;
which, when the inhabitants heard, they put on their armor hastily, and
met their enemies in the face as they were running away, and slew them,
insomuch that not one of them escaped out of this battle, who were in number
nine thousand This victory happened to fall on the thirteenth day of that
month which by the Jews is called Adar and by the Macedonians Dystrus;
and the Jews thereon celebrate this victory every year, and esteem it as
a festival day. After which the Jewish nation were, for a while, free from
wars, and enjoyed peace; but afterward they returned into their former
state of wars and hazards.
6. But now as the high priest Alcimus, was resolving to pull down the
wall of the sanctuary, which had been there of old time, and had been built
by the holy prophets, he was smitten suddenly by God, and fell down. (27)
This stroke made him fall down speechless upon the ground; and undergoing
torments for many days, he at length died, when he had been high priest
four years. And when he was dead, the people bestowed the high priesthood
on Judas; who hearing of the power of the Romans, and that they had conquered
in war Galatia, and Iberia, and Carthage, and Libya; and that, besides
these, they had subdued Greece, and their kings, Perseus, and Philip, and
Antiochus the Great also; he resolved to enter into a league of friendship
with them. He therefore sent to Rome some of his friends, Eupolemus the
son of John, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and by them desired the Romans
that they would assist them, and be their friends, and would write to Demetrius
that he would not fight against the Jews. So the senate received the ambassadors
that came from Judas to Rome, and discoursed with them about the errand
on which they came, and then granted them a league of assistance. They
also made a decree concerning it, and sent a copy of it into Judea. It
was also laid up in the capitol, and engraven in brass. The decree itself
was this: "The decree of the senate concerning a league of assistance
and friendship with the nation of the Jews. It shall not be lawful for
any that are subject to the Romans to make war with the nation of the Jews,
nor to assist those that do so, either by sending them corn, or ships,
or money; and if any attack be made upon the Jews, the Romans shall assist
them, as far as they are able; and again, if any attack be made upon the
Romans, the Jews shall assist them. And if the Jews have a mind to add
to, or to take away any thing from, this league of assistance, that shall
be done with the common consent of the Romans. And whatsoever addition
shall thus be made, it shall be of force." This decree was written
by Eupolemus the son of John, and by Jason the son of Eleazar, (28)
when Judas was high priest of the nation, and Simon his brother was general
of the army. And this was the first league that the Romans made with the
Jews, and was managed after this manner.
CHAPTER 11.
THAT BACCHIDES WAS AGAIN SENT OUT AGAINST JUDAS; AND HOW
JUDAS FELL AS HE WAS COURAGEOUSLY FIGHTING.
1. BUT when Demetrius was informed of the death of Nicanor, and of the
destruction of the army that was with him, he sent Bacchides again with
an army into Judea, who marched out of Antioch, and came into Judea, and
pitched his camp at Arbela, a city of Galilee; and having besieged and
taken those that were there in caves, (for many of the people fled into
such places,) he removed, and made all the haste he could to Jerusalem.
And when he had learned that Judas had pitched his camp at a certain village
whose name was Bethzetho, he led his army against him: they were twenty
thousand foot-men, and two thousand horsemen. Now Judas had no more soldiers
than one thousand. (29)
When these saw the multitude of Bacchides's men, they were afraid, and
left their camp, and fled all away, excepting eight hundred. Now when Judas
was deserted by his own soldiers, and the enemy pressed upon him, and gave
him no time to gather his army together, he was disposed to fight with
Bacchides's army, though he had but eight hundred men with him; so he exhorted
these men to undergo the danger courageously, and encouraged them to attack
the enemy. And when they said they were not a body sufficient to fight
so great an army, and advised that they should retire now, and save themselves
and that when he had gathered his own men together, then he should fall
upon the enemy afterwards, his answer was this: "Let not the sun ever
see such a thing, that I should show my back to the enemy and although
this be the time that will bring me to my end, and I must die in this battle,
I will rather stand to it courageously, and bear whatsoever comes upon
me, than by now running away bring reproach upon my former great actions,
or tarnish their glory." This was the speech he made to those that
remained with him, whereby he encouraged them to attack the enemy.
2. But Bacchldes drew his army out of their camp, and put them in array
for the battle. He set the horsemen on both the wings, and the light soldiers
and the archers he placed before the whole army, but he was himself on
the right wing. And when he had thus put his army in order of battle, and
was going to join battle with the enemy, he commanded the trumpeter to
give a signal of battle, and the army to make a shout, and to fall on the
enemy. And when Judas had done the same, he joined battle with them; and
as both sides fought valiantly, and the battle continued till sun-set,
Judas saw that Bacehides and the strongest part of the army was in the
right wing, and thereupon took the most courageous men with him, and ran
upon that part of the army, and fell upon those that were there, and broke
their ranks, and drove them into the middle, and forced them to run away,
and pursued them as far as to a mountain called Aza: but when those of
the left wing saw that the right wing was put to flight, they encompassed
Judas, and pursued him, and came behind him, and took him into the middle
of their army; so being not able to fly, but encompassed round about with
enemies, he stood still, and he and those that were with him fought; and
when he had slain a great many of those that came against him, he at last
was himself wounded, and fell and gave up the ghost, and died in a way
like to his former famous actions. When Judas was dead, those that were
with him had no one whom they could regard [as their commander]; but when
they saw themselves deprived of such a general, they fled. But Simon and
Jonathan, Judas's brethren, received his dead body by a treaty from the
enemy, and carried it to the village of Modin, where their father had been
buried, and there buried him; while the multitude lamented him many days,
and performed the usual solemn rites of a funeral to him. And this was
the end that Judas came to. He had been a man of valor and a great warrior,
and mindful of the commands of their father Matrathins; and had undergone
all difficulties, both in doing and suffering, for the liberty of his countrymen.
And when his character was so excellent [while he was alive], he left behind
him a glorious reputation and memorial, by gaining freedom for his nation,
and delivering them from slavery under the Macedonians. And when he had
retained the high priesthood three years, he died.
ENDNOTE
(1)
Here Josephus uses the very word koinopltagia, "eating things common,"
for "eating things unclean;" as does our New Testament, Acts
10:14, 15, 28; 11:8, 9; Romans 14:14,
(2)
The great number of these Jews and Samaritans that were formerly carried
into Egypt by Alexander, and now by Ptolemy the son of Lagus, appear afterwards
in the vast multitude who as we shall see presently, were soon ransomed
by Philadelphus, and by him made free, before he sent for the seventy-two
interpreters; in the many garrisons and other soldiers of that nation in
Egypt; in the famous settlement of Jews, and the number of their synagogues
at Alexandria, long afterward; and in the vehement contention between the
Jews and Samatitans under Philometer, about the place appointed for public
worship in the law of Moses, whether at the Jewish temple of Jerusalem,
or at the Samaritan temple of Gerizzim; of all which our author treats
hereafter. And as to the Samaritans carried into Egypt under the same princes,
Scaliger supposes that those who have a great synagogue at Cairo, as also
those whom the Arabic geographer speaks of as having seized on an island
in the Red Sea, are remains of them at this very day, as the notes here
inform us.
(3)
Of the translation of the other parts of the Old Testament by seventy Egyptian
Jews, in the reigns of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, and Philadelphus; as also
of the translation of the Pentateuch by seventy-two Jerusalem Jews, in
the seventh year of Philadelphus at Alexandria, as given us an account
of by Aristeus, and thence by Philo and Josephus, with a vindication of
Aristeus's history; see the Appendix to Lit. Accorap. of Proph. at large,
p. 117--152.
(4)
Although this number one hundred and twenty drachmee [of Alexandria, or
sixty Jewish shekels] be here three times repeated, and that in all Josephus's
copies, Greek and Latin; yet since all the copies of Aristeus, whence Josephus
took his relation, have this sum several times, and still as no more than
twenty drachmae, or ten Jewish shekels; and since the sum of the talents,
to be set down presently, which is little above four hundred and sixty,
for somewhat more than one hundred thousand slaves, and is nearly the same
in Josephus and Aristeus, does better agree to twenty than to one hundred
and twenty drachmae; and since the value of a slave of old was at the utmost
but thirty shekels, or sixty drachmae; see Exodus 21:32; while in the present
circumstances of these Jewish slaves, and those so very numerous, Philadelphus
would rather redeem them at a cheaper than at a dearer rate; — there is
great reason to prefer here Aristeus's copies before Josephus's.
(5)
We have a very great encomium of this Simon the Just, the son of Onias,
in the fiftieth chapter of the Ecclesiasticus, through the whole chapter.
Nor is it improper to consult that chapter itself upon this occasion.
(6)
When we have here and presently mention made of Philadelphus's queen and
sister Arsinoe, we are to remember, with Spanheim, that Arsinoe was both
his sister and his wife, according to the old custom of Persia, and of
Egypt at this very time; nay, of the Assyrians long afterwards. See Antiq.
B. XX. ch. 2. sect. 1. Whence we have, upon the coins of Philadelphus,
this known inscription, "The divine brother and sister."
(7)
The Talmudists say, that it is not lawful to write the law in letters of
gold, contrary to this certain and very ancient example. See Hudson's and
Reland's notes here.
(8)
This is the most ancient example I have met with of a grace, or short prayer,
or thanksgiving before meat; which, as it is used to be said by a heathen
priest, was now said by Eleazar, a Jewish priest, who was one of these
seventy-two interpreters. The next example I have met with, is that of
the Essenes, (Of the War, B. II. ch. 8. sect. 5,) both before and after
it; those of our Savior before it, Mark 8:6; John 6:11, 23; and St. Paul,
Acts 27:35; and a form of such a grace or prayer for Christians, at the
end of the fifth book of the Apostolical Constitutions, which seems to
have been intended for both times, both before and after meat.
(9)
They were rather political questions and answers, tending to the good and
religious government of mankind.
(10)
This purification of the interpreters, by washing in the sea, before they
prayed to God every morning, and before they set about translating, may
be compared with the like practice of Peter the apostle, in the Recognitions
of Clement, B. IV. ch. 3., and B. V. ch. 36., and with the places of the
Proseuchre, or of prayer, which were sometimes built near the sea or rivers
also; of which matter see Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 10. sect. 9,3; Acts 16:13.
16.
(11)
The use of oil was much greater, and the donatives of it much more valuable,
in Judea, and the neighboring countries, than it is amongst us. It was
also, in the days of Josephus, thought unlawful for Jews to make use of
any oil that was prepared by heathens, perhaps on account of some superstitions
intermixed with its preparation by those heathens. When therefore the heathens
were to make them a donative of oil,: they paid them money instead of it.
See Of the War, B. II. ch. 21. sect. 2; the Life of Josephus, sect. 13;
and Hudson's note on the place before us.
(12)
This, and the like great and just characters, of the justice, and equity.
and generosity of the old Romans, both to the Jews and other conquered
nations, affords us a very good reason why Almighty God, upon the rejection
of the Jews for their wickedness, chose them for his people, and first
established Christianity in that empire; of which matter see Josephus here,
sect. 2; as also Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 10. sect. 22, 23; B. XVI. ch. 2. sect.
4.
(13)
The name of this place, Phicol, is the very same with that of the chief
captain of Abimelech's host, in the days of Abraham, Genesis 21:22, and
might possibly be the place of that Phicol's nativity or abode, for it
seems to have been in the south part of Palestine, as that was.
(14)
Whence it comes that these Lacedemonians declare themselves here to be
of kin to the Jews, as derived from the same ancestor, Abraham, I cannot
tell, unless, as Grotius supposes, they were derived from Dores, that came
of the Pelasgi. These are by Herodotus called Barbarians, and perhaps were
derived from the Syrians and Arabians, the posterity of Abraham by Keturah.
See Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 10. sect. 22; and Of the War, B. I. ch. 26. sect.
l; and Grot. on 1 Macc. 12:7. We may further observe from the Recognitions
of Clement, that Eliezer, of Damascus, the servant of Abraham, Genesis
15:2; 24., was of old by some taken for his son. So that if the Lacedemonians
were sprung from him, they might think themselves to be of the posterity
of Abraham, as well as the Jews, who were sprung from Isaac. And perhaps
this Eliezer of Damascus is that very Damascus whom Trogus Pompeius, as
abridged by Justin, makes the founder of the Jewish nation itself, though
he afterwards blunders, and makes Azelus, Adores, Abraham, and Israel kings
of Judea, and successors to this Damascus. It may not be improper to observe
further, that Moses Chorenensis, in his history of the Armenians, informs
us, that the nation of the Parthians was also derived from Abraham by Keturah
and her children.
(15)
This word" Gymnasium" properly denotes a place where the exercises
were performed naked, which because it would naturally distinguish circumcised
Jews from uncircumcised Gentiles, these Jewish apostates endeavored to
appear uncircumcised, by means of a surgical operation, hinted at by St.
Paul, 1 Corinthians 7:18, and described by Celsus, B. VII. ch. 25., as
Dr. Hudson here informs us.
(16)
Hereabout Josephus begins to follow the First Book of the Maccabees, a
most excellent and most authentic history; and accordingly it is here,
with great fidelity and exactness, abridged by him; between whose present
copies there seem to he fewer variations than in any other sacred Hebrew
book of the Old Testament whatsoever, (for this book also was originally
written in Hebrew,) which is very natural, because it was written so much
nearer to the times of Josephus than the rest were.
(17)
This citadel, of which we have such frequent mention in the following history,
both in the Maccabees and Josephus, seems to have been a castle built on
a hill, lower than Mount Zion, though upon its skirts, and higher than
Mount Moriah, but between them both; which hill the enemies of the Jews
now got possession of, and built on it this citadel, and fortified it,
till a good while afterwards the Jews regained it, demolished it, and leveled
the hill itself with the common ground, that their enemies might no more
recover it, and might thence overlook the temple itself, and do them such
mischief as they had long undergone from it, Antiq. B. XIII. ch. 6. sect.
6.
(18)
This allegation of the Samaritans is remarkable, that though they were
not Jews, yet did they, from ancient times, observe the Sabbath day, and,
as they elsewhere pretend, the Sabbatic year also, Antiq. B. XI. ch. 8.
sect. 6.
(19)
That this appellation of Maccabee was not first of all given to Judas Maccabeus,
nor was derived from any initial letters of the Hebrew words on his banner,
"Mi Kamoka Be Elire, Jehovah?" ("Who is like unto thee among
the gods, O Jehovah?") Exodus 15:11 as the modern Rabbins vainly pretend,
see Authent. Rec. Part I. p. 205, 206. Only we may note, by the way, that
the original name of these Maccabees, and their posterity, was Asamoneans;
which was derived from Asamoneus, the great-grandfather of Mattathias,
as Josephus here informs us.
(20)
The reason why Bethshah was called Scythopolis is well known from Herodotus,
B. I. p. 105, and Syncellus, p. 214, that the Scythians, when they overran
Asia, in the days of Josiah, seized on this city, and kept it as long as
they continued in Asia, from which time it retained the name of Scythopolis,
or the City of the Scythians.
(21)
This most providential preservation of all the religious Jews in this expedition,
which was according to the will of God, is observable often among God's
people, the Jews; and somewhat very like it in the changes of the four
monarchies, which were also providential. See Prideaux at the years 331,
333, and 334.
(22)
Here is another great instance of Providence, that when, even at the very
time that Simon, and Judas, and Jonathan were so miraculously preserved
and blessed, in the just defense of their laws and religion, these other
generals of the Jews, who went to fight for honor in a vain-glorious way,
and without any commission from God, or the family he had raised up to
deliver them, were miserably disappointed and defeated. See 1 Macc. 5:61,
62.
(23)
Since St. Paul, a Pharisee, confesses that he had not known concupiscence,
or desires, to be sinful, had not the tenth commandment said, "Thou
shalt not covet," Romans 7:7, the case seems to have been much the
same with our Josephus, who was of the same sect, that he had not a deep
sense of the greatness of any sins that proceeded no further than the intention.
However, since Josephus speaks here properly of the punishment of death,
which is not intended by any law, either of God or man, for the bare intention,
his words need not to be strained to mean, that sins intended, but not
executed, were no sins at all.
(24)
No wonder that Josephus here describes Antiochus Eupator as young, and
wanting tuition, when he came to the crown, since Appian informs us (Syriac.
p. 177) that he was then but nine years old.
(25)
It is no way probable that Josephus would call Bacchidoa, that bitter and
bloody enemy of the Jews, as our present copies have it, a man good, or
kind, and gentle, What the author of the First Book of Maccabees, whom
Josephus here follows, instead of that character, says of him, is, that
he was a great man in the kingdom, and faithful to his king; which was
very probably Josephus's meaning also.
(26)
Josephus's copies must have been corrupted when they here give victory
to Nicanor, contrary to the words following, which imply that he who was
beaten fled into the citadel, which for certain belonged to the city of
David, or to Mount Zion, and was in the possession of Nicanor's garrison,
and not of Judas's. As also it is contrary to the express words of Josephus's
original author, 1 Macc. 7:32, who says that Nicanor lost about five thousand
men, and fled to the city of David.
(27)
This account of the miserable death of Alcimus, or Jac-mus, the wicked
high priest, (the first that was not of the family of the high priests,
and made by a vile heathen, Lysias,) before the death of Judas, and of
Judas's succession to him as high priest, both here, and at the conclusion
of this book, directly contradicts 1 Macc. 9:54-57, which places his death
after the death of Judas, and says not a syllable of the high priesthood
of Judas. How well the Roman histories agree to this account of the conquests
and powerful condition of the Romans at this time, see the notes in Havercamp's
edition; only that the number of the senators of Rome was then just three
hundred and twenty, is, I think, only known from 1 Macc. 8:15.
(28)
This subscription is wanting 1 Macc. 8:17, 29, and must be the words of
Josephus, who by mistake thought, as we have just now seen, that Judas
was at this time high priest, and accordingly then reckoned his brother
Jonathan to be the general of the army, which yet he seems not to have
been till after the death of Judas.
(29)
That this copy of Josephus, as he wrote it, had here not one thousand,
but three thousand, with 1 Macc 9:5, is very plain, because though the
main part ran away at first, even in Josephus, as well as in 1 Macc. 9:6,
yet, as there, so here, eight hundred are said to have remained with Judas,
which would be absurd, if the whole number had been no more than one thousand.
Antiquities of the Jews
War of the Jews
Autobiography
Hades
Against Apion