Chapter Twelve

The war of the Jews with the surrounding pagans: vengeance on the people of Joppa and Jamnia and their treachery toward the Jews (2 Macc 12:1-9). The pacification of the Arabs (2 Macc 12:10-12). The capture of the fortress of Caspis (2 Macc 12:13-16). The pursuit of Timothy and other enemies (2 Macc 12:17-37). The incident at the city of Adollam (2 Macc 12:38-45).

2 Maccabees 12:1–2. After these agreements were concluded, Lysias went to the king, and the Jews attended to their farming. But the local commanders Timothy and Apollonius, son of Gennaeus, as well as Hieronymus and Demophon, and also Nicanor, the governor of Cyprus, would not allow them to live in peace and safety. Timothy, as may be seen by comparing v. 17 ff. with 1 Macc 5:11-12 and vv. 21, 26 with 1 Macc 5:34 ff., is none other than the one previously mentioned (VIII: 30, 32; X: 24, 32, 37). The fact that in the last passage he is shown as having been slain by the Jews does not preclude identifying him here, and shows only that his death has been wrongly ascribed to this campaign. — Apollonius — distinguished by the addition “son of Gennaeus” — is to be differentiated from the two other Apolloniuses — the son of Thrasaeus (III: 5, 7) and the son of Menestheus (IV: 21); he must also be distinguished from the Apollonius who was governor of Coele-Syria under Demetrius I, since that Apollonius was probably then with Demetrius in Rome (see on 1 Mac X: 69). — Hieronymus and Demophon are mentioned nowhere else. — Nicanor, by the addition of “Κυπριαρχης,” is distinguished from Nicanor son of Patroclus (VIII: 9) and from the commander of elephants under Demetrius (XIV: 12). — Κυπριαρχης — either the governor of Cyprus during Antiochus Epiphanes’ period of control over that island, or the superintendent of the sacred games in honor of the gods, by analogy with the Ἀσιάρχαι, Συριάρχαι, etc. (Acts 19:31).

2 Maccabees 12:3–7. The people of Joppa committed such a godless act: they invited the Jews living among them, along with their wives and children, to board boats that had been prepared, as if they bore them no ill will. When the Jews agreed — for they wanted to maintain peace and had no suspicion — then, by a common decision of the city, the people of Joppa set out to sea and drowned them, no fewer than two hundred persons. When Judas learned of such cruelty inflicted on his countrymen, he reported it to those with him and, invoking God as the righteous Judge, marched against the vile murderers of his brothers, set fire to the harbor by night, burned the boats, and killed those who had fled there. And since that place was fortified, he withdrew, intending to return and wipe out the entire community of the people of Joppa. “Since that place was fortified...” — that is, strongly defended, and could not be taken without a siege or assault.

2 Maccabees 12:8–9. Learning that the inhabitants of Jamnia were planning to do the same to the Jews living there, he also attacked the people of Jamnia by night and set fire to the harbor and the ships, so that the blaze was visible in Jerusalem, two hundred and forty stadia away, 240 stadia — 6 miles — approximately 40 versts. On Jamnia, see on 1 Macc 4:15. — “The blaze...” αί αυγαί τού φέγγους — Slavonic: “the glow of the fire,” that is, the reflected light of the conflagration.

2 Maccabees 12:10. When they had moved nine stadia away from there, heading toward Timothy, Arabs fell upon them — no fewer than five thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry. Arabs — that is, Bedouin nomads who had from ancient times inhabited the border region between Egypt and Palestine (from where they also made incursions into the territory of the Philistines).

2 Maccabees 12:11–13. The battle was fierce, and when those with Judas, by God’s help, won the victory, the defeated nomadic Arabs asked Judas for peace, promising to supply them with livestock and to be useful to them in other ways. Judas, understanding that they could indeed be of great use to him in many things, agreed to make peace with them; and having made peace, they departed to their tents. He also attacked a city with a strong bridge, surrounded by walls and populated by various peoples, named Caspis. Caspis is considered identical with the fortress of Khasfor or Khasfon mentioned in 1 Macc 5:20 and v. 36, and is probably the present-day Khastin on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

2 Maccabees 12:14–15. The inhabitants, trusting in the strength of the walls and their food supplies, behaved very arrogantly, blaspheming those with Judas, reviling God, and uttering unseemly words. But those with Judas, calling upon the help of the great Sovereign of the world, who without battering rams or siege engines had destroyed Jericho in the time of Joshua, threw themselves fiercely against the wall. Θηριωδώς, as in X: 35 — with the courage of lions.

2 Maccabees 12:16–17. With God’s help they took the city and carried out countless slaughters, so that the adjacent lake, two stadia in width, appeared to be filled with blood. Departing from there seven hundred and fifty stadia, they came to Charax, to the Jews called the Tubianites; “Seven hundred and fifty stadia” — 16 and three-quarters geographical miles. — “Charax” — εις τον χάρακα — a very indefinite location. The fact that Jews called Tubianites lived there indicates that this place was somewhere in the land of Tob (between Ammonitis and Syria). It is also uncertain how to read this χάρακα — as a proper name or as a common noun. In the latter case, χάρακα (from χάραξ) would mean — a stockaded, fortified camp. In favor of this latter interpretation speak both the article τον before χάρακα and the statement in v. 16 that the Jews did not find Timothy in those localities — επί των τόπων — because he had withdrawn from those places — από των τόπων. The double use of the plural τόποι — places, localities — and particularly in contrast to εν τινι τοπω (“leaving a very strong guard in a certain place...”) suggests that τον χάρακα is a general designation for several localities that probably constituted a camp district — either at that time or at some earlier period.

2 Maccabees 12:18–20. but they did not find Timothy there, for he had withdrawn from the district without accomplishing anything, though he had left a very strong guard in one place. Thereupon Dositheus and Sosipater, commanders under Maccabeus, set out and killed the men Timothy had left in the fortress, more than ten thousand. Maccabeus then divided his army into detachments, placed those two over the detachments, and pressed on against Timothy, who had with him one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and fifteen hundred cavalry. “Placed them” — that is, Dositheus and Sosipater — “over the detachments...” The size of Timothy’s forces, like the later figure for those wounded by Judas (v. 23), appears considerably exaggerated.

2 Maccabees 12:21. When Timothy learned of the approach of Judas, he sent the women and children and the rest of the baggage to the so-called Carnaion, for that fortress was difficult to besiege and inaccessible because of the narrowness of the whole terrain. Timothy’s army (1 Macc 5:38) consisted in large part not of disciplined soldiers but of nomads from the surrounding regions. The wives and children of these nomads had followed Timothy’s army out of fear of Judas’s forces. — Carnaion — a fortress — is beyond doubt Karnain 1 Macc 5:26, Ashtaroth-Karnaim, the seat of King Og of Bashan. The precise location of the fortress is unknown.

2 Maccabees 12:22–23. When the first detachment of Judas appeared, fear fell upon the enemies and dread seized them at the manifestation of the All-Seeing One; they turned to flight, rushing in different directions, so that more often than not they were struck down by their own people, pierced by the edge of their own swords. Judas pressed the pursuit relentlessly, killing the lawless men, and destroyed up to thirty thousand persons. According to 1 Macc 5:34, which most likely refers to this same battle, only about 8,000 fell in it.

2 Maccabees 12:24. Timothy himself fell into the hands of those with Dositheus and Sosipater, and with great cunning begged to be let go alive, for he held in his power the parents of many (Jews) and the brothers of some, and they would not be spared if he died. “With great cunning he begged...” The cunning consisted in the fact that Timothy actually held no Jewish “parents” or “brothers” at all; however that may be, he did plead his way to life.

2 Maccabees 12:25–26. When he had convinced them with many words of his promise to return the hostages unharmed, they released him for the sake of saving their brothers. Then Judas marched against Carnaion and Atargateion and slaughtered twenty-five thousand persons. “Against Carnaion (see on v. 21) and Atargateion...” Atargateion — τό ᾿Αταργατείον — is not a city but properly the temple of the goddess Atargatis or Derketo in Carnaion (1 Macc 5:43 ff.). Atargatis — a Babylonian-Syrian-Philistine female deity with a fish’s body, similar to Dagon, the male deity of the same form (half fish, half human — the deification of water or moisture in general as one of the generative forces of nature).

2 Maccabees 12:27. After the victory over them and their defeat, Judas marched against the fortified city of Ephron, where Lysias had his residence along with a great multitude of different peoples: strong young men standing before the walls fought stubbornly; there too were large stores of engines and arrows. On Ephron, see on 1 Macc 5:46 ff.

2 Maccabees 12:28–29. But they, calling upon the Almighty, who with His power crushes the strength of enemies, seized that city and killed those in it — up to twenty-five thousand. Rising from there, they pressed on toward the city of the Scythians, which was six hundred stadia from Jerusalem. “The city of the Scythians” — Scythopolis, or Beisan (see on 1 Macc 5:52).

2 Maccabees 12:30–33. But since the Jews living there bore witness to the goodwill that the Scythian inhabitants showed toward them and to their gentle treatment of them in times of trouble, they gave thanks to them, asked them to continue their kindness toward their people in the future, and set out for Jerusalem, because the feast of Weeks was approaching. After the feast called Pentecost, they marched against Gorgias, the military commander of Idumea. Judas took the field with three thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry. “Judas took the field with 3,000 infantry and 400 cavalry...” In the Slavonic and Greek text no subject is indicated here (εξηλθεν δέ … “came out...”). All commentators consider that the subject here should be not Judas, as the Russian translation has it, but Gorgias, since Judas had no cavalry. However, cavalry in his army is mentioned later.

2 Maccabees 12:34–35. When they engaged in battle, a few of the Jews happened to fall. But Dositheus, one of those under Bacenor’s command, a cavalryman and a man of great strength, seized Gorgias and, grabbing his cloak, was dragging him forcibly in order to take the accursed man alive as a prisoner; but one of the Thracian horsemen rode at him and cut off his shoulder, and Gorgias escaped to Marisa. The Dositheus, a cavalryman, mentioned here is obviously to be distinguished from the one mentioned in vv. 19 and 24. — On Marisa, see on 1 Macc 5:66.

2 Maccabees 12:36. When those with Esdrin had long been fighting and were exhausted, Judas called upon the Lord that He would prove to be their leader in the battle. “Those with Esdrin...” Οί περί τόν Ἐσδριν. This Esdrin (Greek form of the name ???, cf. 1 Chr XXVII:26 in the LXX) is not mentioned anywhere else. Some commentators think this is another name for Gorgias himself; so it appears in the Slavonic text as well: “the warriors of Gorgias fighting for a long time...”

2 Maccabees 12:37. Having begun a battle-hymn in his native tongue at full voice, he shouted and, charging unexpectedly upon those with Gorgias, put them to flight. “Having begun a battle-hymn in his native tongue at full voice...” χαταρξάμενος τή πατρίω φωνή τήν μεθ᾿ ύμνων κραυγήν ...; Slavonic: “having begun a shout with hymns in his fathers’ tongue...” The hymns — υμνοι — are the psalms of David (such as Psalms 113, 117, 123, 135, 149), which were sung at the onset of battle (cf. 2 Chr 20:21 ff.).

2 Maccabees 12:38. Then Judas, taking his army with him, went to the city of Adollam, and since the seventh day was approaching, they purified themselves according to custom and observed the Sabbath. The city of Adollam — Hebrew ???, a city in the Shephelah of Judah; its precise location is unknown.

2 Maccabees 12:39–40. On the following day, those with Judas went, as duty required, to bring back the bodies of the fallen and to lay them together with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs. And they found on each of the dead, under their tunics, objects consecrated to the idols of Jamnia — something the law forbids to Jews — and it became clear to all why they had fallen. ᾿Ιερώματα των ειδώλων — things consecrated to idols — some understand here various valuables, while others think that these were small images of pagan gods, in gold or silver, worn as amulets on the body, which the Jews had put on either for safekeeping or out of superstition. The law’s prohibition of this: see Deut 7:25 and v. 26.

2 Maccabees 12:41. And so all praised the Lord, the righteous Judge, who reveals what is hidden, “They praised the Lord,” who had revealed the hidden — partly as a warning to those who had survived and been preserved from this sin, and partly so that those survivors might intercede with Him for the sin of those who had fallen, which is precisely what follows.

2 Maccabees 12:42. and they turned to prayer, asking that the sin which had been committed might be completely blotted out; and the valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, seeing with their own eyes what had happened because of the guilt of those who had fallen. The Jews pray that the sin which was committed might be completely blotted out, because its weight bore upon the survivors as well and could be a cause of God’s wrath upon them too (Josh 7:1 ff.; 2 Sam 21:1 ff.; XXIV:1 ff.).

2 Maccabees 12:43. And having made a collection among the men amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, he sent it to Jerusalem to have a sin-offering made, and he acted very well and piously, bearing in mind the resurrection; Instead of 2,000 drachmas, the Latin text indicates 12,000, and the Syriac 3,000.

2 Maccabees 12:44–45. for if he had not hoped that those who had fallen in battle would rise again, it would have been superfluous and futile to pray for the dead. But he had in mind that those who had fallen asleep in godliness had been prepared an excellent reward — what a holy and wholesome thought! Therefore he offered an atoning sacrifice for the dead, that they might be loosed from sin. 2 Macc 12:43-45. The act of Judas is commonly cited in defense of the Orthodox (and Catholic) teaching on the power and significance of prayers for the dead. Objecting to the use of the aforementioned episode in support of this teaching, Protestant theologians argue that neither the actual fact of Judas’s offering a sacrifice after this event, nor the recording of that fact in this passage of Scripture, speaks clearly to the effect that Judas offered the sacrifice specifically for the sin of the dead. According to v. 42, the sacrifice is offered simply for sin — that is, in the Protestant view, for the entire Jewish community, which to a certain degree bore the weight of the sin of those who had fallen, and which in such cases, by solidarity with the transgressors of the law, had previously also suffered the punishments of God’s wrath (see on v. 42). The sin of the dead is not mentioned in v. 43 either. And if the author of the book — or perhaps even the primary source behind it, Jason of Cyrene — does add his own interpretive comments to the account of the event, those very comments providing the basis on which Catholics and Orthodox rely, then these additions and interpretations, Protestant theologians say, carry no weight at all, even if they originated with Judas himself; they would have such force only if uttered by an inspired prophet and messenger of God; and since that is not the case here, the religious views of these private individuals ought not to be binding for the symbolic truths of the faith. That the author’s interpretation of the event was so accurate as to be — in all probability — in agreement with the actual convictions of both Judas and his contemporaries is something that is felt without any particular proof being required. As for the fact that Judas did not hold the authority of a prophet and messenger of God, his act here is not the sole support of the teaching on the salvific efficacy of prayers for the dead. In dogmatic discussions of this teaching, the act of Judas is properly cited simply as a historical reference to how long-standing the belief in the salvific efficacy of prayers for the dead actually is (it matters little here whether only the author or Judas himself held this belief; what matters is that the author expresses this belief here as universally held in his day and is already able to provide a reasoned basis for it!). The primary proof for this belief is of course found only in the New Testament teaching of the Savior and the Apostles. Our Telegram channel