PRINCETON, N. J. '% BS 2410 .S64 1879 Smith, William, 1813-1893. The student's scripture history Ske/f. i 1 11 .iliL The Students Sgbiptube History. THE NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. WITH AN INTRODUCTION, CONNECTING THE HISTORY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. < EDITED By WILLIAM' smith, D.C.L., LL.D. WITH MAPS AND WOODCUTS. yEW EDITION. LONDON: JOHN MUREAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1879. UNIFORM WITH THIS WORK. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. From the Creation to the Return of the Jews from Captivity. With an Appendix, containing an Introduction to the Books of the Old 'I'estament. With Maps and Woodcuts. Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OP ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. A History of the Christian; Church from the Times of the Apostles to the Full Establishment of the Holy Roman Empire and the Papal Power. By Philip Smith, B.A. With Woodcuts. Post 8vo. 7s. 6(2. THE STUDENT'S MANUAL OF ENGLISH CHURCH HISTORY. From the Accession of Henry Vlllth to the Silencing of Convocation in the Eighteenth Century. By G. G. Perry, M.A. Post 8vo 7s. 6d. THE STUDENT'S ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST. From the Earliest Times to the Conquests of Alexander the Great, including Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Media, Persia, Asia Minor, and Phoenicia. By Philip Smith, B.A. With 70 Woodcuts. (608 pp.) Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS. *'^V^^^. The object of tliis Work is the same as that of the Old Testament History, namely, to supply a Manual of Kew Testament History, which in fulness, accuracy, and use of the best sources of information, may take its place by the side of the Histories of Greece, Eome, England, and France, in the present series. The Work consists of three parts. The First Book gives the connection between Old and Kew Testament History, including the relations of the Holy Land to Persia, Egypt, and Syria, and the narrative sets forth the main facts of the general history of the East during what is called the " Hellenistic " age. To preserve the unity of the subject, this part is brought down to the destruction of Jerusalem. The Appendix contains a full account of the national and religions life of each separate section of the Jewish nation, — of the Dispersion as well as in Judaea, — their Scriptures, worship, and sects; in short, that information respecting them which is necessary to understand the condition of the people at the advent of our Saviour, and the allusions in the Gospels. The Second Book, containing the Gospel History, is designed to present a clear, harmonised account of our Lord's Ministry, as related by the Four Evangelists, illus- trated by all needful collateral information, but free from speculative discussions. Pains have been taken to exhibit N. T. HIST. h VI PREFACE. tlie different chronological views of the highest authori- ties ; and the Appendix contains a discussion of the great question respecting the origin of the Gospels, and a Table of the Gospel Harmony. The Third Book, embracing the Apostolic History, aims at a completeness not previously attained in any similar work. The method, in which Paley led the way, of using the Epistles of St. Paul, not only to supply the incidents omitted in the Acts, but to set the Apostle's spirit and character in a vivid light, has been followed throughout. Similar use is made of the Epistles of Peter, John, and James, and the section is completed by a summary of all that is really known, both of the other Apostles and of the persons associated with them in the History. The unity of this part is preserved by bringing it down to the destruction of Jerusalem ; and that catastrophe which closes the first book as an historic event, is now exhibited, in the light of our Lord's great prophecy, as the epoch of His coming in the fall establishment of the Christian Church. The History embodies much valuable matter from the Dictionary of the Bible, and in particular from the Arch- bishop of York's articles on the life of our Saviour and on the Gospels, as well as from the different articles on the Apostles and the books of the New Testament and Apocrypha. The appearance of Mr. Lewin's Fasti Sacri has aided the Editor in giving the work that chronological completeness which will be especially seen in the Tables. Wm. SMITH. London, November, 1866. CONTENTS. BOOK I. CONNECTION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT HISTORIES, AND SECULAR HISTORY OF THE JEWS TO THE DESTRUC- TION OF JERUSALEM. B.C. 400-A.D. 70. Chap, Tage B.C. 400-1G8. I. From Nehemiah to the Persecution of An- TiocHus Epiphanes 1 Notes and Illustrations : — Kings of the Greek Kingdom of Syria .. .. 18 B.C. 168-106. n. The Maccab^an War OF Independence .. 19 Notes and Illustrations : — (A.) The Asmonac-aa Family 42 (B.) Modia and the Sepulchre of the Maccabees . . 42 B.C. 106-37. III. The AsMONiE AN Kingdoms 44 Notes and Illustrations : — (A.) The Sanhedrim 54 (B.) Pedigree of the Herodian Family 56 B.C. 37-4. IV. Herod the Great 57 Notes and Illustrations: — (A.) The Herodians .. .. 72 (B.) Temple of Herod 73 B.C. 4 — A.D. 70. V. Secular Hisiory of the Jews, from the Death of Herod to the Destruction of Jerusalem 75 Notes and Illustrations : — Governors of Syria 112 APPENDIX TO BOOK I. Sect. I. The Several Branches of the Jewish People 113 n. The Jewish Scriptures 124 III. New Forms of Worshij) — The Synagogues .. 131 IV. Sects of the Jews 187 CONTENTS. BOOK II. THE HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST; OR, THE REVELATION OF THE GOSPEL. Chap. Page B.C.5— A.U.26. VI. Birth and Early Life of John and Jesus .. 149 Notes and Ulustrations : — (A.) Genealogy of Jesus Christ 162 (B.) Date of the Birth of Jesus Christ . . . . 163 (C.) Cyrenius and the Census 164 (D.) Bethlehem 164 (E.) Nazai-eth 165 A.D. 26-27. VII. Our Saviour's Early Ministry. From the Preaching of John the Baptist to Christ's First Passover 166 Notes and Illustrations : — (A.) The Publicans 181 (B.) Place of our Lord's Baptism 182 A.D. 27-28. VIII. First Year of Christ's Ministry. From His First Passover to His Second Visit to Jerusalem, probably at the Passover .. 183 Notes and Illustrations :— (A.) Scene of our Lord's Ministry 209 (B.) Duration of our Lord's Ministry 210 (C.) Galilee 211 A.D. 28-29. IX. The Sequel of Christ's Ministry in Galilee, from after His Second Passover, in a.d. 28, to near the Feast of Tabernacles, a.d. 29 212 Notes and Illustrations : — (A.) The Brethren of the Lord 236 (B.) The Parables of Christ 237 (C.) The Scene of the Transfiguration . . . . 240 a.d. 29-30. X. The Last Six Months of Christ's Ministry. From the Feast of Tabernacles, a.d. 29, TO His Fourth Passover, a.d. 30 . . . . 241 A.n. 30. XL The Passion of our Lord. From Palm Sunday to Easter Eve, April 1st to April 7th, a.d. 30 253 Notes and Illustrations : — (A.) The Mount of Olives.. , 284 (B.) The Paschal Supper . . 287 , (C.) Crucifixion 289 (D.^ The Site of the Holy Sepulchre 29C CONTENTS. ix Chap. Pagh A-D. 30. XII. The Resuerection and Ascen'sion op Christ. P'rom Easter Day to Ascension Day, April 8th TO May 17th, A.D. 30 291 Notes and Illusirations : — Mr. Lewin's Scheme of the Chronology of oar Lord's Life 301 APPENDIX TO BOOK 11. The Four Gospels 302 Table of the Harmony of the Four Gospeb 315 BOOK III. HISTORY OF THE APOSTLES ; OR, THE FOUNDING OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. A.D. 30-37. XIII. The Church in Palestine to the Dispersion of THE Christians from Jerusalem 319 Notes and Ulustratiom : — Simon Magus 339 A.D. 37-40. XIV. Conversion of St. Paul 340 Table of St. Paul's Life 356 A.D. 40-481 XV. From after the Conversion of St. Paul to or 50 / THE Decree of the First Council at Jerusa- lem, including the First Missionary Journey of Paul AND Barnabas 361 A.D. 49 orlXVI. St. Paul's Second, or Great Missionary Jour- 51-53 or 54 J ney, and the Entrance of the Gospel into Europe 387 Notes and Illustrations : — (A.) The Visit of Galatians II 421 (B.) Thessalonica 422 A.D. 54-60. XVII. St. Paul's Third Missionary Journey; his Arrest AT Jerusalem, and Imprisonment at C^sarea 423 A D. 60-63. XVIII. St. Paul's First Imprisonment at Rome. From his Hearing before Festus to his Release 468 Notes and Illustrations : — (A.) Laodicea 509 (B.) The Epistle to the Ephesians, and the Laodicean Epistle mentioned in Coloss. iv. IG 510 xii ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Bethany 241 Gethsemane 253 Mount of Olives 291 Jerusalem 319 Tarsus 340 Antioch 361 Thessalonica 387 Ruins of the Theatre at Ephesus 423 Greek Imperial Coin of Ephesus and Smyrna allied 438 Greek Imperial Copper Coin (" medallion ") of Laodicea of Phrygia . . 440 Caesarea 468 Ancient Ship 509 Stairs of the modern Capitol at Rome 513 Colossae 553 NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. View of the Lake of .Antioch. BOOK I. CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT HIS- TORIES, AND SECULAR HISTORIES OF THE JEWS TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. B.C. 400-A.D. 70. CHAPTER L FROM NEHEMIAH TO THE PERSECUTION OF AKTIOCHUS EPIPHAlSrES. B.C. 400-168. $ 1. Interval of four centuries between the Old and New Testaments — Four periods: — Per&ian, Greek, Asmonaean, and Herodian. $ 2. Judasa under the Persians— The high-priests Eliashib, Jouda, Jonathan or Johanan— Murder of Joshua. $ 3. Jaddua — Close of the Old Testament Canon — Alexander the Great- Rebellion of the Samaritan?. $ 4. Onias T.— Division of Alexander's empire— Jerufabm taken 6y Ptolemy I.— Judaea subject to Egypt. $ 5. Simon I. the Just —The Ideal of a N. T. HIST. B 2 FROM NEHEMIAH TO ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. Chap. L high-priest -- The New Synagogue — Antigonus Socho. $ 6. Elkazar, under Ptolemy IL Philadelphus — Version of the T.XX. — Manasseh — Onxas U.— Offends Ptolemy IIL Euergetes — Joseph, son of Tobias. $ 7. Simon U. — Wars of Syria and Egypt — Ptolemy IV. Philopator profanes'the Temple — Antiochus ILL the Great — Judaea becomes subject to Syria. $ 8. Onias UL, under Seleucus IV Philopator — Legend of Heliodorus — Simon, treasurer of the Temple — Accession of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes — Jason and Menelatis — Introduction of Hellenic customs — Death of Onias IIL $ 9. Antiochus in Egypt — Tumult at Jerusalem Expulsion and death of Jason — Antiochus storms Jerusalem and profanes the Temple — Fate of Menelaus. $ 10. Sack of Jerusalem by Apollonius — Great persecution, conducted by Athenaeus — Martyrdom of Eleazar and of the Seven Bre*Jiren — Death of Antiochus Epiphanes. $ 11. Silence of the heathen historians on this period of Jewish history — Allusion to it by Tacitus. $ 12. State of the Jewish nation, religious, political, and social — The antagonism of princes and priests — Of Hellenism and patriotism. § 1.. The interval of four centuries, from the close of the records of the Old Covenant to the events which heralded the birth of Jesus Christ, may be divided into four periods : — the continuance of the Persian dominion, till B.C. 331 ; the Greek empire in Asia, B.C. 331- 167 ; the independence of Judsea under the Asmonsean princes B.C. 167-63 ; and the rule of the house of Herod, commencing in B.C. 40, and extending beyond the Christian era to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The last two periods -also include the relations of Judaea to Home. There is little that possesses any great intrinsic interest, except the struggle of the Maccabees for religion and liberty against Antiochus Epiphanes; but the whole period demands our notice as a preparation for understanding the state in which we find the Jews at the opening of the New Testament, their moral and political condition, their views and opinions, their sects and parties. § 2. The first two of these periods — a space just equal to that from the death of Elizabeth to the accession of Victoria — form almost a blank in the history of the Jews. They seem to have been content to develop their internal resources and their religious institutions under the mild government of Persia. We cannot decide how far the princes of Judah retained any remnant of their patriarchal authority ; but from the time of Nehemiah the High-Pbiest became the most important person in the state ; and the internal government grew more and more of a hierarchy. In the genealogies of the period, the Levites were recorded as the chief of the fathers. The high-priests from the time of Nehemiah to the end of the empire under Darius Codomannus were Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan (or Johanan), and Jaddua.^ Eliashib the high-priest in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, was succeeded by his son Joiada,^ and he by his son Jonathan or » Neh. xii. 22. I refer either to Eliashib or Joiada ; if to the 2 Neh. xii. 10, xiii. 28. The title " the latter, he became high-priest in the time of Ligh-priest," in the second passage, may | Nehemiah. it was one of his sous that B.C. 332. J-^DDUA AND ALEXANDER 3 JouANAN (John), down to whose time the heads of the tribe of Levi were entered in the Chronicles of Judah, which seem therefore to have ended with his priesthood.' The high-priesthood of Jonathan, which lasted thirty-two years, chiefly in the long reign of Artaxerxes II. Mnemon (b.c. 405-359), was stained by the first of those acts of murderous rivalry, which after- wards brought the state to anarchy. His brother, Joshua (Jesus), who was suspected of aiming at the high-priesthood by the favour of Bagoses the Persian satrap, was slain by Jonathan in the temple. The satrap punished the murder by a tax of fifty shekels on every lamb offered in sacrifice, and polluted the temple by his presence."* But even in so doing, the Persian taught the Jews the much- needed lesson afterwards enforced by a far higher authority : — " Am not I purer," he said, " than the dead body of him whom ye have slain in the temple ? " This crime forms the only memorable event in the annals of Judsea, from the government of Nehemiah to the Macedonian con- quest, if we except a doubtful accoimt that the country was chas- tised, and a number of Jews carried captive to Babylon, for their alleged participation in the revolt of the Sidonians under Artaxerxes Ochus (B.C. 351). § 3. Jaddua, the son and successor of Jonathan, is the last of the high-priests mentioned in the Old Testament ; and his is the latest name in the Old Testament, w4th the doubtful exception of a few in the genealogies prefixed to the Chronicles. Its insertion in the Book of Nehemiah is a guide to the time w^hen the Canon of the Old Testament was finally closed.^ Eusebius assigns twenty years to the pontificate of Jaddua, who was high-priest both under Darius Codomannus (b.c. 336-331) and after the fall of the Persian Empire. Josephus tells a romantic story of an interview between Jaddua and Alexander the Great.'' While Alexander was besieging Tyre, he sent to demand the sub- mission of the Jews, who answered that they were the faithful vassals of Darius (b.c. 332). After taking Gaza, Alexander marched married the danghter of Sanballat the also the priests, to the reign of Darius the Horouite {Old Testament History, p. 549). Persian," where the epithet has been A complete list of the high-priests and thought to suggest that the passage was the contemporary civil rulers is given in written after the fall of the Persian empire, the Old Testament History, Appendix to ; If, as is now generally admitted, the pas- Book III, $ 4, notes, &c, pp. 200-201. sage in 1 Chr. iii. 22-24 is spurious, the 3 Neh. xiL 11, 22, 23. " The sons of Levi, | name of Jaddua is the last mentioned in the chief of the fathers, were written in i the Old Testament Canon. the book of the Chronicles, even unto the days of tTohanan, the son of Eliashib." * About B.C. 366. Jospph. Ant. xi. 7, $ 1. 5 Neh. xii. 11, 22. " The Levites, in the 6 Respecting the apostasy of ilanasseh. whom Josephus places in the time of Darius and Alexander, and makes the first priest of the schismatic temple on Movmt days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Gerizim, see Old Testament History, cha.p, Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers ; ' xxviL } 10. B 2 4 FROM NEHEMIAH TO ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES Chap. I. against Jerusalem. Jaddua, by the command of Goa in a vision, hung the city with garlands, and went forth in solemn procession to meet the conqueror at Sapha (the watch), an eminence in full sight of the city and the temple. On seeing the high-priest in his state robes, the priests in their sacred dresses, and the people clothed in white, Alexander fell prostrate in adoration, and rising, embraced the high-priest. To the remonstrances of Parmenio he replied that he worshipped, not the priest, but the Name engraved upon his frontlet, and that he recognised in him a figure that had appeared to him in a vision in Macedonia, and bidden him to conquer Persia. Entering Jerusalem, he offered sacrifice, and was shown the prophecies of Daniel relating to himself. He granted the Jews, not only in Judaea, but also in Media and Babylonia, the free enjoyment of their own laws, and exemption from tribute during the Sabbatic year.'' The story is discredited by the best critics, on account of its internal improbabilities, approaching to contradictions, and the silence of the historians of Alexander.' The statement of Justin,^ that on Alexander's advance into Syria he was met by many Eastern Princes with their diadems, affords some confirmation to the story of the high-priest's coming out to meet him in person. It is cer- tain that Jerusalem and Judaea submitted to the conqueror, and there are traces subsequently of the privileges he is said to have granted to the Jews. Alexander's homage to Jehovah, and his pleasure at being named as the instrument of destiny, are points thoroughly consistent with his character. There is nothing impro- bable in his having received the submission of Jud^a from the high- priest and princes about the time of the siege of Gaza. At all events, Jerusalem was too important to have been passed over by Alexander himself, as it is by the historians.**' He enlisted Jewish soldiers, and removed a large number of Jews to Egypt, to aid in peopling his new city of Alexandria." The Samaritans are said to have claimed the same privileges as the Jews, which Alexander refused to grant. Hence probably arose the rebellion in which they murdered the Macedonian governor, Andromachus, and which Alexander punished by the destruction of Samaria.^ Palestine thenceforth remained quiet under Alexander, who died in B.C. 323. The Macedonian conqueror must not, however, be dismissed with- out some further notice of his real place in Jewish history, and in ? Joseph. Ant. si. 8, the Talmud, aud historians of the Greek kingdom of Syria, later Jewish writers. is an indication already of that somewhat * Arrian (iii. 1) expressly says that affected contempt which at a later period Alexander marched from Gaza to Pelusium was expressed by Tacitus (Hist. v. 8). in seven days. ® Hist. xi. 10. j n Hecat. ap. Joseph, c. Apion. i. 22. i« This silence must not be overestimated. »2 Curt. iv. 8, 10. Andromachus was The neglect of the Maccabsean war by the burned alive at Samaria. B.C. 332. IKFLUENCE OF ALEXANDER. 6 the sacred history of the world — a place not dependent on auy incidental circnmstances. such as his visit to Jerusalem. Tn the prophetic visions of Daniel the influence of Alexander is necessarily combined with that of his successors. They rejiresented the several phases of his character ; and to the Jews nationally the policy of the Syrian kings was of greater importance than the original conquest of Asia. But some traits of " the first mighty king " ^^ are given with vigorous distinctness. The emblem by which he is typified" suggests the notions of strength and speed; and the universal extent and marvellous rapidity of his conquests are brought forward as the characteristics of his power, which was directed by the strongest personal impetuosity.^ He " ruled with great do- minion, and did according to his will ; and there was none that could deliver . . . out of his hand." ^® The tradition of his visit to Jerusalem, whether true or false to fact, presents an aspect of Alexander's character which has been frequently lost sight of by his recent biographers. He was not simply a Greek, nor must he be judged by a Greek standard. The Orientalism, which was a scandal to his followers, was a necessaiy deduction from his principles, and not the result of caprice or vanity. He approached the idea of a universal monarchy from the side of Greece, but his final object was to establish something higher than the paramount supremacy of one people. His purpose was to com- bine and equalise — not to annihilate : to wed the East and West in a just union — not to enslave Asia to Greece. The time, indeed, was not yet come when this was possible ; but if he could not accomplish the great issue, he prepared the way for its accomplishment. The first and most direct consequence of the policy of Alexander was the weakening of nationalities, the first condition necessary for the dissolution of the old religions. The swift course of his victories, the constant incorporation of foreign elements in his armies, the fierce wars and changing fortunes of his successors, broke down the barriers by which kingdom had been separated from kingdom, and opened the road for larger conceptions of life and faith than had hitherto been possible. The contact of the East and West brought out into practical forms thoughts and feelings which had been con- fined to the schools. Paganism was deprived of life as soon as it was transplanted beyond the narrow limits in which it took its shape. The spread of commerce followed the progress of arms ; and the Greek language and literature vindicated their claim to be con- sidered the most perfect expression of human thought by becoming practically universal. »3 Dan. viii 21, xL 3. I face of the whole earth ... he touched ^* A he-goat, from the Hebr. " tsftphar," not the ground." Dan. viii. 6. "In ihe ?ie leapt. j fury of his power." ^ Dan. viiL 5. " From the west on the '^ Dan. viii. 7, xL 3. 6 FROM NEHEMIAH TO ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. Chap. 1. The Jews were at once most exposed to the powerful iafluencea thus brought to bear upon the East, and most able to support them. In the arrangement of the Greek conquests, which followed the battle of Ipsus B.C. 301, Judaea was made the frontier land of the rival empires of Syria and Egypt, and though it was necessarily subjected to the constant vicissitudes of war, it was able to make advantageous terms with the state to which it owBd allegiance, from the important advantages which it offered for attack or defence. Internally also the people were prepared to withstand the effects of the revolution which the Greek dominion effected. The constitu- tion of Ezra had obtained its full development. A powerful hierarchy had succeeded in substituting the idea of a church for that of a state, and the Jew was now able to wander over the world and yet remain faithful to the God of his fathers. The same constitu- tional change had strengthened the intellectual and religious posi- tion of the people. A rigid fence of ritualism protected the course of common life from the license of Greek manners ; and the great doctrine of the unity of God, which was now seen to be the divine centre of their system, counteracted the attractions of a philosophic pantheism. Through a long course of discipline, in which they had been left unguided by prophetic teaching, the Jews had realised the nature of their mission to the world, and were waiting for the means of fulfilling it. The conquest of Alexander furnished them with the occasion and the power. But at the same time the example of Greece fostered personal as well as popular independence. Judaism was speedily divided into sects, analogous to the typical forms of Greek philosophy. But even the rude analysis of the old faith was productive of good. The freedom of Greece was no less instrumental in forming the Jews for their final work than the con- templative spirit of Persia, or the civil organization of Eome ; for if the career of Alexander was rapid, its effects were lasting. The city which he chose to bear his name perpetuated in after ages the office which he providentially discharged for Judaism and mankind ; and the historian of Christianity must confirm the judgment of Arrian, that Alexander, " who was like no other man, could not have been given to the world without the special design of Provi- dence." And Alexander himself appreciated this design better even than his great teacher ; for it is said " that when Aristotle urged him to treat the Greeks as freemen and the Orientals as slaves, he found the true answer to this counsel in the recognition of his divine mission to unite and reconcile the world. § 4. Jaddua was succeeded, some time before the death of Alexander, by his son Onias L, who was high-priest from about B.C. 330 to B.C. 309, or, according to Eusebius, B.C. 300. In the »7 Plutarch, de Alex. Or. 1,^6. B.C. SOO. SIMON THE JUST. 7 division of the empire of Alexander, Palestine was treated, as it had always been considered by the Greeks, as a part of Syria ; and so it fell to the lot of Laomedon, who was dispossessed, in B.C. 321-320, by Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, the powerful satrap of Egypt. Ptolemy took Jerusalem by assaulting it on the Sabbath, when the Jews would offer no resistance.^ He carried off a large number " of Jewish and Samaritan captives to Alexandria, where he gave them the full citizenship ; and many others migrated to Egypt of their own accord. In the wars that followed, Palestine was alternately the prize of victory to Antigonus and Ptolemy, till the peace which followed the battle of Ipsus assigned it to Ptolemy, with Phoenicia and Coelesyria, as a dependency of the kingdom of Egypt, B.C. 301. It was subject to the first five Ptolemies for about a century B.C. 301- 198. The sufferings inflicted upon Palestine and Phoenicia by the wars of the Diadochi (as the successors of Alexander were called in Greek) were almost confined to the maritime regions, where the strong cities, such as Gaza, Joppa, and Tyre, were the chief objects of contention. As in the old wars between Assyria and Egypt, Jerusalem lay out of the direct track of the combatants. § 5. Just after the battle of Ipsus, the high-priesthood passed to Simon I. the Just, son of Onias I. (about b.c. 300-292). Jewish tradition makes him the greatest of this later line of priests. In the magnificent eulogy of Jesus the son of Sirach, Simon is said to have fortified the temple, doubling the height of the wall, and to r^vo maintained the divine service in the highest splendour. " When he put on the robe of honour, and. was clothed with the perfection of glory, when he went up to the holy altar, he made the garment of holiness honourable." ^ Other traditions make Simon the last sur- vivor of the Great Synagogue of 120,^* who returned with Ezra from the Babylonish Captivity, and ascribe to him the final completion of their great work, the Canon of the Old Testament. They were succeeded by the New Synagogue, whose office was to interpret the Scriptures thus completed. Its founder was Antigonus Sochc, the first writer of the Mishna. He is said to have received from Simon the Just the body of oral tradition handed down from Moses. To him also is ascribed the doctrine, that God ought to be served disinterestedly, and not for the sake of reward ; which was perverted by one of his disciples into the denial of all future rewards and Dean Milman well calls it " the ideal of the pomp and majesty of a high-priest." The Talmudists pronounce high eulogiums on a "Simon the Just" (Simon ha Zaddick), •8 Joseph, c. Ap. i. 22 ; Ant. xii. 1. 19 Aristeas says 100,000. There seems to be a confusion between this state- ment and that of the 100,000 Jews whom Alexander is said to have settled at Alex- andria. "" Ecclesiasticus 1. The whole passage gives a strong impression of the order and purity of divine worship at this period. without specifying whether they mean Simon I. or Simon II. in fact the charac- teristics of both seem to be blended in their description. 21 See Old Testament History, p. 554 8 FROM NEHEMIAH TO ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. Chap. I. punishments. That disciple was Zadok (or Sadduc), founder of the Sadducees. But the tradition rests on insuflScient evidence, and the etymology is extremely doubtful.22 The fondness with which Jewish tradition regarded the priesthood of Simon, as the best period of the restored theocracy, is indicated by the prodigies which were said to have heralded impending disaster at its close. " The sacrifices, which were always favourably accepted during his life, at his death became uncertain or unfavour- able. The scape-goat, which used to be thrown from a rock, and to be dashed immediately to pieces, escaped (a fearful omen) into the desert. The great west light of the golden chandelier no longer burned with a steady flame — sometimes it was extinguished. The sacrificial fire languished ; the sacrificial bread failed, so as not to suSiee, as formerly, for the whole priesthood." (Milman.) § 6. Simon the Just was succeeded by his brother Eleazar, his son Onias being under age (b.c. 292-251).23 His long rule seems to have been profoundly tranquil, under the mild governments of Ptolemy I. Soter (the son of Lagus), and Ptolemy II. Philadel- PHUS, who succeeded his father in B.C. 285 and reigned till B.C. 247. To this king's literary tastes, and to the co-oporation of Eleazar, the tradition preserved by Aristcas ascribes the Greek Version of the Jewish Scriptures, which is called the Septuagint, from its seventy or seventy-two translators.^'* Much as there is erroneous and even fabulous in the tradition, there can be no doubt that the first portion of ihe translation was executed at this time by learned Jews at Alexandria. The work marks an important epoch in Jewish history ; not merely the embodiment of the sacred writings in a form in which they might act upon the Gentile world, but, conversely, the growing strength of those influences which are denoted by the general name of Hellenism. The conquests of Alexander, and the kingdoms founded by his successors in Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, had led to a most powerful infusion of Greek population, manners, literature, art, and religion throughout Western Asia, and Greek was rapidly becoming a universal language in that region. The Jews of Egypt, whose numbers, from the successive migrations we have noticed, were now very large, had doubtless become so far hellenized, that a Greek version of the Scriptures may have been as much needed for their use as for Ptolemy's curiosity. Thus it happened, in the Divine Providence, that the growth of Oriental Hellenism prepared the way for the spread of Chi-istianity, not only by imbuing half the world with a common civilization and a common language, but by providing in that language the sacred 22 See Appendix to Book L On the I held it after him till b.c. 240. Sects of the Jews. \ *■ Joseph. Ant. xii. 2. See Appendix to 25 Manasseh, the brother of Eleazar, was Book L associated with him in the priesthood, and B.C. 240. ONUS II. AND SIMON II. 9 standard of divine truth, by which the Messiah's claims were to be established, and the words of which he was to fulfil. But mean- while that same Hellenism brought upon the Jews a new series of national trials. The Jews of Palestine appear to have been thus far singularly free from hellenizing tendencies ; but the time soon came when their exemption was no longer preserved. After the successive rules of his uncles Eleazar and Manasseh, Onias II. at length entered on the high-priesthood in B.C. 240. He endangered the long friendship with Egypt by neglecting to pay the annual tribute of twenty talents to Ptolemy III. Euergetes, who had succeeded his father in B.C. 247. The high-priest's unseasonable avarice led to the first interruption of that kindly policy which the first three Ptolemies had uniformly preserved towards Judsea, and he was too indolent to obey the summons to answer for his conduct, under the threat of invasion. An open rupture was only averted by the policy of the high-priest's nephew, Joseph, the son of Tobias, who forms as great a contrast to his uncle, as Antipater and Herod afterwards did to the imbecile Hyrcanus. Jo,seph borrowed the money for his journey from some rich Samaritans, and travelled to Alexandria in the company of certain Phoenician merchants, from whom he learnt the sum they intended to bid for the farming of the tribute of Palestine, Phoenicia, and Coelesyria. Having succeeded in appeasing Ptolemy by representing the weakness of Onias, Joseph ojBTered to double the sum of 8000 talents, at which the merchants proposed to farm the revenues ; and, when asked for his sureties, named the king and queen themselves, secure in the progress he had made in the royal favour.^^ He obtained the contract. By a few severe examples, as at Ascalon and Scythopolis, he succeeded in discharging his ofl&ce, and in establishing a civil authority side by side with that of the high-priest. His rule lasted for twenty-two years, and the power which he had set up in the state became a source of evils as great as the danger from which he had delivered it. § 7. Onias II. died in B.C. 226, and was succeeded by his son Simon II.; and four years later the crown of Egypt passed to Ptolemy IV. Philopator (b.c. 222-205). Meanwhile the rival kingdom of the Seleucidie, in Syria, had reached the climax of iis ].x)wer, and the throne had just been ascended by the most ambitious of its kings, Antiochus III. the Great (b.c. 223-187). He made war on Ptolemy for the provinces of Phoenicia, Coelesyria, and Palestine ; but was defeated at the battle of Raphia, near Gaza, e.g. 217. After this victory, Ptolemy went to Jerusalem; and, not con- tent with offering sacrifices, he entered the Holy of Holies, whence he is said to have been driven out by a supernatural ten-or. He 25 It is recorded, as a proof of the goodwill of Pto!tmy Euergetes to the Jews, that he offered sacrifices at Jerusalem. S 3 10 FROM NEHEMIAH TO ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. Chap. I. gave vent to his resentment by a crael persecution of the Jews at Alexandi'ia, the first example of such a measure for nearly 200 years. Its consequence was the alienation of the Jews both of Palestine and Egypt. The death of Ptolemy Philopator, when his son Ptolemy Y. Epiphanes ^^ (B.C. 205-181) was only five years old, gave a new open- mg to the ambition of Antiochus the Great. That king, who had been occupied for the last twelve years in subduing a revolt in Asia Minor and attempting in vain to recover the provinces beyond the Tigris from the Parthians and Bactrians, formed a league with Philip V. of Macedoit, for the partition of Ptolemy's dominions. After a fierce contest, in which Judaea suffered severely, Antiochus became master of Coelesyria and Palestine (b.c. 198). The Jews, who had again been ill-treated by Scopas, the general of Ptolemy, welcomed Antiochus as a deliverer. He granted them an annual sum for the sacrifices, and forbade foreigners to enter the temple. § 8. In the same year, Simon II. was succeeded in the high- priesthood by his son Onias III. (e.g. 198-171). The conquered provinces were restored to Ptolemy Epiphanes as the dowry of his bride, Cleopatra, the daughter of Antiochus ; but the Syrian king did not give up their possession ; and he resumed them altogether by the treaty with Eome in B.C. 188. He lost his life in the following year. It is under his son and successor, Seleucus IV. Philopator (b.c. 187-175), that the writer of the Second Book of Maccabees places the attempt of Heliodorus to seize the treasures of the temple, and his miraculous repulse.^' The story, of which Josephus knows nothing, illustrates the tendency of apocryphal writers to adorn their books with feeble imitations of the miracles recorded in the Scrip- tures. All we know for certain is, that Onias could scarcely main- tain his favour with Seleucus against the machinations of Simon, the treasurer of the temple, who is said to have instigated the sacrilege ; and the bloody feud thus commenced between the partisans of the high-priest and those of Simon hastened the calamities that followed the transfer of the supremacy to Syria.^' The accession of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes (b.c. 175-164) secured the triumph of the Syrian party in Judsea. This prince, whose conduct, as well as his end, gained him the nickname of Epimanes (the madman) had been sent by his father, Antiochus the Great, as a hostage to Pvome. He returned with a contempt for his subjects added to that love of oriental luxury which the kings of Syria had now acquired ; but his vices might have been chiefly dangerous to 26 This is the king whose coronation decree, inscribed on the "llosetta Stone," has afforded the foundation for the art of deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphics. »7 2 :VLaoc, iiL 28 Simon is called a Bergamite. Upon the difficulties respecting the family to which he belonged, and the exact nature of his office, see Diet, of Bible, vol. iii. p. 1319, &c. B.C. 172. JASON AND MENELAUS. 1 1 himself had not his Eoman education inflamed the ambition which he inherited from his father. He found the Jewish high-priest at Antioch, whither Onias had gone to clear himself from the accusa- tions of Simon, which were hacked by the hostility of Apollonius, the governor of Coelesyria. The Greek party were represented, not only by Simon, but by the high-priest's own brother, Joshua (Jesus), who went so far as to adopt the Greek name cf Jason. By an enormous bribe in money and promises of annual tribute, Jason (B.C. 175-172) obtained the high-priesthood, while Onias III. was deposed, and detained at Antioch.^* For the first time, Greek cus- toms were openly introduced into Judgea, with a success which shows to what an extent the Jews had already become hellenized in spirit. Not content with surrendering the privileges of free wor- ship obtained from former kings,*^ and neglecting the services of the temple, Jason built a gymnasium, where the Jewish youth prac- tised the Greek athletic exercises, some of them even obliterating the mark of circumcision.^^ Jason also sent representatives to the quinquennial games of the Tyrian Hercules, with large presents, which even his envoys scrupled to apply to the heathen sacrifices, • but bestowed them for building ships.^^ In three years, however, Jason was in his turn undermined by Menelaus (B.C. 172-168),^ whom he had sent to Antioch with the tribute, and who obtained the high-priesthood by flattering the king's vanity and offering a higher bribe. He arrived at Jerusalem, " having the fury of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a wild beast," while Jason fled to the Ammonites.** Unable to raise the money he had promised, Menelaus was summoned to Antioch. He sold some of the vessels of the temple to the Tyrians, in order to bribe Andronicus, who governed Antioch during the king's absence in Cilicia. The deposed high-priest, Onias, who was still at Antioch, charged Menelaus with the sacrilege, and fled for sanctuary to the sacred grove of Daphne. At the instigation of Menelaus, Andronicus enticed Onias from the sanctuary and put him to death (b.c. 171). Antiochus, who returned about this time, was moved to pity by the blameless character of Onias ; and, perceiving doubtless the treason- able schemes of Andronicus, he put fhe murderer to death. Mean- while a great tumult had broken out at Jerusalem, in consequence of the sacrileges committed by Lysimachus, the brother and deputy of 2 Maca iv. 1-9, I ^ According to Josephus, this was a 30 It appears from 2 Mace. iv. ll, that theae privil^es had been recently ratified through the agency of John, the father of Enpolemus, whom Judas Maccabaeus after- wards sent as an envoy to Rome. 3> 1 Mace i 10-15; 2 Mace. iv. 10-17, " 2 Mace. iv. 18-20. younger brother of Onias III. and Jasou, who had changed his own name, Onias, to Menelaus {Ant. xii. 5, $ 1) ; but in 2 Mace, iv. 23, he is made the brother of Simon the Benjamite. If so, his usurpation carried the high-priesthood out of the house of Aaron. *• 2 Mace. iv. 23-26, 12 FROM NEHEMIAH TO ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. Chap. 1. Menelaus. Lysimachus was killed, and Menelaus was accused before Antiochus, when he reached Tyre on his way to attack Egypt ; but Menelaus escaped through bribery, and his accusers were punished for the insurrection.^ § 9. We must here glance at the relations of Syria towards Egypt. Ptolemy VI. Philometor was an infant when he succeeded his father in B.C. 181 ; but the government was ably conducted by his mother Cleopatra, the sister of Antiochus Epiphanes. Her death (B.C. 173) led to a war with Syria, and Antiochus successfully con- ducted four campaigns against Egypt (b.c. 171-168), from which he only retired on the haughty mandate of the Eoman ambassador, M. Popillius Lgenas. During the second of these campaigns (b.c. 170), a report was spread of the king's death. Jason attacked Jeru- salem at the head of 1000 men, and drove Menelaus into the citadel ; but, after great cruelties against the citizens, he was compelled to fly to the land of Ammon. Thence he fled to Egypt, and afterwards to Sparta, where he sought protection on some claim of kindred, and there he " perished in a strange land." '* Meanwhile his attempt had the most extraordinary consequences in the history of the Jews. Antiochus was led to believe that Judsea had revolted, an idea no doubt encouraged by Menelaus, in order to get rid of his own ene- mies. The king returned from Egypt in a state of fury ; took Jeru- salem by storm, slaying young and old, women and maidens. Forty thousand fell in the conflict, and as many were sold into slavery. Guided by Menelaus, he entered the temple, profaned the altar by the sacrifice of a swine, and having caused part of its flesh to be boiled, he sprinkled the broth over the whole sanctuary, and polluted the Holy of Holies with filth. He carried off the sacred vessels and other treasures, to the amount of 1800 talents, and returned to An- tioch, leaving a savage Phrygian, named Philip, as his governor at Jerusalem, and Andronicus at Gerizim, where the Samaritan temple seems to have been profaned in like manner.^' Menelaus, who is stigmatized as the worst of all the three, is not again named in the Books of Maccabees. His subsequent death under Antiochus Eu- pator was regarded as a judgment for his crimes (b.c. 163). ^ § 10. Two years later (b.c. 168) Antiochus vented upon Judjea the exasperation of his dismissal from Egypt. Policy too, as well as passion, may have urged him to destroy a province now thoroughly disaifected, and likely soon to fall into the power of Egypt. Apol- lonius, the old enemy of the Jews, was sent to Jerusalem at the head of 22,000 men, with orders to slay all the male adults, and to 3* 2 Mace. iv. 28-50. 36 2 Mace. V. 5-10. The alleged kindred between the Jews and Spartans is alluded to in 1 Mace. xii. T. The story of the Spartan embassy is supported by no otbcT authority. 37 1 Mace. I \)-28, ii. 11-23. 38 Joseph, xi^ 3, 4. B.C. 168. PERSECUTION OF ANTIOCHIJS. IS seize the women and children. Pretending that his mission was friendly, he waited till the Sabbath, and then fell upon the unresist- ing people. A frightful massacre took place : the city was pillaged and set on fire : its fortifications were dismantled : and a tower was erected on Mount Zion, overlooking both the temple and the city, from which the garrison sallied forth upon all who dared to resort to the deserted sanctuary. Then followed one of the severest persecu- tions recorded in the history of religion.^ Antiochus issued an edict for uniformity of worship throughout his dominions, and committed its execution in Samaria and Judeea to an old man named Athe- nseus,*^ one of those fanatics who have been produced by heathenism, as well as by religions that claim a more earnest faith. A strong element of such fanaticism may be traced in the character of An- tiochus himself. While his quick and versatile Greek temperament, trained in Roman ideas of power, and corrupted oy oriental luxury, led him to indulge in all the vices and freaks for which despotism supplied the means — at one time rioting through the streets of Antioch with his boon companions, at another going through a mock canvass for the Eoman magistracies, and pretending to hold them — he was all the while a munificent and bigoted supporter of the G-reek worship. " The admirers," says Dean Milman, " of the mild genius of the Grecian religion, and those who suppose religious persecution unknown in the world to the era of Christianity, would do well to consider the wanton and barbarous attempt of Antiochus to exterminate the religion of the Jews and substitute that of the Greeks." The Samaritans submitted without resistance, and their temple on Mount Gerizim was dedicated to Zeus Xenius. At Jerusalem Athenseus began his work by converting the sanctuary into a temple of Zeus Olympius. Its courts were polluted by the most licentious orgies ; the altar was loaded with abominable offerings ; and the old idolatry of Baal was re-established in the obscene form in which it had been carried to Greece, — the phallic revels of Dionysus. The copies of the Book of the Law were either destroyed, or profaned by heathen and doubtless obscene pictures.*^ The practice of Jewish rites, and the refusal to sacrifice to the Greek gods, were alike punished with death. Two women, who had circumcised their children, were led round the city with the babes hanging at their breasts, and then cast headlong from the wall. A company of worshippers were burnt by Philip in a cave, to which they had fled to keep the Sabbath. The favourite test of conformity was the compulsion to eat swine's flesh ; and two particular cases of heroic resistance make this one of the brightest pages in Jewish and Christian martyrology. A chief 39 1 Mate. L 29, foU. ; 2 Mace. v. 24-26. *> 2 Mace, vi 1 : this seems clearly to be a proper name. ** 1 Mace. ill. 48. 14 FROM NEHEMIAH TO ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. Chap. I. scribe, named Eleazar, a man of noble person and ninety years of age, when a piece of swine's flesh, was thrust into his mouth, spat it out, and willingly offered his body to the torments. When some of the officers, for old acquaintance sake, besought him to provide some meat, and eat it as if it were the unclean food, he made a reply which contains the whole justification of the martyr's con- stancy to death : — " It becometh not our age in anywise to dissemble, whereby many young persons might think that Eleazar, being four- score years old and ten, were now gone to a strange religion, and so through mine hypocrisy, and desire to live a little time, should be deceived by me, and I get a stain to my old age, and make it abo- minable. For though for the present time I should be delivered from the punishment of men ; yet I should not escape the hand of the Almighty, neither alive, nor dead." He concluded by declaring his resolve, " to leave a notable example to such as be young to die willingly and courageously for the honourable and holy laws." His tempters, incensed at his obstinacy, grew doubly cruel, and, as he was expiring beneath their blows, he cried, — " It is manifest unto Jehovah, that hath the holy knowledge, that whereas I might have been de- livered from death, I endure sore pains in body by being beaten ; but in soul am well content to suffer these things, because I fear Him." *^ Thus was he " tortured,'*^ not accepting deliverance, that he might obtain a better resurrection ;" and he is included, with the other martyrs of the age, in the "cloud of martyrs," "of whom the world was not worthy," " who obtained a good report through faith." Some Christian writers have called him " the proto-martyr of the Old Covenant," a glory, however, which belongs to Abel.*^ " Others had trial of mockings and scourgings." Such was the fate of the seven brethren who, with their mother, were brought into the king's own presence,'*^ and, having refused to eat swine's flesh, were put to death with insults and torments, of which the horrid details may be read in the original text. From the eldest to the youngest, they displayed not only constancy but triumph; and the mother, after encouraging each in his turn, herself sufi'ered last.*^ The atrocities committed at Jerusalem were rivalled in the country. But at this very crisis, when the worship and the people of Jehovah seemed doomed to extinction, a new light arose for both ; and the result showed how needful was the baptism of fire to purify the people from the corruptions of Hellenism. « 2 Mace, vi, « Heb. xi. 35, 36. The very word chosen by the apostle, erv/xTrai'ia^rjo-av, expresses the kind of torture inflicted on Eleazar and other martyrs of this time. The whole passage clearly shows that the writer had them in his mind, though their history is not recorded in the canonical Scriptures. •" Chrysostom, Horn. iii. t» Mace. ; Ambros. de Jacob, ii. 10. ■»' Whether Antiochus visited Jerusalem during the persecution, or whether they were carried to him at Antioch or elsewhere, does not clearly appear. <« Mace vii. B.C. 168. SILENCE OF THE HEATHEN HISTORIANS. 15 Meanwhile the persecutor himself became a signal example of the retribution which awaits despotic power and unbridled passion ; and, before relating the resurrection of Judsea under the Maccabees, we may anticipate the short period of four years, to notice the fate of Antiochus Epiphanes. He was in the eastern provinces, when he heard of the revolt of Judsea and the defeat of his general Lysias. Hastening back to avenge the disgrace, he attacked a temple at Elymais, the very place where his father had lost his life in a similar attempt. The mortification of being repulsed seems to have brought to a climax the madness which despotism usually engenders ; and he died in a raving frenzy at Tabse in Persia, B.C. 164. His end was regarded, by Greeks as well as Jews, as a judgment for his sacri- legious crimes ; and he has left to history a name as odious as that of Nero, with whose character he had many points in common. § 11. It is very remarkable that this great persecution, and the subsequent history of the glorious regeneration of Judsea undei the Maccabees, should have been passed over by the Greek and Roman historians. From Polybius we might have expected a just appreciation of its importance, and an impartial summary of its facts ; but of this portion of his work only a few fragments remain, and the silence of Livy, who closely follows his history of Syria, seems to imply that of his great authority. Appian's meagre sum- mary of Syrian history takes no notice of the Jews. Diodorus gives a very brief account of them, repeating the current prejudices, not as his own belief, but as arguments used by the counsellors of An- tiochus to urge the extirpation of the Jews.*' The contemptuous summary given by Tacitus is even more significant than the silence of the rest, and shows how far prejudice can lead even the most careful writers from the truth. He speaks as follows: — "During the dominion of the Assyrians, the Medes, and the Persians, the Jews were the most abject of their dependent subjects. After the Macedonians obtained the supremacy of the East, king Anti- ochus endeavoured to do away with their superstition and introduce Greek habits, but was hindered by a Parthian war from reforming a most repulsive people." "'^ The spirit of this passage may explain the indifi'erence of other authors. The uncompromising devotion of the Jews to their religion and their national traditions, and their claim to be worshippers of the only true God, excited among the heathen, and especially those who laid claim to philosophy, the same affected contempt and un- affected resentment which led Gibbon to sneer at Palestine as a country no larger nor more favoured by nature than Wales. Nor is it only this brilliant passage of the Jewish annals that escaped the notice and the sympathy of the western historians. The period of » Lib/xxxix. EcL 1; xl. Eel. 1. « Teterrimam gentem, Tac Hist v. 8. 16 FROM NEHEMIAH TO ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. Chap. 1 370 years, from the Decree of Cyrus to the revolt of the Maccabees, embraces the most brilliant events of Greek and Roman history. The aristocratic republics of Greece and the monarchy of Rome had reached their climax at its commencement, amidst the rapid gi'owth of philosophy and art. Its fii'st quarter of a century beheld the expulsion of the Pisistratids from Athens and the Tarquins from Rome. The struggles which placed Rome at the head of the Italian states, and formed her republican constitution, the Persian and Pe- loponnesian wars, the conflict of the Greek states for the supremacy which they at last yielded to the Macedonian, and the very conquest which brought Alexander to Judaea, are all related just as they might have been if there had been no such nation as the Jews. The keen enquiries of Herodotus, who visited Egypt and Tyre at the very time when Ezra and Nehemiah were regulating the restored state, produced nothing but the notice of Necho's victory over Josiah and capture of Cadytis (probably Gaza), the mistake "that the S}Tians of Palestine " learnt circumcision from the Egyptians, and the mention of them as serving with the Phcenicians in the fleet of Xerxes.*^ The silence of the historians of Alexander and his successors about the Jewish people is the more remarkable, as they have to mention Judaea as the scene of war ; it is matched by the Romans even when they come into contact with Syria and Egypt ; nor is it even broken when (if we may believe the historian of the Mac- cabees) Rome formed an alliance with Judas Maccabgeus. A century later, when Pompey penetrated into the temple, the sacred city sug- gests even to Cicero nothing better than a nickname for his distrusted leader ; nor does Tacitus notice the very advent of Christ with half the interest he shows in the relations of the Herodian princes to the Cgesars. Surely we cannot but see in all this a divine purpose, that the outer, like the inner life, of the chosen people, should lie hidden from the world at large, and pursue a course apart from the ordinary current of warlike and political conflict, till from their bosom should emerge the band of lowly and unworldly men, who were to proclaim a " kingdom not of this world." § 12. In preparation for that event, the Jewish people had a history of its own, for which we could wish to possess more abundant materials. They had resumed the ordinances of their religion, puri- fied from their old idolatries by the Captivity, and with their zeal constantly stimulated by antagonism with the Samaritans. Politi- cally, they were subject first to Persia, and then to Egypt ; but, as long as their tribute was paid, their relations to their sovereign were kindly, and they were left to the government of their high-priesta and patriarchal princes; till the great Syrian persecuticn. The « Herod, ii, 104, 106, 159, iii. 5, vii. 89. B.C. 168. STATE OF THE JEWISH NATION. 17 extinction of royalty, after it had served its purpose "by giving an image of Messiah's kingdom, removed the chief influence which had led to apostasy in Israel and to idolatry in Judah ; and the very dependence which debarred them from political freedom gave them the better opportunity for religious organization. The band by which the " people of God " were held together was at length felt to be religious and not local ; and all the more so from the existence of large portions of the nation separate from the rest, in the great Eastern " dispersion," or in the new community formed in Egypt. The Jews incorporated in different nations still looked to Jerusalem as the centre of their faith. The boundaries of Canaan were passed ; and the beginnings of a spiritual dispensation were already made. But this process could not work unmixed good. " In the darkness of this long period, Judaism, with its stem and settled aversion to all poly- theism, to Gentile influences, gradually hardened into its rigid exclusiveness. . . . Conflicting opinions, which grew up under the Asmonsean princes into religious factions, those of the Pharisees and Sadducees, began to stir in the religious mind and heart of the people. The old Xazaritism grew towards the latter Essenism." ^ The Jews restored to Palestine resumed their agricultural life on a land rendered doubly fertile by having " enjoyed her Sabbaths as long as she lay desolate, to fulfil threescore and ten years ;" ^* and it may be observed in passing, that the ordinance of the Sabbatic year, which had been so systematically neglected before the Captivity, was observed in the Maccabaan age. How the land was divided among the returned families we are not told ; but thus much seems clear, that it soon fell chiefly into the hands of the nobles, who, becoming rapidly enriched through the fertility of the soil, resumed that course of oppression towards the poor, which the old prophets had so vehemently denounced as the crying sin of their class. An order which thus sets itself above the social bonds of mutual kindness is prone to maintain its consequence against popular discontent by foreign influence ; and, just as the princes of Judah headed the idolatrous and Egyptian party in the last days of the monarchy, so now they were the leaders of the Syrian and hellenizing party. Their influence was resisted, as formerly by the prophets, so now by the priests, who headed the glorious uprising of the nation in defence of their religion. The issue of that contest proves that the nation was still soimd at heart at the time of the Syiian domination. **' Milman. w 2 Chron. xxxvi, 21.- 18 ; NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. KINGS OF THE GREEK KINGDOM OF SYRIA, Kiugs. Length of Eeign. Date of Accession. 1. Seleucus I. Nicator 32 years. Oct. 312 2. Antiochus I. Soter 19 ,. Jan. 280 3. Antiochus II. Theos 15 ,, Jan. 261 4. Seleucus II. Callinicus 20 ,, Jan. 246 5. Seleucus III. Ceraunus 3 ,. Aug. 226 6. Anttochus III. the Great 36 ,, Aug. 223 7. Seleucus iV. Philopator . ... 12 ,, Oct. 187 8. Antiochus IV. Epiphanes 11 .. Aug. 175 9. Antiochus V. Eupator .... 2 ,. Dec. 164 10. Demetrius I. Soter 12 ,, Nov. 162 11. Alexander Balas 5 ,, Aug. 150 / Demetrius II. Nicator (1st reign) 12.^ Antiochus VL Theos \. . I Tryphon ) 9 ,, Nov. 146 13. Antiochus VII. Sidetes 9 ,, Feb. 137 i Demetrius II. Nicator (2nd reign) ") t Alexander Zebina 5 * 3 ,, Feb. 128 14. Seleucus V Feb. 125 Aug. 125 15. Antiochus VIH. Grypus 13 1 1 16. Antiochus IX. Cyzenicus 18 ,, 113 17. / Seleucus VI. \ »» » • ,, ,, 18. 1 Antiochus X. Eusebes Philippus 12 ,, 95 19.1 Tigranes 14 ., 83 20. j Demetrius III. Eucajrus ' ' ) » » • » > » > 21. 1 Antiochus XI. Epiphanes 22. 1 Antiochus XII. Dionysus ,, , , ,, ,, 23. Antiochus Afliaticufl . . r . . . 4 », 69 ( 19 ) Coin of Antiochus Epipbaiies. CHAPTER II. The Maccab^an War of Independence. B.C. 168-106. } 1. The family of TVTattathias — His retirement from Jerusalem to Modin — He refuses to sacrifice, kills the royal officer, and flees to the mountains — Progress of the revolt, and death of Mattathias. $ 2. Judas the Maccabee succeeds his father, and defeats Apollonius and Seron. $ 3. Measures of Antiochus Epiphanes — Great victories of Judas over Nicanor and Gorgias, Timotheus and Bacchides. $ 4. Defeat of Lysias at Bethsura — Judas takes Jerusalem and purifies the Temple — "Feast of Uie Dedication." § 5. Wars with the neighbouring nations. § 6. Antiochus V. Eupator and Lysias invade JudaBa — Capture of Bethsura — Eleazar A varan crushed under an elephant — Treachery of Antiochus at Jerusalem — Accession of Demetrius I. Soter — Flight of Onias IV. to Egypt, and buUding of the Jewish temple at Leontopolia — Alcimus high-priest at Jerusalem — Armies sent to establish him — Decisive defeat of Nicanor at Adasa, the Jewish Marathon. $ 7. Alliance of the Jews with Rome — Their defeat at Eleasa, the Maccabaean Thermopylae — Death of Judas. $ 8. Jonathan Apphus, the Maccabee, succeeds Judas — Death of Alcimus and peace with Bacchides— War between Alexander Balas and Demetrius— Jonathan made high- priest — He defeats Apollonius — Fall of Alexander Balas — Demetrius II. Nicator assisted by Jonathan against Tryphon — Antiochus VI. Theos favours the Jews — Jonathan taken prisoner by Tryphon — His death. $ 9. Simon Thassi, the Maccabee, accomplishes the independence of Judaea — Usurpation of Tryphon in Syria ^ Murder of Antiochus Theos, and captivity of Demetrius Nicator in Parthia — Prosperity of Jud^a — Treaties with Rome and Lacedaemon — Defeat of Tryphon by Antiochus VII. Sidetes — Last Syrian war against Judaea — Victory of Judas and John, the sons of Simon, over Cendebeus — Treacherous murder of Simon, with his sons Judas and Mattathias, at Jericho, by Ptolemy, son of Abubus. $ 10. John HvECANtJS, son of Simon, besieges Jericho — Cruelties and escape of Rolemy — Antiochus Sidetes takes Jerusalem and gains the surname of Eusebes — His death in Parthia — Complete independence of Judaea— John Hyrcanus conquers Idumsa and Samaria, and destroys the temple on Mount Gerizim — Quarrels with the Pharisees and favours the Sadducees — His death. $ 11. Review of the Maccabaean contest in the light of patriotism and religion. $ 12. Belief in the Resurrection and steadfastness to the Law — Literature and art — Maccabaean coins. § 1. The persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes called forth a glorious resistance, which ended in establishing the independence of Judaea 20 THE MACCAB^AN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. Chap. II. under tlie Maccabeean or Asmonaean princes.^ An aged priest named MattathIas, the son of Simeon (or Simon), son of Johanan (John), son of Chasmon, of the course of Joarib (the first of David's twenty-four courses), and of the house of Eleazar, Aaron's elder son, had escaped from Jerusalem at the beginning of the persecution.* He took up his abode at his own city of Modin^ (probably on the edge of the great maritime plain of Philistia), with his five sons John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan, besides other kindred. For a time they mourned over the desolation of Jerusalem and the sanctuary ; but the nearer approach of danger roused them to ex- ertion. The king's officers, headed by Apelles, came to Modin, and called first on Mattathias, as the principal man of the city, to earn honours and rewards by obeying the royal edict. But Mattathias indignantly refused, for himself, his sons, and all his kindred. Others were prepared to be more compliant ; and one of them ad- vanced to the altar, to contrast his obedience with the example of rebellion. Mattathias could forbear no longer. He rushed forward, and slew first the apostate, and next the king's commissioner, on the altar itself, which he then pulled down ; just as his ancestor Phinehas had slain Zimri.* Having proclaimed throughout the city, that all who were zealous for the law and covenant should follow him, Mat- tathias fled with his sons to the mountains ; and was joined by " many that sought after justice and judgment." The destruction of a thousand of the fugitives, who would not break the Sabbath by fighting, led Mattathias and his friends to declare the lawfulness of self-defence upon the Sabbath. Among their first adherents were the Assi- D^ANS {Chastdim, pious or holy), a sect or society who had bound 1 It may be well to explain these names at once. Maccabee was originally the sur- name of Judas, the third son of Mattathias. Its most probable etjTnology is from Maccabah, a hammer, like Charles Martel. The appellation has also been compared with the Malleus Scotorum and Malleus ffcereticffrum of the Middle Ages. As- moncean (or rather Chasmoncean) is the proper name of the family, from Chasmon, the great grandfather of Mattathias. The original authorities for the history of the Maccabees are extremely scanty ; but for the course of the war itself the first book of Maccabees is a most trustworthy, if an incomplete witness. The second book adds some important details to the history of the earlier part of the struggle, and of the events which immediately preceded it ; but all the statements which it contains require close examination, and must be received with cauiiou. Josephus follows ] Mace, for the period which it embraces, very closely, but slight additions of names and minute particulars indicate that he was in possession of other materials, pro- bably oral traditions, which have not been elsewhere preserved. On the other hand there are cases, in which, from haste or carelessness, he has misinterpreted his authority. From other sources little can be gleaned. Hebrew and classical lite- rature furnish nothing more than a few trifling fragments which illustrate Mac^ cabasan history. So long an interval elapsed before the Hebrew traditions were committed to writing, that facts, when not embodied in rites or precepts, became wholly distorted. (See the pedigree in Notes and Illustrations (A).^ 2 1 Mace. ii. 1 ; comp. 2 Mace. v. 27. 3 Notes and Illustrations (B). * 1 Mace. ii. 15-26, 54 ; comp. Nnm XXV. B.C. 167. JUDAS MACCABiEUS. 21 themselves by a special vow to the observance of the law." Issuing from their mountain-fastnesses, they broke down the heathen altars, and killed many of the worshippers, while others fled to the Syrians ; they circumcised children by force, and recovered many copies of the law. But the work was too arduous for the aged Mattathias. After a noble exhortation to his sons, encouraging them by the examples of the ancient worthies, from Abraham to Daniel, and having ap- pointed his son Judas his successor, he died, and was buried at Modin, in the sepulchre of his fathers (b.c, 167).* § 2. Judas, the third and most warlike ' of the sons of Mattathias, and hence surnamed MACCABiEUS (the Hammerer), proved to Judsea what our Alfred was to England, Bruce to Scotland, and Tell to Switzerland. His noble character, which the historian describes in glowing terms, commanded the cheerful submission of his brethren and friends. He carried on his father's course of operations, in which he seems already to have been the chief leader under him.^ Venturing privately into the towns, Judas and his friends gathered an army of about 6000 worshippers of Jehovah.^ After training his followers by night attacks and surprises,^** he defeated the army of Apollonius, who marched ^gainst him from Samaria, slew the general, and ever afterwards wore his sword.^^ Another great host, led by Seron, the governor of Ccelesjnria, was routed in the passes of Beth-horon, after a noble address of Judas before the battle. The Syrians fled, with the loss of about 800 men, down the pass to the plain of the Philistines, just as the Canaanites had fled before Joshua over the same ground.^^ § 3. Antiochus was the more enraged at the news, as his finances 5 Chasidim ('A 1 Mace. xi. 54-U.