Hasmonean Military Exploits

Jonathan Becomes Leader

Chapter 9

²³After the death of Judah, the renegades emerged in all parts of Israel; all the wrongdoers reappeared. ²⁴In those days a very great famine occurred, and the country went over to their side. ²⁵Bacchides chose the godless and put them in charge of the country. ²⁶They made inquiry and searched for the friends of Judah, and brought them to Bacchides, who took vengeance on them and made sport of them. ²⁷So there was great distress in Israel, such as had not been since the time that prophets ceased to appear among them.

²⁸Then all the friends of Judah assembled and said to Jonathan, ²⁹“Since the death of your brother Judah there has been no one like him to go against our enemies and Bacchides, and to deal with those of our nation who hate us. ³⁰Now therefore we have chosen you today to take his place as our ruler and leader, to fight our battle.” ³¹So Jonathan accepted the leadership at that time in place of his brother Judah. [ . . . ]

Jonathan Overcomes Plots against Him and Makes Peace with Bacchides

⁵⁰Then Bacchides returned to Jerusalem and built strong cities in Judaea: the fortress in Jericho, and Emmaus, and Beth-horon, and Bethel, and Timnath, and Pharathon, and Tephon, with high walls and gates and bars. ⁵¹And he placed garrisons in them to harass Israel. ⁵²He also fortified the town of Beth-zur, and Gazara, and the citadel, and in them he put troops and stores of food. ⁵³And he took the sons of the leading men of the land as hostages and put them under guard in the citadel at Jerusalem.

⁵⁴In the one hundred and fifty-third year, in the second month, Alcimus gave orders to tear down the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary. He tore down the work of the prophets! ⁵⁵But he only began to tear it down, for at that time Alcimus was stricken and his work was hindered; his mouth was stopped and he was paralyzed, so that he could no longer say a word or give commands concerning his house. ⁵⁶And Alcimus died at that time in great agony. ⁵⁷When Bacchides saw that Alcimus was dead, he returned to the king, and the land of Judah had rest for two years.

⁵⁸Then all the lawless plotted and said, “See! Jonathan and his men are living in quiet and confidence. So now let us bring Bacchides back, and he will capture them all in one night.” ⁵⁹And they went and consulted with him. ⁶⁰He started to come with a large force, and secretly sent letters to all his allies in Judaea, telling them to seize Jonathan and his men; but they were unable to do it, because their plan became known. ⁶¹And Jonathan’s men seized about fifty of the men of the country who were leaders in this treachery, and killed them.

⁶²Then Jonathan with his men, and Simon, withdrew to Bethbasi in the wilderness; he rebuilt the parts of it that had been demolished, and they fortified it. ⁶³When Bacchides learned of this, he assembled all his forces, and sent orders to the men of Judaea. ⁶⁴Then he came and encamped against Bethbasi; he fought against it for many days and made machines of war.

⁶⁵But Jonathan left his brother Simon in the town, while he went out into the country; and he went with only a few men. ⁶⁶He struck down Odomera and his kindred and the people of Phasiron in their tents. ⁶⁷Then he began to attack and went into battle with his forces; and Simon and his men sallied out from the town and set fire to the machines of war. ⁶⁸They fought with Bacchides, and he was crushed by them. They pressed him very hard, for his plan and his expedition had been in vain. ⁶⁹So he was very angry at the renegades who had counseled him to come into the country, and he killed many of them. Then he decided to go back to his own land.

⁷⁰When Jonathan learned of this, he sent ambassadors to him to make peace with him and obtain release of the captives. ⁷¹He agreed, and did as he said; and he swore to Jonathan that he would not try to harm him as long as he lived. ⁷²He restored to him the captives whom he had taken previously from the land of Judah; then he turned and went back to his own land, and did not come again into their territory. ⁷³Thus the sword ceased from Israel. Jonathan settled in Michmash [approximately 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Jerusalem] and began to judge the people; and he destroyed the godless out of Israel. [ . . . ]

Alexander Balas Appoints Jonathan High Priest and Secures His Friendship

Chapter 10

[ . . . ] ¹⁵Now King Alexander heard of all the promises that Demetrius had sent to Jonathan, and he heard of the battles that Jonathan and his brothers had fought, of the brave deeds that they had done, and of the troubles that they had endured. ¹⁶So he said, “Shall we find another such man? Come now, we will make him our friend and ally.” ¹⁷And he wrote a letter and sent it to him, in the following words:

¹⁸“King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greetings. ¹⁹We have heard about you, that you are a mighty warrior and worthy to be our friend. ²⁰And so we have appointed you today to be the high priest of your nation; you are to be called the king’s Friend and you are to take our side and keep friendship with us.” He also sent him a purple robe and a golden crown.

²¹So Jonathan put on the sacred vestments in the seventh month of the one hundred sixtieth year, at the festival of booths, and he recruited troops and equipped them with arms in abundance. ²²When Demetrius heard of these things he was distressed and said, ²³“What is this that we have done? Alexander has gotten ahead of us in forming a friendship with the Jews to strengthen himself. ²⁴I also will write them words of encouragement and promise them honor and gifts, so that I may have their help.” ²⁵So he sent a message to them in the following words:

“King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greetings. ²⁶Since you have kept your agreement with us and have continued your friendship with us, and have not sided with our enemies, we have heard of it and rejoiced. ²⁷Now continue still to keep faith with us, and we will repay you with good for what you do for us. ²⁸We will grant you many immunities and give you gifts.

²⁹“I now free you and exempt all the Jews from payment of tribute and salt tax and crown levies, ³⁰and instead of collecting the third of the grain and the half of the fruit of the trees that I should receive, I release them from this day and henceforth. I will not collect them from the land of Judah or from the three districts added to it from Samaria and Galilee, from this day and for all time. ³¹Jerusalem and its environs, its tithes and its revenues, shall be holy and free from tax. ³²I release also my control of the citadel in Jerusalem and give it to the high priest, so that he may station in it men of his own choice to guard it. ³³And everyone of the Jews taken as a captive from the land of Judah into any part of my kingdom, I set free without payment; and let all officials cancel also the taxes on their livestock.

³⁴“All the festivals and sabbaths and new moons and appointed days, and the three days before a festival and the three after a festival—let them all be days of immunity and release for all the Jews who are in my kingdom. ³⁵No one shall have authority to exact anything from them or annoy any of them about any matter.

³⁶“Let Jews be enrolled in the king’s forces to the number of thirty thousand men, and let the maintenance be given them that is due to all the forces of the king. ³⁷Let some of them be stationed in the great strongholds of the king, and let some of them be put in positions of trust in the kingdom. Let their officers and leaders be of their own number, and let them live by their own laws, just as the king has commanded in the land of Judah.

³⁸“As for the three districts that have been added to Judaea from the country of Samaria, let them be annexed to Judaea so that they may be considered to be under one ruler and obey no other authority than the high priest. ³⁹Ptolemais and the land adjoining it I have given as a gift to the sanctuary in Jerusalem, to meet the necessary expenses of the sanctuary. ⁴⁰I also grant fifteen thousand shekels of silver yearly out of the king’s revenues from appropriate places. ⁴¹And all the additional funds that the government officials have not paid as they did in the first years, they shall give from now on for the service of the Temple. ⁴²Moreover, the five thousand shekels of silver that my officials have received every year from the income of the services of the Temple, this too is canceled, because it belongs to the priests who minister there. ⁴³And all who take refuge at the Temple in Jerusalem, or in any of its precincts, because they owe money to the king or are in debt, let them be released and receive back all their property in my kingdom.

⁴⁴“Let the cost of rebuilding and restoring the structures of the sanctuary be paid from the revenues of the king. ⁴⁵And let the cost of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and fortifying it all around, and the cost of rebuilding the walls in Judaea, also be paid from the revenues of the king.”

⁴⁶When Jonathan and the people heard these words, they did not believe or accept them, because they remembered the great wrongs that Demetrius had done in Israel and how much he had oppressed them. ⁴⁷They favored Alexander, because he had been the first to speak peaceable words to them, and they remained his allies all his days.

⁴⁸Now King Alexander assembled large forces and encamped opposite Demetrius. ⁴⁹The two kings met in battle, and the army of Demetrius fled, and Alexander pursued him and defeated them. ⁵⁰He pressed the battle strongly until the sun set, and on that day Demetrius fell.