2 Maccabees 10 - New Catholic Bible (NCB)

Chapter 10

Judas Recovers Jerusalem and Purifies the Temple. ¹ Under the guidance of the Lord, Maccabeus and his companions recovered the temple and the city,^{[a] 2} destroying the altars^[b] erected by the Gentiles in the public square and tearing down their sacred precincts. ³ After they purified the sanctuary,^[c] they built another altar. Then, striking fire from flints, they offered sacrifice for the first time in two years, burning incense, lighting lamps, and setting out the bread of the Presence. ⁴ When they had done this, they prostrated themselves and implored the Lord never again to allow them to be afflicted with such misfortunes, and, were they ever to sin, to discipline them himself with moderation rather than hand them over to blasphemous and barbarous nations.

⁵ The purification of the temple took place on the very same day on which the temple had been profaned by the Gentiles, that is, the twenty-fifth day of the same month Chislev. ⁶ The celebration and rejoicing lasted for eight days, in the manner of the Feast of Booths, as they recalled how, only a short time before, during the Feast of Booths, they had been living like wild animals in the mountains and caves. ⁷ And so, carrying wands entwined with ivy, and leafy branches and palm fronds, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him whose guiding hand had enabled them to achieve the purification of his holy place. ⁸ They also decreed by a public edict, ratified by vote, that the whole Jewish nation should observe these days every year.

The Acquisition of Religious Freedom^[d]

The War against Lysias, Minister of Antiochus V

The Threat to Peace. ⁹ Such were the circumstances surrounding the death of Antiochus who was called Epiphanes. ¹⁰ Now we will relate what took place under Antiochus Eupator, the son of that godless man, and offer a brief summary of the evils that resulted from his wars. ¹¹ When Eupator succeeded to the throne, he appointed a man named Lysias^[e] to be in charge of the government as commander-in-chief of Coelesyria and Phoenicia. ¹² Ptolemy, who was called Macron, had taken the lead in treating the Jews fairly to atone for the previous injustices that they had suffered, and he endeavored to maintain peaceful relations with them. ¹³ As a result, he was denounced before Eupator by the King’s Friends. He heard himself called a traitor at every turn because he had abandoned Cyprus, which Philometor had entrusted to him, and had transferred his allegiance to Antiochus Epiphanes. Unable to command the respect due his office, he took poison and thereby ended his life.

¹⁴ Judas Punishes the Idumeans.^[f] When Gorgias became governor of the region, he hired a force of mercenaries and maintained a state of war with the Jews. ¹⁵ At the same time, the Idumeans,^[g] who controlled some strategic fortresses, were harassing the Jews, as they welcomed fugitives from Jerusalem and made every effort to continue the war. ¹⁶ Maccabeus and his forces offered public prayers, entreating God to support their efforts, and then launched an assault against the Idumean strongholds. ¹⁷ Attacking them energetically, they captured these vantage positions, driving off all who manned the walls, and slaughtered all those whom they encountered, killing no fewer than twenty thousand men.

¹⁸ At least nine thousand of the enemy took refuge in two exceedingly strong towers that were fully equipped to withstand a siege. ¹⁹ Maccabeus left behind Simon and Joseph, as well as Zacchaeus and his troops, comprising a force sufficient to besiege them, while he himself set out for zones where he was more urgently needed. ²⁰ However, Simon’s men were avaricious, and they allowed themselves to be bribed by some of those who were in the towers. After receiving seventy thousand drachmas, they permitted a number of them to slip away. ²¹ When Maccabeus was told what had happened, he assembled the leaders of the people and denounced those men for having sold their kindred for money by freeing their enemies to fight against them. ²² Then he executed them as traitors and immediately captured both towers. ²³ Since he was successful in everything he undertook by force of arms, he slaughtered more than twenty thousand men in the two strongholds.

²⁴ Judas Defeats Timothy and Captures Gezer.^[h] Timothy, who had been defeated by the Jews once before, now gathered an enormous force of mercenaries and considerable numbers of cavalry from Asia. Then he marched into Judea, intending to take it by storm. ²⁵ At his approach, Maccabeus and his men made supplication to God, sprinkling dust upon their heads and girding their loins with sackcloth. ²⁶ Prostrating themselves on the steps in front of the altar, they implored him to support them in their struggle, and, as the law states, to be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries.

²⁷ After their prayer, they took up their weapons and advanced a considerable distance from the city, coming to a halt when they were near the enemy. ²⁸ Just as dawn was breaking, the two armies joined battle, the one having as a pledge of success and victory not only their own valor, but also their reliance on the Lord, whereas the other had only their own fury to sustain them in battle.

²⁹ When the fighting reached its height, there appeared to the enemy from the heavens five magnificent men, each astride a horse with a golden bridle, and they placed themselves in the forefront of the Jews. ³⁰ Surrounding Maccabeus and shielding him with their own armor, they kept him from being wounded. Meanwhile, they propelled arrows and thunderbolts at the enemy, leaving them confused and blinded so that they were thrown into complete disarray and routed. ³¹ Twenty thousand five hundred of their infantry were slain, in addition to six hundred cavalry.

³² Timothy himself fled to a strongly garrisoned citadel called Gazara,^[i] where Chaereas was in command. ³³ For four days Maccabeus and his forces eagerly besieged the fortress, ³⁴ while the men inside, their confidence buoyed by their belief in the security of the place, continued to taunt them with terrible blasphemies and abominable insults. ³⁵ At daybreak on the fifth day, twenty young men in the army of Maccabeus, infuriated at the blasphemies, bravely stormed the wall and with savage fury, cut down everyone they encountered. ³⁶ Others who came up in a similar way attacked the defenders from the rear and set fire to the towers while starting other fires in which the blasphemers were burned alive. Still others broke down the gates and let in the rest of the troops, who then took possession of the city. ³⁷ Timothy, who had hidden in a cistern, was slain, along with his brother Chaereas, and Apollophanes. ³⁸ When they had accomplished all of these exploits, they offered hymns of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord who had shown such great kindness to Israel and given them the victory.

Footnotes

1. 2 Maccabees 10:1 The account is resumed now from 2 Mac 8:36. See the parallel account in 1 Mac 4:36-59.
2. 2 Maccabees 10:2 Destroying the altars: they tore down the altars that had been used for pagan worship.
3. 2 Maccabees 10:3 They purified the sanctuary by removing the desecrated stones (1 Mac 1:44-46). Striking fire from flints: no mention is made of the legends of 2 Mac 1:19—2:1 concerning fire. Two years: in reality, it was three and a half years from the time when worship had been interrupted.
4. 2 Maccabees 10:9 A new persecutor comes forth. He is defeated, however, because he threatened the temple. And the people of God celebrate the victory. It is the second part of the Book and takes up the same schema as the first.
5. 2 Maccabees 10:11 Lysias is, in fact, named here for the first time in this Book. On the other hand, in 1 Maccabees we find more abundant information about him beginning with 1 Mac 3:32f where he is left by Antiochus IV as tutor of his son.
6. 2 Maccabees 10:14 The numbers are not certain; they merely serve to emphasize the victory.
7. 2 Maccabees 10:15 Idumeans: ancient people of Edom (descendants of Esau) located south of Judea, which after the Exile had also become established in Hebron. Their hostility toward the Hebrews was of ancient date (see Num 20:14-21; Jdg 11:17). This may be the same campaign mentioned in 1 Mac 5:1-3.
8. 2 Maccabees 10:24 The sequence of events is not respected. Later on (2 Mac 12:2, 10, 18), we will encounter the Timothy who is killed in this episode, and Gezer will be truly conquered only at the hands of Simon after the death of Judas (1 Mac 13:43-48). All this is of no importance for the author: grouping together events (even though some occurred later), he constructs a eulogy in honor of his hero.
9. 2 Maccabees 10:32 Gazara: mentioned much more often in 1 Maccabees (4:15; 9:52; 13:43, 53; 16:1), it is an ancient Canaanite city at the foot of the Judean mountains. According to another hypothesis, it should be read as Jazer as in 1 Mac 5:8.