Seder Olam Revisited: C30b- Maccabees
- Albert Benhamou
- 1 day ago
- 27 min read
CHRONOLOGY OF JEWISH HISTORY
Generation 30: Hebrew years 3480-3600 (280-160 BCE)
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Introduction
In this second part of the 30th chronological generation, Judaism finally confronts Hellenism. It started with the revolt of a family clan, the Maccabees, and led to the revival of the Jewish nation.
Chronology of events during the 30th Generation
Hebrew Year | BCE | Event | Source |
3585 | -175 | Antiochus IV Epiphanes, younger son of Seleucus IV, reigns | Maccabees II, 1 |
3588 | -172 | Antiochus Epiphanes spoils the Temple of Jerusalem | |
3590 | -170 | Murder of Onias III the high priest by Menelaus; institution of first "zugot" | |
3591 | -169 | Antiochus Epiphanes campaigns against Ptolemy, and crowns himself king of Egypt; but then retreats under Roman threat | |
3592 | -168 | Antiochus Epiphanes comes to Jerusalem, spoils the Temple, decrees against Jewish faith | Maccabees II, 1 |
3593 | -167 | Start of the Maccabees revolt in Modi'in | Maccabees II, 2 |
3594 | -166 | Death of Mattathias, father of the Maccabees | |
3595 | -165 | Antiochus Epiphanes campaigns in Persia | |
3596 | -164 | Judah Maccabees liberates Jerusalem from Seleucid rule; restore Temple service; festival of Hannukah | Maccabees II, 5 |
3597 | -163 | Death of Antiochus Epiphanes | Maccabees II, 6 |
3599 | -161 | Demetrius Soter, older brother of Antiochus Epiphanes, returns from Rome to rule the Seleucid kingdom | |
3600 | -160 | Demetrius besieges Jerusalem | Maccabees II, 9 |
3600 | -160 | Judean alliance with Rome; death of Judah Maccabee |
Year 3585 – 175 BCE – Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Antiochus IV Epiphanes raised to power in 175 BCE, in the 137th year of the Seleucid Dynasty (Maccabees, Book II, 1:10), and ruled the Seleucid dominions for 11 years until his death in 164 BCE.
His belligerent attitude, following the same ambition of his father to conquer Ptolemaic Egypt, would cause disasters to the Seleucid dynasty because it forced Rome to intervene again in the regional affairs and would also cause the Jewish revolt of the Maccabees in Judea. The Greek historian Polybius (200-118 BCE) nicknamed him Epimanes, which means the madman (Polybius, Fragments, XXVI, 10).
Year 3588 – 172 BCE – Antiochus IV spoils the Temple
When Antiochus IV Epiphanes came to power in 175 BCE, he decided to nominate local rulers based on their commitment to levy the taxes he needed. So, in Jerusalem, he dismissed Onias III, the pious High Priest in place, and named his brother, the opportunistic Jason, to the role. Jason was ambitious and keen to deviate from traditional Judaism. So, he showed allegiance to Antiochus by adopting Hellenistic customs. But he was misleading himself about the king who was only interested in getting taxes being raised from Judea. So, his role could be removed easily as events proved it.
Year 3590 – 170 BCE – Murder of Onias III the High Priest
In 172 BCE, when Menelaus, the Judean representative, was sent to Antiochus IV Epiphanes with the tax money, the latter decided to change roles again and gave the priesthood to him, a Benjamite, instead of Jason, a Levite. By Jewish laws, only Levite family members could be authorized to receive the priesthood. The reason for this change is that Menelaus promised Antiochus to raise even more money than Jason did. And he thought of achieving this by robbing the Temple from its sacred vessels and other valuables! So, to avoid expected opposition from zealous religious sentiment, Menelaus ordered the murder of Onias III in 170 BCE, along with several other religious figures. Then, his plundering of the Temple could not be opposed.
Onias IV, son of Onias III, fled to Egypt to avoid being murdered as well. There he established a Jewish community with his followers in Leontopolis, on the eastern side of the Nile Delta. He later erected a temple for divine service, in 151 BCE, which lasted for about 224 years, nearly as long as the temple in Jerusalem, before the Romans destroyed it in 73 CE following their war against the Jews. The Talmud mentions that this temple was accepted to hold divine sacrifices:
R. Isaac said: I have heard that sacrifices may be offered in the Temple of Onias [IV] at the present day. (Talmud, Megillah, 10a)
This was possible because of the dire religious persecutions that started in Judea, and the corruption at the head of the Temple.
Year 3590 – 170 BCE – Yose ben Yoezer and the first Zugot
Yose ben Yoezer and Jose ben Johanan became the first recorded couple of religious leaders, known as the Zugot (which means “pairs” in Hebrew), who shared the two functions at the head of Sanhedrin (the religious assembly and tribunal, Beth Din), one as of the president (called Nassi in Hebrew) and the other as his second (Av Beth Din) in charge of the religious tribunal.
Jose ben Yoezer was a disciple of Antigonus of Socho (see document C30a, year 240 BCE). He was an adversary to those who wanted to adopt Hellenistic culture and assimilate. His tenure lasted 30 years until his death in 140 BCE. The introduction of two heads of the religious affairs was made to reinforce the religious authorities and balance the growing influence of Hellenized Jews in the political affairs and in the priesthood.
Year 3591 – 169 BCE – Antiochus IV conquers Egypt
Ptolemy VI’s reign was troubled with the fact that Antiochus IV Epiphanes, his uncle (because Antiochus was the brother of Ptolemy’s mother, Cleopatra, who was a Seleucid princess), finally succeeded to invade Egypt in 169 BCE. This was a dream come true for the Seleucid ruler who even crowned himself king of Egypt in 168 BCE while his nephew Ptolemy VI was 19 years old. But Rome soon threatened the Seleucid king with war unless he would give up his usurped title and pull his army out of Ptolemaic realm. Egypt thus passed under the direct protection of Rome and would never rise again as an independent regional power. As of Antiochus IV, having been obliged by Rome to abandon Egypt, he passed his frustration and anger on Judea by decrees of religious persecution against the Jews.
Year 3592 – 168 BCE – Antiochus’ repression against Jerusalem
When Antiochus Epiphanes was at war in Egypt, Jason (the deposed High Priest) spread the rumor that the Seleucid king had been killed. He thus managed to have the people of Jerusalem rebel against Menelaus (the illegitimate High Priest nominated by Antiochus) who found refuge in a "citadel" (see comment further below) with the Greek garrison in Jerusalem. But soon after, Antiochus returned to Judea from his ill-fated campaign in Egypt and decided to punish the Jews for having threatened his appointed High Priest. He massacred a good part of the people of Jerusalem, sacked the Temple, and restored Menelaus to his role. Apparently, Menelaus had advised Antiochus to desecrate the Temple out of personal revenge.
And after that Antiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned again in the hundred forty and third year [of the Seleucid Dynasty], and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude, and entered proudly into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof, and the table of the shew-bread, and the pouring-vessels, and the vials, and the censers of gold, and the vail, and the crowns, and the golden ornaments which were on the front of the temple, all which he pulled off. He took also the silver and the gold, and the precious vessels; he also took the hidden treasures which he found.
And when he had taken everything away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly. Therefore, there was great mourning in Israel, in every place where they were; so that the princes and elders mourned, the virgins and young men were made feeble, and the beauty of women was changed. Every bridegroom took up lamentation, and she who sat in the marriage-chamber was in heaviness. The land also was moved for the inhabitants thereof, and all the House of Jacob was covered with confusion. (Maccabees, Book II, 1:20-28)
In the same year, on the 15th of the month of Kislev, they burned the books of Jewish Law that they found in the Temple. And on the 25th, they made idol offering on the Altar. It may have been in that period that the incident recorded in the Talmud and regarding a so-called Apostomos took place:
Five misfortunes befell our fathers on the 17th of Tammuz and five on the 9th of Av.
On the 17th of Tammuz, the Tables [of the Law] were shattered [by Moses, following the Golden Calf incident], the daily offering was discontinued [at the beginning of the Judges period], a breach was made in the city [by the Romans] and Apostomos [written אפוסטמוס in Hebrew] burned the Scroll of the Law and placed an idol in the Temple.
On the 9th of Av, it was decreed that our fathers should not enter the [promised] land [after the return of the explorers in Kadesh-Barnea], the Temple was destroyed, the first [by the Babylonians] and the second time [by the Romans], Betar was captured [ending the Bar-Kochba revolt] and the city [of Jerusalem] was ploughed up [to make room for a Roman city instead]. (Talmud, Taanit, chapter IV, Mishna, 26a-26b)
All the incidents mentioned above for the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av are well known in Jewish tradition. However, the mention of the so-called Apostomos is somehow obscure. There have been a few known instances of the burning of a Torah Scroll but not so many are combined with the placing of an idol in the Temple except during the time of the decrees by Antiochus Epiphanes.
The Greek-sounding name Apostomos suggests that the incident took place during the Greek occupation of Jerusalem as it featured many examples of profanations of the Jewish cult. The word Apostomos is composed of two Greek words: ἀπό (apó) meaning ‘from’ and στομος (stómos) meaning ‘mouth’. So Apostomos simply means "from the mouth" which suggests that he was the "executioner of orders" from the Seleucid command when the city was captured. But others believe that this incident happened at the time of the Romans, probably before the revolt of Bar-Kochba, because it is mentioned after the event related to the fall of Jerusalem (a breach was made in the city). Shortly before this revolt, it is known that the Romans had the intent to erect a Temple to Jupiter on the ground of the Second Temple, as they erected a Temple to Aphrodite on the location of Jesus' Crucifixion.
It is interesting to note that the English word "apostle" is derived from the Greek Apostolos, which is composed of the words ἀπό (apó) meaning ‘from’ and στολος (stólos) meaning ‘fleet’ as “carrier of message” or “messenger”. But there is only one letter difference between the two words: μ and λ. Could it be that 'Apostolos' really had been 'Apostomos'? After all, the expression "from the messenger" doesn't mean much for a word like Apostle, whereas "from the mouth" is exactly right: the Apostle is the one who carries the (good) word of a leader or a prophet.
A Greek philosopher and astronomer, Posidonius of Apameia, who lived in Syria around 100 BCE, followed Polybius in the effort to write World History. But instead of following the facts, he gave way to his own opinion, and to his hatred of the Jews, with non-historical legends:
Indeed, Antiochus, the so-called Epiphanes, after having defeated the Jews, went inside their divine sanctuary, a place where nobody except for the high priest could enter. He found there the statue of a long-bearded man riding a donkey, holding a book in his hands: he thought that this statue was of Moses, the founder of Jerusalem and the organizer of the Jewish people, the one who imposed laws that are contrary to humanity and justice.
Antiochus felt harmed by such hatred against the other people and made it a point of honor to abolish the Jewish institutions. This is why he sacrificed, in front of the statue of the founder and on the uncovered altar of their god, a huge sow and spread the blood of the beast; then, after having ordered the meat to be prepared, with the fat that was collected, he ordered to stain the sacred books which were filled with these writings that are contrary to hospitality, and to extinguish the so-called eternal lamp which burned continuously in the temple and, finally, he forced the high priest and the other Jews to eat from the sacrifice. (Diodorus Siculus, XXXIV, fragment 1, citing Posidonius; in Theodore Reinach, Textes d’auteurs grecs et romains relatifs au judaisme, Paris 1895, pp. 57-58; translated from the French)
But all other historians reported that Antiochus penetrated the Temple not because he defeated the Jews in any war but because he needed money after his lost campaign (and, of course, failure to financially benefit from it) and wanted to get his hands on the treasures of the temple. His hatred of the Jewish nation and his anger after being forced out of Egypt did the rest. Some of the details were however true, including the Greeks forcing Jews to eat pork meat.
This was the time when Antiochus ordered to build a fortress close to the Temple to station an armed garrison. This fortress, the Acra, was perceived by the Jewish population as an intrusion in the Holy City. The Acra was later utterly destroyed by the Maccabees to the point that there is no final consensus today about its exact location near the Temple Mount. The name Acra comes from the Greek word Acropolis, meaning the higher place. Apparently, the Acra was higher than the Temple so the garrison could monitor the movements of people there. But there is another theory that the Acra was built (or maybe started) at the time of the Ptolemaic rule because the Book of Maccabees mentions that Menelaus had found refuge in the "citadel" this citadel presumably being the Acra, so may have already existed prior to Antiochus.
In 2016, archaeologists working in the City of David believe that they have found the foundations of the Acra fortress, underneath the so-called Givati parking lot. This area can be visited today as part of the tours in the City of David (for more details, click here).
Year 3593 – 167 BCE – Decree against Judaism
Shortly after the start of his repression, Antiochus sent his money collector, Apollonius, to spoil again the Jewish spiritual city. As he faced opposition, he caused destruction and killed a substantial number of people. He then built a large wall around the Temple and towers to protect the garrison, and placed Hellenized Jews at key posts with the goal to prevent the religious service:
Moreover, King Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, and everyone should leave his own laws: so, all the heathen agreed, according to the commandment of the king.
Yea, also many of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the Sabbath. For the king had sent letters by the hand of messengers unto Jerusalem, and unto the cities of Judah, that they should follow laws strange to the land, and forbid burnt-offerings, and sacrifice, and drink-offerings in the sanctuary, and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days, and pollute the sanctuary and holy people, set up altars, and temples, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine's flesh and unclean beasts, that they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation, to the end they might forget the law and change all the ordinances.
And whosoever would not do according to commandment of the king, he said, he should die. (Maccabees, Book II, 1:41-50)
The Book of the Maccabees also relates the story of the martyr of one Jewish faithful woman, Hannah, and her seven sons. After the execution of her six elder sons in front of her eyes, came the turn of the youngest son:
Now Antiochus thinking' himself despised, and suspecting it to be a reproachful speech, while the youngest was yet alive, did not only exhort him by words, but also assured him with oaths, that he would make him both a rich and an enviable man, if he would turn from the laws of his fathers; and that also he would take him for his friend, and trust him with affairs.
But when the young man would in no case hearken unto him, the king called his mother and exhorted her that she would counsel the young man to save his life. And when he had exhorted her with many words, she promised him that she would persuade her son. But she, bowing herself towards him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, spoke in her country language [Hebrew] on this manner: "O my son, have pity upon me who bore you nine months in my womb, and gave you suck three years [by weaning], and nourished you, and brought you up unto this age, and endured the troubles of education. I beseech you, my son, look upon the heaven and the earth, and all which is therein, and consider that God made them of things which were not, and so was the race of men made likewise. Fear not this executioner; but being worthy of your brethren, take your death, that I may receive you again in mercy with your brethren." (Maccabees, Book III, 7:24-29 ; also in Book IV, chapters 8-18)
Finally, the youngest son was killed with more cruelty than his brothers, and their mother Hannah died as well.
The story is also told in the Talmud, although with titles that are more contemporary to the Roman times:
Rab Judah, however, said that this refers to the woman and her seven sons. They brought the first before the emperor [the Seleucid king] and said to him, Serve the idol. He said to them: It is written in the Law, (Exodus 20:2) I am the Lord your God. So, they led him away and killed him. They then brought the second before the emperor and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, (Exodus 20:3) You shall have no other gods before me. So, they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, (Exodus 22:19) He who sacrifices unto the gods, save unto the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed. So, they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next before the emperor saying, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, (Exodus 20:5) You shall not bow down to any other god. So, they led him away and killed him. They then brought another and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, (Deuteronomy 6:4) Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. So, they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied, It is written in the Torah, (Deuteronomy 4:39) Know therefore this day and lay it to your heart that the Lord He is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is none else. So, they led him away and killed him.
They brought the next [the last and youngest son] and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, (Deuteronomy 26:17-18) You have avouched the Lord this day . . . and the Lord has avouched you this day; we have long ago sworn to the Holy One, blessed be He, that we will not exchange Him for any other god, and He also has sworn to us that He will not change us for any other people. The emperor said: I will throw down my seal before you and you can stoop down and pick it up, so that they will say of you that you have accepted the authority of the king. He replied: Fie on you, Caesar [sic], fie on you, Caesar; if your own honor is so important, how much more the honor of the Holy One, blessed be He! They were leading him away to kill him when his mother said: Give him to me that I may kiss him a little. She said to him: My son, go and say to your father Abraham, you did bind one [son to the] altar [the binding of Isaac, see document C18, Hebrew year 2074], but I have bound seven altars. Then she also went up on to a roof and threw herself down and was killed. A voice thereupon came forth from heaven saying, (Psalms 113:9) "A joyful mother of children". (Talmud, Gittin 57b)
Tradition holds that the mother and her seven sons were buried in a cave in the old cemetery of Safed in Upper Galilee, Northern Israel.
The decree against the Jews has also been recorded and dated in the Chronicles of Eusebius of Caesarea, one of the early Christian scholars, some 400 years after the events. Eusebius had access to the Books of the Maccabees as primary sources (because these books are included in the New Testament that he compiled), along with the work of Demetrios the Chronographer (see document C30a, year 215 BCE), but his effort was to date the events according to the Greek chronology using the Olympiads.
Antiochus opposed the Jewish laws, so he first forced the whole country into idolatry, killing those who refused. Then he entered Jerusalem, and after despoiling the temple and the sacred vessels which were used for the worship of God, he set up a statue of Zeus in the temple. In Samaria he built a temple to Zeus Xenios ["the god of hospitality"] at the top of Mount Gerizim, at the request of the Samaritans themselves.
But then Mattathias the son of Asamonaeus [Hasmoneus], who was one of the priests, took up arms against Antiochus' officers at the village of Modi’in, and defended his country's laws with the help of his sons, in the 153rd Olympiad. (Chronicles of Eusebius, translation by St. Jerome, see text online)
The Olympiad is counted by periods of 4 years from the first Olympiad in 776 BCE. So, the 153rd Olympiad corresponds to 152 x 4 years from 776 BCE, which are the years 168-164 BCE. This dating is comparable to the Book of the Maccabees which dates the persecution 154 years from the start of the Seleucid Dynasty in 312 BCE.
Year 3593 – 167 BCE – The Sibylline Oracles
It was in this context of forced assimilation into the Greek religion for the Jews of Judea that some Hellenized Jews in Alexandria, who only spoke Greek and not Hebrew, published some works that attempted to reconcile the two opposite cultures. As they were keen to follow the words of Prophets, as words of wisdom or philosophy, they thought useful to adapt the Greek texts of Oracles to suit the Jewish public. The result is known as the Sybilline Oracles. This effort happened at the time when Ptolemy VI Philometor reigned over Egypt.
The Sibylline Oracles didn't fully survive until today in their entirety, and many parts have been re-written over the following centuries, but some fragments are known to be genuine when an attempt was made to gain the Jews of Alexandria into the Greek culture. These fragments show the adaptation of Greek texts into Hebrew concepts of monotheism (contrary to Greek paganism), extracted from the Bible itself (rather from the Septuagint, which was the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek). Here is the prologue to this work that shows the effort to make Greek culture acceptable to Jewish standards:
You men, to whom God has given an image shaped by Him in His likeness, why do you vainly err, and walk not in a straight path, remembering ever the immortal Creator? There is one God, sole ruler, ineffable, dwelling in the sky, self-begotten, invisible, who Himself alone sees all things. (The Sibylline Oracles, Book III, A Prologue, translated by Rev. H.N. Bate, Macmillan, London, 1918)
We can see here a Greek concept that the gods, and God, dwell in heavenly sky and that humans should not worry too much about their interference on earth so they could live their own life with no “fear of God”.
This sort of work (to adapt the original Hebrew Bible to "modern" view) had been made possible from the moment the Bible became translated into Greek, which opened its contents to the scrutiny of other people and cultures, and it will later greatly help Christian scriptures to develop as well.
Year 3593 – 167 BCE – The Jewish revolt
Officers of the Seleucid king travelled across the land of Judea to collect taxes and force the people to sacrifice to the Greek idols. When they arrived at the city of Modi'in, Mattathias, the father of five sons, spoke up:
Though all the nations which are under the king's dominion obey him, to fall away everyone from the religion of their fathers, and give consent to his commandments, yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances. We will not hearken to the king's words to go aside from our religion, either on the right hand, or the left. (Maccabees, Book II, 2-19-22)
Mattathias then killed the king’s officer in Modi’in and destroyed the altar that was built for the idol offering.
In Jerusalem, the word of this uprising spread quickly and the people who were still in the faith, although secretly, fled into the wilderness of the hills to live as free men and follow their religion. Because Jerusalem was transformed into a pagan city with the Hellenistic supporters sacrificing to a pagan god. The Temple had previously been turned into a temple to Zeus.
After a first victory of the Maccabees against a small Seleucid army (it took place in a wadi at the bottom of the Samarian Hills), the king sent an army against the Jews to fight against them during a Sabbath day as he knew that they would not fight on such day. And indeed, they all died. The circumstance had also been recorded by a Greek historian called Agatharchides from Cnide, or Knidos, in Asia Minor. He was contemporary to the event because he lived at the time of Ptolemy VI Philometor (186-145 BCE) and of his successor. In a way to derision, he blamed the Jewish religious practice, which he called superstitions, for their own disaster:
There are a people called Jews, and dwell in a city the strongest of all other cities, which the inhabitants call Jerusalem, and are accustomed to rest on every seventh day on which times they make no use of their arms, nor meddle with husbandry, nor take care of any affairs of life, but spread out their hands in their holy places, and pray till the evening. Now it came to pass, that when Ptolemy [it was Antiochus], the son of Lagus, came into this city with his army, that these men, in observing this mad custom of theirs, instead of guarding the city, suffered their country to submit itself to a bitter lord; and their law was openly proved to have commanded a foolish practice. This accident taught all other men but the Jews to disregard such dreams as these were, and not to follow the like idle suggestions delivered as a law, when, in such uncertainty of human reasonings, they are at a loss what they should do. (Josephus, Against Apion, 1,22)
When the news of this disaster reached Mattathias, he decreed that, should the Jews be attacked on a Sabbath, it will not be a sin to protect their life and therefore they should fight back. This measure has been applied in the Jewish religion since this time with a broader scope, whereas "saving a soul" (so called in Hebrew פיקוח נפש) has become more important than the observance of Sabbath.
Year 3594 – 166 BCE – Judah Maccabee
After a short period, the revolt spread to all the land of Judea, the pagan altars were destroyed, and the Greeks were attacked from all sides. But Mattathias’ life was coming to an end, and he addressed himself to his sons to follow the path of God, as their ancestors did, and he encouraged them to name their brother Simon Thassi as leader of the clan, and their brother Judah Maccabee as their military leader.
The name of Maccabee comes from the four letters מ-כ-ב-י acronym of the sentence מי כמוך באלים יהוה which means "Who is like You among the gods, O Adonai". Judah waged war against the Seleucid rule, taking city after city. His victories were seen as miracles as the Jews, who had no experience in warfare nor any real military equipment nor training, were able to beat army after army of a powerful empire. Judah and his "people army" knew full well that they were fighting against the odds and only owned their victories to their faith in God. In one of the battles, Judah slain the Greek general Apollonius and his army was routed. A second army came from Syria and Judah destroyed it with a small number of followers, an act which gave him greater renown and caused fear among the neighboring people so that no other party would rise against Judea.
Year 3595 – 165 BCE – The battle of Emmaus
After these first setbacks, Antiochus needed to raise a new large army against the Jewish rebellion. But his treasure was not sufficient to fund such a project. So, with half of his army remaining, he went to Persia to collect tributes.
In his capital Antioch, he left Lysias to govern in his absence. But Lysias decided to go against Judea where he sent the other half of the Seleucid army, consisting of 40,000 infantrymen and 7,000 cavalries (Maccabee Book II, 3:39).
The Greek army led by their general Nicanor pitched at Emmaus, which is facing a plain, at the start of the Judean hills. They were joined there by the neighboring peoples who were eager not to let Israel rise again, and to take part of the expected spoils of war.
Before this ultimate battle, Judah decided to restore faith and confidence among the Israelites, but Jerusalem was deserted, except for the garrison and Hellenized Jews entrenched behind the built fortifications and the Acra fortress, and its Temple was abandoned. The Israelites pitched at the south of Emmaus and Judah told them:
“Arm yourselves, and be valiant men, and see that you be in readiness against the morning, that you may fight with these nations which are assembled together against us, to destroy us and our sanctuary. For it is better for us to die in battle, than to behold the calamities of our nation and our sanctuary. Nevertheless, as the will of God is in heaven, so let Him do.” (Maccabees, Book II, 3:58-60)
The battle was won by the Israelites who destroyed most of the Greek army, the rest fleeing outside Judea to find shelter. The Greek camp was put on fire. Nicanor died in the battle and the Maccabees exacted their vengeance:
It has been taught: Nicanor was one of the Greek generals; every day he waved his hand against Judah and Jerusalem and exclaimed, ‘When shall it fall into my hands that I may trample upon it?’
But when the Hasmonean rulers [Maccabees] proved victorious and triumphed over him, they cut off his thumbs and his great toes and suspended them from the gates of Jerusalem, as if to say of the mouth that spoke arrogantly, of the hands that were waved against Jerusalem, may vengeance be exacted. (Talmud, Taanit, 18b)
This gory detail is confirmed in the Book of the Maccabees:
Afterwards they took the spoils, and the prey, and smote off Nicanor's head, and his right hand, which he stretched out so proudly; and brought them away and hung them up towards Jerusalem. For this cause the people rejoiced greatly, and they kept that day a day of great gladness. Moreover, they ordained to keep yearly this day, being the thirteenth of Adar. Thus, the land of Judea was in rest a little while. (Maccabees, Book II, 8:47-50)
The battle of Emmaus was the third consecutive victory of the Maccabees against the Seleucids. And there was more to come, as the Seleucids waged one campaign every year in their attempt to suppress the revolt.
Year 3597 – 164 BCE – Judah Maccabee restores the Temple service
The following year, Lysias was able to gather another army of 60,000 infantrymen and 5,000 cavalries. The Judean army had 10,000 followers who were not trained for warfare. This time, the Seleucid campaign was short, because the army returned north earlier to protect the empire against a new threat coming from the East: the Parthians.
Judah Maccabee took the opportunity to go up to Jerusalem, about unopposed, to retake the Temple and the city:
And they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burnt down, and shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest, or in one of the mountains, yea, and the priests' chambers pulled down. And they tore their clothes, and made great lamentation, and cast ashes upon their heads, and fell flat down to the ground upon their faces, and blew an alarm with the trumpets, and cried towards heaven. (Maccabees, Book II, 4:38-40)
They then attacked the Acra fortress to rid the desolate city from Hellenistic rule. They found some Levites to clean the sanctuary. They pulled down the original altars that had been profaned and placed them in a secret location in the mountains around. They made new holy vessels, and brought back the candlestick and the altar of incense and the table, which had been saved from the Seleucid hands:
Now on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month, (which is called the month Kislev), in the hundred forty and eighth year, they rose up betimes in the morning. And offered sacrifice according to the law, upon the new altar of burnt offerings, which they had made. At what time, and what day the heathen had profaned it, even in that was it dedicated with songs, and citherns, and harps, and cymbals.
Then all the people fell upon their faces, worshipping and praising the God of heaven, who had given them good success. And so, they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness, and sacrificed the sacrifice of deliverance and praise. (Maccabees, Book II, 4:52-56)
According to tradition, a miracle took place because there was not enough sanctified oil for the daily service of the Temple and yet a holy fire started spontaneously upon the altar and continued all the days of the Temple until its destruction by the Romans (Maccabees, Book V, 9). Judah Maccabee then ordered that this date should be celebrated every year from now on and by all subsequent generations. It became the Jewish festival of Chanukkah which means both education and dedication.
What is [the reason of] Chanukkah? For our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev [commence] the days of Chanukkah, which are eight on which a lamentation for the dead and fasting are forbidden. For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmonean dynasty [the Maccabees] prevailed against and defeated them, they made search and found only one cruse of oil which lay with the seal of the High Priest, but which contained sufficient for one day's lighting only; yet a miracle was wrought therein and they lit [the lamp] therewith for eight days. The following year these [days] were appointed as a Festival with [the recital of] Hallel and thanksgiving. (Talmud, Shabbat, 21b)
Regarding the lamentation and fasting, the Scrolls of the Fasts (Megillat Taanit, 25), composed around 66 CE, mentions: On the twenty-fifth of it [month of Kislev] – Chanukkah of eight days, and one is not to eulogize.
The 25th of the month of Kislev is the date for the festival of Chanukkah, which is a festival of the Light, the Spiritual Light. This is reflected in four considerations. First, the month of Kislev (כיסלו) is written as Kis-LV: Kis (כיס) means a recipient, and LV (ל"ו) is the number 36. And 36 is the symbol of the original Spiritual Light (for Jewish symbolism of the numbers, click here. See also document C36). In other words, the festival of Chanukkah falls at a time when there was a return of the Light, when the festival has become a recipient for this Light. The second consideration is that the festival of Chanukkah lasts 8 days, and Jews burn one candle for each day passed, every day. In other words, a total of 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8 = 36 candles are burnt in total. Here again, Chanukah is a commemoration of the original Spiritual Light (36). Thirdly, the number 36 is twice the number 18, which is written חי (pronounced ‘hai) which means Life: the Spiritual Light of the festival of Chanukkah brings Life twice, one for the present world and one for the world to come. The last consideration is that the miracle of Chanukkah, and the dedication of the Temple, happened in Hebrew year 3597 which corresponds to the end of the 36th century since Creation.
It is since this event that the Menorah (the Temple candelabra) has become a symbol for the Jewish nation. Because, before this event, the common Jews could never see the Menorah with their own eyes, as it was deposited inside the Sanctuary when only special priests (the Kohanim) could enter. But, at the time of the miracle, the Menorah was brought out to the courtyard to purify the inside of the Sanctuary, and the walls around the Temple, which had been destroyed by the Greeks to follow the way they did in their temples, open to the outside, the miracle of the Menorah was visible to all the population of Jerusalem. The Menorah has thus also become the symbol of the State of Israel because, since the days of Chanukkah, it has symbolized the renewal of the independent Jewish nation.
For a short time before he died, Mattathias was named High Priest of the restored Temple service as an honor. The role was then passed to his sons as the family was from the allowed priestly cast (Kohanim).
But the troubles were not over yet because more neighboring nations, enrolled by the Seleucid ruler, raised up against Judea to destroy it. So, Judah Maccabee went to war against them: Idumeans, Ammonites, Gileadites, and more.
Year 3597 – 163 BCE – Death of Antiochus Epiphanes
The Book of Maccabees tells that, when Antiochus heard the news that the large army he sent to Judea was destroyed, he fell sick and died after some days from such mental blow. His 9 years old son, Antiochus “Eupator”, was crowned king in his stead. But his minister, Lysias, became the de facto ruler of the Seleucid dominion.
Year 3599 – 161 BCE – Demetrius returns from Rome
Antiochus Epiphanes' older brother, Demetrius Soter, son of Seleucus IV, the rightful heir of the Seleucid kingdom, was finally released from Rome and he returned to Antioch. There he was made king, and he killed Antiochus Eupator and his protector Lysias.
Demetrius then sent Nicanor, one of the Seleucid princes and army commanders, and a great hater of the Jewish nation, to wage another war against Judah Maccabee. But on the 13th of the month Adar of the year 161 BCE, the battle of Hadasa ended up with the death of Nicanor and, yet another Greek army sent against Judea had been destroyed.
But Judah Maccabee realized that Rome was a global power that could not be ignored. They had already conquered the Western Mediterranean region since the destruction of Carthage in 202 BCE and were now turning their eyes towards the Eastern Mediterranean currently ruled by the Greeks, being the Macedonian (Antigonid), the Asian-Syrian (Seleucid) and the Egyptian (Ptolemaic) kingdoms. Rome had already been able to force Antiochus Epiphanes to renounce to his conquest of Egypt and now was targeting the dominance of Macedonia over the Greek world. Judah probably perceived that it would be wise to seek for an alliance with Rome to get support for Judea against the renewed Seleucid threats:
And Judah chose Eupolemus the son of John, the son of Accos, and Jason, the son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome, to make a league of amity and confederacy with them; and to intreat them, that they would take the yoke from them; for they saw that the kingdom of the Grecians [Greeks] did oppress Israel with servitude. They went therefore to Rome, (which was a very great journey), and came into the Senate, where they spoke, and said, "Judah Maccabeus and his brethren, and the people of the Jews, have sent us unto you, to make a confederacy and peace with you, and that we might be registered your confederates and friends." So, this matter pleased the Romans well. (Maccabees, Book II, 8:17-21)
Like with Egypt before, Rome was eager to protect the weak against the strong, to get rid of the strong, and eventually of the weak too later on. So, Rome made a covenant with the Jewish state and sent a letter of threat to Demetrius, who had previously been held as a royal captive in Rome, and was even educated there, to stop his ambition towards their new ally in the region:
“And if they [the Jews] complain any more against you [Demetrius], we will do them justice and fight with you by sea and by land.” (Maccabees, Book II, 8:32)
A bronze tablet that was once displayed in the Church of San Basilio in Rome (the old church no longer exists) proved that this new friendship between Rome and the Jewish nation was historically true. The tablet, which specifically mentioned Judah Maccabee, was already described in a medieval "guide book" called the Mirabilia Urbis Romae that detailed the splendors of Rome to travelers (for more details, click here).
Year 3600 – 160 BCE – Death of Judah Maccabee
Yet, such alliance was probably seen as a sin, in God’s eyes, as it signified that Judah stopped putting his faith into God’s hands, as He had done before with all Seleucid armies. Meanwhile, Demetrius ignored Rome threats and sent a large army with his commander Bacchides. The enemy besieged Jerusalem in the first month of the 152nd year of the Seleucid dynasty, in 160 BCE. He took the city and restored Alcimus as High Priest, who was favorable to Hellenism. Clearly, God was angry at Judah.
In the next battle, Judah was killed. Out of the four sons of Mattathias, Jonathan and Simon were the only ones still alive. Jonathan was chosen to lead the Jewish struggle against Bacchides, who adopted the tactics to attack the Jews on Shabbat days. But the Maccabees defended themselves, even on these Shabbat days. Unable to subdue the rebels, Bacchides fortified the main cities to protect their Greek garrisons from the Maccabees.
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Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Tammuz 5785 - July 2025
