Commentaria in I Machabaeorum
Chapter the Sixth. Synopsis of the Chapter
Antiochus Epiphanes, repulsed by the Persians, and hearing that his men have been slain by Judas, falls sick of grief and dies; verse 17, Lysias sets up his son Antiochus Eupator in his place. Judas besieges the citadel of Sion; Eupator is stirred up against him by the apostates, and leads into the line a hundred thousand footmen and twenty thousand horsemen with 32 elephants, with whom, verse 42, Judas bravely engages, and Eleazar, going under the king’s elephant and killing it, is crushed by it as it falls. Thence, verse 49, Eupator besieges Bethsura, and takes it by famine, and would have done the same to the citadel built by Judas on Mount Sion, had he not been called away to Antioch against Philip; wherefore he makes peace with the Jews, but soon breaks it.
golden and silver that were in it, and I sent to take away the inhabitants of Judea without cause. 13. I know therefore that for this cause these evils have found me: and behold I perish with great grief in a strange land. 14. And he called for Philip, one of his friends, and made him regent over all his kingdom: 15. And he gave him the crown, and his robe, and his ring, that he might go to Antiochus his son, and bring him up, and give him the kingdom. 16. So king Antiochus died there in the year one hundred and forty-nine. 17. And Lysias understood that the king was dead, and he set up Antiochus his son to reign, whom he had brought up young, and he called his name Eupator. 18. Now they that were in the castle, kept the Israelites shut up round about the holy places, and sought at all times their hurt, and to strengthen the Gentiles. 19. And Judas purposed to destroy them, and called together all the people to besiege them. 20. And they came together, and besieged them in the year one hundred and fifty, and he made battering slings and engines. 21. And some of them that were besieged got out, and some of the wicked men of Israel joined themselves unto them: 22. And they went to the king, and said: How long dost thou delay to execute judgment, and to revenge our brethren? 23. We determined to serve thy father, and to walk according to his orders, and to obey his edicts: 24. And for this cause the children of our people were alienated from us, and they have slain as many of us as they could find, and have spoiled our inheritances. 25. Neither have they put forth their hand against us only, but also against all our borders. 26. And behold they are this day assembled against the castle of Jerusalem, to take it: and they have fortified the castle of Bethsura: 27. And unless thou speedily prevent them, they will do greater things than these, and thou shalt not be able to hold them. 28. And the king was angry when he heard this: and he called together all his friends, and the captains of his army, and them that had charge of the horse. 29. There came also to him from other kingdoms, and from the islands of the sea, bands of hired soldiers. 30. And the number of his army was a hundred thousand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen, and thirty-two elephants trained to battle. 31. And they came through Idumea, and encamped against Bethsura, and fought many days, and made engines: but they sallied forth, and burnt them with fire, and fought manfully. 32. And Judas departed from the castle, and removed the camp to Bethzacharam, over against the king’s camp. 33. And the king rose before it was light, and made his troops march violently on towards the way of Bethzacharam: and the armies made themselves ready for battle, and sounded the trumpets. 34. And they shewed the elephants the blood of the grape and of the mulberry, to provoke them to fight. 35. And they distributed the beasts by the legions: and by every elephant stood a thousand men in coats of mail, and with helmets of brass on their heads: and five hundred horsemen set in order were picked out for every beast. 36. These were ready wheresoever the beast was: and whithersoever it went they went, and they departed not from it. 37. And upon the beasts there were strong wooden towers, which covered every one of them, and engines upon them: and upon every one thirty-two strong men, who fought from above, and an Indian to rule the beast. 38. And the rest of the horsemen he placed on this side and that side, at the two wings, with trumpets to stir up the army, and to hasten them forward, thronging together in their ranks. 39. Now when the sun shone upon the shields of gold and brass, the mountains glittered therewith, and they shone like lamps of fire. 40. And part of the king’s army was set in order upon the high mountains, and part below in the plains, and they marched on warily and orderly. 41. And all that heard the noise of their multitude, and the marching of the company, and the rattling of the armour, were moved: for the army was exceeding great and strong. 42. And Judas and his army drew near to battle, and there fell of the king’s army six hundred men. 43. And Eleazar the son of Saura, saw one of the beasts harnessed with the king’s harness, and it was higher than the other beasts: and it seemed to him that the king was on it: 44. And he exposed himself to deliver his people, and to get himself an everlasting name. 45. And he ran up to it boldly through the midst of the legion, killing on the right hand and on the left, and they fell by him on this side and that side. 46. And he went between the feet of the elephant, and put himself under it, and slew it: and it fell to the ground upon him, and there he died. 47. And the Jews seeing the strength of the king, and the violence of his army, turned away from them. 48. But the king’s army went up against them to Jerusalem: and the king’s army pitched their tents against Judea, and against mount Sion. 49. And he made peace with them that were in Bethsura: and they came out of the city, because they had no victuals there to endure a siege, it being the year of rest to the land. 50. And the king took Bethsura, and placed a garrison there to keep it. 51. And he turned his army against the sanctuary many days: and he set up there battering slings, and engines, and instruments to cast fire, and engines to cast stones and darts, and scorpions to shoot arrows, and slings. 52. And they also made engines against their engines, and they fought for many days. 53. But there were no victuals in their store-houses, because it was the seventh year; and they that had stayed in Judea of the Gentiles, had eaten up the residue of all that was stored. 54. And there remained in the holy places but a few: for the famine had prevailed over them, and they were dispersed every man to his own place. 55. And Lysias heard that Philip, whom king Antiochus while he lived had appointed to bring up Antiochus his son, and to reign, 56. Was returned out of Persia and Media, and the army that went with him, and that he sought to take upon him the management of affairs: 57. Wherefore he made haste to go, and to say to the king, and the captains of the army: We decay daily, and our provision of victuals is small, and the place that we lay siege to is strong, and the affairs of the kingdom lie upon us. 58. Now therefore let us come to terms with these men, and make peace with them, and with all their nation: 59. And let us grant them to use their own laws as before: for because of their laws which we despised, they were provoked, and have done all these things. 60. And the saying pleased the king and the princes: and he sent to them to make peace: and they accepted of it. 61. And the king and the princes swore unto them: and upon this they came out of the strong hold. 62. And the king entered into mount Sion, and saw how strong the place was: and he broke the oath that he had made, and gave orders to pull down the wall round about. 63. And he departed in all haste, and returned to Antioch, where he found Philip master of the city: and he fought against him, and took the city by force.
verse 1, Serarius prefers that he began to fall gravely ill there, but died at Babylon.
7. AND THAT THEY HAD PULLED DOWN (Judas and the Jews) THE ABOMI-
1. AND KING ANTIOCHUS (Epiphanes, with whom hitherto Judas and the Jews had contention and war. He went therefore) TO ELYMAIS, (which by another name is called Persepolis, that is, the city, indeed the metropolis, of the Persians, 2 Machab. 9, in order to plunder) THE RICH TEMPLE IN IT—dedicated to Venus; but he was repulsed by the citizens. For the Hebrews call Persia Elam, whence they call the Persians Elamites, and Elymais, which the Greeks call Persepolis. So Bethsames in Hebrew is called by the Greeks Heliopolis, by the Latins the City of the Sun. So Simon in Hebrew is called Chananeus, in Greek Zelotes, in Latin Aemulator. Moreover Appian asserts that this “temple” was dedicated to Venus, although Josephus and St. Jerome on Daniel chap. 8 think it was Diana’s, but Justin, book 32, that of Dindymian Jove.
4. AND RETURNED TOWARDS BABYLON,—and there died of grief in the 12th year of his reign, which was the 149th year of the Greeks: his death is described at length in book 2, chap. 9.