1 Maccabees

Judas’ Activity in Judea

Mattathias’ son, Judas Maccabeus, succeeded him.

His brothers, and all who had followed his father, gave him their support, and they continued the war with determination.

Judas made his people’s name more famous. He put on his breastplate and girded himself with the armor of war like a giant. He fought many battles and protected his camp with his sword.

He was like a lion when he attacked, like a lion’s whelp roaring over its prey.

He pursued the renegades in their secret places and consigned those who troubled his people to the flames.

All the renegades feared him, all evildoers were confounded, and liberation was accomplished through him.

Many kings feared him, while the people of Israel rejoiced in his deeds. His memory shall be blessed forever.

He went through the cities of Judah, utterly destroying the impious, and saved Israel in their trial.

His fame resounded to the ends of the earth for having gathered those about to perish.

Apollonius also gathered together men from the pagans and a good number of Samaritans to fight Israel.

When Judas learned of this, he went out to meet him in battle. He defeated and killed him. Many of the enemies fell, and the rest fled.

They seized the plunder, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius; from then on, he always used it in battle.

Seron, the commander of the Syrian army, learned that Judas had gathered many men and that the whole community of believers was at his side.

He thought: “This is now the opportunity for me to become famous and an important man in the kingdom. I will go to fight Judas and his men, who do not obey the king’s order.”

So he did, and a strong army of pagans went up with him to help him take vengeance on the children of Israel.

As Seron approached the slope of Beth-horon, Judas went out to face him with a small group of warriors.

But when his men saw the enemy coming toward them, they said to him, “How can we, few as we are, fight against so many? And besides, we feel weak, for we have not eaten anything today.”

But Judas declared: “A multitude can easily fall into the hands of a few, because Heaven can win over equally well with many or few.

Victory does not depend on the number of those who fight but on Heaven, which gives us strength.

They come against us, driven by their pride and lawlessness, to seize us, take our wives and children, and take everything from us.

But we are fighting for our lives and our rights.

God will crush them before us, so do not be afraid.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he charged against the enemies. Seron and his army were defeated.

They chased them down the slope of Beth-horon into the plain. About eight hundred of Seron’s men fell, and the rest escaped to the land of the Philistines.

With this, fear and dread of Judas and his brothers gripped the pagans who lived nearby.

The reputation of his name spread to the king, and the pagan nations recounted his battles.

Battle of Emmaus

When this news reached King Antiochus, he was furious. He ordered all the forces of his kingdom to assemble because he had a mighty army.

He opened his treasury and paid the troops a year’s salary, instructing them to be ready for any situation.

However, he discovered that the treasury funds had run low because the taxes from the provinces had decreased due to unrest and upheaval, which he had caused by changing the laws that had been in place since ancient times.

He feared that, once again, he wouldn’t have enough money for his expenses and the lavish gifts he was accustomed to giving, more than previous kings.

His need was so great that he decided to go to Persia to collect taxes from those provinces and gather significant funds.

Then he left Lysias, a nobleman from the royal family, in charge of government affairs from the Euphrates River to the Egyptian border,

with the responsibility of educating the king’s son, Antiochus, until his return.

He entrusted Lysias with half of his troops, including elephants, and explained his policies. Regarding the people of Judea and Jerusalem,

Lysias was to send an army to destroy and defeat the defenders of Israel and all remaining in Jerusalem, aiming to erase even their memory.

Afterward, foreigners were to settle throughout the Jewish land, and the land was to be divided among them by lot.

The king took the remaining half of the army with him and set out from Antioch, the kingdom’s capital, in one hundred and forty-seven (in B.C.). He crossed the Euphrates River and moved through the upper provinces.

Lysias chose from among the friends of the King, Ptolemy, the son of Dorymenes, Nicanor, and Gorgias—all influential men.

With them, he dispatched forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to the Judean province to destroy it as the king had ordered.

They marched out with their troops and encamped on the plain near Emmaus.

The merchants of the region heard of their arrival, so they went to the camp with large amounts of silver, gold, and fetters, proposing to buy the Israelites as slaves. The Syrian army and those from the province of the Philistines also joined the troops.

Judas and his brothers understood that the situation was worsening because the enemy had encamped in their territory. So when they learned of the king’s order to destroy and crush the people,

they said: “Let us uplift our people from their miserable situation and fight for them and the Holy Place!”

The entire community gathered to prepare for war, praying and asking God for mercy and compassion.

Like a desert, Jerusalem was left without inhabitants. None of her children went in or out. The temple was profaned, and foreigners had taken up residence in the city, which had become a haven for pagans. There was no more rejoicing for Jacob; no flute or zither was heard.

So they gathered and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Mizpah had been a place of prayer for Israel.

They fasted that day, put on sackcloth, sprinkled ashes on their heads, and tore their garments.

They opened the book of the law to look for an answer to their questions, just as the pagans consulted the images of their idols.

They brought the vestments of the priests, the firstfruits, the tithes, and the Nazirites who had completed the days of their consecration.

They cried aloud to Heaven and said: What should we do with these people, and where should we take them?

Because your Sanctuary has been trampled and desecrated. Your priests are mourning and humiliated.

And now, the pagans have gathered to destroy us. You know what they are planning against us.

How can we stand against them if you do not come to help us?

Then they sounded the trumpets and made a great outcry.

After this, Judas appointed officials to lead his people: leaders of a thousand men, leaders of a hundred, fifty, and ten.

Then he told those building houses, those about to marry, those planting vineyards, and those afraid to return to their homes, as the law allowed.

Next, the army marched out and encamped south of Emmaus.

Judas told them: “Prepare your weapons. Be valiant and be ready to fight in the morning against those foreigners who have joined forces to crush us and remove our Holy Place from this land.

It is better to die fighting than to live and see the misery of our nation and the Holy Place.

May Heaven’s will be done in everything.”