I ii! I1 iLUBKAisy DIVINITY SCHOOL TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY Jill Ta*»- i »! ¦*%0\ The Student's Scripture History. THE NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY . WITH AN INTRODUCTION, CONNECTING THE HISTORY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. EDITED By WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D., CLASSICAL EXAMINEE IN THB UKIVEB8ITT OP XONDON. WITH MAPS AND WOODCUTS. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1S8 r. THE STUDENT'S SERIES. 12mo, Cloth, uniform in style. MANUAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. By Philip Smith. Illustrated. $1 50. THE STUDENT'S CLASSICAL DICTION ARY. Illustrated. $1 25. ANCIENT HISTORY OF TBE EAST. By Philip Smith. Illuatrated. $1 25. HISTORY OF GREECE. By Dr. William Smith. Illustrated. $1 25. COX'S GENERAL HISTORY OF GREECE. With Maps. 41 25. LIDDELL'S HISTORY OF ROME. Illustra ted. |1 25. MERIVALE'S GENERAL HISTORY OF ROME. With Maps. $1 25. GIBBON'S DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Illustrated. $1 25. LYELL'S GEOLOGY. Illustrated. %\ 25. HISTORY OF FRANCE. By the Rev. W. H. Jebvis, M.A. Illustrated. $1 25. HUME'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Illus. trated. New Edition. $1 50. STRICKLAND'S QUEENS OF ENGLAND. Illustrated. $1 25. HALLAM'S CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. $1 25. HALLAM'S MIDDLE AGES. $1 25. OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. By Philip Smith. With Maps and Illustrations. $1 25. NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. By Pump Smith. With Maps and Illustrations. %\ 25. LEWIS'S HISTORY OF GERMANY. With Mapa and Illustrations. $1 50. THE STUDENT'S SMALLER SERIES. 16mo, Cloth. SCRIPTURE HISTORY. 60 cente. HISTORY OF GREECE. 60 cents. HISTORY OF ROME. 60 cents. COX'S SCHOOL HISTORY OF GREECE. 60 cents. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 60 cents. ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST. 60 eta. SEEMANN'S MYTHOLOGY. 60 cents. MERIVALE'S SCHOOL HISTORY OF ROME. 75 cents. Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New Yob*. fi^T Any of ihe above hooka tent by mail, postage prepaid) to any part of the Untied States, on receipt of tne price. PREFACE. The object of this Work is the same as that of the Old Testament History, namely, to supply a Manual of New Testament History, which in fullness, accuracy, and use of the best sources of information, may take its place by the side of the Histories of Greece, Eome, England, and France, in the present series. The Work consists of three parts. The First Book gives the connection between Old and New Testament History, including the relations of the Holy Land to Persia, Egypt, and Syria, and the narrative sets forth the main facts of the general history of the East during what is called the "Hellenistic" age. To preserve the unity ofthe subject, this part is brought down to the destruction of Jerusalem. The Appendix contains a full account of the national and religious life of each separate section of the Jewish nation — of the Dispersion as well as in Judaea — their Scriptures, worship, and sects; in short, that information respecting them which is necessary to understand the condition ofthe people at the advent of our Saviour, and the allusions in the Gospels. The Second Book, containing the Gospel History, is designed to present a clear, harmonized account of our Lord's Ministry, as related by the Four Evangelists, illus trated by all needful collateral information, but free from speculative discussions. Pains have been taken to exhibit VI PREFACE. the different chronological views of the highest authori ties ; and the Appendix contains a discussion of the great question respecting the origin of the Gospels, and a Table of the Gospel Harmony. The Third Book, embracing the Apostolic History, aims at a completeness not previously attained in any similar work. The method, in which Paley led the way, of using the Epistles of St. Paul, not only to supply the incidents omitted in the Acts, but to set the Apostle's spirit and character in a vivid light, has been followed throughout Similar use is made of the Epistles of Peter, John, and James, and the section is completed by a summary of all that is really known, both of the other Apostles and of the persons associated with them in the History. The unity of this part is preserved by bringing it down to the destruction of Jerusalem ; and that catastrophe which closes the first book as an historic event, is now exhibited. in the light of our Lord's great prophecy, as the epoch of his coming in the full establishment of the Christian Church. The History embodies much valuable matter from the Dictionary of the Bible, and in particular from the Arch bishop of York's articles on the life of our Saviour and on the Gospels, as well as from the different articles on the Apostles and the books of the New Testament and Apoc rypha. The appearance of Mr.Lewin's "Fasti Sacri" has aided the Editor in giving the work that chronological completeness which will be especially seen in the Tables. Wm. Smith. London, November, 1866. CONTENTS. BOOK I. CONNECTION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT HISTORIES, AND SECULAR HISTORY OF THE JEWS TO THE DESTRUC TION OF JERUSALEM. B.C. 400-A.D. 70. chap. Page b.c. 400-168. I. From Nehemiah to the Persecution of An tiochus Epiphanes 13 Notes and Illustrations : Kings of the Greek Kingdom of Syria 32 e.c. 168-106. II. The Maccab.ean War of Independence 33 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) The Asmonsean Family 59 (B.) Modin and the Sepulchre ofthe Maccabees 59 B.C. 106-37. III. The As.mon^ian Kingdoms 61 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) The Sanhedrim 73 (B.) Pedigree of the Herodian Family 75 B.C. 37-4. IV. Herod the Great. 76 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) The Herodians 93 (B.) Temple of Herod 94 B.C. 4-a.d. 70. V. Secular History of the Jews, from the Death of Herod to the Destruction of .. Jerusalem 97 Notes and Illustrations : Governors of Syria ,. 139 APPENDIX TO BOOK I. Sect. I. The Several Branches of th* Jewish People 140 II. Tho Jewish Scriptures 151 III. New Forms of Worship — The Synagogues 159 IV. Sects of the Jews 164 VlU CONTENTS.BOOK II. THE HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST; OR, THE REVELATION OF THE GOSPEL. Chap. Pao8 b.c. 5-a.d. 26. VI. Birth and Early Life of John and Jesus 177 Notes and I/lustrations : (A.) Genealogy of Jesus Christ 192 (B.) Date of the Birth of Jesus Christ 194 (C.) Cyrenius and the Census 195 (D.) Bethlehem 195 (E.) Nazareth 196 fi.D. 26-27. VII. Our Saviour's Early Ministry. From th^ Preaching of John the Baptist to Christ's First Passover 198 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) The Publicans 215 (B.) Place of our Lord's Baptism 216 &.D. 27-28. V\II. First Year of Christ's Ministry. From his First Passover to his Second Visit to Jerusalem, probably at the Passover 218 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) Scene of our Lord's Ministry 248 (B.) Duration of our Lord's Ministry 249 (C.) Galilee 251 a.d. 28-29. IX. The Sequel of Christ's Ministry in Galilee, from after his Second Passover, in a.d. 28, to near the feast of tabernacles, a.d. 29. 252 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) The Brethren of the Lord 281 (B.) The Parables of Christ 283 (C.) The Scene of the Transfiguration 286 a.d. 29-30. X. The Last Six Months of Christ's Ministry. From the Feast of Tabernacles, a.d. 29, to his Fourth Passover, a.d. 30 288 «*D. 80. XI. The Passion of our Lord. From Palm Sunday to Easter Eve, April 1st to April 7th, a.d. 30 302 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) The Mount of Olives 337 (B.) The Paschal Supper ..[ su (C.) Crucifixion 344 (D.) The Site of the Holy Sepulchre 345 CONTENTS. IX CHAP. I>AG11 30. XII. The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. From Easter Day to Ascension Day, April 8th to May 17th, a.d. 30 347 Notes and Illustrations : Mr. Lewin's Scheme of the Chronology of our Lord's Life 358 APPENDIX TO BOOK II. The Four Gospels 360 Table of the Harmony ofthe Four Gospels 373 BOOK III. HISTORY OF THE APOSTLES; OR, THE FOUNDING OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. <<-.D. 30-37. XIII. The Church in Palestine to the Dispersion of the Christians from Jerusalem 377 Notes and Illustrations : Simon Magus 399 a.d. 37-40. XIV. Conversion of St. Paul..; 401 Table of St. Paul's Life 424 a.d. 40-48") XV. From after the Conversion of St. Paul to or 50. ) the Decree of the First Council at Jerusa lem, including the First Missionary Jour ney of Paul and Barnabas 4: : a.d. 49 or'f XVI. St. Paul's Second, or Great Missionary Jour- 51-63 or 54/ ney, and the Entrance of the Gospel into Europe 457 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) The Visit of Galatians II 495 (B.) Thessalonica 497 a.d. 64-60. XVII. St. Paul's Third Missionary Journey ; his Arrest at Jerusalem, and Imprisonment at CiESAREA 499 A.d. 60-63. XVIII. St. Paul's First Imprisonment at Rome. From his Hearing before Festus to his Release 652 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) Laodicea 602 (B.) The Epistle to the Ephesians, and the Lao dicean Epistle mentioned in Col. iv. 16 602 X CONTENTS. Chat. Paoh a.d. 63-70. XIX. The Last Days of St. Paul and St. Peter; and the Complete Establishment of the Church. From the Release of St. Paul to the Destruction of Jerusalem 607 Notes and Illustrations : (A.) Hymenseus and his Heresy 651 (B.) Authorities for the Life of St. Paul 653 a.d. 70 and) XX. Supplemental History of the Apostles and OD'.vard. ) Evangelists, after the Destruction of Jerusalem 654 APPENDIX I. THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. I. The Five Historical Books 700 II. The Fourteen Epistles of Paul 71.1 III. The Seven Catholic or General Epistles 713 IV. The Revelation of St. John 719 APPENDIX II. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY, IN CLUDING THE CONNECTION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTA MENTS. I. The Persian Domination 725 II. The Hellenistic Domination 727 IU. The Maccabees and Asmonsean Kings 729 IV. Kingdom of Herod the Great, subject to and under the protec tion of Rome 734 V. The Roman Domination — Part I. The Gospel History 741 VI. " " Part II. The Apostolic History.... 748 Index 757 GENEALOGICAL TABLES. The Asmonsean Family 59 Pedigree ofthe Herodian Family 75 The Family of Herod the Great 99 LIST OF MAPS AND LLLUSTBATIONS. SEPARATE MAPS. Historical Maps To face page 93 1 . The Holy Land under the Maccabees and Herod the Great. 2. The Holy Land under the sons of Herod the Great. 3. The Holy Land, showing the kingdom of Agrippa I. 4. Roman province of Judsea and the kingdom of Agrippa II. The Holy Land, to illustrate the New Testament 257 St. Paul's First and Second Missionary Journeys 454 St. Paul's Third Missionary Journey 511 A Chart of St. Paul's Voyage to Rome 5C8 MAPS INSERTED IN THE TEXT. ,P]an of Jerusalem • 117 Map of Galilee 240 Plan of Athens 477 Chart of part ofthe Coast of Malta 573 ILLUSTRATIONS. Jerusalem Frontispiece Candlestick of the Temple Title Page View of the Lake of Antioch 13 Coin of Antiochus Epiphanes 33 Silver Coin ofthe Maccabees ' 58 Coin of Antiochus VI 61 Temple of Herod restored 76 Capital of Pillar in Vestibule of the Southern Entrance of Herod's Templo 96 Remains of Arch of Bridge ofthe Temple 97 Bethlehem 177 Nazareth 198 Sea of Galilee 218 Sidon 252 Xli ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGfl Bethany 288 Gethsemane ; 302 Mount of Olives 347 Jerusalem 377 Tarsus 401 Antioch 425 Thessalonica 457 Ruins ofthe Theatre at Ephesus , 499 Greek Imperial Coin of Ephesus and Smyrna allied 518 Greek Imperial Copper Coin ("medallion") of Laodicea of Phrygia... 521 Caesarea 552 Ancient Ship 601 Stairs of the modern Capitol at Rome 607 Colossae 654 NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. View of the Lake of Antioch. BOOK I. CONNECTION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT HISTO RIES, AND SECULAR HISTORY OF THE JEWS TO THE DE STRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. B.C. 400— A.D. 70. CHAPTER I. FROM NEHEMIAH TO THE PERSECUTION OP ANTIOCHUS EPIPH ANES. B.C. 400-168. § 1. Interval of four centuries between the Old and New Testaments— Four periods :— Persian, Greek, Asmonasan and Herodian. § 2. Judsea under the Persians— The high-priests Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan or Joha nan — Murder of Joshua. § 3. Jaddua— Close ofthe Old Testament Can on—Alexander the Great— Rebellion of the Samaritans. § 4. Onias I. —Division of Alexander's Empire— Jerusalem taken by Ptolemy I.— Judsea subject to Egypt. § 5. Simon I. the Just— The ideal of a high- priest— The New Synagogue— Antigonus Socho. § 6. Eleazar, under 14 From Nehemiah to Antiochus Epiphanes. Chap. I. Ptolemy II. Philadelphus— Version of the LXX. — Manasseh — Onias II. — Offends Ptolemy III. Euergetes — Joseph, son of Tobias. § 7. Si mon IL— Wars of Syria and Egypt— Ptolemy IV. Philopator profanes the Temple — Antiochus III. the Great — Judsea becomes subjeet to Syria. § 8. Onias III., under Seleucus IV. Philopator— Legend of He- liodorus — Simon, treasurer of the Temple — Accession of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes — Jason and Menelaus — Introduction of Hellenic customs — Death of Onias III. § 9. Antiochus in Egypt — Tumult at Jerusa lem — Expulsion and death of Jason — Antiochus storms Jerusalem and profanes the Temple — Fate of Menelaus. §10. Sack of Jerusalem by Apollonius^Great persecution, conducted by Athenaaus — Martyrdom of Eleazar and of the Seven Brethren — Death of Antiochus Epiphanes. §11. Silence of the heathen historians on this period of Jewish his tory — Allusion to it by Tacitus. § 12. State of the Jewish nation, religious, political, and social — The antagonism of princes and priests — Of Hellenism and patriotism. § I. The interval of four centuries, from the close of the records of the Old Covenant to the events which heralded the birth of Jesus Christ, may be divided into four periods : — the continuance of the Persian dominion, till B.C. 331 ; the Greek empire in Asia, B.C. 331-167; the independence of Judaea under the Asmonasan princes, b.c 167-63; and the rule of the house of Herod, commencing in b.c. 40, and ex tending beyond the Christian era to the destruction of Jeru salem in a.d. 70. The last two periods also include the rela tions of Judaaa to Rome. There is little that possesses any great intrinsic interest, except the struggle of the Maccabees for religion and liberty against Antiochus Epiphanes ; but the whole period demands our notice as a preparation for un derstanding the state in which we find the Jews at the open ing of the New Testament, their moral and political condi tion, their views and opinions, their sects and parties. § 2. The first two of these periods — a space just equal to that from the death of Elizabeth to the accession of Victoria — form almost a blank in the history of the Jews. They seem to have been content to develop their internal resources and their religious institutions under the mild government of Persia. We can not decide how far the princes of Judah re tained any remnant of their patriarchal authority ; but from the time of Nehemiah the High-Priest became the most im portant person in the state; and the internal government grew more and more of a hierarchy. In the genealogies of the period, the Levites were recorded as the chief of the fathers. The high-priests from the time of Nehemiah to the end of the empire under Darius Codomamms were Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan (or Johanan), and Jaddua.1 ' Neh. xii. 22. B.C. 332. Jaddua and Alexander. 13 Eliashib, the high-priest in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, was succeeded by his son Joiada,2 and he by his son Jona than, or Johanan (John), down to whose time the heads of the tribe of Levi were entered in the Chronicles of Judah, which seem therefore to have ended with his priesthood.3 The high-priesthood of Jonathan, which lasted thirty-two years, chiefly in the long reign of Artaxerxes II. Mnemon (b.c 405-359), was stained by the first of those acts of mur derous rivalry, which afterward brought the state to anarchy. His brother, Joshua (Jesus), who was suspected of aiming at the high-priesthood by the favor of Bagoses the Persian satrap, was slain by Jonathan in the temple. The satrap punished the murder by a tax of fifty shekels on every lamb offered in sacrifice, and polluted the temple by his presence.4 But even in so doing, the Persian taught the Jews the much- needed lesson afterward enforced by a far higher authority: "Am not I purer," he said, "than the dead body of him whom ye have slain in the temple ?" This crime forms the only memorable event in the annals of Judsea, from the government of Nehemiah to the Macedo nian conquest, if we except a doubtful account that the country was chastised, and a number of Jews carried captive to Babylon, for their alleged participation in the revolt of the Sidonians under Artaxerxes Ochus (b.c. 351). § 3. Jaddua, the son and successor of Jonathan, is the last of the high-priests mentioned in the Old Testament ; and his is the latest name in the Old Testament, with the doubt ful exception of a few in the genealogies prefixed to the Chronicles. Its insertion in the Book of Nehemiah is a guide to the time when the Canon of the Old Testament was finally closed.5 Eusebius assigns twenty years to the pontificate of Jaddua, who was high-priest both under Darius Codomannus (b.c 336-331) and after the fall of the Persian empire. Josephus tells a romantic story of an interview between Jaddua and "Neb. xii. 10, xiii. 28. The title '.'the high -priest," in the second passage, may refer either to Eliashib or Joiada ; if to the latter, he became high-priest in the. time,of Nehemiah. It was one of his sons that married the daughter of Sanballat the Horo nite (Old Testament Hist. ch. xxvi). A complete list of the high-priests and the contemporary civil rulers is Appendix to Book III., § 4, notes, etc. 3 Neh. xii. 1 1, 22, 23. " The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the Chronicles, even nnto the days of Johanan, the son of Eliashib." 4 About B.C. 366. Joseph. Ant. xi. 7, §1. °Ncli. xii. 11, 22. "TheLevites, given in the Old Testament History, ! in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Jo- 16 From Neliemiah to Antiochus Epiphanes. Chap. L Alexander the Great.8 While Alexander was besieging Tyre, he sent to demand the submission of the Jews, who answered that they were the faithful vassals of Darius (b.c. 332.) After taking Gaza, Alexander marched against Jerusalem. Jad dua, by the command of God in a vision, hung the city with garlands, and went forth in solemn procession to meet the conqueror at Sapha (the watch), an eminence in full sight of the city and the temple. On seeing the high-priest in his state robes, the priests in their sacred dresses, and the people clothed in white, Alexander fell prostrate in adoration, and rising, embraced the high-priest. To the remonstrances of Parmenio he repbed that he worshiped, not the priest, but the Name engraved upon his frontlet, and that he recognized in him a figure that had appeared to Trim in a vision in Macedonia, and bidden him to con quer Persia. Entering Jerusalem, he offered sacrifice, and was shown the prophecies of Daniel relating to himself. He granted the Jews, not only in Judaea, but also in Media and Babylonia, the free enjoyment of their own laws, and exemption from tribute during the Sabbatic year.7 The story is discredited by the best critics, on account of its in ternal improbabilities, approaching to contradictions, and the silence of the historians of Alexander.8 The statement of Justin,9 that on Alexander's advance into Syria he was met by many Eastern princes with their diadems, affords some confirmation to the story of the high-priest's coming out to meet him in person. It is certain that Jerusalem and Judaea submitted to the conqueror, and there are traces subsequent ly of the privileges he is "said to have granted to the Jews. Alexander's homage to Jehovah, and his pleasure at being named as the instrument of destiny, are points thoroughly consistent with his character. There is nothing improbable in his having received the submission of Judsea from the high-priest and princes about the time of the siege of Gaza. hanan, and Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers ; also the priests, to the reign of Darius the Persian," where the epithet has been thought to suggest that the passage was writ ten after the fall of the Persian em pire. If, as is now generally admit ted, the passage in 1 Chr. iii. 22-24 is spurious, the name of Jaddua is the last mentioned in the Old Testa ment Canon. 0 Respecting the apostasy of Ma nasseh, whom Josephus places in the time of Darius and Alexander, and makes the first priest of the schis matic temple on Mount Gerizim, see Old Testament History, chap, xxvii. §10. 7 Joseph. Ant. xi. 8, the Talmud, and later Jewish writers. 8 Arrian (iii. 1) expressly says that Alexander marched from Gaza to Pelnsium in seven days. 0 Hist. xi. 10. B.C. 332. Influence of Alexander. 17 At all events, Jerusalem was too important to have been passed over by Alexander himself, as it is by the historians.10 He enlisted Jewish soldiers, and removed a large number of Jews to Egypt, to aid in peopling his new city of Alexan dria.11 The Samaritans are said to have claimed the same privi leges as the Jews, which Alexander refused to grant. Hence probably arose the rebellion in which they murdered the Macedonian governor, Andromachus, and which Alexander punished by the destruction of Samaria.12 Palestine thence forth remained quiet under Alexander, who died in b.c 323. The Macedonian conqueror must not, however, be dismiss ed without some further notice of his real place in Jewish history, and in the sacred history of the world — a place not dependent on any incidental circumstances, such as his visit to Jerusalem. In the prophetic visions of Daniel the influence of Alexander is necessarily combined with that of his successors. They rep resented the several phases of his character ; and to the Jews nationally the pohcy of the Syrian kings was of greater impor tance than- the original conquest of Asia. But some traits of - " the first mighty king " 13 are given with vigorous distinctness. The emblem by which he is typified " suggests the notions of strength and speed; and the universal extent and marvelous rapidity of his conquests are brought forward as the charac teristics of his power, which was directed by the strongest personal impetuosity.15 He " ruled with great dominion, and did according to his will ; and there was none that could de liver . . . out of his hand." 1C The tradition of his visit to Jerusalem, whether true or false to fact, presents an aspect of Alexander's character which has been frequently lost sight of by his recent biographers. He was not simply a Greek, nor must he be judged by a Greek standard. The Orientalism, which was a scandal to his follow ers, was a necessary deduction from his principles, and not the result of caprice or vanity. He approached the idea of a uni- 10 This silence must not be over estimated. The neglect of the Mac- cabsean war by the historians of the Greek kingdom of Syria, is an indi cation already of that somewhat af fected contempt which at a later pe riod was expressed by Tacitus (Hist. v. 8). 11 Hecat. ap. Joseph, c. Apion. i'. 22. 12 Curt. iv. 8, 10. Andromachus was burned alive at Samaria. "Dan. viii. 21, xi. 3. " A he-goat, from the Hebr. " tsa- phar," he leapt. 15 Dan. viii. 5. '"From the west on the face of the whole earth . . . he touched not the ground." Dan. viii. 6. " In the fury of his power.'' JS Dam viii. 7, xi. 3. 18 From Nehemiah to Antiochus Epiphanes. Chap. I. versal monarchy from the side of Greece, but his final object was to establish something higher than the paramount su premacy of one people. His purpose was to combine and equalize — not to annihilate : to wed the East and West in a just union — not to enslave Asia to Greece. The time, indeed, was not yet come when this was possible ; but if he could not accomplish the great issue, he prepared the way for its ac complishment. The first and most direct consequence of the policy of Alex ander was the weakening of nationalities, the first condition necessary for the dissolution of the old religions. The swift course of his victories, the constant incorporation of foreign elements in his armies, the fierce wars and changing fortunes of his successors, broke down the barriers by which kingdom had been separated from kingdom, and opened the road for larger conceptions of life and faith than had hitherto been possible. The contact of the East and West brought out into practical forms thoughts and feelings which had been confined to the schools. Paganism was deprived of life as soon as it was transplanted beyond the narrow limits in which it took its shape. The spread of commerce followed the prog ress of arms ; and the Greek language and literature vindi cated their claim to be considered the most perfect expression of human thought by becoming practically universal. The Jews were at once most exposed to the powerful in. fluences thus brought to bear upon the East, and most able to support them. In the arrangement of the Greek conquests, which followed the battle of Ipsus b.c 301, Judaea was made the frontier land of the rival empires of Syria and Egypt ; and though it was necessarily subjected to the constant vicissitudes of war, it was able to make advantageous terms with the state to which it owed allegiance, from the important advan tages which it offered for attack or defense. Internally also the people were prepared to withstand the effects of the revo lution which the Greek dominion effected. The constitution of Ezra had obtained its full development. A powerful hie rarchy had succeeded in substituting the idea of a church for that of a state, and the Jew was now able to wander over the world and yet remain faithful to the God of his fathers. The same constitutional change had strengthened the intellectual and religious position of the people. A rigid fence of ritualism protected the course of common life from the license of Greek manners ; and the great doctrine of the unity of God, which was now seen to be the divine centre of their system, counter acted the attractions of a philosophic pantheism. Through B.C. 332. Influence of Alexander. 19 a long course of discipline, in which they had been left un- guided by prophetic teaching, the Jews had realized the nature of their mission to the world, and were waiting for the means of fulfilling it. The conquest of Alexander furnished thein with the occasion and the power. But at the same time the example of Greece fostered personal as well as popular inde pendence. Judaism was speedily divided into sects, analogous to the typical forms of Greek philosophy. But even the rude analysis of the old faith was productive of good. The free dom of Greece was no less instrumental in forming the Jews for their final work than the contemplative spirit of Persia, or the civil organization of Rome ; for if the career of Alex ander was rapid, its effects were lasting. The city which he chose to bear his name perpetuated in after ages the office which he providentially discharged for Judaism and mankind ; and the historian of Christianity must confirm the judgment of Arrian, that Alexander, " who was Uke no other man, could not have been given to the world without the special design of Providence." And Alexander himself appreciated this de sign better even than his great teacher ; for it is said 17 that when Aristotle urged him to treat the Greeks as freemen and the Orientals as slaves, he found the true answer to this coun sel in the recognition of his divine mission to unite and recon cile the world. § 4. Jaddua was succeeded, some time before the death of Alexander, by his son Onias I., who was high-priest from about b.c 330 to b.c 309, or, according to Eusebius, b.c 300. In the division of the empire of Alexander, Palestine was treated, as it had always been considered by the Greeks, as a part of Syria ; and so it fell to the lot of Laomedon, who was dispossessed, in b.c. 321-320, by Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, the powerful satrap of Egypt. Ptolemy took Jerusalem by assaulting it on the Sabbath, when the Jews would offer no resistance.18 He carried off a large number18 of Jewish and Samaritan captives to Alexandria, where he gave them the full citizenship ; and many others migrated to Egypt of their own accord. In the wars that followed, Palestine was alternately the prize of victory to Antigonus and Ptolemy, till the peace which followed the battle of Ipsus assigned it to Ptolemy, with Phoenicia and Ccelesyria, as a dependency of the kingdom of Egypt, b.c. 301. It was subject to the first five Ptolemies for about a century b.c 301-198. The sufferings inflicted upon "Plutarch, deAlex. Or. 1, § 6. I "" Aristeas says 100,000. There 18 Joseph, c. Ap. i. 22; Ant. xii. 1. J seems to be a confusion between this 20 From Nehemiah to Antiochus Epiphanes. Chap. L Palestine and Phoenicia by the wars of the Diadochi (as the successors of Alexander were called in Greek) were almost con fined to the maritime regions, where the strong cities, such as Gaza, Joppa, and Tyre, were the chief objects of contention. As in the old wars between Assyria and Egypt, Jerusalem lay out of the direct track of the combatants. § 5. Just after the battle of Ipsus, the high-priesthood pass ed to Simon I. the Just, son of Onias I. (about b.c 300-292). Jewish tradition makes him the greatest of this later fine of priests. In the magnificent eulogy of Jesus the son of Sirach, Simon is said to have fortified the temple, doubling the height of the wall, and to have maintained the divine service in the highest splendor. " When he put on the robe of honor, and was clothed with the perfection of glory, when he went up to the holy altar, he made the garment of holiness honorable." s° Other traditions make Simon the last survivor of the Great Synagogue o/120,21 who returned with Ezra from the Baby lonish Captivity, and ascribe to him the final completion of their great work, the Canon .of ;the Old Testament. They were succeeded by the New Synagogue, whose oflice was to interpret the Scriptures thus completed. Its founder was Antigonus Socho, the first writer of the Mishna. He is said to have received from Simon the Just the body of oral tradition handed down from Moses. To him also is ascribed the doc trine, that God ought to be served disinterestedly, and not for the sake of reward ; which was perverted by one of his disci ples into the denial of all future rewards and punishments. That disciple was Zadok (or Sadduc), founder of the Sadducees. But the tradition rests on insufficient evidence, and the etymol ogy is extremely doubtful.22 The fondness with which Jewish tradition regarded the priesthood of Simon, as the best period of the restored theoc racy, is indicated by the prodigies which were said to have heralded impending disaster at its close. "The sacrifices, which were always favorably accepted during his life, at his death became uncertain or unfavorable. The scape-goat, which statement and that of the 100,000 Jews whom Alexander is said to have settled at Alexandria. 20 Ecclesiasticus 1. The whole pas sage gives a strong impression of the order and purity of divine wor- ihip at this period. Dean Milman well calls it "the ideal of the pomp and majesty of a high-priest." Tho Talmudists pronounce high culogi-' urns on a "Simon the Just" (Si mon ha Zaddiek), without specifying « nether they mean Simon I. or Si mon II. In fact the characteristics of both seem to be blended in their description. 21 See Old Testament History, ch. xxvii., Notes and Ilkst. (B.) 22 See Appendix to Book I. On the Sects of' the Jews. B.C. 300. Simon the Just. 21 used to be thrown from a rock, and to be dashed immediately to pieces, escaped (a fearful omen) into the desert. The great west light of the golden chandelier no longer burned with a steady flame — sometimes it was extinguished. The sacrifi cial fire languished; the sacrificial bread failed, so as not to suffice, as formerly, for the whole priesthood." (Milman.) § 6. Simon the Just was succeeded by his brother Eleazak, his son Onias being under age (b.c 292-251).23 His long rule seems to have been profoundly tranquil, under the mild gov ernments of Ptolemy I. Soter (the son of Lagus), and PTOLEMy II. Philadelphus, who succeeded his father in b.c 285 and reigned till b.c 247. To this king's literary tastes, and to the co-operation of Elea zar, the tradition preserved by Aristeas ascribes the Greek Version of the Jewish Scriptures, which is called the Septu agint, from its seventy or seventy-two translators.24 Much as there is. erroneous and even fabulous in the tradition, there can be no doubt that the first portion of the translation was executed at this time by learned Jews at Alexandria. The work marks an important epoch in Jewish history ; not merely the embodiment of the sacred writings in a form in which they might act upon the Gentile world, but, conversely, the growing strength -of those influences which are denoted by the general name of Hellenism. The conquests of Alexander, and the kingdoms founded by his successors in Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, had led to a most powerful infusion of Greek pop ulation, manners, literature, art, and religion throughout West ern Asia, and Greek was rapidly becoming a universal language in that region. The Jews of Egypt, whose numbers, from the successive migrations we have noticed, were now very large, had doubtless become so far hellenized, that a Greek version of the Scriptures may have been as much needed for their use as for Ptolemy's curiosity. Thus it happened, in the Divine Providence, that the growth of Oriental Hellenism prepared the way for the spread of Christianity, not only by imbuing half the world with a common civilization and a common lan guage, but by providing in that language the sacred standard of divine truth, by which the Messiah's claims were to be es tabhshed, and the words of which he was to fulfill. But mean while that same Hellenism brought upon the Jews a new series of national trials. The Jews of Palestine appear to have been 23 Manasseh, the brother of Elea zar, was associated with him in the priesthood, and held it after him till B.o. 240. 24 Joseph. Ant. xii. 2. See Appen dix to Book I. 22 From Nehemiah to Antiochus Epiphanes. Chap. I. thus far singularly free from hellenizing tendencies ; but the time soon came when their exemption was no longer preserved. After the successive rules of his uncles Eleazar and Manas seh, Onias II. at length entered on the high-priesthood in b.c 240. He endangered the long friendship with Egypt by neg lecting to pay the annual tribute of twenty talents to Ptolemy III. Euergetes, who had succeeded his father in b.c 247. The high-priest's unseasonable avarice led to the first interruption of that kindly policy which the first three Ptolemies had uni formly preserved toward Judaea, and he was too indolent to obey the summons to answer for his conduct, under the threat of invasion. An open rupture was only averted by the policy of the high-priest's nephew, Joseph, the son of Tobias, who forms as great a contrast to his uncle, as Antipater and Herod afterward did to the imbecile Hyrcanus. Joseph borrowed the money for his journey from some rich Samaritans, and traveled to Alexandria in the company of certain Phoenician merchants, from whom he learned the sum they intended to bid for the farming of the tribute of Palestine, Phoenicia, and Coelesyria. Having succeeded in appeasing Ptolemy by rep resenting the weakness of Onias, Joseph offered to double the sum of 8000 talents, at which the merchants proposed to farm the revenues ; and, when asked for his sureties, named the king and queen themselves, secure in the progress he had made in the royal favor.25 He obtained the contract. By a few severe examples, as at Ascalon and Seythopolis, he succeeded in dis charging his office, and in establishing a civil authority- side by side with that of the high-priest. His rule lasted for twenty-two years, and the power which he had set up in the state became a source of evils as great as the danger from which he had delivered it. § 7. Onias II. died in b.c 226, and was succeeded by his son Simon II. ; and four years later the crown of Egypt passed to Ptolemy IV. Philopator (b.c 222-205). Meanwhile the ri val kingdom of the Seleucida3, in Syria, had reached the climax of its power, and the throne had just been ascended by the most ambitious of its kings, Antiochus III. the Great (b.c. 223-187). He made war on Ptolemy for the provinces of Phoenicia, Coelesyria, and Palestine ; but was defeated at the battle of Raphia, near Gaza, b.c 217. After this victory, Ptol emy went to Jerusalem ; and, not content with offering sacri fices, he entered the Holy of Holies, whence he is said to have 25 It is recorded, as a proof of the good-will of Ptolemy Euergetes to the Jews, that he offered sacrifices at Jerusalem. B.C. 240. Onias II and Simon II. 23 been driven out by a supernatural terror. He gave vent to his resentment by a cruel persecution of the Jews at Alexan dria, the first example of such a measure for nearly 200 years. Its consequence was the alienation of the Jews both of Pales tine and Egypt. The death of Ptolemy Philopator, when his son Ptolemy V. Epiphanes20 (b.c 205-181) was only five years old, gave a new opening to the ambition of Antiochus the Great. That king, who had been occupied for the last twelve years in sub duing a revolt in Asia Minor and attempting in vain to recov er the provinces beyond the Tigris from the Parthians and Bactrians, formed a league with Philip V. of Macedon, for the partition of Ptolemy's dominions. After a fierce contest, in which Judsea suffered severely, Antiochus became master of Coelesyria and Palestine (b.c 198) The Jews, who had again been ill-treated by Scopas, the general of Ptolemy, wel comed Antiochus as a deliverer. He granted them an annual sum for the sacrifices, and forbade foreigners to enter the tem ple. § 8. In the same year, Simon II. was succeeded in the high- priesthood by his son Onias III. (b.c 198-171). The conquered provinces were restored to Ptolemy Epiphanes as the dowry of his bride, Cleopatra, the daughter of Antiochus ; but the Syrian king did not give up their possession ; and he resumed them altogether by the treaty with Rome in B.C. 188. He lost his life in the following year. It is under his son and suc cessor, Seleucus IV. Philopator (b.c 187-175), that the writer of the Second JBook of Maccabees places the attempt of Heliodorus to seize the treasures of the temple, and his mirac ulous repulse.27 The story, of wbich Josephus knows noth ing, illustrates the tendency of apocryphal writers to adorn their books with feeble imitations of the miracles recorded in the Scriptures. All we know for certain is, that Onias could scarcely maintain his favor with Seleucus against the machi nations of Simon, the treasurer of the temple, who is said to have instigated the sacrilege ; and the bloody feud thus com menced between the partisans of the high-priest and those of Simon hastened the calamities that followed the transfer of the supremacy to Syria.28 The accession of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes (b.c 175-164) 26 This is the king whose coronation aB Simon is called a Benjamite. decree, inscribed on the "Rosetta Upon the difficulties respecting the Stone," has afforded the foundation family to which he belonged, and for the art of deciphering the Egyp- the exact nature of his office, see tian hieroglyphics. " 2 Mace. iii. Diet, of Bible, vol. iii. p. 1319, etc. 24 From Nehemiah to Antiochus Epiphanes. Chap. 1 secured the triumph of the Syrian party in Judaea. This prince, whose conduct, as well as his end, gained him the nickname of Epimanes (the madman) had been sent by his father, Antiochus the Great, as a hostage to Rome. He returned with a con tempt for his subjects added to that love of oriental luxury which the kings of Syria had now acquired ; but his vices might have been chiefly dangerous to himself had not his Ro man education inflamed the ambition which he inherited from his father. He found the Jewish high-priest at Antioch, whither Onias had gone to clear himself from the accusations of Simon, which were backed by the hostility of Apollonius, the governor of Coelesyria. The Greek party were represent ed, not only by Simon, but by the high-priest's own brother, Joshua (Jesus), who went so far as to adopt the Greek name of Jason. By an enormous bribe in money and promises of an nual tribute, Jason (b.c 175-172) obtained the high-priesthood, while Onias III. was deposed, and detained at Antioch.29 For the first time, Greek customs were openly introduced into Ju dsea, with a success which shows to what an extent the Jews had already become hellenized in spirit. Not content with surrendering the privileges of free worship obtained from for mer kings,30 and neglecting the services of the temple, Jason built a gymnasium, where the Jewish youth practiced the Greek athletic exercises, some of them even obliterating the mark of circumcision.31 Jason also sent representatives to the quinquennial games of the Tyrian Hercules, with large pres ents, which even his envoys scrupled to apply to the heathen sacrifices, but bestowed them for building ships.32 In three years, however, Jason was in his turn undermined by Menelaus (b.c. 172-168),33 whom he had sent to Antioch with the tribute, and who obtained the high-priesthood by flat tering the king's vanity and offering a higher bribe. He ar rived at Jerusalem, " having the fury of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a wild beast," while Jason fled to the Ammonites.34 Unable to raise the money he had promised, Menelaus was summoned to Antioch. He sold some of the vessels of the 29 2 Mace. iv. 1-9. 30 It appears from 2 Mace. iv. 11, that these privileges had been re cently ratified through the agency of John, the father of Eupolemus, whom Judas Maccabasus afterward sent as an envoy to Eome. B1 I Mace. i. 10-15 ; 2 Mace. iv. 10-17. ra 2 Mace. iv. 18-20. 31 According to Josephus, this was a younger brother of Onias III and Jason, who had changed his own name, Onias, to Menelaus (Ant. xii. 5, § 1) ; but in 2 Mace. iv. 23, he is made the brother of Simon the Ben- jamite. If so, his usurpation car ried the high.priesthood out of the house of Aaron. 31 2 Mace. iv. 23-26. B.C. 172. Jason and Menelaus. 25 temple to the Tyrians, in order to bribe Andronicus, who gov erned. Antioch during the king's absence in Cilicia. The de posed high-priest, Onias, who was still at Antioch, charged Menelaus with the sacrilege, and fled for sanctuary to the sa cred grove of Daphne. At the instigation of Menelaus, An dronicus enticed Onias from the sanctuary and put him to death (b.c. 171). Antiochus, who returned, about this time, was moved to pity by the blameless character of Onias ; and, perceiving doubtless the treasonable schemes of Andronicus, he put the murderer to death. Meanwhile a great tumult had broken out at Jerusalem, in consequence of the sacrileges com mitted by Lysimachus, the brother and deputy of Menelaus. Lysimachus was killed, and Menelaus was accused before An tiochus, when he reached Tyre on his way to attack Egypt ; but Menelaus escaped through bribery, and. his accusers were punished for the insurrection.36 § 9. We must here glance at the relations of Syria toward Egypt. Ptolemy VI. Philometor was an infant when he succeeded his father in b.c 181 ; but the government was ably conducted by his mother Cleopatra, the sister of Antiochus Epiphanes. Her death (b.c 173) led to a war with Syria, and Antiochus successfully conducted four campaigns against Egypt (b.c 171-168), from which he only retired on the haugh ty mandate of the Roman ambassador, M. Popillius Laenas. During the second of these campaigns (b.c 1 70), a report was spread of the king's death. Jason attacked Jerusalem at the head of 1000 men, and drove Menelaus into the citadel; but, after great cruelties against the citizens, he was compelled to fly to the land of Ammon. Thence he fled to Egypt, and after ward to Sparta, where he sought protection on some claim of kindred, and there he " perished in a strange land." 36 Mean while his attempt had the most extraordinary consequences in the history of the Jews. Antiochus was led to believe that Judsea had revolted, an idea no doubt encouraged by Menelaus, in order to get rid of his own enemies. The king returned from Egypt in a state of fury ; took Jerusalem by storm, slaying young and old, women and maidens. Forty thousand fell in the conflict, and as many were sold into slavery. Guided by Menelaus, he entered the tem ple, profaned the altar by the sacrifice of a swine, and having caused part of its flesh to be boiled, he sprinkled the broth 36 2 Mace. iv. 28-50. m 2 Mace. v. 5-10. The alleged kindred between the Jews and Spar- B tans is alluded to in 1 Mace. xii. 7. The story of the Spartan embassy is supported by no other authority. 26 From Nehemiah to Antiochus Epiphanes. Chap. L over the whole sanctuary, and polluted the Holy of Holies with filth. He carried off the sacred vessels and other treasures, to the amount of 1800 talents, and returned to Antioch, leaving a savage Phrygian, named Philip, as his governor at Jerusalem, and Andronicus at Gerizim, where the Samaritan temple seems to have been profaned in like manner.37 Menelaus, who is stig matized as the worst of all the three, is not again named in the Books of Maccabees. His subsequent death under Antiochus Eupator was regarded as a judgment for his crimes (b.c 1 63).3B § 10. Two years later (b.c 168) Antiochus vented upon Ju dsea the exasperation of his dismissal from Egypt. Policy too, as well as passion, may have urged him to destroy a prov ince now thoroughly disaffected, and likely soon to fall into the power of Egypt. Apollonius, the old enemy of the Jews, was sent to Jerusalem at the head of 22,000 men, with orders to slay all the male adults, and to seize the women and children. Pretending that his mission was friendly, he waited till the Sabbath, and then fell upon the unresisting people. A fright ful massacre took place : the city was pillaged and set on fire : its fortifications were dismantled : and a tower was erected on Mount Zion, overlooking both the temple and the city, from which the garrison sallied forth upon all who dared to resort to the deserted sanctuary. Then followed one of the severest persecutions recorded in the history of religion.30 Antiochus issued an edict for uniformity of worship throughout his do minions, and committed its execution in Samaria and Judaea to an old man named AthenoBus,40 one of those fanatics who have been produced by heathenism, as well as by religions that claim a more earnest faith. A strong element of such fanati cism may be traced in the character of Antiochus himself. While his quick and versatile Greek temperament, trained in Roman ideas of power, and corrupted by oriental luxury, led him to indulge in all the vices and freaks for which despotism supplied the means — at one time rioting through the streets of Antioch with his boon companions, at another going through a mock canvass for the Roman magistracies, and pretending to hold them — he was all the while a munificent and bigoted sup porter of the Greek worship. " The admirers," says Dean Milman, " of the mild genius of the Grecian religion, and those who suppose religious persecution unknown in the world to the era of Christianity, would do well to consider the wanton 37 1 Mace. i. 20-28, ii. 11-23. 58 Joseph, xiii. 3, 4. 30 1 Mace. i. 29, foil. ; 2 Mace. v. 24-26. 40 2 Mace. vi. 1 : this seems clear ly to be a proper name. B.C. 168. Persecution of Antiochus. 27 and barbarous attempt of Antiochus to exterminate the relig. ion of the Jews and substitute that of the Greeks." The Samaritans submitted without resistance, and their temple on Mount Gerizim was dedicated to Zeus Xenius. At Jerusalem Athenseus began his work by converting the sanct uary into a temple of Zeus Olympius. Its courts were pol luted by the most licentious orgies ; the altar was loaded with abominable offerings; and the old idolatry of Baal was re established in the obscene form in which it had been carried to Greece — the phallic revels of Dionysus. The copies of the Book of the Law were either destroyed, or profaned by hea then and doubtless obscene pictures.41 The practice of Jewish rites, and the refusal to sacrifice to the Greek gods, were alike punished with death. Two women, who had circum cised their children, were led round the city with the babes hanging at their breasts, and then cast headlong from the wall. A company of worshipers were burned by Philip in a cave, to which they had fled to keep the Sabbath. The favorite test of conformity was the compulsion to eat swine's flesh ; and two particular cases of heroic resistance make this one of the brightest pages in Jewish and Christian martyrology. A chief scribe, named Eleazar, a man of noble person and ninety years of age, when a piece of swine's flesh was thrust into his mouth, spat it out, and willingly offered his body to the torments. When some of the officers, for old acquaint ance sake, besought him to provide some meat, and eat it as if it were the unclean food, he made a reply which contains the whole justification of the martyr's constancy to death: "It becometh not our age in anywise to dissemble, whereby many young persons might think that Eleazar, being fourscore years old and ten, were now gone to a strange religion, and so through mine hypocrisy, and desire to live a little time, should be deceived by me, and I get a stain to my old age, and make it abominable. For though for the present time I should be delivered from the punishment of men, yet I should not escape the hand of the Almighty, neither alive, nor dead." He concluded by declaring Ms resolve, " to leave a notable example to such aa be young to die willingly and coura geously for the honoraole and holy laws." . His tempters, incensed at his obstinacy, grew doubly cruel, and, as he was expiring beneath their blows, be cried — "It is manifest unto Jehovah, that hath the holy knowledge, that whereas I might have been delivered from death, I endure sore pains in " 1 Mace. iii. 48. 28 From Nehemiah to Antiochus Epiphanes. Chap. I body by being beaten ; but in soul am well content to suffer these things, because I fear Him." " Thus was he " tortured," not accepting deliverance, that he might obtain a better resurrection ;" and he is included, with the other martyrs of the age, in the " cloud of martyrs," " of whom the world was not worthy," "who obtained a good report through faith." Some Christian writers have called him " the proto-martyr of the Old Covenant," a glory, however, which belongs to Abel.'14 " Others had trial of mockings and sco'urgings." Such was the fate of the seven brethren who, with their mother, were brought into the king's own presence,45 and, having refused to eat swine's flesh, were put to death with insults and tor ments, of which the horrid details may be read in the original text. From the eldest to the youngest, they displayed not only constancy but triumph; and the mother, after encour aging each in his turn, herself suffered last.40 The atrocities committed at Jerusalem were rivaled in the country. But at this very crisis, when the worship and the people of Jeho vah seemed, doomed to extinction, a new light arose for both ; and the result showed how needful was the baptism of fire to purify the people from the corruptions of Hellenism. Meanwhile the persecutor himself became a signal example of the retribution which awaits despotic power and unbridled passion ; and, before relating the resurrection of Judaea under the Maccabees, we may anticipate the short period of four years, to notice the fate of Antiochus Epiphanes. He was in the eastern provinces, when he heard of the revolt of Judaea and the defeat of his general Lysias. Hastening back to avenge the disgrace, he attacked a temple at Elymais, the very place where his father had lost his life in a similar at tempt. The mortification of being repulsed seems to have brought to a climax the madness which despotism usually engenders ; and he died in a raving frenzy at Tabae in Persia, b.c 164. His end was regarded, by Greeks as well as Jews, as a judgment for his sacrilegious crimes ; and he has left to history a name as odious as that of Nero, with whose charac ter he had many points in common. Haec. ; 12 2 Mace. vi. 43 Heb. xi. 35, 36. The very word chosen by tlie apostle,lraijU7ravi'a,0?;!rai>, expresses the kind of torture inflicted on Eleazar and other martyrs of this time. The whole passage clearly shows that the writer had them in his mind, though their history is not recorded in the canonical Scriptures. 44 Chrysostom, Horn, ii Ambros. de Jacob, ii. 10. 40 Whether Antiochus visited Je rusalem during the persecution, or whether they were carried to him at Antioch or elsewhere, does not clear ly appear. " 40 2 Mace. vii. B.C. 168. Silence ofthe Heathen Historians. 29 § 11. It is very remarkable that this great persecution, and the subsequent history of the glorious regeneration of Judaea under the Maccabees, should have been passed over by the Greek and Roman historians. From Polybius we might have expected a just appreciation of its importance, and an impartial summary of its facts ; but of this portion of his work only a few fragments remain, and the silence of Livy, who closely follows his history of Syria, seems to imply that of his great authority. Appian's meagre summary of Syrian history takes no notice of the Jews. Diodorus gives a very brief account of them, repeating the current prejudices, not as his own belief, but as arguments used by the counselors of Antiochus to urge the extirpation of the Jews.47 The con temptuous summary given by Tacitus is even more significant than the silence of the rest, and shows how far prejudice can lead even the most careful writers from the truth. He speaks as follows : — " During the dominion of the Assyrians, the Medes, and the Persians, the Jews were the most abject of their dependent subjects. After the Macedonians obtained the supremacy of the East, King Antiochus endeavored to do away with their superstition and introduce Greek habits, but was hindered by a Parthian war from reforming a most re pulsive people." 4B The spirit of this passage may explain the indifference of other authors. The uncompromising devotion of the Jews to their rehgion and their national traditions, and their claim to be worshipers of the only true God, excited among the heathen, and especially those who laid claim to philosophy, the same affected contempt and unaffected resentment which led Gibbon to sneer at Palestine as a country no larger nor more favored by nature than Wales. Nor is it only this bril liant passage of the Jewish annals that escaped the notice and the sympathy of the western historians. The period of 370 years, from the Decree of Cyrus to the revolt of the Macca bees, embraces the most brilliant events of Greek and Roman history. The aristocratic republics of Greece and the mon archy of Rome had reached their climax at its commencement, amidst the rapid growth of philosophy and art. Its first quarter of a century beheld the expulsion of the Pisistratids from Athens and the Tarquins from Rome. The struggles which placed Rome at the head of the Italian states, and formed her republican constitution, the Persian and Pelopon- nesian wars, the conflict of the Greek states for the supremacy 47 Lib. xxxix. Eel. 1 ; xl. Eel. 1. 48 Teterrimam gentem, Tac. Hist. v. 8. 30' From Nehemiah to Antiochus Epiphanes. chap, t which they at last yielded to the Macedonian, and the very conquest which brought Alexander to Judaaa, are all related just as they might have been if there had been no such nation as the Jews. The keen inquiries of Herodotus, who visited Egypt and Tyre at the very time when Ezra and Nehemiah were regulating the restored state, produced nothing but the notice of Necho's victory over Josiah and capture of Cadytis (probably Gaza), the mistake "that the Syrians of Palestine" learned circumcision from the Egyptians, and the mention of them as serving with the Phoenicians in the fleet of Xerxes.49 The silence of the historians of Alexander and his succes sors about the Jewish people is the more remarkable, as they have to mention Judsea as the scene of war ; it is matched by the Romans even when they come into contact with Syria and Egypt; nor is it even broken when (if we may believe the historian of the Maccabees) Rome formed an alliance with Judas Maccabaeus. A century later, when Pompey penetrated into the temple, the sacred city suggests even to Cicero noth ing better than a nickname for his distrusted leader ; nor does Tacitus notice the very advent of Christ with half the interest he shows in the relations of the Herodian princes to the Cae sars. Surely we can not but see in all this a divine purpose, that the outer, like the inner life, of the chosen people, should lie hidden from the world at large, and pursue a course apart from the ordinary current of warlike and political conflict, till from their bosom should emerge the band of lowly and unworldly men, who were to proclaim a " kingdom not of this world." § 1 2. In preparation for that event, the Jewish people had a history of its own, for which we could wish to possess more abundant materials. They had resumed the ordinances of their religion, purified from their old idolatries by the Captiv ity, and with their zeal constantly stimulated by antagonism with the Samaritans. Politically, they were subject first to Persia, and then to Egypt ; but, as long as their tribute was paid, their relations to their sovereign were kindly, and they were left to the government of their high-priests' and patri archal princes; till the great Syrian persecution. The ex tinction of royalty, after it had served its purpose by giving an image of Messiah's kingdom, removed the chief influence which had led to apostasy in Israel and to idolatry in Judah ; and the very dependence which debarred them from political freedom gave them the better opportunity for religious or- 40 Herod, ii. 104, 106, 159, iii. 5, vii. 89. B.C. 168. State of the Jewish Nation. 31 ganization. The band by which the "people of God" were held together was at length felt to be religious and not local ; and all the more so from the existence of large portions of the nation separate from the rest, in the great Eastern " dis persion," or in the new community formed in Egypt. The Jews incorporated in different nations still looked to Jerusa lem as the centre of their faith. The boundaries of Canaan were passed ; and the beginnings of a spiritual dispensation were already made. But this process could not work unmixed good. " In the darkness of this long period, Judaism, with its stern and settled aversion to all polytheism, to Gentile in fluences, gradually hardened into its rigid exclusiveness. . . . Conflicting opinions, which grew up under the Asmonaaan princes into religious factions, those of the Pharisees and Sad ducees, began to stir in the religious mind and heart of the people. The old Nazaritism grew toward the latter Esse- nism." 60 The Jews restored to Palestine resumed their agricultural life on a land rendered doubly fertile by having " enjoyed her Sabbaths as long as she lay desolate, to fulfill threescore and ten years ;" 61 and it may be observed in passing, that the ordinance of the Sabbatic year, which had been so systematically neg lected before the Captivity, was observed in the Maccabaean age. How the land was divided among the returned families we are not told ; but thus much seems clear, that it soon fell chiefly into the hands of the nobles, who, becoming rapidly enriched through the fertility of the soil, resumed that course of oppression toward the poor, which the old prophets had so vehemently denounced as the crying sin of their class. An order which thus sets itself above the social bonds of mutual kindness is prone to maintain its consequence against popular discontent by foreign influence ; and, just as the princes of Judah headed the idolatrous and Egyptian party in the last days of the monarchy, so now they were the leaders of the Syrian and hellenizing party. Their influence was resisted, as formerly by the prophets, so now by the priests, who headed the glorious uprising of the nation in defense of their relig ion. The issue of that contest proves that the nation was still sound at heart at the time of the Syrian domination. M Milman, " 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. KINGS OF THE GREEK KINGDOM OF STRIA. Kings. Length of Reign. Bate of Accession. 1. Seleucus I. Nicator 32 years. Oct. 312. 2. Antiochus I. Soter . . 19 ^ Jan. 280. 3. Antiochus II. Theos ... 15 " Jan. 261. 4. Seleucus II. Callinicus . 20 " Jan. 246. 5. Seleucus III. Oeraunus . 3 " Aug. 226. 6. Antiochus Iir. the Great 36 " Aug. 223. 7. Seleucus IV. Philopator 12 " Oct. 1ST. 8. Antiochus IV. Epiphanes 11 " Aug. 1T5. 9. Antiochus V. Eupator 2 " Dec 164. 10. Demetrius I. Soter . 12 " Xov. 162. 11. Alsxander Balas . . . 5 " Aug. 150. ("Demetrius II. Nicator (1st reign)"] 12. 1 Antiochus VI. Theo3 . 1 9 " Nov. 146. l^Tryphon J 13. Antiochus VII. Sidetes .... 9 " Feb. 13T. /Demetrius II. Nicator (2d reign)) (Alexander Zebina | 3 " Feb. 12S. U (( Feb. 1?5 15. Antiochus VIII. Grypus . 13 " Aug. 125. 16. Antiochus IX. (Jyzenicus . 18 " 113. 17. /'Seleucus VI. "\ IL f( n n 18 \ Antiochus X. Eusebes Fhilippus/ 12 " 95. 19. /Tigranes f 14 " 85. 20. "S Demetrius III. Eucserns /*' u n CL tt 21. /Antiochus XI. Epiphanes V il it tt il 22. (^Antiochus XII. Dionysus ) U li tt u 23. Antiochus Asiaticus . . . 4 " 69. Coin of Antiuchus Epiphanes. CHAPTER II. THE MACCABAEAN WAE OF INDEPENDENCE. B.C. 168-106. 1. The family of Mattathias— His retirement from Jerusalem to Modin — He refuses to sacrifice, kills the royal officer, and flees to the mount ains — Progress of the revolt, and death of Mattathias. § 2. Jddas the Maccaeee succeeds his father, and defeats Apollonius and Seron. § 3. Measures of Antiochus Epiphanes — Great victories of Judas over Nicanor and Gorgias, Timotheus and Bacchides. § 4. Defeat of Lysias at Bethsura — Judas takes Jerusalem and purifies tlie Temple — " Feast of the Dedication." §5. Wars with the neighboring nations. §6. An tiochus V. Eupator and Lysias invade Judaea — Capture of Bethsura — Eleazar Avaran crushed under an elephant — Treachery of Antiochus at Jerusalem — Accession of Demetrius I. Soter — Flight of Onias IV. to Egypt, and building of the Jewish temple at Leontopolis — Alcimds high-priest at Jerusalem — Armies sent to establish him — Decisive defeat of Nicanor at Adasa, the Jewish Marathon. § 7. Alliance of the Jews with Rome — Their defeat at Eleasa, the Maccabaean Thermopylae — Death of Judas. § 8. Jonathan Apphus, the Maecabee, succeeds Judas — Death of Alcimus and peace with Bacchides — War between Alexander Balas and Demetrius — Jonathan made high-priest — He defeats Apollonius — Fall of Alexander Balas — Demetrius II. Nicator assisted by Jonathan against Tryphon — Antiochus VI. Theos favors the Jews— Jonathan taken prisoner by Tryphon — His death. § 9. Simon Thassi, the Maecabee, accomplishes the independence of Judaea — Usur pation of Tryphon in Syria — Murder of Antiochus Theos, and captiv ity of Demetrius Nicator in Parthia — Prosperity of Judaea — Treaties with Rome and Lacedaemon — Defeat of Tryphon by Antiochus VII. Sidetes — Last Syrian war against Judaea — Victory of Judas and John, the sons of Simon, over Cendebeus — Treacherous murder of Simon, with his sons Judas and Mattathias, at Jericho, by Ptolemy, son of Abubus. § 10. John Hykcanus, son of Simon, besieges Jericho — Cruelties and escape of Ptolemy — Antiochus Sidetes takes Jerusalem and gains the surname of Eusebes — His death in Parthia — Complete independence of Judaea — John Hyrcanus conquers Idumaea and Sa maria, and destroys the temple on Mount Gerizim — Quarrels with the Pharisees and favors the Sadducees — His death. § 11. Review of the Maccabaean contest in the light of patr^sm.and religion. § 12. Be- B 2 34 The Maccabaean War of Independence. Chap. IL lief in the Resurrection and tcadfastness to the Law— Literature and art — Maccabaean coins. § 1. The persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes called forth a glorious resistance, which ended in establishing the independ ence of Judsea under the Maccabaean or Asmonasan princes. * An aged priest named Mattathias, the son of Simeon (or Simon), son of Johanan (John), son of Chasmon, of the course of Joarib (the first of David's twenty-four courses), and of the house of Eleazar, Aaron's elder son, had escaped from Jerusa lem at the beginning ofthe persecution.2 He took up his abode at his own city of Modin? (probably on the edge of the great maritime plain of Philistia), with his five sons, John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan, besides other kindred. For a time they mourned over the desolation of Jerusalem and the sanctuary; but the nearer approach of danger roused them to exertion. The king's officers, headed by Apelles, came to Modin, and called first on Mattathias, as the principal man of the city, to earn honors and rewards by obeying the royal edict. But Mattathias indignantly refused, for himself, his sons, and all his kindred. Others were prepared to be more compliant ; and one of them advanced to the altar, to contrast his obedi ence with the example of rebellion. Mattathias could forbear no longer. He rushed forward, and slew first the apostate, 1 It may -be well to explain these names at once. Maecabee was orig inally the surname of Judas, the third son of Mattathias. Its most probable etymology is from Macca- bah, a hammer, like Charles Martel. The appellation has also been com pared with the Malleus Scotorum and Malleus Hcereticorum of the Middle Ages. Asmoncean (or rather Chas- moncean) is the proper name of the family, from Chasmon, the great grandfather of Mattathias. The original authorities for the history of the Maccabees are ex tremely scanty; but for the course of the war itself the first book of Maccabees is a most trustworthy, if an incomplete, witness. The second book adds some important details to the history of the earlier part of the struggle, and of the events which immediately preceded it; but all the statements which it contains require close examination, and must be re ceived with caution. Josephus fol lows 1 Mace, for the period which it embraces, very closely, but slight additions of names and minute par ticulars indicate that he was in pos session of other materials, probably oral traditions, which have not been elsewhere preserved. On the other hand there are cases, in which, from haste or carelessness, he has misin terpreted his authority. From other sources little can, be gleaned. He brew and classical literature furnish nothing more than a few trifling fragments which illustrate Maccabae an history. So long an interval elapsed before the Hebrew traditions were committed to writing, that facts, when not embodied in rites or precepts, became wholly distort ed. See the pedigree in Notes and Illustrations (A). 2 1 Mace. ii. 1 ; comp. 2 Mace v. 27. 3 Notes and Illustrations (B). B.C. 167. Judas Maccabwus. 35 and next the king's commissioner, on the akar itself, which he then pulled down; just as his ancestor Phinehas had slain Zimri." Having proclaimed throughout the city, that all who were zealous for the law and covenant should follow him, Mattathias fled with his sons to the mountains ; and was joined by " many that sought after justice and judgment." The destruction of a thousand of the fugitives, who would not break the Sabbath by fighting, led Mattathias and his friends to declare the lawfulness of self-defense upon the Sabbath. Among their first adherents were the Assid^eans ( Chasidim, pious or holy), a sect or society who had bound themselves by a special vow to the observance of the law.6 Issuing from their mountain-fastnesses, they broke down the heathen altars, and killed many of the worshipers, while others fled to the Syrians ; they circumcised children by force, and recovered many copies of the law. But the work was too arduous for the aged Mattathias. After a noble exhortation to his sons, encouraging them by the examples of the ancient worthies, from Abraham to Daniel, and having appointed his son Judas his successor, he died, and was buried at Modin, in the sepul chre of his fathers (b.c. 167)." § 2. Judas, the third and most warlike' of the sons of Mattathias, and hence surnamed Maccabeus (the Hammerer), proved to Judsea what our Alfred was to England, Bruce to 4 l Mace. ii. 15-26, 54; com Num. xxv. 6 Chasidim ('Amdaioi ; Assidazi ; i. e. the pious "puritans;*' ol evaefielc, oi oaioi), was the name assumed by a section of the orthodox Jews (1 Mace. ii. 42, alii 'lovdaitav probably by correction; 1 Mace. vii. 13; 2 Mace. xiv. 6), as distinguished from " the impious " (oi aoefiiTc, ^ Mace. iii. 8, vi. 21, vii. 5, etc.), " the lawless " (oi avoaoi, 1 Mace. iii. 6, ix. 23, etc.), ' ' the transgressors " (ot irapavofioi, 1 Mace. i. 11, etc.), that is, the hellen- izing faction. They appear to have ex isted as a party before the Maccabaean rising, and were probably bound by some peculiar vow to the external ob servance of the Law (1 Mace. ii. 42, EKovtriaZ,trj9ai rip vojiifi). They were among the first to join Mattathias (1 Mace. /. c); and seem afterward to have been merged in the general body of the faithful (2 Mace. xiv. 6, p. , ot XeyofievoL tujv 'lovSaiwv 'Affidaioi, ' Stv atpriyurai 'lovdac 6 MaiacafiaToe, . . , . . .) When Bacchides came against j Jerusalem they used their influence (I Mace. vii. 13, ¦koCitol oi AaiS. : r\aav ev violg 'lapafiX) to conclude a peace, because "a priest of the seed of Aaron" (Alcimus) was with him, and sixty of them fell by bis treach ery. The name Chasidim occurs fre quently in the Psalms (e. g. Ps. lxxix. 2=1 Mace. vii. 17; exxxii. 9, etc.); and it has been adopted in recent times by a sect of Polish Jews, « ho take as the basis of their mystical system the doctrines of the Cabalist ic book Zohar. Some historians see in the Chasidim the prototype of the sect of the Pharisees. 6 1 Mace. ii. 49-70. The passage gives striking characters of Abraham, Joseph, Phinehas, Joshua, Caleb, David, Elijah, and Daniel and his three comrades. ' 1 Mace. ii. 66. 36 The Ma/xabman War of Independence. Chap.il Scotland, and Tell to Switzerland. His noble character, which the historian describes in glowing terms, commanded the cheer ful submission of his brethren and friends. He carried on his father's course of operations, in which he seems already to have been the chief leader under him.8 Venturing privately into the towns, Judas and his friends gathered an army of about 6000 worshipers of Jehovah." After training his followers by night attacks and surprises,10 he defeated the army of Apollonius, who marched against him from Samaria, slew the general, and ever afterward wore his sword.11 Another great host, led by Seron, the governor of Coelesyria, was routed in the passes of Beth-horon, after a noble address of Judas before the battle. The Syrians fled, with the loss of about 800 men, down the pass to the plain of the Philistines, just as the Canaanites had fled before Joshua over the same ground.12 § 3. Antiochus was the more enraged at the news, as his .finances were in disorder. The hellenizing policy, which he had pursued as rashly in other provinces as in Judsea, had created wide-spread disaffection, and Armenia and Persia, in particular, had refused to pay tribute. He called out all his forces ; and, having exhausted his treasure in giving them a year's pay in advance, he marched into Persia to recruit his finances, leaving half his forces to Lysias, a noble of the royal blood, whom he made his lieutenant west of the Euphrates, and guardian of his infant son, Antiochus. Lysias, having been commissioned to extirpate the whole Jewish nation, gave his orders to Ptolemy Macron, the governor of Coelesyria, who sent forth Nicanor and Gorgias, with 40,000 infantry and 7000 cavalry. Judas assembled his 6000 men at the ancient sanct uary of Mizpeh (Jerusalem being still in the hands of Philip), and after solemn religious services, he proclaimed, like Gideon, that all who were timid, as well as those who were exempt by the law from military service, might leave the camp, and en couraged the rest for the battle ofthe morrow.13 During the night, Gorgias marched out of the Syrian camp at Emmaus, with 5000 foot and 1000 chosen horse, to surprise the Jewish camp. Hearing of the movement, Judas left his camp, and appeared at day-break in the plain, with his army now weeded to 3000 men, who "had neither armor nor swords to their minds." The Syrian army under Nicanor was routed, and pursued to Ashdod and Jamnia, with the loss of 3000 8 1 Mace. iii. 1-9 ; comp. 2 Mace. v. 27, where he alone is mentioned as escaping from Jerusalem to the mountains. • 2 Mace. viii. 1. 2 Mace. viii. 5-7. 1 1 Mace. iii. 10-12. 1 1 Mace. iii. 13-24. ' 1 Mace. iii. 27-60. B.C. 166. Dedication of the Temple. 37 men. Judas recalled his little army to meet Gorgias, who, finding the Jewish camp deserted, had advanced into the mountains. Learning the victory of the Jews by the smoke of Nicanor's camp, the followers of Gorgias fled. Besides the rich spoils of the Syrian camp, " much gold and silver, and blue silk and purple of the sea, and great riches," there were found a number of merchants from the maritime cities, who had been attracted by Nicanor's promise to sell his prisoners for slaves : these, by a just retribution, were themselves sold into slavery. Having kept the Sabbath which followed the victory with great thanksgivings, Judas crossed the Jordan, and defeated Timotheus and Bacchides, slaying above 20,000 Syrians, and taking many of the strongholds of Gilead (b.c. 167)." § 4. In the following year Lysias, with an army of 60,000 chosen foot and 5000 horse, advanced to Bethsura," where he was met by Judas with only 10,000 men. After his usual fervent prayers and an animating harangue, Judas fell upon the Syrians, and defeated them with the slaughter of 5G00 men ; and Lysias retreated to Antioch to gather fresh forces. This victory gave the patriots possession of Jerusalem, except the Syrian tower, and Judas employed the respite from inces sant war in cleansing the temple, the deserted courts of which were overgrown with tall shrubs, and the chamber of the priests thrown down. The sacred vessels were replaced from the Syrian booty, and the sanctuary was dedicated anew on the 25th of Chisleu, exactly three years after its profanation (Dec. b.c. 166). A festival was kept for eight days, with rejoicings similar to those of the Feast of Tabernacles ; the solemnity was made a perpetual institution, and this is the "Feast of the Dedication" mentioned by St. John as being kept in the winter.18 During this solemnity, Judas had to employ a part of his forces to keep in check the Syrians, who still held the tower on Mount Zion. He afterward secured the temple 14 1 Mace. iv. 1 . 15. Beth-zur (house of the rock) was a town in the mountains of Judah (Josh . xv. 58), a fortress of Rehoboam (2 Chr. xi. 7), and a place of great im portance, as we shall see repeatedly, in the Maccabaean wars. The recov ery of the site of Beth-zur under the almost identical name of Beitsur, by Wolcott and Robinson (i. 216, note; iii. 277), explains its impregnability, ar.d also the reason for the choice of its position, since it commands the road from Beersheba and Hebron, which has always been the main ap proach to Jerusalem fiom the south. 16 1 Mace. iv. ; 2 Mace. x. 1-8 ; John x. 22. Solomon's temple was dedicated at the Feast of Taberna cles. The second temple was dedi cated on the 3d of Adar (latter partcf February), but of this no annivsrsa ry was instituted. 38 1 he Maccaboean War of Independence. Chap.U against attacks from that quarter by the erection of a strong wall and towers, well manned. He also fortified and garrisoned Bethsura.1' § 5. These successes roused the old jealous enmities of the surrounding nations, who began to massacre the Jews that dwelt among them ; but Judas was as prompt to chastise as to deliver. He made a descent on Joppa, and burned many houses and ships, to avenge the treacherous murder of 200 Jews, who had been decoyed on board the vessels in the har bor, and there drowned; and another treacherous massacre at Jamnia was punished by the conflagration of the town and ships, whose flames were seen from Jerusalem, a distance of twenty-five miles.18 He had returned to Judsea from a cam paign against the Idumasans and the Ammonites, when letters arrived announcing the extreme danger of the Jews in Gilead and Galilee. Judas divided his forces, sending his brother Simon into Galilee, while he marched with Jonathan into Gil ead. Both expeditions were successful, and future dangers were guarded against by the removal of the Galilean and Trans- jordanic Jews to Jerusalem. In the mean time, Joseph and Azai'ias, who had been left at Jerusalem with strict orders not to fight, were tempted by the news of these victories to attack Gorgias at Jamnia. They were routed with the loss of 2000 men ; but this heavy blow increased the confidence of the people in the Maccabaean brothers as their only worthy leaders; and another slight reverse confirmed the prudence by which Judas regulated his valor. He revenged the defeat, not without considerable loss. " When they proceeded, after 17 1 Mace. iv. 60, 61. 18 2 Mace. xii. 9. Jnmnia or Jab- nia (in Hebrew Jabneet) is an impor tant place in the Maccabaean war. It was on the northern boundary of Judah, between Ashdod and Joppa, not quite at the sea, though near it (Josh. xv. 11). It had a harbor called, like those of Ascalon and Gaza, Mnjumas, perhaps a Coptic word, meaning the "place on the sea " (Reland, 590, etc. ; Raumer, 174 note, 184 note; Kenrick, Phoeni cia, 27, 29). At the time of the fall of Jerusalem, Jabneh was one of the most populous places of Judaea, and contained a Jewish school of great fame, whose learned doctors are oft en mentioned in the Talmud. The great Sanhedrim was also held here. In this holy city, according to an early Jewish tradition, was buried the great Gamaliel. His tomb was visited by Parchi in the 14th centnry (Zunz, in Asher's Benj. of Tudela, ii. 4B9, 440 ; also 98). The modern village of Yebna, or more correctly //'««, stands about two miles from tho sea on a slight eminence just south of the Nahr Rubin. It is about eleven miles south of Jaffa, seven from Ramleh, and four from ^4)ti> (Ekron). It probably occupies its ancient site, for some remains of old buildings are to be seen, possibly rel ics of the fortress which the Crnsad. ers built tliere (Porter, Hand-book, 274). B.C. 164. Flight of Onias IV. to Egypt. 39 observing the Sabbath in Adullam, to bury the dead, small idols were found in the clothes even of some of the priestly race. A sin-offering was sent to Jerusalem, not only to atone for the guilt of these men, but for the dead, in whose resurrection the Maccabaean Jews, no doubt the Chasidim, had full faith." " He finished the campaign by reducing Hebron, and overrun ning the Philistine country and Samaria." § 6. About this time Antiochus Epiphanes died, in the manner already described.21 His young son, Antiochus V. Eupatoe (b.c. 164-162), was placed on the throne by Lysias, and a new campaign was undertaken for the relief of the Syrian garrison, who were now besieged in the citadel of Zion. The king and Lysias laid siege to Bethsura, while Judas hastened to its relief. The Syrian army numbered 80,000 or 100,000 foot, 20,000 horse, and 32 elephants. These beasts, now for the first time mentioned in Jewish warfare, are described as escorted each by 1000 foot and 500 horse ; each bore a tower containing 32 men, an exaggeration significant of the alarm caused by the strange sight : and it was believed that they were provoked to fight by the sight of the blood of grapes and mulberries. But the courage of the Jewish patriots was stimulated by the noble example of Eleazae, surnamed Avaran, the fourth of the Maccabaean brothers, who crept under an elephant and killed it, but was crushed to death by its fall. Nor did his self-devotion en sure the victory : Judas was compelled to retreat to Jerusa lem, and Bethsura capitulated on favorable terms. The fall of the fortress is ascribed to famine, in consequence of the dearth of corn in the Sabbatic year — an incidental proof of the observance of that institution by the restored Jews (b.c 163). The same cause reduced Jerusalem, which was next besieged, to the last extremities of famine, but 'drove the besiegers also to straits. Meanwhile, however, the army which Antiochus Epiphanes had led into Persia returned under Philip, who claimed the guardianship of the young king. Upon this Lysias advised Antiochus to make peace with the Jews. The king was no sooner admitted into the city, than he broke the terms just made by pulling down the new wall of Judas ; after which he retired to Antioch, and recovered the capital from Philip. His triumph was brief, for Demetrius, the son of Seleucus IV. — 19 " 2 Mace. xii. 44. For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. This is the earliest distinct assertion of the Jewish belief in the resurrection." — Milman. w 1 Mace. v. 21 Chap. i. § 10, 40 The Maccabcean War of Independence. Chap. U whose rightful inheritance had been usurped by his uncle, An tiochus Epiphanes — returned from Rome, where he had been a hostage, overthrew and put to death Antiochus and Lysias, and became king by the title of Demeteius I. Sotee22 (b.c. 162-150). With more subtle policy than his predecessor, De metrius availed himself of the divisions among the Jews. The common people appear to have become discontented under the austere yoke of the Assidaeans, and impatient of the long sac rifices demanded in the cause of patriotism ; and for the first time the hellenizing party was headed by a high-priest, who, unlike the usurpers, Jason and Menelaus, might p.ead a legiti mate title. Onias III., whose death at Antioch by the artifices of Men elaus has been related, left a son of the same name, who, though he never exercised the high-priesthood at Jerusalem, may be called Onias IV., to avoid confusion. During the usurpation of Jason and Menelaus, Onias seems to have supported an al liance with Egypt, whither he at length fled, and was protect ed by Ptolemy Philometor. As the legitimate heir to the high- priesthood, he formed the project of reviving in Egypt the worship which had been desecrated in Judsea. Egypt seemed well fitted to form a new centre of hellenistic Judaism by the great number of Jews who had settled there at various times, and by the possession of the Septuagint version of the Script ures. Onias therefore built a temple, of which he and his family became high-priests ; so that there were now three tem ples, the true one at Jerusalem, the Samaritan on Mount Ger izim, and the hellenistic in Egypt.23 One consequence of the secession of Onias was that, on the execution of Menelaus by order of Antiochus Eupator (about b.c. 163), the high-priesthood of Jerusalem passed out of the line of Jozadak, the father of Jeshua, in which it had remained since the return from the Captivity. Antiochus appointed Joakim24 (Jacimus), who, as Josephus says, was indeed of the al Mace. vi. 21 Joseph. Ant. xiii. 3; B. J. i. 1, § 1, vii. 10, § 2. The site ofthe temple is doubtful. The so-called original letters in Josephus place it at Leon- topolis in the Heliopolite nome ; but Leontopolis was the capital of a nome of its own, and the letters are spuri ous. Josephus and Ptolemy speak of "region" and "city of Onias," in the Heliopolite nome. Sir Gardner Wil kinson places its site at one of the so- called "Jewish Mounds" ( Tel-el-Ya- lioodeeyeh), about twelve miles north of Heliopolis (Modern Egypt and Thebes, vol. i. pp. 297-300). There are nu, merous other traces of the residence of the Jews on the north-east frontier of Egypt ; and, from the mention by Josephus of a "Camp of the Jews" (Ant. xiv. 8, § 2), it would seem that they were placed in military sta tions as the known enemies of Syria. " A name equivalent to Eliakim B.C. 164. Flight of Onias IV. to Egypt. 41 stock of Aaron, but not of this family. Alcimus, for such was the Greek name which the new high-priest adopted, became the head of the hellenizing party, and courted Demetrius, who sent an army under Bacchides to set up the high-priest at Je rusalem. Their overtures of peace could not deceive Judas ; but the Assidaeans trusted to the sacred character of the high- priest, who repaid their confidence by killing sixty of them in one day.26 Bacchides returned to Antioch, leaving the high-priest as governor ; while the indefatigable Judas went through the cit ies of Judah rallying the patriots. Alcimus again repaired to Antioch for help ; and Nicanor, who was sent to restore him, was defeated by Judas at Capharsalama. He retired to the citadel of Zion, where his refusal to listen to the overtures of the priests until Judas was delivered up to him, and his fero cious cruelties, reunited the patriots in resistance and prayer for his overthrow. A battle ensued at Adasa, near Beth- horon, where Judas gained his most glorious victory, on the 13th of Adar (end of February, b.c. 161), a day which was kept as a national festival. Nicanor was slain, and his head and hand were exposed as trophies at Jerusalem. The independence of Judaea was won, though it was not finally secured till after several years of contest, and the death of all the Maccabae an brothers. Meanwhile the land enjoyed a brief interval of rest.26 § 7. It is at this juncture that the name of Rome first ap pears in Jewish history. The imagination of Judas was cap tivated by the successes she had gained against the Gauls and Spaniards, and especially over those Greek powers with which he was so fiercely, struggling. He had heard of their defeats of Philip, Perseus, and Antiochus the Great, and of their pow er to set up and cast down kings ; but he seems to have been most attracted by their republican form of government.27 He sent to Rome Eupolemus the son of John, with Jason the son of Eleazar, to propose a league against Syria ; and the envoys brought back a letter, inscribed on brazen tablets, containing the articles of alliance between the Romans and the Jews.28 But before they reached Judaea, the career of Judas was closed ; gloriously indeed, but in a manner which we can scarcely doubt that one of the old prophets would have regarded as a judg- (God hath set up), in Greek Alcimus. Joseph. Ant. xii. 9, § 5 ; 1 Mace. vii. 14. B I Mace. vii. 1-18. 26 1 Mace. vii. 19-50; 2 Mace. xv. 36. " 1 Mace. viii. 1-16. 28 1 Mace. viii. 17-32. 42 The Maccabaean War of Independence. Chap. II ment for seeking strength from a heathen alliance, as the only error of his life. Demetrius had sent his whole force, under Bacchides, to re store Alcimus and avenge Nicanor. The treaty with Rome seems to have offended the extreme party of the Assidaeans ; and Judas had only 3000 men to oppose to the enemy's 20,000 foot and 2000 horse. Their camp was at " Berea " (probably Beeroth), and his at " Eleasa." 2" His men, terrified by the dis parity of numbers, continued to desert, till only 800 remained. These urged Judas to fly, and wait for a better opportunity. His reply shows that prophetic instinct which has often warn ed a hero of coming death : — " If our time be come, let us die manfully for our brethren, and let us not stain our honor !" He took post, with his chosen warriors, over against the right wing of the Syrians, where Bacchides commanded. He defeat ed this wing, the strength of the Syrian army, pursuing them to Azotus. But the Syrians on the left, scarcely meeting with opposition, fell upon the rear of the victorious Jews. The odds were overwhelming ; and the disaster was crowned by the death of Judas, whereupon his followers fled. His brothers, Jonathan and Simon, recovered his body, and buried him in his father's sepulchre at Modin, amidst the lamentations of all Is rael, as they cried, " How is the valiant man fallen that deliv ered Israel !" so As Adasa was the Marathon of the Jewish war of freedom, so Eleasa was its Thermopylae ; and, when Scripture history recovers its place in the literature of Christendom, the fame of Leonidas will no longer eclipse that of Judas Maccabae- us. His best eulogy is the simple record of his deeds, of which his historian assures us that they were too many to be written." " Among those lofty spirits," says Dean Milman, " who have asserted the liberty of their native land against wanton and cruel oppression, none have surpassed the most able of the Maccabees in accomplishing a great end with inadequate means ; none ever united more generous valor with a better cause :"ss none, we may add, more completely gave God the glory. There is at least one worthy tribute to his honor in the splendid oratorio of Handel. His death occurred in b.c. 161. § 8. The triumph of Bacchides and the "impious" faction was aided by the distress of a great famine, and tlie friends 20 1 Mace. ix. 1-5. The Vulgate has Laisa. The poSition is very un certain. Some propose to identify it with Laish, and even with Adasa. It seems to have been on the west slope of the mountains of Judah. above Ashdod (v. 15). Tlie attacks of tho Syrians during this war were chiefly made from that side. :° 1 Mace. ix. 6-22. " 1 Mace. ix. 22. " History ofthe Jews, vol. ii. p. 14. B.C. 161. Jonathan Maccaboeus. 43 of Judas were hunted down on every side. But, as before, this want of moderation compelled resistance. Jonathan, surnamed Apphus (the wary), the fifth and youngest son of Mattathias, was chosen leader, as the most warlike of the three surviving brothers ; Simon aiding him with his counsel. They established themselves in the wilderness of Tekoah, where their first exploit was to avenge their eldest brother John (Johanan), surnamed Gaddis, who was treacherously killed by the Arabs, while conveying some of the effects of the patriots to the care of the Nabathaeans. Incensed by this deed, Bacchides, on a Sabbath, attacked their position in the marshes of the Jordan; but they escaped by swimming across the river, having slain 1000 of the Syrians (b.c. 161). Bacchides now occupied himself with fortifying Jericho, Em maus, Beth-horon, Bethel, and other strong cities in Judah, and he placed in them hostages from the chief families. Alci mus had set to work with equal ardor to pull down the walls round the temple, when he was struck with a palsy, and died in great torment. Upon this, Bacchides returned to Antioch, and the land had rest for two years.23 A last attempt of the hellenizing party to call in the aid of Bacchides proved their ruin ; for, enraged by a defeat which he suffered from Jona than, Bacchides put to death many of the faction who had in vited him, and gave up the enterprise. Before he retreated, however, he accepted the invitation of Jonathan to make peace; restored his prisoners and hostages; and promised not again to molest the Jews, a promise which he kept. Jonathan established himself at the fortress of Michmash, so renowned in the history of his great namesake, the son of Saul. There he governed the people, and " destroyed the ungodly men out of Israel." 34 This state of things lasted for about six years (b.c 158-153). The claim of Alexander Balas, a pretended son of Antio chus Epiphanes, to the crown of Syria, led to a new advance ment of Jonathan and the Jews (b.c. 153), who were courted by both rivals. Demetrius wrote first, authorizing Jonathan to raise an army, and commanding that the hostages in the tower of Zion should be delivered to him. This was at once done, and Jonathan began to repair the fortifications of Jeru salem. Meanwhile all of the hostile party fled from the forti fied cities, except Bethsura. Next came the letter from Alex ander, nominating Jonathan to the high-priesthood, which had been vacant since the death of Alcimus, and sending him a 83 B.C. 160-158. 1 Mace. ix. 23-57. :i 1 Mace. ix. 58-73, 44 The Maccabaean War of Independence. Chap. II. purple robe and a crown of gold. Jonathan assumed these insignia at the Feast of Tabernacles (b.c. 153), and thus began the line of the priest-princes of the Asmonsean family.3" Demetrius, in despair, now made new and unbounded offers : freedom for all the Jews of his kingdom from tribute, from the duties on salt, and from crown-taxes; and exemption from the payment of the third of the seed and the half of the produce of frui1>trees. The three governments of Apherema, Lydda, and Ramathem,36 including the port of Ptolemais (Acre), were to be taken from Samaria and annexed to Judaea forever, under the sole government of the high-priest. An army of 30,000 Jews was to be raised at the king's expense, to garrison the cities and act as a police. Jerusalem, with its territory, was declared holy, free from tithe and tribute, and a place of asylum. A large annual sum was promised for the works of the temple and the fortifications of the city, and the revenues of Ptolemais were assigned for the ordinary expenses of the sanctuary. All Jewish captives throughout the Syrian empire were to be set free, and all the feasts were to be holidays for them. More moderate offers might have been a better proof of good faith. The Jews had more confidence in Alexander, who was moreover favored by Rome ; and, after he had defeated and killed Demetrius (b.c 150), he gave Jonathan a magnificent reception at Ptolemais, on his mar riage with Cleopatra the daughter of Ptolemy Philometor.37 85 It does not appear that any direct claimant to the high-priesthood re mained since Onias the younger, who inherited the claim of his father Onias, the last legitimate high -priest, had retired to Egypt. A new and glorious succession of high-priests now arose in the Asmonsean family, who united the dignity of civil rulers, and for a time of independent sovereigns, to that of the high-priesthood. Jose phus, who is followed by Lightfoot, Selden, and others, calls Judas Mac- cabaeus "high-priest ofthe nation of Judah" (Ant. xii. 10, § 6), hut, ac cording to the far better authority of 1 Mace. x. 20, it was not till after the death of Judas Maccabaeus that Al cimus himself died, and that Alex ander, King of Syria, made Jonathan, the brother of Judas, high-priest. Jo sephus himself too calls Jonathan " the first of the sons of Asamoneus, who was high-priest" (Vita, § 1). It is possible, however, that Judas may have been elected by the people to the oflice of high-priest, though never confirmed in it by the Syrian kings. The Asmonsean family were priests of the course of Joarib, the first of the twenty-four courses (I Chr. xxiv. 7), and whose return from captivity is recorded in 1 Chr. ix. 10 ; Neh. xi. 10. They were probably of the house of Eleazar, though this can not be af firmed with certainty ; and Josephus tells us that he himself was related to thero, one of his ancestors having mar ried a daughter of Jonathan, the first high-priest of the house. This As- monaean dynasty lasted from B.C. 153, till the family was damaged by intes tine divisions and then destroyed by Herod the Great. '¦" Comp. 1 Mace. xi. 34. " 1 Mace. x. 22-66. B.C. 153. High- Priesthood of Jonathan. 45 Three years later (b.c 147) the younger Demetrius (who afterward reigned as Demetrius II. Nicator), attempted to recover his father's kingdom ; and his adherent Apollonius, governor of Coelesyria, advanced to Jamnia and sent a chal lenge to Jonathan. A battle was fought near Azotus, in which the infantry of Jonathan stood firm against the Syrian cavalry, who attacked them on all sides, till the fresh forces of his brother Simon routed the wearied horsemen, who fled to the temple of Dagon at Azotus. Jonathan burned the city and temple, with the men in it to the number of 8000 ; and after receiving the submission of Ascalon he returned to Jerusalem.38 A new enemy now took the field against Alexander, in the person of his father-in-law, Ptolemy, who marched into Syria, professedly as a friend. Jonathan met him at Joppa, and was favorably received, in spite of the accusations of his ene mies. We need not here relate the alliance of Ptolemy with the young Demetrius, nor the defeat and death of Alexander, followed by the death of Ptolemy and the accession of Deme- teius II. Nicatoe to the throne of Syria (b.c 146). Jona than's political tact not only brought him safe through this revolution, but gained new advantages for his country. Dur ing the confusion, he had laid siege to the tower on Zion, for which act his enemies accused him to the new king, who summoned him to Ptolemais. Leaving orders to press the siege, he went with a body of priests and elders, carrying splendid presents. He gained great favor with Demetrius, who confirmed him in the high-priesthood ; and a present of 300 talents to the king secured for Judsea most of the privi leges which had been promised by Demetrius I. The unpopularity of Demetrius, in consequence of his dis banding the Syrian troops and replacing them by mercena ries whom he had brought with him from Crete, opened the door to the schemes of Tbyphon, who claimed the throne for Antiochus, son of Alexander Balas. Jonathan seized the op portunity to obtain from Demetrius a promise of the evacu ation of the long-contested tower, and sent him a body of 3000 Jews, who saved his life in a tumult at Antioch. But the immediate danger was no sooner past, than Demetrius be came estranged from Jonathan, and failed to fulfill his prom ises.39 The defeat of Demetrius by Tryphon placed Antiochus VI. Theos on the throne (b.c 144). Jonathan was confirmed 88 1 Mace. x. 67-89. ^ 1 Mace. xi. 1-53. 46 The Maccabaean War oj Independence. Chap. II. in all his honors, and his brother Simon was made captain- general of the country from the Ladder of Tyre to the bor ders of Egypt. Gaza and Bethsura were reduced, and Jon athan defeated the partisans of Demetrius near the lake Gennesareth,40 and again in the region of Hamath, and ad vanced as far as Damascus; while Simon secured Ascalon and took Joppa.41 Having renewed the alliance with Rome, and also, if we may trust our leading authority, with the Lacedsemonians,42 Jonathan summoned the elders to fortify the cities of Judaea, to heighten the walls of Jerusalem, and to block out the tower on Zion by a great mound from the city and the temple. They were engaged on this work when Tryphon, who was plotting an usurpation, and regarded Jona than as his chief obstacle, enticed him to Ptolemais, with a guard of only 1000 men, who were slain, and Jonathan was made prisoner.43 The enemies of the Jews now rose in every quarter ; but Simon was acknowledged as leader, and marched to Adida to meet Tryphon, who was advancing to invade Judaea. When Tryphon found with whom he had to do, he opened negotia tions. Pretending that Jonathan had been seized for money due to the king, he promised to release him on the payment of 100 talents of silver and the delivery of two of his sons as hostages. Simon expected treachery ; but, lest his mo tives should be mistaken, he accepted the terms. Tryphon verified his fears ; and, after being foiled by Simon in all his attempts to advance to Jerusalem and relieve the Syrian gar rison, he marched into Gilead, still carrying Jonathan with him, and killed and buried him at Bascama. On his retiring to Antioch, Simon removed the bones of Jonathan to Modin, where he built a stately monument, with seven obelisks for Mattathias, his' wife, and their five sons ; the whole forming a sea-mark for passing ships.44 § 9. Simon, surnamed Thassi, the second son of Mattathias, and the last survivor of his brethren, was high-priest from b.c. 143 to b.c 135. His wisdom and valor had aided Judas and Jonathan through the long contest, which now needed only one last effort to secure its fruits. Tryphon, occupied 40 1 Mace. xi. 54-74. 41 1 Mace. xii. 24-34. _ *' 1 Mace. xii. 1-23. The narra tive is too circumstantial, with its act- tual documents, to be without founda tion, unless it be a forged interpola tion. But it provokes no small sus picion to find the Lacedaemonians acknowledging themselves to be of the stock of Abraham. For a full dis cussion of this difficult subject, see the Dictionary of the Bible, art. Sparta. 41 1 Mace. xii. 35-52. 44 1 Mace. xiii. 1-30. B.C. 143. High-Priesthood of Simon Maccabaeus. 47 with his own schemes of usurpation, seems to have renounced all attacks upon Judaea, except predatory incursions as he found opportunity. Simon employed himself in restoring the strongholds, and sought the friendship of Demetrius, who granted the independence of Judaea. The first year of Simon became an epoch from which people dated contracts and other instruments.46 After taking Gaza, he broke off the last and heaviest link of the Syrian fetters by the reduction, through famine, of the tower of Jerusalem.46 It was purified and solemnly entered on the 23d of the second month, ^Er. Seleuc. 171 (May, b.c 142), which was made an annual festi val. John, the second son of Simon, was made captain of the host, and was posted at the fortress of Gazara.47 Neither the capture of Demetrius by the Parthians, nor the completion of Tryphon's usurpation by the murder of Anti ochus Theos, disturbed the peace which Judsea enjoyed under Simon. " Then did they till their ground in peace, and the earth gave her increase, and the trees of the field their fruit. The ancient men sat in all the streets, communing together of good things, and the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel. He provided victuals for the cities, and set in them all manner of munition, so that his honorable name was re nowned unto the end of the world. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy. . . . He beautified the sanctuary, and multiplied the vessels of the temple." While his internal government was just and firm, he opened up a commerce with Europe through the port of Joppa, and renewed the treaties with Rome and Laoedseinon. The let ters in favor of the Jews, addressed by the Roman Senate to the states and islands of Greece and Asia Minor, and to the great potentates of Asia, including even the Parthian Arsaces, are a striking evidence of the wide diffusion of the Jewish race.48 A lasting memorial of Simon's services and of the gratitude of his country was inscribed on tablets of brass and set up in Mount Zion.49 Tryphon's usurpation was at length challenged by Anti ochus VII. Sidetes, second son of Demetrius I., and brother of the captive Demetrius IL, who made unbounded promises to the Jews. He quickly defeated Tryphon, and besieged 46 1 Mace. xiii. 33-42. It was not, however, till the fifth year of his son, John Hyrcanus, that the final recog nition of Jewish independence was made by Syria. 40 The leveling of -the hill on which the tower had stood, so that it should no longer command the temple, has affected the topography of Jerusalem. 47 1 Mace. xiii. 43-53. 48 1 Mace. xiv. 1-24, xv. 15-24. 49 1 Mace. xiv. 25-49. 48 The Maccabaean War of Independence. Chap. II. him in Dora,6' whither Simon sent him 2000 men, with abundance of money and arms. But Antiochus, from jeal ousy of Simon's power and wealth, refused the proffered aid, and sent Athenobius to demand Joppa and Gazara," besides 1000 talents for the places taken and the trib- 60 Dora, one of those maritime cities which acquired a peculiar importance in the Maccabaean, Herodian, and Eoman periods, was the ancient Dor, a royal city of the Canaanites (Josh. xi. 1, 2, xii. 23, xvii. 11; Judg. i. 27; 1 K. iv. II). It was probably the most southern settlement of the Phoenicians on the coast of Syria (Jos. VU. 8 ; Ant. xv. 9, § 8). Josephus describes it as a maritime city, on the west border of Manasseh and the north border of Dan (Ant. v. 1, § 22, viii. 2, § 3, B. J. i. 7, § 7), near Mount Carmel (c. Ap. ii. 10). One old au thor tells us that it was founded by Dorus a son of Neptune, while anoth er affirms that it was built by the Phoenicians, because the neighboring rocky shore abounded in the small shell-fish from which they got the purple dye (Steph. B. s. v. ; Reland, Pal. p. 739 ; Judg. i. 27). The orig inal inhabitants were never expelled ; but during the prosperous reigns of David and Solomon they were made tributary (Judg. i. 27, 28), and the latter monarch stationed at Dor one of his twelve purveyors (1 K. iv. 11). Tryphon, the murderer of Jonathan Maccabaeus and usurper ofthe throne of Syria, having sought an asylum in Dor, the city was besieged and cap tured by Antiochus Sidetes, as related in the text (1 Mace. xv. 11). It was mbsequently rebuilt by Gabinius, the Roman general, along with Samaria, Ashdod, and other cities of Palestine (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 5, § 3), and it re mained an important place during the early years of the Roman rule in Syria. Of the site of Dor there can be no doubt. The descriptions of Josephus and Jerome are clear and full. The latter places it on the coast, "in the ninth mile from Caesarea, on the way to Ptolemais " (Onom. >. v. Dora). Just at the point indicated is the small village of Tanlura, probably an Arab corruption of Dora, consisting of about thirty houses, wholly con structed of ancient materials. Three hundred yards north are low rocky mounds projecting into the sea, cov ered with heaps of rubbish, massive foundations, and fragments of col umns. The most conspicuous ruin is a section of an old tower, 30 ft. or more in height, which forms the land mark of Tantilra. On the south side of the promontory, opposite the vil lage, is a little harbor, partially shel tered by two or three small islands. A spur of Mount Carmel, steep and partially wooded, runs parallel to the coast line, at the .distance of ahout a mile and a half. Between its base and the sandy beach is a rich and beautiful plain — this is possibly the "border," "coast," or "region" of Dor (Josh. xi. 2, xii. 23 ; IK. iv. 11) referred to in Scripture. 61 Gazara is another place frequent ly mentioned in the wars of the Mac cabees, and of great importance in the operations of both parties. Its first introduction is as a stronghold, in which Timotheus took refuge after his defeat by Judas, and which for four days resisted the efforts of the infuriated Jews (2 Mace. x. 32-36). One of the first steps of Bacchides, after getting possession of Judaea, was to fortify Bethsura and Gazara and the citadel (dicpa) at Jerusalem (1 Mace. ix. 52) ; and the same names are mentioned when Simon in his turn recovered the country (xiv. 7, 33, 34, 36, xv. 28). So important was it, that Simon made it the residence of his son John ns general-in-chief of the Jewish army (xiii. 53, xvi. 1). There is every reason to believe that Gazara was the same place as tho more ancient Gezer or Gazer. Tho ¦B.C. 135. High- Priesthood of John Hyrcanus. 49 ute withheld from Syria. Simon refused, but offered 100 talents as a compensation for Joppa and Gazara ; and Antio chus commenced the last war which the Maccabees had to wage with Syria. While the king pursued Tryphon, who had escaped from Dora, his general, Cendebeus, appointed com mander of the sea-coast, took up his post at Jamnia, and harassed the Jews with constant attacks.62 Simon, being now too old to take the field, sent his two eldest sons, Judas and John, with 20,000 men and some horse, who gained a com plete victory over the vast forces of Cendebeus. After this success, it might have been expected that Simon would have died in a peaceful old age ; but he was not exempted from the violent end of all his brothers. On a progress through the country with his sons Judas and Mattathias, he arrived at Jericho, where he was received by the governor, Ptolemy the son of Abubus, his own son-in-law, and a man of great wealth. In pursuance of a design to make himself master of Judaea, Ptolemy caused Simon and his two sons to be slain treacher ously at a banquet. John, who was at Gazara, warned in time, slew the men who were sent to kill him 63 (b.c 135). With the death of the last of the sons of Mattathias, we lose the authentic record of the First Book of Maccabees, and Josephus becomes almost our only guide. The acts of John Hyrcanus were written in the Chronicles of his PriestJiood, a work older than the First Book of Maccabees.''1 § 10. John Htecanus, the second son of Simon, under whom he had been commander of the army, succeeded his father in the priesthood and government, which he held for thirty years (b.c 135-106). He at once went from Gazara to Jerusalem ; and after the people had accepted him for their leader, he marched against Jericho. Ptolemy, who held a strong fort near the city, tried to deter him from an assault by savage cruelties to his mother and brothers. They were scourged upon the walls, whence Ptolemy threatened to throw them headlong ; and though John's mother exhorted him to disregard their sufferings, the intended effect was produced. John retired ; the siege, after being protracted for a year, was name is the same as that which the LXX. use for Gezer in the Old Testa ment; and more than this, the indi cations of the position of both are very much in accordance. As David smote the Philistines from Gibeon to. Gezer, so Judas defeats Gorgias at Emmaus, and pursues him to Gazara c (1 Mace. iv. 15). Gazara also is con stantly mentioned in connection with the sea-coast — Joppa and Jamnia (xv. 28, 35, iv. 15), and with the Philis tine plain, Azotus, Adasa, etc. (iv. 15, vii. 45, xiv. 34). 62 1 Mace. xv. 51 1 Mace. xvi. 64 1 Mace. xv. 24. 50 The Maccabaean War of Independence. Chap. ii. abandoned ; and Ptolemy fled to Philadelphia beyond the Jor dan, after which we hear of him no more. Meanwhile the army of Antiochus proved too strong for John. He was be sieged in Jerusalem, and was compelled by famine to give up the city, on the conditions of dismantling the fortifications and returning to a tributary state (b.c 133). The moderation of Antiochus on this occasion, and his respect for the Jewish re ligion, gained him the surname of Eusebes (the Pious). Hyr canus was treated by him with favor, and attended him on the expedition which the king made against Parthia ostensibly to release his imprisoned brother Demetrius Nicator (b.c 128). The death of Antiochus in this campaign gave an opportuni ty for recovering the independence of Judsea, which was never again subjugated by Syria. The latter monarchy indeed be came, till its absorption into the Roman empire (e.c 65), the victim of such dynastic revolutions, that its history is hence forth as unimportant for us, as it is intricate to follow. The Jews once more entered on a course of conquest, limited in deed, but most gratifying to their pride in the humiliation ol their ancient and more recent enemies. After carrying his arms into the region east of Jordan, where he took two cities, Hyrcanus subdued both Idumaea and Samaria, the hatred ri vals of Israel before and after the Captivity. The Idumaeans were compelled to adopt the Jewish religion, and to receive circumcision ; and the conquest was so complete that the king dom of Idumaea disappears from history : and yet the uncon querable race of Edom soon proved the inheritance of its fore father's blessing by giving a new dynasty to Judsea. In Sa maria, John Hyrcanus completed his triumph by destroying the hated schismatic temple on Mount Gerizim. The sanctu ary on Mount Zion thus regained its pre-eminence in the Holy Land, and the Jews once more imposed upon the Samaritans the sacred law, " that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." The reduction of Samaria was effected by Aris tobulus and Antigonus, the sons of John Hyrcanus, in the 26th year of his rule (b.c 109). The city of Samaria was utterly destroyed, and its site converted into pools of water from its own abundant springs. Most of Galilee submitted to the au thority of the high-priest, who again renewed the alliance of his family with Rome. Of his "buildings at Jerusalem, the most important was the Tower of Baris, at the N.W. corner of the enclosure of the Temple. It was afterward the Anto nia of Herod. Thus the Holy Land, under the name of Judaea, was restored to its ancient limits, and the people enjoyed their worship, B.C. 1O6. Death of John Hyrcanus. 51 under a race of priest-princes, who held their authority in sub- mission to the divine law. But no human affairs ever reached the climax of prosperity without taking the downward turn; and it was taken with frightful rapidity by the successors of John Hyrcanus, who displayed a personal ambition unknown to the pure patriotism of the Maccabees, and were soon en gaged in fierce contests for the supreme power. Then began those family murders, which form the most horrid feature of Oriental despotism, and which reached their climax under Herod. One chief source of these evils was the rupture of the religious unity of the nation, by the rise of the opposing sects of the Phaeisees and Sadducees, which, springing from a doubtful origin, and from causes long at work, had be come estabhshed during the government of John Hyrcanus.5' Toward the end of his reign, Hyrcanus, provoked by an in sult from one of the leading Pharisees, joined the party of the Sadducees, a step which left a heritage of trouble to his suc cessors. " The cause of this rupture," says Dean Milman, " is singularly characteristic of Jewish manners. During a ban quet, at which the chiefs of the ruling sect were present, Hyrcanus demanded their judgment on his general conduct and administration of affairs, which he professed to have reg ulated by the great principle of justice (the righteousness which was the watch- word of the Pharisees), and by strict ad herence to the tenets of their sect. The Pharisees, with general acclamation, testified their approval of all his proceed ings ; one voice alone, that of Eleazar, interrupted the general harmony : — ' If you are a just man, abandon the high-priest hood, for which you are disqualified by the illegitimacy of your birth.' The mother of Hyrcanus had formerly, it was said, though, according to Josephus, falsely, been taken cap tive, and thus exposed to the polluting embraces of a heathen master. The indignant Hyrcanus demanded the trial of Elea zar for defamation. By the influence of the Pharisees he was shielded, and escaped with scourging and imprisonment. Hyr canus, enraged at this unexpected hostility, listened to the rep resentations of Jonathan, a Sadducee, who accused the rival faction of a conspiracy to overawe the sovereign power ; and from that time he entirely alienated himself from the Phari saic councils." John Hyrcanus died exactly sixty years, or the space of tw