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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029308503
CONTAINING OCCURRENCES WHICH TOOK PLACE AT JERUSALEM AND ALEXANDRIA, DURING PART OF THE REIGN OF PTOLEMY PHILOPATOR, KING OF EGYPT, BETWEEN THE YEARS 217 AND 209 BEFORE CHRIST.
WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, BY
HENRY COTTON, D.C.L.
ARCHDEACON OF CASHEL,
AND DECEASED STUDENT AT CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD
OXFORD, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. MDCCCXXXII.
TO
THE PROVOST, FELLOWS AND SCHOLARS, VAN TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, TO WHOSE VALUABLE LIBRARY I HAD THE MOST GENEROUS ACCESS, THE PRESENT PUBLICATION IS ENGRAVED, IN TESTIMONY OF RESPECT AND REGARD.
Note from Webmaster
The books of the MACCABEES tell us about the happenings between Malachi in the OLD TESTAMENT to the birth of Jesus in the New Testament. There is nothing in the Bible about these ±450 years. These books tell us about Judah and Benjamin, two of the tribes of Israel that remained and are now known to us as Jews, to the other 10 tribes known as Israel in exile carried off through Syria to this day. We must never forget that after the sin of Solomon for marrying heathen women, God divided as punishment the old Israel which consisted of 12 tribes, 10 Northern tribes known as Israel and the two southern tribes confessed as Judah, now also called Jews. Read the Bible from 1 Kings 11 from verse 1 to Malachi.
The events described in the five books took place under the rule of Greek leaders as the third world rulers as described in the Dream of Nebuchadnezzar. First there was Babylon, then follow the Persians to the Greeks who were taken over by the fourth. The Romans. Why not read the book of Daniel in the Bible? The events of the MACCABEES took place after Alexander the Great died, and his four Generals divided the world among them as rulers.
P.J.C.Schutte
Book 1
CHAPTER VI
B.C.210
Eleazar’s prayer. The Jews are wonderfully delivered.
Now one Eleazar, a man eminent among the priests of the country, a man already stricken in age, and adorned through life with every kind of virtue, bidding the elders who were about him to call upon the holy God, offered up the following prayer:
Original Prayer as at the end of the introduction:
Monarch a most powerful ! highest, mightiest God !
Whose mercies all creation ever guide
Abraham’s seed —lo ! Jacob’s sacred race—
Thy sanctified inheritance —thy lot
What wrongs we suffer in a stranger-land.
Thou—when stern Pharaoh, Egypt’s mighty lord.
Spread forth his chariot-band in proud array,
And with high-swelling boasts defied thy power
Him and his host, beneath the boiling wave
Of his own sea didst whelm ; while with mild ray
O’er Israel’s rescued sons thy mercy shone.
Thou—when Sennacherib, Assyria’s chief,
The self-styled conqueror b of a little world.
Proud of his countless troops, his battles won,
His cities sack’t, and idol-gods o’erthrown
Could not restrain his bursting insolence.
But rashly dar’d thy holy land to invade ;
Thou, to the world displaying thy vast might,
The empty threatenings of his idle tongue
Didst in one moment, and forever, quell.
When the three Hebrew youths in Babel’s court
Sustain’d the trial ; whom nor threats could force,
Nor soft persuasion charm, to bow the knee
In idol-worship; —firm in faith they stood,
Unmov’d, unflinching ; while beneath their glance
The courtiers wither’d, and the baffled king
Champ’t at his favours spurn’d, his power defied.
He ask’d their conscience —and they gave their lives.
But when his angry furnace flam’d on high
With seven-fold fury charg’d, from its huge mouth
Gaping as if for prey, whole sheets of fire
Burst forth beyond controul, and with blind rage
The helpless ministers for victims slew.
Into this lake, of fire and seeming death.
Bound hand and foot, they sank. —But quickly rose,
And walked, unharm’d, and free. —For Thou wert there
At thy command, above, below, around.
The laughing flames played harmless; and a dew
Heaven-sent, breathed such cool freshness o’er the place.
The tyrant’s Hell became God’s Paradise.
Thou from the Assyrian lions’ hungry jaws
Didst rescue Daniel, foully doom’d to die.
And Jonah, in the huge sea-monster’s maw
Immur’d, beyond all hope of human aid,
To his despairing friends didst safe restore.
And now, most merciful, all-seeing God,
Hater of insolence, thyself display
A swift avenger of thy people’s wrongs,
Whom odious heathens lawlessly oppress.
And, for those sins, which idly we have wrought
Against thy name in this sad pilgrimage.
We dare not ask forgiveness : —Yet, at least
Save us, we pray, from man’s rude tyranny
Into Thy hands, O Lord, content we fall.
Let not vain Gentiles with mistaken joy
Thank their false idols for our overthrow
Nor ask exulting, ” Where lies Israel now? “
Where is their promised aid, their boasted God?”
But Thotj, who hast all majesty and might.
Eternal One! look down, behold thy sons
Smarting beneath oppression’s iron rod,
And to a traitor’s abject fate consign’d.
Thou honour’d mighty One! this very morn
Let heathens own thy power, o’er Israel sav’d.
Our elders pray Thee, and our infant babes
In untaught eloquence of tears implore.
Prove to the world that Thou art with us still,
Thy face still on us sheds its favoring light
And for thy promise, never to desert
E’en in captivity thy once-lov’d race,
That gracious promise, Lord, this day fulfil.
The prayer in modern-day English:
” O King a most powerful, most high, almighty
” God, who governest the whole creation in mer-
” cies : Look, O Father, upon the seed of Abra-
” ham, upon the children of Jacob sanctified to
” thee, the people of thy sanctified portion, strang-
” ers in a strange land, and perishing unjustly.
” Thou didst destroy with all his host, by drown-
” ing, Pharaoh the former ruler of this Egypt,
” when he abounded with chariots and was elated
” with lawless confidence, and with a tongue speak-
” ing great things ; having caused the light of
” thy mercy to shine upon Israel’s race. Thou,
” Lord, didst break in pieces Sennacherim, the
” cruel king of Assyria, who was puflfed up with
” his innumerable armies ; who had already sub
” dued the whole earth with his spear b, arid being
“Lifted up with pride against thy holy city, spake
“harsh things in insolence and boasting ; making “thy power conspicuous to many nations. Thou
“didst deliver, unhurt even to a hair of their
“head, the three companions in the land of Baby-
“lon, who voluntarily exposed their lives to the
“fire that they might not worship vain gods,by
“shedding a dew c throughout the fiery furnace,
“whilst thou sentest the flame d upon, all their adversaries.
” Thou didst restore to the light ofday, unhurt,
“Daniel, who through spiteful calumnies had been
“cast for a prey to the fierce lions under ground.
“Thou, Father, didst shew again to all his house-
“hold unharmed e, Jonas, who was pining away f
“unpitied g in the belly of the whale bred in the
” depths of the sea.
” And now, O thou who hatest insolence, plen-
” teous in mercy. Protector of the Universe, shew
” thyself quickly to them ofthe race of Israel, who
” now are injuriously treated by abominable, law-
” less heathens. And if our life has been guilty
” of impieties during our captivity, deliver us ” from the hand of our enemies, and do thou, O
” Lord, destroy us h by whatever death i thou dost
” choose. Let not these followers of vanity bless
” their vain idols over the destruction of thy be
” loved, saying,’ Even their God has not delivered
” them k ‘ But do thou, O eternal One, who hast
” all might and all dominion, now look upon us ;
” pity us, who through the causeless insolence of
” wicked men are to be deprived of life like trai-
” tors. O God, whom we honour, who hast all
” power, let the heathens dread thy invincible
” might this day, on the deliverance of the race of
” Jacob. The whole multitude of infants and
” their parents supplicate to thee with tears. Let
” with us, and hast not turned away thy face from
“ us but even, as thou hast said l that not even
” when they were in the land of their enemies
” thou wouldest overlook them, so bring it to pass,
” O Lord.
Now as soon as Eleazar had ceased praying, the king with the beasts and the whole marching array m of his army arrived at the Hippodrome.
And the Jews beholding it cried aloud to heaven insomuch that even the adjoining valleys, echoing back the sound, created an uncontrollable wailing throughout the whole army.
Then the most glorious, almighty, and true God, manifesting his holy countenance, opened the doors of heaven ; from whence two glorious and terrific angels descended, visible to all except the Jews : and stood against them, and filled the enemies’ army with confusion and fear, and bound them in bonds which could not be loosed. The king’s own person also became horror struck n, and oblivion seized on his violent and angry boldness And they turned back the elephants o upon the
armed troops which were following, and they trampled upon them and destroyed them. And the king’s anger was turned into pity and tears, on account of what he formerly had devised. For when he heard the cry, and saw them all prostrate ready for destruction, shedding tears, he angrily threatened his friends, saying:
” You abuse p the royal authority, and have outdone
” tyrants in barbarity; and even me your bene-
“factor you are now endeavoring to remove both
” from my authority and my life, by secretly de-
” vising measures disadvantageous to my king-
” dom. Who has brought away, each from his
” home, and absurdly collected together here,
” these men who were faithfully guarding the
” fortresses q of our country? Who has encom-
” passed with such lawless indignities these men
” who from the beginning have in all things sur-
” passed all nations in good-will towards us, and
” frequently have undertaken the greatest dangers
” of all menfor our sake f Loose, loose utterly,
” the unjust bonds : send them away in peace to
” their own homes, having asked their forgiveness
“of what has been already done. Set free the
” sons of the almighty, heavenly, living God, who
” from the days of our ancestors until this pre-
” sent time has vouchsafed to our affairs an unin-
” terrupted prosperous stability”.
terrupted prosperous stability.
” Thus he spake ; and the Jews being released in
a moment blessed the holy God their deliverer,
having that instant escaped from death.
Then the king returning to the city called for him who
was over his revenues, and commanded him to
supply the Jews with wines and other things re-
quisite for a feast during seven days : resolving
that in the place wherein they had expected to
meet destruction, in that they should keep a festi-
val of deliverance with all joyfulness.
Then those who before were reviled and were
near to death, or rather were entering into it ; in-
stead of a bitter and most lamentable fate, formed
together a festive party r to celebrate their presser-
vation ; and parted the place s which had been pre-
pared for their fall and funeral, into several tents, (or companies,) being filled with gladness. And leaving off their doleful strain of lamentation, they again took up the hymn t of their fathers, praising the Saviour and wonder-working God : and having put away from them all groaning and wailing, they formed themselves into dances as a sign of peaceful joy. In like manner also the king made a great feast on this occasion, and without ceasing made acknowledgments to Heaven in a magnificent way, on account of the unexpected deliverance which had befallen them. And they, who before gave them up as lost and about to be devoured by birds u, and had joyfully registered them ; now groaned for that they had clothed themselves in shame, and their fire-breathing x boldness was ingloriously quenched. But the Jews, as we have said already, having formed the aforementioned dance, passed the time in feasting, with joyful thanksgivings and psalms. And made a common decree on this occasion through all the dwellings of their pilgrimagey for after generations ; and appointed to celebrate the above-named days as days of gladness : not for the sake of drinking and gluttony z but by reason of
that deliverance which they had received through God. And they addressed themselves to the king, desiring their dismissal to their own homes.
Now they had registered them from the five 40 and twentieth day of Pachon a to the fourth day of Epiphi, during forty days : and they deter mined their destruction from the fifth day of Epiphi b until the seventh, for three days. In which the Lord of the universe did most gloriously ma nifest his mercy, and delivered them all together without hurt.
without hurt. And theyfeasted, being supplied with all things by the king, until the fourteenth day, wherein they made address for their dismissal. And when the king had acceded to c their request, he wrote for them to his commanders in every city the sub joined epistle, to the following generous purport d .
CHAPTER VII.
Ptolemy’s letter infavour of the Jews. Their happy re- turn home.
” King Ptolemy Philopator to the commanders
” in Egypt, and all who are set over our affairs,
“joy and health. We ourselves are well, as also
” are our children, the great God having directed
” our affairs according as we wish.
” Certain of our friends, out of ill-nature, did
” frequently press hard upon us, and persuade us
” to collect in a body the Jews who were in our
” kingdom, and to punish them with the strange
” punishments a of traitors. Alleging that our af-
” fairs would never be firmly settled, by reason of
” that disaffection b which these men have towards
” all other nations, until this were done. Who also,
” having brought them in bonds with vexation, as
” slaves, or rather as traitors, attempted to put
” them to death without any examination or in-
” quiry, having cloked themselves c in a more than
” Scythian barbarity. But we upon this most
” severely threatened them, out of that equity
” which we bear towards all men, and with diffi-
” culty granted them their lives ; and acknow-
” ledging that God of heaven, who has protected
” the Jews in safety; and constantly has fought
” for them as a father for his children : and call-
” ing to mind that firm, friendly affection, which
” they have had for us and our ancestors ;
” we have in justice released them from all blame,
” on any account whatsoever. And have enjoined
” on any account whatsoever. And have enjoined
” them everyone to return to their own homes,
” no person in any place doing them harm, or re-
” proaching them with the things which have
” been done to them without all reason. For
” know ye, that if we shall maliciously devise evil
” against these men, or at all grieve them, we shall
” ever inevitably have not man, but the Most High
” God, the Lord of all power, opposed to us, for
” the avenging of such deeds. Fare ye well.
But the Jews having received this epistle, did not immediately hasten to begin their journey: but petitioned the king that those of the Jewish race who had voluntarily transgressed against the holy God and the law of God, might meet through them such punishment as they had deserved d.
Alleging that they who had transgressed the Di vine commands for their belly’s sake, would never be well affected e even to the king’s affairs.
He then, admitting what they said to be true, and approving it, gave them full liberty to destroy those who had transgressed the law of God, in every place within his kingdom : and this with all freedom, without any further authority or inspection f from the king. Hereupon, having paid him
their acknowledgments as was fit, their priests and all the multitude, singing aloud the halleluia, de parted with joy. And whenever they met with any one of their countrymen who had been pol luted, they punished him upon the spot and slew him with marks on public ignominy. And on that very day they slew above three hundred men; and passed it as a festival with joy, having mastered and punished the profane. But they themselves, who had adhered to God unto death, having had full enjoyment of their deliverance, departed from the city crowned with garlands of all sorts of most fragrant flowers, with joy and giving thanks in praises and most melodious hymns to the eternal God of their fathers, the Saviour of Israel.
And having reached Ptolemais g, which, on account of the peculiar product of the place, is called ” the rose-bearing,” where the fleet waited for them according to their common decree, seven days ; there they made a feast of deliverance h, the king having generously supplied them with all things which each might want for his journey even to his own home. And having arrived in peace with becoming thanksgivings, they resolved to celebrate there also these days as days of joy for the time i of
their sojourning. Which also having consecrated to that use by setting up a pillar and an oratory k in the place of their festive solemnity, they departed unhurt, free, overflowing with joy, secured by the king’s command from all harm by land, sea, or river, each to his own home. And having now greater authority than before among their enemies, with glory and fear ; not being despoiled of their goods by any one throughout the journey.
And all of them recovered all their goods according to the registry l ; so that those who held anything belonging to them, restored it to them with the utmost fear m, the Most High God having worked wonders throughout for their deliverance.
Blessed be the Deliverer of Israel, for endless ages. Amen.
END OF BOOK I.
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