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.
Little did Maccabeus foresee that the powerful heathen nation, whose
alliance he sought, would at a future period prove a more dangerous foe
to his country than Babylon, Egypt, or Syria! Little did he foresee
that Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Romans, her warriors slain,
her people scattered through the earth—that through Rome she should
behold her brave sons in fetters, her beautiful temple in flames! As
little could he imagine that the crime for which the city of David
should be given up to this fearful fate would be that of rejecting
and murdering the Messiah, whose coming he, with all the faithful of
Israel, awaited with hope and desire!
Before his ambassadors returned from Rome, Judas Maccabeus, by a
soldier’s death, had closed his glorious career.
Demetrius the king, hearing of the defeat and death of Nicanor, sent
Bacchides a second time, accompanied by the traitor Alcimus, to avenge
his general, and destroy Judas and his band of heroes.
On the approach of the hostile force, a panic seemed to have seized
upon the Jews, hitherto so full of faith and of courage. They
remembered not the lesson which had been taught them by so many
glorious triumphs, that victory is not always to the mighty, nor the
battle to the strong. Silently they dispersed on every side, till their
leader, deserted in his need, found that but eight hundred men remained
beside him to encounter the Syrian hosts!
Sore troubled and distressed in mind at the defection of those in whose
fidelity he had confided—those whom he had so often led to victory,
the lion spirit of the Jewish hero still roused itself to meet the
danger. “Let us arise and go up against our enemies,” he cried, “if
peradventure we may be able to fight with them!”
But of that success of which he doubted, his followers despaired, and
urgently counselled flight. Judas, so long accustomed to conquer,
indignantly refused to turn his back upon the foe.
“God forbid that I should flee from them!” he exclaimed; “if our time
be come, let us die manfully for our brethren, and let us not stain our
honour!”
From morning till night raged the battle. Judas charging the right wing
of the enemy with irresistible impetuosity, carried all before him, and
was hot in pursuit when the left wing came up to its aid. This changed
the face of the conflict. Surrounded, hemmed in by masses of the foe,
but bravely fighting on to the last, Judas Maccabeus, the heroic
leader, fell, and the few faithful followers who survived the bloody
struggle were compelled to retreat.
The body of the hero was carried by Jonathan and Simon, his brothers,
to the family sepulchre at Modin. Great were the lamentations and
sorrow through Judea, as from town to town and village to village
spread the tidings of the death of its prince. Many and bitter were the
tears shed for the fall of Judas Maccabeus, and long was he mourned in
the land for which his brave blood had been shed.