The Second Victory Over Timotheus. Meantime Timotheus had gathered another army and awaited Judas near the "brook of water opposite the town of Raphon." An echo of the name of this ancient town is possibly to be found in the modern El-Mezerib. The ancient village at this point, which lay on an island in the midst of a large clear pool, from which flows one of the chief sources of the Yarmuk, well satisfies the situation implied by the vivid description of the battle in I Maccabees. It was on the main highway along which Timotheus would naturally advance from the territory of Ammon and was about ten miles north of Remtheh, the scene of the first battle. Timotheus's hesitation in crossing the brook was rightly interpreted by Judas as a sign of fear. Rushing into the water the Jews again won a complete victory. Their foes, casting aside their weapons, fled for refuge to the ancient sanctuary of Carnaim, which is without reasonable doubt to be identified with the ancient shrine of Ashteroth-Karnaim, eight miles to the north. Following the fugitives, Judas captured this city and burned the temple.
Judas's Return. Then gathering the Jews in the land of Gilead, which in the first book of Maccabees included the east-Jordan territory, both north and south of the Yarmuk, Judas set out for Jerusalem. His road naturally led due southward past the scene of his last great battle with Timotheus. Thence, turning to the southwest, his way was through a narrow pass where probably lay the town of Ephron. Inasmuch as this town opposed his passage, he captured and destroyed it. Thence passing through the ancient Arbela, he followed the main highway that led to the Jordan opposite Bethshean. From there he naturally followed the road along the Jordan valley to Jericho and up to Jerusalem.
Significance of Judas's Victories. Meantime, contrary to his orders, two of Judas's generals had attacked the Philistine town of Jamnia and met with a disastrous repulse. Rallying his forces he advanced against the Idumeans to the south and west of Judah. Hebron was taken and its citadel destroyed. After capturing the surrounding towns he turned westward to Marissa, the ancient Mareshah, which guarded the entrance to the Valley of Zephathah.[(108)] From there he carried his campaign across the Philistine plain to the ancient city of Ashdod, which he captured and looted. With a comparatively few half-trained soldiers Judas within one year fought more successful battles and captured more strong cities than did David throughout all of his illustrious career. His limited resources and the certainty of another and more overwhelming Syrian attack made it impossible, however, for Judas to hold the territory thus conquered, so that, while his victories represent brilliant achievements, the effect was ephemeral. The refugees whom he brought back to Judah increased its comparatively small population and thus laid the foundations for that Maccabean kingdom which ultimately rose as the result of the dauntless and patriotic spirit that Judas infused into his followers.
Battle of Beth-zacharias. Judas's desperate attempt to capture the hostile garrison in Jerusalem led the Syrians to send for help to Antiochus Eupator, who had succeeded to the throne of Syria on the death of his father. A vast army was gathered, consisting of a hundred thousand infantry and twenty thousand horsemen. Thirty-two elephants also accompanied the army and played an important part in the final battle. Again the approach to the Judean heights was made through the Valley of Elah and up along the Wady es-Sur to Bethsura. Instead of meeting the Syrians at this point Judas retired along the northern road to Beth-zacharias, which lay on the right of the highway a few miles southwest of Bethlehem. Here Judas gave battle to the huge Syrian army, which was drawn up on two wings, one on the heights and the other on the low ground. The elephants, with towers of wood on their backs, were placed in the front of the line of battle. Each elephant was supported by a thousand men armed with coat of mail, and five hundred horsemen. Judas and his followers made a courageous attack upon this huge and imposing host, but they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. The elephants also were effective in turning the tide of battle. Eleazer, one of Judas's brothers, with the spirit that characterized the family, broke through one of the phalanxes and, creeping under what he supposed to be the royal elephant, pierced it with his spear from beneath and perished under the beast as it fell to the earth. None others were found, however, in the Jewish ranks to follow his courageous example. Judas retired to Jerusalem, where he was besieged by Lysias, the leader of the Syrian forces. Fortunately for the Jewish cause, conditions in the Syrian capital made it necessary for Lysias to retire. He accordingly made a treaty with the Jews in which their religious freedom was fully assured on condition that they would recognize the authority of the Syrian kingdom.
Fortunes of Judas's Party. After securing religious freedom a strong party of the Jews, known as the Hasideans, the forerunners of the later party of the Pharisees, were inclined to accept peace at any cost. The result was that from this time on Judas lost many of his followers. Even the apostate Alcimus, appointed high priest by the Syrian king, was at first accepted by the Hasideans. His deceptions and persecution of the faithful, however, soon drove many back into the ranks of those who, like Judas, were struggling to gain not merely religious freedom, but also complete political independence. In response to the demands of the Syrian party in Judea, a certain Nicanor, formerly master of the elephants in the Syrian army, was sent to check the growing power of Judas and his followers. An engagement was fought at Caphersalama, evidently somewhere near Jerusalem. Many of the Syrian soldiers were slain and the rest fled to the City of David, which had been, from the days of the great Hebrew king, the designation of the hill of Ophel, in the southeastern part of the city. It is exceedingly probable, therefore, that Caphersalama is to be identified with the modern Kefr Silwan,[(98)] the little village on the eastern side of the Kidron, just across the valley from the City of David.
Victory Over Nicanor. Alarmed by this victory, Nicanor sent for another Syrian army, which he met at Beth-horon. Thence he took the main road that leads over the pass toward Jerusalem. Judas, with his followers, had taken his position near the village of Adasa, at the point where the Beth-horon road joins the central highway southward to Jerusalem. Nicanor fell in the first charge, and his army was so demoralized by the loss of its leader that they threw away their weapons and fled back along the highway toward Gazara, the ancient Gezer. The Jews in the villages along the way attacked the fleeing Syrians with the result that none of them escaped. Profiting by this signal victory, Judas sent an embassy to Rome. His aim was to secure in his unequal contest with the Syrian kingdom the aid of this power, which already was beginning to dominate the politics of the eastern Mediterranean; but before he could receive a reply from Rome, the Jewish champion fought his last fatal battle.
Death of Judas. After the defeat and death of Nicanor, the Syrian king, Demetrius, sent another army into Judah. It entered the land by the way that leads to Gilgal, which was probably either the Gilgal on the Plain of Sharon, north of Antipatris, or else the better-known Gilgal near the ancient Shiloh. In either case the army appears to have reached the central plateau by the road which runs through the valley somewhat north of the Valley of Ajalon and therefore through territory under the control of Syria. Thence the Syrians approached Judea and Jerusalem directly from the north. Meantime, Judas was intrenched not far from his home at Modein. The decisive battle was fought at Elasa, or Eleasa, a half mile north of the steep descent from Upper to Lower Beth-horon.[(84)] Terrified by the overwhelming numbers of the Syrian army, Judas's small force of three thousand men was soon reduced by desertion to only eight hundred. The courageous Jewish leader made the grave mistake of venturing a battle under these conditions. Even as it was, he was apparently on the eve of victory when he fell slain within the sight of the field on which he had won his first great battle. With his fall the battle was lost and the Syrians were left for a time in almost undisputed possession of Judea. With great lamentation and mourning his followers buried him in the tomb of his fathers at Modein, chanting in modified form the words of David's lamentation over Saul:
How is the hero fallen,
The saviour of Israel.
Judas's Character and Work. There are many analogies between the character and work of Saul and of Judas. Both were devoted patriots and courageous warriors. Both laid the foundations for a kingdom, but fell on the battle-field before their task was completed. Both inspired their people with the ambition for independence and taught them how to fight effectively in securing it. Of the two, Judas appears to have been the more balanced and unselfish character. In view of the obstacles with which he contended, he was unquestionably the greatest general that Israel ever produced. The peculiar topography of Judea enabled him to contend successfully with strong armies, but in a prolonged struggle with the Syrian kingdom the advantages were all with the latter. The barren, limited territory of Judea was incapable of supporting a large people or of furnishing the resources for a protracted war. On the other hand, Antioch, which had as its base the great plain between the Lebanons, possessed almost unlimited resources and was the natural centre from which to rule both Syria and Palestine. Judas was able to win his victories not merely because of his dauntless courage and leadership, but because the Syrian kingdom was fatally weakened by the moral corruption and constant dissensions of its rulers. These two elements, courageous and able leadership on the side of the Jews and corruption and inefficiency in the Syrian kingdom, enabled Judas's followers in time to overcome geographical conditions and to build up, as in the days of David, a large and independent kingdom.