Synopsis of the Chapter
Antiochus Sidetes, the brother of Demetrius who had been captured by Arsaces, seeks the friendship of Simon with great rewards; soon he conquers Trypho and besieges him in the city of Dora. Then, verse 15, Simon's envoys return from Rome with ample promises. Finally, verse 27, Antiochus perfidiously breaks his treaty with Simon and sends Cendebaeus with a great army into Judea.
Verse 1: And King Antiochus, Son Of Demetrius ¶
1. AND KING ANTIOCHUS, SON OF DEMETRIUS (the Elder, whose surname was Soter, and the brother of Demetrius the Younger, whose surname was Nicanor) SENT LETTERS FROM THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA (from Rhodes, says Appian) TO SIMON THE PRIEST — the chief priest, that is the High Priest, and prince of Judea. To understand this history from the beginning, note that when Demetrius, driven out by Trypho, was held as an exile and captive by Arsaces, the tyrant Trypho occupied a great part of Syria. Cleopatra, the wife of Demetrius, fled with a few troops to Seleucia, to whom more and more people were deserting daily, detesting the tyranny of Trypho. She, in order to strengthen herself further in the kingdom, invited Antiochus, the younger brother of her captive husband Demetrius, to the kingdom and to marriage with her. Hear Josephus, book XIII, chapter XII: "As soon as Trypho was declared king, he began to act the part of Trypho without pretense; which considerably benefited the opposing party. For the soldiers, disgusted with his character, defected to Cleopatra, the wife of Demetrius, who had then shut herself up in Seleucia with her children. And when Demetrius's brother Antiochus, surnamed Soter, was wandering about and being received by no city out of fear of Trypho, Cleopatra sent to him, offering him marriage and the kingdom; she did this partly at the persuasion of her friends, and partly because she feared that certain people of Seleucia would hand over the city to Trypho."
Furthermore, Josephus surnames this Antiochus Soter, that is, "savior"; but Eusebius and others call him Sidetes, or Sedetes, from the city of Side, either in Cilicia, as Eusebius holds, or in neighboring Pamphylia, as Ptolemy, Strabo, Pliny, and others maintain, because Antiochus was born or raised in Side. Appian also surnames him Pius. Cleopatra therefore made her brother-in-law Antiochus her husband and king, and thus had two living brothers as husbands simultaneously: namely Demetrius, held captive among the Parthians, and Antiochus Sidetes, reigning in Asia and Syria — although before either of them she had been betrothed by her father Philometor to Alexander Balas, king of Syria, who was a cousin of Demetrius. But see the just vengeance of God upon the incestuous. For Antiochus was killed in Persia (2 Maccabees I, 16); and Cleopatra, finally offended at her son Antiochus Gryphus, whom she had borne to Demetrius and raised to the throne, prepared poison for him; but her son, noticing this, forced his mother to drink that very poison under a show of dutifulness. And so she killed herself with her own poison, which she had prepared for her son. So say Eusebius and others.
Furthermore, Antiochus Gryphus, her son by Demetrius, was killed by Antiochus Cyzicenus, the son of the same Cleopatra by Antiochus Sidetes. In turn, Seleucus, the son of Antiochus Gryphus, avenging his father's death, killed Antiochus Cyzicenus, his uncle; but in turn divine vengeance pursued Seleucus; for he himself, defeated by Antiochus Eusebes the son of Cyzicenus, was burned alive in the royal palace by the people of Mopsuestia in Cilicia, where he resided. So say Josephus, Justin, Appian, and others. See here that the cause of these parricides was the incest of Cleopatra and Antiochus Sidetes. For she was the wife of three kings of Syria: first of Alexander Balas, who was the son of Antiochus Epiphanes; then of two brothers who were sons of Demetrius the Elder and grandsons of Seleucus, who had been the elder brother of Epiphanes — namely of Demetrius the Younger and of Antiochus Sidetes, as I have said.
Verse 2: King Antiochus To Simon ¶
2. KING ANTIOCHUS TO SIMON, etc., GREETING. — This Antiochus was the most hostile enemy of the Jews, as is evident from verse 27 and following; but here, compelled by necessity and by the tyranny of his enemy Trypho, he seeks an alliance with Simon and implores his help, granting ample privileges to him and to the Jews.
Verse 5: Now Therefore I Confirm To You All The Offerings ¶
5. NOW THEREFORE I CONFIRM TO YOU ALL THE OFFERINGS. — In Greek aphairemata, that is, removals, namely of burdens, meaning the immunities granted to the Jews by the previous kings; hence he says: Which all the kings BEFORE ME remitted to you.
Verse 6: And I Permit You To Mint Your Own Coinage ¶
6. AND I PERMIT YOU TO MINT YOUR OWN COINAGE — this was a mark of supreme sovereignty, which Antiochus here restored to the Jews, since previously Nebuchadnezzar had taken it from them when he captured Jerusalem and subjugated Judea, as had the subsequent kings of the Persians and Greeks, who successively transferred Nebuchadnezzar's kingdoms to themselves. Therefore the Jews at that time used coinage minted now by the Chaldeans, now by the Persians, now by the Greeks. For to mint coinage is a prerogative of supreme power, such as is the absolute power of a king, emperor, or sovereign duke.
Verse 7: And Jerusalem Is To Be Holy And Free ¶
7. AND JERUSALEM IS TO BE HOLY AND FREE. — The Greek reads: and the holy things are to be free, that is, I command that the holy temple, and its holy worship, and its holy sacrifices, vessels, and rites be free, so that they may be freely practiced by Simon and the Jews, and may not be hindered by any of the Gentiles, or contaminated by the sacrifices and superstitions of idols.
Verse 8: And Whatever Shall Be Due To The King ¶
8. AND WHATEVER SHALL BE DUE TO THE KING. — It seems it should be read as "royal," for in Greek it is basilika, which are commonly called royal rights, namely prerogatives. These Antiochus grants to the Jews. What Simon replied to Antiochus, Scripture is silent, but Josephus asserts that Simon gladly accepted the grants and requests of Antiochus.
Verse 11: Trypho Flees To Dora Along The Coast ¶
11. And (Trypho) came TO DORA fleeing along THE COAST — namely, the coastal region. The Greek reads: fleeing by sea. Vatablus reads: fleeing to maritime Dora. The manner of his flight is narrated by Frontinus, book II of the Stratagems, chapter XIII: "Trypho," he says, "king of Syria, defeated and fleeing along the entire route, scattered money, and by delaying Antiochus's horsemen who pursued it, he escaped."
Verse 15: And Numenius Came ¶
15. AND NUMENIUS CAME, whom Simon had sent to the Romans to renew the alliance with them. He brought letters from the Romans, both letters of alliance for Simon, and prohibitory letters to Ptolemy and the neighboring kings, that they should not trouble the Jews.
Verse 16: Lucius, Consul Of The Romans ¶
16. Lucius, consul of the Romans. — Serarius thinks that instead of "Lucius" one should read "Lepidus," who was consul the following year. But all the manuscripts have "Lucius." Therefore many take this to be Lucius Furius Philus, who was consul with Atilius Serranus in the year 617 after the founding of Rome. But these authorities have difficulty matching the years of the city with the years of the Greeks. Others understand Lucius Caecilius Metellus, who was consul in the year 170 of the Greeks; but they do not notice that Numenius was sent by Simon to Rome in the year 172 of the Greeks, and therefore two years after Metellus's consulship. Therefore Salianus thinks that this Lucius is Calpurnius Piso, who the preceding year had been consul at Rome with his colleague Popilius, at whose term's end he had dismissed Simon's envoys from Rome, who therefore arrived at Jerusalem to Simon at the beginning of the following year. For Valerius Maximus, book I, chapter IX, gives this Calpurnius the first name Lucius.
TO KING PTOLEMY, GREETING. — This is Ptolemy surnamed Physcon or Euergetes, who succeeded his brother Ptolemy Philometor (now deceased, as was said in chapter XI, 18) in the kingdom, and was cruel and incestuous. For as Justin says of him, book XXXVIII: "After which he was no kinder to the citizens who had called him to the throne. Indeed, with license to kill given to foreign soldiers, everything flowed daily with blood, and he repudiated his own sister after raping her virgin daughter by force and taking her in marriage." Soon he describes his appearance and figure thus: "For he was deformed in face and short in stature, and with the bulk of his belly resembled not a man but a beast, a hideousness that was increased by the excessive fineness and transparency of his garments; just as if by cunning he were displaying for inspection what a modest man would strive with all effort to conceal." The same Ptolemy Physcon, on the very day of his wedding to Cleopatra, killed her little son whom she had borne to his brother Ptolemy Philometor, and who was therefore heir to the kingdom, in his mother's very embrace, as Justin attests in book XXXVIII. This Ptolemy Physcon, the younger brother of Philometor, was therefore called brother and husband and son-in-law of Cleopatra; for he violated Cleopatra's daughter, then repudiated the mother and married the daughter. Soon the people expelled him on account of his excessive cruelty, and gave the kingdom to Cleopatra, his former wife, mother, and sister, and tore down and cast off his statues and images; and he, thinking this was done at the instigation of his sister, killed the son he had fathered by her in Cyprus, and had his body cut to pieces, placed in a chest, and delivered to his mother at her birthday banquet. So says Justin, books XXXVIII and XXXIX. Rightly therefore the Romans write to this monster of cruelty and incest, lest he inflict such things upon the Jews, his neighbors.
Verse 22: These Same Things Were Written To King Demetrius ¶
22. THESE SAME THINGS WERE WRITTEN TO KING DEMETRIUS (who was already being held captive by Arsaces; but the Romans either had not yet heard that he had been captured, as Serarius holds, or they thought that he would shortly be freed after making peace with Arsaces), AND TO ATTALUS (who was the son of Eumenes and king of Pergamum, and on his death wrote the Roman people as his heir), AND TO ARIARATHES (he was king of Cappadocia, brother of Orophernes, father of Demetrius, according to Polybius, Justin, and Appian), AND TO ARSACES — he was the king of the Parthians, who held Demetrius captive.
Verse 23: And To All The Regions ¶
23. And to all the regions (the neighboring ones, of course) and TO LAMPSACUS, AND TO THE SPARTANS, AND TO DELOS. — There are named here nineteen places, partly islands, partly cities and regions, to which the Romans sent the same letters on behalf of the Jews, that they should not be troublesome to them but benevolent, because some of them had to be visited by the messengers carrying the letters to the already-named kings in the very course of their navigation; others were very devoted to the Romans; others could greatly harm or benefit the Jews. Among all of them, the name of the Romans was venerable and formidable. These letters of the Romans attest to their power, but they did not benefit the Jews; indeed they drew upon them the hatred of the nations, and aroused greater anger in Antiochus, as is evident from verse 27.
Verse 25: And Antiochus ¶
25. AND ANTIOCHUS (Sidetes) THE KING ENCAMPED AGAINST DORA A SECOND TIME (because on account of winter or a similar cause he had lifted the first siege; in spring therefore he returned, and besieged Trypho in Dora a second time, says Lyranus. But what follows is an objection against this:) CONSTANTLY PRESSING HIS FORCES AGAINST IT — that is, continually pressing the siege and hemming in Trypho. Others translate from the Greek: on the second day, that is to say, on the second day after pitching camp, Antiochus began to assault Dora. Salianus, however, says "a second time" because after one part of the city had been occupied, Antiochus encircled the other part with a new, as it were second, siege. More plainly one might say that this is called a second siege because Antiochus with a new effort, new forces and troops, and new siege engines besieged and battered Dora from close at hand, so tightly and pressingly, that it seemed to be a new and second siege.
AND HE SHUT IN TRYPHO SO THAT HE COULD NOT ADVANCE — that is, so he could not leave Dora; this is clear from the Greek.
Verse 27: And He Refused ¶
27. AND HE REFUSED (Antiochus the king) TO ACCEPT THEM (namely, the soldiers and gifts sent by Simon the High Priest). — Josephus is therefore in error when he says that Antiochus accepted them and on account of them counted Simon among his intimate friends; but he broke all the agreements he had made with him: because he saw that, equipped with so many forces by land and sea, he had reduced Trypho to extremity and no longer needed Simon's help; and because he wanted to annex Judea to his kingdom of Asia and Syria as if it were a part of Syria; for he was indignant that one little corner of Judea should want to withdraw itself from his vast empire of Asia and Syria.
Verse 28: You Hold Joppe And Gazara ¶
28. You hold Joppe and Gazara — that is, Gaza, a city of the Philistines; for Simon had taken this by storm, although Gaza did not belong to Judea or to Simon, and therefore Antiochus here demands it back from Simon.
Verse 31: Five Hundred Talents For The Destruction ¶
31. AND FOR THE DESTRUCTION THAT YOU HAVE CAUSED, AND FOR THE TRIBUTES OF THE CITIES, ANOTHER FIVE HUNDRED TALENTS — that is to say: for the damages and losses you have inflicted upon the places subject to me, and for the tributes you have taken from me, pay another 500 talents.
Verse 32: And He Saw The Glory Of Simon ¶
32. And he saw the glory of Simon. — The translator seems to have read kydalion from kydos, that is, glory; now they read polytimōn, that is, a sideboard, on which were placed dishes, cups, and other vessels of gold and silver.
AND HIS ABUNDANT FURNISHINGS — of servants, of arms, of soldiers, and of household goods.
Verse 33: And Simon Answered Him ¶
33. And Simon answered him — courageously and spiritedly alike, namely that he was not seizing what belonged to others, but what was his own; yet he had occupied Joppe and Gaza, though they belonged to others, by right of war, because they themselves had previously attacked the Jews.
Verse 34: We Indeed, Having The Opportunity ¶
34. We indeed, having the opportunity — that is, having found a suitable occasion.
Verse 35: Joppe And Gazara Inflicted Harm ¶
35. FOR CONCERNING JOPPE AND GAZARA ABOUT WHICH YOU COMPLAIN, THEY THEMSELVES WERE INFLICTING GREAT HARM UPON THE PEOPLE — for the people of Joppe had drowned two hundred Jews in the sea, as is evident from book II, chapter XII. The people of Gazara, that is, of Gaza, being Philistines, had been from ancient times the most hostile enemies of the Jews. Hence it is clear that by Gazara is not meant Gezer, which was in the tribe of Ephraim and therefore belonged to the Jews, but Gaza; for this belonged to the Philistines, not to the Jews, and therefore, as hostile to the Jews, it was stormed by Simon and occupied by right of war.
FOR THESE WE GIVE 100 TALENTS — that is to say: even though I justly occupy Gazara by right of war, nevertheless, to buy off harassment and so that I may take nothing from the kings of Syria but amply compensate for both it and Joppe, I offer one hundred talents for them, that is, 120 thousand gold pieces.
Verse 36: Athenobius Returns In Anger To The King ¶
36. AND HE (Athenobius) RETURNED IN ANGER TO THE KING, namely to Antiochus Sidetes, because Simon had denied him what he demanded, and instead of the million gold pieces which the king had requested, Simon had offered only about a tenth part, namely 120 thousand gold pieces. The king was even more angry, indignantly bearing that he was being disregarded by Simon and that Simon was resisting him.
Hence Cendebaeus was aptly named, for this word in Hebrew means the same as zeal, or deceitful possession, says Pagninus in the Hebrew Names.
Verse 37: And Trypho Fled By Ship To Orthosiada ¶
37. AND TRYPHO FLED BY SHIP TO ORTHOSIADA. — Orthosias, according to Ptolemy, book V, chapter XV, is a city of Phoenicia on a promontory very close to Cyprus; it is therefore a coastal city. Therefore it is not Antaradus, as some think, because that is an inland city; still less is it Apamea, as Josephus holds. Hear Adrichomius in his Description of the Holy Land, part 187, number 20: Orthosia and Orthosias, today called Tortosia, is a coastal city of Phoenicia, situated between Tripoli and Archis: which after the time of Christ was famous for its episcopal see. Into this city Trypho, having escaped from Dora (in which he was being besieged by Antiochus king of Syria), fled by ship, 1 Maccabees XV. Tyrinus, XIII of the Sacred War, and XIV of the Sacred War, XII, of Ptolemy.
Furthermore, Sidetes captured Orthosias and killed the captured Trypho, as Strabo attests (book XIV), along with Justin, Appian, Josephus, and others. Josephus says that Trypho reigned for three years, while Salianus says for seven years, for he was killed in the seventh year of Simon's rule. See here the just judgment of God upon a murderer and tyrant. For Trypho, who had killed Jonathan and the young King Antiochus who had been entrusted to him, was himself killed in a similar manner by Sidetes in the third or seventh year after that murder — a just penalty of retaliation indeed.
Verse 38: And The King Appointed Cendebaeus As Commander Of The Coast ¶
38. AND THE KING APPOINTED CENDEBAEUS AS COMMANDER OF THE COAST — that is, as admiral of the fleet, or arch-admiral. Sidetes sent him to invade Judea.
Verse 39: And He Commanded Him To Build Gedor ¶
39. AND HE COMMANDED HIM TO BUILD GEDOR — in Greek, Cedron. This city was at the entrance to Judea. Hear Adrichomius on the tribe of Dan, number 28: Gedor, which is also called Gador, a city of the tribe of Judah in the lot of Dan, situated to the east of the valley in pastoral and very fertile land. In the time of King Hezekiah, the Simeonites seized it, having driven out certain Canaanites from there, because this land was most suitable for flocks, in which the Simeonites abounded. Afterwards this city was called Cedro, which Cendebaeus, the general of Antiochus against the Jews, fortified with buildings, near which he was also defeated by the Maccabees.
AND TO BLOCK. — In Greek ochyrosai, that is, to fortify the gates, so that Gedor might serve him and his men as a citadel and fortress, to which they could retreat when pressed by the Jews, and into which they could carry the plunder and spoils taken from the Jews.