Chapter Eight

Judas’s campaign to save his people (2 Macc 8:1-7). Brilliant victory over Nicanor (2 Macc 8:8-29). Victory over the Syrian commanders Timothy and Bacchides; celebration of the victory in Jerusalem; the shameful flight of Nicanor to Antioch (2 Macc 8:30-36).

2 Maccabees 8:1–3. Meanwhile Judas Maccabeus and his companions secretly entered villages and summoned their kinsmen; and taking in those who had remained faithful to Judaism, they gathered about six thousand men. They appealed to the Lord to look upon the people who were trampled down by all, and to have pity on the temple that had been defiled by ungodly men; to have mercy on the city that was being destroyed and was on the verge of being leveled to the ground, and to hear the blood crying out to him; “On the verge of being leveled to the ground...” — μέλλουσα ισόπεδον γίνεσθαι ..., rendered more precisely in Slavonic: “about to become equal with the earth...”

2 Maccabees 8:4–5. to remember the lawless destruction of innocent infants and the blasphemies committed against his name, and to show wrath against the wicked. When Maccabeus had gathered his forces, he became invincible to the Gentiles, because the wrath of the Lord had turned to mercy. “He became invincible to the Gentiles, because the wrath of the Lord had turned to mercy...” Here, thus, the success of Judas is attributed not so much to his courage and that of his soldiers as to God’s turning his wrath to mercy: the prayer of the last of the martyr-brothers (VII: 38) had begun to find its fulfillment.

2 Maccabees 8:6. Swooping down on cities and villages without warning, he burned them and, seizing advantageous positions, defeated not a few enemies and put them to flight; “Swooping down on cities and villages...” — that is, those inhabited specifically by pagans or by Jewish traitors.

2 Maccabees 8:7. he preferred especially to use nights for such enterprises, and the report of his valor spread everywhere. 2 Maccabees 8:8. Philip, seeing that this man was gaining ground little by little, and that he was succeeding in his enterprises more and more frequently, wrote to Ptolemy, the commander of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, to give aid to the king’s cause. The account of Judas’s victory over Nicanor presents a somewhat abbreviated account of events 1 Macc 3:38. Both here and there the leaders of the struggle on the Syrian side are Ptolemy, Nicanor, and Gorgias (vv. 8 ff.; cf. 1 Macc 3:38), and there are also merchants for buying captives (vv. 11, 25, and 34; cf. 1 Macc 3:41). The difference between the two narratives lies in the greater attention given to the fate of the principal leader of the struggle — Nicanor — in whose defeat the courage of Judas and divine intercession, that is, the turning of God’s wrath to mercy toward the Jewish people, were especially displayed. — On Philip, see V: 22. — On Ptolemy, see IV: 45 and 1 Macc 3:38. — On Nicanor and Gorgias, see 1 Macc 3:38.

2 Maccabees 8:9. He immediately chose Nicanor, the son of Patroclus, one of his foremost friends, and sent him with no fewer than twenty thousand men of various nations to wipe out the entire race of Jews; he also attached to him Gorgias, a commander experienced in military matters. “No fewer than 20,000 men...” — according to 1 Mac. III: 39, there were more than twice as many: 40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry. — In the account of those commanding and organizing the struggle, 1 and 2 Maccabees present some differences, though not essential ones and easily explained. According to 1 Macc 3:38, the campaign into Judea was organized by the regent of the kingdom, Lysias, acting on a special command of the king who had gone off to the eastern provinces of his realm. This same Lysias sent Ptolemy with Nicanor and Gorgias into Judea with an army; thus Ptolemy appears here simply as the executor of Lysias’s commission, and he in turn entrusted it to two other commanders — Nicanor and Gorgias. This of course does not exclude the fact that Ptolemy himself had previously, at Philip’s report (2 Macc 8:8), informed Lysias of the state of affairs, and Lysias had then made further arrangements for declaring and waging war through Ptolemy and his generals, carrying out the king’s command at the same time.

2 Maccabees 8:10–14. Nicanor determined to make up the tribute of two thousand talents owed by the king to the Romans by selling Jewish captives as slaves. So he immediately sent to the coastal cities, inviting them to buy Jewish slaves and promising to hand over ninety captives for a talent; but he did not reckon on the punishment that was about to come upon him from the Almighty. Judas heard of Nicanor’s approach, and when he told those with him about the arrival of the army, the cowardly and those who did not trust in God’s justice deserted and ran away, abandoning their positions. Others sold everything they had left and implored the Lord to rescue them from that wicked Nicanor, who had sold them before the battle had even begun, “Ninety captives for one talent” — that is, about 10–15 rubles per person. Taking into account that the “conqueror” wished to raise up to 2,000 talents, we find that he calculated on selling at least 180,000 captives — evidently from the Jews in general, beyond those who participated in the battle.

2 Maccabees 8:15. if not for their own sakes, then for the sake of the covenants made with their ancestors and for the sake of his holy and glorious name, which had been called upon them. “For the sake of ... his holy and glorious name being called upon them...” — that is, for the sake of their being declared the property and portion of God, by virtue of which their captivity would mean the captivity of God’s own property and portion.

2 Maccabees 8:16. Then Maccabeus gathered those who were with him, six thousand in all, and urged them not to be alarmed by the enemy and not to fear the great host of Gentiles coming against them unjustly, but to fight bravely, “Six thousand men...” — according to 1 Macc 4:6, only 3,000.

2 Maccabees 8:17–20. keeping before their eyes the unjust outrage committed against the holy place and the ravaging of the mocked city and the overturning of their ancestral institutions. For, he said, they rely on weapons and boldness, but we rely on the Almighty God, who is able with a single nod to strike down those coming against us and even the whole world. He also told them of the interventions their ancestors had received, and how under Sennacherib 185,000 had been destroyed, and of the battle against the Galatians that had taken place in Babylon — how when the Macedonians were in disorder, those eight thousand men, against the Galatians with their four thousand, with help from heaven destroyed one hundred and twenty thousand and gained great plunder. “Against the Galatians...” — with intensification in Greek: πρὸς αὐτοὺς Γαλάτας — “against the Galatians themselves”, or: “even against the Galatians”, who were distinguished by exceptional warlike spirit and courage (Justin, Hist. XXV, 2, 10). — On the Galatians, see the note on 1 Mac. VIII: 2. — “The Macedonians” — οἱ Μακεδόνες — here means the Syro-Macedonians, the Seleucid Syrians (cf. Strabo XVI, 744; Ptol. X, 7; Jos. Archaeol. XII, 5, 4, etc.). — The mention that this battle took place “in Babylon” (ἐν τῇ Βαβυλωνίᾳ) probably refers to the battle of Antiochus the Great against the rebellious satrap Molon of Media, since at that time Galatian soldiers participated on both sides. The number of Galatians — 120,000 — seems greatly exaggerated, having entered our text either from popular inflated traditions or through a copyist’s error.

2 Maccabees 8:21–22. By these words he made them resolute and ready to die for their laws and their homeland, and he divided the army into four units, appointing his brothers Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan as commanders of each unit, and assigning each one fifteen hundred men. “Joseph” — here and in X: 19 — should be taken as John (1 Macc 2:2; IX: 36, 38). The fourth of the brothers — Eleazar — is mentioned further on (v. 23), with a special function but without command of a unit. He was to perform during the battle everything that the law prescribed for priests (Deut 20:2 ff.; Num 10:8 ff.; 2 Chr 13:12).

2 Maccabees 8:23. He then ordered Eleazar to read from the holy book, and after giving the watchword “God’s help,” he himself took command of the first unit and engaged Nicanor in battle. Judas commanded the “first unit” — πρώτη σπεῖρα — that is, the first of four, probably also the best, which could truly be the vanguard. — “After giving the watchword ‘God’s help’...” — δοὺς σύνθημα θεοῦ βοήθεια, more precisely in Slavonic: “having given the sign of God’s help...” Σύνθημα in classical authors is a technical term for a military password. In this case the password was the phrase “God’s help” (cf. XIII: 15). The precise meaning of this passage is therefore: “having given the watchword ‘God’s help’, by which the Jews in the general melee could better recognize their own and maintain common enthusiasm, Judas then began the battle.”

2 Maccabees 8:24–25. Since the Almighty was their helper, they killed more than nine thousand of the enemy, and wounded and disabled the greater part of Nicanor’s army, and compelled them all to flee. They seized the money of those who had come to buy them; then they pursued the enemy for a considerable distance, but returned because the hour was getting late. “Stopped by the hour...” — ἡ ὥρα — the time of sunset on the eve of the Sabbath.

2 Maccabees 8:26. For it was the day before the Sabbath; and for that reason they did not continue the pursuit. “Did not continue the pursuit...” — οὐχ ἐμακροθύμησαν κατατρέχοντες αὐτούς ..., rendered more precisely in Slavonic: “they did not prolong pursuing them...”

2 Maccabees 8:27. They collected the enemy’s weapons and stripped the fallen foes of their arms, and then kept the Sabbath, giving fervent thanks and praise to the Lord who had preserved them on that day and who had begun to show them his mercy. “On that day...” — εἰς τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην, Slavonic: “on this day” — the day on which they kept the Sabbath for the first time in peace and safety.

2 Maccabees 8:28–29. After the Sabbath they gave a share of the spoil to those who had been tortured, to the widows and orphans, and divided the remainder among themselves and their children. After this they held a public prayer and implored the merciful Lord to be fully reconciled with his servants. “To be fully reconciled...” — εἰς τέλος καταλλαγῆναι, Slavonic: “to be reconciled to the end...” The beginning of the return of God’s mercy was the described victory of Judas. Full reconciliation here represents complete liberation from the Syrian yoke (cf. VII: 33 and VIII: 5).

2 Maccabees 8:30. When Timothy and Bacchides came against them together, they killed more than twenty thousand and took possession of the high strongholds with ease; they divided the very great plunder equally among themselves, those who had been tortured, the orphans and widows, and also the elders. “Timothy and Bacchides” are introduced here suddenly and in a definite manner, as if they had already been mentioned and were known to readers. For this reason it is thought that in Jason’s work they were indeed mentioned as Nicanor’s assistants — at the same time as him. The return of the narrative to this same Nicanor in v. 34 and especially the mention of Timothy alongside Nicanor in IX: 3 makes this supposition even more plausible (cf. X: 24). This Timothy may also be the same person who (in 1 Macc 5 ch.) appeared as commander of the Ammonite and Galaadite pagans against Judas and was defeated by them (cf. 1 Macc 5:5 ff.; vv. 36, 46 ff., 65). Bacchides is not so easily identified with 1 Macc 7:8 ff. He may however have been assumed to have been among those defeated alongside Nicanor (cf. 1 Macc 7:8 and vv. 26 ff.), or he may indeed have participated with Timothy and Nicanor in the campaign against Judas.

2 Maccabees 8:31–32. After gathering the weapons of the enemy, they stored everything carefully in convenient places, and carried the rest of the spoils to Jerusalem. They killed the commander of Timothy’s forces, a most wicked man who had done great harm to the Jews. “The commander of Timothy’s forces...” — τὸν δὲ φύλαρχον τῶν περὶ Τιμόθεον ..., Slavonic: “and the phylarch of Timothy...” Here the phylarch — according to some — is not a common noun (“commander of forces”) but the proper name of one of Timothy’s associates (οἱ περὶ Τ. ...).

2 Maccabees 8:33. Then, celebrating their victory in their homeland, they burned Callisthenes and some others who had set fire to the sacred gates and had fled into a house, so that these men received a fitting recompense for their impiety. “Celebrating the victory in their homeland” — ἐν τῇ πατρίδι — that is, “in the native city”, as Matt 13:54, and specifically in Jerusalem. — The burning of the sacred gates is also mentioned by 1 Macc 4:33. — On the merchants for buying Jews, see above, v. 11.

2 Maccabees 8:34–35. The most wicked Nicanor, who had brought a thousand merchants to buy Jews, was humbled with the help of God by those he had considered of no account, and, throwing off his magnificent apparel, fled alone through the interior to Antioch in the guise of a runaway slave, extremely distraught over the destruction of his army. “Throwing off his magnificent apparel...” — because it could betray his high rank and endanger him during the flight. — “In the guise of a runaway slave...” — δραπέτου τρόπον ἔρημον ἑαυτὸν ποιήσας, Slavonic more precisely: “making himself solitary after the manner of a fugitive...” — that is, keeping himself apart from all, as a fugitive. — “Through the interior...” — διὰ τῆς μεσογείου — that is, by the inland road, the shorter and faster one (Slavonic: “through the Mediterranean (sea)” — which is hardly correct).

2 Maccabees 8:36. He who had undertaken to bring tribute to the Romans from the captives of Jerusalem proclaimed that the Jews had God as their champion and therefore remained unharmed, because they followed the laws established by him.