The Makers and Teachers of Judaism by Charles Foster Kent

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[Sidenote: I Macc. 10:1-6]
Now in the one hundred and sixtieth year, Alexander the son of Antiochus
Epiphanes went up and took possession of Ptolemais, and they received him,
and he reigned there. When King Demetrius heard of it, he gathered very
large forces and went out to meet him in battle. Demetrius also sent
letters to Jonathan with words of peace, so as to honor him greatly. For
he said, Let us get the start in making peace with them before he makes a
compact with Alexander against us. For he will remember all the wrongs
that we have done to him, and to his brothers and his nation. And he gave
him authority to collect forces and to provide arms and to be his ally.
Also he commanded that they should deliver up to him the hostages who were
in the citadel.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 10:7-14]
Then Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read the letters in the hearing of
all the people, and of those who were in the citadel. And they were
greatly afraid when they heard that the king had given him authority to
collect an army. And the garrison delivered up the hostages to Jonathan,
and he restored them to their parents. And Jonathan took up his residence
in Jerusalem and began to rebuild and renew the city. And he commanded
those who did the work to build the walls and Mount Zion round about with
square stones for defence; and they did so. Then the foreigners, who were
in the strongholds which Bacchides had built, fled, and each man left his
place and went into his own land. Only some of those who had forsaken the
law and the commandments were left at Bethsura, because it was an asylum
for them.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 10:15-17]
And when King Alexander heard all the promises which Demetrius had made to
Jonathan and had been told of the battles which he and his brothers had
fought and the valiant deeds that they had done and of the hardships which
they had endured, he said, Shall we find such another man? Now therefore
let us make him our friend and ally. So he wrote letters and sent them to
him with contents like these:

King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greeting: We have heard of you
that you are a valiant man and fit to be our friend. And now we have
appointed you to-day to be high priest of your nation and to be called the
king's Friend (and he sent to him a purple robe and a crown of gold), and
to take our part and to remain on friendly terms with us.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 10:21]
And Jonathan put on the holy garments in the seventh month of the hundred
and sixtieth year at the feast of tabernacles, and he gathered together
forces, and provided arms in abundance.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 10:67-71]
Now in the one hundred and sixty-fifth year, Demetrius son of Demetrius,
came from Crete into the land of his fathers. Then King Alexander heard of
it, and he was exceedingly troubled and returned to Antioch. And Demetrius
appointed Apollonius, who was over Coele-Syria, and he collected a great
army and encamped in Jamnia, and sent to Jonathan the high priest this
message:

You alone are hostile to us, and I have become a laughing-stock and butt
of ridicule on account of you. Now why do you flaunt your power against us
in the mountains? If, indeed, you trust your forces, come down to us in
the plain, and there let us try the matter together, because with me is
the power of the cities.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 10:74-76]
Now when Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, he was stirred to anger,
and he chose ten thousand men and went forth from Jerusalem, and Simon his
brother met him to help him. And he encamped against Joppa. The people of
the city, however, shut him out, because Apollonius had a garrison in
Joppa. So they fought against it. Then the people of the city were afraid
and opened to him, and Jonathan became master of Joppa.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 11:20-27]
At that time Jonathan gathered together the people of Judea to take the
citadel that was at Jerusalem, and he erected many engines of war against
it. Some, however, who hated their own nation, apostates, went to the
king, and reported to him that Jonathan was besieging the citadel. And
when he heard it, he was angry, and immediately after he heard of it he
set out and came to Ptolemais, and wrote to Jonathan that he should not
besiege it, and that he should meet him and confer with him at Ptolemais
with all speed. But when Jonathan heard this, he gave orders to proceed
with the siege, while he chose certain of the elders of Israel and of the
priests, and putting himself in peril, and taking silver and gold and
garments, and various presents besides, he went to the king at Ptolemais.
And he was favorably received; and although some apostates of the nation
Made complaints against him, the king treated him just as his predecessors
had done and exalted him in the presence of all his Friends, both
confirming to him the high priesthood, and all the other honors that he
had before, and giving him preeminence among his Chief Friends.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 11:28, 29]
And Jonathan requested the king to make Judea free from tribute, together
with the three districts of Samaria, and he promised him three hundred
talents. And the king consented and wrote letters to Jonathan concerning
all these things.

I. The Political Situation. The position of the Jewish patriots was both
perilous and tragic. A ring of hostile peoples pressed them closely on
every side. The Jews were the victims of centuries of wrong and hatred.
Those residing in the neighboring lands also suffered from this widespread
and bitter hostility. Among all the peoples of southwestern Asia they had
no allies except the Nabateans, an Arabian people that had driven the
Edomites from their home on Mount Seir. The only bond that bound them to
this ambitious heathen race was the common hatred of the Syrians. It was
natural, therefore, that Judas a little later should send an embassy with
the object of securing the moral support, if not the direct intervention,
of the distant Roman power whose influence was beginning to be felt
throughout all the Mediterranean coast lands. For the present, however,
Judas was dependent simply upon the sword for defence. He also had no time
for permanent conquest, for he must prepare himself for the heavier blow
that the court of Antioch was preparing to deliver. All that he could do,
therefore, was to make sudden attacks upon his foes on every side and
rescue the persecuted Jews by bringing them back with him to Judea.

II. The Jewish Attitude toward the Heathen Reflected in the Book of
Esther. In these perilous circumstances it is not strange that the Jews
gravitated far from the position of broad tolerance advocated by the II
Isaiah and the authors of the prophecy of Malachi and in the stories of
Ruth and Jonah. In the stress of conflict they completely lost sight of
their mission as Jehovah's witnesses to all the world. The destruction of
the heathen seemed to them absolutely necessary if Jehovah's justice was
to be vindicated. The spirit of this warlike, blood-thirsty age is most
clearly formulated in the book of Esther. The presence of Aramaic and
Persian words testify to its late date. It is closely allied to the
midrashim or didactic stories that were a characteristic literary product
of later Judaism. Like the stories of Daniel, the book of Esther contains
many historical inconsistencies. For example, Mordecai, carried as a
captive to Babylon in 597 B.C., is made Xerxes's prime-minister in 474
B.C. Its pictures of Persian customs are also characteristic of popular
tradition rather than of contemporary history. Its basis is apparently an
old Babylonian tradition of a great victory of the Babylonians over their
ancient foes, the Elamites. Mordecai is a modification of the name of the
Babylonian god Marduk. Estra, which appears in the Hebrew Esther, was the
late Babylonian form of the name of the Semitic goddess Ishtar. Vashti
and Hamman, the biblical Haman, were names of Elamite deities. Like
the story of creation, this tale has been Hebraized and adapted to the
story-teller's purpose. His aim is evidently to trace the origin of the
late Jewish feast of Purim. It is probable that this feast was an
adaptation of the Babylonian New-Year's feast which commemorated the
ancient victory. The story in its present form is strongly Jewish. It
exalts loyalty to the race, but its morality is far removed from that of
Amos and Isaiah. Its exultation over the slaughter of thousands of the
heathen is displeasing even in a romance, although it can easily be
understood in the light of the Maccabean age in which it was written.

III. Campaigns against the Neighboring Peoples. The first book of
Maccabees records in detail the repeated blows that Judas struck against
his heathen foes. At Akrabattine, probably identical with the Scorpion
Pass at the southwestern end of the Dead Sea, he fought and won a signal
victory over his hereditary foes, the Idumeans. His chief enemy on the
east was Timotheus, the leader of the Ammonites against whom Judas was
successful in the preliminary skirmishes. Angered by these defeats, the
heathen east of the Jordan attacked the resident Jews, who fled to one of
the towns, where they were besieged. Judas, assembling six thousand of his
picked warriors, made a rapid march of three days out into the wilderness.
He apparently carried few supplies, but depended rather upon the spoil of
the captured towns for support. Bosra, far out on the borders of the
desert, was seized and looted. Thence returning westward, he rescued the
Jews from the town of Damethah, or, as it appears in the Syriac, Rametha.
This is probably identical with the modern town of Remtheh a little south
of the Yarmuk on the great pilgrim highway from Damascus to Mecca. After
making a detour to the south he crossed the Yarmuk and captured a series
of towns lying to the north and northeast of this river. Returning he
apparently met his Ammonite foe, who had succeeded in rallying an army, at
the point where the pilgrim highway crosses the headwaters of the Yarmuk.
Here Judas won a sweeping victory. Then collecting the many Jews of the
dispersion who had settled near these upper waters of the Yarmuk, he
returned victoriously to Jerusalem. His brother Simon, who had been
despatched on a similar mission to Galilee, likewise came back bringing
many fellow-Jews and laden with spoils.

Anticipating a renewal of the Syrian attack, Judas next made a rapid
campaign into the territory of the Idumeans, capturing the old Hebrew
capital of Hebron and carrying his victories as far as Ashdod on the
western borders of the Philistine plain. Within a few months he had
overrun and partially conquered a territory larger than the kingdom of
David. In an incredibly short time this peasant warrior had won more
victories against greater odds than any other leader in Israel's
history. The results of these victories were necessarily ephemeral. They
accomplished, however, three things: (1) Judas intimidated his foes and
established his prestige; (2) he was able to rescue thousands of Jews from
the hands of the heathen; and (3) by bringing them back to Judea he
increased its population and laid the foundations of that kingdom which
rose as the result of his patriotic achievements.

IV. The Battle of Beth-zacharias. There was still a Syrian outpost in
the heart of Judea: it was the citadel at Jerusalem, which looked down
upon the temple area. This Judas attempted to capture, but in so doing
incited to action the Syrian king, Antiochus Eupator, who had succeeded
to the throne after the death of his father Antiochus Epiphanes. Under
the direction of his prime-minister Lysias he collected a huge army of one
hundred thousand infantry and twenty thousand cavalry. To this was added
thirty-two elephants with full military equipment--the heavy ordinance
used in the warfare of the period. The approach from the plain was along
the valley of Elah and up past Bethsura, as in the last Syrian campaign.
Judas, who was able at this time to rally an army of ten thousand men, met
the Syrian host near the town of Beth-zacharias, a little north of
Bethsura on the central highway from Hebron to Jerusalem. This time the
natural advantages were with the Syrians, one wing of whose army rested
upon a declining hill and the other on the level plain. Thus they were
able to utilize their entire fighting force and to launch against the
valiant Jews their elephants against which the heroism of an Eleazar was
fruitless. For the first time during this struggle Judas was defeated and
fell back upon Jerusalem, where he was closely besieged. Soon the Jews
were obliged to surrender, and the Maccabean cause would have been lost
had not complications at Antioch compelled the Syrians to retire.

V. Victories Over Nicanor. In the treaty which followed the surrender
of Jerusalem the religious liberty of the Jews was assured. This
concession satisfied the majority of the Hasideans, so that henceforth
Judas found himself deserted by a great body of his followers. The
apostate high priest who was placed in control of the temple was supported
by Syrian soldiery and Judas was obliged to resort again to outlaw life.
He succeeded, however, in winning two signal victories over Nicanor, the
Syrian general. The one at Capharsalama was probably fought near the
modern town of Kefr Silwan, across the Kidron Valley from the City of
David on the southern slope of Jerusalem. In the latter victory Nicanor
was slain, and Judas was left for the moment in control of Judea.

VI. The Death of Judas. Soon another Syrian army invaded the land. The
advance was from the northwest up over the pass of Bethhoron. A little
east of the road that ascends from Lower to Upper Bethhoron, near where he
won his first great battle and in sight of his home at Modein, the
intrepid Jewish champion fought his last battle. Terror at the approach of
the enemy had thinned his ranks until he was obliged to meet them with
only eight hundred men at his back. Even against these great odds he was
on the eve of victory when he was slain. At the sight of their fallen
leader his followers fled. This disastrous ending of his career as a
warrior obscured to a great extent the character and quality of Judas's
services for his people. In brief (1) he taught them to fight for their
rights; (2) he helped them to save their law and traditions; (3) he
secured for them religious freedom; (4) he restored many of the Jews of
the dispersion and thus prepared the way for the consolidated kingdom
which later rose with Jerusalem as the centre; (5) he inspired his
countrymen with ambitions for political independence; and (6) he set them
a noble example of courage, patriotism, and practical piety. While
measured by the higher standards of a later day Judas is not without his
faults, yet he is unquestionably one of the great heroes of Israel's
history and an example to all of unselfish and devoted patriotism.

VII. The Dissensions in the Syrian Court. The Jews ultimately attained
political independence not primarily through their own efforts, but
because the protracted contests between the rival claimants for the Syrian
throne gave them opportunities which they quickly improved. In 152 B.C. a
youth known as Alexander Balas, who claimed to be a son of Antiochus
Epiphanes, raised the standard of revolt against the reigning Syrian king,
Demetrius I. The kings of southwestern Asia and Egypt at first lent their
support to this impostor. By 150 B.C. he had succeeded in defeating and
putting to death Demetrius I. Two years later, however, Demetrius II, the
son of the deposed king, appeared with a large body of Cretan mercenaries
to contest the throne of his father. Many of the Syrian cities at once
espoused his cause. Ptolemy Philometor, of Egypt, finally turned against
Alexander Balas; and in 145 B.C. this strange adventurer was slain near
Antioch by his own followers. Soon after his death, however, one of his
generals, Tryphon, appeared with an infant son of Alexander whom he sought
to place on the Syrian throne, thus perpetuating the feud that was
constantly undermining the power of the Seleucid kingdom.

VIII. Concessions to Jonathan. The Jews profited by each turn in these
tortuous politics. In 158 B.C., after a period of outlawry in the
wilderness east of Judea, Jonathan and his followers were allowed by
Demetrius I to settle again within the bounds of Judea. Jonathan
Established his head-quarters at Michmash, the fortress famous for the
achievement of Saul's valiant son Jonathan. Here he ruled over the Jews as
a vassal of Demetrius, who retained immediate control over the citadel at
Jerusalem and the fortified cities that had been built along the borders
of Judea. On the appearance of Alexander Balas in 152 B.C. Demetrius I, in
order to retain the loyalty of the Jews, permitted Jonathan to maintain a
small standing army and to rebuild the fortifications of Jerusalem. To
outbid his rival the impostor Alexander Balas conferred upon Jonathan the
coveted honor of the high priesthood, thus making him both the civil and
religious head of the Jewish state. Disregarding his promises to Demetrius
and the contemptible character of Alexander, Jonathan at once proceeded to
establish his new authority. He was doubtless more acceptable to the
majority of the Jews than the apostate high priests whom he succeeded, but
the stricter Hasideans naturally regarded it as a sacrilege that a man
whose hands were stained with war and bloodshed should perform the holiest
duties in the temple service.

Under Alexander Balas Jonathan's power rapidly increased. He was made
governor of Judea, and, under pretence of supporting the waning fortunes
of Alexander, he captured in succession the Philistine cities of Joppa,
Azotus (Ashdod), Ascalon, and Akron. When Demetrius II became master of
Syria, Jonathan succeeded by rich gifts and diplomacy in so far gaining
the support of the new king that part of the territory of Samaria was
joined to Judea. In return for three hundred talents they were also
promised exemption from taxation. Furthermore, membership in one of the
royal orders was conferred upon the Maccabean leader. Thus by good fortune
and by often questionable diplomacy the Jews finally secured in the days
of Jonathan that freedom for which they had fought and which they had
partially won under the valiant Judas.

Section CXII. PEACE AND PROSPERITY UNDER SIMON

[Sidenote: I Macc. 11:38-40]
And when King Demetrius saw that the land was quiet before him and that
no resistance was made to him, he sent all his forces, each one to his own
home, except the foreign mercenaries, whom he had enlisted from the isles
of the heathen. All the troops, however, who had served his father hated
him. Now Tryphon was one of those who had formerly belonged to Alexander's
party, and when he saw that all the troops were murmuring against
Demetrius, he went to Yamliku, the Arabian who was bringing up Antiochus,
the young child of Alexander, and importuned him that he should deliver
him to him, that he might reign in his father's place. And he told him all
that Demetrius had done, and the hatred which his troops bore him. And he
stayed there a long time.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 11:54-56]
Now after this Tryphon returned, and with him the young child Antiochus,
and he assumed the sovereignty and put on the diadem. And there were
gathered to him all the forces which Demetrius had sent away in disgrace,
and they fought against him, and he fled and was defeated. And Tryphon
took the elephants and became master of Antioch.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 12:39-47]
Then Tryphon tried to get the sovereignty over Asia and to put on the
diadem and to engage in hostilities against Antiochus the king. But he
was afraid lest perhaps Jonathan might not allow him, and that he might
fight against him. So he sought a way to take him, that he might destroy
him. And he set out and came to Bethshan. Then Jonathan went out to meet
him with forty thousand picked soldiers and came to Bethshan. And when
Tryphon saw that he came with a great army, he was afraid to attack him,
and he received him honorably and commended him to all his Friends and
gave him gifts, and commanded his forces to be obedient to him as to
himself. And he said to Jonathan, Why have you put all this people to
trouble, since that there is no war between us? Now therefore send them
away to their homes, retaining for yourself only a few men who shall be
with you, and come with me to Ptolemais, and I will give it to you with
the rest of the strongholds and the rest of the forces and all the king's
officers, and I will set out on my way back, for this is the cause of my
coming. Then he trusted him and did even as he said, and sent away his
forces so that they departed into the land of Judah. But he reserved for
himself three thousand men, of whom he left two thousand in Galilee, while
one thousand went with him.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 12:48-53]
Now as soon as Jonathan entered Ptolemais, the people of Ptolemais shut
the gates and laid hands on him, and they slew with the sword all who came
in with him. And Tryphon sent forces and horsemen into Galilee, and into
the great plain, to destroy all of Jonathan's men. But they perceived
that he had been taken and had perished, and those who were with him, and
they encouraged one another and marched in closed ranks, prepared to
fight. And when those who were pursuing them saw that they were ready to
fight for their lives, they turned back again. Thus they all came safely
into the land of Judah, and they mourned for Jonathan and those who were
with him, and they were greatly afraid. And all Israel mourned bitterly.
Then all the heathen who were round about them sought to destroy them
utterly, for they said, They have no ruler nor any to help them, now
therefore let us fight against them and wipe out the memory of them from
among men.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 13:1-11]
Now when Simon heard that Tryphon had collected a vast army to come into
the land of Judah to destroy it utterly, and saw that the people trembled
and were greatly afraid, he went up to Jerusalem and gathered the people
together, and encouraged them and said to them, You yourselves know all
the things that I and my brothers, and my father's house, have done for
the laws and the sanctuary, and the battles and times of distress through
which we have passed. In this cause all my brothers have perished for
Israel's sake, and I alone am left. And now be it far from me that I
should spare my own life, in any time of affliction; for I am not better
than my brothers. Rather I will take revenge for my nation, and for the
sanctuary, and for our wives and children, because all the heathen are
gathered to destroy us out of pure hatred. And the courage of the people
rose as they heard these words. And they answered with a loud voice,
saying, You are our leader instead of Judas and Jonathan your brothers.
Fight our battles, and we will do all that you command. So he gathered
together all the warriors and made haste to finish the walls of Jerusalem,
and fortified the entire length of it. And he sent Jonathan the son of
Absalom at the head of a large army to Joppa, and he drove out those who
were in it, and stayed there in it.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 13:20-22]
And after this Tryphon came to invade the land and destroy it, and he went
round about by the way that goes to Adora; and Simon and his army marched
opposite and abreast of him to every place wherever he went. And the
people of the citadel sent to Tryphon ambassadors urging him to come by
forced marches through the wilderness to them and to send them supplies.
So Tryphon made ready all his cavalry to go. But that night a very deep
snow fell, so that he did not come because of the snow.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 13:23-30]
Then he set out and came to the country of Gilead, and when he came near
to Bascama, he slew Jonathan, and he was buried there. But when Tryphon
went back into his own land, Simon sent and took the bones of Jonathan his
brother, and buried them at Modein, his ancestral city. And all Israel
made great lamentation over him and mourned for him for many days. And
Simon built a monument upon the sepulchre of his father and his brothers,
and raised it aloft to the sight, with polished stone on the back and
front sides. He also set up seven pyramids, one opposite another, for his
father and his mother and his four brothers. And for these he made
artistic designs, setting about them great pillars, and upon the pillars
he fashioned different kinds of arms as an everlasting memorial, and
beside the arms ships carved, that they should be seen by all who sail on
the sea. This is the sepulchre which he made at Modein, which stands there
at the present time.

[Sidenote: I Macc. 13:33, 43-48]
Then Simon built the strongholds of Judea and fenced them about with high
towers and great walls and gates and bars, and laid up stores in the
strongholds. In those days he laid siege to Gazara, and surrounded it with
armies, and made an engine of siege and brought it up to the city, and
smote a tower and captured it. And those who were in the engine leaped
forth into the city, and there was a great tumult in the city. And the
people of the city tore their garments, and went up on the walls with
their wives and children, and cried with a loud voice, requesting Simon to
make peace with them. And they said, Do not deal with us according to our
wickednesses but according to your mercy. So Simon was reconciled to them
and did not fight against them. But he expelled them from the city and
cleansed the houses in which the idols were, and so entered into it with
singing and praise. And when he had put all uncleanness out of it, he
placed in it such men as would keep the law and made it stronger than it
was before, and built a dwelling place for himself in it.

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