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the last Psalm of the Psalter (cl). In it we breathe a purer air; we leave national limitations far below us. All flesh shall join in a common praise of the one Divine Father.

Praise ye the Lord,

Praise God in his sanctuary,

Praise him in the firmament of his

Praise him for his mighty acts,

power;

Praise him according to his manifold greatness;
Praise him with the peal of the trumpet,
Praise him with the harp and the lyre;
Praise him with the timbrel and dance,
Praise him with strings and with pipe;
Praise him upon the loud cymbals,

Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals ;
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord:
Praise ye the Lord.

What nobler end for a Psalter than this; what nobler expression of adoring faith: 'Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord' !

FROM ALEXANDER TO THE MACCABEES

SECTION V

THE MACCABEAN UPRISING

CHAPTER I

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FROM THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MOVEMENT TO THE DEATH OF MATTATHIAS

§ 1. A return to history.-In this last section we return once more to history. But the history is not taken from the Bible. We saw that the Hebrew Bible contains no direct historical narrative beyond the second visit of Nehemiah to Jerusalem (432 B.C.). On the other hand, we know that if everything which was written after Nehemiah were to be removed from the Bible, we should remove from it a very considerable portion of all that which this second volume of mine includes. The latest Hebrew words in the Bible were perhaps written 300 years after Nehemiah. But the historical narrative of which this section will largely be composed deals only with the last thirty-five years of those three centuries. The narrative is not in the Hebrew Bible. It is a narrative in the Apocrypha, that collection of historical and religious writings of which I have spoken before. But soon after the beginning of those thirty-five years a mysterious book was written which is in the Bible; its name is the Book of Daniel. To understand both the historical narrative in the Apocrypha (it is the story of the Maccabees) and the mysterious book in the Bible, it is necessary to recall to mind some of the main events which had happened in Palestine, or which had affected Palestine, between Alexander the Great and the first beginnings of the Maccabean revolt (323-170 B. C.)—an interval of 153

years. It is with this revolt and its causes that our thirty-five years begin.

§ 2. The first successors of Alexander the Great.-Alexander the Great died at Babylon in the year 323 B.C. Of his generals who carved out from his mighty empire separate satrapies, and soon independent kingdoms of their own, Syria was specially concerned with four: Laomedon, Ptolemy, Antigonus and Seleucus. But of these four Laomedon drops out quickly. To him Syria (including Palestine) had been assigned as his portion at the first division immediately after Alexander's death, when the fiction of a united empire was still for appearances' sake maintained by all, and Alexander's infant was still the nominal lord of every part of it. But after three years Ptolemy of Egypt wrested Syria from Laomedon's hands. And for a full half and more of the 190 years from Alexander's death to the days when the last Hebrew words were perhaps added to the Bible (323-133 B. C.), Palestine and the Jews were under the jurisdiction of Ptolemy and his successors. But only five years of Egyptian rule followed at first successively (320-315 B.C.), and before its renewal, about 301 B.C., there were some fourteen years in which Judæa, with the rest of lower Syria (known as Coele-Syria or the Hollow Syria), belonged to the great but short-lived kingdom of Antigonus.

I cannot give the story of the wars of Antigonus with Ptolemy and the other 'Diadochoi' (i.e. successors), who combined against his ever-growing power. Seleucus had fled to Egypt as a fugitive in 316 B. C., and in 315B. C. Antigonus laid hold of all Syria and Palestine. In 312 B. C. was fought the battle of Gaza, in which Ptolemy won a complete victory over Demetrius, the fascinating son of Antigonus, whose biography forms one of the most delightful of Plutarch's immortal lives. All Palestine and Syria were reconquered by Ptolemy, but this first Egyptian occupation only lasted a few months, for Demetrius with a fresh army once more compelled Ptolemy to withdraw his troops, and Palestine and Syria were again in Antigonus' power. But 312 B. C. is nevertheless an important date. For after the battle of Gaza Ptolemy dispatched Seleucus with a small force to recover Babylon and his former satrapy, and the year 312 marks the formal founding of the 'Seleucid' kingdom and the beginning of the Seleucid era.' Palestine must have suffered a good deal in those years from imposts and occupations and marchings to and fro. Finally, at the great battle of Ipsus in Phrygia (301 B.C.), Antigonus was worsted and slain. The soldiers of three kings (Casander, Lysimachus and Seleucus) united to work the overthrow of one.

PTOLEMAIC AND SELEUCID KINGS

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§3. The kingdom of Seleucus.-The chief gainer from the fight was Seleucus, the satrap' of Babylon, who now proceeded to reorganize the vast and varied provinces under his control. He moved his capital to Antioch, and his kingdom, known, from the name of its founder, as the 'Seleucid' kingdom of Syria, included a changing and ill-defined collection of territories to the east and north and west. But not for 100 years were Coele-Syria and Palestine to be contained within it. For though it was arranged by the conquerors of Ipsus that these lands should fall to the share of Seleucus, this arrangement turned out to be a reckoning without the host. When Seleucus marched westwards after Ipsus, he found that this coveted district had already been occupied by the wary Ptolemy. Seleucus allowed Ptolemy to maintain his hold, but the Seleucid claims to Coele-Syria were not abandoned, and in after-years the successors of the two kings waged many a war for its possession. The map will show how it lay, together with Palestine, between their kingdoms as a veritable apple of discord and bone of contention.

§ 4. Wars between Ptolemy II and Antiochus II.-Ptolemy I (Sotêr) abdicated in 285 and died in 283 B.C. His son, Ptolemy II (Philadelphus), reigned from 285 till 246 B. C. The first two successors of Seleucus were Antiochus I (281-261 B. C.) and Antiochus II (261-246 B. C.). The second Ptolemy and the second Antiochus waged wars with each other of which hardly anything is known. Finally in 248 B. C. they made peace. Antiochus married Ptolemy's daughter Berenicê, and to this end divorced his first wife Laodicê. But evil followed. Antiochus recalled Laodicê, who nevertheless sought her revenge. Antiochus II was poisoned; Berenicê and her infant son were slain. Laodicê's son became king as Seleucus II. Ptolemy II seems to have lived to hear of this catastrophe, though not to avenge it. That duty fell to his successor. (Note that during the reign of Antiochus II the first Punic war was being fought by Rome, and that the year which saw the death of Antiochus saw the birth of Hannibal, 246 B. C.)

§ 5. Further campaigns between the Egyptian and Syrian kings.— Seleucus II reigned from 246 to 226 B. C.; Ptolemy III (Euergêtês) from 246 to 222 B.C. Ptolemy opened his reign by a successful campaign against Seleucus. He captured Antioch and penetrated far into the eastern territories of his rival, and brought back with him many spoils to Egypt. Internal troubles in his own kingdom hastened his return. Then Seleucus in his turn advanced into Coele-Syria, but was beaten and forced to withdraw. Soon after

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a peace seems to have been patched up between the two kings. But this interlude of quiet did not last long.

Seleucus II was followed upon the throne of Syria by his two brothers, Seleucus III (226-222 B. C.) and Antiochus III, the Great (222-187 B. C.). In Egypt Ptolemy III died in 222 B. C., and was succeeded by his son Ptolemy IV (Philopator), who reigned till 205 B. C.

Antiochus III, in spite of many distracting difficulties and revolts in his own kingdom, soon attempted anew the conquest of Coele-Syria, and by the year 218 B. C. he was in occupation of the whole country. (In that year too Hannibal crossed the Alps.) But in the following year (217 B. C.) Ptolemy gained a great victory at Raphia near Gaza, and all Coele-Syria fell again into his hands. (In Italy the year 217 witnessed the battle of Thrasimene.) It is, however, doubtful whether Jerusalem suffered or changed hands during the campaigns of 219-217 B. C. Ptolemy IV was supposed to have shown some weakness in making peace with Antiochus soon after the battle of Raphia.

§ 6. Palestine lost to the Ptolemies.-In 205 B. C. Ptolemy IV died; his successor, Ptolemy V (Epiphanês), was a child four years old. Antiochus III saw his opportunity. He and Philip, king of Macedonia, made a league together for the partition of the dominions of Egypt among them. Antiochus entered and occupied Coele-Syria and Palestine. Jerusalem was taken. Scopas the Aetolian, general of the Egyptian forces, reconquered the province for a short time in 202 B. C. (the year of Zama), but in 198 B. C. at the battle of Panion, on the upper Jordan, Antiochus vanquished Scopas, and from this time forth Coele-Syria and Palestine were finally lost to the Ptolemies and to Egypt. Antiochus once more occupied Jerusalem, and afterwards besieged and captured Sidon and Gaza. The claims of Seleucus I were made good by his greatgreat-grandson.

§ 7. The appearance of Rome in Asia.-I cannot discuss the attitude of the Jews towards these warring kingdoms. Whichever side won, they remained equally dependent. The Messianic age, so confidently anticipated by many a prophet and psalmist to be near at hand, remained as distant and dreamy as ever. The main body of the Jews favoured their old masters the Ptolemies, but there was also a Seleucid party, who for various reasons, on which I cannot dwell here, seems to have been mainly recruited from and led by those who were laxer in religious observance and keener to adopt Grecian culture and Grecian ways. This party obtained the upper hand after Panion, as was not unnatural, and

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