Commentaria in I Machabaeorum
23. AND JUDAS SAW,—Judas set himself against Alcimus, and the other apostates of Israel, and tore and rent them like a lion.
26. AND THE KING SENT NICANOR,—in the place of Bacchides, with stronger forces, to crush Judas and the Jews, and to raise Alcimus up.
27. AND NICANOR CAME.—Here much must be supplied and woven in, which is narrated in 2 Machab. 14, namely that Nicanor had been prefect of the elephants, and coming into Judea by Demetrius’s order, at once summoned to himself all the remaining Gentiles in it, as well as the apostates of the Jews, and from them drew up forces against Judas and the Jews. Judas with his men, as was his custom, took refuge in prayers and the imploring of God’s help. Simon, the brother of Judas, advanced into the line against Nicanor; but seeing his so great forces, terrified, he turned back. Nicanor, fearing the strength and victories of Judas, asked to confer with him, and to treat of peace. Judas appeared alone on the appointed day, but placed armed soldiers near him in hiding places, that if any treachery appeared they might at once run up to defend him. But there was then no treachery, but Nicanor acted in earnest, and sincerely made peace with Judas. Seeing this, and grieved, Alcimus accused Nicanor before king Demetrius, that he had acted unfaithfully in the king’s affairs, and had contracted friendship with Judas the enemy. The king, indignant at this, sent sharp letters to Nicanor, in which he ordered him to take Judas and bring him to himself at Antioch. Nicanor, having received the letter, strove to fulfil the king’s orders, and to seize Judas by treachery and the pretence of former friendship, and to send him to the king. Judas perceived it, and withdrew himself from him, as is narrated here. Wherefore Nicanor attacked Judas in open war, and was slain by him and beheaded.
CAPHARSALAMA,—that is, near Antipatris; for this pleasant and rich city in the tribe of Manasses, afterwards restored by Herod the Ascalonite, and enlarged by his father Antipater, was called Antipatris, to which St. Paul was led captive from Jerusalem, guarded by 470 soldiers, Acts 23. Today it is a village which is called Assur. So Adrichomius and others.
32. AND THE REST (not slain by Judas) FLED INTO THE CITY OF DAVID,—namely into the citadel of Sion, which the followers of Antiochus held.
34. AND DEFILED THEM,—he profaned the temple on Sion by bringing into it the Gentile idolaters with their idols and filthiness. Secondly and more aptly, he “defiled the priests” themselves, as the Greek adds, by compelling them to eat or offer to God unclean and polluted foods.
AND SPOKE PROUDLY,—blaspheming the temple, the law and God; and therefore like another Sennacherib he was slain, verses 38 and 47. For when some of the Jews had said that there is a living God in heaven, who had commanded the sabbath to be kept, Nicanor answered: “And I am mighty upon the earth, who command arms to be taken up (on the sabbath), and the king’s orders to be fulfilled,” 2 Machab. 15, where it is added also that Nicanor’s blasphemous tongue was, a little after, cut in small pieces and thrown to the birds to devour.
35. AND SWORE IN ANGER, SAYING: UNLESS JUDAS BE DELIVERED, etc., I WILL BURN UP THIS HOUSE,—that is, I will burn the temple. All these things are narrated at greater length in 2 Machab. chaps. 14 and 15, verse 5.
43. AND THE ARMIES JOINED BATTLE ON THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH ADAR (February) AND THE ARMY OF NICANOR WAS DEFEATED (35 thousand being slain), AND HE HIMSELF WAS FIRST SLAIN,—that he who had been first and leader in blasphemy and guilt might likewise be first and leader of the rest in punishment and vengeance. Gorionides adds that Judas challenged Nicanor to a duel, and slew him in it. Hear him, chap. 21: “Judas sent to Nicanor, saying: When thou girdest thyself, come out into the field, and I will show thee alone the man whom thou hast sought even within the inner chambers. Behold he awaits thee in the valley and plain.” And a little after: “Judas saw in the battle Nicanor holding in his hand a drawn sword; and crying out he said: Against thee, O Nicanor; and as he ran against him in the strength of his ardour, Nicanor turned his shoulder, and fled from the face of Judas. But Judas seized him, and struck him with his sword, and cut him in two parts.” But this seems fabricated. For in so great a number of the enemy they had to fight in whole lines, not to duel singly. It is added in 2 Mach. 15 that Judas told his men a dream, in which Onias had shown him Jeremias holding out a golden sword, and saying: “Take this holy sword, a gift from God, wherewith thou shalt overthrow the adversaries of my people Israel,” and with it he encouraged them to the fight and to sure victory.
45. AND THEY SOUNDED THE TRUMPETS AFTER THEM WITH SIGNALS,—namely by a certain measure of the trumpets signifying that the enemy were routed, and therefore fleeing, so that at this signal the Jews, roused from every side, should run up and pursue the fugitives and slay them. Whence it follows:
46. AND THEY CAME FORTH OUT OF ALL THE TOWNS (cities, villages and hamlets) OF JUDEA ROUND ABOUT, AND THEY DROVE THEM BACK WITH THE HORNS,—that is, they cast down and drove them back with their arms and swords, as bulls with their horns cast down lambs, or crops.
AND THEY TURNED AGAIN TO THEM, as if to say: The enemy, driven back by the Jews running together on every side, turned back to Judas, and the Jews pursuing them, and there were routed by them.
AND THEY WERE ALL SLAIN BY THE SWORD, AND THERE WAS NOT ONE LEFT OF THEM,—as if to say: All to a man were slaughtered, so that not one even escaped, to survive so great a slaughter. Great and unusual was this victory of Judas, and the slaughter of Nicanor, and that on account of his pride and blasphemy. In this second battle of Nicanor therefore 35 thousand of his soldiers fell, as in the first battle, verse 32, five thousand had fallen.
47. AND THEY CUT OFF NICANOR’S HEAD, AND HIS RIGHT HAND, WHICH HE HAD STRETCHED OUT SO PROUDLY (threatening the temple, and swearing that he would burn it, verse 35), AND HUNG THEM UP OVER AGAINST JERUSALEM,—in the citadel of Sion, 2 Machab. 15; so the head of Goliath, slain by David, was hung up, and that of Holofernes by Judith, and that of Saul by the Philistines, 1 Kings, last chapter.
49. AND HE ORDAINED (Judas) THAT THIS DAY SHOULD BE KEPT (as a feast celebrated) EVERY YEAR, BEING THE THIRTEENTH OF THE MONTH ADAR,—on which likewise the Jews, once destined by Aman to destruction, were delivered through Esther. Whence this day and feast is called the Eve of Mardochai; for this feast of the deliverance through Esther and Mardochai is celebrated on the 14th day of Adar, but this feast for the slain Nicanor on the 13th day of Adar, 2 Machab. 15, 37.
AND THE LAND OF JUDA WAS QUIET FOR A FEW DAYS,—namely until the following year, which was the 152nd of the Greeks, in which Demetrius sent a new leader and a new army into Judea, in engaging whom Judas fell, as we shall hear in chap. 9.