The betrayal came from within. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, a man named Simeon from the tribe of Benjamin—described as "very wicked and rebellious"—went to King Seleucus of Macedonia and slandered his own people. He told the king about the vast treasures heaped inside the Temple at Jerusalem: endless quantities of gold, precious stones, and riches that would be better off in the royal treasury.
Seleucus dispatched Heliodorus, the captain of his army, to Jerusalem with a military force. When Heliodorus arrived, the high priest Honiah (Onias) met him and explained that the Temple treasury held deposits entrusted by widows and orphans—sacred funds that could not be touched. Heliodorus ignored him and entered the Temple by force.
What happened next terrified everyone who witnessed it. As Heliodorus reached for the treasury, a great horse appeared before him bearing a fearsome rider in golden armor. The horse struck Heliodorus with its front hooves. Then two young men of extraordinary beauty appeared and beat him relentlessly from both sides until he collapsed, unable to speak or move. His soldiers carried him out on a stretcher, his power completely broken.
The high priest Honiah prayed for Heliodorus, and the two angelic figures appeared again, telling the fallen captain: "Thank the priest Honiah, for it is on his account that God has spared your life." When Heliodorus returned to Seleucus and was asked about Jerusalem, he gave an astonishing report: "If you have any enemies who seek your life, send them to Jerusalem and let them enter the Temple, where they will surely be killed, for the great God reigns in that place." From that day forward, Seleucus sent no more armies to Jerusalem. Instead, he sent gifts to the Temple every year until his death.