A HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES IN PALESTINE, 175 BC-70 AD

CHAPTER II

THE MACCABEES

JUDAS MACCABEUS AND THE REESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 

(165-161 BC)

The condition of Judea when thus Judas succeeded to the captaincy of a religious guerilla war was briefly this: On the one side, the legitimate political powers, the high priest and the Syrian captain-general, together with a considerable number of the more aristocratic citizens, were united in the endeavor to force the nation into submission to Syria and into conformity with the religion of the rest of the known world. On the other, was a force of insurgents under Judas, made up of two very different groups of men,—the fanatical Chasidim, and the patriotic adventurers constituting the party of the Asmoneans or Maccabees. Between these two parties in the approaching civil war was the great mass of the people, doubtless at heart favorable toward Judaism, but indifferent to calls to heroic sacrifice, poor and unarmed, certain to be oppressed whichever side won, and consequently ready to submit to whichever party might for the moment be the victor. To speak of an uprising of the people is as misleading as in the case of England during the wars of the Roses.

Judas the Hammer—for such seems to be the most likely meaning of his title—is the ideal of the writer of 1 Maccabees— “a lion in his deeds, and a lion’s whelp roaring for prey”. And it must be confessed that not even Scotland can boast of a more typical border patriot, or one who better combined foresight with recklessness, genuine military ability with personal daring.

Desperate as the position of the rebels really was, the uprising at its beginning met with great good fortune. Apollonius, the commander of the Syrian forces in Judea and Samaria, was completely defeated and he himself was killed, Judas thereafter wearing his sword. Shortly afterward Seron, perhaps the commander of the Syrian forces in the maritime plain, attempted to punish Judas and came up toward Jerusalem by the way of the Beth-horons. But Judas never faltered. Appealing to his followers to remember their families and their laws, he rushed down upon the Syrians as they were crowded into a narrow defile, routed them, and pursued them into the plain with great slaughter.

Meanwhile the finances of Syria had grown so desperately bad that Antiochus undertook an expedition against the Persians to collect overdue tribute. He therefore divided his forces, giving one-half to Lysias, of the blood royal, whom he made governor-general of the region between the Euphrates and Egypt. Lysias was to dispatch at once a large force against Judas, to drive out the Jews, and divide their land among colonists.

Lysias put three generals—Ptolemy, Nicanor, and Gorgias—in charge of the army of invasion and sent them southward, so confident of victory that slave-dealers accompanied them in anticipation of a vast supply of captives. Apparently the purpose of Antiochus was no longer to Hellenize but to exterminate the Jews as a nation.

The battle of Emmaus

The news of the approach of this large force brought dismay to the Jews, but at the call of Judas large numbers of them gathered at Mizpeh, the ancient sanctuary. There they fasted, put on sackcloth and ashes, and over their ancient scriptures, upon which the persecutors had drawn images of their idols, they prayed and offered the gifts which were properly the dues of the priests. Sending away all those excused from military duty by the Law, as well as all others who might be tempted to flee, Judas organized those that were left by appointing leaders of thousands and hundreds and fifties. Thus prepared he waited upon the south side of Emmaus, near which the Syrians had also camped. Each army attempted to surprise the other by night. Gorgias, with a force of five thousand infantry and a thousand horse, succeeded in reaching the camp of Judas, but only to find it deserted. For Judas, perceiving the movement, had simultaneously marched upon the Syrians. At daybreak he fell upon them, utterly defeated them, and pursued them to Gazara, Azotus, and Jamnia. Returning to the captured camp, the Jews, without stopping to plunder it, waited for the return of Gorgias. When that general appeared and saw his camp in flames and the Jews drawn up ready for attack, he at once retreated to the Philistine cities, while the Jews passed the Sabbath in celebration and thanksgiving.

Battle of Bethzur

Yet Judas did not feel himself strong enough to retake Jerusalem, if indeed there were not other forces of Syrians to be driven from the land. It was not till the next year (165 BC), however, that Lysias came with another huge army; but instead of coming into Judea from the north or west, he made a detour and came up through Idumea and the broad wady commanded by Bethzur, twenty miles south of Jerusalem on the road to Hebron. There Judas met him with a force of ten thousand men and won a decisive victory. Lysias retreated to Antioch to raise new forces, and as the Syrian garrisons scattered over the land were too weak to face Judas and his veterans, the land was momentarily free.

Then it was that the real purpose of the revolt could be accomplished. Fresh from its victory at Bethzur, the army went to Jerusalem to restore the temple. A detachment was sent to fight against the garrison in the citadel, while, amidst great lamentation over the burned gates and profaned courts and altar, Judas appointed such priests as had not yielded to the Hellenistic madness to cleanse the holy building and to throw all polluted stones into “an unclean place” — possibly the valley of Hinnom. At the ancient altar of burnt offering they hesitated. It had been polluted, but it was still sacred. It could neither be used nor thrown away, and in their uncertainty they took it solemnly apart and stored its unhewn stones in one of the chambers of the inner court, just off holy ground, where they might rest until some prophet should come who could decide as to their final destination. Then they erected a new altar that reproduced the old, rebuilt the dilapidated temple, rooted up the groves in the courts, made new temple furniture, restored the candlestick, the altar of incense, and the table for the shewbread. At last there came the day when incense burned again upon the altar, the lamps were relighted, the great curtains were rehung. As the dawn broke on the next morning, the 25th of Chisleu, 165, three years to a day since its predecessor had been desecrated, sacrifice was offered upon the great altar, and during eight days of delirious rejoicing the people again consecrated the great area to Jehovah. From that day to this the Feast of the Dedication—or the Feast of Lights—has been celebrated.

But the Jews had not achieved independence. They had simply regained an opportunity for worshipping Jehovah. The Syrian garrison still overlooked the temple from Akra, and political independence was probably not wanted by the people as a whole. One thing only was certain: now that the temple had been reconsecrated, no Syrian should be permitted again to seize the capital. The plans of Juda were more far-reaching than the mere maintenance of the position thus far gained, and he strengthened the city’s walls, built huge towers, refortified Bethzur on the southern frontier and garrisoned it with Jewish troops. The marauding Arabs on the frontier were taught respect for the new power. The Idumeans were defeated at Akrabattene, the otherwise unknown Balanites were burned alive in their own towers, while their Greek general, Timotheus, was unable to save the Ammonites from utter defeat and the loss of Jazer with its villages.

As happened again in the fearful year 66 AD the report of the Jews’ uprising and these successes stirred to madness the neighboring heathen regions into which the Jews had pushed. The inhabitants of Gilead undertook to exterminate the Jews living east of Jordan. At the same time appeals came from the Jewish colonists in Galilee for protection against expeditions being formed in Ptolemais and other Syrian cities. Judaism was in danger throughout the land. Judas acted promptly. Simon and three thousand men were sent to bring the Jews from Galilee, while Judas and Jonathan with eight thousand men went into Gilead. The rest of the army was left to defend Jerusalem and maintain order.

Both of the expeditions were successful. Simon, after considerable fighting, rescued the Galilean Jews and brought them to safety in Judea. Judas, by swift marches, on the fifth day surprised the enemy just as they were attacking the last refuge of the Jews east of Judea, defeated them, burned several of their cities, and at Kaphana—that lost city of the Decapolis—destroyed a confederacy organized by one Timotheus, and burned the fugitives together with the temple in which they had taken refuge. But his position was too precarious to allow the raid to lead into conquest Gathering all the Jews together he forced his way with them through the city Ephron, which attempted to shut him out from the roads and fords it commanded, and at last brought them amidst great rejoicing to Jerusalem and safety.

There he was forced to make good losses caused by the reckless disobedience of his lieutenants, and then destroyed Hebron, and Azotus with its altars and its gods. Then he began a siege of the citadel (163-162 BC). But the people, especially the Chasidim, had had enough of fighting. They had regained the temple and were content. Almost at this moment, also, Syria was able to deal vigorously with the revolt.

Antiochus Epiphanes, who had found little wealth among the Persians, had died (164 BC), after a vain attempt to rob a rich temple in Elymais, overcome—as the writer of 1 Maccabees believed—by grief for the reverses he had suffered in Judea. On his death-bed, instead of confirming Lysias as guardian of the young Antiochus V—a post he already exercised—he appointed one Philip to the office. None the less Lysias refused to submit, and proclaiming his ward king, ruled as regent.

Under these circumstances the aristocratic party, whom Judas had hunted up and down Judea and had at last shut up in Akra, found it easy to interest Lysias in the further designs of the Asmoneans, and the regent at once made preparations for a new invasion of Judea. Again he approached Jerusalem from the south. Bethzur was threatened and Judas was forced to raise his siege of Akra to march to its relief. He met the Syrians near Beth-Zacharias. His troops fought desperately, his brother Eleazar being crushed to death under the elephant he had stabbed in hopes of dismounting and killing the young Antiochus. But all was to no purpose. The little force of the Jews was beaten back into Jerusalem. Bethzur received a Syrian garrison, Judas retreated to the mountains, and Jerusalem itself was immediately besieged.

Religious liberty granted by Lysias.

It was the sabbatical year, and the influx of refugees from Galilee and Gilead had seriously diminished the provisions of the city. The Syrians had siege artillery, while the Jews had none except that improvised during the siege. Altogether it is easy to see that the inevitable outcome of the siege must have been the fall of the city. But, as at other times, such a misfortune was providentially prevented. Lysias heard that Philip was marching against him, and seeing that it was impossible for the Jewish aristocracy to force the people into Hellenistic customs, offered religious liberty in return for political submission. The Chasidim accepted the terms, and upon the surrender of the city the nation was solemnly given the right to live according to its own laws. The inquisition of Antiochus Epiphanes was abolished, and that for which the Chasidim and Mattathias had risen was accomplished. And if, as Josephus says, Lysias killed the high priest Menelaus, who had held the office throughout these unhappy years, the pious Jew would have seen in the act no insult to Jehovah, but a new evidence of divine retribution.

With this charter of Lysias began a new era in the Maccabean house. Hitherto they had stood for the hopes of the best and most pious element of their nation; now that religious liberty was assured, their position was anomalous. Neither high priest nor a representative of Syria, it seemed to many Jews as if Judas should cease to head a revolt and should retire again to the quiet of Modein.

But Judas was no Cincinnatus. A religious war might indeed no longer be possible, but political independence was something that might still be hoped and battled for. If the earlier battles had been for the Law, the new should be for fatherland; and so it was that he did not disband his forces but kept them under arms, becoming at once an outlaw, the head of insurrection and the centre of whatever nationalist feeling the land contained. Immediately the Chasidim deserted him. They cared nothing for politics, and had gained all they had demanded; and when, after Philip, Lysias, and little Antiochus V had each been killed, Demetrius I appointed the priest Alcimus as the successor of the renegade Menelaus, the Chasidim received him heartily. Hellenist though he was, he was of the seed of Aaron and would do them no harm.

With Alcimus came the Syrian general Bacchides with a considerable force for the purpose of completing the reduction of the nation and of killing Judas. He met but little opposition, and after wantonly killing a few of the Jews, doubtless Chasidim, who had surrendered to him, returned to Antioch, leaving Alcimus as the head of the state, supported by Syrian troops. Between the high priest and Judas there immediately sprang up a civil war, in which Judas was apparently the more successful. Alcimus called upon Demetrius I for aid. The king replied by sending his friend Nicanor with a large army against Judas. After suffering a check at Capharsalama, in the vicinity of Lydda, Nicanor came into Jerusalem.

There he completely lost all the advantages won for the Hellenistic party by Bacchides. In utter disregard of the needs of the crisis, he not only attempted to imprison prominent members of the Chasidim, but threatened to destroy the temple if Judas was not delivered into his hands. Such a threat turned the Chasidim back to their old champion. Religious liberty was in danger, and all Judea streamed to Judas.

At the beginning of March Nicanor met Judas at Adasa, a town near the Beth-horons. The battle was fought desperately, but Judas won. Nicanor was killed, and before night his head and right hand were hanging upon the fortifications of Jerusalem. The day was set apart as a festival (thirteenth of Adar), and as Nicanor’s Day was celebrated for centuries.

Again Judas was supported by all thorough Jews, and again he undertook to crush heathenism and build up a Jewish state. But he also sent an embassy to Rome, already a power in Syrian polities. So successful was he that he not only made an offensive and defensive alliance with the republic, but induced Rome to threaten Demetrius I with war, unless he immediately left the Jews in peace. Unfortunately, however, this decree arrived too late to prevent the catastrophe which was approaching.

For the position of Judas during those few weeks in which he was head of the little state was again that of a military dictator, unconstitutional, and wholly dependent upon the success of his troop of half-professional soldiers. High priest or Syrian governor he was not, for Alcimus still lived, to return with Bacchides, a sort of legitimist seeking the overthrow of a miniature Napoleon.

Bacchides invades Judea

The new invasion was undertaken by Demetrius, to avenge the death of Nicanor, before any message could arrive from Rome. His force consisted of twenty thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry under Bacchides. Two months after the death of Nicanor this army had marched south, and, about Passover time, encamped against Jerusalem, from which they soon removed to Berea to meet Judas, who was at Alasa. The position of Judas as a revolutionary chief, no longer fighting for religion, but opposed to the high priest, at once grew weak. His embassy to Rome, prudent as it was, injured him. The Chasidim, fearing foreign entanglements, were again unwilling to carry on the war, and the battle was simply between the Syrians and the Asmoneans for the control of Judea. Into such a struggle, stripped of national issues, few would follow Judas, and his army deserted him until he had at his command only eight hundred men. Against their advice he determined upon battle, and charged the enemy with a handful of his most desperate followers. For a moment he was successful. He broke through and routed the right wing of the Syrian army under the command of Bacchides himself. But it was of no avail. The Syrian left wing swung around upon him, his troops were killed or put to flight, and Judas himself fell.

After the battle his two brothers, Simon and Jonathan, were permitted to bury his body at Modein.

The brief heroic age of the Maccabean struggle was ended. The little state passed again—though religious liberty assured—under the high priest and the Syrian legate, and the party of Judas became again a band of outlaws. But Judas had not lived in vain. The Jewish faith had been saved, and the Chasidim had been taught their power. He had founded a family and a following that were to play a large rôle in the next century and more of Jewish history, and he had awakened a genuinely Jewish ambition and enthusiasm. But perhaps as much as anything, he had given Judaism a hero, in devotion and bravery fit to be compared with David himself.

JONATHAN AND THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALITY

(161-143 BC)

The death of Judas was the signal for the members of the Hellenistic party, whom his fierce administration had forced into hiding, to “put forth their heads” and to join exultantly with Alcimus in searching out the followers of the dead leader. Yet the work of Judas was not altogether lost, and in the face of the ruin that had overtaken them, his friends ventured to call upon his brother Jonathan, rightly surnamed Apphus, “the wary”, to succeed to the leadership of their forlorn hope.

The first exploits of the new chief were of no political significance. He was an outlaw at the head of a band —or comitatus—of outlaws. To escape from Bacchides, he made his camp in the stretch of desolate mountainous pasturage of Tekoah, between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea. As it soon became evident that they would there be exposed to the attacks of Bacchides, Jonathan sent his baggage in charge of his brother John across Jordan, into the land of the Nabateans who had given Judas proof of their friendship. But the tribe of Jambri, living in Medaba, attacked the train and killed John. Thereupon Jonathan and Simon crossed the Jordan to avenge their brother. They fell upon the Jambri as they were celebrating a wedding, slaughtered and plundered to their satisfaction, and then turned homeward, only to find themselves hemmed in by the Syrian forces, between the river and its marshes. Thereupon abandoning their camp and baggage, the entire troop swam the Jordan and again found refuge in the wilderness of Judea.

Bacchides followed up the success by a systematic attempt at controlling Judea. The towns commanding the ways leading to Jerusalem, Jericho, Emmaus, Beth-horon, Bethel, together with Timnath, Pharathon, and Tephon, were fortified and garrisoned, while the fortifications of Bethzur, Gazara and the citadel of Jerusalem were strengthened. The sons of the leading men of the towns were sent to Jerusalem to be held as hostages in the citadel. Alcimus, although not a violent Hellenist, in the meantime was endeavoring to obliterate the distinction between Jews and Gentiles by tearing down the soreg, or high wall, that divided the court of one from the court of the other in the temple area—a piece of profanation that, in the eyes of the Pious, was punished by his death in torments shortly after the work of destruction had begun.

Under these circumstances, with the disappearance of civil war and the apparent destruction of the Asmonean party, Bacchides judged the country to be at peace and returned to Syria, and in the pregnant words of 1 Maccabees, “the land had rest two years”. In truth, the fortunes of the Asmonean house had never been at so low an ebb. Their movement had been repudiated by their old friends the Chasidim, now more than ever seen to be not a political but an ecclesiastical party, the Hellenistic party was again in control of the state, the high-priesthood was vacant; the entire land was covered by Syrian garrisons; while they themselves, after having been decisively defeated, were reduced to a small band hiding in the wilderness. Yet their fortune was suddenly to turn. It can hardly be that the plans of Jonathan were those of a nationalist, in the modern sense of the word, for of a nation in his time there was no thought. At the best he can have regarded his own elevation to political power as a part of the divine plan for his people. But whatever his motive, his preparations were made so quietly that the Syrian sympathizers were deceived, and thought that the opportunity had come to seize him. They thereupon asked Demetrius to make the attempt. The king again sent Bacchides, who at once sought by fair means or foul to get possession of Jonathan. Failing in this, he besieged Jonathan and Simon in their fortified town of Bethbasi. The siege, however, was anything but successful, and Bacchides was persuaded to agree to a treaty, according to which Jonathan was relieved from all further danger of attack, and allowed to live in Michmash (153 BC) as a sort of licensed freebooter, free from the fear of the Syrians. There, like David at Hebron, he governed such of the people as he could, raided the surrounding country, “destroyed the ungodly”, and by degrees made himself the most powerful element of the troubled little state. He was, however, a revolutionary ruler; for the constitutional authority, the Syrian Governor, was still in possession of the citadel and city of Jerusalem, and as there was no high priest appointed after the death of Alcimus, it is certain that Jonathan did not enjoy this honor. Yet such were the political conditions of Judea at the time of his establishment at Michmash, and so troubled were the affairs of Syria, that a shrewd man like Jonathan had little difficulty in manipulating politics in such a way as practically to free himself from any real control.

Alexander Balas, a young man of mean origin, was put forward by Attalus, king of Pergamum, and other enemies of Demetrius I, as the son and heir of Antiochus Epiphanes. So strong was his support that the empire was thrown into civil war. In this war the friendship and support of Jonathan were essential to each party, and both Alexander and Demetrius began to bid for his aid. Demetrius promised Jonathan the right to raise and maintain an army, and the return of all hostages. Armed with these new powers, Jonathan abandoned his headquarters at Michmash and went to Jerusalem, where he established himself, rebuilding the walls and repairing the city, but not driving out the Syrian garrison in the citadel. The garrisons, however, established by Bacchides in the outlying towns, with the exception of that in Bethzrur, all fled to Syria.

But even greater changes were at hand. Hearing of the offers of Demetrius, Alexander appointed Jonathan high priest, made him one of his “friends” and, as a token of his new princely rank, sent him a purple robe and a golden crown, all of which, with fine disregard of his alliance with Demetrius, Jonathan accepted. At the Feast of Tabernacles, 153 BC, seven years after the death of Alcimus, Jonathan officiated for the first time at the altar. Wholly by the will of the Syrians, the outlaw of Tekoa, the licensed rebel of Michmash, had become the legal head of Judea, and the Maccabean movement had become identified with Judaism.

The importance of this fact is great. From this time Jonathan and the Maccabean house could rely upon the loyalty of the Chasidim, for the rapidly developing party of the Scribes could not desert a warrior who was the high priest. The fact that he was not of the family of Zadok injured him, in their eyes, no more than it had Alcimus. Like that latitudinarian, “he was of the family of Aaron, and could do them no harm”. Equally harmless was the sincere but quixotic attempt of Onias, the son of the orthodox Onias III, to offset the transfer of the sacred office to Alcimus by establishing (160 BC) himself as a sort of “legitimate” high priest over a small temple at Leontopolis, near Hieropolis in Egypt. Thanks to the favor of Ptolemy Philometor, the temple was indeed constructed from a ruined stronghold or heathen temple, sacred vessels of unusual shape were installed within it, the necessary funds were furnished from the royal treasury, and Onias was established as high priest over Levites and priests. But notwithstanding it was supposed to fulfill a prophecy of Isaiah, this counterfeit sanctuary never attained any great importance, and least of all in the days of Jonathan.

Not to be outdone by his rival, Demetrius not only recognized Jonathan as high priest, but promised the most extravagant favors and privileges—the remission of the poll tax, the salt tax, the tax on grain and fruits, the exemption of Jerusalem from all taxes, the cession of the citadel, the return of all Jewish captives and slaves, the appropriation of 150,000 drachmas to the temple. According to some of our sources Jonathan declined to accept such terms, which the king if successful could hardly have been expected to fulfill. In the light of Jonathan’s usual clear foresight such a declination is probable, and when Demetrius I was finally defeated and killed by Alexander (150 BC), Jewish troops doubtless shared in the victory.

Victories of Jonathan.

When Balas in turn was threatened by the son of Demetrius (Demetrius II), Jonathan seized the opportunity to extend his territory to the sea. Accepting a challenge of Apollonius, the governor of Coele-Syria, who had gone over to Demetrius II, he marched from Jerusalem at the head of ten thousand picked troops and appeared before Joppa. The Syrian garrison attempted resistance, but the gates were opened by the citizens, and the city fell into Jonathan’s hands. The Jews thus got possession of the natural seaport of Jerusalem, and despite its subsequent vicissitudes Joppa remained henceforth a Jewish city of the most pronounced type.

After this success Jonathan defeated Apollonius near Azotus (Ashdod), took the city and burned it, and then shut up a great number of fugitives in the temple of Dagon, and burned it and them. Thence he proceeded to Askelon, which surrendered without battle, and he returned to Jerusalem loaded with booty. In all of these exploits the high priest acted as an officer of Alexander, and as a reward for his services was presented by the pretender with a gold buckle (an honor equivalent to an admission of semi-independent vassalage), and given Ekron with its surrounding country. When, subsequently (147 BC), Alexander, defeated as much by his own foolish government as by his enemies, fled from his kingdom only to die by assassination, Jonathan exploited the misfortunes of Syria to the utmost. Demetrius II, who came thus unexpectedly to the throne (146-145 BC), was in no position to force the Jews into submission, and Jonathan proceeded to besiege the citadel in Jerusalem. Whatever political ambitions on his part such an attempt implies, it is clear that he was by no means free from the Syrian suzerainty, for the Hellenists hastened to report the new uprising to the Syrian court. The news angered Demetrius, and he immediately started south, ordering Jonathan to raise the siege and meet him at Ptolemais. Instead of obeying the first command, Jonathan left his forces still engaged in the siege, and, with a company of priests and a large supply of presents, went to Demetrius and so won him over that, instead of being punished for the acts with which his enemies proceeded to charge him, he was named one of the king’s chief friends, confirmed in the high-priesthood and in all his other honors, offices, and possessions, including the three Samaritan toparchies (Apperima, Lydda, and Kamat), and in return for 300 talents succeeded in getting all Jews freed from tribute—in fact, gained nearly all the privileges promised him by Demetrius I.

A short time later circumstances again favored Jonathan. A revolt broke out in Antioch, which Demetrius, thanks to ill-advised economy, could not put down. In despair he called upon Jonathan for aid. It was given on the express condition that the Syrian garrison should be removed from the citadel. With the aid of Jonathan's troops Demetrius succeeded in crushing the revolt of his citizens, but once in safety, with the usual treachery of his house, he refused to withdraw the garrison, and even threatened Jonathan with war unless he paid the tribute from which he had but just been relieved. But the nationalist movement was now too strong both in military resources and religious prestige for such threats to do more than increase its strength. Jonathan transferred his allegiance to the young Antiochus (VI), whom Trypho had caused to be crowned, and again had his various honors and privileges confirmed. In addition, his brother Simon was made military commander of the non-Judean country from the Ladder of Tyre to Egypt. Thus raised to unexpected military influence, the two brothers immediately proceeded to secure their territories for their new monarch, and incidentally to advance their own political independence. They forced Ascalon and Gaza to swear allegiance to Antiochus and to give hostages. These, however, Jonathan sent not to Antioch but to Jerusalem—a fact that indicates how independent he already regarded his position. Shortly after, hearing that Demetrius was moving upon him through Galilee, Jonathan marched against him, leaving Simon to complete the subjection of Bethzur. Near Hazor the Jews fell into an ambush and fled in panic. Jonathan, however, succeeded in rallying them and completely defeated the enemy. The only relics of Syrian power now left in Judea were the garrisons in the citadel of Jerusalem and in Gazara.

New treaty with Rome.

As in the case of Judas, the situation of Jonathan, at once successful and critical, led to an attempt to form foreign alliances. Though nominally an officer (ethnarch of the Jews) under the crown, he acted as an independent ruler. Numenius and Antipater were sent to Rome to renew the treaty made by Judas, and what is at first sight somewhat surprising, they also took letters from “Jonathan the high priest, and the senate of the nation, and the priests and the rest of the people” to “their brethren, the Spartans”, in order to renew a treaty made under Onias I. What was the result of this embassy we cannot say, but at all events it did not prevent (14-1 BC) preparations for another invasion of Palestine by Demetrius. Jonathan anticipated the attack, marched to the north, and at Hamath so terrified the Syrians that they fled without a battle. He pursued them as far as the Eleutherus, the boundary of Syria, and then turning eastward plundered the Zabadeans who lived on the sides of Anti-Lebanon, and marched upon Damascus, which was already at least nominally under his control as a representative of Antiochus VI and Trypho. In the meantime Simon was conquering the cities of the maritime plain and garrisoning Joppa. Returning from the north, Jonathan strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem and, with the advice of the Gerousia, began a wall that would quite cut off the citadel from the surrounding country. He also fortified Adida, which controlled the road between Jerusalem and Joppa. From being a high priest freed from tribute, the head of a veteran army, the captain-general of Syria, and the ethnarch of his people, it was but a short step to becoming a high priest, the head of an independent people.

Nor was his purpose unobserved. Trypho was unwilling that the Jewish people should thus become independent, and at the head of a large force marched on Jerusalem. At Bethshean Jonathan met him at the head of the largest army the state had yet produced. Unwilling to risk an open battle, Trypho used treachery. Under pretence of friendship he induced Jonathan to go to Ptolemais with only a small bodyguard. No sooner had Jonathan entered the city than the gates were closed, his men were slaughtered, and he was made a prisoner. Having thus his opponent in his power, Trypho at once undertook to destroy the Jewish forces near Bethshean, but though without their leader the soldiers prepared for battle and faced the Syrians so resolutely that Trypho fell back, probably upon Ptolemais. The Jewish troops thereupon returned to Judea unmolested and prepared for the worst their heathen neighbors could prepare. With both of the rival kings of Syria its enemies, with the Greek cities threatening war, with its leader a captive in the hands of the Syrians, the little state saw little in its future but destruction.

SIMON AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF JUDAISM

(143-135 BC)

In full confidence of a speedy victory over a discouraged and disorganized people, Trypho marched from Ptolemais, carrying with him the unfortunate Jonathan as his prisoner. His route led him south through the maritime plain and then east by Adida toward Jerusalem. But at Adida he met Simon, who had gathered troops at his own expenses and had voluntarily assumed the leadership of Judea. Trypho did not wish a battle here anymore than at Bethshean. To fall back was dangerous, since Simon had already seized Joppa. Yet he forced Simon to give him 100 talents of silver together with two of Jonathan’s sons, on the promise that the high priest should be released on these terms. But after Simon had performed his part of the contract Trypho refused to release Jonathan and moved south along the Shephelah, apparently intending to come upon Jerusalem by the way of Idumea and Hebron. Simon moved along the hills parallel to the invader, a Jewish Fabius. Prevented by a snowstorm from forcing the southern approach to Jerusalem, Trypho marched around the southern end of the Dead Sea into Gilead, and there, at an unidentified town, Bascama, he killed Jonathan and went back to Syria. There he caused the boy king, Antiochus VI, to be killed, and reigned in name as well as power. Some time afterward Simon took the bones of his brother to Modein and buried them by the side of his father and his brothers, erecting a large monument and seven pyramids in honor of his family.

It was to be Simon’s good fortune, without performing great exploits, to break still more the political dependence of Judea upon Syria and thus to enable Judaism, both outwardly and inwardly, to advance another stage in its evolution. Throughout the quarter of a century of struggle he had borne his share of dangers and anxieties from the time that the dying Mattathias had bidden the four brothers listen to him as their counselor. As it was, the order of the three men’s leadership was fortunate. In the days of Judas military daring was the one thing the oppressed nation wanted; in Jonathan’s days, a mixture of military daring with more or less unscrupulous diplomacy; but in the days of Simon a man was required who should not only be ready to fight and intrigue, but should also be able to hold foreign politics in equilibrium while he was reconstructing the Jewish state, preparing the way for political independence, and, what was of especial importance, developing a party upon whom his house could rely for support.

It was in this latter particular that the administration of Simon was to be of significance to Jewish history. Hitherto the Jews had been broken roughly into the Hellenist, the Chasidim, and the Maccabean parties. The assumption of the high-priesthood by the Maccabees had momentarily fused the two latter into a religio-nationalist party, which, thanks to its success in dealing with Syria as well as its severity with all Syrian sympathizers, had become the dominant force in the state.

But the fusion that gave rise to this party never destroyed the identity or character of its two constituents, and as the pressure of foreign danger weakened each began to reassert itself. On the one hand, there were those who favored a narrow religio-political policy, and on the other those who wished to see the Jews a nation among nations. The spirit of the former party was that of Chasidim and scribism, and it was to develop into Pharisaism. The spirit of the other was the last relic of sympathy with Hellenistic culture and was to mark the Sadducees. Accurately speaking, the Maccabean dynasty belonged to neither party, but used each in turn. Judea was to taste the bitter and sweet of national politics, in which a family, supreme in religion as well as in administration, was to carry through an hereditary policy by the aid now of one and now of the other of two rivals.

It was no small danger that confronted Simon at the murder of Jonathan, though by no means so desperate as that occasioned by the death of Judas. If, indeed, his brother had been killed, and if he himself was confronted by an arrogant king backed by a powerful army, he was the constitutional head of a nation, no longer poverty-stricken, but possessed of military resources and prestige. Quite as important was the struggle between Demetrius and Trypho, which enabled him to strengthen and provision his fortresses in Judea. At last the excesses of Trypho’s soldiers led Simon to send an embassy to Demetrius II with rich presents and to propose an alliance against their common enemy, as well as an adjustment of the tribute. In this he was completely successful. Demetrius granted pardon for all of the Jews’ doings, confirmed them in their possession of the strongholds they had built (although no mention is made of Joppa and the other cities Jonathan and Simon had captured), and remitted all tributes. Thus, to quote the exultant words of 1 Maccabees, “was the yoke of the heathen taken away from Israel” (143-42 BC).

From this time the Jews began to reckon in their own cycle, the first year of which would thus correspond with 170 of the Seleucid. Documents and contracts were now dated according to the year of Simon, although the Seleucid cycle was used parallel. As a further proof of his practical independence Simon now began to issue coins bearing on one side Holy Jerusalem, or Jerusalem the Holy, and on the other, the word “shekel” or “half shekel”. Each bore the year of coinage, probably of the cycle of Jerusalem rather than of Simon’s reign.

Victories of Simon

Although it is not expressly stated, it is altogether probable that even before this time Simon had officiated as high priest, for as such Demetrius II recognizes him. But the hereditary right of his family, not yet recognised, was now to be formally fixed. The influence of the Chasidim and scribes is here very evident, as well as the thoroughly religious character of Simon’s administration. Shortly after the retreat of Trypho Simon had captured Gazara, driven out its heathen inhabitants, and colonized it with “men who observed the Law”. Almost at the same time the Syrian garrison in Jerusalem had been starved into surrender and allowed to leave the country. Thus, a quarter of a century after the beginning of their struggle (May, 142 BC) the people of Jerusalem celebrated their deliverance from the hated guard with the same enthusiasm as that with which their fathers, under Judas, had celebrated the cleansing of the temple. The citadel was purified and held as a stronghold, while Simon also erected a palace for himself on the opposite mount. Then the Jewish people (September, 141), —priests, people, princes of the people, and elders of the land,—in gratitude for his great services, chose Simon high priest, general, and ethnarch, “forever, until there should arise a faithful prophet”. Except him no priest was to gather an assembly or wear a badge of supreme authority, and his word was final as regarded the sanctuary and the state. Thus, by no decision of a Syrian king, but by the Jewish people itself, greater authority than had been the high priest’s before the days of Antiochus Epiphanes was settled upon a new family. A military state had become an hereditary theocracy. The chief of outlaws had become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Yet in one particular the new dynasty gives possible evidence of the beginning of a nation. Simon, as his coins show, was at the head of a city, but in the “great congregation” that shared in the establishment of the new high-priestly family one can see the uncertain rise of the people as against the first estate of the priests.

And another important change is to be seen. From the days of Joseph, the son of Tobias, who had been a fiscal if not a civil official in Judea, by the side of the high priest, there had been in Jerusalem some special representative of the Syrian control, like Apollonius or Bacchides. But now this Syrian official disappeared and the civil authority was vested in Simon as ethnarch, just as the military and religious powers were his, by virtue of his being high priest and military governor. With so much power vested in his hands, both by the vote of the people and the act of the Syrian king, Simon was but little short of an independent ruler.

Yet, singularly enough, we know but little of the years of prosperity that followed the inauguration of the new house, but all information that we can recover evidences that prosperity, in which “the ancient men sat in the streets”, “the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel”, and “they sat each man under his vine and his fig tree, and there was none to make them afraid”. The most rigid Judaism prospered. Heathen were exterminated with a relentlessness worthy of Antiochus Epiphanes. Sorcerers were hanged in companies. The temple was filled with new and magnificent utensils, and its service enriched with new collections of Psalms, in which the triumphant nationalism burst out in thanksgiving to Jehovah and glorification of the new dynasty. And, if there was no prophet in the land, there was yet the hope of his coming, and the heart of the poet was filled with prophetic visions. Jehovah had sworn, and would not repent. The new high priest was to be forever after the order of Melchizedek, and Jehovah, at his right hand, would strike through kings in the day of his wrath. With the high praises of God in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hands, the saints would execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishment upon the nations. And, though few details have survived, it would seem as if the international policy of Simon, without violent struggles, was singularly successful. Even before his formal recognition by the people as the head of a dynasty, he had followed the custom of his brothers and sent again the former ambassador of Jonathan, Rumenius, to Rome. There, thanks partly to the present of a golden shield worth 1000 minas, he obtained a renewal of the treaty already made with Judas and Jonathan, in which Rome guaranteed the rights of the Jews and gave to Simon jurisdiction over all Jews, both within and without Judea. The Senate also sent letters to various states and cities, warning them not to trouble Jerusalem. The same embassy also made a treaty with Sparta.

Once only was the peace of Simon’s reign seriously endangered. Almost at the time Rome was thus becoming the Jews’ confidante, if not champion, Demetrius II, with whom Simon had maintained the best possible understanding, engaged in a campaign with the Parthians, and was captured by their king, Mithridates I (139-138 BC). Trypho was accordingly left in undisputed possession of the kingdom. But only for a few days. Antiochus (VII) Sidetes, the brother of Demetrius II, immediately began preparations for seizing the throne. In need of all possible help, he wrote Simon, promising him the right to coin money, freedom from tribute, release from all debts to the crown, and the confirmation of all other rights and privileges. Simon was won over without difficulty, and waited for the opportunity to furnish his new master aid. The opportunity came when, after having defeated Trypho in Upper Syria, Antiochus besieged him in the fortress of Dora, on the coast. Simon then sent Antiochus a force of two thousand men and considerable treasure and arms, but success had made the king less friendly, and he refused to accept the aid, repudiated all his agreements, and sent one of his friends, Athenobius, to force Simon either to surrender Joppa, Gazara, the citadel of Jerusalem, and all the conquered territory outside of Judea, or to pay the enormous sum of 1000 talents. Simon refused to surrender the cities or territory on the ground that they had all either formerly belonged to his people or had done him much injury, but at the same time offered to compromise by the payment of 100 talents. Whereupon, Athenobius, overcome with the luxury of the appointments of the high priest’s house, returned to Antiochus in a rage. The king determined to punish such independence. He himself pursued Trypho north through Ptolemais and Orthosias, to Apamaea, where he besieged and killed him, but in the meantime he sent his general, Kendebaus, south against Simon. Jamnia and the neighboring town of Kedron became the centre of Syrian incursions into Judea. John Hyrcanus, the son of Simon, was in charge of the troops at Gazara, and by the advice of Simon he and his brother Judas moved upon the invaders. The extent to which the military spirit of the Asmoneans had led to a reorganization of their army is to be seen in the fact that now, for the first time, they employ a small force of cavalry. Jewish generalship and enthusiasm carried the day, and for the remainder of his reign Simon was not troubled by foreign invasion.

And yet Simon, like his four brothers, was to die by violence. A son-in-law, Ptolemy, became ambitious to usurp Simon's place in the nation, and plotted to kill him. His opportunity came when in February, 135 BC, the high priest came on a tour of inspection to the little fortress of Dok, which was in charge of Ptolemy. There, at a banquet, Simon and two of his sons, Mattathias and Judas, were treacherously killed, and his wife was taken prisoner. Ptolemy also made every effort to seize Hyrcanus, but without success, and this failure, notwithstanding his loyal messages to Antiochus VII, completely prevented his succeeding his victim. Hyrcanus it was who inherited the high priesthood, and with it the military and civil leadership of the Jews.

 Thus a little more than thirty years after the first uprising of Mattathias, the last and, unless we mistake, the greatest of his five sons was carried to the tomb he had himself built, having seen his family maintain a successful revolt against a great empire, his people grow from the narrow limits of a city-state into a miniature nation, the high-priesthood together with the supreme military and civil power made hereditary among his own descendants, and Jerusalem and Judea possessed of religious and nearly complete political liberty.

CHAPTER III

JOHN HYRCANUS AND POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE.THE ROMAN CONQUEST OF PALEDFTINE

(135-105 BC)

HISTORY OF THE JEWS