Commentaria in I Machabaeorum
31. BUT TRYPHON, WHEN HE WAS UPON A JOURNEY WITH THE YOUNG KING ANTIOCHUS, TREACHEROUSLY SLEW HIM,—as he had by guile seized and slain Jonathan with his sons. The manner of the death is told by the abbreviator of Livy, Epist. 55: “The son of Alexander, king of Syria, being about ten years old, was by fraud slain by Diodorus, surnamed Tryphon, his guardian, the physicians being corrupted, who told the people falsely that he was wasting with the pain of the stone, and killed him while they cut him.” And the same seems the opinion of Josephus, book XIII, chap. xii, where he says: he died while being treated by surgeons; which Josephus’s interpreter wrongly rendered, died while exercising. This was the character of the perfidious tyrant Tryphon; and therefore he too after two years was slain in like manner by Antiochus Sidetes. See here moreover the just judgment of God, by which he utterly removed the impious stock and offspring of the most impious Antiochus Epiphanes in this Antiochus his grandson. For to Epiphanes, dying most miserably, succeeded his son Antiochus Eupator, a boy, whom Demetrius the elder killed. To Eupator succeeded his brother Alexander Balas, whom Ptolemy Philometor slew in battle; to Alexander succeeded this Antiochus his little son, whom Tryphon killed and seized his kingdom. Here therefore the impious stock of Antiochus was utterly cut off, and that of the Psalmist fulfilled: “I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus. And I passed by, and lo, he was not.”
32. AND BROUGHT GREAT EVILS UPON THE LAND,—slaying all who opposed himself and his usurpation of the kingdom of Asia. This Tryphon, then, was the only one who by guile thrust himself into the series of the Seleucid kings of Asia, and therefore held it only two years; for when these were over, Alexander Sidetes, son of Demetrius the elder and brother of the younger, Tryphon being slain, restored the kingdom of Asia to himself and the Seleucids.
33. AND SIMON BUILT UP (against Tryphon, lest he invade Judea) THE STRONG HOLDS OF JUDEA,—that is, the citadels in which he placed garrison soldiers to defend them.
…AN IMMUNITY—from tributes and from the yoke of the Greeks, or Seleucids, that Judea should not be subject to them, but free, as it had been before. Demetrius granted it; whence then a new Era was established, from which the Jews began to number years, namely from the first year of Simon, as is said, ver. 42. Moreover this Demetrius was the younger son of Demetrius the elder, surnamed Nicanor, who a little before had been ejected from the kingdom by Tryphon, chap. xi, ver. 55, and in the same place ver. last twice routed and put to flight by Jonathan; but now, fearing Tryphon, he made a treaty with Simon, and thus restored to Judea her liberty by right of return.
FOR ALL THAT TRYPHON DID (by which he had imposed heavy tributes and burdens on the Jews) WAS TO PLUNDER (that is, by pilfering and open injustice and robbery);—whence the Greek has: Because all the acts of Tryphon were rapine, and therefore to be rescinded; whence Demetrius rescinded them.
37. THE GOLDEN CROWN AND THE PALM WHICH YOU SENT,—as congratulating me on the kingdom recovered, and wishing victory over Tryphon; of which the palm is the symbol and omen; in Greek bai, that is, a branch of palm, not torn from the tree, but made of gold. For so our version renders it, ver. 54. For bajon, or ba, is a palm branch, so called from the fact that it cannot be easily torn off, because by its nature it strains upward against the hand pressing it down. Hence John xii, palm branches are called baia phoinikon. So book II, chap. xiv, ver. 4, Alcimus offered to the other Demetrius a golden crown, and a palm, and thalli which are branches: from which one may conjecture that these were wont to be brought to the kings of Syria by the Jews. Hence also were called baia the gifts which the Emperor Constantine gave to his Palatines, and the Patriarch to his clerics before Palm Sunday, on which day the Church distributes palm branches to the faithful. Our Sanchez: Bahen, he says, in Hebrew means the same as “in these,” or “among them.” Simon seems to have asked of King Demetrius that he should reckon him and the rest of the Jews with those who are friends and allies, or among those who are subject and tributary, that he might defend them against Tryphon their common adversary, who, as he had set before himself, was bent with all his mind and the strength of his rule on the slaughter of the Jews.
Moreover Isidore in the Glossary: “Baen, he says, is a plate of gold from ear to ear which the familiars of kings used; an ornament of the neck of gold and gems, which by another name can be called a torque”; whence the French bague, and Belgian bagghe, that is, berry, boss, necklace, namely baccatum, as Virgil calls it, Aeneid I, that is, adorned with berries, that is, gems.
Finally some suspect that bahen is derived from the Hebrew bohen, that is, the thumb, which is the symbol of strength and victory. For the thumb (pollex) is so called, says St. Isidore in the Etymologies, because it excels (pollet) among the other fingers in power and might, and by the Greeks is called antichir, because it contends with the rest of the hand in strength and vigour; in symbol of which thing Pierius notes in the Hieroglyphics, and Valerianus and Drizianus in the Symbols, that strength and fortitude are signified when, the other fingers being pressed to the palm, the thumb alone is raised, as that which alone equals the power of the rest.
The Jews seem therefore to have sent to Demetrius such a hand of gold with the thumb raised, that by this symbol they might represent his fortitude and victory; for by the thumb victory was once signified. Hence among the ancient Latins, he who was overcome in the arena raised his thumb (whence the saying “raise the thumb”); and at the games the Roman people were wont to favour one, granting victory by pressing the thumb; but to deny victory to another and condemn him to death by turning the thumb. See what was said on Judges chap. i, ver. 6.
This sense after the first seems more suited than the other two. For the Jews offered the crown and the palm to Demetrius alluding to and applauding his battles and victories on account of which he was surnamed Nicanor, that is, victor, as if to say: We offer you Nicanor the symbols of nike, that is, of victory, namely a palm branch or a hand showing the thumb. Moreover the Syriac interprets bahen as “mission,” that is, gifts and presents sent.
38. FOR ALL THAT WE HAVE DECREED (in Greek in your regard, as if to say: The privileges which I granted you chap. xi, ver. 34) SHALL STAND IN FORCE,—that is, I decree that they stand firm, ratified and fixed, and unchangeable.
39. AS FOR ANY OVERSIGHT OR FAULT, WE FORGIVE IT,—that is, I pardon you whatever you have sinned against me in ignorance or knowingly. For after Demetrius had faithlessly broken the treaty made with Jonathan, Jonathan more than once smote him heavily, and the Jews ill-treated him, as is clear chap. xi, ver. 63, and chap. xii, ver. 24. Wherefore Demetrius remits all those things to them, and brings in amnesty and oblivion of past injuries.
Wherefore from this so liberal grace and privilege of Demetrius full liberty was given to Simon and the Jews, and therefore
41. IN THE YEAR 170 THE YOKE OF THE GREEKS (Seleucids) WAS TAKEN OFF FROM ISRAEL.
42. AND THE PEOPLE BEGAN TO WRITE (establishing and beginning a new Era from this year) IN THEIR INSTRUMENTS AND PUBLIC RECORDS: THE FIRST YEAR UNDER SIMON THE HIGH PRIEST.—For the first year of Simon was 170 of the Greeks, in which Demetrius by his indulgence granted this liberty to the Jews.
43. SIMON CAMPED AGAINST GAZA.—Jonathan had subdued Gaza, chap. xi, ver. 61; but when he departed it shook off the yoke. Wherefore Simon here besieged it again and forced it to the former yoke.
48. HE PLACED IN IT MEN THAT SHOULD OBSERVE THE LAW,—that is, Jews or proselytes, followers of the Mosaic law, indeed Simon himself fixed his dwelling in it, as follows:
49. BUT THEY THAT WERE IN THE CASTLE—of Mount Sion, pressed by hunger, surrendered the citadel to Simon, having held it for 26 years, namely from the year 148 of the Greeks to the year 171 of the Greeks, as is said here, ver. 51.
Josephus adds that Simon utterly demolished this citadel and levelled it with the ground.
51. BECAUSE THE GREAT ENEMY WAS DESTROYED OUT OF ISRAEL.—For the soldiers of the Seleucid kings of Asia, occupying the citadel of Sion, were most hostile to Jerusalem lying below, the temple, the citizens and all the Jews.
on Mount Sion near the temple, built formerly against the soldiers of the citadel already mentioned by Judas Maccabeus, chap. iv, ver. 60, and destroyed by the impious Alcimus, chap. ix, ver. 54, and again rebuilt by Jonathan, chap. x, ver. 11, Simon strengthened with new works and fortifications, and dwelt in it, as is clear ver. 48, whereas before he had dwelt in Gazara, but sent to Gazara John his son, who was afterwards surnamed Hyrcanus, and set him over the army as a brave man. This is the John who succeeded the slain Simon in the leadership and Pontificate, as we shall hear in the last chapter.
54. AND HE MADE HIM (John already mentioned) CAPTAIN OF ALL THE FORCES (in Greek dynameon, that is, of armies or troops); AND HE (John) DWELT IN GAZARA.—Gazara, or Gadera, or Gaser, or Gezer, says Adrichomius, was a city in the tribe of Ephraim, whose king Josue slew, and assigned the city to the Levites. But here by Gazara is understood Gaza, the powerful city of the Philistines near Azotus, as is said chap. xiv, ver. 34. For Simon had taken Gaza, and fixed his dwelling there, as was said ver. 48. Wherefore passing thence, he now committed Gaza to his son John to dwell in and guard. So Salianus.