"It is but little that ye ask," replied the king, "and that little is easily granted."
The people cheered loudly when they heard the good news, and many Jews enrolled themselves in the army.
Alexander stayed some time in Jerusalem, and messengers arrived from Canaan to ask him to compel the Jews to restore them their land.
"It is written in the Books of Moses," they said, "that Canaan and its boundaries belong to the Canaanites."
Gebiah, a hunchback, undertook to answer.
"It is also written in the Books of Moses," he said, "'Cursed be Canaan; a servant shall he be unto his brethren.' The property of a slave belongs to his master, therefore Canaan is ours."
Alexander gave the envoys of Canaan three days in which to reply to this, but they fled from Jerusalem.
Messengers from Egypt came next, asking for the return of the gold and silver taken by the Israelites from the land of Pharaoh.
"What says Gebiah to this?" asked Alexander.
"We shall return the gold and silver," answered the hunchback, "when we have been paid for the many, many years of labor of our ancestors in Egypt."