CHAPTER IX.
THE DEATH OF JUDAS MACCABEUS.
Expedition of Bacchides—Victories over Nicanor—League with Rome—Death of Judas Maccabeus.
The reign of the noble Judas was neither peaceful nor long. The year after that in which Antiochus and Lycias had besieged the temple, they were both defeated and slain by Demetrius Soter, a prince who aspired to the Syrian crown, 162 b.c. The conqueror was no sooner established on the throne than a band of Jewish apostates came around him, with bitter complaints against Judas. At their head was Alcimus, an unworthy high priest of the Jews, who had been expelled by them with just indignation for his attachment to Grecian idolatries. Unappalled by the fate of the guilty Menelaus, this renegade sought the aid of a heathen monarch to reinstate him in the office of which he had been so justly deprived.
The new king, Demetrius, lending a willing ear to the complaints of the Jewish traitors, sent a large force under his general, Bacchides, to support the claims of Alcimus. This commander entered Judea without meeting with any apparent opposition, and placing Alcimus in power, with what he considered a sufficient force to protect him, Bacchides returned to the king.
But the traitor Alcimus was unable to maintain himself in his dangerous position; he was forced again to seek aid from Demetrius, who again acceded to his prayer. The king sent Nicanor, a prince of high dignity, a man who bore deadly hatred towards Israel, with a powerful force, and the royal command to execute stern vengeance on the Jews. But again the Almighty gave victory to his people. Twice was Nicanor defeated by Judas, and in the second battle the heathen general was slain.
Then, though but for a brief period, the harassed land of Judea had rest.
Judas Maccabeus now looked around for some powerful ally who might aid him in the arduous struggle which the Jews had so long maintained single-handed against all their foes. He turned his eyes towards Rome, that mighty republic which was then advancing, step by step, to almost universal dominion. Judas sent an embassy to ask for the friendship and protection of Rome. His messengers were courteously received; the Romans entered into a league of peace and amity with a people whose heroic patriotism equalled their own, and agreed to aid the Jews by sea or by land, should Demetrius again dare to attack them.