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

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СКАЧАТЬ or Acra. Foreseeing that the people would have to fight more battles before they could secure their freedom, he took the precaution of protecting the country in different ways, among which was the fortification of Bethzur, the town from which Lysias had sought to penetrate into Judæa with his army. It was to be in particular a stronghold against the Idumæans. The victory of the heroes of Israel over the well-armed Syrian troops increased the burning hatred of the neighbouring nations against the Judæans, and goaded them on to cruel enmity against the members of the people who dwelt amongst them, or who had fled to them for refuge. They either grudged them their victory or feared their superiority. The Philistines, in the south-west; the Phœnicians, in the north-west; the Ammonites, on the other side of the Jordan; the Syrians and Macedonians everywhere in the neighbourhood, and the Idumæans in the south, were imbued with hatred of the Judæans.

      When driven away from their homes by the Nabatæans, the Idumæans had settled in the old Judæan territory, and had even taken possession of Hebron. They showed themselves the bitter enemies of the Judæans in Antiochus's time, just as they had done under Nebuchadnezzar's despotism; they were ever on the watch for the fugitives, whom they ill-treated, and sometimes even killed. It was therefore very important to reduce them to subjection. Judas first undertook an expedition against the sons of Esau in Akrabattine, defeated them, and drove them from their dwelling-places. He then crossed the Jordan with his army, fought the Ammonites, who were led by a Syrian warrior, Timotheus, an implacable and indefatigable enemy of the Judæans. When Judas had defeated him and the Ammonites, and had taken possession of their capital Rabbath-Ammon (Philadelphia), Timotheus sought shelter in the neighbouring fortress Jaazer, commanded by his brother Chaireas. Twenty Judæan youths are reported to have shown wonderful valour, climbing the walls of this difficult fortress, and making a breach for the troops to enter. Judas accomplished his object by taking Jaazer and its "daughter towns"; he obtained peace for the Judæans residing in this part of the country, and inspired the peoples with respect for the name of Israel.

      The Judæan troops had hardly returned to Jerusalem before they received intelligence of other cases of ill-treatment of their Judæan brethren at the hands of their heathen neighbours. The Judæans turned in their distress to Maccabæus, as the Israelites had done of old to Saul. The inhabitants of Gilead and Bashan informed him by letter that the heathen tribes had collected, with Timotheus at their head, with the intention of utterly destroying them; that 1,000 Judæans had been slaughtered in the province of Tobiene; that women and children had been dragged into captivity, and that their property had been plundered by the enemy. Messengers, with rent garments, followed upon this missive, bringing letters from the Galilean Judæans, that they also were threatened with death by the inhabitants of Acco, Tyre and Sidon. They implored Judas to come to their aid before it was too late. He had no need, like Saul, to send messengers with threatening words, in order to call together an army to the assistance of the threatened Jabesh-Gileadites, for his devoted followers constituted the whole fighting power of the land. Maccabæus gave the command of one part of his army to his brother Simon, with orders to march to the assistance of the Judæans of Galilee, whilst he and his brother Jonathan, with another division, prepared to rescue his oppressed brethren beyond the Jordan. The rest of the Judæan forces, under the command of two leaders, were to guard the western boundary of Judæa from the inroads of the Philistines. Simon accomplished his task with rapidity and good-fortune. He began by hastening to Acco, whose Judæan inhabitants were the worst sufferers at the hands of the Greeks or Macedonians. His well-trained soldiers, meeting with some hostile forces, defeated them easily, put them to rout, and pursued them to the very walls of their seaport town. This successful feat of arms relieved him from the necessity of further engagements, for the Macedonians of the neighbouring towns did not venture to encounter the Maccabæan troops. Simon was therefore able to progress unmolested through Galilee, and to persuade the Judæans of that province to migrate to Judæa.

      A more laborious contest awaited Judas in the Transjordanic provinces, for on his march he again met with the obstinate hostility of Timotheus. As in former ages, the heights were still crowned with fortresses. However, Judas succeeded in reducing several of them; he razed their walls to the ground, disarmed their defenders, and delivered his imprisoned countrymen. He then assembled the Judæan population, led them across the Jordan, through the friendly city of Bethshean (Scythopolis), and shortly before the celebration of the feast of Pentecost (May, 164) he returned to Jerusalem with a number of emigrant Judæans from Gilead. From all cities of Judæa the enthusiastic people streamed to receive the victors and to celebrate the festival with feelings of joy and gratitude. New songs of praise resounded in the Temple.

      But Judas soon marched out again, in order to avenge an injury which had been received during his absence. His two generals, Joseph, the son of Zachariah, and Azariah, whom he had left behind to guard the land in the west, had, contrary to his orders, attacked Gorgias, who was occupying Jamnia with a force; but they had suffered a defeat, and had been driven back to the Judæan mountains. Judas therefore embarked on a new campaign. His arms were again crowned with success, he destroyed several cities on the sea-coast, together with their temples and idols.

      Whilst the hero of the Maccabees had been making fearless warriors out of his miserable and trembling countrymen who had hidden in caves, whilst he had been inspiring his people with self-confidence, and vanquishing the enemy far and near, the court of Syria had remained wrapped in the most complete indifference. What could have induced Lysias, who held the reins of government, to remain passive in the face of this daring defiance? Had he not the means of hiring mercenaries; or did he think the Judæans invincible? It is said that a distinguished man at the Syrian court, named Ptolemy Macron, had advocated the cause of the Judæans, and had declared that the religious restraint imposed upon them was unjust.

      Suddenly important news came to Palestine concerning Antiochus Epiphanes. The progress of that monarch through Parthia had not been signalised by any military success; nor had he been able to refill his treasury. Driven by want of money, he undertook an expedition to the city of Susa, in Elymais, to plunder the temple of the goddess Anaitis; but the inhabitants resisted the invader and forced him to retreat. He fell sick in the Persian city of Tabæ, and while in a state of delirium, expired (164). He who had derided the idea of a Divine Being and Divine justice, who had deliberately assaulted all that men hold sacred, in the end lost confidence in himself in consequence of the frustration of all his plans. It is quite possible that on his deathbed he repented of his desecration of the Temple, or, as another report has it, that his attack of frenzy resulted from the stings of conscience. At all events his last orders savour of madness, for he appointed one of his favourites, Philip, as regent of his kingdom and guardian of his young son Antiochus V., although previous to his departure for Persia he had invested Lysias with absolute power. This, his dying act, of pitting two rival governors against each other, thus dividing his country into factions, proved fatal to the Syrio-Macedonian kingdom, and to the Seleucidæan house.

      The death of Antiochus produced no change in the position of the Judæans. Lysias, who was guardian of the young king, Antiochus V. (Eupator, from 164 to 162), undertook no expedition against the Judæans. Judas Maccabæus took advantage of this inactivity to improve the unsatisfactory internal condition of his country. At that time there existed in Jerusalem two neighbouring fortified places that were in daily feud with each other, namely the Sanctuary, and the fortress of the Acra, occupied by the Hellenists, who, with their pretended high-priest Menelaus, continued their hostilities against the patriotic and loyal Judæans by making attacks upon the fortifications of the Temple. Judas Maccabæus took measures to bring this intolerable state of affairs to an end. He undertook the formal siege of the Acra, and raised earthworks on which he placed catapults, to discharge stones against the walls.

      In this emergency some of the Hellenists resolved to have recourse to the young king, Antiochus V. (Eupator), and, eluding the besiegers, travelled for that purpose to Antioch. Upon their arrival, they declared that they had been cruelly treated by the Judæan party, on account of their devotion to the royal cause; that they had been robbed of their property, and threatened with death. They also represented to the king and his guardian that if the Acra were allowed to fall into the hands of the Hasmonæans, the rebellious СКАЧАТЬ