a

ruin and oppression he had brought upon that whole nation, they durst not confide in him; but looking upon all his offers to be only such as were extorted from him by the necessity of his affairs, and which he would all immediately contravene and revoke whenever his fortunes should be again restored, they resolved rather to enter into league with Alexander. And therefore Jonathan, accepting of his grant of the high priest's office, and having also for it the consent of all the people, did, on the feast of tabernacles, which soon after ensued, put on the pontifical robe, and then officiated as high priest, after that office, from the death of Alcimus, had been now vacant seven years. And from this time the office of high priest of the Jews became settled in the family of the Asmoneans, and continued in it for several descents, till the time of Herod,↳ who changed it from an office of inheritance to that of ar bitrary will and pleasure. From that time, those that were in power did put in and put out the high priests as they thought fit, till at length the office was extinguished in the destruction of the temple by the Romans. From the time of the return from the Babylonish captivity, the office of high priest of the Jews had been in the family of Jozadak, and was transmitted down in it, by lineal descent, to Onias the third of the name, that was in that office; who, being outed of it by the fraud of Jason his brother, and he again by the like fraud of Menelaus, another of those brothers, Alcimus was next, after the death of Menelaus, put into this office by the command of the king of Syria. Josephus tells us that he was not of the pontifical family, by which he means no more than that he was not of the descendants of Jozadak, though of the family of Aaron. For that he is said to be; and that was enough to qualify him for the office, every descendant of Aaron being equally capable of it. Whether the Asmoneans were of that race of Jozadak or not, is not any where said. Only this is certain, that they were of the course of

с

a 1 Maccab. x, 21. Joseph. Antiq. ibid.

b Joseph. Antiq. lib. 25, c. 3. Euseb. Demonstrationes Evangelicas, lib. §.

c 1 Maccab. vii, 14.

Id 1 Maccab. ii, 1.

Joarib, which was the first class of the sons of Aaron. e And therefore, on the failure of the former pontifical family (which had then happened on the flight of Onias, the son of Onias, into Egypt) they had the best right then to succeed. And with this right Jonathan took the office, when nominated to it by the king then reigning in Syria, and also elected thereto by the general suffrage of all the people of the land.

Anno 152.

Jonathan 9.

Both kings having with their armies taken the field, Demetrius, who wanted neither courage nor understanding when out of his drunken fits, in the first battle had the victory: but he gained no advantage by it; for Alexander, being f speedily recruited by the three kings that first set him up, and strongly supported by them, and having also the Romans and Jonathan on his side, was enabled thereby still to maintain his cause. And the Syrians continued, out of the aversion they had to Demetrius, still to make desertions from him. Whereon Demetrius, fearing where all this might end,h sent his two sons, Demetrius and Antiochus (who both afterwards reigned in Syria,) to Cnidus, and there committed them, with a great treasure, to the care of a friend of his which he had in that city, that so, in case the worst should happen to him in this war, they might there be secured out of the reach of any fatal stroke from it, and be reserved for such future turn of affairs as fortune should afterwards offer in their favour.

Anno. 151. Jonathan 10.

About this time there appeared another impostor, one Andriscusi of Adramyttium in Mysia, a young man of as mean condition in that place as Alexander had been at Rhodes; who, thinking to play the same game for the kingdom of Macedon, that the other had for the kingdom of Syria, pretended to be son to king Perseus who last reigned in Macedon; and, taking on him the name of Philip, by virtue of this title, claimed to reign in that country; but, finding his pretence at that time to be but little regarded there, he applied himself to Demetrius at Antioch; hoping, that, since the Romans had

e 1 Chron. xxiv, 7.
f Justin. lib. 35, c. 1.

h Livii Epit. lib. 52. Justin. lib. 35, c. 2. Epit. lib. 48, 49.

encouraged one impostor against him, he might the easier be induced to encourage another against them. But Demetrius, seeing plainly through the falsity of this pretence, caused him to be seized and sent to Rome. This he did, either that he thought thereby to ingratiate himself with the Romans, or else rather that he would not countenance a fraud, which was the same with that which he was then suffering under. But, on this impostor's being delivered at Rome, the Romans despising and neglecting him, he made his escape thence into Macedonia, where he kindled such a war as cost the Romans the expense of a great deal of time, and also a great deal of blood and treasure, again to quench it.

Anno 150.

In the interim, the two contenders for the crown of Syria, having drawn together all their Jonathan 11. forces, committed the determination of their cause to a decisive battle. In the first onset Demetrius' left wing put the opposite wing of the enemy to flight; but, pursuing them too far, (a fault in war which hath lost many victories, and yet is still committed,) by the time they came back, the right wing in which Demetrius fought in person was overborne, and he slain in the rout. As long as he could face the enemy, he omitted nothing either of valour or conduct for the obtaining of better success; but, at length, in the retreat, his horse having plunged him into a bog, they that pursued him there shot at him with their arrows, till he died, after having reigned in Syria twelve years.

Alexander, by this victory, having made himself master of the whole Syrian empire, m sent to Ptolemy king of Egypt, to desire that Cleopatra his daughter might be given him in marriage; which Ptolemy consenting to, carried her to Ptolemais, and there married her unto him. Jonathan being invited to the wedding, went thither, and was received with great favour by

k Epit. Livii, lib. 49, 50. L. Floras, lib. 2, c. 4. Eutropius, lib. 4. Valleius Patercul. lib. 1.

1 1 Maccab. x, 48-50. Justin. lib. 35, c. 1. Joseph. Antiq. lib. 13, c. 5. Appian. in Syriacis. Polyb. lib. 3, p. 161.

m 1 Maccab. x, 51-58. n 1 Maccab. x, 59–66.

Joseph, Antiq. lib. 13, c. 7.

Anno 149.

both kings, especially by Alexander; who, to do him the greater honour, caused him to be clothed in purple, and ordered him to be enrolled among the chief of his friends, and to take place near him among the first princes of his kingdom. And he constituted him also general of his forces in Judea, and gave him the office of MeridarchesP in his palace. And, whereas many that maligned him came to Ptolemais, there to prefer libels of accusation against him, Alexander would receive none of them, but caused it to be proclaimed all over the city, that no one should presume to speak evil of him; whereon all his enemies fled from thence, and Jonathan returned with honour again into Judea. Onias, the son of Onias, who, on his being disappointed of the high priesthood, on the death of his uncle Menelaus, fled into Egypt, (as Jonathan 12. hath been above related) there so far ingratiated himself with king Ptolemy Philometor and Cleopatra his queen, that he gained the chief of their confidence in all their affairs; for he was a great soldier and a great politician; and thereby became advanced to the highest post both in the army and in the court; and having, by the strength of his interest, introduced another Jew, called Dositheus, into the like favour, they two had the chief management of the government during the latter end of Philometor's reign. And Onias having this power and interest with the king, made use of it at this timer to obtain from him license to build a temple for the Jews in Egypt, like that at Jerusalem, with a grant from him and his descendants to be always high priests in it. For the obtaining of the king's consent hereto, he set forth to

o That is, of the nobles of his kingdom; for, under the Macedonians, the nobles had the style of the king's friends.

p That is, Chief sewer, which is an office one of the electors bears in the German empire. Grotius thus explains the word in his comment on the Maccabees, 1 Maccab. x, 65; xi, 27, and 3 Maccab. p. 796. But, in his comment on Matthew xix, 28, he expounds it rather to denote the governour of a tribe or province; and, if it be so taken here, and be understood to mean, that Jonathan was rather made governour of some part of the Syrian empire than governour and orderer of the parts and dishes of the feast at the royal table, perchance this interpretation may reach the truth nearer than the other.

q Josephus contra Apionem, lib. 2.

r Joseph. Antiq. lib. 13, c. 6; lib. 20, c. 8, & de Bello Judaico, lib. 7, c. 30. VOL. III. 45

him, that the building of such a temple for the Jews in Egypt would be for the interest of his crown; that Jerusalem being within the territories of the king of Syria, the going of the Egyptian Jews thither annually to worship might give occasion for the seducing of them to the Syrian interest; that therefore it ought to be prevented; and that the building for them such a temple in Egypt would not only most effectually do this, but also draw many other Jews thither from Judea, and other parts, for the better peopling and strengthening of his kingdom. But his greatest difficulty was to reconcile the Jews to this new invention, their constant notion having hitherto been, that Jerusalem only was the place which God had chosen for his worship, and that it was sin to sacrifice to him upon any altar elsewhere. To satisfy them as to this, he produced to them the prophecy of Isaiah, where it is said, In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the city of destruction. In that day shall there be an altar unto the Lord, in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof unto the Lord. And, having interpreted this place of holy Scripture, (which was truly meant only of the future state of the gospel in that country,) as if it respected the then present times, he prevailed with all of his nation in Egypt to understand it so too, and thus served his purpose by it. And therefore, having thus gained the king, and also the Jews that were in Egypt, to approve of his project, he immediately set about the building. The place which he chose for it was a plot of ground within the Nomos or prefecture of Heliopolis, at the distance of twenty-four miles from Memphis, where had formerly stood an old temple of Bubastis (which was another name of Isis, the great goddess of the Egyptians,) but it was then wholly neglected and demolished; and therefore, having rid the ground of its ruins and rubbish, he there built upon the same spot his new Jewish temple. He made it exactly according to the pattern of that at Jerusalem, though not altogether so high nor so sumptuous; t Josephus, ibid.

s Isa. xix, 18, 19.