1 Maccabees 11: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The king of Egypt marches into Syria with peaceful words, takes the coastal cities, takes his daughter back from Alexander and gives her to Demetrius; Alexander is beheaded in Arabia, Ptolemy dies three days later, and Demetrius becomes king. Jonathan besieges the fortress in Jerusalem, then goes to Demetrius at Ptolemais, where he is confirmed as high priest and given a letter releasing Judea and three districts from certain payments. Three thousand men Jonathan sends rescue Demetrius from the people of Antioch, but Demetrius turns against him; Tryphon then brings back Alexander's young son Antiochus, who confirms Jonathan and makes Simon governor. The chapter ends with Jonathan's campaigns along the coast and a battle on the plain of Nasor.

Claim by Claim

1. 11:1
   • The king of Egypt gathered together great forces.
   • His forces were as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
   • He also gathered many ships.
   • He sought to gain control of Alexander's kingdom by deceit.
   • He sought to add Alexander's kingdom to his own kingdom.
2. 11:2
   • He went out into Syria with words of peace.
   • The people of the cities opened to him.
   • The people of the cities met him.
   • King Alexander had given a command that they should meet him.
   • The reason for Alexander's command was that Ptolemy was his father-in-law.
3. 11:3
   • As he entered the cities of Ptolemais, he stationed troops as a garrison in each city.
4. 11:4
   • He came near to Azotus.
   • They showed him the temple of Dagon, which had been burned.
   • They showed him Azotus and its surrounding lands, which had been destroyed.
   • They showed him the bodies that had been thrown down.
   • They showed him those who had been burned, whom Jonathan had burned in the war.
   • They had made heaps of the bodies along the road he was traveling.
5. 11:5
   • They told the king what Jonathan had done.
   • Their purpose in telling him was to put blame on Jonathan.
   • The king kept silent.
6. 11:6
   • Jonathan met the king at Joppa with great honor.
   • They greeted one another.
   • They slept there.
7. 11:7
   • Jonathan went with the king as far as the river called Eleutherus.
   • Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.
8. 11:8
   • King Ptolemy gained control of the cities along the coast as far as Seleucia by the sea.
   • He devised wicked plans concerning Alexander.
9. 11:9
   • He sent ambassadors to King Demetrius.
   • He proposed that they make a covenant with each other.
   • He offered to give Demetrius his daughter, whom Alexander had.
   • He told Demetrius that he would reign over his father's kingdom.
10. 11:10
    • Ptolemy said he regretted having given his daughter to Alexander.
    • Ptolemy said that Alexander had sought to kill him.
11. 11:11
    • Ptolemy accused Alexander.
    • Ptolemy accused him because he coveted Alexander's kingdom.
12. 11:12
    • Ptolemy took his daughter away from Alexander.
    • Ptolemy gave her to Demetrius.
    • Alexander's countenance was changed, and Ptolemy broke with him.
    • Their enmity became openly visible.
13. 11:13
    • Ptolemy entered Antioch.
    • He put on the crown of Asia.
    • He put two crowns on his head, the crown of Asia and the crown of Egypt.
14. 11:14
    • King Alexander was in Cilicia at that time.
    • He was there because the people of those regions were in revolt.
15. 11:15
    • Alexander heard of this.
    • Alexander came against Ptolemy in war.
    • Ptolemy marched out and met him with a strong force.
    • Ptolemy put Alexander to flight.
16. 11:16
    • Alexander fled into Arabia in order to find shelter there.
    • King Ptolemy was exalted.
17. 11:17
    • Zabdiel the Arabian cut off Alexander's head.
    • Zabdiel sent the head to Ptolemy.
18. 11:18
    • King Ptolemy died on the third day.
    • Those who were in his strongholds were killed by those in the strongholds.
19. 11:19
    • Demetrius became king in the one hundred and sixty-seventh year.
20. 11:20
    • In those days Jonathan gathered together the men of Judea.
    • His purpose was to make war on the citadel in Jerusalem.
    • They made many siege engines against it.
21. 11:21
    • Certain men who hated their own nation went to the king.
    • These men were lawless.
    • They reported to the king that Jonathan was besieging the citadel.
22. 11:22
    • When the king heard it, he was angry.
    • He set out immediately and came to Ptolemais.
    • He wrote to Jonathan that he should not continue the siege.
    • He wrote that Jonathan should come and meet with him at Ptolemais with all speed.
23. 11:23
    • When Jonathan heard this, he gave orders to continue the siege.
    • He chose some of the elders of Israel and of the priests.
    • He put himself in danger.
24. 11:24
    • He took silver and gold and clothing and various other gifts.
    • He went to the king at Ptolemais.
    • He found favor before the king.
25. 11:25
    • Certain lawless men of the nation brought complaints against him.
26. 11:26
    • The king treated him as his predecessors had treated him.
    • The king exalted him in the sight of all his friends.
27. 11:27
    • The king confirmed him in the high priesthood.
    • The king confirmed him in all the other honors he had held before.
    • The king gave him preeminence among his chief friends.
28. 11:28
    • Jonathan asked the king to make Judea free from tribute.
    • He asked the same for the three districts and for the region of Samaria.
    • He promised the king three hundred talents.
29. 11:29
    • The king consented.
    • The king wrote letters to Jonathan concerning all these things.
    • The letters were in the following form.
30. 11:30
    • King Demetrius sends greetings to Jonathan his brother.
    • King Demetrius sends greetings to the nation of the Jews.
31. 11:31
    • A copy of the letter written to Lasthenes, the king's kinsman, concerning them is enclosed.
    • The king has written the same to them.
    • The purpose is that they may see it.
32. 11:32
    • King Demetrius sends greetings to Lasthenes his father.
33. 11:33
    • The king has determined to do good to the nation of the Jews.
    • The Jews are the king's friends.
    • The Jews keep what is just toward the king.
    • The reason is their goodwill toward the king.
34. 11:34
    • The king has confirmed to them the borders of Judea.
    • The king has confirmed to them the three districts of Aphairema, Lydda, and Ramathaim.
    • These three districts were added to Judea from the country of Samaria.
    • The king has confirmed to them all that belongs to those districts.
    • The grant is for all who sacrifice in Jerusalem.
    • The grant is in place of the royal dues the king formerly received from them each year from the produce of the land and the fruit of trees.
35. 11:35
    • From now on the other revenues belonging to the king, the tithes and the taxes due to him, are released to them.
    • The salt pits are released to them.
    • The crown taxes due to the king are released to them.
    • The king will grant them all of these.
36. 11:36
    • None of these grants shall be annulled from this time forth forever.
37. 11:37
    • They are to take care to make a copy of these things.
    • The copy is to be given to Jonathan.
    • The copy is to be set up on the holy mountain in a suitable and conspicuous place.
38. 11:38
    • King Demetrius saw that the land was quiet before him.
    • King Demetrius saw that nothing resisted him.
    • He dismissed all his forces, each man to his own place.
    • He did not dismiss the foreign troops he had hired from the islands of the nations.
    • All the forces that came from his fathers hated him.
39. 11:39
    • Tryphon had formerly been on Alexander's side.
    • Tryphon saw that all the forces were murmuring against Demetrius.
    • Tryphon went to Simalcue the Arabian.
    • Simalcue was rearing Antiochus, the young child of Alexander.
40. 11:40
    • Tryphon pressed Simalcue to hand the boy over to him.
    • The purpose was that the boy might reign in his father's place.
    • Tryphon told him all that Demetrius had done.
    • Tryphon told him of the enmity with which Demetrius' forces hated him.
    • Tryphon remained there many days.
41. 11:41
    • Jonathan sent word to King Demetrius.
    • Jonathan asked that he expel those of the citadel from Jerusalem.
    • Jonathan asked that he expel those in the strongholds.
    • The reason was that they were making war on Israel.
42. 11:42
    • Demetrius sent word to Jonathan.
    • Demetrius said he would not only do this for Jonathan and his nation.
    • Demetrius said he would greatly honor Jonathan and his nation.
    • Demetrius made this conditional on his finding an opportunity.
43. 11:43
    • Demetrius said Jonathan would do well to send him men to fight as his allies.
    • Demetrius said that all his forces had revolted from him.
44. 11:44
    • Jonathan sent three thousand mighty men to Antioch.
    • They came to the king.
    • The king was glad at their coming.
45. 11:45
    • The people of the city gathered together in the middle of the city.
    • They numbered one hundred and twenty thousand men.
    • They wanted to kill the king.
46. 11:46
    • The king fled into the court.
    • The people of the city seized the passages of the city.
    • They began to fight.
47. 11:47
    • The king called the Jews to his aid.
    • They all gathered to him at once.
    • They spread out through the city.
    • They killed about one hundred thousand in the city that day.
48. 11:48
    • They set the city on fire.
    • They took much spoil that day.
    • They saved the king.
49. 11:49
    • The people of the city saw that the Jews had taken control of the city as they pleased.
    • The people of the city became faint in their hearts.
    • They cried out to the king with supplication.
50. 11:50
    • They asked the king to grant them terms of peace.
    • They asked that the Jews cease fighting against them and against the city.
51. 11:51
    • They threw away their weapons.
    • They made peace.
    • The Jews were honored in the sight of the king.
    • The Jews were honored before all who were in his kingdom.
    • The Jews returned to Jerusalem with much spoil.
52. 11:52
    • King Demetrius sat on the throne of his kingdom.
    • The land was quiet before him.
53. 11:53
    • He was false in everything he had said.
    • He estranged himself from Jonathan.
    • He did not repay Jonathan according to the benefits Jonathan had rendered him.
    • He afflicted Jonathan greatly.
54. 11:54
    • After this Tryphon returned.
    • With him was Antiochus, a young child.
    • Antiochus became king.
    • Antiochus put on a crown.
55. 11:55
    • All the forces that Demetrius had dismissed gathered to Antiochus.
    • They fought against Demetrius.
    • Demetrius fled and was routed.
56. 11:56
    • Tryphon took the elephants.
    • Tryphon gained control of Antioch.
57. 11:57
    • Young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan.
    • Antiochus confirmed to him the high priesthood.
    • Antiochus appointed him over the four districts.
    • Antiochus made him one of the king's friends.
58. 11:58
    • Antiochus sent him golden vessels and table service.
    • Antiochus gave him permission to drink from gold vessels.
    • Antiochus gave him permission to be clothed in purple.
    • Antiochus gave him permission to wear a golden buckle.
59. 11:59
    • Antiochus appointed Simon, Jonathan's brother, as governor from the Ladder of Tyre to the borders of Egypt.
60. 11:60
    • Jonathan went out.
    • Jonathan traveled beyond the river and among the cities.
    • All the forces of Syria gathered to him as allies.
    • He came to Ascalon.
    • The people of the city met him honorably.
61. 11:61
    • He went from there to Gaza.
    • The people of Gaza shut him out.
    • He besieged Gaza.
    • He burned its surrounding settlements with fire.
    • He plundered them.
62. 11:62
    • The people of Gaza made entreaty to Jonathan.
    • Jonathan gave them terms of peace.
    • He took the sons of their rulers as hostages.
    • He sent the hostages to Jerusalem.
    • He passed through the country as far as Damascus.
63. 11:63
    • Jonathan heard that the princes of Demetrius had come to Kedesh in Galilee.
    • They came with a great force.
    • They intended to remove him from his office.
64. 11:64
    • Jonathan went to meet them.
    • Jonathan left Simon his brother in the country.
65. 11:65
    • Simon encamped against Bethsura.
    • Simon fought against it many days.
    • Simon shut it in.
66. 11:66
    • The people of Bethsura asked him for terms of peace.
    • Simon granted them terms.
    • Simon expelled them from there.
    • Simon took possession of the city.
    • Simon set a garrison over it.
67. 11:67
    • Jonathan and his camp encamped at the water of Gennesar.
    • Early in the morning they went to the plain of Hazor.
68. 11:68
    • An army of foreigners met him in the plain.
    • They had set an ambush against him in the mountains.
    • They themselves met him face to face.
69. 11:69
    • Those lying in ambush rose up out of their places.
    • They joined battle.
    • All who were on Jonathan's side fled.
70. 11:70
    • Not one of them was left.
    • Mattathias the son of Absalom remained.
    • Judas the son of Calphi remained.
    • These two were captains of the forces.
71. 11:71
    • Jonathan tore his clothes.
    • Jonathan put earth on his head.
    • Jonathan prayed.
72. 11:72
    • Jonathan turned back to them in battle.
    • Jonathan routed them.
    • They fled.
73. 11:73
    • His men who had fled saw this.
    • They returned to him.
    • They pursued the enemy with him as far as Kedesh, to their camp.
    • They encamped there.
74. 11:74
    • About three thousand men of the foreigners fell that day.
    • Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

11:1

The king of Egypt is Ptolemy VI. Alexander is Alexander Balas, who had taken the Seleucid throne in Syria with Ptolemy's backing and had married Ptolemy's daughter. The Seleucid kings ruled Syria and the lands east of it from Antioch, and Judea lay between the two kingdoms.

11:2

The King James reads "Spain" here, following a corrupt line in the Greek manuscripts it used. The word in the better copies is Syria, which is where everything that follows takes place. In the same verse the King James says "brother in law" where the Greek says father-in-law: it was Ptolemy's daughter who was married to Alexander.

11:4

Azotus is the old Philistine city of Ashdod, on the coastal plain. Dagon was the god worshiped there, and Jonathan had burned his temple in the fighting reported in the previous chapter. Leaving the dead unburied along the king's route was a way of laying a public charge against Jonathan.

11:6

Joppa is the port on the coast, modern Jaffa, the natural harbor for Jerusalem.

11:7

The Eleutherus was a river on the coast north of Tripolis, commonly treated as the line between Syria proper and the territory to the south. Jonathan escorts the king to the edge of his own region and no further.

11:8

Seleucia here is Seleucia Pieria, the fortified port that served Antioch, the Seleucid capital. Holding it and the coast road meant holding the approach to Alexander's seat of power.

11:9

Demetrius II was the son of Demetrius I, the king Alexander Balas had overthrown and killed. "Your father's kingdom" means the Seleucid throne he claimed by inheritance.

11:13

Greek writers called the Seleucid kingdom "Asia." Wearing two crowns at once was a public claim to rule both Egypt and Syria.

11:14

Cilicia is the region on the southern coast of Asia Minor, at the northwestern edge of Seleucid territory.

11:16

Lifted up high means he had won. Everyone had to treat him as the greatest king now.

11:17

Alexander ran to Arabia hoping to be kept safe. Zabdiel was an Arab chief there. Instead of helping him, he killed him.

11:18

A fort is a strong building with thick walls. Soldiers stayed inside it to guard a town.

11:19

Dates in this book are counted from the founding of the Seleucid kingdom, reckoned from 312 or 311 BC. Year 167 is therefore about 145 BC.

11:20

The fortress, called the Akra, was the citadel in Jerusalem, garrisoned by Seleucid soldiers and by Jews who supported them. It overlooked the temple and had held out since 168 BC, so that the Jewish leadership governed the city with a hostile foreign garrison inside it.

11:21

"Lawless men who hated their own nation" is this book's standing phrase for Jews who backed the Seleucid kings and took up Greek ways. It describes a political party as the writer sees it, not a general category of wrongdoer.

11:22

Ptolemais is the coastal city of Acco, modern Acre, north of Mount Carmel. It served as the Seleucid kings' base when they came south.

11:23

Elders were the older men who led the people. Priests were the men who served God at the temple.

11:24

People brought a king gifts to show him honor. It was a way of asking him to be kind.

11:26

"Friend of the king" was a formal rank at the Seleucid court, with grades: friends, honored friends, and first or chief friends. It was a title the king conferred, carrying standing and privileges, not a statement about personal affection.

11:27

The high priest presided over the temple in Jerusalem, and by this period he was also the political head of the Jewish people. Under Seleucid rule the office was in the king's gift, which is why a foreign king could confirm a man in it or remove him.

11:28

Tribute is the annual payment a subject territory owed the crown. The three districts are named in verse 34. A talent was a large weight of silver, roughly seventy-five pounds or thirty-four kilograms, so three hundred talents was an enormous sum, offered as a lump payment in place of the recurring taxes.

11:30

In royal correspondence "brother" was a courtesy address marking near equal rank. The letter is a diplomatic document, and its forms of address are titles rather than statements of kinship.

11:31

The King James "cousin" translates a Seleucid court title, kinsman, one of the graded ranks a king granted to senior officials. Lasthenes was Demetrius' chief minister.

11:32

"Father" was a still higher court title than kinsman. The same man is addressed by the higher rank in the letter written directly to him.

11:34

Apherema (Ephraim), Lydda (Lod), and Ramathem (Ramathaim) were administrative districts in the south of Samaria, now transferred to Judea's jurisdiction. The payments released were the royal share of the harvest and of orchard produce, taken in kind each year.

11:35

The tenth part is the tithe. The salt pits, worked chiefly at the Dead Sea, were a royal monopoly leased out for revenue. The crown tax began as a golden crown presented to a king on his accession or after a victory and had hardened into a regular money levy.

11:37

The holy mountain is the temple hill in Jerusalem. Grants of this kind were cut in bronze or stone and posted in a public place so that anyone could check the terms, which is why the placement is specified.

11:38

The "islands of other nations" are the Greek islands and coastlands, the usual recruiting ground for mercenaries. "The soldiers who had served his fathers" are the standing troops inherited from earlier Seleucid kings, discharged here without the pay and plunder a campaign would have brought them.

11:39

Tryphon is Diodotus, an officer who later took that name as a royal title. The Arab chieftain's name appears as Simalcue, Imalkue, or Iamblichus in different manuscripts. Fostering a royal child was a way of holding a claimant to the throne in reserve.

11:45

The figures here and in verse 47 are far larger than Antioch could have held. Round numbers on this scale are a convention of ancient battle reporting rather than a count.

11:48

Soldiers took gold, food, and goods from a city they beat. People called these things spoils.

11:49

To lose heart means to feel too scared to keep fighting.

11:50

The Greek idiom is "give us your right hand." Extending the right hand was the formal gesture of a sworn pledge, and the same idiom lies behind "made peace" in verses 62 and 66.

11:56

War elephants were the heaviest weapon in a Seleucid army and a royal asset kept under the king's own control. Taking them was both a military gain and a visible transfer of power.

11:57

The four districts are the three named in verse 34 plus one more, most likely Ekron, which had been granted to Jonathan earlier.

11:58

Gold table service, purple cloth, and a gold buckle for fastening a cloak were regulated marks of rank at the Seleucid court. They could not be assumed at will; the king granted the right to use them, and the grant itself was the honor.

11:59

The Ladder of Tyre is a steep headland where the hills run down to the sea south of Tyre, a recognized boundary point on the coast road.

11:60

"Beyond the river" was the old administrative name for the lands west of the Euphrates. Which stretch of territory is meant here is not clear from the text. Ascalon is one of the old Philistine cities on the coast.

11:61

Gaza is the southernmost of the old Philistine coastal cities, on the route into Egypt. The "open land" is the farmland and pasture belonging to the city outside its walls.

11:62

Taking the sons of leading families as hostages was standard practice in making terms. The boys guaranteed their fathers' good behavior and were usually treated as guests rather than prisoners.

11:63

Cades is Kedesh, a fortified town in upper Galilee in territory loyal to Demetrius. The Greek phrase translated "remove him out of the country" can also mean remove him from his office; the text does not settle which is meant.

11:65

Bethsura is Beth-zur, a fortress about eighteen miles south of Jerusalem guarding the road to Hebron. It had been held by a Seleucid garrison.

11:67

The water of Gennesar is the Sea of Galilee. The plain of Nasor is the plain by Hazor, north of the lake.

11:68

"Strangers" in the King James means Gentiles, non-Jews; here it is the foreign troops serving Demetrius' commanders.

11:71

Tearing one's clothes and throwing dirt on the head were the recognized public gestures of grief and extreme distress, performed openly so that others would see them.

11:74

Men of the other nations means the foreign soldiers who fought for Demetrius.