Physcon espouses Cleopatra, and ascends the throne of Egypt. 176 Sidetes takes Jerusalem, and then makes war against the Par- BOOK TWENTIETH. ABRIDGMENT OF THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS, FROM ARISTOBULUS TO HEROD Sect. I. Reign of Aristobulus I which lasted two years. Sect II. Reign of Alexander Jannæus, which continued 27 years. Sect. III Reign of Alexandra, the wife of Alexander Jannæus, which Sect. IV. Reign of Aristobulus II which continued six years. BOOK XVIII. THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS, CONTINUED, SECTION III. ANTIOCHUS' PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE JEWS.—HIS ARMIES LOSE SEVERAL VICTORIES, IS STRUCK BY THE HAND OF GOD. ( ANTIOCHUS,* at his return from Egypt, exasperated to see himself forcibly dispossessed by the Romans, of a crown which he looked upon already as his own, made the Jews, though they had not offended him in any manner, feel the whole weight of his wrath. In his march through Palestine, he detached 22,000 men, the command of whom he gave to Apollonius, with orders to destroy the city of Jerusalem. Apollonius arrived there just two years after this city had been taken by Antiochus. At his first coming, he did not behave in any manner as if he had received such cruel orders, and waited till the first day of the sabbath before he executed them; but then, seeing all the people assembled peaceably in their synagogues, and paying their religious worship to the Creator, he put in execution the barbarous commission he had received; and setting all his troops upon them, commanded them to cut to pieces all the men, and to seize all the women and children, in 1 Maccab. i. 30-40, and ii. ver. *A. M. 3836. Ant. J. C. 168. 24-27. Joseph. Antiq. 1. xii. c. 7. VOL. IX. order that they might be exposed to sale. These commands were obeyed with the utmost cruelty and rigour. Not a single man was spared; all they could find being cruelly butchered, insomuch that every part of the city streamed with blood. The city was afterwards plundered, and fire set to several parts of it, after all the rich moveables had been carried off. They demolished such parts of the houses as were still standing; and, with the ruins, built a strong fort on the top of one of the hills of the city of David, opposite to the temple, which it commanded. They threw a strong garrison into it, to awe the whole Jewish nation: they made it a good place of arms, furnished it with good magazines, where they deposited all the spoils taken in the plunder of the city. From hence the garrison fell on all who came to worship the true God in the temple, and shed their blood on every part of the sanctuary, which they polluted by all possible methods. A stop was put to both morning and evening sacrifices, not one of the servants of the true God daring to come and adore him there. * As soon as Antiochus was returned to Antioch, he published a decree, by which the several nations in his dominions were commanded to lay aside their ancient religious ceremonies, and their particular usages; to profess the same religion with the king, and to worship the same gods, and after the same manner as he did. This decree, though expressed in general terms, glanced nevertheless chiefly at the Jews, whom he was absolutely determined to extirpate, as well as their religion. In order that this edict might be punctually executed, he sent intendants into all the provinces of his empire, who were commanded to see it put in execution, and to instruct the people in all the ceremonies and customs to which they were to conform. The Gentiles obeyed with no great reluctance. Though they seemed not to have been affected with the change of their worship, or gods, they however were not very well pleased with this innovation of religious matters. No people seemed more eager to comply with the orders of the court, than the Samaritans. They presented a petition to the king, in which they declared themselves not to be Jews; and desired that their temple, built on Mount Gerizim, which, till then, had not been dedicated to any deity in particular,† might henceforwards be dedicated to the Grecian Jupiter, and called after his name. Antiocnus received their petition very graciously, and ordered Ni* 1 Maccab. i. 41-64, and 2 Maccab. vi. 1-7. Joseph. Antiq. 1. xii. c. 7. †They expressed themselves in that manner, because the mighty name of the God of Israel, “Jehovah,” was never uttered by the Jews. canor, deputy-governor of the province of Samaria, to dedicate their temple to the Grecian Jupiter, as they had desired, and not to molest them in any manner. But the Samaritans were not the only apostates who forsook their God and their law, in this trial. Several Jews, either to escape the persecution, to ingratiate themselves with the king and his officers, or else from inclination and libertinism, changed also their religion. From these different motives, many fell from Israel;* and several of those who had once taken this wicked step, joining themselves with the king's forces, became (as is but too common) greater persecutors of their unhappy brethren than the heathens themselves employed to execute this barbarous commission. The intendant, who was sent into Judea and Samaria, to see the king's decree punctually obeyed, was called Athenæus, a man advanced in years, and extremely well versed in all the ceremonies of the Grecian idolatry, who, for that reason, was judged a fit person to invite those nations to join in it. As soon as he arrived in Jerusalem, he began by putting a stop to the sacrifices which were offered up to the God of Israel, and sup-, pressing all the observances of the Jewish law. They polluted the temple in such a manner, that it was no longer fit for the service of God; profaned the sabbaths and other festivals: forbid the circumcision of children; carried off and burned all the copies of the law, wherever they could find them; abolished all the ordinances of God, in every part of the country; and put to death whoever was found to have acted contrary to the decree of the king. The Syrian soldiers, and the intendant who commanded over tnem, were the chief instruments by which the Jews were converted to the religion professed by the sovereign. To establish it the sooner in every part of the nation, altars and chapels, filled with idols, were erected in every part of the city, and sacred groves were planted. They set officers over these, who caused all the people in general to offer sacrifices in them every month, the day of the month on which the king was born, who made them eat swine's flesh, and other unclean animals sacrificed there. One of these officers, Apelles by name, came to Modin, the residence of Mattathis, of the sacerdotal race, a venerable man, He was son to and extremely zealous for the law of God. John, and grandson to Simon, from whose father, Asmoneus, the family was called Asmoneans. With him were his five * 1 Maccab. vi. 21-24. †1 Maccab. ii. 1-30. Joseph. Antiq. 1. xii. c. 8: sons, all brave men, and fired with as ardent a zeal for the law of God as himself. These were Joannan, surnamed Gaddis ; Simon, surnamed Thasi; Judas, surnamed Maccabeus; Eleazar, called Abaron; and Jonathan, called Apphus. Being arrived in Modin, Apelles assembled the inhabitants, and explained to them the purport of his commission. Directing himself afterwards to Mattathias, he endeavoured to pursuade him to conform to the king's orders; in hopes that the conversion of so venerable a man would induce all the rest of the inhabitants to follow his example. He promised, that in case of his compliance, the king would rank him in the number of his friends, and appoint him a member of his council; and that himself and his sons should be raised, by the court, to the greatest honours and preferments. Mattathias said, so loud as to be heard by the whole assembly, that *though all the nations of the earth should obey king Antiochus, and all the people of Israel should abandon the law of their forefathers, and obey his ordinances, yet himself, his children, and his brothers, would adhere for ever inviolably to the law of God. After having made this declaration, seeing a Jew going up to the altar which the heathens had raised, to sacrifice there in obedience to the king's injunction; fired with a zeal like that of Phineas, and transported with a just and holy indignation,t he fell upon the apostate, and killed him. After this, being assisted by his son, and some others who joined them, he also killed the king's commissioner and all his followers. Having in a manner thrown up the standard, by this bold action, he cried aloud in the city: "Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me." As he now had assembled his whole family, and all who were truly zealous for the worship of God, he retired with them to the mountains, whither they soon were followed by others; so that all the deserts of Judea were filled, in a little time, with people who fled from the persecution. At first, when the Jews were attacked on the sabbath, for fear of violating the holiness of the day, they did not dare to make the least defence, but suffered themselves to be cut to * Etsi omnes gentes regi Antiocho obediunt, ut discedat unusquisque a servitute legis patrum suorum, et consentiat mandatis ejus; ego, et filii mei, et frates mei, obediemus legi patrum nostrorum. God had commanded his people to slay those who should persuade them to sacrifice to idols. See Deut. ch. xii. ver. 6-11. + Omnis, qui zelum hacet legis, statuens testamentum, exeat post me. 1 Maccab. c. vii. 27. ¶ 1 Maccab. ii. 31-41. 2 Maccab. vi. 11. Joseph. Antiq. 1. xii. c. 8. |