2 Maccabees

Purification of the Temple

With God’s help, Maccabeus and his men captured the temple and the city.

They destroyed the altars built by foreigners in the public squares, along with the sacred enclosures.

After purifying the temple, they built a new altar. They kindled a fire from flint and offered sacrifices for the first time in two years. Once again, there were incense, lamps, and the bread of presence.

Having done all this, they threw themselves flat on the ground and begged the Lord not to send them such calamities again. But if they should sin again, they asked him to correct them gently and not hand them over to blasphemous and fierce foreigners.

The purification of the temple took place on the same day the foreigners profaned it, which was the twenty-fifth of Kislev.

For eight days, they celebrated the feast with rejoicing, just as they celebrated the Feast of the Tabernacles, remembering how, not long before on the same date, they were living in the mountains and caves like wild animals.

Then, carrying leafy branches and palms, they sang hymns to Him who had brought the cleansing of His own Holy Place to a joyful conclusion.

They also chose by a public vote that the Jewish community would observe this event every year.

The Exploits of Judas

This is all that pertains to the death of Antiochus, called Epiphanes.

We will now proceed to recount the events that took place under Antiochus Eupator, son of that godless man, and briefly describe the calamities caused by the war.

Once he inherited the kingdom, he appointed Lysias to oversee his affairs and serve as high commissioner for Coelesyria and Phoenicia.

Now, Ptolemy, known as Macron, was the first governor to bring justice to the Jews. He was disturbed by the injustices they faced, so he worked to resolve all their problems satisfactorily.

But the friends of King Eupator used this as an opportunity to accuse him before the king. They repeatedly called him a traitor, reminding him that he had once abandoned the land of Cyprus, which Philometor had entrusted to him, to support Antiochus Epiphanes. Unable to serve his high office with dignity, he was overwhelmed with despair and took his own life by poisoning himself.

It was then that Gorgias was appointed military commissioner of those regions and began to stir up war against the Jews by any means.

On the other hand, the Idumeans had strong fortresses and harassed the Jews. Gathering the fugitives from Jerusalem, they managed to prolong the war.

The men of Maccabeus, after praying and asking God to come and fight at their side, attacked the fortresses of the Idumeans.

They continued their assaults, and the place fell into their power. They repelled those who fought on the ramparts, slaughtered all who fell into their hands, and killed more than twenty thousand men.

At least nine thousand men took refuge in the two towers, fortified with everything needed to withstand a prolonged siege.

Maccabeus left Simon, Joseph, Zacchaeus, and his men in sufficient numbers to sustain the blockade and went off to where his presence was more needed.

Yet the men of Simon were tempted by greed and let themselves be bought with the silver of those in the towers. So, in exchange for sixty thousand pieces of silver, they allowed several of them to escape.

As soon as Maccabeus learned this, he assembled the leaders of the people and accused those men of having sold their brothers for money by letting their enemies escape.

He condemned them to death as traitors and proceeded at once to capture the towers.

He killed more than twenty thousand men in those two towers, successfully ending the operation they had begun.

Timothy, who had previously been defeated by the Jews, gathered a large number of foreign troops and a great many horses from Asia. He came to Judea to conquer it by force.

Before his attack, the men of Maccabeus sprinkled dust on their heads. They put on sackcloth to beg God for help.

They bowed at the foot of the altar and asked God to protect them and be the enemy of their enemies, the adversary of their adversaries, as written in the law.

After praying, they armed themselves and moved out of the city. They stopped when they reached the enemy.

Right at daybreak, they attacked from both sides. One side placed their confidence in their Lord as a pledge of success and victory, alongside their bravery, while the others were moved by hatred.

When the battle was at its height, there appeared from heaven before the enemies, five radiant men riding on horses with golden bridles, who put themselves at the head of the Jews.

They surrounded Maccabeus and defended him with their weapons, making him invulnerable. At the same time, they rained arrows and thunderbolts on the enemy, who in turn fell and were dispersed in great disorder, blinded and confused.

Twenty thousand five hundred foot soldiers and six hundred horsemen died.

Timothy took refuge in a heavily guarded fortress called Gezer, where Chaereas was in command.

The forces of Maccabeus gallantly besieged the fortress for four days.

Those within were confident in the strength of the fortress, so they hurled insults and curses at the Jews.

At dawn on the fifth day, twenty young men from Maccabeus’s troops, outraged by the blasphemies they’d heard, courageously stormed the wall and, with savage fury, killed everyone in their path.

Others used this diversion to climb the walls and set fire to the towers. They made bonfires and burned the blasphemers alive. Others destroyed the gates while the rest of the army entered to occupy the city.

They killed Timothy, who had hidden in a well, along with his brothers Chaereas and Apollophanes.

After everything ended, they sang hymns and praises to the Lord who had exalted Israel and granted them victory.