FIRST MACCABEES

CHAPTER 8

Yehudah had heard of the reputation of the Romans. They were valiant fighters and acted amiably to all who took their side. They established a friendly alliance with all who applied to them. He was also told of their battles and the brave deeds that they performed against the Gauls, conquering them and forcing them to pay tribute; and what they did in Spain to get possession of the silver and gold mines there. By planning and persistence they subjugated the whole region, although it was very remote from their own. They also subjugated the kings who had come against them from the far corners of the earth until they crushed them and inflicted on them severe defeat. The rest paid tribute to them every year. Philip and Perseus, king of the Macedonians, and the others who opposed them in battle they overwhelmed and subjugated. Antiochus the Great, king of Asia, who fought against them with a hundred and twenty elephants and with cavalry and chariots and a very great army, was defeated by them. They took him alive and obliged him and the kings who succeeded him to pay a heavy tribute, to give hostages and to cede Lycia, Mysia, and Lydiafrom among their best provinces. The Romans took these from him and gave them to King Eumenes. When the Greeks planned to come and destroy them, the Romans discovered it, and sent against the Greeks a single general who made war on them. Many were wounded and fell, and the Romans took their wives and children captive. They plundered them, took possession of their land, tore down their strongholds and reduced them to slavery even to this day. All the other kingdoms and islands that had ever opposed them they destroyed and enslaved; with their friends, however, and those who relied on them, they maintained friendship. They subjugated kings both near and far, and all who heard of their fame were afraid of them. Those whom they wish to help and to make kings, they make kings; and those whom they wish, they depose; and they were greatly exalted. Yet with all this, none of them put on a diadem or wore purple as a display of grandeur. But they made for themselves a senate chamber, and every day three hundred and twenty men took counsel, deliberating on all that concerned the people and their well-being. They entrust their government to one man every year, to rule over their entire land, and they all obey that one, and there is no envy or jealousy among them.

So Yehudah chose Eupolemus, son of Yochanan, son of Akkos, and Yason, son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome to establish friendship and alliance with them. He did this to lift the yoke from Yisrael, for it was obvious that the kingdom of the Greeks was subjecting them to slavery. After making a very long journey to Rome, the envoys entered the senate chamber and spoke as follows: “Yehudah, called Maccabeus, and his brothers, with the Yehudy people, have sent us to you to establish alliance and peace with you, and to be enrolled among your allies and friends.” The proposal pleased the Romans, and this is a copy of the reply they inscribed on bronze tablets and sent to Yerushalayim, to remain there with the Yehudym as a record of peace and alliance:

“May it be well with the Romans and the Yehudy nation at sea and on land forever; may sword and enemy be far from them. But if war is first made on Rome, or any of its allies in any of their dominions, the Yehudy nation will fight along with them wholeheartedly, as the occasion shall demand; and to those who wage war they shall not give or provide grain, weapons, money, or ships, as seems best to Rome. They shall fulfill their obligations without receiving any recompense. In the same way, if war is made first on the Yehudy nation, the Romans will fight along with them willingly, as the occasion shall demand, and to those who attack them there shall not be given grain, weapons, money, or ships, as seems best to Rome. They shall fulfill their obligations without deception. On these terms the Romans have made an agreement with the Yehudy people. But if both parties hereafter agree to add or take away anything, they shall do as they choose, and whatever they shall add or take away shall be valid.

“Moreover, concerning the wrongs that King Demetrius is doing to them, we have written to him thus: ‘Why have you made your yoke heavy upon our friends and allies the Yehudym? If they petition against you again, we will enforce justice and make war on you by sea and land.’”

FIRST MACCABEES

CHAPTER 7

In the one hundred and fifty-first year, Demetrius, son of Seleucus, set out from Rome, arrived with a few men at a coastal city, and began to rule there. As he was entering the royal palace of his ancestors, the soldiers seized Antiochus and Lysias to bring them to him. When he was informed of this, he said, “Do not show me their faces.” So the soldiers killed them, and Demetrius assumed the royal throne.

Then all the lawless men and renegades of Yisrael came to him. They were led by Alcimus, who desired to be Koheyn Gadol. They made this accusation to the king against the people: “Yehudah and his brothers have destroyed all your friends and have driven us out of our land. So now, send a man whom you trust to go and see all the destruction Yehudah has wrought on us and on the king’s territory, and let him punish them and all their supporters.”

So the king chose Bacchides, one of the King’s friends, who ruled the province of West-of-Ephrath, a great man in the kingdom, and faithful to the king. He sent him and the renegade Alcimus, to whom he granted the Kehunnah, with orders to take revenge on the Yisraeli. They set out and, on arriving in the land of Yehudah with a great army, sent messengers who spoke deceitfully to Yehudah and his brothers in peaceful terms. But these paid no attention to their words, seeing that they had come with a great army.

A group of scribes, however, gathered about Alcimus and Bacchides to ask for a just agreement. The Chassidym were the first among the Yisraeli to seek peace with them, for they said, “A koheyn of the line of Aharon has come with the army, and he will not do us any wrong.” He spoke with them peacefully and swore to them, “We will not seek to injure you or your friends.” So they trusted him. But he arrested sixty of them and killed them in one day, according to the words that he wrote:

“The flesh of your faithful, and their blood they have spilled all around about Yerushalayim, and no one was left to bury them.” Then fear and dread of them came upon all the people, who said: “There is no truth or justice among them; they violated the agreement and the oath that they swore.”

Bacchides withdrew from Yerushalayim and camped in Beth-zaith. He had many of the men who deserted to him arrested and some of the people. He killed them and threw them into a great cistern. He handed the province over to Alcimus, leaving troops to help him, while he himself returned to the king.

Alcimus struggled to maintain his Kehunnah, and all those who were troubling the people gathered about him. They took possession of the land of Yehudah and caused great distress in Yisrael. When Yehudah saw all the evils that Alcimus and those with him were bringing upon the Yisraeli, even more than the gentiles had, he went about all the borders of Yehudah and took revenge on the men who had deserted, preventing them from going out into the country. But when Alcimus saw that Yehudah and his followers were gaining strength and realized that he could not resist them, he returned to the king and accused them of grave crimes.

Then the king sent Nikanor, one of his honored officers, who was a bitter enemy of Yisrael, with orders to destroy the people. Nikanor came to Yerushalayim with a large force and deceitfully sent to Yehudah and his brothers this peaceable message: “Let there be no fight between me and you. I will come with a few men to meet you face to face in peace.”

So he came to Yehudah, and they greeted one another peaceably. But Yehudah's enemies were prepared to seize him. When he became aware that Nikanor had come to him with deceit in mind, Yehudah was afraid of him and would not meet him again. When Nikanor saw that his plan had been discovered, he went out to fight Yehudah near Capharsalama. About five hundred men of Nikanor’s army fell; the rest fled to the City of David.

After this, Nikanor went up to Mount Tzion. Some of the kohanym from the sanctuary and some of the elders of the people came out to greet him peaceably and to show him the burnt offering that was being sacrificed for the king. But he mocked and ridiculed them, defiled them, and spoke arrogantly. In a rage he swore: “If Yehudah and his army are not delivered to me at once, when I return victorious I will burn this Temple down.” He went away in great anger. The kohanym, however, went in and stood before the altar and the sanctuary. They wept and said: “You have chosen this house to bear your name, to be a house of prayer and supplication for your people. Take revenge on this man and his army, and let them fall by the sword. Remember their blasphemies, and do not let them continue.”

Nikanor left Yerushalayim and camped at Beth-horon, where the Syrian army joined him. But Yehudah camped in Adasa with three thousand men. Here Yehudah uttered this prayer: “When they who were sent by the king blasphemed, your angel went out and killed a hundred and eighty-five thousand of them. In the same way, crush this army before us today, and let the rest know that Nikanor spoke wickedly against your sanctuary; judge him according to his wickedness.”

The armies met in battle on the thirteenth day of the month Adar. Nikanor’s army was crushed, and he himself was the first to fall in the battle. When his army saw that Nikanor had fallen, they threw down their weapons and fled. The Yehudym pursued them a day’s journey from Adasa to near Gazara, blowing the trumpets behind them as signals. From all the surrounding villages of Yehudah people came out and outflanked them. They turned them back, and all the enemies fell by the sword; not a single one escaped.

Then the Yehudym collected the spoils and the plunder; they cut off Nikanor’s head and his right arm, which he had lifted up so arrogantly. These they brought and displayed in the sight of Yerushalayim. The people rejoiced greatly, and observed that day as a day of much joy. They decreed that it should be observed every year on the thirteenth of Adar. And so for a few days the land of Yehudah was at rest.

Kindle your lights after sunset on 11-30-2024.

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Deuteronomy 6:6 — 9, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as phylacteries between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” It wasn’t only the law, it is also the history and that is what makes this passage so vitally important.

Happy Chanukkah, my friends.

Read the story and remember the reason for the holiday.