1 Maccabees

Death of Antiochus

When King Antiochus was traveling through the northern parts of Persia, he heard news about Elam, a city famous for its wealth in silver and gold.

They stored in their wealthy city temple golden armor, breastplates, and weapons left there by the Macedonian king, Alexander, son of Philip, the first ruler of the Greeks.

So Antiochus went there. But when the residents learned of his plan, they came out armed against him, causing his attempt to seize the city to fail.

He had to turn back and return much bitterer to Babylon.

While he was still in Persia, it was reported to him that the armies sent to Judea had been defeated. They told him

that although Lysias had gone with a strong army, he had to flee before the Jews, who had been strengthened with the weapons and the abundant booty taken from the neighboring armies.

He heard, too, that the Jews had destroyed the abominable idol he had erected on the altar in Jerusalem, had rebuilt the temple walls to the same height as before, and had also fortified the city of Beth-Zur.

When he received this news, he was terrified and distraught. He fell ill and became incredibly depressed because things did not turn out the way he had planned.

So he remained overwhelmed by this terrible anguish for many days. He felt as if he were dying,

so he called his friends and said to them: “Sleep has fled from my eyes, and my anxieties greatly crush me.

And I keep on asking why such grief has come upon me—I who was generous and well-loved when in power—and now I am so discouraged.

Now I remember the evils I did in Jerusalem, the vessels of gold and silver that I stole, the inhabitants of Judea I ordered to be killed for no reason at all.

I now know that because of this, these misfortunes have come upon me. I am dying of grief in a strange land.”

The king summoned Philip, one of his friends, and appointed him administrator of his whole kingdom.

Then he entrusted him with the crown, robe, and signet ring, with the charge of educating his son Antiochus, to prepare him for the throne;

Antiochus died there, in one hundred and forty-nine (in B.C.).

As soon as Lysias learned of the king’s death, he proclaimed his son Antiochus as his successor, for he had trained him from childhood and named him Eupator.

Antiochus Eupator

The men from the Citadel were blocking the Israelites around the temple and did not miss a chance to harm them on behalf of the pagans.

Judas decided to eliminate them.

So he gathered all the people to lay siege to them. The troops assembled and laid siege to the Citadel in B.C., constructing firing platforms and siege engines.

But some of the besieged broke through the blockade, and with renegade Israelites,

went to tell the king: “How much longer will you wait to do us justice and avenge our brothers?

We took the side of your father. We obeyed his orders and observed his laws.

The result is that our people now besiege the Citadel, and we are treated as foreigners. All of us who were caught have been killed, and they have seized our property.

And they are fighting not only against us but in the neighboring lands as well.

They are now encamped against the Citadel in Jerusalem to capture it; they have fortified the temple and the city of Beth-Zur.

If you do not take the lead now, they will do greater things, and then you will not be able to control them.”

The king was furious when he received this news and called together all his friends, the army generals, and the cavalry commanders.

He enlisted mercenary troops from other kingdoms and islands surrounding the sea.

His forces consisted of one hundred thousand infantry, twenty thousand horsemen, and thirty-two elephants trained for combat.

They advanced through Idumea, laid siege to Beth-Zur, and attacked for days, using war engines. However, the besieged launched a sortie, burned their engines, and courageously continued their resistance.

Judas ceased fighting at the Citadel and encamped at Beth-Zechariah, opposite the king’s camp.

The king rose early in the morning, and his army boldly advanced along the road to Beth-Zechariah. The troops prepared for battle and sounded the trumpets.

They showed the elephants juice of grapes and mulberries to arouse them for battle,

and distributed them among the battalions. One thousand men in a coat of mail and bronze helmets lined up at the side of each elephant.

A cavalry of five hundred picked horsemen went before each elephant and accompanied it, with the order not to separate from it.

A strong wooden tower was fixed to each elephant using leather straps, and four warriors, including the driver, were on the tower.

The rest of the cavalry was stationed on the right and left flanks of the army to harass the enemy and protect the battalions.

When the sun shone on the shields of gold and bronze, the mountains glittered and gleamed like flames of fire.

One part of the king’s army was deployed in the mountains and the other on the plain. All advanced confidently and in good order.

The Jews trembled when they heard the incredible noise of this vast multitude, the marching of that mass, and the clanking of their weapons. It was truly an army that was excessively large and powerful.

Judas and his army advanced to engage in battle, and about six hundred men from the king’s army fell.

Eleazar, called Avaran, saw one of the beasts armored beyond all others, which he believed must belong to the king.

He then sacrificed himself to save his people and earn eternal fame.

He boldly charged toward the animal, plunging into the midst of the battalion, killing men on both sides and scattering the enemy.

He reached the elephant, slipped underneath it, and stabbed it in the belly. The elephant fell on top of him, and he died instantly.

The Jews, aware of the tremendous force of the king’s army and their bravery, retreated before them.

The king’s troops went up to Jerusalem to overtake them, and the king encamped in Judea and around Mount Zion.

He made peace with the people of Beth-Zur, who had evacuated the city because they had no food to continue the resistance, as that year was a year of rest for the land.

The king seized Beth-zur and stationed a garrison there to guard it.

He encamped before the temple for a long time and set up firing platforms, crossbows, engines, fire-throwers, catapults, and scorpions to discharge arrows and slingers.

The defenders also constructed engines as their attackers had done, and they fought for a long time.

But they had no food in storage, as it was the seventh year, and because the Israelites, who came to Judea from the pagan lands, had consumed the last of their reserves.

So, the famine left few men in the temple. The others had dispersed.

Meanwhile, Philip, to whom King Antiochus, during his life, had entrusted the education of his son, Antiochus, to prepare him for the throne,

had returned from Persia and Media with the army that had accompanied the king to those regions; and was planning to seize power.

This is why Lysias hastily gave orders to depart, saying to the king, the generals of the army, and the soldiers: “We are losing strength every day. We are short of food, and the place we are besieging is well fortified. We are, moreover, diverting our attention from the affairs of the kingdom.

Let us, then, offer the hand of friendship to these people and make peace with them and their nation.

Let us permit them to live according to their customs since all this came to be because we suppressed their laws, and they have risen in defense of them.”

These words pleased the king and the generals.

So the king sent messengers to make peace with the Jews, who accepted it. When the king and the generals had committed themselves with an oath, the Jews came out of the fortress.

The king went up to Mount Zion, and when he saw the defenses, he broke his oath and ordered the surrounding wall to be demolished.

Then he hurriedly left, returning to Antioch, where Philip was already controlling the city. So he fought him and captured the city by force.