Alexander Comes to Jerusalem

About this time Philip, king of Macedon, was treacherously attacked and killed at Aegae by Pausanias, the son of Cerastes, who came of the Orestian stock, and his son Alexander succeeded him in the kingdom. Crossing the Hellespont, Alexander defeated the generals of Darius’ army in a battle fought at the Granicus. Then he marched through Lydia, subdued Ionia, overran Caria, and fell upon the places of Pamphylia, as has been told elsewhere. [a]

But the elders of Jerusalem were very uneasy that the brother of Jaddua the high priest, though married to a foreigner, should share the high priesthood with him, and they quarreled with him. For they regarded this man’s marriage as a step for those who wanted to break the law in their marriages, and thought it would be the beginning of mixing in fellowship with foreigners; and yet the offense some had committed in marrying, by taking wives who were not of their own country, had been the cause of their former captivity and of the miseries they then suffered. So they ordered Manasseh either to divorce his wife or not to approach the altar, the high priest himself joining the people in their indignation against his brother and driving him away from the altar. At this Manasseh went to his father-in-law Sanballat and told him that although he loved his daughter Nicaso, he was not willing to be deprived of his priestly rank on her account, since it was the highest rank in their nation and always remained in the same family. Then Sanballat promised not only to keep for him the honor of his priesthood, but to obtain for him the power and rank of a high priest, and to make him governor of all the places he himself then ruled, if he would keep his daughter as his wife. He told him further that he would build him a temple like the one at Jerusalem on Mount Gerizim, which is the highest of all the mountains in Samaria; and he promised that he would do this with the approval of King Darius. Manasseh was elated by these promises and stayed with Sanballat, supposing that he would gain a high priesthood bestowed on him by Darius, for Sanballat happened by then to be advanced in years. But there was now great unrest among the people of Jerusalem, because many of the priests and Israelites were entangled in such marriages; for they all went over to Manasseh, and Sanballat gave them money, and divided among them land for farming and places to live as well, all to please his son-in-law in every way. [d]

About this time Darius heard that Alexander had crossed the Hellespont, had beaten his lieutenants in the battle at the Granicus, and was advancing further. So he gathered an army of cavalry and infantry, and resolved to meet the Macedonians before they could attack and conquer all Asia. He crossed the river Euphrates, came over the Taurus, the Cilician mountain, and waited for the enemy at Issus in Cilicia, ready to give battle there. Sanballat was glad that Darius had come down, and told Manasseh that he would carry out his promises to him very soon, as soon as Darius came back after defeating his enemies. For not only he but everyone in Asia was convinced that the Macedonians would not so much as come to battle with the Persians, because of their numbers. But the outcome was other than they expected. The king joined battle with the Macedonians and was beaten, and lost a great part of his army. His mother, his wife and his children were taken captive, and he fled into Persia. So Alexander came into Syria and took Damascus; and when he had taken Sidon, he besieged Tyre. Then he sent a letter to the Jewish high priest, asking him to send him some auxiliary troops and to supply his army with provisions, and to send to him now whatever presents he had formerly sent to Darius, choosing the friendship of the Macedonians; he would never regret doing so. But the high priest answered the messengers that he had given his oath to Darius not to bear arms against him, and he said he would not break it while Darius was alive. When he heard this answer, Alexander was very angry. Though he decided not to leave Tyre, which was just about to be taken, he threatened that as soon as he had taken it he would march against the Jewish high priest, and through him teach all men to whom they must keep their oaths. So when he had taken Tyre, with a good deal of effort during the siege, and had settled its affairs, he came to the city of Gaza and besieged both the city and the commander of its garrison, whose name was Babemeses. [g]

But Sanballat thought he now had a suitable opportunity to make his attempt. So he renounced Darius, and taking eight thousand of his own subjects with him, he came to Alexander. Finding him beginning the siege of Tyre, he told him that he was handing over to him these men, who came from places under his rule and gladly accepted him as their lord in place of Darius. When Alexander had received him kindly, Sanballat took courage and spoke to him about his present business. He told him that he had a son-in-law, Manasseh, who was the brother of the high priest Jaddua, and that there were many others of his own nation now with him who wanted to have a temple in the places subject to him; and that it would be to the king’s advantage to have the strength of the Jews divided in two, so that the nation, if it were of one mind and united, should not prove troublesome to kings in any attempt at revolt, as it had formerly proved to the kings of Assyria. At this Alexander gave Sanballat leave to do so. Sanballat used the utmost diligence, built the temple, and made Manasseh its priest, and thought it a great reward that his daughter’s children would hold that rank. But when the seven months of the siege of Tyre were over, and the two months of the siege of Gaza, Sanballat died. [h]

Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, hurried to go up to Jerusalem. When Jaddua the high priest heard this, he was in anguish and terror, not knowing how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his earlier disobedience. So he ordered the people to make supplication and to join him in offering sacrifice to God, whom he begged to protect the nation and deliver them from the dangers coming upon them. Then God warned him in a dream, which came to him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, adorn the city and open the gates; that the rest should appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the robes proper to their order, without fear of any harm, which the providence of God would prevent. When he rose from his sleep, he rejoiced greatly and told everyone the warning he had received from God. He acted entirely according to this dream, and so waited for the king’s coming.

When he learned that the king was not far from the city, he went out in procession with the priests and the crowd of citizens. The procession was a solemn one, and different in its manner from those of other nations. It reached as far as a place called Sapha, a name which, translated into Greek, means a lookout, for from there you have a view of both Jerusalem and the temple. The Phoenicians and the Chaldeans who followed Alexander thought they would be allowed to plunder the city and torture the high priest to death, which the king’s displeasure gave them good reason to expect; but the very opposite happened. For when Alexander saw the crowd at a distance in white garments, the priests standing clothed in fine linen, and the high priest in his robe of blue and gold, with his miter on his head bearing the golden plate on which the name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, bowed down before that name, and was the first to greet the high priest. The Jews also, all together and with one voice, greeted Alexander and surrounded him. At this the kings of Syria and the rest were astonished at what Alexander had done, and supposed he had lost his mind. Parmenio alone went up to him and asked him how it was that, when all others bowed down to him, he should bow down to the high priest of the Jews. He replied, “I did not bow down to him, but to that God who has honored him with his high priesthood. For I saw this very man in a dream, in this very dress, when I was at Dium in Macedonia. As I was considering how I might gain the mastery of Asia, he urged me to make no delay but boldly to cross the sea, for he would lead my army and give me dominion over the Persians. So, having seen no one else in that dress, and now seeing this man in it, and remembering that vision and the encouragement I had in my dream, I believe that I am leading this army under God’s guidance, and that with it I will conquer Darius and destroy the power of the Persians, and that everything will succeed as I have it in mind.” [i]

When he had said this to Parmenio, and had given the high priest his right hand, he came into the city with the Jews running along beside him. When he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God as the high priest directed, and treated both the high priest and the priests magnificently. And when the book of Daniel was shown to him, in which Daniel declared that one of the Greeks would destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that he himself was the one meant. In his gladness he dismissed the crowd for the time being; but the next day he called them to him and told them to ask whatever favors they pleased. The high priest asked that they might live by the laws of their forefathers and pay no tribute in the seventh year. He granted all they asked. And when they begged him to allow the Jews in Babylon and Media to live by their own laws as well, he willingly promised to do what they asked in the future. And when he told the crowd that if any of them would enlist in his army on condition that they kept the laws of their forefathers and lived by them, he was willing to take them with him, many were ready to go with him to his wars.

When Alexander had settled matters at Jerusalem in this way, he led his army to the neighboring cities. All the inhabitants he came to received him with great kindness. Then the Samaritans, whose chief city was at that time Shechem, a city lying at Mount Gerizim and inhabited by apostates from the Jewish nation, seeing that Alexander had so greatly honored the Jews, decided to profess themselves Jews. For this is the disposition of the Samaritans, as we have already shown elsewhere: when the Jews are in adversity, they deny that they are related to them, and then they tell the truth; but when they see that some good fortune has come to them, they immediately claim fellowship with them, saying that they belong to them and trace their descent from the line of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. [m]

So they made their approach to the king with splendor, and showed great eagerness in meeting him a little way from Jerusalem. When Alexander had commended them, the Shechemites came to him, bringing with them the troops Sanballat had sent him, and asked him to come to their city and honor their temple too. He promised them that he would come to them when he returned. When they petitioned him to remit the tribute of the seventh year for them, because they did not sow in it, he asked who they were that made such a petition. When they said they were Hebrews, but were called Sidonians, living at Shechem, he asked them again whether they were Jews; and when they said they were not Jews, he said, “It was to the Jews that I granted that privilege. However, when I return and have been fully informed by you about this matter, I will do what I think proper.” In this way he took leave of the Shechemites, but ordered Sanballat’s troops to follow him into Egypt, because he intended to give them land there; and a little later he did so in the Thebaid, when he ordered them to guard that country.

After Alexander was dead, the government was divided among his successors, but the temple on Mount Gerizim remained. And if anyone was accused by the people of Jerusalem of having eaten unclean food, or of having broken the Sabbath, or of any other crime of the kind, he fled to the Shechemites and said that he had been unjustly expelled. About this time Jaddua the high priest died, and his son Onias took the high priesthood. This was the state of the affairs of the people of Jerusalem at this time. [n]