1 Maccabees 6: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

King Antiochus fails to plunder a rich temple in Elymais, then hears that his armies in Judea have been beaten; he falls sick with grief, hands his crown, robe, and signet ring to his friend Philip for his son, and dies, and Lysias makes the young Antiochus king under the name Eupator. Judas besieges the citadel in Jerusalem, and men who get out of it, together with some ungodly Israelites, appeal to the king, who marches into Judea with a large army and thirty-two war elephants; Eleazar Savaran kills an elephant and dies beneath it, and the Jews in the sanctuary run short of food in the seventh year. When Lysias learns that Philip has returned from Persia seeking control of the government, he urges terms; the king and his princes swear an oath allowing the Jews their own laws, and after entering mount Sion the king breaks the oath and orders the wall pulled down, then returns to Antioch and takes the city from Philip by force.

Claim by Claim

1. 6:1
   • King Antiochus was travelling through the upper countries.
   • He heard a report about Elymais in the country of Persia.
   • The report said there was a city there greatly renowned for riches, for silver and for gold.
2. 6:2
   • The report said there was a very rich temple in that city.
   • In the temple were coverings of gold.
   • In the temple were breastplates and weapons.
   • Alexander, son of Philip, the Macedonian king, had left those things there.
   • Alexander reigned first among the Greeks.
3. 6:3
   • Antiochus came to the city.
   • He sought to seize the city.
   • He sought to plunder it.
   • He was not able to do so.
   • The reason was that the people of the city had learned of the plan.
4. 6:4
   • The people of the city rose up against him in battle.
   • He fled.
   • He departed from there with great grief.
   • He turned back toward Babylon.
5. 6:5
   • Someone came to him in Persia bringing news.
   • The news was that the armies that had gone against the land of Judea had been put to flight.
6. 6:6
   • The news was that Lysias had gone out first with a strong force.
   • The news was that Lysias was driven back before the Jews.
   • The news was that the Jews had been made strong by the armour and power and spoil they took.
   • They had taken these from the armies they had destroyed.
7. 6:7
   • The news was that they had pulled down the abomination that he had built upon the altar in Jerusalem.
   • The news was that they had surrounded the sanctuary with high walls, as it had been before.
   • The news was that they had likewise walled Bethsura, his city.
8. 6:8
   • When the king heard these words he was astonished.
   • He was greatly shaken.
   • He lay down on his bed.
   • He fell sick from grief.
   • The cause was that it had not turned out for him as he had intended.
9. 6:9
   • He remained there many days.
   • Great grief was renewed upon him.
   • He reckoned that he was dying.
10. 6:10
    • He called for all his friends.
    • He said to them that sleep had departed from his eyes.
    • He said his heart had failed from anxiety.
11. 6:11
    • He said he had spoken in his heart.
    • He asked to what affliction he had come.
    • He said he was now in a great flood of trouble.
    • He said he had been kind and beloved in his power.
12. 6:12
    • He said that now he remembered the evils he had done at Jerusalem.
    • He said he took all the silver and gold vessels that were in it.
    • He said he sent out to destroy the inhabitants of Judea.
    • He said he did this without cause.
13. 6:13
    • He said he knew that these evils had come upon him on account of those deeds.
    • He said he was perishing of great grief in a foreign land.
14. 6:14
    • He called Philip, one of his friends.
    • He appointed Philip over all his kingdom.
15. 6:15
    • He gave Philip the crown.
    • He gave Philip his robe.
    • He gave Philip his signet ring.
    • This was so that Philip should bring up his son Antiochus.
    • This was so that Philip should nourish him up to be king.
16. 6:16
    • King Antiochus died there.
    • He died in the hundred and forty-ninth year.
17. 6:17
    • Lysias learned that the king was dead.
    • Lysias set up Antiochus the king's son to reign in his place.
    • Lysias had brought this son up while he was young.
    • Lysias called his name Eupator.
18. 6:18
    • Those who were in the citadel kept shutting Israel in around the sanctuary.
    • They continually sought to harm them.
    • They sought to strengthen the Gentiles.
19. 6:19
    • Judas purposed to destroy them.
    • Judas assembled all the people to besiege them.
20. 6:20
    • The people came together and besieged them in the hundred and fiftieth year.
    • He made emplacements for shooting against them.
    • He made engines of war.
21. 6:21
    • Some of those shut in got out.
    • Some ungodly men of Israel joined themselves to them.
22. 6:22
    • They went to the king.
    • They asked how long he would fail to execute judgment.
    • They asked how long before he would avenge their brethren.
23. 6:23
    • They said they had been willing to serve his father.
    • They said they were willing to live by what his father said.
    • They said they were willing to follow his father's commandments.
24. 6:24
    • They said that for this cause those of their own nation besieged the citadel.
    • They said those of their nation were alienated from them.
    • They said that as many of them as were found were put to death.
    • They said their inheritances were plundered.
25. 6:25
    • They said the enemy had stretched out a hand not against them only.
    • They said the enemy had stretched out a hand against all their borders.
26. 6:26
    • They said that on that day the enemy was encamped against the citadel at Jerusalem.
    • They said the purpose was to take it.
    • They said the enemy had fortified the sanctuary and Bethsura.
27. 6:27
    • They said that if the king did not forestall them quickly, they would do greater things than these.
    • They said the king would not be able to control them.
28. 6:28
    • The king was angry when he heard this.
    • He gathered together all his friends.
    • He gathered the commanders of his army.
    • He gathered those who had charge of the cavalry.
29. 6:29
    • Hired forces came to him from other kingdoms.
    • Hired forces came to him from the isles of the sea.
30. 6:30
    • The number of his forces was a hundred thousand footmen.
    • The number of his forces was twenty thousand horsemen.
    • He had thirty-two elephants trained for war.
31. 6:31
    • They went through Idumea.
    • They encamped against Bethsura.
    • They fought against it many days.
    • They made engines of war.
    • The men of Bethsura came out.
    • They burned the engines with fire.
    • They fought valiantly.
32. 6:32
    • Judas moved away from the citadel.
    • Judas encamped at Bathzacharias.
    • His camp was opposite the king's camp.
33. 6:33
    • The king rose early in the morning.
    • He moved his camp at full speed along the road to Bathzacharias.
    • His forces made themselves ready for battle.
    • They sounded the trumpets.
34. 6:34
    • They showed the elephants the blood of grapes and mulberries.
    • This was to prepare them for the battle.
35. 6:35
    • They divided the beasts among the ranks.
    • They assigned to each elephant a thousand men armed with coats of mail.
    • Those men had helmets of brass on their heads.
    • Five hundred chosen horsemen were assigned to each beast.
36. 6:36
    • These horsemen were stationed beforehand wherever the beast was.
    • Wherever the beast went, they went with it.
    • They did not leave it.
37. 6:37
    • Upon each beast was a strong covered wooden tower.
    • The towers were fastened upon the beasts with harness.
    • Upon each were thirty-two men who fought from them.
    • Besides these was the beast's Indian driver.
38. 6:38
    • The rest of the horsemen he stationed on this side and that, on the two flanks of the army.
    • They gave signals.
    • They were armed and covered within the ranks.
39. 6:39
    • The sun shone upon the shields of gold and brass.
    • The mountains shone with the reflected light.
    • They blazed like lamps of fire.
40. 6:40
    • Part of the king's army was spread out upon the high mountains.
    • Part of it was upon the low ground.
    • They advanced securely and in order.
41. 6:41
    • All who heard the noise of their multitude were shaken.
    • They heard the marching of the multitude.
    • They heard the clashing of the weapons.
    • The army was exceedingly great and strong.
42. 6:42
    • Judas and his army drew near for battle.
    • Six hundred men of the king's army fell.
43. 6:43
    • Eleazar, surnamed Savaran, saw one of the beasts armed with royal breastplates.
    • That beast was taller than all the other beasts.
    • It appeared that the king was upon it.
44. 6:44
    • He gave himself up to save his people.
    • He gave himself up to win for himself an everlasting name.
45. 6:45
    • He ran at the beast boldly into the middle of the phalanx.
    • He killed on the right hand and on the left.
    • The enemy parted away from him on this side and that.
46. 6:46
    • He got in under the elephant.
    • He stabbed it from beneath and killed it.
    • The elephant fell to the ground on top of him.
    • He died there.
47. 6:47
    • The Jews saw the strength of the royal power and the onrush of the forces.
    • They turned away from them.
48. 6:48
    • Men of the king's army went up to Jerusalem to meet them.
    • The king encamped against Judea.
    • The king encamped against mount Sion.
49. 6:49
    • He made peace with those of Bethsura.
    • They came out of the city.
    • They came out because they had no food there to endure the siege.
    • It was a year of rest for the land.
50. 6:50
    • The king took Bethsura.
    • He appointed a garrison there to keep it.
51. 6:51
    • He encamped against the sanctuary many days.
    • He set up there emplacements for shooting and engines of war.
    • He set up machines for casting fire and stones.
    • He set up pieces for shooting darts and slings.
52. 6:52
    • Those in the sanctuary also made engines against the king's engines.
    • They fought many days.
53. 6:53
    • There was no food left in the sanctuary.
    • The reason was that it was the seventh year.
    • Those who had escaped into Judea from among the Gentiles had eaten up the rest of the store.
54. 6:54
    • Only a few men were left in the sanctuary.
    • The famine prevailed against them.
    • They scattered, each man to his own place.
55. 6:55
    • Lysias heard a report about Philip.
    • King Antiochus, while still alive, had appointed Philip to bring up his son Antiochus.
    • This was so that the son might be king.
56. 6:56
    • The report was that Philip had returned from Persia and Media.
    • The report was that the king's forces that went with him had returned also.
    • The report was that Philip was seeking to take over the affairs of government.
57. 6:57
    • Lysias made haste to depart.
    • He spoke to the king and the captains of the army and the men.
    • He said they were failing daily.
    • He said their food was scant.
    • He said the place they were besieging was strong.
    • He said the affairs of the kingdom lay upon them.
58. 6:58
    • He said they should now come to terms with these men.
    • He said they should make peace with them.
    • He said they should make peace with all their nation.
59. 6:59
    • He said they should covenant with them that they might live by their own laws as before.
    • He said the Jews were angered and did all these things because their laws had been abolished.
60. 6:60
    • The proposal pleased the king and the princes.
    • He sent to the Jews to make peace.
    • The Jews accepted it.
61. 6:61
    • The king and the princes swore an oath to them on these terms.
    • The Jews came out of the stronghold.
62. 6:62
    • The king entered into mount Sion.
    • He saw the strength of the place.
    • He broke the oath he had sworn.
    • He gave commandment to pull down the wall round about.
63. 6:63
    • They departed in haste.
    • He returned to Antioch.
    • He found Philip ruling the city.
    • He fought against Philip.
    • He took the city by force.

Words Worth Explaining

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

6:1

The king is Antiochus IV, called Epiphanes, the Seleucid ruler whose ban on Jewish practice set off the revolt this book describes. The "high countries" or upper countries are the inland eastern provinces of his empire, Persia and Media, far from his capital at Antioch in Syria; he was there partly to collect tribute and refill an empty treasury. Elymais was in fact a region of southwestern Persia, ancient Elam, rather than a city, and the author seems to have taken the name for a city's name.

6:2

Greek and Persian temples served as treasuries, and victorious armies hung captured or dedicated armor on their walls as offerings. Alexander son of Philip is Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, who conquered the Persian empire in the 330s and 320s BC; the Seleucid kings ruled one of the pieces his empire broke into after his death.

6:3

Kings sometimes robbed temples to get gold. They used the gold to pay their soldiers.

6:4

Babylon was a very old, very large city in his kingdom.

6:5

Judea was the land where the Jews lived. Jerusalem was its main city.

6:6

Lysias was the chief minister and deputy whom Antiochus IV left in charge of the western half of the empire, including Judea, while he campaigned in the east.

6:7

The "abomination" was the pagan altar or cult object Antiochus had erected on the great altar of the Jerusalem temple in 167 BC, ending the Jewish sacrifices there. Bethsura, usually spelled Beth-zur, was a fortress town about fifteen miles south of Jerusalem guarding the road up from Idumea; calling it "his city" marks it as a royal stronghold.

6:10

"His friends" is not a description of affection. Friends of the King was a formal rank at the Seleucid court, a graded order of officials and advisers who held the title as an office.

6:12

These were the temple's sacred utensils, the gold and silver equipment used in worship, which Antiochus stripped out and carried off in 169 BC.

6:15

A signet ring carried the king's personal seal, pressed into wax or clay to authenticate documents. Handing over the ring with the crown and robe was the legal act of transferring royal authority, not a keepsake.

6:16

1 Maccabees counts years by the Seleucid era, which began in 312 BC. The hundred and forty-ninth year is roughly 164 to 163 BC.

6:17

Eupator was a throne name, added on accession in the Greek royal fashion. It means something like "of a noble father." The boy was about nine, and Lysias governed in his name.

6:18

The citadel, called the Akra, was the fortress Antiochus built in Jerusalem in 168 BC and manned with a garrison of his soldiers and Jews who supported his policies. It overlooked the temple, so its troops could harass anyone coming to worship.

6:19

To shut them in means an army camps all around a place. Then no food and no help can get inside.

6:20

The hundred and fiftieth year is about 163 to 162 BC. The mounds were earth ramps raised against the walls so that archers and catapults could shoot down into the fortress; the engines were siege machines, rams and stone throwers.

6:21

"Ungodly men of Israel" is this author's standard term for the Jews who backed the king's program of Greek customs and worship against those who kept the traditional law. The book is written from the opposing side, and the label is its judgment, not a neutral description.

6:22

By "our brothers" they meant their own people, not only their families.

6:24

The inheritance was ancestral family farmland, held and passed down within a household, so plundering it was an attack on the family's standing as well as its property.

6:25

"Their borders" is awkward in the King James and in the Greek behind it. The speakers seem to mean the neighboring territories outside Judea, which Judas had also raided.

6:27

"Prevent" in 1611 English meant to get ahead of someone, to forestall or act first, not to stop something from happening in the modern sense.

6:29

"Isles of the sea" means the Greek islands and the coastlands of the Aegean, the usual recruiting ground for professional mercenary soldiers in this period.

6:30

War elephants were the heavy shock weapon of Hellenistic armies, prestigious and expensive. The Seleucids had been forbidden to keep them by the treaty the Romans imposed in 188 BC, so fielding thirty-two of them was itself a public act of defiance.

6:31

Idumea is the region immediately south of Judea, the old territory of Edom, settled by Edomites who had moved north. Bethsura sat on the frontier between the two.

6:32

Bathzacharias, usually spelled Beth-zechariah, lies about six miles north of Bethsura on the road toward Jerusalem, in hill country where Judas could block the army's advance.

6:33

Trumpets were horns. An army used them to give orders, because shouting was too quiet.

6:34

Dark red grape and mulberry juice was shown to the elephants to excite them before the charge, apparently because it resembled blood. "Blood of the grape" is an old idiom for wine.

6:35

The ranks of foot soldiers are the phalanx, a deep block of infantry fighting shoulder to shoulder with long pikes. "Coats of mail" are body armor of linked rings or overlapping scales, and the King James "brass" means bronze, the metal actually used for helmets.

6:37

The tower was a wooden fighting platform strapped to the elephant's back. The Indian is the mahout, the driver, who sat on the neck; elephants and their handlers were imported from India, so the driver's nationality had become the name for the job. The King James "two and thirty" follows a Greek copy that repeats the number of elephants from verse 30; most manuscripts read four men per tower, which is what a tower could actually hold.

6:38

The King James "being harnessed all over amidst the ranks" is hard to follow. The cavalry were posted on the two wings, in full armor, sheltered behind the infantry blocks until they were ordered forward.

6:39

"Glistered" is simply the older form of glistened. The shields were polished bronze, some faced with gold, and the glare off a whole army of them was visible for miles.

6:43

Eleazar was one of the brothers of Judas Maccabeus, sons of Mattathias. His nickname appears as Savaran in the King James and as Avaran in most Greek copies; its meaning is unknown. The tallest elephant in its royal trappings was a reasonable guess at where the king rode, but the boy king was not with the army at that point.

6:44

"A perpetual name" means lasting fame, having one's name remembered and spoken after death. In a culture without a settled belief in individual afterlife, this was the recognized reward for a soldier's sacrifice.

6:48

Mount Sion, usually spelled Zion, here means the temple hill in Jerusalem itself, the fortified sanctuary precinct, not the hill on the western side of the city that later took the name.

6:49

Under the law in Leviticus 25 the land was left unsown and unharvested every seventh year, a sabbath for the fields. A fortress that had used up the previous harvest had no new crop coming in, which is why a siege in that year could not be endured.

6:51

This is a full siege train: earth ramps for archers, battering and stone throwing machines, incendiary devices, and torsion catapults that shot heavy bolts, the "darts" of the King James.

6:53

The "vessels" are the large storage jars in which grain and oil were kept. The seventh year is the same sabbatical year as in verse 49, and refugees from outlying areas had eaten through the reserves.

6:54

"Fain to disperse themselves" in the King James means they had no choice but to scatter, driven out by hunger rather than choosing to leave.

6:56

Media was a land right next to Persia, far to the east.

6:57

"We decay daily" means our strength is being worn down day by day, not that anything is rotting.

6:59

The laws in question are the Jewish religious laws, which Antiochus IV had banned outright in 167 BC: sabbath observance, circumcision, the food rules, and the temple sacrifices. Restoring the right to live by them was the concession that ended the fighting.

6:61

To swear a promise means to promise with God listening. People took such a promise very seriously.

6:63

Antiochia is Antioch on the Orontes in northern Syria, the Seleucid capital. Whoever held it held the government, which is why Lysias broke off the siege to race back.