HOW, AFTER THE DEATH OF ANTIOCHUS, HYRCANUS MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST SYRIA, AND MADE A LEAGUE WITH THE ROMANS. CONCERNING THE DEATH OF KING DEMETRIUS AND ALEXANDER. FJAJ 13.61
1. BUT when Hyrcanus heard of the death of Antiochus, he presently made
an expedition against the cities of Syria, hoping to find them destitute
of fighting men, and of such as were able to defend them
However, it was
not till the sixth month that he took Medaba, and that not without the
greatest distress of his army
After this he took Samega, and the neighboring
places; and besides these, Shechem and Gerizzim, and the nation of the
Cutheans, who dwelt at the temple which resembled that temple which was
at Jerusalem, and which Alexander permitted Sanballat, the general of his
army, to build for the sake of Manasseh, who was son-in-law to Jaddua the
high priest, as we have formerly related; which temple was now deserted
two hundred years after it was built
Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa,
cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay
in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use
of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country
of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, (25)
This account of the Idumeans admitting circumcision, and the entire Jewish
law, from this time, or from the days of Hyrcanus, is confirmed by their
entire history afterward. See Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 1; B. XV. ch.
7. sect. 9. Of the War, B. II. ch. 3. sect. 1; B. IV. ch. 4. sect. 5. This,
in the opinion of Josephus, made them proselytes of justice, or entire
Jews, as here and elsewhere, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 1. However, Antigonus,
the enemy of Herod, though Herod were derived from such a proselyte of
justice for several generations, will allow him to be no more than a half
Jew, B. XV. ch. 15. sect. 2. .But still, take out of Dean Prideaux, at
the year 129, the words of Ammouius, a grammarian, which fully confirm
this account of the Idumeans in Josephus: "The Jews," says he,
are such by nature, and from the beginning, whilst the Idumeans were not
Jews from the beginning, but Phoenicians and Syrians; but being afterward
subdued by the Jews, and compelled to be circumcised, and to unite into
one nation, and be subject to the same laws, they were called Jews."
Dio also says, as the Dean there quotes him, from Book XXXVI. p. 37, "That
country is called Judea, and the people Jews; and this name is given also
to as many others as embrace their religion, though of other nations."
But then upon what foundation so good a governor as Hyrcanus took upon
him to compel those Idumeans either to become Jews, or to leave the country,
deserves great consideration. I suppose it was because they had long ago
been driven out of the land of Edom, and had seized on and possessed the
tribe of Simeon, and all the southern parts of the tribe of Judah, which
was the peculiar inheritance of the worshippers of the true God without
idolatry, as the reader may learn from Reland, Palestine, Part I. p. 154,
305; and from Prideaux, at the years 140 and 165.
and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this
befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews. FJAJ 13.62
2. But Hyrcanus the high priest was desirous to renew that league of
friendship they had with the Romans
Accordingly, he sent an embassage
to them; and when the senate had received their epistle, they made a league
of friendship with them, after the manner following: "Fanius, the
son of Marcus, the praetor, gathered the senate together on the eighth
day before the Ides of February, in the senate-house, when Lucius Manlius,
the son of Lucius, of the Mentine tribe, and Caius Sempronius, the son
of Caius, of the Falernian tribe, were present
The occasion was, that
the ambassadors sent by the people of the Jews (26)
In this decree of the Roman senate, it seems that these ambassadors were
sent from the "people of the Jews," as well as from their prince
or high priest, John Hyrcanus.
Simon, the son of Dositheus, and Apollonius, the son of Alexander, and
Diodorus, the son of Jason, who were good and virtuous men, had somewhat
to propose about that league of friendship and mutual assistance which
subsisted between them and the Romans, and about other public affairs,
who desired that Joppa, and the havens, and Gazara, and the springs [of
Jordan], and the several other cities and countries of theirs, which Antiochus
had taken from them in the war, contrary to the decree of the senate, might
be restored to them; and that it might not be lawful for the king's troops
to pass through their country, and the countries of those that are subject
to them; and that what attempts Antiochus had made during that war, without
the decree of the senate, might be made void; and that they would send
ambassadors, who should take care that restitution be made them of what
Antiochus had taken from them, and that they should make an estimate of
the country that had been laid waste in the war; and that they would grant
them letters of protection to the kings and free people, in order to their
quiet return home
It was therefore decreed, as to these points, to renew
their league of friendship and mutual assistance with these good men, and
who were sent by a good and a friendly people." But as to the letters
desired, their answer was, that the senate would consult about that matter
when their own affairs would give them leave; and that they would endeavor,
for the time to come, that no like injury should be done to them; and that
their praetor Fanius should give them money out of the public treasury
to bear their expenses home
And thus did Fanius dismiss the Jewish ambassadors,
and gave them money out of the public treasury; and gave the decree of
the senate to those that were to conduct them, and to take care that they
should return home in safety. FJAJ 13.63
3. And thus stood the affairs of Hyrcanus the high priest
But as for
king Demetrius, who had a mind to make war against Hyrcanus, there was
no opportunity nor room for it, while both the Syrians and the soldiers
bare ill-will to him, because he was an ill man
But when they had sent
ambassadors to Ptolemy, who was called Physcon, that he would send them
one of the family at Seleueus, in order to take the kingdom, and he had
sent them Alexander, who was called Zebina, with an army, and there had
been a battle between them, Demetrius was beaten in the fight, and fled
to Cleopatra his wife, to Ptolemais; but his wife would not receive him.
He went thence to Tyre, and was there caught; and when he had suffered
much from his enemies before his death, he was slain by them
So Alexander
took the kingdom, and made a league with Hyrcanus, who yet, when he afterward
fought with Antiochus the son of Demetrius, who was called Grypus, was
also beaten in the fight, and slain. FJAJ 13.64