ended the days of his father's mourning. His little army mounted to no more than fix thousand men ; but what they 2 MACCAB, viii. 1. hields, in the manner of the RoMS. P. 2. R. That the Jews we afterwards fond of thefe abDeviations, appears from thofe of de treble or quadruple names of ther learned rabbies; fuch is that RAMBAM, for Rabbi Mofes Ben Her; RALBAG for Rabbi Levi Gerbom, and many more (1); twhether thefe kind of abbretions were fo antient as the Maccabees, or not, it feems plain the text, that Judas had furname long before he difred his ftandards against his ies (2), However that be, Judas, the if chief, feems to have borne way of eminence; and from it paffed to his brethren and ors, and thence to all who up arms, or died, for the caufe; and laftly, it was es to the books which conthe hiftory of thofe wars and tions, and of which it will tre neceffary to give our a fhort account, before clofe this note. ing to our March and April; whereas the Syrians, &c. began their year fix months later. "St. Jerom affirms, that he had feen it in the former (3); and Origen tells us, that it was intituled, Sharbit Sar Bene El; or, The fcep tre of the prince of the fons of GOD(4); or, according to others (who read Sarbene in one word, and with the famech instead of the bin), the fceptre of the rebels against the LORD, intimating, that the Maccabees had maintained the divine fceptre or power, against thofe who had rebelled against it; but the original has beenlong fince loft, and the Greek verfion is now reckoned the most authentic. The first book of the Maccawas written originally, ei, Hebrew, or in the Chaldee, fetch became the current lange of the Fees, after the capty. Its file and phrafe come reft that of the facred hiftos of any of the Apocrypha, and chronological computation is ly Hebrew, and begins alat the month Nifan, answer. It contains a clear and fuccinct hiftory of what happened to the Jews, from the reign of Antio chus Epiphanes, to the death of the high-prieft Simon (5), that is, of about forty years. It was partly compiled from the me moirs which Judas Maccabeas had caufed to be collected (6), and partly from thofe of the high-prieft Hyrcanus, the fon of Simon, who began his government where the book ends, and who is therefore by fome fup. pofed to be the author of it, tho' he be barely quoted in it, as having furnished him the mate rials out of his chronicle (7). Theodotion is generally fuppofed to have tranflated this book into Greek; but it being quoted by De bis wide Wolf. biblioth. rabbin. & Buxtorf, track, de abbreviatur, Shack. f. vi. c. ult. & comm, in Pfalm. vol. i. edit. Huction. (4) Apud Eufeb, () Vide (7) 1 Maseph, fome His bra- they wanted in number, they made up in zeal and bravery very and and GOD gave them fuch fuccefs, that they quickly got int fuccefs. fome of the ftrongeft fortreffes of Judea, falling upon thei Year of enemies fo fuddenly, and with fuch courage, that they drow the flood them out of their cities, villages, and advantageous poft 166. infomuch that Judas's name began to become terrible to t Bef. Chr. Syrians, Samaritans, and apoftate Jews, whilft those who li forfaken their country, to avoid perfecution, were encourag to refort daily to him from their retreats; whereby his troc Increased to fuch a degree as to make Apollonius, the then g vernor of Judea and Samaria, think it high time to fuppr their rifing power, before it was grown to a greater heig He haftened therefore to raife a confiderable army, whi chiefly confifted of Samaritans, Jewish renegadoes, and ot neighbouring nations, with whom he marched against t Defeats Maccabean chief. Judas, on the other hand, no-wi the Sy- terrified with the fuperiority of the enemy, came out agai him with his handful of men, and gave him a total defe Apollo- Apollonius was killed on the fpot, with a great number of nius flain. men. The rest were put to the rout, leaving a rich plun rians. behind them. Among the reft of the fpoil, Judas took b 1 MACCAB. iii. 10, & feq. JOSEPH. lib. xii. c. 10. The fecond book of the Mac- the fanhedrin at Jerufalem, We have already spoken It begins with two letters from TE THIS defeat fo enraged Antiochus, that, upon his hearing Antiohe firft news of it, he again denounced the total extirpation of chus's e Jews; and happy was it for them that his treafury was then rage aexhaufted, by his extravagant largeffes, that he was forced gainst the fupprefs his refentment, till he could raife a fufficient fup- Jews. ly of money to renew the war against them; but before he ould accomplish this, another of his generals received like le a fignal overthrow. This was Seron, deputy-governor Seron deCelefyria, under Ptolemy Macron, who took it into his feated, to come against Judas, in hopes, that if he could defeat little army of his, before the king fent more forces ther, he fhould gain no fmall glory by it. He advanced refore with his troops as far as Bethoron, where Judas met with an handful of his men. Thefe, feeing the fuperiority the enemy, expreffed a great reluctancy to engage, faed as they were, with marching and fafting (B): but as foon difpelled their fears, by reminding them, that fought the caufe of GOD, who was not wont to fave Frength or number, and whose glory, now concerned in fuccefs, would difplay itself the more, by the difproon there was between their two armies. Having thus new life into them, they fell upon the Syrians with fuch r, that Seron was overthrown and killed, with eight and kille red of his men, on the fpot. Some of the reft fled as Bethoron, and the greatest part faved themfelves by ng into the land of the Philistines. These continued. es of the new Jewish general made Philip, governor dea, think it high time to acquaint Antiochus with the that province was in of being loft, if not fpeedily reAntiochus had been obliged to leave the government , whilft himself was gone beyond the Euphrates, as ve feen elsewhere. Lyfias, who had orders to invade Ibid. ver. 14, & feq. * See before, MACCAB. iii. 13. p. 298, & feq. It was, it feems, this Hegeneral's method to keep a fore they engaged the eneand here their march,faft, fet, fo clofely followed, is men began to defpond victory, when they faw periority of Seron's army to Maccab. i. 17, & feq. 44, & bell, Judaic. 1. à, c. x. Judea, and to destroy all the Jews, dispatched immediately Nicanor to Ptolemy Macron, governor of Cælefyria and Phenicia, and Geor- to Nicanor and Georgias, two experienced officers, fort gias fent a thoufand foot, with orders to fee the king's comm gainst Ju- punctually obeyed against the Jewish nation. These came das. Judas's Speech to bis troops. encamped on the plains of Emmaus, not far from Jerufal about twenty miles from Lydda, where they were reinforc with feven thousand horse (C). Fadas immediately gathered his little army together, com fifting only of fix thoufand men; and reminded them, only of his late fignal victories, but of those which had be formerly gained in a more miraculous manner againft Se cherib, and other powerful enemies of the Jews; and ticularly of a recent one, which fix thoufand of their nati had gained over an army of one hundred and twenty the fand Gauls and Macedonians. However, concluded remember, that, let the fuccefs be what it will, it i more glorious to die fword in hand, in defence of our religi lives, and liberties, than to fall into the hands of an en fully determined to our utter deftruction. After this exh tation, he was obliged, by the Mofaic law, to make a g clamation, that all who had married wives, planted vineya c. or whofe hearts failed, fhould depart ; and this cam off near one half of his men, whilft the reft, who remain intrepid, were fcarcely furnished with weapons fit foolo Leads them and unequal an enterprize h. However, he led his Mizpah. thousand men to Mizpah (D), there to implore the d f 2 MACCAB. viii. 19, & feq. A MACCAB. iv. 6. (C) Nicanor, who had refolved to raise, if poffible, the fum of two thousand talents, which the king his mafter owed to the Romans,caufed a proclamation to be made, in all the cities and feaports round about, that he would fell his Jewish captives at the rate of ninety for a talent; and this brought a great concourfe of merchants, who came with large fums of money to purchafe thofe captives. Our author reckons no lefs than a thousand of them, be • Vide Deut. fides a great number of fer who brought chains and materials to convey the way (3). (D) This place, which i mous in the Old Teftament, many accounts, and where Jews used to affemble them to worship before the templ built (4), was now made he of upon this occafion, the being then polluted, and k a Syrian garifon. (3) Maccab. iii. 41. 2 Mace. viii. 34. fm al 1 dem. vii. 5, feg. Here they fafted in faci Jofeph. 1. xii. e. 11. fiftance, by prayer, fafting and facrifices; in confidence of hich, he marched with them against the enemy, and enmped as near them as he fafely could, refolved to offer them ttle early on the next morning, of which he gave his troops tice that very night. In the mean time news were brought him, by fome of his fcouts, that Georgias was coming at e head of five thousand of his choiceft men, and one thouad horfe, to furprife him in his camp; which gave him ch an opportunity of countermining him, as gained him a mplete and eafy victory; for, taking the advantage of argiar's abfence, he, and his three thoufand men, fell on adden on the Syrian army, killed three thoufand of their Defeats , and put the reft to flight, and into fuch confufion, that Nicanor. y could not be rallied again by any means; but left their up, and all their baggage and fpoil, behind them, and fled. gias, having in vain fought for his enemy, whom he fuped to have again retired into the mountains, was returning to his army, when he perceived his camp on fire; which Burns w his men into fuch a panic, that, in fpite of all he Georgias's d do to prevent it, they threw down their arms, and ran camp; the reft. Judas did not leave off purfuing them, till he killed fix thousand more of their men, befides a great mber of maimed and wounded; after which he led his arious troops to plunder the enemy's camp, where, among rich fpoil, they found that money which the greedy gets an im hants had brought to buy the Jewish captives with. This menfe fpoil, victory was gained on the Friday; and the next day, their fabbath, was celebrated with fuitable returns to Divine Providence for their miraculous deliverance k. THIS defeat proved doubly advantageous to the conqueror. frihed him with quantities of arms and ammunition for and good men; and his fame drew daily fresh reinforcements from /upply of parts of Judea, whom his fuccefs encouraged to repair arms, &c. I MACCAB. iii. 57, & feq, k Ibid. cap. iv. paff. JOSEPH. fupra. 2 MACCAB. viii. 24, & feq. alhes, whilft Eleazar, Judas's ther, read and expounded to fome proper portions out the Scriptures. The Nozalikewife, who fhould have formed the conclufion of their s at the temple (5), affemthemselves with the priests De bis vide vol. iii. p. 63. •23, jeg. in their robes; and, at the clofe as a fure omen of their future victory; and the Maccabean chief (6) 1 Maccab. iii. 46,& feq. 2 Maccab. Ꭲ 4 to |