The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Maccabees 05
1 Now about this time Antiochus made
his second invasion into Egypt.
2 It happened that throughout all the
city, for almost forty days, cavalry
appeared in the midst of the sky in swift
motion, wearing robes woven with gold
and carrying spears, equipped with troops
for battle
3 drawing swords, squadrons of cavalry in
array, encounters and pursuits of
both armies, shaking shields, multitudes
of lances, throwing of missiles, flashing of
golden trappings, and putting on all sorts
of armor.
4 Therefore everyone prayed that the
manifestation might have been given for
good.
5 When a false rumor had arisen that
Antiochus was dead, Jason took not less
than a thousand men, and suddenly made
an assault upon the city. When those
who were on the wall were being routed,
and the city was at length nearly taken,
Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.
6 But Jason slaughtered his own citizens
without mercy, not considering that good
success against kinsmen is the greatest
misfortune, but supposing himself to be
setting up trophies over enemies, and not
over fellow-countrymen.
7 He didn’t win control of the government,
but receiving shame as the result of
his conspiracy, he fled again as a fugitive
into the country of the Ammonites.
8 At last therefore he met with a miserable
end. Having been imprisoned at the
court of Aretas the prince of the Arabians,
fleeing from city to city, pursued by all
men, hated as an rebel against the laws,
and abhorred as the executioner of his
country and his fellow citizens, he was cast
ashore in Egypt.
9 He who had driven many from their
own country into exile perished in exile,
having crossed the sea to the Lacedaemonians,
hoping to find shelter there because
they were† near of kin.
10 He who had thrown out a multitude
unburied had none to mourn for him. He
didn’t have any funeral at all and no place
in the tomb of his ancestors.
11 Now when news came to the king concerning
that which was done, he thought
that Judea was in revolt. So, setting out
from Egypt in a rage, he took the city by
force of weapons,
12 and commanded his soldiers to cut
down without mercy those who came in
their way, and to kill those who went into
their houses.
13 Then there was killing of young and
old, destruction of boys, women,
and children, and slaying of
virgins and infants.
14 In a total of three days, eighty thousand
were destroyed, of which forty thousand
were slain in close combat, and no
fewer were sold into slavery than slain.
15 Not content with this, he presumed to
enter into the most holy temple of all the
earth, having Menelaus for his guide (who
had proved himself a traitor both to the
laws and to his country),
16 even taking the sacred vessels with his
polluted hands, and dragging down with
his profane hands the offerings that had
been dedicated by other kings to enhance
the glory and honor of the place.
17 Antiochus was lifted up in mind, not
seeing thatbecause ofthe sins ofthose who
lived in the city the Sovereign Lord had
been provoked to anger a little while, and
therefore his eye was turned away from
the place.
18 But had it not been so that they
were already bound by many sins, this
man, even as Heliodorus who was sent by
King Seleucus to view the treasury, would,
as soon as he came forward, have been
scourged and turned back from his daring deed.
19 However the Lord didn’t choose the
nationfor theplace’s sake, buttheplace for
the nation’s sake.
20 Therefore also the place itself, having
shared in the calamities that happened to
the nation, did afterward share in its
benefits; and the place which was forsaken in
the wrath of the Almighty was, at the
reconciliation ofthe great Sovereign,
restored again with all glory.
21 As for Antiochus, when he had carried away
out of the temple one thousand
eight hundred talents, he hurried away to
Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he
could sail on land and walk on the sea,
because his heart was lifted up.
22 Moreover he left governors to afflict
the race: at Jerusalem, Philip, by race
a Phrygian, and in character more barbarous
than him who set him there;
23 and at Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these,
Menelaus, who worse than all the rest, exalted
himself against his fellowcitizens. Having
a malicious mind‡ toward the Jews§ whom he
had made his citizens,
24 he sent that† lord of pollutions
Apollonius with an army of twenty-two
thousand, commanding him to kill all those
who were offull age, and to sellthe women
and the boys as slaves.
25 He came to Jerusalem, and pretending
to be a man of peace, waited till the holy
day of the Sabbath, and finding the Jews at
rest from work, he commanded his men to
parade fully armed.
26 He put to the sword all those who
came outto the spectacle. Running into the
city with the armed men, he killed great
multitudes.
27 But Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus,
with about nine others, withdrew
himself, and with his company kept himself
alive in the mountains like wild animals do.
They continued feeding on what
grew wild, that they might not be
partakers of the defilement.