The Chronicles of Jerahmeel: Or, the Hebrew Bible Historiale. Being a Collection of Apocryphal and Pseudo-Epigraphical Books Dealing With the History of the World from the

LXXXV. THE BOOK OF THE

MACCABEE

(1) In the first year of his reign, Cyrus tried to build the temple, but when

Ahasuerus arose he prohibited it, and attempted to uproot the vineyard (of the

Lord), but God exterminated him and the wicked Haman from the world, and he

died. His son succeeded him. These are the kings mentioned, 'Darius,' 'Cyrus,'

and 'Artaxerxes.' Then the people believed the prophets and were prosperous. In

the second year of his reign he allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to erect

the holy temple and repair Jerusalem without let or hindrance. This was, indeed,

a complete redemption. Then did Ezra, Zerubbabel, and his company for the

second time go up to Jerusalem with another generation of the captivity, and

they rebuilt Jerusalem and its walls. The towers they erected were very high and

strong, and the temple contained more than did the first one, so that the first

temple was deemed insignificant in comparison to it. The people on this account

served Cyrus loyally for thirty-four years.

(2) After the rebuilding of the temple, Zerubbabel returned to Babylon and

there died. His son, Meshullam, succeeded him, and in his days, in the fifty-

second year of the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, the kingdom was

formed. The last prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, died at that time,

and from that day prophecy ceased to exist in Israel, and the Echo of the

Heavenly Voice (Bath Kol) took its place, and after that they had to consult the

sages, until the Messiah will come and show us the right way.

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(3) Thirty-four years after the rebuilding of the temple, Darius, the son of

Ahasuerus, reigned, until Alexander the Macedonian, and first King of Greece,

rose up against him in battle, and having killed him, took his kingdom. He

reigned over Israel two years and captured every kingdom; he made the whole

world subservient to him, for at that time, thirty-four years after the rebuilding of

the temple, Alexander the Great was crowned, the son of Philippus, King of

Macedon, for he made the name of the Macedonian nation great, and smote the

whole country. When he waged war against Darius he smote the land of Egypt,

and slew in Alexandria double as many Jews as went out of Egypt. After

conquering Edom, he marched along the sea-shore until he came to Acco, which

he conquered, as well as Ashkalon and ‘Aza. He then turned to go up to

Jerusalem to smite it, because the Jews had made a covenant with Darius. After

journeying with all his camp some distance, he arrived at a lodge, where he and

his army encamped.

(4) On the same night, while he was lying in his bed in his tent, he opened

his eyes and beheld a man standing over him, clothed in white linen, and with a

drawn sword in his hand. The appearance of the sword was like lightning on a

rainy day. When he lifted the sword over the head of the king, he was greatly

afraid, and said, 'Why will my lord smite his servant?' And the man replied, 'God

hath sent me to conquer kings and many nations before thee, and I will go before

thee to render thee assistance, but know now that thou shalt surely be slain,

because thy heart is bent upon going to Jerusalem in order to injure God's priests

and God's people.' 'I beseech thee, O lord,' replied the king, 'pardon the sin of thy

servant, and if it is evil in thine eyes, I will return to my home.' 'Do not be

afraid,' said the man; 'go thy way to Jerusalem, and when thou comest before the

gate of the city and seest a man clothed in white like me, having an appearance

and form like mine, do thou immediately make thy obeisance to him and bow

thyself to the ground before him; do whatever he bids thee and do not transgress

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his word, for the very day that thou rebellest against his word thou shalt be slain.'

(5) The king accordingly arose and went on his way to Jerusalem. When the

High Priest heard that the king was coming against Jerusalem in great anger, he

was exceedingly afraid, as were all the people, and he with the people went out

at the gate of the city, and he stood before them clothed in white linen. As soon

as Alexander beheld the priest, quickly dismounting from his chariot, he fell

upon his face and bowed down to him. But the generals of Alexander became

very angry at this, and said, 'Why dost thou bow down to a man who has no

strength for battle?' And the king replied, 'Because the man that goeth in front of

me to subdue all the nations before me is in appearance and form like this man. I

therefore bow down to him.'

(6) Then, going into our holy temple, he said to the priest, 'I will have my

statue erected here, and will give much gold to the workmen, that it may be a

remembrance of me. And they shall erect it between the Holy of Holies and the

temple, so that my image be a remembrance in this great house of God.' But the

priest replied, 'Present the gold for the maintenance of God's priests and the poor

of His people, and I shall cause thee to be remembered for good, as thou wishest.

All the children of the priests that are born this year shall be called by thy name,

Alexander, and thou shalt be remembered when they worship in this house; but it

is not permitted to place a graven image or any likeness in the house of our God.'

The king then gave the gold according to the priest's request.

(7) He asked him to inquire of God on his behalf whether he should go to

war with Darius, or abandon the plan. And the priest replied, 'He will surely be

delivered into thy hand.' Then, bringing the Book of Daniel, he showed him the

passage concerning the ram that gores on all sides, and the young of the goats

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which runs up to him and tramples upon him. 'Thou,' added he, 'art the young of

the goats and Darius is the ram. Thou shalt therefore trample upon him and seize

his kingdom.' Thereupon Alexander went to battle, and having slain Darius,

captured all his kingdom, so that the Persian kingdom ceased to exist.

Alexandria in Egypt was made the royal city.

(8) He ruled over all the nations just as a shepherd rules over his flock. He

soon went over to India, travelling right across the country to its extremity, and

extended his dominion, as we learn from the Talmud. R. Jose said, 'For six years

he reigned in Elam, and afterwards spread his kingdom over the whole world.'

He reigned altogether twelve years, and when he was on his way home to his

house he died. Before his death, he divided his kingdom among his four

chieftains. He made Ptolemy, the son of Lagi (###), King of Egypt; Phillipos his

brother King of Macedon, and Seleucus and Nicanor Kings of Syria and

Babylon respectively; lastly, he made Antiochus, the great enemy of the Jews,

King of Asia (###).' Daniel prophesied this event when he said that the goat

would gore the rain and break down his kingdom, which would be given to the

four winds of the heaven.

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LXXXVI

(1) When Seleucus reigned over Macedonia, a very wicked, rebellious man

of our own people, Simeon of the tribe of Benjamin, went to Seleucus, and,

slandering the Jews, informed him of the riches contained in the temple at

Jerusalem, saying that the treasures were heaped up in the treasury in endless

quantities, and an abundance of gold and precious stones, and that it would be

preferable to have it all placed in the treasury of Seleucus. The king thereupon

sent for Eliodorus, the captain of his host, and bade him go to Jerusalem with his

armies. On his arrival,

Ḥoniah the priest said to him, 'Why has my lord come to

his servants?' 'Because of the vast amount of gold and precious stones which, the

king has been informed, is contained in the treasury of your temple.' 'The only

gold in the treasury,' said the priest, 'is that which King Seleucus and other kings

presented to us, for the maintenance of orphans, widows and the poor. For this,

we pray to God to grant long life to the king and his sons.'

(2) Eliodorus, however, would not listen to the priest, but placed guards

round the temple until the following day, when the city was in great uproar

through the lamentation and cries of the people. The priests also called upon

their God, and the old men and women and princes covered themselves with

ashes and afflicted their souls with fasting. They withheld food from even the

young, and milk from the sucklings. They cried to God to guard the treasury and

the riches deposited therein. Even the young virgins spread out their hands

through the windows of their houses, and besought the Lord for protection. And

as to Honiah the priest, he afflicted his soul (by fasting), and having stripped

himself of his garments of honour, clothed himself in sackcloth and ashes, for he

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was grief-stricken, and, from his appearance, one could imagine the sorrow that

was in his heart.

(3) On the next day the enemy came with all his hosts and went into the

temple shouting, but the Lord caused a strong and mighty sound of thunder 'to be

heard, together with an earthquake, and a tempest that overthrew mountains and

shattered rocks. On hearing this, all his troops took to flight, and hid themselves

wherever they could, so that he (Eliodorus) remained alone, and, lifting up his

eyes, he saw an awe-inspiring man clothed in gold, decked with precious stones,

and girt with implements of war. He was riding a splendid horse, that was

plunging and rearing, trotting and galloping in the temple. Heliodorus

immediately ran away, but the horse felled him to the ground, standing over him.

The man then commanded his two young servants, clothed in white linen, with

staves in their hands, to smite Eliodorus very severely; and the two young men at

his bidding stood one on each side of him, and beat him mercilessly until he

became insensible and hovered between life and death.

(4) Young priests came then, and lifting him on their shoulders, carried him

into his tent and placed him in his bed, where he lay motionless and dumb. He

could neither speak nor partake of any food. When the elders of Macedon saw

him in this state, they came to Honiah the priest, and, crying, entreated him in

the following manner, 'O my lord, we beseech thee, pray for thy servant

Eliodorus and all his servants who have come with him, that we may live and not

die, for we know that there is no other God except yours, since all the gods of

the nations are vanity and emptiness, whilst yours is the God that created the

world, and in whose hand is the soul of every living being.'

(5) The priest, then praying to God, offered up burnt-offerings and

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sacrifices, and the two young men that smote Eliodorus by the temple appeared

to him and said, 'Arise, go to

Ḥoniah the priest, and bow down to his feet, since

for his sake the Lord has had mercy upon thee.' Eliodorus accordingly arose,

and, going to the priest, prostrated himself, and blessing the Lord and the priest,

gave much gold and silver to the treasury of the house of the Lord. Then

hastening to Macedonia, he went to Seleucus the king, who asked, 'What of

Jerusalem?' And Eliodorus replied, 'If thou hast any enemies that seek thy life,

send them at once to Jerusalem, and let them go into the temple, where they will

surely be killed, for the great God reigns in that place, and destroys all the

enemies of Jerusalem and Judah.' He then told the king all that he had witnessed.

And Seleucus no more sent his army to Jerusalem to do evil, but, on the

contrary, every year until his death he sent a present to the temple, and the kings

of the land loved to send their offerings to honour the temple at Jerusalem.

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LXXXVII

(1) Now, Ptolemy the Macedonian, who was made King of Egypt, was a

wise and clever king, who delighted much in books. He, therefore, commanded

his two officers to collect very many of them. The names of these princes were

Aristios and Andrios. Having collected together many Median and Persian

books, besides others in all kinds of languages, the king said to them, 'How

many books have you obtained?' 'Nine hundred and fifty,' they replied. Ptolemy

laughed at this, and said, 'Go and add another fifty to make a thousand.'

(2) But Aristios and Andrios replied, 'O my lord, it is in vain that we weary

ourselves to obtain these books, since they are useless. Now, if it please the king,

let him write to the priest at Jerusalem, and he will send thee some wise men of

that place, conversant with the Greek language, who will explain to thee their

law, which is the holy writing, but the books we have copied are of no use.'

(3) Acting upon their advice, the king made such a request of the priest

who was in those days, and the high priest sent him seventy priests with Eleazar

as their chief, the same Eleazar who was afterwards tried during the reign of

Antiochus, and who died a martyr's death for his God.

(4) When Eleazar and these seventy priestly interpreters came to Egypt,

Ptolemy, having put them in seventy different houses, one distinct from the

other, provided each one with a scribe, and the priests interpreted the whole

twenty-four books of the law, which these seventy elders then translated from

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Hebrew into Greek. As soon as it was finished, Eleazar brought the various

copies to the king, who, after reading each one of them, found that they were all

of one mind, and that the interpretations of all were identical. (5) The king was

much rejoiced at this, and, presenting Eleazar and the seventy elders with much

money, sent them back to Jerusalem. He further gave 150,000 men of Judah their

freedom, besides presenting them each with fifty drachmas of gold, and a table

of pure gold weighing 1,000 talents for the temple. Upon it he engraved the land

of Egypt, and the course of the river Nile in Egypt, by which the country is

watered, and inlaid it with precious stones, so that the like of it had never been

seen in all the land. This the King Ptolemy sent as a present to the temple of the

great and awe-inspiring God of the whole world.

(6) A long time after this, Antiochus was made King of Macedonia, while

Ptolemy, King of Egypt, was gathered to his people, and another Ptolemy

succeeded him. But Antiochus rose up against him, and having slain him,

captured the whole land of Egypt, over which he reigned. (7) In those days fierce

battles began to be fought against the people of Judah, for after Antiochus had

smitten Egypt he became very proud, and issued a proclamation to every people,

commanding them to bow down to the image of the king. And all the nations

obeyed. But the godless men of our people, Menelaos, Simeon, Alkimos, and

others, incited Antiochus to do evil to the Israelites. At this time a great miracle

was seen in Jerusalem. There were seen forty men riding between heaven and

earth on what seemed like horses of fire. The riders carried in their hands partly

golden implements of war, with which they fought one against the other for forty

days. At this the wicked men of our people went to King Antiochus, and said,

Behold, we have seen a miracle in Jerusalem, and the people say that Antiochus

the king is dead, and are rejoicing at the downfall of our lord.' (8) The king was

greatly angered at this, and immediately went to Jerusalem and smote them with

the edge of the sword, so that there was a great slaughter in the city. A great

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multitude were sent into exile, and the assembly of the

Ḥassidim scattered. They

fled to the forest, and fed upon the grass as animals, and hid themselves in the

forest like wild beasts, for Antiochus was not satisfied with slaying many, but he

sent many more into captivity, and when he left the land of Judah, he left his

officers to afflict the people, and he left Phillipos the Pelusian. They are

Phrygians (###), and so are also the Trojans (###), of whom the Romans are

descended. Phillipos belonged to that race. The king left him there to oppress the

Israelites, commanding him thus, 'Whoever is willing to bow down to the image

I set up, and to eat of the flesh of the swine, shall live, but all who refuse shall be

slain without mercy. Prohibit also this people from observing the Sabbath, and

from circumcising their children.'

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