56 A. M. 3596. A. C. 438; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 5070. A. Č. 141. 1 MAC i-vi. 7. 2 MAC. iii-x. JOS. HIST. b. xi. c. 7-b. xii, c. 14 worshipping the sun in the east,' are the rather mentioned, because they were men of eminence, and very probably the judges of civil and ecclesiastical matters. What kind of judicature prevailed in the time of the captivity, it is difficult to say. From the story of Susan nah we may learn, that in these circumstances the Jews were allowed their own courts and judges, even in Babylon itself; but of what number, order, or authority these judges were, none can tell. It is plain, however, that upon the restoration Ezra returned with full power from Artaxerxes, to set magistrates and judges in all the land,' who might punish criminals according to their demerit, either with death, or banishment, imprisonment, or confiscation of goods: and in this condition, the Jewish state continued, namely, in the form of an aristocracy, with the high priest at the head of it, sometimes under the king of Egypt, and sometimes under the king of Syria, for a considerable time after the return from the captivity. restore 2 The persecution which Antiochus Epiphanes raised among the Jews, ruined all the economy of their government but Matthias, and his sons, endeavoured to 'the decayed state of the people', as it is called, as far as those troublesome times would permit them. Judas Maccabæus, in a general assembly held at Maspha, revived the ancient order, and appointed rulers over the people, even captains over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens:' and when Jonathan, his brother and successor, took upon him both the sovereign and sacerdotal authority, he, nevertheless, governed by the advice of a senate, not excluding the people from some share in their deliberations, as appears by the letters which the Jews, at this time, sent to the Lacedemonians. 4 Aristobulus, who was the first of the Asmonæan race that took upon him the diadem and title of a king, continued the senate in great authority, but excluded the common people from having any part in the administration; as the kings who succeeded him, endeavoured to confirm their own power, by curtailing that of the senate, till Pompey came, and quite overturned the Jewish state, by subjecting it to the empire, and making Judea a Roman province. 6 When Moses, in conducting the children of Israel through the wilderness, was teased and wearied out, as we say, with the perpetual complaints and murmurings of that people, in the impatience of his soul, he addressed himself to God in these words: wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?—I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me,' &c. Whereupon the Lord said unto him, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee; and I will come down and talk with thee there; and I will take of the spirit, which is upon thee, and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burden with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.' This command Moses took care to put in execution: the elders accordingly met at the tabernacle of the congregation, and when the Spirit of the Lord rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.' These words, as we said before, are held by the generality of the rabbins, as well as by some Christian writers, to be the true origin of that great sanhedrim," which, from its first institution here under Moses, subsisted all along in the Jewish nation, even to the time of their utter dispersion under Vespasian, and had the cognizance of all matters of the greatest moment, both civil and ecclesiastical." But for the better understanding of the sense and design of them, we may observe, 1st, that Moses does not here speak of the difficulty or multiplicity of business that was laid upon him, but of the perverse temper of the people, always addicted to mutiny and sedition, which be himself alone was not able to withstand. To ease himself of the labour of judging the people in all civil and capital causes, he had, by the advice of his father-in-law, appointed a certain number of judges, and it seems not unlikely, that some of these seventy were of the number of these judges, because they are called by God himself, the elders and officers of the people.' Moses wanted no assistance therefore in the administration of affairs of this nature; but what he wanted, was a sufficient number of persons of such power and authority among the people, as might restrain them from seditious practices, and awe them into obedience; and for this reason it was, that God, when he made choice of them, gave them the Spirit of prophecy, as an evident sign of his having appointed them coadjutors to Moses, in the exercise of his supreme authority, and as a means to procure them the greater reverence and esteem among the people. From this short review of the Jewish republic, we may perceive, that its form of government, at different times, has been various; that Moses (with the concurrence of seventy chief magistrates) as God's vicegerent, governed the people in an absolute manner; that under the judges the state had been sometimes without any ruler at all, independent sometimes, and, at other times, under the jurisdiction of its enemies; that the ancient kings of 2dly, We may observe farther, that it does not appear Judah vouchsafed to administer justice to their subjects, from the foregoing passage, that this assembly of sevenbut that towards the decline of the kingdom, its princes ty persons was to be perpetuated in the Jewish state, and affected state, and a despotic power; that from the cap- when any died, others submitted in their room; on the tivity to the time of the Asmonæans, the government, contrary it rather seems to have been an occasional inunder the high priest, was partly aristocratical, and stitution, or present expedient for the relief of Moses, partly popular; and that the Asmonæan kings made it that by the addition of other rulers, (all endued with gifts monarchical, till the Romans destroyed it: and so we extraordinary as well as he,) the murmurs and complaints proceed to consider, in which of these periods the famous of the people might not fall all upon him, but be divert council of the Jews, which is usually called their san-ed, some of them at least, upon others; and that by the hedrim, might have its rise, with some other particulars joint influence of so many persons, all possessed with relating to its authority and proceedings. the same spirit of government, they might either hinder Ezra vii. 25, 26. 21 Mac. iii. 43. 3 Ibid. ver. 55. Num. xi. 11, &c. Exod. xviii, 24. A.M. 3596. A.C. 408; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A.M. 5070. A. C. 341. 1 MAC. i-vi. 7. 2 MAC. iii-x. JOS. HIST. b. xi. c. 7-b. xii. c. 14. or appease them. And as this was an institution only for that purpose, there is no reason to believe that it continued any longer than Moses lived; because, if we take a view of the history of succeeding ages, we shall find no footsteps of it. After the death of Moses, we find Joshua ruling the people with an absolute authority; settling the portions of the several tribes in the land of Canaan; dismissing those who had assisted their brethren in the conquest of it; receiving all appeals, redressing all grievances, and acting, in short, as the only governor of the nation, without one word mentioned of any supreme council to control him. After the death of Joshua, God raised up judges, men of courage and wisdom extraordinary, to deliver his people from the oppressions of their enemies, and to attend to the administration of justice among them; and yet we read of no act or decree of this pretended sanhedrim all this while, which could no more have been omitted in the account of these times, had it been then existing, than the mention of the Roman senate is in any of their historians. In those days,' as the sacred history informs us, 'there was no king in Israel, but every man did what was right in his own eyes;' and' where then was this venerable assembly, whose authority, according to the rabbins, was superior to that of princes, to interpose in this time of need? The Jews certainly could never have degenerated into such a state of licentiousness, had there been a court of seventy or seventy-two elders, chosen out of every tribe, and invested with a supreme authority to punish criminals, and reform abuses; nor can we see what reason the Levite had to cut in pieces the body of his concubine, abused by the Gibeonites, and to send it to the several tribes, in demand of justice, if there had been such a constant tribunal, as this is represented, to resort to. The kings who succeeded the judges, acted in such a manner, as to make us believe, that there was no such thing as a sanhedrim then in being. They displaced high priests without opposition; they waged war without advising with any; they made and deposed judges, as they pleased; and in short did every thing that other princes are wont to do, without the sanhedrim's ever interposing its authority, that we read of, to stop the course of their extravagancies, or curb their exorbitant power. Some of these kings, we know, were for extinguishing the true worship of God, and establishing idolatry in its stead: here then was a proper opportunity for this venerable body to step in, by condemning idolatry in some public act of theirs, and opposing the innovations of the court. But of this we hear not one word; neither do we find, that the prophets, who so severely inveighed against the wickedness of the people, ever referred them to the sanhedrim, or complained, that that court was too remiss or negligent in the punishment of crimes. If ever mention were to be made of this great council, it would be, one would think, in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which were written after the Babylonish captivity, when there was no king in the land, and consequently a fit opportunity for the sanhedrim to appear; and yet, even here, we find several matters of great mo ment transacted, such as the reformation of the people's manners, the dissolution of illegal marriages, a stop put to the profanation of the sabbath, and a covenant of obe| dience to God, made and signed by the deputies of the priests, Levites and common people; but not one word of the great sanhedrim all this while. In short, not only the sacred writers, but even Josephus, Philo, Origen, Eusebius, and St Jerome, who were all well versed in the ancient government of the Jews, make no manner of mention of any such body of men in the times that we are now upon; and therefore we cannot but think, that this universal silence, in writers of all kinds, is a very good argument, that this supreme national council did not then subsist. Its name is confessedly of Greek derivation; to which purpose Livy ❝ observes, that those senators whom the Macedonians intrusted with the administration of their government, were called synedri: and therefore it seems somewhat incongruous to look into the first centuries of the Jewish church for the original of a council, whose very name is of later extract. 7 : 6 Before the times of the gospel, wherein frequent mention is made of this council, we find it in so great authority, as even to call Herod, though then governor of Galilee, upon his trial for some misdemeanour and therefore it is no improbable conjecture, that in the time of the Maccabees, either Judas or Jonathan was the first institutor of it; and the reason they might have for this institution, might be the change which they had made in the nature of the government, for which they wanted the consent of the people, or at least of a body that represented them, that thereby they might act with more authority: and though, as yet, they did not assume the title of kings, yet they thought it a matter of prudence to have their resolutions ratified by a council. The Maccabees, who, in all probability, were the first institutors of this council, would hardly exclude themselves from it; and therefore we may presume, that the high priest was the settled president, who, for that reason was called nasi, or prince of the sanhedrim, and in his absence had a deputy called ab-beth-din, or father of the house of judgment, and a sub-deputy called chacam, that is, thes wie; but all the rest had the common name of elders or senators. These senators, which are usually taken from other inferior courts, were to be some priests, and some laymen, but all persons of untainted birth, good learning, and profound knowledge in the law, both written and traditional. All eunuchs, usurers, gamesters, those that brought up pigeons to decoy others to their dove-houses, or made any gain of their fruits in the sabbatical year, all old men, deformed persons, and such as had no children, because they were suspected of being cruel and hard-hearted, were excluded from this council; and those only who were of mature age, competent fortunes, and comely personages, were admitted to it. The room in which this council met, was a rotunda, half of which was built without the temple, and half within. The nasi, or prince of the council, sat upon a throne elevated above the rest, at the upper end of the It was decreed by the Macedonian state, that senators, whom they name synedri, should be commissioned for the administration of the kingdom.-B. xlv. c. 32. 7 Jewish Antiq. b. xiv, c. 17. law. 6 A. M. 3596 A. C. 408; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 5070. A. C. 341. 1 MAC. i-vi. 7. 2 MAC. iii-x. JOS. HIST. b. xi. c. 7-b. xii. c 14, room, having his deputy on his right hand, and his sub-fore they sentenced him to be stoned according to the deputy on his left. The senators were ranged in order on each side; and the secretaries who were to record the matters that came before them, were three; whereof one wrote the sentences of those that were absolved, the other had the condemnations under his care, and the third entered into their books the several pleadings of all contending parties. St Paul himself declares before this very court, that before his conversion to Christianity, he persecuted those of that way' unto death, and 'received letters from the estates of the elders,' or the sanhedrim, to bring Christians from Damascus to Jerusalem in bonds, in order to be punished.' Tertullus, who, in the trial of this The vanity and ridiculous pride of the rabbins appear apostle, was council for the sanhedrim, tells Felix, the in nothing more, than in the excessive power which they governor of Judea, that having apprehended the criminal give to this high-court of judicature. For, according to at the bar, they thought to have proceeded against him them, it not only decided such cases as were brought according to their law; but that the chief captain, Lybefore it by way of appeal from other inferior courts, sias, came upon them, and took him out of their hands.' but had under its jurisdiction likewise a the king, the The true reason why Lysias exerted his power upon high priest, and prophets. The king, for instance, if this occasion, and took him out of their hands, was, behe offended against the law, if he married above eighteen cause they had accused him, not only of blasphemy, and wives, if he kept too many horses, if he hoarded up too profanation of their temple, but of sedition likewise, much gold or silver, the sanhedrim had him stripped which was a crime falling more properly under the cogand whipped in their presence. But whipping, it seems, nizance of the civil government, and for which Paul was among the Jews was not so ignominious a thing, but therefore brought before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. that the king bore it by way of penance, with great pa- 10 So that from an examination of these particulars, wheretience, and himself made choice of the person that was in the power of the sanhedrim was concerned, we may to exercise this discipline upon him. However this be, conclude, that even after the subjection of the Jewish it is certain, that all private controversies of difficult state to the Roman empire, this sanhedrim had the discussion, all matters relating to religion, and all im- power of life and death in crimes committed against their portant affairs of state, were submitted to the determina- own law; but that in matters of sedition, and crimes tion of this august assembly, from whose sentence no committed against the civil administration, the Roman appeal could be made, because a demurring to the juris-governors interposed their authority, and in cases of this diction of their court was punished by death, that is, while the power of life and death was in their hands; but how long this lasted, after that Judea became a Roman province, has been a matter of some dispute among the learned. 3 2 Josephus tells us expressly, that the senate and emperors of Rome took no ancient rights from the nations whom they conquered; and by the words of Pilate concerning our Saviour Christ,Take ye him and judge him according to your law,' it seems, as though they still retained their power, though perhaps it might be under some limitations. Upon St Peter's speech before the great council, we find them so exasperated against the apostles, that they began to think of putting them all to death, and might, very probably, have proceeded in their design, had they not been dissuaded from it by the wise advice of Gamaliel. The stoning of St Stephen was not the effect of any hasty judgment of some zealots, but of the regular proceedings of this court. He was brought before the council,' we read; false witnesses accusing him of blasphemy were produced against him; in his own defence, he made a long discourse; but his own defence was not admitted, nor his innocence acknowledged; and there 1 Calmet's Dissertation on the Government of the Hebrews. 2 Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Sanhedrim. 3 Against Apion. Jewish Antiq. book ii. c. 17. John xviii. 31. 5 Acts v. 29, &c. 6 Acts vi. 22, &c. a This is directly the opinion of Maimonides, (in Sanhed. per. 2, 3.), but that learned rabbi was strangely prejudiced in favour of this great council; and though Josephus is of the same opinion, yet to allow such an extent of jurisdiction to this court, so as to inflict corporal punishment upon the persons of their kings, is contrary to the general notions of sovereignty, and the laws of all kingdoms and nations; besides that the Holy Scriptures are absolutely silent in this particular, and nothing can be inferred from them, to countenance such a coercive power.Lewis's Hebrew Antiq. vol. i. c. 6. nature took the dispensation of justice out of their hands. "What formality was observed in bringing a lawsuit before the sanhedrim, Maimonides has in this manner described :-"The business," says he, "was first to be examined in the inferior courts; but if it could not be decided there, the judges sent to Jerusalem to consult the judgment-chamber, that sat upon the mount of the temple. From this first tribunal they proceeded to that which sat at the temple gate; and if the matter was not determined there, they came at last to the great council chamber, which was held in one of the apartments belonging to the temple; and this last council determined with so much justice and authority, that there were no divisions seen, during all the time that the second temple lasted." And what caution was taken, in passing the sentence of death upon criminals, by the same tribunal, the Jewish doctors (if we will believe them) have thus informed us." After the witnesses were heard, and the matter in question decided, the judge put off the sentence till next morning. Hereupon the sanhedrim went home, eat but little, drank no wine, and then met again, two by two, in order to weigh all the particulars of the trial. The next morning, he that had given his opinion for condemning of the criminal, had power to revoke it; bat he who had once given it for absolving him, could not alter his mind. As soon as the judge had pronounced sentence, the malefactor was conducted to the place of execution, while an herald, on horseback, proclaimed, as he went along, ‘such an one is condemned for such a crime; but if any body can allege any thing in his behalf, let him speak.' If it happened that any one came to the gate of the court, the door-keeper made a sign to the herald to bring back the malefactor, while 7 Deut. xvii. 7. 8 Acts xxii. 4, &c. 9 Chap. xxiv. 6. 7. 10 See Beausobre and L'enfant's Gen. Pref. to the New Test "Basnage's History of the Jews, b. 5. c. 2. A.M.3841. A.C.163; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A.M.5247. A.C. 164 1 MAC.v.1. JOS. HIST. b. xii. c. 14-END of MAC. JOS. HIST. b. xiii.c.19. two judges were appointed to receive what his friend had to say in his favour, and to consider whether there was any thing material in it. These formalities are indeed related in the Mishneh; but it is much to be questioned, whether they were not invented since, on purpose to recommend the justice and equity of the ancient Jewish tribunals. For, besides that no other nation did ever yet observe such favourable proceedings, in relation to those that were found guilty, there is not the least mention of any thing of this kind in the sacred history; and in the Talmud itself we meet with maxims and matter of fact quite contrary to it. For therein we are told, that though a prisoner declare upon oath, at the place of execution, that he was innocent, and in confirmation of this the false witnesses recanted; yet the judges took no notice of their retraction, but only said, "Let the false witnesses perish; but a judge cannot recall his sentence, when once it is pronounced." weak at present to contest it with him, fled into Egypt, in hopes of procuring some assistance there, which would enable him at one time or other to make good his claim. 3 Not long after the death of Epiphanes, Judas Maccabæus, hearing of the confederacy which the neighbouring nations were engaged in, namely, to destroy and extirpate the whole race of Israel, and that they had already begun to cut off as many as were within their power, marched first against the Idumæans, who were the forwardest in the conspiracy, and having fallen into that part of their country which was called Acrabatene, he there slew twenty thousand of them. He next fell upon the children of Bean, another tribe of these Idumæans, and having vanquished them in the field, pursued them to their fortresses, which he besieged, took, He then pasand therein slew twenty thousand more. sed over the Jordan into the land of the Ammonites, wherein he defeated them in several engagements; slew great numbers of them; took Jahazah, and its appendant villages; and after his return to Judea, when Timotheus, the governor in those parts, pretended to follow him with a numerous army, he fell upon him, and overthrew him with a great slaughter, so that himself was forced to fly to Gazara, a city in the tribe of Ephraim, where his brother Chereas was governor: but Judas, Upon the whole therefore we may observe, that what the Jewish doctors tell us of the origin and succession, the authority and proceedings of their sanhedrim, is in a great measure fabulous; that the council of seventy men, which God instituted in the wilderness, was designed only to serve a particular purpose, and was therefore of short continuance in the Jewish state; that from the time of Joshua till after the return from the Baby-pursuing him thither, beset the place, took it in five days, lonish captivity, there are no footsteps to be found, either in sacred or profane history, of such an assembly, as the rabbins represent their sanhedrim to have been; but In the mean time, the heathen nations about Galaad that in the times of the Maccabees we read of the senate had fallen upon the Jews that dwelt in the land of of the nation, which, under the Asmonæan princes, grew Tob, which lay on the east of Gilead; had slain to the into great power, and in the days of our Saviour's min-number of a thousand men ; taken their goods for a spoil; istry, had matters of the highest consequence committed to their determination; till in the final destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jewish nation, the very name and authority of that senate was entirely lost. SECT. IV. and there slew Chereas, Timotheus, and Apollophanes, another great captain of the Syrian forces. and carried away their wives and children into captivity: whereupon most of the other Jews inhabiting those parts betook themselves to a strong fortress in Gilead, called Dathema, with a resolution to defend themselves. This when the heathens understood they drew together, in a great body, under the command of Timotheus, the successor, and (very probably) the son, of the late Timotheus, who was slain at Gazara, in order to besiege them, CHAP. I.-From the Death of Antiochus Epiphanes, while the inhabitants of Tyre, Sidon, Ptolemais, and to that of John Hyrcanus. THE HISTORY. AFTER the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, his son Antiochus Eupator, a minor, nine years old, succeeded in the throne of Syria. His father, upon his death-bed, had constituted Philip, one of his chief favourites, regent of the kingdom, during the minority of his son, and had delivered to him his crown, his signet, and other ensigns of royalty, giving him strict charge to educate him in such a manner as would quality him to reign well; but Philip, when he came to Antioch, found his office usurped by another. For Lysias, who in the king's absence was left governor in chief, hearing of the death of Epiphanes, took Antiochus his son, who was then under his care, and, having placed him on the throne, assumed to himself the tuition of his person, and the government of his kingdom, without any manner of regard to the will and appointment of the late king and Philip, finding himself too : 1 Ex Gemara, tit. Sanhed, c. 6. f. 4. 21 Mac. vi. 17; 2 Mac. x. 10,11; Joseph. Antia. b. 12. c. 14. other parts thereabout, were laying their schemes to cut off all the Jews that were in Galilee; so that Judas was sent to, both from Gilead and Galilee, to come to the succour and assistance of his poor distressed countrymen. In this critical juncture of affairs he consulted the sanhedrim, or general council of the nation; and, by their advice, divided his army into three parts. With the first, which consisted of eight thousand men, he, and 31 Mac. v. 1, &c. 42 Mac. x. 14, 15. 51 Mac. v. 4, 5 a It is a canton of Judea, upon the frontiers of Idumæa, towards the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. b Who these children of Bean were, it is difficult to say. Some think, that this Bean was the name of an ancient king, whose descendants lived in hostility with the children of Israel: but others (with more probability) account it the name of a place; and if in the confines of the Dead Sea there was, as some affirm, a city of this name, without all controversy this was it.-Calmet's Commentary on 1 Mac. v. 4. e This city, which lay beyond the Jordan, was first of all given to the tribe of Gad, and afterwards to the Levites, Josh. xxi. 36. It was situated at the foot of the mountains of Gilead, near the brook Jazah, which forms a rivulet or torrent, that falls into the Jordan, 5 B A.M.3841. A.C.163; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M.5247. A. C. 164.1 MAC. v. 1 JOS. HIST. b. xii.c. 14-end of MAC. JOS, HIST. b. xïïì, c, 19. Jonathan his brother, marched for the relief of the Gilead- | foot, and sixteen hundred horse, put the rest of his army ites: with the second, consisting of three thousand, Simon, another of his brothers, was sent into Galilee; and the rest were left at Jerusalem, under the command of Joseph, for the defence of the place, and the country adjacent, but with a strict charge from Judas, not to enterprise any thing against the enemy, but to stand wholly upon the defensive, until he and Simon should return again. 1 Judas and Jonathan passing the Jordan, and marching into Gilead, had intelligence, that, at Bassora, a town of the Edomites, a great number of Jews were imprisoned, in order to be destroyed, as soon as Dathema was taken: whereupon, by hasty marches, they came upon the city sooner than was expected, and, having slain all the males, taken their spoils, and freed their brethren, they set it on fire, and so proceeded on their way to Dathema. On the morning, when they arrived, (for they marched all night,) Timotheus and his men had begun to storm the place; but Judas, coming upon them when they little expected so sudden and violent an assault, put them all to the rout, and, in the pursuit, slew eight thousand of them. He thence marched his army from place to place, where he understood that any Jews were oppressed or imprisoned; and having treated them in the same manner as he did Bassora, slain all the males, taken their spoils, and set their cities on fire, he returned to Jerusalem. While Judas and his brother Jonathan were thus successful in Gilead, the other brother Simon was not idle in Galilee. For he defeated the enemy 2 in several encounters, drove them out of the country, and pursued them, with a great slaughter, to the very gates of Ptolemais: and, being now ready to return, he took along with him all the Jews, men, women, and children, that he could find in those parts, because he thought them too far distant from Jerusalem to be under the eye and protection of their brethren; and, having brought them safe into Judea, with them he repeopled these places which had been desolated by the enemy, during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. to flight: so that Lysias, who with much ado escaped to Antioch, growing weary of so unprosperous a war, and not knowing where to raise fresh recruits, made a peace with Judas and his people, whereby the decree of Antiochus Epiphanes, obliging them to conform to the religion of the Greeks, was rescinded, and a liberty granted them to live according to their own laws. 5 This peace was ratified by Antiochus Eupator, but it did not last long, because the governors of the several neighbouring places did not like it. The people of Joppa were the first that broke it, by drowning in the sea two hundred of the Jews, who lived among them in that city; but Judas severely revenged their cruelty: for, falling upon them by night, he burned their shipping, put all to the sword that had escaped the fire, and then hearing that the people of Jamnia had but badly treated the Jews, he set fire to that haven likewise, and burned all the ships in it. Timotheus was one of the governors that was dissatisfied with the peace; and therefore, when Judas understood that he had drawn all his forces together, to the number of an hundred and twenty thousand foot, and two thousand five hundred horse; and that he was going to give the Jews in Gilead fresh vexations, he marched against him; and, having defeated a strong party of wandering Arabs a in his way, and made peace with them, he first took the city of Caspis, slew the inhabitants, and destroyed the place; then attacked Caraca, which was garrisoned with ten thousand men, whom he put to the sword; and, at last, coming up with Timotheus, near a place called Raphon, on the river Jabboc, he there gave him battle, slew of his army thirty thousand men, and took him prisoner; but, upon condition that he should release all the Jews that were captives in any places under his command, he gave him both his life and his liberty. Understanding, however, that a great part of the vanquished army had fled to Carnion, a city in Arabia, he pursued them thither, and having taken the place, slew twenty-five thousand more of Timotheus's forces, that had there taken refuge. 3 Joseph, who, with the remainder of the army, was In his return to Jerusalem, he took along with him left in Jerusalem, hearing of these great successes in all the Jews that were in the land of Gilead, for the Gilead and Galilee, would needs be doing something; same reason that Simon had carried them out of the and therefore, contrary to the orders that had been given land of Galilee the year before, namely, to inhabit and him, led forth the forces on an ill-projected expedition fortify the cities of Judea, which were not sufficiently against Jamnia, a seaport on the Mediterranean, think-peopled: but being in his way to pass through Ephron, ing to take the place: but Gorgias, who commanded in 72 Mac. xi. 24, 25. 1 Mac. v. 46, &c.; 2 Mac. xii. 27, 28. those parts for the king of Syria, fell upon Joseph's 52 Mac. xii. 2, &c. & 1 Mac. v. 37, &c.; 2 Mac. xii. 20–23. army, put them to flight, and, in the pursuit, slew about two thousand of them; which rash attempt ended in the confusion of those that undertook it; for Judas had given contrary orders, and by his wise conduct, and undaunted bravery, was every where attended with success. a These people lived in tents, and stayed in a place no longer than it afforded them provision for themselves and their cattle. They were the descendants of Ishmael, and according to the angel's prediction of them (Gen. xvi. 12.) 'their hand was against every man, and every man's hand against them:' for they lived chiefly upon plunder; but as they were a stout and warlike people, and well acquainted with the course of those countries, it to sue for peace, and had obliged them to furnish him with a was no bad policy in the Jewish general, after he had forced them certain quantity of cattle and provisions, to secure their friendship and future services.-2 Mac. xii. 11; Universal History, b. 2. c. 11. This is the same as Hesbon, in the tribe of Reuben. The Scripture makes mention of this city of Ephron, as standing upon the Jordan, only in this place; and therefore it is hard to define its particular situation. |