Death of pedition, to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost in triumph at Jerusalem. And, now that all was thus secured, he completed his successes by one more sally into Edom, reducing the ancient Hebron,2 since the Exile converted into an Idumæan fortress, and destroying the last stronghold of the old Philistine worship at Ashdod. In this climax of the resistance of Israel there came the tidings that King Antiochus was suddenly dead. Alike in Greek and Jewish records fable gathered round the end of this splendid but wayward prince. Even to his own co-religionists there was a strange significance in his sudden disappearance. It seemed to them as if it was a judgment for his reckless attack on the Temple3 of Nanea, or the Moon-Goddess, in Persia; and even one of the Jewish accounts represented him as having perished in his assault on the shrine. But the Hebrew historians not unnaturally connected the unexpected close of their persecutor's career with his mortification at the reception of the tidings of their hero's victories; and it agrees with their occasional recognition of some sparks of generous feeling in his capricious courses that they give him the credit of a death-bed repentance for his misdeeds in the latest account even a complete revocation of his tyrannical edicts.5 It was, no doubt, the crisis of the contest. Whether the mysterious counsellor who, under the name of the Babylonian seer, had sketched in such minute detail the fortunes of the struggle till the moment of the desecration of the Temple, saw or foresaw the death of the persecutor is doubtful. There are in the Book of Daniel dim anticipations of his end; but none of the frightful details with which the historians of the next generation abound. From this moment the struggle, although it still con 1 2 Macc. xii. 32. Polyb. xxxi. 11. 1 Macc. vi. 1-16; 2 Mace. ix. 1-28. 6 Dan. xi. 45. Possibly Dan. vii. 11 may refer to the diseases by which Antiochus was consumed. Battle of tinued, becomes more complicated, and its fluctuating results more difficult to follow, the more so as the ultimate success of the insurgents was now assured. On both sides there was the entanglement of a civil war. Alcimus, Eliakim, or Jehoiakim, with a large body of adherents, maintained his position in Jerusalem as High Priest, by the influence of the Syrian Court against the Maccabæan warrior; and Antiochus, the young prince, with Lysias as his guardian, had to fight for his crown against his uncle Demetrius. But, leaving the details which obscure the main thread of events, we may fix our attention on the conflict which raged in the closest quarters between the two rival fortresses in Jerusalem itself. The Temple mount was occupied by the insurgents; the ancient citadel of David was occupied by the Greeks. To secure this position a vast army was sent by Lysias down the Jordan valley, which then besieged the Judæan outpost, Second already taken and retaken, of Beth-zur. It was here that a battle took place of which the unprecedented circumstances left a deep impression on the Jewish mind. It was one of the peculiarities of Alexander's remote conquests that, during this century, for the first and last time in Western history, the Indian and African elephants were brought into play in military achievements. The Syrian and Alexandrian kings specially prided themselves on their display of these vast creatures. One of them had been known as the elephant'master' 2 on account of this passion, and had given five hundred as a wedding-present to his daughter. On this occasion the elephants were distributed among the army ranged, in Macedonian fashion, in phalanxes or columns. Each animal rose like a mountain from a troop of 1,000 infantry and 500 cavalry, of which it was the centre. The animals were roused to fury by showing them the red juice and mulberries. Their advance was magnificent. of grapes 1 See Lecture XLIX. 2 Revue des Deux Mondes, 1874, iv. 483. Beth-zur. 6 The attendant soldiers were dressed in chain armour, their helmets were of bright brass, their shields of brass or of gold. Huge wooden towers rose on the backs of the elephants, fastened on by vast trappings. The black Indian driver was conspicuous on the neck of each animal, with a group of two or three soldiers round him, which the Israelites magnified into a whole troop.' Those who have seen the effect even of an ordinary military escort defiling through the grey hills and tufted valleys of Judæa can imagine the effect of this vast array of splendour. When the sun shone on the shields and helmets of gold and brass,' the whole range of the rocky ridges and of the winding glens glistened therewith around, and shined like blazing torches.' The noise of the multitude, the tramp of the huge beasts, the very rattling of the armour and caparisons was portentous. Fantastic traditions of this fight lingered in various forms-a heavenly champion in white and gold-a charge like the spring of lions against walls of steel-the watchword, ' Victory is of 'God.' But the sober fact was that for once the small band of Judas's indomitable infantry failed in the face of such tremendous odds-not, however, before the achievement of one memorable deed. Eleazar, the fourth of the illustrious brothers, singling out an elephant which, from its towering howdah, he imagined to bear the young Prince, determined to sacrifice his life. He found his way through the hostile ranks, crept under the elephant, and by one thrust brought down the enormous beast upon him--perishing, but winning by his daring act the perpetual name which he desired. He was known to the next generation as Avaran, the Beast'sticker.' 93 132 is the impossible number in the text of 1 Macc. vi. 37. Possibly it is a confusion with the thirty-two elephants, or with three or two,' or else a curious instance of the enormous 6 6 exaggerations of the Jewish enumera tion. 2 2 Macc. xi. 8, 11; xiii. 15. Nicanor. The next decisive move was the victory over Nicanor, .c. 162. who was chosen to make an attack on Jerusalem, from the fanatical hatred he bore against the insurgents, and whose name accordingly long survived the memory of Lysias, Bacchides, Timotheus, and the rest, who come and pass like shadows. He had already taken part in the conflict at the time of the battle of Emmaus, and a peculiar pathos is given to his history by the circumstance that of him alone, amongst all their opponents at this period, there remained a traditiondifficult, perhaps, to reconcile with the hard language in which he is generally described, but quite consistent with human character-that, whatever might be his animosity against the Jewish nation, he had, perhaps from admiration of the earlier prowess displayed in their first encounter, conceived a strong personal admiration and affection for Judas Maccabæus. The momentary consternation by which his sudden appearance checked the insurgents under Simon gave him the opportunity of opening friendly communications His meetwith Judas himself. There was a natural suspicion. But Judas. ing with Judas came to Jerusalem, and for the first time the two foes came face to face, and in a moment each appreciated the other. It was the meeting of Claverhouse and Morton. They sat side by side on chairs of state, like the curule seats of the Roman magistrates. The Syrian general was completely fascinated, He could not bear to have Judas out of his sight- he loved the man from his heart.' He entered into his future plans. He entreated him to lay aside this wandering course, to have a wife and children of his own. He held out the picture of marriage, and a quiet and settled home. The High Priest's office was apparently suggested as the haven of the warrior's stormy career. If we may 1 2 Macc. xiv. 21. trust the brief sentence which follows, Judas accepted the advice so cordially that the long-delayed event took placethat he married, and for a time settled quietly and happily in domestic life. Suddenly all was changed. The jealous rival Alcimus saw in this friendship the ruin of his own hopes, denounced Nicanor to the King, and procured an order that Judas should be sent as prisoner to Antioch. Nicanor was deeply hurt. He could not break his plighted troth to his friend. He could not venture to disobey the royal order. His uneasy conscience showed itself in the fierceness of his temper and the roughness of his manners. Judas boded no good and escaped. A skirmish took place between him and some of the royal troops at Capharsalama in the plain of Sharon. The two friends parted to meet no more. The excited tradition of the next generation represented the furious Greek as standing in the great outer court of the Temple-the priests and chiefs of the people vainly endeavouring to propitiate him by showing him the offering prepared on the altar for the welfare of the Syrian king. With an insulting gesture Nicanor stretched out his hand to the Temple and swore that unless Judas was given up to him he would level the building, break down the altar, and erect on its site a Temple to the Grecian Bacchus. The terrified hierarchy, as in the old days, took up their position between the altar and the Temple, and invoked the Divine aid for their sanctuary so recently purified. Amongst those who were specially obnoxious to Nicanor was Rhazis, a Jew conspicuous for his austere patriotism. He was determined not to give the enemy the chance of insulting him by capture, and, rather than yield, endeavoured to destroy himself, first by falling on his sword in the tower where he had taken refuge, The pas 12 Macc. xiv. 25, yάunσev, εὐστάθησεν, ἐκοινώνησε βίου. Italmost looks as if this were a mistranslation of part of Nicanor's advice. 22 Macc. xiv. 31, 33. sage well illustrates the difference of ἱερόν and ναός. |