Synopsis of the Chapter
Jonathan renews the treaty with the Romans and Lacedaemonians. Then, at verse 24, he routs the army of Demetrius and puts the Arabs to flight. Next, at verse 33, Simon fortifies Joppa and other cities with garrisons. Finally, at verse 39, Tryphon treacherously invites Jonathan as if as a friend, captures him, and throws him into prison.
Verse 2: And To The Spartans ¶
2. And to the Spartans — the inhabitants of Sparta, who are also called Laconians or Lacedaemonians, and were descendants of the Heracleidae (companions of Hercules), named after Agis, whom Lycurgus raised by his laws to a remarkable political order, temperance and bravery; and therefore the Laconians fought most fiercely for the liberty of Sparta in every age, and even now they contend with the Turks. For although they pay him tribute, they nevertheless keep their city and citadel free from every Turkish garrison, and defend them most steadfastly.
Verse 4: And Jonathan Saw That The Time Favored Him ¶
4. And Jonathan saw that the time favored him — since, after his heroic deeds and so many victories, the great fame of his name had spread among the Romans and the Spartans, so that they were eager to enter into friendship and alliance with him.
Verse 7: Letters Had Been Sent Long Ago To Onias The High Priest ¶
7. LETTERS HAD BEEN SENT LONG AGO TO ONIAS THE HIGH PRIEST (the Pontiff) FROM ARIUS, WHO REIGNED AMONG YOU. — This Arius was the fourth from the end among the kings of the Agiad line, who waged many battles against Pyrrhus king of Epirus and Antigonus king of Macedonia, and sent to Onias the Pontiff letters of alliance and treaty which are quoted at verse 20.
Verse 9: Having For Our Consolation The Holy Books ¶
9. WE, THOUGH WE HAD NO NEED OF THESE THINGS, HAVING FOR OUR CONSOLATION THE HOLY BOOKS. — The latter part gives the reason for the former, that is: We did not need your help, nor did we implore it; because the books of Moses and the Prophets, which are in our hands, provide it for us, and they promise us with certainty the help of God in desperate and difficult circumstances, if we faithfully serve Him and call upon Him. Calling therefore upon God, and having Him as our helper, we did not seek human helpers.
Verse 11: In Observances ¶
11. In observances — of sacred rites, feasts and prayers. Whence the Greek more clearly reads: in supplications.
Verse 21: It Was Found In A Writing ¶
21. IT WAS FOUND IN A WRITING (not sacred, although Josephus also claims this, book XIII, chapter 9, but profane, namely in the histories and chronicles of the Spartans) CONCERNING THE SPARTANS AND THE JEWS, THAT THEY ARE BROTHERS, AND THAT THEY ARE OF THE RACE OF ABRAHAM. — For the Spartans boasted that they were descended from Abraham through Keturah, who was Abraham's third wife, Genesis 25:1. So Josephus, although others think the Spartans descended from Abraham through Hagar and Ishmael. Serarius here, page 753 in the middle, brings forward several conjectures for this kinship of the Spartans with the Jews, of which the first is the great similarity between the two peoples, both in laws, as Clement of Alexandria noted in Stromata I, and in institutions, especially in daily ablutions and anointings, about which Strabo writes in book III, and in constancy, strength and military valor.
Finally, when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre, many of its inhabitants fled to Cyprus, Macedonia and Greece, says St. Jerome on Isaiah chapter 23. That the Jews did the same when nearby Jerusalem was besieged by the same king is entirely credible. Whence the same St. Jerome in his epistle to the Ephesians asserts that Ephesus was called by the Hebrews chephets, that is, 'good will' or 'benevolence.' And for this reason many Jews were living in Sparta who were intermarrying with the Spartans.
Verse 23: Our Possessions Are Yours And Yours Are Ours ¶
23. Our possessions are yours, and yours are ours — this is a formula for declaring that they are friends, that is: The Spartans are friends of the Jews, and therefore they offer them their possessions, and consider the Jews' possessions as their own; for all things are common among friends. Josephus adds that these letters of the Spartans were sealed with the city's own seal, which bore the image of an eagle holding a serpent in its talons.
Verse 24: The Princes Of Demetrius Returned With A Much Larger Army ¶
24. THE PRINCES OF DEMETRIUS RETURNED WITH AN ARMY MUCH LARGER THAN BEFORE — that is, much larger than it had been previously, to wipe out the disgrace of their earlier flight, and to attack Jonathan more vigorously.
24. AND HE MET THEM IN THE REGION OF HAMATH. — This region is part of Syria and borders on, indeed marks the boundary of, Judea, as is clear from 1 Kings 8:65 and 2 Kings 14:45; it is situated near Lebanon and Damascus. This entire region is therefore called Hamath, or Emath, or Hemath, and from it Hamathite or Hemathite. Jonathan wisely chose to engage the enemy outside his own Judea in Syria. For it is a military precept that one should fight the enemy not in one's own territory but in hostile territory, so that you devastate their land, not your own. So Scipio at about this same time refused to fight Hannibal in Italy; but crossed into Africa, drew Hannibal away there, and finally conquered Carthage itself.
Verse 28: And They Lit Fires In Their Camp ¶
28. AND THEY LIT FIRES IN THEIR CAMP — so that the supporters of Demetrius might pretend to be staying in their camp and keeping watch, and not actually fleeing, lest Jonathan, noticing they were fleeing, should pursue them in their flight. Hannibal did the same thing, deceiving the Romans besieging his camp by lighting fires, and slipping from their grasp.
Verse 36: A Great Height Between The Citadel And The City ¶
36. JONATHAN DEVISED TO RAISE A GREAT HEIGHT BETWEEN THE CITADEL AND THE CITY, TO SEPARATE IT FROM THE CITY, SO THAT IT WOULD BE COMPLETELY ISOLATED, AND THEY COULD NEITHER BUY NOR SELL. — Jonathan, seeing that the citadel of Zion, occupied by the supporters of Demetrius, could not easily be stormed because of its fortifications, raised a high wall between the citadel and the city of Jerusalem, and by this cut off the citadel from the city so that it would be isolated, that is, solitary, and have no commerce with the city, and thus he took away from them the ability to buy and sell in the city; by this means he reduced them to such hunger that they were forced to surrender, as will appear in the following chapter, verses 49 and 50.
Verse 39: And When Tryphon Had Devised To Reign ¶
39. AND WHEN TRYPHON HAD DEVISED TO REIGN (to be master) OVER ASIA — namely to make himself king of Asia, by killing the young King Antiochus, whose guardian he was.
Verse 40: He Arose And Went To Bethshan ¶
40. And he arose and went to Bethshan, which was afterward called Scythopolis, and is situated near Tiberias.
Verse 45: Come With Me To Ptolemais ¶
45. COME WITH ME TO PTOLEMAIS, AND I WILL HAND IT OVER TO YOU. — For this city was on the border of Judea, and had therefore been promised to Jonathan by Demetrius, chapter X, verse 39. See here the treachery, deceit and plots of Tryphon.
Verse 46: And He Believed Him ¶
46. AND HE BELIEVED HIM. — Too easily did Jonathan, a man of simple and guileless spirit, believe the shifty and treacherous Tryphon; therefore he rashly dismissed his army, and consequently was captured by him and killed.
Verse 51: Those Who Had Been Pursuing Them ¶
51. THOSE WHO HAD BEEN PURSUING THEM (Tryphon's soldiers), SEEING THAT IT WAS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH FOR THEM (that is, that the Jews were going to fight for their lives to the death), TURNED BACK — for against desperate men, or those of resolute spirit, who have determined either to conquer or to die, the fighting is most dangerous, and cannot be done without the certain risk of receiving a great defeat, as Vegetius and Julius Frontinus teach in book II of the Stratagems, chapter 6, whose title is: On letting the enemy go, lest when cornered he renew the battle out of desperation, where he confirms this point with many examples.
'L. Marius,' he says, 'to whom the army entrusted command after the two Scipios were killed, when the Carthaginians surrounded by him fought more fiercely lest they die unavenged, opened his ranks and allowed space for flight, and slaughtered the scattered enemy without danger to his own men. C. Caesar ordered the Germans, enclosed and fighting more fiercely from desperation, to be let out, and attacked them as they fled. Hannibal, when the Germans enclosed at Trasimene were fighting most fiercely, drew back his lines and gave them ample room, and struck them down as they went without any bloodshed of his own men. Antigonus, king of the Macedonians, gave a path of escape to the Aetolians who, driven into a siege by him, were pressed by famine and had determined to die making a sortie, and so, having broken their momentum, he cut them down from behind as they pursued. Themistocles, after Xerxes was defeated, prevented his own men who wanted to destroy the bridge, teaching that it was better to expel him from Europe than to force him to fight from desperation. He also sent someone to warn Xerxes of the danger he was in, unless he hastened his flight.' See the comments on 2 Samuel 11:26, on the words: 'Do you not know that desperation is dangerous?'
Note that all these things are narrated more fully by Josephus, Appian and Justin, books XXXV and XXXVI, in which however there are some things that disagree with the narrative of Sacred Scripture at this point, in which therefore faith plainly wavers. And to show how the Gentiles, hostile to the Jews, either did not know their affairs or distorted them, Justin in the cited book XXXVI writes thus about the Jews: 'The Jews had their origin from Damascus, which is the most noble city of Syria; whence the Syrian kings also derive their lineage from Queen Semiramis. The name of the city was given by King Damascus; in whose honor the Syrians venerated the tomb of Arathis his wife as a temple, and have regarded her as a goddess of the most holy religion. After Damascus, Abraham, Moses, Israel were kings. But the prosperity of ten sons made Israel more famous than his ancestors. And so he divided the people into ten kingdoms and handed them over to his sons, and called them all Jews from the name of Judah, who had died after the division, and ordered his memory to be honored by all' — where you see more errors and fictions than truths.
but he adds things even more false, saying that Joseph the son of Jacob was a great man, and adds: 'His son (Joseph's) was Moses, whom, besides the inheritance of his father's knowledge, his beauty of form also commended. But when the Egyptians were suffering from scabies and itching, they were warned by an oracle to expel him along with the sick beyond the borders of Egypt, lest the plague spread to more people. Made therefore the leader of the exiles, he stole the sacred objects of the Egyptians, which the Egyptians tried to recover by force of arms, but were compelled to return home by storms.'
And not much further on: 'And since they remembered that they had been expelled from Egypt for fear of contagion, lest they be hated by the inhabitants for the same reason, they took care not to have dealings with foreigners; which practice, begun from necessity, gradually turned into a discipline and religion. After Moses, his son Aruas too was made a priest of the Egyptian rites, and then king; and ever after, this was the custom among the Jews, that the same men should be both kings and priests; and their righteousness, mixed with religion, produced incredible growth.' What could be said more falsely than these heaped up and compacted lies?