Synopsis of the Chapter
Simon, through his sons Judas and John, routs Cendebaeus. Then, verse 11, Ptolemy, Simon's son-in-law, treacherously invites him and kills him along with two of his sons, in order to make himself Prince of Judea. Finally, verse 19, John, Simon's surviving son, sought by Ptolemy for death, was forewarned and thwarted his attempts, and succeeded his father in the Leadership and High Priesthood.
Verse 1: And John Went Up From Gazara ¶
1. AND JOHN WENT UP FROM GAZARA — that is, from Gaza, where Simon his father had left and appointed him in his place as commander of the army.
Verse 3: Simon Commissions His Sons ¶
3. BUT NOW I HAVE GROWN OLD; TAKE MY PLACE, AND MY BROTHERS'. — The Complutensian Greek and Latin texts have: and of my brother, namely Jonathan and Judas, so that you may succeed us in the leadership and in wars for Israel. The Greek adds: But you by the mercy of God are of a suitable age, that is, by the benefit of your age you are fit for war.
Verse 4: And He Chose From The Region Twenty Thousand Fighting Men ¶
4. AND HE CHOSE FROM THE REGION TWENTY THOUSAND FIGHTING MEN (warriors) AND HORSEMEN. — Here for the first time I find horsemen in the camp of John and the Jews, whereas in the camps of Judas, Jonathan, and Simon up to this point we have read of nothing but infantry, because God in Deuteronomy XVII had forbidden the Jews to multiply horses.
Verse 6: And He Crossed First ¶
6. And he crossed first — namely John himself, the son of Simon and the commander of the army, whose example the rest, who had previously been afraid, immediately followed; therefore, boldly attacking Cendebaeus, they struck him down and put him to flight.
AND THE REST FLED INTO THE FORTRESS — namely into Gedor, which they had fortified, as stated in the preceding chapter, verse 39.
Verse 9: John Pursued Them To Cedron ¶
9. Until he came to Cedron (that is, Gedor, for in Greek it is called Cedron; this, therefore, John wrested from the fleeing enemy by pressing hard upon them) WHICH HE HAD BUILT — that is, which Cendebaeus had built and fortified, in the preceding chapter, verse 39.
This was the beginning of the victories and heroic deeds of John, by which he bravely and successfully inaugurated his rule in place of his father Simon, for whom death was already being prepared through the treachery of Ptolemy. See here the providence of God, who looked after Israel through John, while Simon, his father and leader, was being killed by the treachery of his son-in-law.
Furthermore, Josephus embellishes this battle in his usual fashion, and therefore mixes in many falsehoods: namely, that Simon himself was present at this battle, that he attacked Cendebaeus by ambush, that he engaged with him many times, and that he always came out the victor.
Verse 11: Ptolemy Son Of Abubus Plots Against Simon ¶
11. AND PTOLEMY, SON OF ABUBUS, HAD BEEN APPOINTED COMMANDER IN THE PLAIN OF JERICHO — namely, by Simon the Leader and High Priest, his father-in-law, as follows. This Ptolemy was wealthy, and through his riches he aimed to obtain the leadership of Judea; therefore he plotted to destroy Simon along with his sons and the entire line of the Hasmoneans. See here the monstrous parricide and sacrilege of Ptolemy, by which he treacherously murdered the High Priest whose daughter he himself had married. What does ambition and the lust for power not dare?
Verse 16: The Murder Of Simon And His Sons ¶
16. And when Simon had become inebriated (that is, made merry by more generous drink) — yet short of actual drunkenness. Hence Vatablus translates: When they had been sated with drink. For as Nonius Marcellus says: "Not only the intoxicated are called 'drunk,' but also those filled with anything whatever." Thus the brothers of Joseph are said to have been "inebriated," that is, to have warmed themselves with wine, Genesis XLIII; and Psalm LXIII says: "You visited the earth and made it drunk;" and Canticles V, 1: "Drink and become drunk," that is, be made merry, "dearest ones."
AND THEY KILLED HIM AND HIS TWO SONS. — Josephus adds, and Hegesippus following him, that Simon's wife was captured along with his sons, except for John; and that John avenged the death of his father and brothers and besieged Ptolemy, but lifted the siege because Ptolemy threatened to inflict whippings and other tortures upon his captive mother — and other similar details that seem scarcely credible, indeed discordant with Sacred Scripture, as Salianus and Sanchez demonstrate.
Simon presided over Israel for seven full years; for he began in the year 170 of the Greeks, when his predecessor Jonathan was killed, 1 Maccabees XIII, 8. He ended in the year 177 of the Greeks, as is stated in verse 14. Therefore Josippus is in error when he attributes 18 years to Simon and says he was killed by Ptolemy the king of Egypt, and that this was God's just vengeance because he had made a treaty with the Spartans and the Roman Gentiles. Finally, Simon was killed in the year 134 before the birth of Christ.
Verse 21: And Someone Running Ahead Reported To John In Gazara ¶
21. AND SOMEONE RUNNING AHEAD REPORTED TO JOHN IN GAZARA — that is, in the city of Gaza, as I have said. This John was the principal son of Simon, a spirited and warlike man, who succeeded Simon in the Leadership and the High Priesthood; he was surnamed Hyrcanus because he had conquered the Hyrcanians in war, say Eusebius and St. Thomas. The heroic deeds of this Hyrcanus are described in book IV of Maccabees. For he made an alliance with Antiochus Sidetes, king of Syria, while the king sent numerous bulls with gilded horns for the temple sacrifices. He accompanied the same king on the Parthian war; he captured very many cities of Syria, defeated the Samaritans, destroyed the temple on Gerizim, subdued the Idumeans, and sent envoys to Rome to renew the alliance. Finally, after 31 years of his rule and priesthood, he died, leaving as his successor his son Aristobulus, who was the first of the Hasmoneans to assume the title of "king" with a diadem instead of "leader," and annexed it to the High Priesthood, and left the combined office to his brother Alexander, and to Alexander's son Aristobulus the Second: during whose reign Jerusalem was captured by Pompey, Judea was reduced to a province, and the royal dignity was completely severed from the pontifical.
And then the Leadership and the line of the Hasmoneans came to an end, having stood for 130 years, as I said in the Proem; for the Romans appointed Herod, a foreigner, as king of Judea, and then, when the scepter departed from Judah, Christ came and was born according to the oracle of Jacob, Genesis XLIX, 9 and 10.