FIRST MACCABEES

CHAPTER 9

When Demetrius heard that Nikanor and his army had fallen in battle, he again sent Bacchides and Alcimus into the land of Yehudah, along with the right wing of his army. They took the road to The Galil, and camping opposite the ascent at Arbela, they captured it and killed many people. In the first month of the one hundred and fifty-second year, they encamped against Yerushalayim. Then they set out for Berea with twenty thousand men and two thousand cavalry. Yehudah, with three thousand picked men, had camped at Elasa. When they saw the great number of the troops, they were very much afraid, and many slipped away from the camp, until only eight hundred of them remained.

When Yehudah saw that his army was melting away just as the battle was imminent, he was brokenhearted, because he had no time to gather them together. In spite of his discouragement he said to those who remained: “Let us go forward to meet our enemies; perhaps we can put up an excellent fight against them.” They tried to dissuade him, saying: “We certainly cannot. Let us save our own lives now, and come back with our kindred, and then fight against them. Now we are too few.” But Yehudah said: “Far be it from me to do such a thing as to flee from them! If our time has come, let us die bravely for our kindred and not leave a stain upon our honor!”

Then the army of Bacchides moved out of camp and took its position for combat. The cavalry were divided into two squadrons, and the slingers and the archers came on ahead of the army, and in the front line were all the best warriors. Bacchides was on the right wing. Flanked by the two squadrons, the phalanx attacked as they blew their trumpets. Those who were on Yehudah's side also blew their trumpets. The earth shook with the noise of the armies, and the battle raged from morning until evening.

When Yehudah saw that Bacchides was on the right, with the main force of his army, all the most stouthearted rallied to him, and the right wing was crushed; Yehudah pursued them as far as the mountain slopes. But when those on the left wing saw that the right wing was crushed, they closed in behind Yehudah and those with him. The battle became intense, and many on both sides fell wounded. Then Yehudah fell, and the rest fled.

Yonathan and Shimon took their brother Yehudah and buried him in the tomb of their ancestors at Modein. All Yisrael wept for him with great lamentation. They mourned for him many days, and they said, “How the mighty one has fallen, the savior of Yisrael!” The other acts of Yehudah, his battles, the brave deeds he performed, and his greatness have not been recorded; but they were very many.

After the death of Yehudah, the lawless raised their heads in every part of Yisrael, and all kinds of evildoers appeared. In those days there was a very great famine, and the country deserted to them. Bacchides chose renegades and made them masters of the country. These sought out and hunted down the friends of Yehudah and brought them to Bacchides, who punished and derided them. There was great tribulation in Yisrael, the like of which had not been since the time prophets ceased to appear among them.

Then all the friends of Yehudah came together and said to Yonathan: “Ever since your brother Yehudah died, there has been no one like him to lead us against our enemies, both Bacchides and those of our nation who are hostile to us. Now therefore we have chosen you today to be our ruler and leader in his place, to fight our battle.” From that moment Yonathan accepted the leadership, and took the place of Yehudah his brother.

When Bacchides learned of it, he sought to kill him. But Yonathan and his brother Shimon and all who were with him discovered this, and they fled to the wilderness of Tekoa and camped by the waters of the pool of Asphar.

Yonathan sent his brother as leader of the convoy to implore his friends, the Nabateans, to let them deposit with them their great quantity of baggage. But the tribe of Yambri from Medabamade a raid and seized and carried off Yochanan and everything he had.

After this, word was brought to Yonathan and his brother Shimon: “The tribe of Yambri are celebrating a great wedding, and with a large escort they are bringing the bride, the daughter of one of the great princes of Kana'an, from Nadabath.” Remembering the blood of Yochanan their brother, they went up and hid themselves under cover of the mountain. As they watched there appeared a noisy throng with much baggage; then the bridegroom and his friends and kinsmen had come out to meet them with tambourines and musicians with their instruments. Yonathan and his party rose up against them from their ambush and killed them. Many fell wounded; the rest fled toward the mountain; all their spoils were taken. Thus the wedding was turned into mourning, and the sound of their music into lamentation. Having taken their revenge for the blood of their brother, they returned to the marshes of the Yarden.

When Bacchides heard of it, he came on the Shabbath to the banks of the Yarden with a large force. Then Yonathan said to his companions, “Let us rise up now and fight for our lives, for today is not like yesterday and the day before. The battle is before us, behind us are the waters of the Yarden, on either side of us, marsh and thickets; there is no way of escape. Cry out now to Heaven so that you may be delivered from the hand of our enemies.” When they joined battle, Yonathan raised his hand to strike Bacchides, but Bacchides backed away from him. Yonathan and those with him jumped into the Yarden and swam across to the other side, but the enemy did not pursue them across the Yarden. About a thousand men on Bacchides’ side fell that day.

On returning to Yerushalayim, Bacchides built strongholds in Yehudah: the Yericho fortress, as well as Emmaus, Beth-horon, Beth-El, Timnath, Pharathon, and Tephon, with high walls and gates and bars. In each he put a garrison to harass Yisrael. He fortified the city of Beth-zur, Gazara and the citadel, and put troops in them and stores of provisions. He took as hostages the sons of the leading people of the country and put them in custody in the citadel at Yerushalayim.

In the one hundred and fifty-third year, in the second month,Alcimus ordered the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary to be torn down, thus destroying the work of the prophets. But he only began to tear it down. Just at that time Alcimus was stricken, and his work was interrupted; his mouth was closed and he was paralyzed, so that he could no longer utter a word or give orders concerning his household. Alcimus died in great agony at that time. Seeing that Alcimus was dead, Bacchides returned to the king, and the land of Yehudah was at rest for two years.

Then all the lawless took counsel and said: “Yonathan and those with him are living in peace and security. Now then, let us have Bacchides return, and he will capture all of them in a single night.” So they went and took counsel with him. When Bacchides was setting out with a large force, he sent letters secretly to all his allies in Yehudah, telling them to seize Yonathan and his companions. They were not able to do this, however, because their plan became known. In fact, Yonathan’s men seized about fifty of the men of the country who were leaders in the conspiracy and put them to death.

Then Yonathan and those with him, along with Shimon, withdrew to Beth- Basi in the wilderness; he rebuilt its ruins and fortified it. When Bacchides learned of this, he gathered together his whole force and sent word to those who were in Yehudah. He came and camped before Beth- Basi, and constructing siege engines, he fought against it for many days.

Leaving his brother Shimon in the city, Yonathan, accompanied by a small group of men, went out into the countryside. He struck down Odomera and his kindred and the tribe of Phasiron in their encampment; these men had begun to attack and they were going up with their forces. Shimon and those with him then sallied forth from the city and set fire to the siege engines. They fought against Bacchides, and he was crushed. They caused him great distress, because the enterprise he had planned was in vain. He was enraged with the lawless men who had advised him to invade the province. He killed many of them and resolved to return to his own country.

Yonathan learned of this and sent ambassadors to agree on peace with him and to obtain the release of the prisoners. He agreed to do as Yonathan asked. He swore an oath to him that he would never try to do him any harm for the rest of his life; and he released to him the prisoners he had previously taken from the land of Yehudah. Thereupon he returned to his own land and never came into their territory again. Then the sword ceased from Yisrael. Yonathan settled in Michmash; he began to judge the people and he eliminated the renegades from Yisrael.

Kindle your lights after sunset on 12-01-2024.

and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.
Genesis 29:3 ESV

This limitation on the use of the well seems unusual. It indicates either distrust or an assertion of control.

If the former, then there was probably a limited amount of water available, so the stone ensured one flock wouldn't take all the water when the others or away. If the latter, then someone just wanted to maintain control over vital resources.

This is like religious leaders (Pharisees, priests, pastors, etc.) who hide God’s Word and Spirit from the people in order to monopolize and twist the truth.

Anybody in here compelled in the least to warn anybody they know I'm Jerusalem about what's going to happen over there? Yeshua told y'all not a stone left upon a stone and Isaiah and Jeramiah get intricate about what's gonna go down anybody care to stop feasting and get hip with the sacred life saving work at hand? Or even warn those in Babylon USA what's going to occur there? I don't know which place gets judged first or exactly when I know it goes terrible soon enough for both places though and only a remnant escapes and the majority of the so called believers I speak with are not discerning the time of their being inspected. Is anybody out there who wants to inherit the blessings of Jacob which is by doing what the servant Jacob does in the end times? Anybody go check out straitisthegate.net

As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large,
Genesis 29:2 ESV

Nothing in Torah is mere data. The well, the man looking for a bride, three flocks... It all means more than it says.

Here's a list of Apostolic Bible passages for reading and studying with #torah portion #vayetzei ("And he went out" #genesis 28:10-32:2), plus links to related commentary and videos: https://www.americantorah.com/....2022/02/27/parsha-va

On this date in history, 12/01/1955: Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, AL, after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. #otd #tdih #civilrights

Teaching young people accurate historical events was so important it was commanded in the Bible. Deuteronomy 6:7, “ 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.” This passage isn’t only about the things we should and shouldn’t do it also is about the history. Not having an accurate historical account we allow legend and tradition to interfere giving an unclear picture of the events of the past.

"LOOKING THROUGH GREEK EYES"

By Yochanan ben Yisrael

“I’m not a Greek,” one might say. So, why do we find it difficult to embrace the supremacy of the Most High? Whenever someone comes along and tells us to follow the commandments, we resist, usually stating, “The Law does not apply to us, because we are under grace.” We also use the excuse that we do not FEEL convicted to follow the Torah, or are not LED to do so by the Ruach Haqodesh. Where do these ideas come from? Why do we feel justified in deciding which blessings and curses we feel are acceptable and which ones we will not accept? How can we justify thinking that the Spirit of the Most-High would lead us to do anything contrary to His written Word? How is it that we can interpret the New Covenant based on the Greek writings and refuse to acknowledge the relevance of the Hebrew writings of the Torah and the prophets? How is it that we can claim to keep the Ten Commandments, yet we reject the fourth – the seventh day Sabbath – by stating that “Jesus” is our Sabbath, thus in essence negating one of the ten? How is it that we can read in the Torah and the Prophets and the Writings of the Apostles’ about the prohibition of idols, yet we have no conscience against carrying, kissing, and enshrining crosses? We see little wrong with pictures of “Jesus” hanging on our walls, but we would not dare write the Torah upon our doorposts, as commanded by the Most High? Why do we claim to love YHWH and yet continue in deliberate sin? These are a few of the contradictions that we seem to think nothing of and have found normal and acceptable in our culture. Why?

We speak Greek everyday in the common English language. “Pandemic” is derived from Greek and includes the name of Pan. According to [wikipedia.org](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u....=https%3A%2F%2Fwikip this is the name of a Greek deity in the form of a hybrid of a goat and a man. We speak this name and many other words contrary to the command of the Most High to “not let the names of false elohym depart from our mouths,” and we usually don’t even consider that doing so is an offense to the Most High. We easily dismiss it by saying something like, “It is English, and we cannot communicate without it.” This is a fair assessment, and the point of this document is not to point fingers at others, because all of us are guilty. It is also not the point of this document to enter into a linguistics debate. The point is to expose the fact that we look at the world through Greek eyes, and we do it every day, from the moment we wake until we lay down at night. We need to be frank with ourselves and admit this, so we can correct it insofar as is possible.

Our democracy is based on Greek government political structures claiming representation of the masses. Our capitol buildings were built with Greek architecture. We have erected spires replicating phallic symbols of power on our churches and other places of worship. We have memorial statues all over the place, raising historical figures onto pedestals. We create epic tales of chivalry and heroic deeds perpetrated by them. We entertain ourselves with our addictions to sports and theater, thriving on fictional and contrived histories, glamorizing the common and deifying the entertainers by calling them “superstars” and immortalizing them in sidewalk plaques – just as the Greeks did.

As a society, we are becoming more and more immune to moral absolutes, and we tolerate those things that YHWH hates as they creep into the things that occupy our time, like tabloids and the daily news. We seek to always learn something new, and feel under-informed if we do not have that - usually ugly news about other people; gossip and slander have become our staples of daily entertainment. Entertainment, itself has to be sensational, and if it helps us to escape the daily life in emotional highs and lows, then we feel like we have accomplished something worthwhile. The stories, fact or fiction or both, mixed and mashed together into a soup of feelings which guides our thinking, teach that morality is based on how we feel at a given moment, rather than teaching that which is laid down by a supreme Elohym.

Even in our religious lives, we accept lies and sin as inevitable and normal. We excuse our lack of obedience by claiming that we are not responsible for our behavior, as if powers beyond our control are working on us to force us to do things we ought not do. We define the Most High in terms that we describe ourselves. Instead of holding ourselves to His standard, we bring Him down to our standard, stating that He “knows our hearts,” and “our hearts love Him” while our bodies do evil. We do this as if He will look upon our rebellion with tenderness and favor, even though He said, “The soul that sins will die.” We have viewed a righteous Elohym as just like one of us, driven by emotion and swayed by human reasoning.

In our thinking, we have an easy time of saying one thing but doing another. This is called Cognitive Dissonance, and we do it without a second thought, believing that we are somehow justified in doing so. We make promises we do not intend to keep, or carelessly break them later because we think we can claim unforeseen circumstances later. We think that we are entitled to what we did not work for and we expect the government to provide for our welfare, even if we do not work. We also expect others to tolerate our behaviors, even though they are incorrect, changing the definitions of terms to make them more acceptable. As an example, instead of saying the one “stole money,” we might say that one “appropriated funds,” or instead of “I lied,” it is I just “stretched the truth.”

In our holidays, we readily accept traditions and activities without really seeing or seeking out the meanings behind them. Our heathen understanding of days are divided into 24 hours starting at midnight, instead of sunset to sunset, as the scriptures show they should be. Our calendars, with the names of foreign elohym and exalted men raise in us no objection. Our year starts in the middle of winter, according to foreign ancient religious practices, yet we reject the calendar laid out in the Torah by YHWH. The common names of the days of the week are those of foreign deities, and we utter them without hesitation, because this is ingrained into our minds from the time we were tiny babies, and because we wish to be like and appease those around us.

Greek philosophy has no room for moral absolutes, but is purely derived by relativism. In relativism, there is no single Truth, but many subjective “truths” are possible. It is based on human logic and the premise that humanity is all there is, and it’s deities are contrived by men to explain our universe. We still act as though the Creator of the universe feels like we feel and is swayed by our human emotions and reasoning, while the real Truth is that we do not understand His ways - though we certainly act and behave as if we think we do.

The real Truth is, I see through Greek eyes every day, from the time I open my eyes until I close them at night, and so do you. I do not want to, but it is really the only way I know. It is how I was raised from birth and taught to think, and it won’t go away easily or quietly. It certainly won’t go away without a lot of effort and change on my part. My best hope is to immerse myself into the ways of YHWH, study His Torah, and to follow Yeshua as he walks in the light according to the will of the Father.

On Chanukkah, we read about a struggle between those who desire to please and obey the Most High, and those who despise and eschew the things of the Most High. It is essentially a battle between a Hebrew mindset or Greek mindset. In fact, we see similar struggles throughout the scriptures and in world history which show that there is “nothing new under the sun.” In a Greek mindset, the Most High is as fickle and emotional as we are and can be put into a box, so that mankind can do whatever it feels is “nice” without fear of accountability or punishment. It is our goal as true believer’s and followers of The Way to grasp and admit this fact - that we see with Greek eyes and think with Greek minds, so that we can adjust our ways of seeing and thinking to The Way in which our Creator sees and thinks, and not the other way around.

The struggle of the Maccabees and others, in scripture and in history, show us that our struggle is not a new one - it is the same old struggle of survival and Life of those who belong to YHWH; those who dare to question their own eyes and minds about the world’s ‘truths,’ then seek a return to perceiving real Life and Truth through His eyes alone. Like Yehudah Maccabee and his family, we should determine to refuse compromise with this evil world and remove all rebelliousness, idol worship and Greek mindset in our lives, then replace those old defiled Temple stones with new ones that are aligned with the will and Word of our Father in heaven. This is the true message of Chanukkah and the book of Maccabees.

May our eyes be sensitive and obedient to His Way and His will alone, casting out those of the world around us without compromise. May we heed the call of Yeshua Hamashiach who said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness.” Amein!

Now, light the candles and let the celebration begin!