Jonathan Takes Command

How the nation of the Jews recovered its freedom after the Macedonians had enslaved it, and through how many and how great struggles Judas, their general, passed before he died fighting for them, we have shown in the book before this one. After Judas’s death, all who were still left of the impious and of those who had broken the way of life of their fathers sprang up against the Jews, and grew strong, and did them harm on every side. Their wickedness was helped by a famine that seized the country, so that many, through want of necessities and because they could not bear the hardships pressing on them from both sides, from the famine and from their enemies, deserted to the Macedonians. Bacchides gathered those Jews who had abandoned the customs of their fathers and chosen the common way of life of other peoples, and he put the care of the country into their hands. They seized the friends of Judas and those who took his side and handed them over to Bacchides, who first tortured them and abused them for his pleasure, and then put them to death. This calamity was so great for the Jews that they had known nothing like it since their return from Babylon. Those who were left of Judas’s companions, seeing the nation miserably perishing, came to his brother Jonathan. They asked him to imitate his brother and the care Judas had taken for his countrymen, for whose freedom he had died, and not to stand by while the nation was left without a leader, and that in such ruinous times. Jonathan said that he was ready to die for them, and since he was judged in no way inferior to his brother, he was appointed general of the Jews. [a]

When Bacchides heard of it, he was afraid that Jonathan would give the king and the Macedonians trouble, as Judas had before him, and he looked for a way to kill him by treachery. But his intention did not escape Jonathan or his brother Simon. When they learned of it, they took all their companions and fled quickly into the wilderness nearest the city, and when they reached the water called the pool of Asphar, they stayed there. Bacchides, learning that they had left and were in that place, set out against them with his whole force, and pitching his camp across the Jordan, he gathered his strength. When Jonathan knew that Bacchides was coming against him, he sent his brother John, who was called Gaddi, to the Nabatean Arabs, to leave their baggage with them until the battle with Bacchides was over, for the Nabateans were their friends. But as John was on his way to the Nabateans, the sons of Jambri set an ambush for him from the city of Medeba. They seized him and those with him, plundered everything he was carrying, and killed John and all his companions. They paid John’s brothers the penalty they deserved for this, however, as we will show shortly. [c]

When Bacchides learned that Jonathan was encamped in the marshes of the Jordan, he waited for the Sabbath day and came against him then, expecting that he would not fight on that day because of the law. But Jonathan urged on his companions. He told them that their lives were at stake, since they were caught between the river and the enemy and had no way of escape, for the enemy was attacking in front and the river was behind them. Then, after praying to God to give them victory, he joined battle with the enemy. He struck down many of them, and when he saw Bacchides coming boldly at him, he stretched out his right hand to strike him. But Bacchides saw the blow coming and dodged it, and Jonathan leaped with his companions into the river and swam across. In this way they got safely to the far side of the Jordan, for the enemy did not cross the river after them, and Bacchides went straight back to the citadel in Jerusalem. He had lost about two thousand of his army. Bacchides then seized many cities of Judea and fortified them: Jericho, Emmaus, Beth-horon, Bethel, Timnath, Pharathon, Tekoa, and Gazara. In each of the cities he built towers and surrounded them with walls that were strong and very large, and he put troops in them, so that they could sally out from there and do harm to the Jews. Above all he fortified the citadel in Jerusalem. He also took the sons of the leading men of Judea as hostages and shut them up in the citadel, and in this way he kept guard over it. [e]

About the same time someone came to Jonathan and his brother Simon and told them that the sons of Jambri were holding a wedding and bringing the bride from the city of Nadabath. She was the daughter of one of the notable men among the Arabs, and the girl was to be escorted in a splendid and costly procession. Jonathan and Simon thought the best opportunity had come to avenge their brother, and judged that they could exact the penalty for John from them with every advantage. So they set out for Medeba and waited in ambush for their enemies on the mountain. As soon as they saw them escorting the maiden and the bridegroom, with as great a crowd of friends as one would expect at a wedding, they sprang out of the ambush and killed them all. They took the ornaments and all the rest of the spoil that the people had with them, and went back. Such was the vengeance they took for their brother John on the sons of Jambri: these men themselves and the friends who went with them, their wives and their children, perished, four hundred in all. [g]

Simon and Jonathan went back to the marshes of the river and stayed there. Bacchides, having secured all Judea with garrisons, returned to the king, and for two years the affairs of the Jews were quiet. But the renegades and the impious, seeing Jonathan and those with him living in the country without any fear because of the peace, sent to King Demetrius and urged him to send Bacchides to arrest Jonathan. They made out that it would be no trouble: falling on them unexpectedly in a single night, they would kill them all. So the king sent Bacchides, and when he came into Judea he wrote to all his friends, Jews and allies alike, to seize Jonathan for him. But though they all made every effort, they could not lay hands on Jonathan, for he had learned of the plot and was very much on his guard. Bacchides was angry at the renegades for having deceived both him and the king, and he seized fifty of their leaders and put them to death. Jonathan, afraid of Bacchides, withdrew with his brother and his companions to Bethalaga, a village in the wilderness. He built towers and threw walls around it and kept himself safely guarded there. When Bacchides heard of this, he brought the army that was with him, took along his Jewish allies, and came against Jonathan. He attacked his fortifications and besieged him for many days. But Jonathan did not give way before the vigor of the siege; he resisted stoutly. He left his brother Simon in the town to fight Bacchides, while he himself went out secretly into the country, gathered a large band from among those who took his side, and fell on Bacchides’s camp by night and killed a great many of them. His brother Simon also learned that he had fallen on the enemy, for he saw that they were being killed by him. So Simon sallied out against them, burned the Macedonians’ siege engines, and made a considerable slaughter of them. When Bacchides saw himself caught by the enemy, pressed by some in front and some behind, he fell into despondency and confusion of mind, dismayed at the unexpected outcome of the siege. He vented his anger at this on the renegades who had called him in from the king, for they had deceived him; and he wanted to end the siege, if he could, in a way that did him credit and go back home. [h]

Learning his mind, Jonathan sent envoys to him about friendship and alliance, proposing that each side give back the prisoners it had taken. Bacchides thought this the most creditable way to withdraw, and made friendship with Jonathan. They swore that they would not make war on each other again, and he gave back the prisoners, took back his own men, and returned to the king at Antioch; and after this withdrawal he never again invaded Judea. Jonathan, taking advantage of this freedom from fear, made his home in the city of Michmash. There he managed the affairs of the people, punished the wicked and impious, and so cleansed the nation of them. [j]