deaux's Connection, part ii. book iii. And the accomplishment is so exact, that Porphyry, a learned heathen in the third century, pretends that it is a mere history, and that it was written after the event.

23 Q. What became of the garrison of the Syrians in the tower of Acra, which so much molested the Jews in Jerusalem ?

A. Judas Maccabeus besieged them, whereupon Antiochus Eupator, the son and successor of Epiphanes, brought a vast army against Judas, consisting of a hundred thousand foot, twenty thousand horse, thirty-two elephants, and three hundred armed chariots of war.

24 Q. What could the Jews do against so great an army?

A. Judas having given this watch-word, Victory is of the Lord, fell upon them in the night, and having slain four thousand immediately, and six hundred the next morning, made a safe retreat to Jerusalem.

25 Q. What remarkable instance of courage was given by Eleazer, the brother of Judas, in this battle?

A. When he saw one elephant higher and more adorned than the rest, he supposed the king himself was on it; therefore he ran furiously through the troops, and made his way to the beast, he thrust up his spear under his belly, and the beast with the tower that was upon him, falling down, crushed him to death.

26 Q. Had Antiochus Eupator's army any success afterward against the Jews?

A. They marched to Jerusalem under the command of Lysias, they besieged the sanctuary, and when the Jews were near surrendering for want of provision, they were strangely relieved by the providence of God.

27 Q. In what manner did this relief come?

A. Lysias hearing that the city of Antioch was seized by one Philip, a favourite of the late king, who had taken upon him the government of Syria, persuaded the present king to grant peace to the Jews, which he did; yet contrary to his own promise, he pulled down the fortifications of the temple, when he came and saw how strong they were.

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28 Q. What became of Menelaus, the wicked high priest?

A. He attended the king's army in this expedition against Jerusalem, in hopes to recover his office, and to be made governor there: but Lysias, finding this war exceeding troublesome, accused Menelaus to the king as the author of all this mischief: whereupon he was condemned to a miserable death, being cast headlong into a tower of ashes fifty cubits high.

29 Q. Who was his successor in the the priesthood? A. Onias, the son of Onias the third, and nephew to Menelaus, was the more rightful successor, but the king rejected him and being disappointed of it, he fled into Egypt; while Alcimus or Jacimus, one of the family of Aaron, (though not in the right line of Josedek, to which the priesthood belonged) was made high priest by Antiochus Eupator the king.

Note. It was Joshua the son of Josedech or Jozadek, was the rightful high priest at the return from Babylon. See Esra iii. 2, and Hag. i. 1.

30 Q Was Alcimus admitted to the exercise of the office in Jerusalem ?

A. He was refused by the Jews, because he had complied with the heathen superstition in the time of the persecution; but he besought the aid of Demetrius the new king against Judas and the people, who refused to re

ceive him.

31 Q. How came this Demetrius to be king?

A. He was the son of Seleucus Philopater, who was the eldest brother of Antiochus Epiphanes; and though he could not persuade the Romans to assist him in seizing the kingdom of Syria, since Antiochus Epiphanes was dead, yet he landed in Syria, and persuaded the people that the Romans had sent him: whereupon Antiochus Eupator and Lysias were seized by their own soldiers, and put to death by order of Demetrius.

32 Q. Did Demetrius establish Alcimus in the priesthood, in opposition to Judas and his people?

A. He endeavoured to do it by sending one Bacchides against them, but without success; afterwards

making Nicanor, who was master of his elephants, governor of Judea, he sent him to slay Judas, and to subdue the Jews.

33 Q What success had Nicanor in this attempt ? A. Though at first he was unwilling to make war on Judas, yet being urged by the king, he pursued it with fury; and having spoken many blaspheinous words against the temple and the God of Israel, and threatened to demolish it, and to build a temple to Bacchus in the room of it, he himself was slain, and his army was shamefully routed by Judas.

34 Q. What encouragement had Judas to hope for victory in this battle ?

A. Not only from the blasphemies of Nicanor, but he was animated also by a divine vision, and thus he encountered his enemies with cheerfulness, and with earnest prayer to God. 2 Macc. xiv and xv.

35 Q. What rejoicing did Judas and the Jews make on this occasion ?

A. He cut off Nicanor's head, and his right hand, which he had stretched out against the temple, and hanged them up upon one of the towers of Jerusalem, and appointed a yearly day of thanksgiving in memory of this victory, which is called Nicanor's day.

36 Q.

What was the next act of Judas for the good of his country?

A. Hearing of the growing greatness of the Romans, he sent to make a league for mutual defence with them; to which the Romans consented, and established it, acknowledging the Jews as their friends and allies, and ordered Demetrius to vex them no more.

37 Q. Did Demetrius obey these orders?

A. Before these orders came to his hand, he had sent Bacchides the second time to revenge Nicanor's death, and to establish Alcimus in the priesthood.

38 Q. What success had this second expedition of Bacchides against the Jews?

A. A very unhappy one indeed for the Jews: for he so much overpowered Judas with the number of his forces, who had then but three thousand men with him, and

even the greatest part of these three thousand fled from him for fear and Judas being ashamed to fly for his life, he was slain through an excess of courage.

39 Q. What mischiefs ensued on the death of Judas? A. The Jews were greatly disheartened; Bacchides prevailed every where, took Jerusalem, subdued the greatest part of the country, and put to death the friends of Judas, where he could find them; many apostate Jews sided with him. Alcimus exercised the high priesthood in a very wicked manner, and imitated the heathen superstition in the worship of God. He gave orders to pull down the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary, and is supposed also to break down the wall which divided the more holy part of the mountain of the temple from the less holy, and gave the Gentiles equal liberty with the Jews to enter there.

Note first. It is said in 1 Macc. ix. 54, that he actually pulled down the work of the prophets, whatever that was: But it is thought he only gave order for pulling down the wall of the inner court, which may be supposed to be the court of the priests.

Note second. It is hard to determine how far the wall, which separated the Gentiles from that outer court of the temple, which was made for the Jews, was of God's appointment, or how early it was built. We do not read of it in Scripture, neither in the building of the temple of Solomon, where there was only the court of the priests, and the great court; nor in the rebuilding it by Zerubbabel does Scripture tell us of such a separation. Indeed, in Jehoshaphat's time, we read of a new court, 2 Chron. XX. 5. What it was no man knows certainly; perhaps it was only one court renewed. For in Manasseh's days, which was about 200 years after, there were but two courts, 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. Dr. Prideaux indeed supposes, that the latter prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, ordered a low wall, or rather inclosure, to be built, called Chel, in the second temple, within which no uncircumcised person should enter: and one reason of that opinion is, because, 1 Macc. ix. 54, it is said, that Alcimus pulled down also the work of the prophets. That there was such a separating wall in the days of the Maccabees, or before, is generally supposed; that this court of the Gentiles was also in Herod's temple, is agreed; and there seems to be a reference to it in Ephes. ii. 14-having broken down the middle wall, or partilion. See Lowth on Ezek. xl. 17. But whether any of the arguments are effectual to prove it was of divine appointment,

the learned reader must judge. See Prideaux's Connection of the Old and New Test. Part II. Book IV. Page 261, in 8vo. and Lightfoot of the temple, chap. xvii.

If it be as some have maintained, that the Jews in rebuilding that temple under Zerubbabel, took pattern, in a great measure, from the prophetical temple in Ezekiel's vision; then there seems to have been a court large enough for the court of the Gentiles: for chap. xl. 5, and xlii. 20,-There was a wall on the outside of the house round about, of five hundred reeds square, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place. See Lowth on those texts. Perhaps in these times this was called the mount of the temple.

40 Q. What became of Alcimus when he practised these things with insolence?

A. He was smitten by the hand of God with a palsy, his speech was taken away, so that he could give no further wicked commands, nor so much as set in order his own house, and he died in great torment. 1 Macc. ix. 54, 55.

41 Q. Did the surviving brethren of Judas Maccabeus make no efforts against these their enemies?

A. Yes; his brother Jonathan, being chosen by the people, took on him the government; and though their brother John was slain by the Jambrites, yet Simon remained; and these two made such a continual resistance, that in some years time, Alcimus being dead, Bacchides grew weary of the war, and he was inclined at last to make a firm peace: and then he restored the Jews which had been his prisoners, and departed from Judea without ever returning.

42 Q. What use did Jonathan make of this peace? A. He governed Israel according to the law; he restored the Jewish religion, reformed every thing as far as he could, both in church and state, and rebuilt the walls and fortifications of Zion.

43 Q. Who performed the office of high priest all this time?

A. There was a vacancy of the office for seven years, after the death of Alcimus: till Alexander an impostor, pretended to be the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, seized the kingdom of Syria, and made high proposals to engage