Last days of Antiochus Epiphanes
1 ① When King Antiochus was making his way through the upper regions of Persia, he received news about Elymais, a city renowned for its wealth in silver and gold. 2They kept in the wealthy temple of their city golden armor, breastplates and weapons left there by the Macedonian king, Alexander the son of Philip, the first sovereign of the Greeks. 3So Antiochus went there but the inhabitants came out armed against him when they learned of his intention, so his attempt to take the city failed. 4He had to turn back, and he returned much embittered to Babylon.
5While he was still in Persia, it was reported to him that the armies sent to Judea had been defeated. They told him 6that 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. 7He heard too that the Jews had destroyed the abominable idol he had erected on the altar in Jerusalem, and had rebuilt the temple walls to the same height as before, and had also fortified the city of Beth-zur.
8When he received this news, he was terrified and deeply upset. He fell sick and became greatly depressed because things had not turned out the way he had planned. 9So he remained overcome by this terrible anguish for many days. He felt that he was dying, 10so he called his friends and said to them, “Sleep has fled from my eyes and I am greatly crushed by my anxieties. 11And 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.
12Now 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. 13I now know that because of this, these misfortunes have come upon me, and I am dying of grief in a strange land.” 14The king then summoned Philip, one of his friends, and appointed him administrator of his whole kingdom. 15When he had entrusted him with the crown, robe and signet ring, with the charge of educating his son Antiochus and preparing him for the throne, 16Antiochus died there in the year one hundred and forty-nine (163 B.C.). 17As soon as Lysias learned of the king’s death, he proclaimed his son Antiochus as his successor, for he himself had trained him from childhood and had named him Eupator.
Expedition of Antiochus V
18The men from the Citadel were blockading the Israelites around the temple and did not let an opportunity pass of harming them on behalf of the pagans. 19Judas decided to wipe them out, 20so he gathered together all the people to besiege them. The troops assembled and laid siege to the Citadel in the year one hundred and fifty, building firing platforms and siege engines. 21But some of the besieged broke through the blockade and together with renegade Israelites 22went to tell the king, “How much longer will you wait to do us justice and avenge our brothers? 23We took the side of your father, we obeyed his orders and observed his laws. 24The result is that the Citadel is now besieged by our own people and we are treated as foreigners. All of us who were caught have been killed and they have seized our property. 25And they are fighting not only against us but in the neighboring lands as well. 26Right now, they are encamped against the Citadel in Jerusalem to capture it, and they have fortified the temple and the city of Beth-zur. 27If you do not take the lead now, they will do greater things and then you will not be able to control them.”
28The king was enraged when he heard this news, and he summoned all his friends, the generals of the army and the commanders of the cavalry. 29From other kingdoms and islands of the sea, he recruited mercenary troops. 30His forces numbered a hundred thousand infantry, twenty thousand horsemen and thirty-two elephants trained for battle. 31They came through Idumea, besieged Beth-zur and attacked for days, using engines of war. But the besieged made a sortie and burned their engines and bravely kept up the resistance.
Battle of Beth-zechariah
32 ② Then Judas ceased fighting at the Citadel and encamped at Beth-zechariah opposite the camp of the king. 33Early in the morning the king rose and his army boldly advanced along the road to Beth-zechariah. The troops prepared for battle and sounded the trumpets.
34They showed juice of grapes and mulberries to the elephants to arouse them for battle, 35and distributed them among the battalions: one thousand men in coat of mail and bronze helmet lined up at the side of each elephant. 36A cavalry of five hundred picked horse men went before each elephant and accompanied it with the order not to separate from it. 37A strong wooden tower was fixed to each elephant by means of leather straps, and four warriors including the driver were on the tower.
38The rest of the cavalry were stationed on the right and left flanks of the army to harass the enemy and protect the battalions. 39When the sun shone on the shields of gold and bronze, the mountains glittered and gleamed like flames of fire. 40One part of the king’s army was deployed up in the mountains and the other on the plain. All advanced confidently and in good order. 41The Jews trembled when they heard the great noise of this vast multitude, the marching of that mass and the clanking of their weapons. It was indeed an army extremely numerous and powerful.
42Nevertheless Judas and his army advanced to give battle; and about six hundred men of the king’s army fell. 43Eleazar, called Avaran, saw one of the beasts protected with armor which excelled all the others, so he supposed that it must be the king’s. 44He then sacrificed himself to save his people and win eternal renown for himself. 45He boldly charged towards the animal right into the midst of the battalion, killing men right and left, scattering the enemy before him on both sides. 46He reached the elephant, darted in under it, and stabbed it in the belly. The elephant collapsed on top of him and he died on the spot.
47The Jews, however, aware of the tremendous force of the king’s army and their bravery, retreated before them. 48The king’s troops went up to Jerusalem to overtake them, and the king encamped in Judea and around Mount Zion. 49He made peace with the people of Beth-zur who evacuated the city since they had no food to continue the resistance, for that year was a year of rest for the land. 50The king seized Beth-zur and stationed a garrison there to guard it.
51He encamped before the temple for a long time and set up firing platforms, crossbows, engines, fire-throwers, catapults, scorpions to discharge arrows, and slingers. 52The defenders also constructed engines as their attackers had done and they fought for a long time. 53But 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. 54So, few men were left in the temple because of the famine; the others had dispersed.
The king grants religious freedom
55 ③ Meanwhile Philip, to whom King Antiochus during his life had entrusted the education of his son Antiochus to prepare him for the throne, 56had returned from Persia and Media with the army that had accompanied the king to those regions, and was planning to seize power. 57This 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. 58Let us, then, offer the hand of friendship to these people, and make peace with them and with their nation. 59Let us permit them to live according to their customs as before, since all this came to be because we suppressed their laws, and they have risen in defense of them.”
60These words pleased the king and the generals, 61so the king sent messengers to make peace with the Jews, and the Jews accepted it.
When the king and the generals had committed themselves with an oath, the Jews came out of the fortress. 62The king went up to Mount Zion and when he saw the defenses, he broke his oath and ordered the surrounding wall to be demolished. 63Then he hurriedly left and returned to Antioch where he found Philip already in control of the city. So he fought him and took the city by force.
- The end of Antiochus Epiphanes is presented as an example of how the persecutors die. We find another story, different from this, in 2 Mac 9.
- Palestine is invaded once again and in the combat at Beth-zechariah, Judas' army, very inferior to the king's, must withdraw from the enemy. Two years later, the king makes peace and confirms the religious freedom of the Jews.
- The fighting stops at the least expected moment and the Jews are granted the right to continue practicing their religion (v. 59). The resistance of a handful of heroes has achieved this first result and it changes the history of the Jewish people.
