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Nicanor Raised His Hand Against the Temple and Lost It

He spat toward the Temple and bared his right arm. The priests cried between the porch and the altar. Judah promised that arm a new place to hang.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The High Priest Stood in the Gate
  2. He Spat and Bared His Arm
  3. The Thirteenth of Adar
  4. They Kept the Day

Nicanor came with elephants, cavalry, and soldiers without number. Demetrius had sent him after a priest named Alkimos, a man who had eaten swine's flesh in Antiochus's day, walked into the king's court and said the Hasidim would never let the kingdom rest. Destroy them, Alkimos said. Destroy Judah son of Mattathias first.

Nicanor Raised His Hand Against the Temple and Lost It Click for full size

Nicanor arrived at Jerusalem with friendly words. Let there be no battle. I will come with a few men. Let us sit and consult. Judah went out to meet him. They embraced. They sat. Judah had already told his young Hasmoneans to keep their weapons ready. The two men rose, went to their tents, and for a while there was no war. Nicanor even asked Judah why a man like him had not taken a wife.

Alkimos went back to the king. The king wrote to Nicanor: send me Judah bound in chains, or you will die. Judah heard. He left the city by night, sounded the trumpet, and pulled the Hasidim and Hasmoneans to Samaria. The handshake had been a trap. The trap had failed. What came next would not be a meeting.

The High Priest Stood in the Gate

Before the open war, Nicanor tried another purchase. Guards came and said the High Priest of the Jews stood in the gate. Nicanor told them to let him in.

"You are one of the rebels," Nicanor said. "You seek not the peace of the king's kingdom."

"Whatsoever you desire, that will I do," the priest said.

"Take a swine and slaughter it upon the altar," Nicanor said. "You will be given royal dress, and you will ride the king's horse, for you will be as one beloved of the king."

The altar was not for sale. Nicanor left that room angrier than he had entered it, and he took the anger to the House itself.

He Spat and Bared His Arm

Nicanor went to the Temple of the Lord and told the priests to bring out the man who had fled, so he could send Judah to the king in chains. The priests swore they had not seen him since the day before yesterday.

Nicanor spat toward the House. He raised his right hand, stretched it out, and bared the arm for slaughter. "I will overthrow this temple," he said. "I will not leave one stone in its place. I will dig up and overturn all its foundations." He threatened the House in the hearing of the priests, as if a general's arm could unmake a dwelling older than his king.

He departed in anger. The priests went about crying between the porch and the altar. "O God, whose dwelling-place has of old been in this temple, now continue to rest here. Here is Thy throne, and here is Thy footstool. The heart of Nicanor was filled with blasphemy toward Thy house. Therefore let him die as an abomination."

Judah heard what the arm had done. "If God delivers Nicanor into my hands," he said, "I will hang that arm on the Temple gate. He will not raise it again."

The Thirteenth of Adar

Before the battle Judah asked for what David had asked before Goliath: send Your angel ahead of us and fill the enemy with fear. Let one blow bring down many. Let the people who come against Your name be shamed.

The hosts joined battle on the thirteenth of Adar. Nicanor fell first. When his army saw their general down, they threw away their weapons and ran. Judah's men pursued them a day's journey from Adasa to Gazera, sounding the trumpets, and the towns of Judea closed in. Turning back on their pursuers did not save them. Not one of them was left.

Judah kept the vow. They took the spoils, struck off Nicanor's head, and cut off the right hand he had stretched out so proudly. He had raised it. He lost it. They brought both away and hanged them up toward Jerusalem, the arm at the Temple gate, where the pointing had been done.

They Kept the Day

The people rejoiced with a great gladness. They ordained to keep the thirteenth of Adar yearly, a day on which fasting would be forbidden. It sat one day before the fourteenth, which a later generation would know as Purim. For a long time the calendar held both, two survivals stacked on consecutive dates, Nicanor's Day and then the feast of Esther.

The hand that had pointed at the House hung where the priests had cried. Travelers coming up to Jerusalem saw it before they saw the gates properly. The blasphemy had been public. The answer was public too.

Alkimos had wanted a quiet kingdom. He got an arm on a gate instead.

TempleMaccabeesWarJudahApocrypha
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From the tradition

Sources

5 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Chronicles of Jerahmeel XCIXChronicles of Jerahmeel (Gaster, 1899)

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, trans. Moses Gaster (1899) · Public Domain

After Antiochus Eupator fell to Demetrius son of Seleucus, a new threat emerged. And this time it came from a Jewish traitor. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, a priest named Alkimos had eaten swine's flesh during the reign of Antiochus. Now he went to Demetrius and poisoned the king's mind against Judah Maccabee and the Hassidim, calling them rebels who would never let the kingdom have peace.

Demetrius sent Nicanor with an army to destroy Judah. Nicanor first tried deception, approaching Judah with words of peace and friendship, hoping to lure him into a trap. When Judah's men detected the treachery and the ambush failed, Nicanor turned to open war. He stretched out his hand toward God's Temple and swore an oath: "If you do not deliver Judah and his army into my hands, I will burn this Temple to the ground when I return."

The priests inside the sanctuary heard him. They wept and prayed before the altar: "O Lord, You chose this house to bear Your name. Avenge us against this man and his army." Nicanor marched to battle with full confidence. Judah, outnumbered, prayed for divine intervention, reminding God how He had sent an angel to destroy Sennacherib's 185,000 soldiers in a single night.

The battle was decisive. Nicanor's army was shattered, and Nicanor himself was killed. Judah's men cut off his head and the arm he had stretched out against God's Temple, and hung them before the Temple gate. That gate has been called "the Gate of Nicanor" from that day forward. The people sang the Psalms of David, concluding with "For He is good, and His mercy endures forever." The Jews celebrate this victory on the 13th of Adar, one day before Purim, with feasting and wine.

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The Book of Maccabees I 7:26The Book of Maccabees I

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Sefaria Community Translation · CC-BY

Judas Maccabeus and his band of rebels are gaining ground. They're pushing back against the Seleucid Empire, who were trying to Hellenize Judea – basically, force Greek culture and religion on the Jewish people. Not cool. Now, we've got Alcimus. This guy… well, he's not exactly on Team Maccabee. In fact, he's pretty ticked off that Judas is winning. What does he do? He runs straight to the king – the Seleucid king, that is – and starts badmouthing Judas and his crew. He paints them in the worst possible light. Classic.

The king? He sends Nicanor. Oh boy, Nicanor. He was "one of his honourable princes, a man that bare deadly hate unto Israel." So, yeah, not exactly a neutral party. He's given the mission to utterly destroy the Jewish people.

Nicanor arrives in Jerusalem with a massive army. But instead of immediately launching an attack, he tries something… sneaky. He sends messengers to Judas and his brothers with what sounds like a peace offering. "Let there be no battle between me and you," he says, dripping with false sincerity. "I will come with a few men, that I may see you in peace."

The deceit is practically oozing off the page. Nicanor, this prince filled with hatred, pretends to want a peaceful meeting. He wants to lull Judas into a false sense of security. What a snake!

Will he fall for Nicanor's trap? Or will he see through the deception and prepare for the inevitable battle? That's the question hanging in the air. How often do we encounter people who aren't what they seem? How do we discern true intentions from carefully crafted facades? It's a timeless question, as relevant today as it was in the time of the Maccabees.

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Megillat Antiochus 1:19Megillat Antiochus

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Sefaria-hosted English translation · CC-BY

The story of Megillat Antiochus throws us right into that pressure cooker. It's a relatively short scroll, considered by some to be a minor megillah, telling the story of the Maccabean revolt. And right from the start, the stakes are clear.

Our scene opens with guards rushing to Nicanor, a general in the Seleucid army, with some urgent news. "The High Priest of the Jews stands in the gate!" Can you imagine the tension? The High Priest, the spiritual leader of the Jewish people, standing before the enemy. It's a moment ripe with possibilities, none of them good.

Nicanor, without hesitation, says, "Let him surely come in." There's a coldness to his response, a sense of control. Then Yoḥanan – that's John, for those of us more familiar with the English – is brought before him. We don't know exactly what Yoḥanan is thinking, but we can guess he's walking into the lion's den.

Nicanor wastes no time with pleasantries. He accuses Yoḥanan directly: "You are one of the rebels, who have rebelled against the king and seek not the peace of his kingdom.” It's a powerful accusation, dripping with suspicion and hostility. He paints Yoḥanan as a traitor, an enemy of the state.

And how does Yoḥanan respond? With what seems, at first glance, like complete submission. “My lord now I am come before you. Whatsoever you desire, that will I do. Is he giving in? Is he betraying his people?

But wait, there’s more to the story. Nicanor's reply reveals the true depth of the conflict. He lays out his demand, a demand designed to shatter the very core of Jewish identity. “If thou will do my desire, arise and take a swine and slaughter it upon the altar." A swine, a pig, is considered treif, ritually unclean, in Jewish law. To slaughter it on the altar, the holiest place in the Temple in Jerusalem, would be the ultimate desecration, a deliberate act of sacrilege. It’s not just about religious observance; it’s about identity, about everything the Jewish people hold sacred.

Nicanor continues, piling on the incentives, or perhaps the insults. "And you will be given royal dress, and will ride on the king’s horse, for you will be as one beloved of the king.” He's offering Yoḥanan power, prestige, a place among the ruling class. But at what cost? His soul? The soul of his people?

This scene, so early in Megillat Antiochus, sets the stage for everything that follows. It highlights the impossible choices faced by the Jewish people under Seleucid rule, the constant threat to their faith and their very existence. It forces us to ask ourselves: what would we do in such a situation? What price would we be willing to pay to survive? And what is truly worth fighting for?

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The Book of Maccabees I 7:44The Book of Maccabees I

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Sefaria Community Translation · CC-BY

The Book of Maccabees I turns to Nicanor Falls on the Thirteenth Day of Adar.

The 13th of Adar – a month in the Jewish calendar, usually falling in March – a day of reckoning. The armies clash. The air is thick with tension, the ground trembling beneath the weight of soldiers and the din of battle. And then, it happens. Nicanor, leading the charge, falls. He is slain right there on the battlefield.

1 Maccabees 7 tells us that the entire Seleucid army, seeing their leader fall, completely loses it. They throw down their weapons and scatter. Panic sets in. It’s a rout!

The Maccabees? They seize the moment. They chase after the fleeing enemy all the way from Adasa to Gazera – a whole day's journey! They blast the shofar (the ram's horn) to rally the people, a call to arms that echoes through the hills of Judea.

Then, something truly remarkable happens. People pour out from all the towns surrounding the battle. They cut off the retreating Seleucids. Trapped, the Seleucid soldiers are utterly destroyed. Not a single one survives. The text is stark: "…they, turning back upon them that pursued them, were all slain with the sword, and not one of them was left."

It’s a brutal end to a chapter filled with courage, desperation, and, ultimately, victory. A victory hard-won against seemingly insurmountable odds.

What does this ancient story tell us today? Is it just a dusty battle account? Or is there something more? Perhaps it's a reminder that even when facing overwhelming power, courage and unity can turn the tide. A reminder that even in the darkest of times, hope – and the will to fight for it – can prevail. A reminder that the actions of one person, like Nicanor, can have a ripple effect, changing the course of history.

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The Book of Maccabees I 8:1The Book of Maccabees I

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Sefaria Community Translation · CC-BY

The Book of Maccabees I turns to Nicanor's Transgression.

They gathered the spoils, yes, the tangible rewards of victory. But then came the really dramatic part. They found Nicanor, the opposing general, and… well, they took souvenirs. They "smote off Nicanor’s head, and his right hand, which he stretched out so proudly." Can you imagine the scene?

What did they do with these grim trophies? They "brought them away, and hanged them up toward Jerusalem." It was a clear, undeniable declaration of triumph, a symbol of their defiance against oppression. A visceral statement that resonates even thousands of years later.

Why hang them up in Jerusalem? Well, Jerusalem was the heart of their faith, the center of their world. Displaying Nicanor's head and hand there wasn't just about boasting; it was about reclaiming their sacred space, purifying it from the defilement of their enemies. It was about saying, “This is our land, and we will defend it!”

And how did the people react? "For this cause," the text says, "the people rejoiced greatly, and they kept that day a day of great gladness." I think we can understand that! This wasn't just a military victory; it was a victory for their very way of life. It was a moment of profound hope and liberation.

So profound, in fact, that "they ordained to keep yearly this day, being the thirteenth of Adar." Adar is the twelfth month of the Jewish year, usually falling in February or March. This day of celebration, established in the wake of Nicanor's defeat, became a permanent fixture in their calendar. A yearly reminder of their resilience.

But the story doesn’t end there. Judas Maccabeus, the leader of the rebellion, was a shrewd strategist. He wasn't just focused on immediate victories; he was thinking about the long game. And he knew that to truly secure their freedom, they needed allies.

"Now Judas had heard of the fame of the Romans," the verse says, "that they were mighty and valiant men, and such as would lovingly accept all that joined themselves unto them, and make a league of amity with all that came unto them; And that they were men of great valour."

The Romans! A rising power on the world stage, known for their military might and their willingness to forge alliances. Judas recognized the potential of a partnership with them. He understood that Rome could provide the support and protection they needed to withstand future threats. This wasn't just about celebrating a single victory; it was about laying the groundwork for a lasting peace.

It's more than just a story of battles and beheadings. It’s a story of courage, resilience, and the enduring power of faith. And sometimes, yes, that might even involve hanging up a few heads along the way. It’s a powerful, if somewhat gruesome, reminder of the stakes at play.

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