2 Maccabees

New Exploits of Judas

After concluding these agreements, Lysias returned to the king. The Jews began to return to their fields.

But the commanders of the different regions—Timotheus, Apollonius (the son of Gennaeus), Hieronymus, Domophon, and Nicanor, the leader of the Cypriots—would not allow them to live in peace and quiet.

Moreover, the inhabitants of Joppa committed this serious crime: they invited the Jews with their wives and children on a cruise using some boats they had prepared, as if they harbored no hostility.

The city authorities decided this, and the Jews agreed to show their desire to live with them peacefully and without suspicion. But once out in the open sea, the men of Joppa pushed them into the water, and at least two hundred drowned.

When Judas Maccabeus was informed of this cruelty against his countrymen, he told his men.

After praying to God, the just judge, he moved against the murderers of his brothers and sisters. He set fire to the harbor at night, burned the ships, and slaughtered those who had taken refuge there.

But, as the gates were closed, he could not enter the city, so he withdrew, planning to return to eliminate all the inhabitants of Joppa.

Meanwhile, he learned that the inhabitants of Jamnia wanted to do the same to the Jews living there.

He also attacked the people of Jamnia at night and set the harbor and ships on fire. The blaze was so intense that the glow could be seen from Jerusalem, about fifty kilometers away.

From there, they set out and marched against Timotheus, but after walking about two kilometers, five thousand Arabs supported by five hundred horses attacked them.

A fierce battle ensued, and Judas’s men emerged victorious with God’s help. The Arabs begged for peace and agreed to supply livestock and assistance in the future.

Judas, believing they could be helpful, made peace with them. Then, the Arabs withdrew to their camps.

Judas attacked a city heavily protected by ditches and walls. The city was named Caspin. People of all races lived there.

The besieged, confident in the strength of their walls and because they had their storehouses full of provisions, underestimated the men of Judas and behaved most insolently toward them. They also shouted insults, blasphemies, and sacrilegious words at them.

The men of Judas called on the great Sovereign of the world, who had demolished the walls of Jericho without any engines of war during the time of Joshua, and then rushed furiously upon the walls.

God decreed that they should take the city, and they carried out a brutal slaughter: the nearby lake, five hundred meters wide, looked as if it was filled with blood.

After marching for one hundred and fifty kilometers, they arrived in Charax, where the Jews were known as Toubians.

They did not find Timotheus there, for he had gone without achieving anything but had left a strong garrison in one place.

Dositheus and Sosipater, leaders of the troops of Maccabeus, marched against them and destroyed the garrison of more than ten thousand men left behind by Timotheus.

Maccabeus then organized his army, appointed these two as their commanders, and rushed out against Timotheus, who had twenty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry with him.

When Timotheus learned that Judas was approaching, he sent the women and children away with most of the baggage to a fortress called Carnaim, which was located in an impregnable spot and hard to reach because of its narrow approaches.

At the sight of Judas’s first battalion, terror and panic seized their enemies because of an apparition of Him who sees all things. They fled in all directions, being dragged on the ground by their companions and wounded by their swords.

Judas pursued Timotheus in fury and zeal, killing those wicked men with the sword and about thirty thousand in total.

Timotheus fell into the hands of Dositheus’s and Sosipater’s troops. He cunningly begged them to let him go, claiming he had the parents and brothers of most of the Jews in his power, and they would surely be killed if he were to be killed.

When he convinced them with his words, they let him go to save their relatives.

Judas left for Carnaim and Atargateion and killed twenty-five thousand men there.

After defeating and destroying these enemies, he led an expedition against the walled city of Ephron, where Lysias had taken refuge with people of every race. Strong young men were stationed outside the walls, and they fought bravely. There were also stores of war engines and missiles inside.

After calling on the Sovereign to crush the forces of the enemy, the Jews seized the city and killed more than twenty-five thousand of the people inside.

Moving on from there, they traveled to Scythopolis, a city one hundred and twenty kilometers from Jerusalem.

However, as the Jews living there assured Judas that the city’s inhabitants had always treated them well and welcomed them kindly during times of persecution,

Judas and his men thanked these people. They asked them to extend the same kindness to their people in the future. Then they returned to Jerusalem, as the Feast of Weeks was approaching.

After the feast of Pentecost, they marched against Gorgias, the governor of Idumea.

Gorgias came out with three thousand foot soldiers and four thousand horsemen to meet them.

The battle began, and some fell in the ranks of the Jews.

Dositheus, a brave man and a skilled horseman from Bacenor’s troops, grabbed Gorgias by the cloak and forcibly dragged him along, aiming to capture that criminal alive. But a Thracian horseman charged at Dositheus and slashed his shoulder, allowing Gorgias to flee to Marisa.

Judas saw that the men of Esdris were exhausted because they had been fighting for a long time. He, therefore, prayed to the Lord to show himself as their ally and lead them in battle.

Then, he chanted a battle hymn in the language of their ancestors, suddenly charged against the troops of Gorgias, and defeated them.

Judas reorganized his army and then went to the city of Adullam. Since it was the week’s end, they purified themselves and celebrated the Sabbath there.

The next day, the companions of Judas went to take away the bodies of the dead (it was urgent to do it) and buried them with their relatives in the tombs of their fathers.

They found objects consecrated to the idols of Jamnia under the tunic of each of the dead men, which the law forbade the Jews from wearing. So, it became clear to everyone why these men had died.

Everyone blessed the intervention of the Lord, the just Judge who brings to light the most secret deeds;

and they prayed to the Lord to completely pardon the sin of their dead companions.

He collected a donation from his soldiers, totaling two thousand pieces of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to be offered as a sacrifice for sin. They did all this well and were rightly motivated by their faith in the resurrection of the dead.

If they did not believe that their fallen comrades would rise again, praying for them would have been pointless and foolish.

But they strongly believed in a glorious reward for those who died as believers; therefore, their actions were pure and aligned with their faith.

This was why Judas offered this sacrifice for the dead—so that the dead might be forgiven for their sins.