Now that the war was over, Simon applied him- self with increased vigour to the task of strength- ening the defences of Judea. Having made Joppa a Jewish port, he laid siege to the fortress of Gazara, and expelled the heathen inhabitants. Shortly afterwards he appointed his son John commander-in-chief of his forces, with a residence at Gazara. He achieved another noteworthy tri- umph in the reduction of the Acra, the garrison being at length starved into surrender, and in- stituted an annual festival in commemoration of the day of his entry into this last outpost of the Syrians—the 23rd Iyyar (May) 142. eanwhile
ryphon had siaedereal the puppet-king Antiochus Vi. and seized the Syrian crown. Demetrius I. was also embroiled in difficulties with the Parthians, who were invading his north-eastern provinces, and Simon took occasion to demand complete ex- emption from taxes. This Demetrius consented to grant, along with an amnesty for all political offences. Thus was ‘the yoke of the heathen’ removed, and the wished-for goal of Jewish inde- pendence actually reached (1 Mac 13").
Simon was the founder of the high- priestly dynasty of the Hasmoneans. In B.c. 141, in recognition of his great services to the nation, he was formally appointed leader, high priest, and governor (ἐθνάρχης) ; and these offices were declared to be hereditary in his family until ‘a faithful prophet’ should otherwise direct (1 Mac 14"), The popular decree embodying these honours was en-
aven on a memorial tablet placed in the temple.
he first year of Simon’s reign was made the beginning of a new era, according to which Jewish legal documents were dated. He also renewed the friendship and treaty with Rome and Sparta, and struck his own coins like any other independent sovereign. The beautiful picture of 1 Mac 14*% shows how well Simon utilized the years of peace that followed, in building up the prosperity of Judea. In peace he was even greater than in war. He possessed the administrative genius. Under his wise and beneficent sway the country enjoyed a period of moral and material well-being for which there is no post-exilic parallel. He was the patron of trade and agriculture; the friend of
liberty, justice, and religion; a brave soldier, a worthy priest, and a gifted statesman.
After four or five years, during which ‘ Israel rejoiced with great joy’ (1 Mac 14"), Simon was once more caught in the meshes of Syrian politics. Although Demetrius Π|. was a prisoner in Partie; his younger brother Antiochus vu. (Sidetes) took up arms against Tryphon, and wrote to solicit the friendship of Simon. But after defeating Tryphon he reversed his policy. While he was besieging his rival in Dor, Simon sent him gifts and auxiliaries. These were haughtily declined, and a demand made for 1000 talents, failing the surrender of Joppa, Gazara, and the Acra. This was equivalent to a declaration of war, and very soon the Syrian general Cendebzeus invaded Judwa. Now an old man, Simon left his two sons Judas and John to pro- secute the campaign. Near Modin they gained a decisive victory.
For two or three years more Simon laboured at his favourite task of developing the internal re- sources of his kingdom. ‘Then came the tragic end. In the castle of Dék, near Jericho, at a banquet ostensibly held in their honour, he and two of his sons fell victims to the murderous ambition of his son-in-law Ptolemy, the son of Abubus, who aimed at the supreme power (135). Ptolemy’s designs were frustrated, however, owing to the miscarriage of his plans for the assassination of Simon’s third son, John, governor of Gazara. The latter, warned in time, slew the emissaries of Ptolemy, and forthwith assumed the government and the high-priesthood.
More than thirty years had passed since Matta- thias openly resisted the religious persecution of his nation. In the faithful and skilful hands of his sons the crusade inaugurated by him had been singularly successful. One by one they had fallen in the sacred cause which he had committed to them (1 Mac 6% 918 986-42 1323 161%), But they had not shed their blood in vain. The valour of the Mac- cabees had rehabilitated the Jewish nation. Not only was the old spirit of independence thoroughly aroused, but there was also developed a new con- sciousness of the worth of their revealed religion. As the most thrilling epoch in Jewish history, and that which shaped ifs Tast phases of Jewish belief srior to the advent of our Lord, the age of the
Iaccabees has a peculiar interest for the student of Christianity.
iv. THE HASMON&AN DyNasty.—The relation- ship of the various scions of the Hasmonean ΒΟΤΗΡ is exhibited in the subjoined genealogical table.
The reign of John Hyrcanus (135-105) was ely and prosperous. After the flight of Ptolemy, his brother-in-law, he encountered the hostility of Antiochus ναι. (Sidetes), to whom he agreed to pa tribute. But in B.c. 128 Antiochus met his deat in fighting against the Parthians, and Hyreanus availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the dispute which arose about the succession to the throne of Syria to make the Jewish kingdom territorially as extensive as it had ever been. The country E. of the Jordan, Samaria, and Edom were in turn brought under his sway, and no further tribute was paid to the Syrian kings. He further added to the defences of the country, and during his reign the old fortress of Baris (later Antonia) was rebuilt. Hyreanus also concluded a treaty with the Romans, and was the first Jewish prince