Commentaria in I Machabaeorum
62. Yea, and he commanded that Jonathan should be stripped of his garments, and be clothed with purple: and they did so. And the king made him sit by himself, 63. And said to his princes: Go out with him into the midst of the city, and make proclamation, that no man complain against him of any matter, and that no man molest him for any manner of cause. 64. And it came to pass, when his accusers saw his glory proclaimed, and him clothed with purple, they all fled away. 65. And the king magnified him, and enrolled him among his chief friends, and made him a captain, and partaker of his dominion. 66. And Jonathan returned to Jerusalem in peace and joy. 67. In the hundred and sixty-fifth year came Demetrius the son of Demetrius from Crete into the land of his fathers. 68. And king Alexander heard of it, and was much grieved, and returned to Antioch. 69. And Demetrius appointed Apollonius, who was over Celesyria, to be his general, and he gathered together a great army, and came to Jamnia: and sent to Jonathan the high priest, saying: 70. Thou alone standest against us, and I am laughed at, and reproached because thou shewest thy power against us in the mountains.
71. Now therefore if thou trustest in thy forces, come down to us into the plain, and there let us try one another: for with me is the strength of war. 72. Ask, and learn who I am, and the rest that are aiding me, who also say that your foot cannot stand before our face, for thy fathers have twice been put to flight in their own land: 73. And now how wilt thou be able to abide the horsemen and so great an army in the plain, where there is no stone, nor rock, nor place to flee to? 74. Now when Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, he was moved in his mind: and he chose ten thousand men, and went out of Jerusalem, and Simon his brother met him to help him: 75. And they pitched their tents near Joppe, but they shut him out of the city, because the garrison of Apollonius was in Joppe: and they attacked it. 76. And they that were in the city being affrighted, opened the gates: and so Jonathan became master of Joppe. 77. And Apollonius heard of it, and he took three thousand horsemen, and a great army: 78. And went to Azotus as one making a journey, and presently went forth into the plain, because he had a great number of horsemen, and trusted in them. And Jonathan followed after him to Azotus, and the armies joined battle.
79. Now Apollonius had left privately a thousand horsemen behind them. 80. And Jonathan found that there was an ambush behind him, and they surrounded his army, and cast darts at the people from morning till evening: 81. But the people stood still, as Jonathan had commanded them, and the enemies’ horses were tired. 82. Then Simon brought forth his army, and set them against the legion (for the horsemen were spent): and they were discomfited by him, and fled: 83. And the horsemen were scattered in the plain, and they fled to Azotus, and went into Bethdagon, the temple of their idol, there to save themselves. 84. But Jonathan set fire to Azotus, and the cities round about it, and took their spoils: and the temple of Dagon, and them that were fled into it, he burnt with fire. 85. And the number of them that were slain by the sword, with them that were burnt, was eight thousand men. 86. And Jonathan removed his army from thence, and camped at Ascalon: and they came out of the city to meet him with great honour.
87. And Jonathan returned to Jerusalem with his people having very great spoils. 88. And it came to pass, when king Alexander heard these words, he honoured Jonathan yet more. 89. And he sent him a buckle of gold, as the custom is to be given to such as are of the royal blood: and he gave him Accaron and all the borders thereof in possession.
1. AND IN THE YEAR 160 ALEXANDER THE SON OF ANTIOCHUS CAME UP, WHO WAS SURNAMED (Epiphanes, that is, illustrious, or) THE NOBLE, AND TOOK PTOLEMAIS.—This Alexander, surnamed Balas, or Vélès (as now the Valois family in France is royal), was the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and therefore brother of Antiochus Eupator, slain by Demetrius; wherefore, to avenge his brother’s death and recover his kingdom, he occupied Ptolemais, a city of Phoenicia, which is now called Acton, or Acre. Hence Justin, XXXV, Appian, Florus, Sulpitius and Genebrardus err, who write that this Alexander, sprung from a plebeian family, by falsehood and fraud inserted himself into the stock of Antiochus, as at this same time the pseudo-Philip inserted himself into the stock of the kings of Macedonia, and therefore stirred up the third Macedonian war against the Romans, in which he too was conquered and slain, as L. Florus and others testify. Unless you say that he was indeed a son of Antiochus Epiphanes, but a bastard born of a concubine Bala, whence he was surnamed Balas, as Salianus teaches from Eusebius and Appian. Lyranus, the Carthusian and Adrichomius err more, who make this Alexander the son of Antiochus Eupator, when he was his brother, but the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, especially because Eupator was slain in the twelfth year of his age, when he could scarcely beget.
of Ptolemais, hating Demetrius for his pride, luxury and sloth, received his cousin Alexander as king and crowned him.
6. AND HE GAVE HIM AUTHORITY TO GATHER TOGETHER AN ARMY,—that he might join him with his own forces, and with them joined together overcome Alexander.
8. AND THEY WERE STRUCK WITH GREAT FEAR,—the Syrian soldiers occupying the citadel of Sion feared Jonathan, lest by order of Demetrius he should enrol an army and attack the citadel; yet they did not flee from the citadel, as some think from ver. 12, but kept it: for afterwards Jonathan besieged it, as we shall hear chap. xi, ver. 20.
10. AND JONATHAN DWELT IN JERUSALEM,—both because he was high priest, and ought to discharge the pontificate in the temple, and therefore reside in Jerusalem; and because he was leader and prince of Israel, whose metropolis was Jerusalem.
18. KING ALEXANDER TO HIS BROTHER JONATHAN, GREETING,—Alexander calls Jonathan brother, because he sought his friendship and help, and desired him to have as ally, promising that he would have him with the honour and love with which a brother has a brother. (legitimate or illegitimate son of Antiochus Epiphanes; it is more probably thought that he, born at Rhodes or Cyprus of obscure condition, falsely invented his lineage, saying that he was the son of Antiochus Epiphanes. Moreover, relying on the support of the Romans, who held him as king, he gathered an army at Rome and Ephesus against Demetrius, and occupied Ptolemais.)
20. WE ORDAIN THEE THIS DAY HIGH PRIEST.—Jonathan, says Serarius, had already been chosen and appointed by the people Leader and Pontiff; but Alexander here confirms the Pontificate to him, as king of Asia and Syria, to whom therefore by the political right of kingdoms the creation of the Pontiff seemed to belong, as the Roman Emperors once arrogated to themselves, and named the Roman Pontiff; but rightly later Pontiffs took this right from the emperors, and transferred it to the clergy, namely to the Bishops and Cardinals. For this office Antiochus Epiphanes, Alexander’s father, had already usurped, who had appointed Jason, then Menelaus, Pontiff, and after him King Demetrius had appointed Alcimus Pontiff, from whose death in the eighth year Alexander here creates Jonathan Pontiff.
that thou favour our cause and party, not the adverse, that is, that thou help me with arms and forces, not Demetrius my antagonist. And Jonathan did this, preferring Alexander to Demetrius because of the wars and injuries inflicted on Israel by the latter.
21. AND JONATHAN PUT ON THE HOLY VESTMENT,—namely the pontifical robe and tunic, in which was the Rational with the Ephod, Exod. xxviii. For until now Jonathan, though Pontiff, had not put on the pontifical vestments nor exercised them, because Jerusalem was occupied by enemies. But now, Jerusalem recovered, he put on the pontifical garments and exercised the duties of Pontiff.
26. WHEREAS YOU HAVE KEPT COVENANT WITH US.—Demetrius here pretends not to know that Jonathan and the Jews had gone over from him to Alexander his rival; whence he addresses them as faithful friends, and exhorts them to persist in faith and friendship with him, promising great rewards if they do so.
28. AND WILL REMIT YOU MANY CHARGES (that is, exactions and tributes, which you were wont to pay me; whence explaining he adds): AND NOW I FREE YOU, AND ALL THE JEWS, FROM THE TRIBUTES.
29. AND I FORGIVE YOU THE PRICES OF SALT,—that is, the tributes which you paid me for making, carrying and dividing salt, I remit to you, which are certainly great: for all men absolutely need salt. Hence the Prince of Salzburg gathers his immense wealth from salt. This is clear from the following chapter, AND THE CROWNS—of gold, as is clear chap. xiii, ver. 37, which you paid yearly, I remit.
AND THE THIRD PART OF THE SEED,—that is, the third part of the crops, as Josephus has, which are wont to spring from the seed cast into the earth, I remit. So Lyranus. But since this tribute seems enormous, whence chap. xi, ver. 35, only the tenth is mentioned, Salianus better took the third of the seed precisely, so that if anyone had sown twelve measures of wheat, he would have had to pay the king at harvest four measures of wheat, but not, if he had gathered sixty measures at harvest, would he have had to pay the king twenty; which is the third part of the harvest, not of the seed, as is said here.