eighty elephants, besides cavalry, and invading Judea, laid siege to Bethsura; but Judas fell upon this vast host with his veteran troops, and slew more than twelve thousand, and put all the rest to flight.*

By this victory, Judas purchased a short breathing time for himself and his brethren; for Lysias, through the mediation of the Roman ambassadors, Q. Memmius, and Titus Manlius, who then sojourned at the court of Eupator, entered into a treaty with him, which was confirmed by the sovereign, whereby his father's decree enjoining uniformity was rescinded, and liberty granted to the Jews to worship God, according to the dictates of their own consciences.†

But the enmity of the neighbouring nations was not yet subdued: and when indeed is the enmity of the world against the church of God subdued; for is not the carnal heart constantly in enmity, yea, enmity itself against God? Thus on the departure of Lysias, the inhabitants of Joppa threw two hundred of the Jews who dwelled in that city into the sea; whereupon Judas entered their city by night, burned their shipping, and slew all the inhabitants; and inflicted a similar punishment upon the Jamnites, who were making preparation for committing other acts of cruelty.§

Timotheus, one of the sons of Gennæus, having oppressed the Jews of Gilead, Judas proceeded to their help; when he was encountered by a band of five thousand Arabians, whom he defeated and received into alliance. The inhabitants of Caspis having also opposed him, Judas took their city, slew the inhabitants, and taking away great spoils, utterly destroyed

§ Prid. ii. 262. He came upon the Jamnites also by night, and set fire on the haven and the navy, so that the light of the fire was seen at Jerusalem, two hundred and forty furlongs. 2 Macc. xii. 9.

the place. Advancing to Caraca, in the land of Tob, he found Timotheus had departed thence; and therefore, leaving Dositheus and Sosipator, two of his captains, to subdue the intermediate garrisons, which they accomplished and slew ten thousand men, he marched himself in pursuit of Timotheus. The hostile armies encamped near each other at a place called Rapha, on the borders of the river Jabboc; when Judas defeated Timotheus with the loss of thirty thousand men, that general himself in his flight falling into the hands of Dositheus and Sosipator, as they were proceeding to join the main army. Having promised to release many Jews who were the relatives of the officers in the army, they suffered him to escape; but Judas proceeded to Carnion, a strong city of Gilead, where Timotheus had lodged his women and children for safety, and when he slew them all, with twenty-five thousand more of the troops which had fled thither after the battle, setting fire to the temple of Atargatis.* Then collecting all the Jews who were in Gilead and the vicinity, he carried them back with him into Judea, and planted them in the desolate places of Judah. The strong city of Ephron lying in his way, he wished to have passed through it in a peaceable manner, but being refused, and finding no other convenient passage, he was obliged to storm the place; and putting twenty-five thousand males to the sword, took their spoils, and razed the city, and marching

This deity is by Strabo (lib. 16. p. 748.) said to be a Syrian goddess. Pliny (lib. 5. c. 23.) saith that she was the same with Derceto, and he tells us (c. 13.) that she was worshipped at Joppa, in Phoenicia. Diodorus Siculus (lib. 2.) saith that she was worshipped in Ascalon, and was there represented by an image having the form of a woman in the upper part, and that of a fish in the lower part. Hence this deity is conjectured to have been the same with Dagon of the Philistines. See Selden de Diis Syris, syntag. 2. c. 3. Prid. ii. 263.

over the bodies of the slain, recrossed the Jordan into the plains of Bethsan,* and thence returned to Jerusalem.

On returning into the city of their fathers, Judas and all his army went up to the temple, and offered up a public thanksgiving to God for their extraordinary success, not having lost a single man during their whole expedition; so mercifully had their God dealt with them, and so singularly had he manifested his providential care for their protection.†

After celebrating the feast of Pentecost, Judas marched against Gorgias and the Idumæans, who during his absence had committed inroads upon the Jewish territories, and whom he defeated, Gorgias escaping with difficulty to Marisa. In this battle, however, several Jews were slain; but when Judas and his army proceeded to collect the dead bodies for burial, they found that every one of them had secreted upon their persons, some of the things which were dedicated to the idols of the heathen, and which, though taken as spoils, were forbidden by the law to be kept for use; and thus discovering how these unhappy Jews had sacrificed themselves to the love of unlawful gain, they praised God with fear and reverence; and making a collection amongst the army of two thousand drachms of silver, Judas sent it to Jerusalem to provide sin offerings, there to be offered up for the expiation of this offence, that wrath might not fall upon the whole congregation of Israel, as it had formerly done in the case of Achan.§

Then called Scythopolis; the Jews whereof having related that the inhabitants had dealt lovingly with them, and entreated them kindly in the time of their adversity, they gave them thanks, desiring them to be friendly still unto them. 2 Macc. xii. 30, 31. Deut. vii. 25, 26.

+ Prid. ii. 262-264.

A striking example of the severity of God's displeasure against this sin is exhibited in the history of the son of Zerah; (Josh. xii. 18.) and who is afterwards held up as an example to

Judas then proceeded to Hebron, the capital of Idumæa, and dismantled that city and the neighbouring towns; and having taken Azotus, or Ashdod,* he pulled down the altars of the heathen, burned their carved images, and returned to Judea, laden with the spoils of his enemies.†

This splendid tide of success, however, for some reason which the authors of the book of Maccabees do not explain, was destined to receive a serious check; for Judas finding that the Syrian garrison which had all along retained possession of the fortress of Acra, in the heart of Jerusalem, and which occasioned the Jews considerable loss and inconvenience, he set himself in earnest to reduce them both by assault and famine. Amongst the garrison were some apostate Jews, who justly apprehending that if they fell into the hands of the Maccabees, they would meet with no mercy, contrived to make their escape, and fled to the court of Antioch; where representing the dangerous state to which the Syrians in Acra were reduced, Antiochus Eupator assembled an immense army of one hundred thousand foot, twenty thousand horse, thirty-two elephants, and three hundred armed chariots, under the command of himself and Lysias, and passing into Idumea, laid siege to Bethsura. Judas assembled his forces, which were far inferior in number, to meet this mighty host; and in a grand attack slew four thousand of them, but upon encountering them the next day, was obliged to retreat into Jerusalem. In this battle Eleazar Maccabæus lost his life; for getting under an elephant, upon which he thought

1 Chron. ii. 7. And, no doubt, in many instances where the people of God fall into distress, if a strict scrutiny were to take place, some unlawful garment or wedge of gold would be found in the camp. * See the prophecies as to Ashdod and Philistia in general, and its present state, illustrated and exhibited by Keith, pp. 236-244.

+ Prid. ii. 265.

Antiochus was mounted, he thrust his spear into the animal's belly, and was killed by its immense weight, in falling down dead from the wound. Antiochus then resumed the siege of Bethsura, which falling short of provisions, and after a most vigorous defence, surrendered upon an honourable capitulation.*

Antiochus then marched to Jerusalem, and besieged the sanctuary; but when the besieged were almost reduced to the same necessities as their brethren in Bethsura, the besiegers were diverted from their purpose by information which Lysias received, that Philip, whom Antiochus Epiphanes had made guardian of his infant son, had taken advantage of the absence of the army from Antioch, seized upon the capital, and assumed the reins of government. Having therefore made a hasty, but for the Jews an honourable peace, he was admitted within the fortifications of the sanctuary; but when he saw how strong they were, contrary to his oath, he ordered them to be all pulled down and destroyed, before his departure for Syria.†

Menelaus had accompanied Antiochus in this expedition, in expectation of being restored to his office of high priest; but when Lysias considered all the difficulties and inconveniences of the war, and that this wicked person had been the chief cause of it, he accused him to the king, who, thereupon, condemned him to death, and caused him to be smothered in a tower of ashes, at Berhœa, a city of Syria.‡ Upon the death of Menelaus the sacred office was granted

Aleppo. This was a punishment then used for sacrilege, treason, and such other great crimes. Prid. ii. 267. A high tower being filled a great way up with ashes, the criminal was from the top thrown down headlong into them, and there had the ashes by a wheel continually stirred up and raised about him, till he was suffocated and died. Prid. i. 480. 2 Macc. xiii. 5.