Antiquities of the Jews — Book 12, Chapter 8

1. When these things were over, the nations round about the Jews were
very uneasy at the revival of their power, and rose up together, and
destroyed many of them, as gaining advantage over them by laying snares
for them, and making secret conspiracies against them. Judas made
perpetual expeditions against these men, and endeavored to restrain them
from those incursions, and to prevent the mischiefs they did to the
Jews. So he fell upon the Idumeans, the posterity of Esau, at
Acrabattene, and slew a great many of them, and took their spoils. He
also shut up the sons of Bean, that laid wait for the Jews; and he sat
down about them, and besieged them, and burnt their towers, and
destroyed the men [that were in them]. After this he went thence in
haste against the Ammonites, who had a great and a numerous army, of
which Timotheus was the commander. And when he had subdued them, he
seized on the city Jazer, and took their wives and their children
captives, and burnt the city, and then returned into Judea. But when the
neighboring nations understood that he was returned, they got together
in great numbers in the land of Gilead, and came against those Jews that
were at their borders, who then fled to the garrison of Dathema; and
sent to Judas, to inform him that Timotheus was endeavoring to take the
place whither they were fled. And as these epistles were reading, there
came other messengers out of Galilee, who informed him that the
inhabitants of Ptolemais, and of Tyre and Sidon, and strangers of
Galilee, were gotten together.

2. Accordingly Judas, upon considering what was fit to be done, with
relation to the necessity both these cases required, gave order that
Simon his brother should take three thousand chosen men, and go to the
assistance of the Jews in Galilee, while he and another of his brothers,
Jonathan, made haste into the land of Gilead, with eight thousand
soldiers. And he left Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, to be
over the rest of the forces; and charged them to keep Judea very
carefully, and to fight no battles with any persons whomsoever until his
return. Accordingly, Simon went into Galilee, and fought the enemy, and
put them to flight, and pursued them to the very gates of Ptolemais, and
slew about three thousand of them, and took the spoils of those that
were slain, and those Jews whom they had made captives, with their
baggage, and then returned home.

3. Now as for Judas Maccabeus, and his brother Jonathan, they passed
over the river Jordan; and when they had gone three days journey, they
lighted upon the Nabateans, who came to meet them peaceably, and who
told them how the affairs of those in the land of Gilead stood; and how
many of them were in distress, and driven into garrisons, and into the
cities of Galilee; and exhorted him to make haste to go against the
foreigners, and to endeavor to save his own countrymen out of their
hands. To this exhortation Judas hearkened, and returned to the
wilderness; and in the first place fell upon the inhabitants of Bosor,
and took the city, and beat the inhabitants, and destroyed all the
males, and all that were able to fight, and burnt the city. Nor did he
stop even when night came on, but he journeyed in it to the garrison
where the Jews happened to be then shut up, and where Timotheus lay
round the place with his army. And Judas came upon the city in the
morning; and when he found that the enemy were making an assault upon
the walls, and that some of them brought ladders, on which they might
get upon those walls, and that others brought engines [to batter them],
he bid the trumpeter to sound his trumpet, and he encouraged his
soldiers cheerfully to undergo dangers for the sake of their brethren
and kindred; he also parted his army into three bodies, and fell upon
the backs of their enemies. But when Timotheus's men perceived that it
was Maccabeus that was upon them, of both whose courage and good success
in war they had formerly had sufficient experience, they were put to
flight; but Judas followed them with his army, and slew about eight
thousand of them. He then turned aside to a city of the foreigners
called Malle, and took it, and slew all the males, and burnt the city
itself. He then removed from thence, and overthrew Casphom and Bosor,
and many other cities of the land of Gilead.

4. But not long after this, Timotheus prepared a great army, and took
many others as auxiliaries; and induced some of the Arabians, by the
promise of rewards, to go with him in this expedition, and came with his
army beyond the brook, over against the city Raphon; and he encouraged
his soldiers, if it came to a battle with the Jews, to fight
courageously, and to hinder their passing over the brook; for he said to
them beforehand, that "if they come over it, we shall be beaten." And
when Judas heard that Timotheus prepared himself to fight, he took all
his own army, and went in haste against Timotheus his enemy; and when he
had passed over the brook, he fell upon his enemies, and some of them
met him, whom he slew, and others of them he so terrified, that he
compelled them to throw down their arms and fly; and some of them
escaped, but some of them fled to what was called the Temple of Camaim,
and hoped thereby to preserve themselves; but Judas took the city, and
slew them, and burnt the temple, and so used several ways of destroying
his enemies.

5. When he had done this, he gathered the Jews together, with their
children and wives, and the substance that belonged to them, and was
going to bring them back into Judea; but as soon as he was come to a
certain city, whose name was Ephron, that lay upon the road, [and it was
not possible for him to go any other way, so he was not willing to go
back again,] he then sent to the inhabitants, and desired that they
would open their gates, and permit them to go on their way through the
city; for they had stopped up the gates with stones, and cut off their
passage through it. And when the inhabitants of Ephron would not agree
to this proposal, he encouraged those that were with him, and
encompassed the city round, and besieged it, and, lying round it by day
and night, took the city, and slew every male in it, and burnt it all
down, and so obtained a way through it; and the multitude of those that
were slain was so great, that they went over the dead bodies. So they
came over Jordan, and arrived at the great plain, over against which is
situate the city Bethshah, which is called by the Greeks Scythopolis. 20
And going away hastily from thence, they came into Judea, singing psalms
and hymns as they went, and indulging such tokens of mirth as are usual
in triumphs upon victory. They also offered thank-offerings, both for
their good success, and for the preservation of their army, for not one
of the Jews was slain in these battles.21

6. But as to Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, whom Judas left
generals [of the rest of his forces] at the same time when Simon was in
Galilee, fighting against the people of Ptolemais, and Judas himself,
and his brother Jonathan, were in the land of Gilead, did these men also
affect the glory of being courageous generals in war, in order whereto
they took the army that was under their command, and came to Jamnia.
There Gorgias, the general of the forces of Jamnia, met them; and upon
joining battle with him, they lost two thousand of their army, 22 and
fled away, and were pursued to the very borders of Judea. And this
misfortune befell them by their disobedience to what injunctions Judas
had given them, not to fight with any one before his return. For besides
the rest of Judas's sagacious counsels, one may well wonder at this
concerning the misfortune that befell the forces commanded by Joseph and
Azarias, which he understood would happen, if they broke any of the
injunctions he had given them. But Judas and his brethren did not leave
off fighting with the Idumeans, but pressed upon them on all sides, and
took from them the city of Hebron, and demolished all its
fortifications, and set all its towers on fire, and burnt the country of
the foreigners, and the city Marissa. They came also to Ashdod, and took
it, and laid it waste, and took away a great deal of the spoils and prey
that were in it, and returned to Judea.