Before long, they were joined by the “Assideans,” the zealots for the Law (1 Macc. ii. 42), and by numbers flying from the persecution still going on throughout the country, and prepared to conduct the war of independence with prudence and discretion. For a time, therefore, they laid hid in their mountain fastnesses, and, as opportunity offered, poured down upon the towns, destroyed the heathen altars, enforced circumcision, punished all apostates who fell into their hands, recovered many copies of the Law from the possession of their enemies, and re-established public worship.
But the hardships of the campaign did not suit the advanced age of Mattathias. Sinking under the weight of years, he called together his followers, exhorted them in noble words to constancy and devotion, and bequeathed the command of his little army to Judas, the third and most valiant of all his sons, associating with him Simon, his second son, as chief counsellor (1 Macc. ii. 49–69). Having given them this prudent advice, he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers at Modin, amidst the universal lamentations of the people, B.C. 166[28].
Though Judas was young in years, he lacked neither energy nor prudence, and succeeding to the designs of his aged father, first unfolded the banner of the Maccabees. This name is of uncertain meaning. Some derive it from the concluding letters of a sentence in Exod. xv. 11, Mi Camo Car Baalim Jehovah, i.e., Who is like unto Thee among the gods, O Jehovah? Others, again, derive it from the banner of the tribe of Dan, which is said to have contained the three last letters of the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Others, with more probability, understand it to have been a personal appellation of Judas himself, meaning the Hammerer, like Martel, the surname of the famous Carlovingian chief, Charles.
Whatever was the precise meaning of the name, the new leader girt his warlike harness about him (1 Macc. iii. 3), rallied his forces, and bent all his energies to the task of uniting in a compact body all who were zealous for the national faith. “By night attacks, by sudden surprises (2 Macc. viii. 6, 7), he taught his people how to fight and conquer. Alert of foot and quick of brain; yesterday in the mountains, to-day in the plain; now marching on a post, now storming a castle; in a few months of service he changed his rabble of zealots into an army of solid troops, capable of meeting and repelling the royal hosts commanded by generals trained in the Macedonian school of arms[29].”
At length Apollonius, who had recently signalized himself by plundering Jerusalem and massacring its inhabitants, deemed it time to interfere. At the head of a large army, mostly composed of Samaritans and apostate Jews, he marched against the patriot chief, but was totally defeated and slain (1 Macc. iii. 10–12). Tidings of this disaster roused Seron, the deputy-governor of Cœlesyria, and he went forth at the head of a still larger force, determined to have his revenge. Judas did not decline the combat, which took place at Beth-horon, famous as the scene of Joshua’s victory over the southern Canaanites[30], and resulted in the complete defeat of the Syrian general, whose troops were driven in confusion down the rocky pass to the western lowlands (1 Macc. iii. 24).
These two disasters moved the indignation of Antiochus beyond measure. He was himself, however, unable to take the field, for his exchequer being exhausted by his prodigal munificence (1 Macc. iii. 29), and his eastern provinces, Armenia and Persia, refusing to pay any further tribute, he deemed it expedient to lead an expedition thither in hopes of recruiting his treasury. Accordingly he entrusted the government of all that portion of his empire, which lay between the Euphrates and the borders of Egypt, to Lysias, one of his nobles and of the blood royal, and gave him the command of half his army, with instructions utterly to destroy and root out the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem (1 Macc. iii. 35).
CHAPTER II.
BATTLE OF EMMAUS—RE-DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE.
B.C. 165.
ON the departure of Antiochus, the regent, who entered zealously into all his plans, began to concert measures with Ptolemy Macron, the governor of Cœlesyria, and diligently collecting his forces, early the next year dispatched 40,000 troops into Judæa, under the command of Gorgias and Nicanor, two generals of tried ability.
While the Syrian troops, who were shortly joined by 7000 cavalry, encamped at Emmaus, about a mile to the north-east of Modin, Judas had assembled his little army of 6000 devoted followers at Mizpeh, the Watchtower, over against Jerusalem (1 Macc. iii. 46), where Samuel, in one of the darkest periods of his nation’s history, had erected the Stone of Eben-ezer, the rock of help, after the Lord had given victory to the people[31]. Here the Maccabæan chieftain kept a solemn fast, laid open the book of the Law, wherein the heathen had sought to paint the likeness of their images (1 Macc. iii. 48), and made a public confession of the national sins. In strict conformity with the command of Moses (Deut. xx. 5–8), he then bade all, who in the course of the year had built a house, or betrothed a wife, or had planted a vineyard, or were fearful, to return every man to his home. Half of his little army obeyed the invitation, and with barely 3000 men, who had neither armour nor swords to their minds (1 Macc. iv. 6), he was left to confront the vast hosts of the enemy.