Friday 21 July 2017

Day 143: 1 Maccabaeus 12 - 13


Chapter 12

1 Now when Jonathan saw that the time was favorable for him, he chose men and sent them to Rome to confirm and renew the friendship with them.
2 He also sent letters to the same effect to the Spartans and to other places.
3 So they went to Rome and entered the senate chamber and said, "The high priest Jonathan and the Jewish nation have sent us to renew the former friendship and alliance with them."
4 And the Romans gave them letters to the people in every place, asking them to provide for the envoys safe conduct to the land of Judah.
5 This is a copy of the letter that Jonathan wrote to the Spartans:
6 "The high priest Jonathan, the senate of the nation, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people to their brothers the Spartans, greetings.
7 Already in time past a letter was sent to the high priest Onias from Arius, who was king among you, stating that you are our brothers, as the appended copy shows.
8 Onias welcomed the envoy with honor, and received the letter, which contained a clear declaration of alliance and friendship.
9 Therefore, though we have no need of these things, since we have as encouragement the holy books that are in our hands,
10 we have undertaken to send to renew our family ties and friendship with you, so that we may not become estranged from you, for considerable time has passed since you sent your letter to us.
11 We therefore remember you constantly on every occasion, both at our festivals and on other appropriate days, at the sacrifices that we offer and in our prayers, as it is right and proper to remember brothers.
12 And we rejoice in your glory.
13 But as for ourselves, many trials and many wars have encircled us; the kings around us have waged war against us.
14 We were unwilling to annoy you and our other allies and friends with these wars,
15 for we have the help that comes from Heaven for our aid, and so we were delivered from our enemies, and our enemies were humbled.
16 We therefore have chosen Numenius son of Antiochus and Antipater son of Jason, and have sent them to Rome to renew our former friendship and alliance with them.
17 We have commanded them to go also to you and greet you and deliver to you this letter from us concerning the renewal of our family ties.
18 And now please send us a reply to this."
19 This is a copy of the letter that they sent to Onias:
20 "King Arius of the Spartans, to the high priest Onias, greetings.
21 It has been found in writing concerning the Spartans and the Jews that they are brothers and are of the family of Abraham.
22 And now that we have learned this, please write us concerning your welfare;
23 we on our part write to you that your livestock and your property belong to us, and ours belong to you. We therefore command that our envoys report to you accordingly."
24 Now Jonathan heard that the commanders of Demetrius had returned, with a larger force than before, to wage war against him.
25 So he marched away from Jerusalem and met them in the region of Hamath, for he gave them no opportunity to invade his own country.
26 He sent spies to their camp, and they returned and reported to him that the enemy were being drawn up in formation to attack the Jews by night.
27 So when the sun had set, Jonathan commanded his troops to be alert and to keep their arms at hand so as to be ready all night for battle, and he stationed outposts around the camp.
28 When the enemy heard that Jonathan and his troops were prepared for battle, they were afraid and were terrified at heart; so they kindled fires in their camp and withdrew.
29 But Jonathan and his troops did not know it until morning, for they saw the fires burning.
30 Then Jonathan pursued them, but he did not overtake them, for they had crossed the Eleutherus river.
31 So Jonathan turned aside against the Arabs who are called Zabadeans, and he crushed them and plundered them.
32 Then he broke camp and went to Damascus, and marched through all that region.
33 Simon also went out and marched through the country as far as Askalon and the neighboring strongholds. He turned aside to Joppa and took it by surprise,
34 for he had heard that they were ready to hand over the stronghold to those whom Demetrius had sent. And he stationed a garrison there to guard it.
35 When Jonathan returned he convened the elders of the people and planned with them to build strongholds in Judea,
36 to build the walls of Jerusalem still higher, and to erect a high barrier between the citadel and the city to separate it from the city, in order to isolate it so that its garrison could neither buy nor sell.
37 So they gathered together to rebuild the city; part of the wall on the valley to the east had fallen, and he repaired the section called Chaphenatha.
38 Simon also built Adida in the Shephelah; he fortified it and installed gates with bolts.
39 Then Trypho attempted to become king in Asia and put on the crown, and to raise his hand against King Antiochus.
40 He feared that Jonathan might not permit him to do so, but might make war on him, so he kept seeking to seize and kill him, and he marched out and came to Beth-shan.
41 Jonathan went out to meet him with forty thousand picked warriors, and he came to Beth-shan.
42 When Trypho saw that he had come with a large army, he was afraid to raise his hand against him.
43 So he received him with honor and commended him to all his Friends, and he gave him gifts and commanded his Friends and his troops to obey him as they would himself.
44 Then he said to Jonathan, "Why have you put all these people to so much trouble when we are not at war?
45 Dismiss them now to their homes and choose for yourself a few men to stay with you, and come with me to Ptolemais. I will hand it over to you as well as the other strongholds and the remaining troops and all the officials, and will turn around and go home. For that is why I am here."
46 Jonathan trusted him and did as he said; he sent away the troops, and they returned to the land of Judah.
47 He kept with himself three thousand men, two thousand of whom he left in Galilee, while one thousand accompanied him.
48 But when Jonathan entered Ptolemais, the people of Ptolemais closed the gates and seized him, and they killed with the sword all who had entered with him.
49 Then Trypho sent troops and cavalry into Galilee and the Great Plain to destroy all Jonathan's soldiers.
50 But they realized that Jonathan had been seized and had perished along with his men, and they encouraged one another and kept marching in close formation, ready for battle.
51 When their pursuers saw that they would fight for their lives, they turned back.
52 So they all reached the land of Judah safely, and they mourned for Jonathan and his companions and were in great fear; and all Israel mourned deeply.
53 All the nations around them tried to destroy them, for they said, "They have no leader or helper. Now therefore let us make war on them and blot out the memory of them from humankind."

Chapter 13

1 Simon heard that Trypho had assembled a large army to invade the land of Judah and destroy it,
2 and he saw that the people were trembling with fear. So he went up to Jerusalem, and gathering the people together
3 he encouraged them, saying to them, "You yourselves know what great things my brothers and I and the house of my father have done for the laws and the sanctuary; you know also the wars and the difficulties that my brothers and I have seen.
4 By reason of this all my brothers have perished for the sake of Israel, and I alone am left.
5 And now, far be it from me to spare my life in any time of distress, for I am not better than my brothers.
6 But I will avenge my nation and the sanctuary and your wives and children, for all the nations have gathered together out of hatred to destroy us."
7 The spirit of the people was rekindled when they heard these words,
8 and they answered in a loud voice, "You are our leader in place of Judas and your brother Jonathan.
9 Fight our battles, and all that you say to us we will do."
10 So he assembled all the warriors and hurried to complete the walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it on every side.
11 He sent Jonathan son of Absalom to Joppa, and with him a considerable army; he drove out its occupants and remained there.
12 Then Trypho left Ptolemais with a large army to invade the land of Judah, and Jonathan was with him under guard.
13 Simon encamped in Adida, facing the plain.
14 Trypho learned that Simon had risen up in place of his brother Jonathan, and that he was about to join battle with him, so he sent envoys to him and said,
15 "It is for the money that your brother Jonathan owed the royal treasury, in connection with the offices he held, that we are detaining him.
16 Send now one hundred talents of silver and two of his sons as hostages, so that when released he will not revolt against us, and we will release him."
17 Simon knew that they were speaking deceitfully to him, but he sent to get the money and the sons, so that he would not arouse great hostility among the people, who might say,
18 "It was because Simon did not send him the money and the sons, that Jonathan perished."
19 So he sent the sons and the hundred talents, but Trypho broke his word and did not release Jonathan.
20 After this Trypho came to invade the country and destroy it, and he circled around by the way to Adora. But Simon and his army kept marching along opposite him to every place he went.
21 Now the men in the citadel kept sending envoys to Trypho urging him to come to them by way of the wilderness and to send them food.
22 So Trypho got all his cavalry ready to go, but that night a very heavy snow fell, and he did not go because of the snow. He marched off and went into the land of Gilead.
23 When he approached Baskama, he killed Jonathan, and he was buried there.
24 Then Trypho turned and went back to his own land.
25 Simon sent and took the bones of his brother Jonathan, and buried him in Modein, the city of his ancestors.
26 All Israel bewailed him with great lamentation, and mourned for him many days.
27 And Simon built a monument over the tomb of his father and his brothers; he made it high so that it might be seen, with polished stone at the front and back.
28 He also erected seven pyramids, opposite one another, for his father and mother and four brothers.
29 For the pyramids he devised an elaborate setting, erecting about them great columns, and on the columns he put suits of armor for a permanent memorial, and beside the suits of armor he carved ships, so that they could be seen by all who sail the sea.
30 This is the tomb that he built in Modein; it remains to this day.
31 Trypho dealt treacherously with the young King Antiochus; he killed him
32 and became king in his place, putting on the crown of Asia; and he brought great calamity on the land.
33 But Simon built up the strongholds of Judea and walled them all around, with high towers and great walls and gates and bolts, and he stored food in the strongholds.
34 Simon also chose emissaries and sent them to King Demetrius with a request to grant relief to the country, for all that Trypho did was to plunder.
35 King Demetrius sent him a favorable reply to this request, and wrote him a letter as follows,
36 "King Demetrius to Simon, the high priest and friend of kings, and to the elders and nation of the Jews, greetings.
37 We have received the gold crown and the palm branch that you sent, and we are ready to make a general peace with you and to write to our officials to grant you release from tribute.
38 All the grants that we have made to you remain valid, and let the strongholds that you have built be your possession.
39 We pardon any errors and offenses committed to this day, and cancel the crown tax that you owe; and whatever other tax has been collected in Jerusalem shall be collected no longer.
40 And if any of you are qualified to be enrolled in our bodyguard, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace between us."
41 In the one hundred seventieth year the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel,
42 and the people began to write in their documents and contracts, "In the first year of Simon the great high priest and commander and leader of the Jews."
43 In those days Simon encamped against Gazara and surrounded it with troops. He made a siege engine, brought it up to the city, and battered and captured one tower.
44 The men in the siege engine leaped out into the city, and a great tumult arose in the city.
45 The men in the city, with their wives and children, went up on the wall with their clothes torn, and they cried out with a loud voice, asking Simon to make peace with them;
46 they said, "Do not treat us according to our wicked acts but according to your mercy."
47 So Simon reached an agreement with them and stopped fighting against them. But he expelled them from the city and cleansed the houses in which the idols were located, and then entered it with hymns and praise.
48 He removed all uncleanness from it, and settled in it those who observed the law. He also strengthened its fortifications and built in it a house for himself.
49 Those who were in the citadel at Jerusalem were prevented from going in and out to buy and sell in the country. So they were very hungry, and many of them perished from famine.
50 Then they cried to Simon to make peace with them, and he did so. But he expelled them from there and cleansed the citadel from its pollutions.
51 On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred seventy-first year, the Jews entered it with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.
52 Simon decreed that every year they should celebrate this day with rejoicing. He strengthened the fortifications of the temple hill alongside the citadel, and he and his men lived there.
53 Simon saw that his son John had reached manhood, and so he made him commander of all the forces; and he lived at Gazara.

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