death of the family’s patriarch Mattathias in 166, his son Judas Maccabaeus
assumed leadership of the insurgency. Over the next two years, Judas dis-
tinguished himself in battle against local Seleucid commanders. But it was
not until 164 that Lysias himself undertook a full-scale expedition to stamp
out the revolt. The Seleucid vizier combined his military efforts against Ju-
das with diplomatic overtures toward other Jewish groups. In spite of the
success of these negotiations, Judas fought on.
On the military front, Lysias’s expedition failed to achieve its goal. He
besieged Judas in the strategic town of Beth Zur, but withdrew to Antioch
before taking it. This withdrawal enabled Judas to enter Jerusalem and take
control of the Temple Mount, which he appointed priests to cleanse and re-
dedicate. The joint decision by “Judas and his brothers and all the assembly
of Israel” (1 Macc. 4:59) to commemorate the event as an annual festival, and
his garrisoning of Jerusalem and Beth Zur, indicate that by the end of 164 Ju-
das had acquired recognition by a significant segment of his countrymen.
The death of Antiochus IV constrained Lysias to devote the better part
of the following year to consolidating his power as guardian of the royal
heir. This respite gave Judas and his brothers an opportunity to launch ex-
peditions into the surrounding territories where Jews were a vulnerable
minority in need of protection. One result of these raids was the relocation
of Jewish refugees to Judea, thus increasing Judas’s reservoir of potential
recruits for his growing forces. Early in 162, Judas felt his position strong
enough to launch a direct attack against the Akra.
This bold move provoked Lysias to lead a substantial force into Judea
in May of that year with the boy-king Antiochus V in tow. Judas’s forces
were overwhelmed and forced to retreat, while Lysias and the king pressed
on to Jerusalem and besieged the Temple Mount. Within two months,
however, news of an insurrection at Antioch by a rival general brought the
siege to a standstill. A truce with the Temple’s defenders was affected, but
Judas’s fortifications were demolished. The absence of Judas from 1 Macca-
bees’ narrative of events following his defeat by Lysias is conspicuous. Sec-
ond Maccabees claims he was received by the king in conjunction with the
truce; but this account also denies that Judas was defeated, thus casting
suspicion on its reliability. Either way, the events of 162 were a setback for
the Maccabean movement.
The deterioration of Judas’s position continued. Later that same year,
a new aspirant to the Seleucid throne, Demetrius I, seized power in Syria
and executed Lysias along with Antiochus V. This abrupt regime change
prompted an embassy from the Jews led by one Alcimus, who obtained42chris seeman and adam kolman marshakEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:03:51 PM