Synopsis of Jewish History / From the Return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity, to the Days of Herod the Great

by H. A. Henry

Antiochus, flattered by this mark of their attention granted them the same privileges as he had done to their brethren who had settled themselves in Babylon and Mesopotamia. He had at all times expressed himself satisfied with the conduct of the people, having found them on all occasions true and loyal subjects.

Antiochus, wishing to show his confidence in the Jews, and with a view of encouraging them, sent many of them from Babylon to Lower Asia, to guard and protect his forts and garrisons, and allowed them good settlements; hence many of the Jewish nation peopled that part of the country. At the death of Antiochus, his son, Seleucus Philopater, succeeded him. In his day, Simon, a Benjamite, was made Governor of the Temple. He had some difference with Onias, the high priest, who was a very good man. Simon, however, not succeeding in his expectations with the high priest, reported to Appolonius, the Governor of the Province under Seleucus, that great treasures were deposited in the Temple; upon which information Heliodorus, the treasurer, was sent to seize them.

Heliodorus accordingly repaired to the Temple to make this seizure. When he entered the Temple he found the priests and all the people engaged in solemn prayer to Almighty God, imploring his divine assistance in their present distress. The scene which thus presented itself to him at that moment so powerfully affected him, that he fell prostrate before the Lord of Hosts, whose power he publicly acknowledged, and resolved not to interfere with the people of God, as he called them, and immediately left the city.

Antiochus Epiphanes succeeded his brother Seleucus in the kingdom of Syria. When seated on the throne, Jason, the brother of Onias the high priest, bribed Antiochus with a large sum of money to deprive Onias of the priesthood and to banish him to Antioch; at the same time Jason wished to have the priesthood conferred on him; not, as it is supposed, that he wished to have it as a religious office, but because it would invest him likewise with the power of the civil government. Antiochus received the bribe; banished Onias to Antioch, and then appointed Jason to the office of high priest.

When Jason became high priest, he erected a place of exercise at Jerusalem for training up youth according to the fashion of the Greeks, and induced many of them to forsake the religious customs and usages of their forefathers, and to conform in many things to the customs and ceremonies of the heathens. Some few years after Jason had been in office, he commissioned his brother Menelaus to go to the court of Syria to pay the annual tribute money. Menelaus took advantage of this opportunity, and offered the king a larger bribe than his brother had given for the priesthood.

Antiochus made no scruple in the matter, and accepted the money thus offered by Menelaus; and gave instructions to his secretary to make out a fresh commission in favor of Menelaus, who returned triumphantly to Jerusalem, deposed his brother Jason, and placed himself in the office of the priesthood.

Menelaus being in office, abused the power and authority vested in him, and conducted himself in a manner much worse than his brother whom he had deposed. He stole some of the golden vessels from the Temple, impoverished the country, and by degrees he managed to enslave the whole of Judea, and overturned all that was left of her religion and her freedom. He then visited Antioch, where he met his brother Onias, who rebuked him for his misconduct both towards him and the people in general. Menelaus, chagrined at his brother's rebuke, adopted means by which Onias was put to death. During this time, Lysimachus, who had been appointed by Menelaus to officiate as his deputy during his absence, stripped the temple of many of its most costly vessels. He also committed many other sacrilegious acts; this occasioned a great tumult and confusion among the people, which ended in considerable bloodshed, and in which conflict the deputy himself fell a victim.

This circumstance led to a false report being industriously circulated, that Antiochus had fallen in the affray. Jason, availing himself of this confusion, headed an army of resolute and desperate men; repaired to Jerusalem which he assaulted; succeeded in putting to flight his brother Menelaus with his party, and committed great havoc among those who opposed him. Jason, however, was in the end defeated; his party routed; he himself perished in some strange land, and it is supposed even without the usual rites of burial.

Antiochus hearing of this affair, and imagining that Judea had revolted, gave immediate orders to his soldiers to repair to Jerusalem and to kill young and old without any reserve. The soldiers obeyed their cruel master in so unmerciful a manner, that in less than three days upwards of forty thousand souls were slain; thousands taken into captivity, and sold as slaves to the several neighboring nations.

Antiochus then entered the holy Temple, stripped it of all the sacred vessels still remaining—the altar of incense—the golden table and the golden candle-stick.