Глава III

Description of the courage of Judas Maccabee (1 Mac. 3:1–9). Victory of Judah over Apollonius and Seron (1 Mac. 3:10–26). Antiochus's preparations for the destruction of the Jews and the latter's militia and preparation for a new battle (1 Mac. 3:27–60). 1Mac.3:1-3. And Judas, called Maccabee, his son, rose up in his place. And all his brothers and all who were loyal to his father helped him, and they carried on the war of Israel with joy. He spread the glory of his people; he clothed himself in armor like a giant, girded himself with his military armor and waged war, defending the militia with the sword; “Defending the militia with the sword,” that is, with personal courage and vigilance, not hiding in fortresses and trenches, but giving his camp constant mobility and formidable impressiveness. 1Mak.3:4. he was like a lion in his deeds and was like a skimen roaring at his prey; “Lion” is a favorite image in the Old Testament to designate a courageous military hero (Gen. 49:9; Num. 23:24, etc.) - “Skimen” is a young lion cub “roaring at the prey,” that is, when striving for prey ( Am. 3:4). 1Mak.3:5–6. he pursued the lawless, looking for them, and those who disturbed his people burned. And the wicked humbled themselves out of fear of him, and all the workers of iniquity were troubled before him, and salvation prospered through his hand. “The salvation through his hand was successful,” that is, the work of saving the people from Syrian slavery and torment quickly prospered thanks to such zeal, courage and skill of Judas. 1Mac.3:7. He upset many kings and made Jacob happy with his deeds, and his memory will be blessed forever; “He grieved many kings...” - plunged him into grief, sadness, - “He made Jacob glad...” - a rhetorical designation for the people of Israel. 1Mac.3:8. went through the cities of Judah and destroyed the wicked therein, and turned away wrath from Israel, “He turned away the wrath..., that is, God, from Israel.” – The time of Mattathias was more of a time of hidden struggle against the main enemy of the Jews – Syria. Possessing a strong fortress in Jerusalem, the Syrians still had all the advantages on their side, and went quite far in their successes. But maintaining the state of affairs at the point of this success was already more difficult than reaching it. True, the royal officials went around the entire land of Judea with the royal instructions regarding the introduction of idolatry, successfully pursued those who remained faithful to the Law of Moses, exterminated entire detachments of those fleeing to the mountains and caves, but with all this, obviously, they were not so strong as to prevent Mattathias from also going around all of Judea with a handful of brave men who rallied around him, destroying pagan altars everywhere, circumcising the uncircumcised, to destroy whole masses of apostates. To prevent all this, it was necessary to pull strong military detachments here. But while this was done, Mattathias died, peacefully buried by his sons in the tomb of their fathers, and his place was taken by the no less energetic and brave Judas Maccabeus, who in a very short time managed to further unite and strengthen the position of the Jews. The latter were sufficiently prepared when the Syrians came against them with a strong army under the leadership of Apollonius. 1Mac 3:9–10. and he became famous to the utmost ends of the earth, and gathered together those who were perishing. Then Apollonius gathered the pagans and a large army from Samaria to fight against Israel. “Apollonius,” the commander of the Syrian army, not precisely defined in this place, probably represents one person with the “chief of taxes” mentioned in 1 Mac. 1:29, who in the parallel place of 2 Mac. 5:24 bears the same name. In Josephus he is also called the leader of Samaria - της Σαμάρειας στρατηγός, although this name may be based only on the same verse by the historian himself. 1Mac 3:11–16. Judas found out about this and came out to meet him, and struck and killed him; and many fell slain, and the rest fled. And Judas took their spoil, and took the sword of Apollonius, and fought with it all the days. And Siron, the commander of Syria, heard that Judah had gathered around him people and a host of faithful who were going out with him to war, and said: I will make a name for myself and glorify myself in the kingdom, and I will fight with Judah and with those who are with him and who despise the king’s word. And he decided to go, and a strong horde of the wicked went with him to help him and take vengeance on the children of Israel. When they approached the heights of Bethhoron, Judah came out to meet them with very few, “Bethoron” - was divided by a narrow, steep gorge into upper and lower Bethhoron (Josh. 16:3,5), and had a descent (καταβασις) and an ascent (άνάβασις) - in the area where two small villages are now located - Beit-ur el Foka at the top and Beit-ur el Tachta at the bottom valley, 100 stadia from Jerusalem, on the way to Nicopolis (Emmaus), Joshua 10:10. 1Mac 3:17–24. who, when they saw the army coming towards them, said to Judas: How can we fight in such small numbers against such a strong multitude? And we are completely weak, having not yet eaten today. But Judas said to them: It is easy for many to fall into the hands of a few, and the God of heaven makes no difference whether to save by many or by few; For victory in war does not come from a multitude of troops, but strength comes from heaven. They come against us in a multitude of arrogance and wickedness, to destroy us and our wives and our children, to rob us; and we fight for our souls and our laws. He Himself will crush them before our face; you are not afraid of them. Having stopped speaking, he suddenly rushed at them, and Siron and his army before him were struck. And they pursued him along the descent of Bethhoron to the plain; and up to eight hundred men of them fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines. “They pursued... to the very plain” - That is πεδίον - the plain along the sea coast, from Joppa to the south (Deut. 1:7) to the land of the Philistines inclusive (ή πεδινή, Joshua 15:33 etc., or γή πεδινή - 40 Art. commentary chapter (1 Mac. 3:40), - also known by its proper name ή Σεφηλά). 1Mac 3:25–28. And the fear of Judas and his brothers and the fear of attacking all the surrounding pagans began. His name reached the king, and all the nations told about the battles of Judah. When King Antiochus heard these speeches, he was inflamed with anger and, sending and gathering all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong militia; and opened his treasury, and gave his troops an annual salary, and ordered them to be ready for any need. Deciding to move “all the forces of his kingdom” against Judas, Antiochus first of all gives “his troops an annual salary,” which was probably paid until now very poorly, due to the extremely upset finances of the country; now, with the exertion of all his last strength, he tries, first of all, to satisfy the army with pay, without which it would be impossible to sufficiently rely on his loyalty and demand effort and success from him. – “Be prepared for any need...” – some rightly see here Antiochus’s fears that he will have to deal with the indignation of other peoples under his control, after such a successful experience of the Jews. 1Mac.3:29–31. But he saw that the silver in the treasury was depleted, and the country's taxes were meager due to the unrest and ruin that he caused in that land, destroying the laws that had existed since ancient days. And he began to fear that he would not have enough, perhaps only once or twice, for expenses and gifts, which he had previously distributed with a generous hand and surpassed the previous kings in this. Greatly troubled in his soul, he decided to go to Persia and take taxes from the countries and collect more silver. “I decided to go to Persia...”, more precisely - here we mean Persia in the broad sense of the word - actually, Persis (1 Mac. 3:32), which consisted of Persia and Media together, and in general the Seleucid provinces on the other side of the Euphrates (cf. 1 Mac. 6:56). - “Collect more silver ...” - not just through the collection of legal taxes, but also through indemnities of all kinds, such as, for example, the seizure of church treasures (1 Mac. 6: 1, etc.), the sale of high positions, the conquest and plunder of not yet conquered lands, such as, for example, Armenia, - according to some hints from Appian and Diodorus Sicil., - which was listed after the defeat of Antiochus III in 190 - depending on Rome (Strabo, XI, 14; § 15 and 5). 1Mac.3:32–33. And he left the royal affairs from the Euphrates River to the borders of Egypt to Lysias, a famous man descended from the royal family, and also the education of his son, Antiochus, until his return; “His son Antiochus,” who later reigned with the name Eupator (164–162 BC). 1Mac 3:34–37. and he gave him half the troops and the elephants, giving him orders about everything he wanted, and about the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem, so that he would send an army against them to crush and destroy the power of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem, and destroy their memory from that place, and settle foreign sons throughout their borders, and divide their land by lot. The king took the remaining half of the army and set out from Antioch, his throne city, in the one hundred and forty-seventh year and, crossing the Euphrates River, passed through the upper countries. “The upper countries...”, i.e. those above on the other side of the Euphrates (1 Mac.6:1) - Persia and Media (cf. 2 Mac.9:25; in Polyvius V, 40, 5 - oi άνω τόποι and τά άνω μέρη τής Βασιλείας ). 1Mac.3:38. Lysias chose Ptolemy, the son of Dorymen, and Nicanor and Gorgias, strong men from among the king's friends, “Ptolemy, the son of Dorymen...”, is mentioned in a parallel place in 2 Mac.10:12 - with the nickname Macron - μάκρων. Under Ptolemy, Philometor was made governor of Cyprus, but then handed over this island to Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Mac. 10:13), for which he gained his favor and received control of Lower Syria and Phenicia (2 Mac. 4: 45, 8: 8), but then under Antiochus Eupator fell out of favor and ended his life by poisoning ( 2 Mac. 10: 13). - “Dorimen” - it seems that the Aetolian with the same name who fought with Antiochus the Great when the latter occupied Lower Syria (Polivus V, 61, 9). - “Nicanor” - according to 2 Mac.8:9 - the son of the famous Patroclus, the evil enemy of the Jews, who found his death in the battle with Judas (1 Mac.7:26 etc.; 2 Mac.14-15). – Gorgias and his deeds are described in more detail in 1 Mac.4:1, etc.; 1Mac.5:56 etc.; 2Mac.10:14 and 2Mac.12:32, etc. 1Mac.3:39. and he sent with them forty thousand men and seven thousand horsemen to go into the land of Judah and destroy it according to the word of the king. According to 2 Mac.8:9 - Ptolemy, governor of Lower Syria and Phenicia, sent Nicanor with 20,000 men to Judea to ruin it, and “he added Gorgias to him” as an experienced commander. This can be agreed with the testimony of 1 Mac.3:38–39, assuming that the entire army, given by Lysias to the disposal of three generals, was divided between these generals (1 Mac.4:1) and operated with separate detachments, perhaps not yet so ready that they could all be immediately used in action. 1Mak.3:40. They set out with all their army and arrived and settled down on the plain near Emmaum. “Near Emmaum...” - ' Εμμαούμ (in Josephus Fl. and in Sir. ' Εμμαούς, or A μμαούς) - a city at a distance of about 176 stadia from Jerusalem, on the plain, was turned into a fortress by Bacchides (1 Mac.9:50). Burnt by Quintilius Vadom (Jos. Antt. XVII, 10, 9), under Heliogabalus it was again restored and renamed Nikopolis - the present Arnivas, a miserable village of several houses; cannot be confused with Emmaus (Luke 24), which is 60 stadia from Jerusalem, as some attempted to do (Jerome in Onom.; from the newest - Robinson, bibl. Forsch, s. 190, etc.). 1Mac.3:41. The merchants of this country heard their name and, taking a lot of silver and gold and servants, came to the camp to buy the sons of Israel as slaves; they were joined by the army of Syria and the lands of foreigners. “Their name…”, τό όνομα αύτών – i.e. “rumor about them.” - “Taking... and the servants...” - καί παίδας - necessary to guard the slaves and drive them. Others, however, read here και πέδας - “and fetters”, which seems to be no less true (so in the Sir. translation, and in Josephus - Antt. XII, 7, 3). – The purchase and sale of slaves was one of the most important items of Phoenician and Philistine trade. – According to 2 Mac. 8:10 (cf. 2 Mac. 8: 25,34) Nicanor requested merchants from the coastal cities to purchase future slaves from him, hoping by this to replenish the tribute due from him to the Romans. – Along with the army of Syria, the army of the “land of foreigners” is mentioned; these are probably the Philistines, longtime enemies of their closest neighbors Judea (Judges 14 et c. 1 Samuel 4 et c.), the destruction of which was of utmost interest to them. 1Mac 3:42–43. Judah and his brothers saw that disasters had multiplied, and the armies were encamped within their borders; They also learned about the king’s command, which he ordered to be carried out over the people to their destruction and extermination. And each one said to his neighbor: Let us raise up our overthrown people and fight for our people and for the shrine. “For the holy thing...” – τών άγίων οί τά άγίά, sanctuary, church, as in 1 Mac. 3:51,59, etc. 1Mac.3:44–45. And a multitude gathered to be ready for war and to pray and ask for mercy and pity. Jerusalem was as uninhabited as a desert; there was neither one who entered it nor one who left it from among its natural inhabitants; the sanctuary was trampled down, and the sons of foreigners were in its fortress; it became the dwelling place of the pagans; and Jacob's joy was taken away, and the pipe and zither were no longer heard. A lyrical outpouring of pity for the devastated and desecrated Jerusalem. - “Jerusalem was uninhabited, like a desert...”, closer - this “uninhabitation” is further defined in the sense that “there was neither one who entered it nor one who went out of it from among its natural inhabitants,” and that “it became a dwelling place for the Gentiles...” (cf. 1 Mac. 1:38). - “The sons of foreigners were in his fortress...” (see 1 Mac. 1:33). 1Mac.3:46. So they gathered and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, for the Israelites had previously had a place of prayer in Mizpah. “Mizpah” – Μασσηφά, like Judges.20:1 also Μασφά, 1 Mac.5:35, and Joshua 15:38, 1 Samuel 7:5 etc. – a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:26 – 5 miles from Jerusalem, not far from Ramah, on the site of the present Neby Samnil, on a high mountain with distant views of Jerusalem, the Mediterranean Sea and the East Jordan Mountains. – Here the Israelites gathered to establish punishment for the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20:1,21:1), here Samuel gathered the people to humble himself before the Lord, and with his prayer he asked God for victory over the Philistines (1 Samuel 7). - To these gatherings of the people in Mizpah during the time of the Judges and under Samuel, the remark of 1 Mac. 3:46 applies that “the place of prayer among the Israelites was formerly in Mizpah.” From ancient times, this sacred place was chosen by Samuel for the prayer of the people, after the tabernacle of the meeting, which stood in Shiloh (Joshua 18:26), through the loss of the Ark of the Covenant, lost its significance as the main shrine of Israel. So it is now - the Maccabees chose this same place for public prayer, after Jerusalem passed into the hands of enemies and, together with the church, was subjected to such desecration. 1Mac.3:47–48. And they fasted that day, and put on sackcloth and ashes on their heads, and tore their clothes, and opened the book of the law from those which the heathen had sought out, to make on them the images of their idols, In order to outrage the Mosaic religion and the reverence of the Jews for their sacred books, the pagans made images of their gods on those copies of the law that they found. The Israelites now presented this desecration of the Word of God before the face of the Lord, opening in their prayer meeting one of these desecrated and desecrated books, so that the book itself, by its deed and its sad appearance, would silently cry out to the Lord about this iniquity, and so that the Lord, by this desecration of His Word, would be moved by anger and His righteous vengeance on the lawless. – Hezekiah once did something similar and for the same purpose, bringing to the church before the Face of Jehovah the blasphemous letter of Sennacherib (Sankherib) – 2 Kings 19:14, etc. 1Mac.3:49. and they brought the priestly vestments and the firstborn and the tithes; and they called the Nazarites, who had fulfilled their days, “They brought... the firstborn and the tithes...” The first (πρωτογεννήματα) - were redeemed at the church by making a special sacrifice, the second - went to support the church and priests, Ex. 23:19; Lev.23:10 et c.; Numbers 18:12 etc.; Deut.26:2ff. Lev.27:30ff.; Numbers 18:20 etc. – The Nazarenes, who fulfilled the days of their vows, were also released from them at the church by bringing specially established sacrifices, Numbers 9:5,13; Numbers 6:13 etc. – All these sacred rites established by God remained unable to be performed, due to the desecration and complete devastation of the church, and were now presented to the public as one of the strongest means of inclining the Lord God to help and compassion for distressed Israel. 1Mak.3:50–54. and they cried aloud to heaven: What shall we do with them, and where shall we take them? Your sanctuary is trampled and desecrated, and your priests are in sorrow and humiliation. And behold, the pagans gathered against us to destroy us. You know what they are plotting against us. How can we stand before them if You do not help us? And they sounded the trumpets and shouted with a loud voice. “They sounded the trumpets and shouted with a loud voice...” to express the highest power of prayer and the hope that God will hear it. This technique had its basis in a special prescription of the Word of God (Num. 10:7,10), where the Lord commanded the use of trumpet sounds to convene meetings, to raise the alarm when attacked by enemies and when setting out on a campaign, to express festive joy during sacrifices and prayer. According to the idea of ​​​​the Divine institution, these trumpet sounds were supposed to be a reminder of the people before the God of Israel, and this reminder now especially wanted to be made strong by the people who felt as if abandoned and forgotten by God. 1Mac.3:55. After this, Judah appointed leaders for the people - leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties and leaders of tens. The establishment by Judah of small leaders for the people - leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties and leaders of tens - resurrected the ancient system of the people, introduced by Moses (Num. 31:43,52; 1 Kings 8:12; 2 Kings 1:9, etc.), and this system was intended to facilitate not only military actions, but also the general management of the people in times of peace. 1Mac.3:56. And they said to those who built houses, who became engaged to wives, who planted vineyards, and to the fearful people, that each of them, according to the law, should return to his home. Following exactly the decree of the law in Deut. 20:5-8, Judah releases from the army all those who have just built houses, or become engaged to wives, or planted vineyards - and have not yet had time to take advantage of all this, as well as all the cowardly, fearful, "so that - as they say in the indicated place - he, that is, the fearful, would not make the hearts of his brothers timid, like his heart." 1Mac.3:57. Then the militia moved and encamped south of Emmaum. Having formed a selected army, Judah goes and encamps “in the south of Emmaum,” that is, near the enemy (1 Mac. 3:40), inspiring everyone with an ardent call to “die” in the battle for “our sanctuary.” 1Mac.3:58. And Judas said: Gird yourself, and be of good courage, and be ready in the morning to fight these pagans who have gathered against us to destroy us and our sanctuary. “Gird yourself...” For every important task, the Jews approached it with “a girdle around their loins.” – “And be of good courage...” – καί γίνεοθ είς υιούς δυνατούς (cf. 2 Kings 2:7,13:28); glory more precisely: “and be strong as sons...” 1Mac.3:59–60. For it is better for us to die in battle than to see the disasters of our people and shrines. And whatever will be done in heaven, so do it! The books of Maccabees are translated from Greek because they are not in the Hebrew text.