Antiochus Eupator, son of the infamous Antiochus Epiphanes, inherited his father's hatred of the Jews. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, Eupator dispatched his cousin Lysias with an army of 80,000 horsemen and eighty war elephants—a force designed to annihilate Judah once and for all.
The Macedonian army reached Bethther and laid siege. They built a ditch around the city, brought battering rams and siege stones, and began their assault. Judah and the Hasmonean fighters defended the walls with desperate courage, but they were vastly outnumbered.
In the midst of battle, Eleazar—one of Judah's brothers—spotted an enormous elephant bearing royal armor, larger than all the others. Convinced that Eupator himself was riding it, Eleazar made a decision that would become legendary. He charged through the enemy ranks, cutting soldiers down on every side, and reached the great beast. Dropping to the ground, he crawled beneath the elephant and drove his sword upward into its belly. The elephant collapsed on top of him. Eleazar was crushed to death beneath the animal he had killed—a sacrifice that stunned both armies.
The siege ground on. The Jews inside the city began to starve, for it was a sabbatical year and their food stores were depleted. Judah's forces were weakening. But then word reached Eupator that Demetrius had risen against him with a Roman army back in Macedon. Eupator sued for peace, sending a letter to Judah addressed to "Judah the Anointed one of battle and to the rest of the people." The letter granted the Jews permission to live in peace and observe their law. He even sent Menelaos to negotiate terms, and offered an apology: "Pardon whatever actions my father erringly did." The siege was lifted—not by military victory, but by the shifting politics of empire.
XCV. (1) Now, when it came to the ear of Antiochus
Eopator, son of Antiochus called Epiphanes, who had
wrought such evil in Jerusalem, who slew the pious men,
and who ultimately died from the severe plagues inflicted
upon him, as we have stated above, (2) this Antiochus
Eopator sent Lysias, his cousin, with an army of 80,000
horsemen and eighty elephants, a mighty army. They
came to Judah and Jerusalem and gave battle at Bethter
(inn^n); building a ditch round about the city, he began to
attack the city with a battering-ram and with stones, while
Judah and the whole army of the Hasmoneans dwelt in the
forests and on the mountains away from the Greek army.
Judah said to his men, ' Come, let us approach the Lord
our God in fasting and in supplication, and then let us
march against the Greek army of Javan, who are attacking
Bethter.'
(3) After the fast he blew the Shofar, and then gave the
signal for battle, and he and all his men went to assist their
brethren in Bethter. When they came to Jerusalem they
entered the temple, offered peace-offerings, sacrificed burnt-
offerings, and cried to the Lord. Then, departing from
Jerusalem to go to Bethter to the Macedonian camp, Judah
said to his men, ' Be strong and of good cheer; for the
people of the Lord and for our brethren, let us rather
perish together in the fight than see any evil fall upon our
people.'
(4) When he had finished speaking, he lifted up his eyes
and beheld between heaven and earth a man, well dressed,
riding upon a horse like a flame of fire, and in his hand a
spear. His back was turned towards the Hasmoneans and
his face to the camp of the Greeks, with his hand stretched
out ready to smite it. Judah then exclaimed, ' Blessed be
He who has sent His messenger to save His people and to
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smite the camp of His enemies.' Hastening thence, they
went to Bethter, and, springing upon the Macedonian camp,
they put them into confusion, and slaughtered 11,000 foot
and 1,600 horsemen. Lysias and his men fled for their
lives in shame and disorder, and Lysias then knowing that
God was fighting against the enemies of Israel, made a
covenant with Judah.
(5) The following is the letter which Lysias sent to the
people of Judah:
* Lysias, chief of the king's army and vicegerent of
Antiochus, to Judah the Anointed of battle and to all his
people be there greeting ! Be it known to you that I have
received letters you sent through your messengers,
Johanan and Absalom, and that I have carried out whatever
they told me. I read the letter with good feeling and have
fulfilled everything contained therein. I have told the
king the message on your behalf, and have given answer
to Johanan and Absalom. I have further charged the
messengers I sent to you with words of peace.'
(6) This is the contents of the letter which the king sent
to Lysias, his cousin:
' King Antiochus to Lysias my brother greeting ! Be it
known to thee that we have received the letter thou didst
send us concerning the Jews, and that we have read it
with every good feeling. My father has gone the way of
all flesh, he has ceased to be with men and has been
taken with angels; but I seek for the welfare of all my
kingdom, to stop wars, and to establish peace. I have
heard that the Jews refused to listen to my father to violate
their law, and that they have therefore conquered by the
sword and slain the chief men and the most honoured of
my father's kingdom. Now give them thy right hand, and
make a covenant with them that they may know it to be
my will and my hearty desire that they live in peace and
observe their law according to their own wish.'
(7) And this is the contents of the letter which the king
280 [XCVI. 1
sent to Judah: ' King Antiochus Eopator to Judah the
Anointed one of battle and to the rest of the people greeting !
Be it known to you that I have issued a decree throughout
all my cities and to all the peoples subjected to my rule,
that they should not oppress the Jews, but leave them to
keep and to observe your law. Pardon whatever actions
my father erringiy did, and if we have also erred we send
you Menelaos to speak to you words of peace.'
