Chapter Three

A description of the valor of Judas Maccabeus (1 Macc 3:1-9). Judas’s victory over Apollonius and Seron (1 Macc 3:10-26). Antiochus’s preparations to destroy the Jews, and the latter’s mustering and preparation for a new battle (1 Macc 3:27-60).

1 Maccabees 3:1–3. And in his place arose Judas, called Maccabeus, his son. And all his brothers and all who had been attached to his father helped him, and they waged the war of Israel with gladness. He spread the glory of his people; he put on armor like a giant, girded himself with his weapons of war, and waged war protecting the camp with the sword; “Protecting the camp with the sword” — that is, by personal bravery and vigilance, not hiding in fortresses and entrenchments, but keeping his camp in constant motion and formidable readiness.

1 Maccabees 3:4. he was like a lion in his deeds and like a young lion roaring after its prey; The “lion” — in the Old Testament a favored image for a valiant military hero (Gen 49:9; Num 23:24 and others). — “Young lion” — a lion cub, “roaring after its prey,” that is, as it rushes at its prey (Amos 3:4).

1 Maccabees 3:5–6. he pursued the lawless, searching them out, and those who troubled his people he burned. So the lawless shrank back from fear of him, and all the workers of lawlessness were dismayed before him, and deliverance went forward well by his hand. “Deliverance went forward well by his hand” — that is, the work of delivering the people from Syrian oppression and cruelty advanced swiftly, thanks to such zeal, bravery, and skill of Judas.

1 Maccabees 3:7. He brought grief upon many kings and made Jacob glad with his deeds, and his memory is blessed forever; “Brought grief upon many kings...” — cast them into sorrow and distress. — “Made Jacob glad...” — a rhetorical designation for the people of Israel.

1 Maccabees 3:8. he went through the cities of Judah and destroyed the ungodly out of the land, and turned away wrath from Israel, “He turned away wrath...” — that is, God’s wrath — “from Israel.” — The time of Mattathias had been more a time of covert struggle against the chief enemy of the Jews — Syria. Holding a strong fortress in Jerusalem, the Syrians still had every advantage on their side and had gone quite far in their successes. But maintaining their position at that height of success was harder than reaching it. The royal officials had gone throughout the whole land of Judea with the king’s commission regarding the introduction of idol worship, successfully pursuing those who remained faithful to the Law of Moses and destroying entire groups of those who fled for refuge to the mountains and caves; but for all that, they were evidently not strong enough to prevent Mattathias from also going through Judea with a band of brave men gathered around him, demolishing pagan altars everywhere, circumcising the uncircumcised, and exterminating apostates in large numbers. Preventing all this required drawing strong military units to the area. But while this was being accomplished, Mattathias died, buried peacefully by his sons in the tomb of his fathers, and in his place arose the no less energetic and courageous Judas Maccabeus, who in a very short time managed to consolidate and strengthen the position of the Jews even further. They were sufficiently prepared when the Syrians marched against them with a strong army under the command of Apollonius.

1 Maccabees 3:9–10. and was renowned to the ends of the earth, and he gathered in those who were perishing. Then Apollonius gathered the Gentiles and a large army from Samaria to make war against Israel. “Apollonius” — the commander of the Syrian forces, not more precisely identified at this point, is probably the same person as the “superintendent of tribute” mentioned in 1 Macc 1:29, who in the parallel passage at 2 Macc 5:24 bears this same name. In Josephus he is also called the governor of Samaria — tes Samareias strategos — though that designation may have been derived by the historian simply from this same verse.

1 Maccabees 3:11–16. Judas heard of it and went out to meet him, and he struck him down and killed him; and many fell slain, while the rest fled. And Judas took their spoils, and he took the sword of Apollonius and fought with it for the rest of his days. And Seron, the military commander of Syria, heard that Judas had gathered a company of faithful men who went out with him to war, and he said: I will make a name for myself and win glory in the kingdom; I will fight against Judas and those with him who have defied the king’s command. And he set out, and with him came a mighty host of the ungodly to help him and to take vengeance on the sons of Israel. When they drew near to the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet them with a very small force, “Beth-horon” was divided by a narrow, steep pass into Upper and Lower Beth-horon (Josh 16:3), with a descent (katabasis) and an ascent (anabasis), in the locality where two small villages now stand — Beit-ur el Foka at the summit and Beit-ur el Tachta at the bottom of the valley, about one hundred stadia from Jerusalem, on the road to Nicopolis (Emmaus), Josh 10:10.

1 Maccabees 3:17–24. and when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas: How can we, so few as we are, fight against so great and strong a multitude? And we are exhausted, not having eaten today. But Judas said: It is easy for many to be shut up in the hands of a few, and there is no difference in the sight of the God of heaven between saving by many or by few; for victory in war does not depend on the size of an army, but strength comes from heaven. They are coming against us in great pride and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to plunder us; but we are fighting for our lives and our laws. He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them. When he had finished speaking, he rushed upon them suddenly, and Seron and his army were crushed before him. And they pursued them down the descent of Beth-horon to the plain; and about eight hundred of them fell, while the rest fled to the land of the Philistines. “They pursued them to the plain” — to pedion — the plain along the sea coast, from Joppa southward (Deut 1:7) all the way to the land of the Philistines (he pedine, Josh 15:33 and following, or ge pedine — verse 40 of the chapter under commentary (1 Macc 3:40), also known by the proper name he Sephela).

1 Maccabees 3:25–28. Then the fear of Judas and his brothers began to fall upon the Gentiles around them, and alarm fell upon the neighboring nations. His name reached the king, and all the nations were telling of the battles of Judas. When king Antiochus heard these reports he was enraged, and he sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army, and opened his treasury and gave his soldiers their pay for a year, ordering them to be ready for any need. Having decided to send “all the forces of his kingdom” against Judas, Antiochus first of all paid “his soldiers their pay for a year,” which had probably been paid very irregularly up to that point, due to the extremely disordered state of the country’s finances; now, straining every last resource, he endeavored first of all to satisfy the army’s pay demand, without which he could not have sufficiently relied on its loyalty or demanded diligence and success from it. — “To be ready for any need...” — some rightly see here Antiochus’s fears that he would have to deal with revolts by other subject peoples as well, following the successful example of the Jews.

1 Maccabees 3:29–31. But he saw that the silver in his treasury was depleted, and that the tribute of the country was small because of the conflict and calamity he had brought upon the land by abolishing the laws that had been in force from ancient days. And he feared that, as had happened more than once or twice, he might not have enough for the expenses and gifts which he had previously given with a generous hand, surpassing the kings before him in this. He was deeply troubled in spirit, and resolved to go to Persia and take tribute from the regions and to collect a great sum of silver. “He resolved to go to Persia...” — more precisely, what is meant here is Persia in the broad sense of the word — specifically Persis (1 Macc 3:32), which comprised Persia and Media together, and the Seleucid provinces beyond the Euphrates in general (cf. 1 Macc 6:56). — “To collect a great sum of silver...” — not simply by the collection of lawful tribute, but also through requisitions of every kind, such as, for example, the seizure of temple treasuries (1 Macc 6:1 and following), the sale of high offices, the conquest and plunder of not-yet-subdued lands, such as Armenia — according to certain hints in Appian and Diodorus of Sicily — which had been reckoned, after the defeat of Antiochus III in 190 B.C., as under Roman dependence (Strabo, XI, 14; §§ 15 and 5).

1 Maccabees 3:32–33. And he left Lysias, a man of distinction who was of the royal family, in charge of the king’s affairs from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt, and also the upbringing of his son Antiochus, until he returned; “His son Antiochus” — who later reigned under the name Eupator (164–162 B.C.).

1 Maccabees 3:34–37. and he gave him half the forces and the elephants, and gave him orders about all that he wanted, and about the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem — to send an army against them to crush and destroy the power of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem, and to efface their memory from that place, and to settle foreigners in all their territory and to distribute their land by lot. And the king took the remaining half of his forces and departed from Antioch, his royal city, in the one hundred and forty-seventh year; and he crossed the river Euphrates and went through the upper provinces. “The upper provinces...” — that is, those lying higher up, beyond the Euphrates (1 Macc 6:1) — Persia and Media (cf. 2 Macc 9:25; in Polybius V, 40, 5 — hoi ano topoi and ta ano mere tes Basileias).

1 Maccabees 3:38. And Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, mighty men among the king’s friends, “Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes...” is mentioned in the parallel passage at 2 Macc 10:12 with the surname Macron — makron. He had been appointed governor of Cyprus under Ptolemy Philometor but then surrendered the island to Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Macc 10:13), for which he won his favor and was given charge of Lower Syria and Phoenicia (2 Macc 4:45), but afterward fell from favor under Antiochus Eupator and ended his life by poisoning (2 Macc 10:13). — “Dorymenes” appears to be the same Aetolian of that name who fought alongside Antiochus the Great when the latter took possession of Lower Syria (Polybius V, 61, 9). — “Nicanor” — according to 2 Macc 8:9 — the son of the notorious Patroclus, a bitter enemy of the Jews, who met his death in battle with Judas (1 Macc 7:26 and following; 2 Macc 14-15). — About Gorgias and his deeds, a more detailed account is given at 1 Macc 4:1 and following; 1 Macc 5:56 and following; 2 Macc 10:14 and 2 Macc 12:32 and following.

1 Maccabees 3:39. and sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judea and devastate it according to the king’s command. According to 2 Macc 8:9, Ptolemy, governor of Lower Syria and Phoenicia, sent Nicanor with twenty thousand men into Judea to lay it waste, and “joined Gorgias to him” as an experienced general. This can be reconciled with 1 Macc 3:38-39 by allowing that the entire army placed by Lysias at the disposal of the three commanders was divided among those commanders (1 Macc 4:1) and operated in separate detachments, perhaps not yet so ready to be employed all at once together immediately.

1 Maccabees 3:40. So they set out with all their forces and came and encamped on the plain near Emmaus. “Near Emmaus...” — Emmaum (in Josephus and the Syriac — Emmaous, or Ammaous) — a city about one hundred and seventy-six stadia from Jerusalem, on the plain, which was converted into a fortress by Bacchides (1 Macc 9:50). It was burned by Quintilius Varus (Josephus, Antiquities XVII, 10, 9), and under Heliogabalus was restored and renamed Nicopolis — modern Arnivas, a wretched hamlet of a few houses; it is not to be confused with Emmaus (Luke 24), which is sixty stadia from Jerusalem, as some have attempted (Jerome in Onomasticon; among more recent scholars — Robinson, bibl. Forsch, p. 190 and following).

1 Maccabees 3:41. When the merchants of the region heard their name and took very much silver and gold and many servants with them, they came into the camp to buy the sons of Israel as slaves; and the forces of Syria and the land of the Philistines joined them. “Their name...” — to onoma auton — that is, “news of them.” — “Took... servants with them...” — kai paidas — needed for guarding the slaves and herding them. Others, however, read here kai pedas — “and shackles,” which seems no less correct (so in the Syriac translation and in Josephus — Antiquities XII, 7, 3). — Trade in slaves was one of the most important branches of Phoenician and Philistine commerce. — According to 2 Macc 8:10 (cf. 2 Macc 8:25), Nicanor summoned merchants from the coastal cities to purchase future slaves from him, hoping thereby to pay the tribute owed by him to the Romans. — Alongside the Syrian army, mention is made of the army of “the land of the Philistines” — most likely the Philistines, longstanding enemies of their nearest neighbors the Jews (Judg 14 and following; 1 Sam 4 and following), for whom the destruction of Judea was also of the utmost importance.

1 Maccabees 3:42–43. Now when Judas and his brothers saw that troubles had multiplied and that the forces were encamping in their territory, and learned of the king’s command which he had ordered to be carried out against the people — to destroy and wipe them out — they said to one another: Let us restore our people who have been brought low, and let us fight for our people and for our sanctuary. “For our sanctuary...” — ton hagion oi ta hagia — the sanctuary, the Temple, as in 1 Macc 3:51 and elsewhere.

1 Maccabees 3:44–45. And the assembly gathered to be ready for battle and to pray and seek mercy and compassion. Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness; none of her native children went in or out; the sanctuary was trampled down, and foreigners were in the citadel; the Gentiles were lodged there, and joy was taken away from Jacob, and the flute and the lyre fell silent. A lyrical outpouring of grief over the devastated and desecrated Jerusalem. — “Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness...” — this “uninhabited” state is defined more precisely below in the sense that “none of her native children went in or out of her” and that “she became a dwelling of Gentiles...” (cf. 1 Macc 1:38). — “Foreigners were in her citadel...” (see at 1 Macc 1:33).

1 Maccabees 3:46. So they assembled and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, for Israel had a place of prayer at Mizpah in former times. “Mizpah” — Massepha, as in Judg 20:1, also Maspha, 1 Macc 5:35, and Josh 15:38, 1 Sam 7:5 and following — a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Josh 18:26, five miles from Jerusalem, not far from Ramah, at the site of present-day Neby Samuel, on a high hill with a wide view of Jerusalem, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Transjordanian mountains. — Here the Israelites had gathered to decide on a punishment for the tribe of Benjamin (Judg 20:1); here also Samuel gathered the people to humble themselves before the Lord, and by his prayer obtained from God a victory over the Philistines (1 Sam 7). — To these gatherings of the people at Mizpah in the time of the Judges and under Samuel refers the remark of 1 Macc 3:46 that “Israel had a place of prayer at Mizpah in former times.” Samuel had chosen this ancient sacred place for the people’s prayer after the Tent of Meeting, which had stood at Shiloh (Josh 18:26), lost its significance as the chief sanctuary of Israel through the loss of the Ark of the Covenant. So now the Maccabees also chose this same place for national prayer, after Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of enemies and, together with the Temple, had suffered such desecration.

1 Maccabees 3:47–48. And they fasted that day, and put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their garments; and they opened the book of the Law, copies of which the Gentiles had sought to paint with images of their idols, In order to mock the Mosaic religion and the reverence of the Jews for their sacred books, the Gentiles painted images of their gods on whatever copies of the Law they found. This desecration of the Word of God the Israelites now laid before the face of the Lord, opening at their prayer assembly one of these defiled and profaned books, so that the book itself by its very presence and pitiful appearance might silently cry out to the Lord against this lawlessness, and that the Lord, moved to wrath by this profanation of his Word, might execute his righteous vengeance upon the transgressors. — Something similar, and for the same purpose, was once done by Hezekiah, who brought before the face of the Lord in the Temple the blasphemous letter of Sennacherib — 2 Kgs 19:14 and following.

1 Maccabees 3:49. And they brought the priestly vestments and the firstfruits and the tithes; and they called out the Nazirites who had completed their days, “They brought... the firstfruits and the tithes...” The former (protogennemata) were redeemed at the Temple by the offering of a special sacrifice; the latter went toward the support of the Temple and the priests, Exod 23:19; Lev 23:10 and following; Num 18:12 and following; Deut 26:2 and following; Lev 27:30 and following; Num 18:20 and following. — The Nazirites who had completed the days of their vows were released from them also at the Temple, with the offering of specially prescribed sacrifices, Num 9:5; Num 6:13 and following. — All these God-ordained sacred rites had remained without possibility of performance, owing to the defilement and complete devastation of the Temple; and now they were brought forward as one of the most compelling means of moving the Lord God to aid and compassion toward the suffering people of Israel.

1 Maccabees 3:50–54. and they cried aloud to heaven, saying: What shall we do with these men and where shall we take them? Your sanctuary has been trampled and defiled, and your priests are in mourning and humiliation. And now the Gentiles have gathered against us to destroy us. You know what they are plotting against us. How shall we be able to withstand them, if you do not help us? And they sounded the trumpets and cried out with a loud voice. “They sounded the trumpets and cried out with a loud voice...” — to express the utmost fervor of prayer and confidence in being heard by God. This practice had its basis in a special commandment of the Word of God (Num 10:7), where the Lord commanded the use of trumpet calls for summoning assemblies, for raising an alarm in the event of enemy attack and for setting out on campaign, and for expressing festal joy during sacrifices and prayer. According to the intent of the divine ordinance, these trumpet calls were to serve as a memorial of the people before the God of Israel, and the people — who felt as though they had been abandoned and forgotten by God — particularly desired to make this memorial strong now.

1 Maccabees 3:55. After this Judas appointed leaders over the people — commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and commanders of fifties and commanders of tens. Judas’s establishment of lower commanders over the people — commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens — revived the ancient structure of the people, introduced by Moses (Num 31:43; 1 Sam 8:12; 2 Kgs 1:9 and following), which was designed to facilitate not only military operations but also the governance of the people in time of peace.

1 Maccabees 3:56. And he said to those who were building houses and those betrothed to women and those planting vineyards, and to those who were fainthearted, that each of them should return to his own house according to the Law. Following precisely the provision of the Law in Deut 20:5-8, Judas dismisses from the militia all those who had just recently either built a house, or become betrothed to a woman, or planted a vineyard — and had not yet had the chance to enjoy any of these — and also all the faint-hearted and fearful, “lest” — as stated in that passage — “his heart, that is, the fearful man’s heart, melt the hearts of his brothers like his own heart.”

1 Maccabees 3:57. Then the army marched out and encamped to the south of Emmaus. Having assembled a select force, Judas marched out and encamped “to the south of Emmaus,” that is, near the enemy (1 Macc 3:40), encouraging all with a passionate call to “die” in battle for “our sanctuary.”

1 Maccabees 3:58. And Judas said: Gird yourselves and be courageous; be ready in the morning to fight against these Gentiles who have gathered against us to destroy us and our sanctuary. “Gird yourselves...” At every important undertaking, the Jews approached it with “belts on their loins.” — “And be courageous...” — kai ginesthe eis hyious dynatous (cf. 2 Sam 2:7); the Slavonic is more precise: “i budite v syny silny...” (“and be as mighty sons...”)

1 Maccabees 3:59–60. For it is better for us to die in battle than to see the sufferings of our people and our sanctuary. But as the will of heaven may be, so he will do! * * * The Books of the Maccabees have been translated from the Greek, since they do not exist in Hebrew.