Chapter 10.
HOW BACCHIDES, THE GENERAL OF DEMETRIUS'S ARMY, MADE AN EXPEDITION
AGAINST JUDEA, AND RETURNED WITHOUT SUCCESS; AND HOW NICANOR WAS SENT A
LITTLE AFTERWARD AGAINST JUDAS AND PERISHED, TOGETHER WITH HIS ARMY; AS
ALSO CONCERNING THE DEATH OF ALCIMUS AND THE SUCCESSION OF JUDAS.FJAJ 12.83
1. ABOUT the same time Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, fled away from
Rome, and took Tripoli, a city of Syria, and set the diadem on his own
head
He also gathered certain mercenary soldiers together, and entered
into his kingdom, and was joyfully received by all, who delivered themselves
up to him
And when they had taken Autiochus the king, and Lysias, they
brought them to him alive; both which were immediately put to death by
the command of Demetrius, when Antiochus had reigned two years, as we have
already elsewhere related
But there were now many of the wicked Jewish
runagates that came together to him, and with them Alcimus the high priest,
who accused the whole nation, and particularly Judas and his brethren;
and said that they had slain all his friends, and that those in his kingdom
that were of his party, and waited for his return, were by them put to
death; that these men had ejected them out of their own country, and caused
them to be sojourners in a foreign land; and they desired that he would
send some one of his own friends, and know from him what mischief Judas's
party had done.FJAJ 12.84
2. At this Demetrius was very angry, and sent Bacchides, a friend of
Antiochus Epiphanes, (25)
It is no way probable that Josephus would call Bacchidoa, that bitter and
bloody enemy of the Jews, as our present copies have it, a man good, or
kind, and gentle, What the author of the First Book of Maccabees, whom
Josephus here follows, instead of that character, says of him, is, that
he was a great man in the kingdom, and faithful to his king; which was
very probably Josephus's meaning also.
a good man, and one that had been intrusted with all Mesopotamia, and gave
him an army, and committed Alcimus the high priest to his care; and gave
him charge to slay Judas, and those that were with him
So Bacchides made
haste, and went out of Antioch with his army; and when he was come into
Judea, he sent to Judas and his brethren, to discourse with them about
a league of friendship and peace, for he had a mind to take him by treachery.
But Judas did not give credit to him, for he saw that he came with so great
an army as men do not bring when they come to make peace, but to make war.
However, some of the people acquiesced in what Bacchides caused to be proclaimed;
and supposing they should undergo no considerable harm from Alcimus, who
was their countryman, they went over to them; and when they had received
oaths from both of them, that neither they themselves, nor those of the
same sentiments, should come to any harm, they intrusted themselves with
them
But Bacchides troubled not himself about the oaths he had taken,
but slew threescore of them, although, by not keeping his faith with those
that first went over, he deterred all the rest, who had intentions to go
over to him, from doing it
But as he was gone out of Jerusalem, and was
at the village called Bethzetho, he sent out, and caught many of the deserters,
and some of the people also, and slew them all; and enjoined all that lived
in the country to submit to Alcimus
So he left him there, with some part
of the army, that he might have wherewith to keep the country in obedience
and returned to Antioch to king Demetrius.FJAJ 12.85
3. But Alcimus was desirous to have the dominion more firmly assured
to him; and understanding that, if he could bring it about that the multitude
should be his friends, he should govern with greater security, he spake
kind words to them all, and discoursed to each of them after an agreeable
and pleasant manner; by which means he quickly had a great body of men
and an army about him, although the greater part of them were of the wicked,
and the deserters
With these, whom he used as his servants and soldiers,
he went all over the country, and slew all that he could find of Judas's
party
But when Judas saw that Alcimus was already become great, and had
destroyed many of the good and holy men of the country, he also went all
over the country, and destroyed those that were of the other party
But
when Alcimus saw that he was not able to oppose Judas, nor was equal to
him in strength, he resolved to apply himself to king Demetrius for his
assistance; so he came to Antioch, and irritated him against Judas, and
accused him, alleging that he had undergone a great many miseries by his
means, and that he would do more mischief unless he were prevented, and
brought to punishment, which must be done by sending a powerful force against
him.FJAJ 12.86
4. So Demetrius, being already of opinion that it would be a thing pernicious
to his own affairs to overlook Judas, now he was becoming so great, sent
against him Nicanor, the most kind and most faithful of all his friends;
for he it was who fled away with him from the city of Rome
He also gave
him as many forces as he thought sufficient for him to conquer Judas withal,
and bid him not to spare the nation at all
When Nicanor was come to Jerusalem,
he did not resolve to fight Judas immediately, but judged it better to
get him into his power by treachery; so he sent him a message of peace,
and said there was no manner of necessity for them to fight and hazard
themselves; and that he would give him his oath that he would do him no
harm, for that he only came with some friends, in order to let him know
what king Demetrius's intentions were, and what opinion he had of their
nation
When Nicanor had delivered this message, Judas and his brethren
complied with him, and suspecting no deceit, they gave him assurances of
friendship, and received Nicanor and his army; but while he was saluting
Judas, and they were talking together, he gave a certain signal to his
own soldiers, upon which they were to seize upon Judas; but he perceived
the treachery, and ran back to his own soldiers, and fled away with them.
So upon this discovery of his purpose, and of the snares laid for Judas,
Nicanor determined to make open war with him, and gathered his army together,
and prepared for fighting him; and upon joining battle with him at a certain
village called Capharsalama, he beat Judas, (26)
Josephus's copies must have been corrupted when they here give victory
to Nicanor, contrary to the words following, which imply that he who was
beaten fled into the citadel, which for certain belonged to the city of
David, or to Mount Zion, and was in the possession of Nicanor's garrison,
and not of Judas's. As also it is contrary to the express words of Josephus's
original author, 1 Macc. 7:32, who says that Nicanor lost about five thousand
men, and fled to the city of David.
and forced him to fly to that citadel which was at Jerusalem.FJAJ 12.87
5. And when Nicanor came down from the citadel unto the temple, some
of the priests and elders met him, and saluted him; and showed him the
sacrifices which they offered to God for the king: upon which he blasphemed,
and threatened them, that unless the people would deliver up Judas to him,
upon his return he would pull clown their temple
And when he had thus
threatened them, he departed from Jerusalem
But the priests fell into
tears out of grief at what he had said, and besought God to deliver them
from their enemies But now for Nicanor, when he was gone out of Jerusalem,
and was at a certain village called Bethoron, he there pitched his camp,
another army out of Syria having joined him
And Judas pitched his camp
at Adasa, another village, which was thirty furlongs distant from Bethoron,
having no more than one thousand soldiers
And when he had encouraged them
not to be dismayed at the multitude of their enemies, nor to regard how
many they were against whom they were going to fight, but to consider who
they themselves were, and for what great rewards they hazarded themselves,
and to attack the enemy courageously, he led them out to fight, and joining
battle with Nicanor, which proved to be a severe one, he overcame the enemy,
and slew many of them; and at last Nicanor himself, as he was fighting
gloriously, fell: - upon whose fall the army did not stay; but when they
had lost their general, they were put to flight, and threw down their arms.
Judas also pursued them and slew them, and gave notice by the sound of
the trumpets to the neighboring villages that he had conquered the enemy;
which, when the inhabitants heard, they put on their armor hastily, and
met their enemies in the face as they were running away, and slew them,
insomuch that not one of them escaped out of this battle, who were in number
nine thousand This victory happened to fall on the thirteenth day of that
month which by the Jews is called Adar and by the Macedonians Dystrus;
and the Jews thereon celebrate this victory every year, and esteem it as
a festival day
After which the Jewish nation were, for a while, free from
wars, and enjoyed peace; but afterward they returned into their former
state of wars and hazards.FJAJ 12.88
6. But now as the high priest Alcimus, was resolving to pull down the
wall of the sanctuary, which had been there of old time, and had been built
by the holy prophets, he was smitten suddenly by God, and fell down.FJAJ 12.89
(27)
This account of the miserable death of Alcimus, or Jac-mus, the wicked
high priest, (the first that was not of the family of the high priests,
and made by a vile heathen, Lysias,) before the death of Judas, and of
Judas's succession to him as high priest, both here, and at the conclusion
of this book, directly contradicts 1 Macc. 9:54-57, which places his death
after the death of Judas, and says not a syllable of the high priesthood
of Judas. How well the Roman histories agree to this account of the conquests
and powerful condition of the Romans at this time, see the notes in Havercamp's
edition; only that the number of the senators of Rome was then just three
hundred and twenty, is, I think, only known from 1 Macc. 8:15.
This stroke made him fall down speechless upon the ground; and undergoing
torments for many days, he at length died, when he had been high priest
four years
And when he was dead, the people bestowed the high priesthood
on Judas; who hearing of the power of the Romans, and that they had conquered
in war Galatia, and Iberia, and Carthage, and Libya; and that, besides
these, they had subdued Greece, and their kings, Perseus, and Philip, and
Antiochus the Great also; he resolved to enter into a league of friendship
with them
He therefore sent to Rome some of his friends, Eupolemus the
son of John, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and by them desired the Romans
that they would assist them, and be their friends, and would write to Demetrius
that he would not fight against the Jews
So the senate received the ambassadors
that came from Judas to Rome, and discoursed with them about the errand
on which they came, and then granted them a league of assistance
They
also made a decree concerning it, and sent a copy of it into Judea
It
was also laid up in the capitol, and engraven in brass
The decree itself
was this: "The decree of the senate concerning a league of assistance
and friendship with the nation of the Jews
It shall not be lawful for
any that are subject to the Romans to make war with the nation of the Jews,
nor to assist those that do so, either by sending them corn, or ships,
or money; and if any attack be made upon the Jews, the Romans shall assist
them, as far as they are able; and again, if any attack be made upon the
Romans, the Jews shall assist them
And if the Jews have a mind to add
to, or to take away any thing from, this league of assistance, that shall
be done with the common consent of the Romans
And whatsoever addition
shall thus be made, it shall be of force." This decree was written
by Eupolemus the son of John, and by Jason the son of Eleazar, (28)
This subscription is wanting 1 Macc. 8:17, 29, and must be the words of
Josephus, who by mistake thought, as we have just now seen, that Judas
was at this time high priest, and accordingly then reckoned his brother
Jonathan to be the general of the army, which yet he seems not to have
been till after the death of Judas.
when Judas was high priest of the nation, and Simon his brother was general
of the army
And this was the first league that the Romans made with the
Jews, and was managed after this manner.FJAJ 12.90