History of the Jews (Vol. 1-6). Graetz Heinrich

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СКАЧАТЬ the offences, intentional as well as unintentional, that you have committed against us up to this day; we release you from the crown which you owe us, and we remit the taxes that were laid on Jerusalem. If there be any among you anxious and fit to enter our army, they may be enlisted, and let there be peace between us." The day on which this immunity had been granted was considered by the Judæans so important and valued an era, that its date, the 27th of Iyar (May), was recorded among the half-holidays commemorative of victory.

      The people looked upon these concessions of Demetrius as the inauguration of their independence, and from that epoch the customary manner of counting time according to the years of the reigning Syrian king was discontinued. They now reckoned from the date of Simon's accession to the government. All legal documents of the year 142 were dated "In the first year of Simon, the High-Priest, Commander of the Army and Prince of the Nation." Confident of their strength, the people anticipated this royal prerogative for their leader, who was not at that time entitled to it, for he had as yet been recognised as the legitimate prince neither by Syria nor by the nation. Simon himself does not appear to have looked upon the concessions received as sufficient to bestow complete independence upon his country, but dated his reign from a later year, when he obtained the right of coining money. The joy experienced by the inhabitants of Jerusalem at the recovery of their freedom, the loss of which they had bitterly bewailed since the destruction of the Judæan kingdom under their last king Zedekiah, was so great that the elders or members of the Great Council felt impelled to communicate the all-important event to the Judæans in Egypt. In doing so, however, they had to overcome a serious difficulty: so to word their communication as not to offend Onias, the founder of the Onias Temple, the descendant of the family of high-priests which, by the acts of the Hasmonæans in Judæa, had been completely and hopelessly supplanted. Even supposing that Onias or his sons had entirely relinquished the prospect of ever possessing the office of high-priest, it must have been painful to remind them, and their followers in Egypt, that their family had been thrust aside by the people in Judæa.

      The representatives of the nation managed to pass lightly over this difficult subject, and descanted upon the fact that, after their long sufferings and persecutions, God had heard their prayer, and had once more given them the power of offering sacrifices, of rekindling the holy lights, and of placing the shew-bread in the Temple, which had been spoiled by the enemy and polluted by the shedding of innocent blood. This delicate statement, which carefully avoided giving any offence to the Judæans in Egypt, appears to have produced a very favourable impression upon them. They likewise rejoiced at the recovered independence of Judæa, and ascribed great importance to the year in which it was obtained.

      The second noteworthy act of Simon consisted in driving out the remaining Hellenists from their various hiding-places in the Acra at Jerusalem, and in the fortresses of Gazara and Bethsur, and in completely destroying any influence they may have possessed. Gazara surrendered unconditionally. Simon allowed the Hellenists to leave the place, and ordered their dwellings to be cleared of their idolatrous images. The Hellenists in the Acra, however, had fortified their position so well that Simon was obliged to lay siege to it, and to reduce its defenders by famine. At last they were overcome, and the victors entered the Acra to the sound of music and with solemn hymns of praise. In commemoration of the taking of the Acra, the 23rd Iyar (May 17) was ordered thenceforth to be kept as a day of rejoicing. The taking of Bethsur appears to have caused little difficulty. Of the expelled Hellenists, some, it seems, found refuge in Egypt, others renounced their idolatrous practices, and were again received into the community, whilst those who remained unchanged fell victims to the religious zeal of the conquerors. It is related that the 22nd Elul (September) was set apart among the days of victory, because it saw the death of those idolators who had allowed the respite of three days to elapse without returning to their faith. Thus at length disappeared the last vestiges of that party which, during nearly forty years, had shaken the foundations of Judaism, and which, in its apostate zeal, had called down upon the people the calamities of civil contests and cruel religious persecution, and brought a country to the verge of ruin. The fortresses which Simon had taken from the Hellenists, Bethsur and Gazara, were remodelled, so as to serve as places of defence. Of great importance, likewise, was the capture of Joppa (Jaffa), by the acquisition of which seaport the State received a large revenue; the export and import duties, which the Syrian kings had introduced, now fell to the share of Judæa.

      The Acra underwent a peculiar change at the hands of the last of the Hasmonæan brothers. The wrath of the people against this fortress was too intense to allow of its standing intact. Apart from political considerations, there was also a religious sentiment adverse to its continuing unaltered. The fortress, with its lofty towers, which the Syrians had erected to keep the city in check, overtopped the Temple-capped mount itself, and this was not to be. According to the prophecies of Isaiah, "in the last days the Mountain of the House of the Lord was to be established on the top of the mountains, and be exalted above the hills." This was literally explained to mean that no mount or building was to overtop the Temple, and Simon, even if unconvinced himself, was obliged to bow to that belief. On the other hand, however, it seemed imprudent to destroy a fortress which, like the Acra, was so conveniently situated for the accommodation of troops, and so well fitted to serve as a storehouse for arms. Simon and his counsellors hit upon a middle course in dealing with it. The towers and bastions of the fortress were taken down—a work of destruction which, it is said, it cost the people three years to accomplish; the walls, courts and halls, on the contrary, were left standing, but the hated name of Acra or Acrapolis was no longer used, but changed for that of Birah (Baris), which had first been introduced by Nehemiah. In this transformed edifice the Judæan soldiers were quartered, and there they kept their weapons. Simon himself dwelt in the Birah in the midst of his soldiers, while his son Johanan (John), as governor of the sea-coast, resided at Gazara.

      In spite of the favourable position in which he found himself, Simon was obliged to remain armed and prepared for war. At present the two pretenders to the throne, whilst they weakened each other, left him in peace. Demetrius II. (Nicator), who had granted independence to Judæa, was now engaged in an adventurous expedition in the east against Persia. His brother, Antiochus Sidetes, governed in his place, and was at strife with Diodotus Tryphon, who, having treacherously killed Jonathan and the young Antiochus, the son of Alexander Balas, had made himself ruler over Syria. Simon, urged by political motives to weaken this cunning, evil-minded enemy, assisted Antiochus Sidetes, and received from him the confirmation of the privileges granted to Judæa by his brother in the hour of his need. In addition thereto, Antiochus gave Simon the right of coining money, which was the especial mark of independence.

      Unfortunately, as is but too often the case, the hand that planted the tree of liberty, also placed the gnawing worm in the noble blossom. Wanting as he was in that far-sightedness which belonged to the genius of the prophets of old, and guided only by present emergencies, Simon believed that he would ensure the hard-won independence of his country if he obtained for it the protection of that people which, never tired of making conquests and aggrandising itself, was constantly and everywhere the foe of liberty. In order to put an end to the ceaseless provocations given by the petty Syrian tyrants, Simon entrusted the welfare of his country to the mighty tyrant, Rome, in whose close embraces the nations that sought protection were unfailingly suffocated. Simon despatched as delegates Numenius, the son of Antiochus, and Antipater, the son of Jason. They carried with them a heavy golden shield and a golden chain, which, in the hope of gaining for the Judæans the favour of being received as allies of Rome, they were to present as a mark of homage.

      The Roman Senate was not indisposed to enroll the most insignificant nation among their allies, being well aware that in granting the favour of their protection they had taken the first step towards reducing it to vassalage. Rome resembles an unfaithful guardian, who takes infinite care of the property of his ward, only to gather riches for himself. The Roman Senate made known to their friends and vassals that they had accepted Judæa as their ally, and the Syrian rulers were forbidden to attack it (140). Scarcely two hundred years later, a shameless, bloodthirsty Roman Emperor will insist upon being worshipped in the Temple at Jerusalem, and after another thirty years will have passed, Rome will break the strength of the Judæan nation, kill its heroes, and hunt its sons СКАЧАТЬ