Between the Testaments · c. 161 BC
Chapter 15
The Death of Judas
1 Maccabees is in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles; most Protestant Bibles leave it out or print it apart as the Apocrypha.
Judas said, “Let it not be so that I should do this thing, to flee from them. If our time has come, let’s die in a manly way for our kindred’s sake, and not leave a cause of reproach against our honor.”
For parents
This chapter tells of Judas’ last battle, in which many on both sides fall, wounded to death, and Judas himself is killed (1 Maccabees 9:17–18). His brothers bury him, and all Israel mourns. It also tells briefly of the Romans’ wars, in which many Greeks are killed and their wives and children taken captive (8:10), and of Bacchides’ army killing many people at Mesaloth (9:2). None of it is described in detail.
had heard how famous the were. They were brave men, people said. They were glad to have anyone join them, and they made friends with everyone who came to them. Judas was told about their wars and the great things they had done among the : they had conquered them and forced them to pay .
He heard what the Romans had done in the land of Spain to take control of its silver and gold mines. They had planned well and would not give up, and so they had conquered that whole region, though it was very far away from them. Kings had come from the far ends of the earth to fight them, and the Romans had beaten them and struck them hard. The rest paid them tribute every year.
They had beaten Philip in battle, and Perseus the king of , and everyone else who stood up against them. They had conquered them all.
Another , the great king of Asia, had marched out to fight them. He had a hundred twenty elephants, horsemen and chariots, and a huge army, and the Romans beat him. They took him alive. They ordered that he and the kings after him must pay a large tribute, hand over hostages, and give up some of the best lands they held: the countries of India, Media and Lydia. The Romans took these from him and gave them to King Eumenes.
Judas heard, too, how the had planned to come and destroy the Romans. But the Romans found out and sent a general against them. He fought them, and many of the Greeks fell, wounded to death. The Romans took the Greeks’ wives and children captive and robbed them. They conquered their land and pulled down their strongholds, and they have kept them as slaves to this day.
The Romans had destroyed every other kingdom and island that ever rose up against them, and made them their servants. But they had stayed friends with their friends and with everyone who relied on them. They had conquered kingdoms close by and far off, and everyone who heard of their fame was afraid of them.
If the Romans wanted to help someone become king, he became king, and they removed anyone they wanted from his throne. They had become very great. But even so, none of them had ever put on a crown or dressed in purple, the color kings wore, to show off how great he was.
Judas heard that they had made themselves a senate house, a hall where three hundred twenty men met every day. They were always talking over what was good for the people, so that the people would be ruled well. Each year they put one man in charge, to rule over them and over their whole country. Everyone obeyed that one man. No one among them was jealous of the others, and no one tried to outdo them.
So Judas chose , the son of John, the son of Accos, and a man named , the son of Eleazar. He sent them to Rome to set up a friendship and an alliance with the Romans, a promise to help each other. They were also to have the lifted off them, because they saw that the kingdom of the Greeks kept Israel in slavery.
The two men made the very long journey to Rome. They went into the senate house and spoke.
“Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus, and his family and the people of the Jews have sent us to you,” they said. “We have come to make an alliance and peace with you, and to be listed as your allies and friends.”
The Romans were pleased with this.
The Romans wrote back on tablets of brass and sent the writing to , to be kept there so that the peace and the alliance would be remembered. This is a copy of it.
“Success to the Romans and to the nation of the Jews, on sea and on land, forever! May war and enemies stay far away from them.”
Then came the terms. If war broke out first against Rome, or against any of Rome’s allies anywhere in its lands, the nation of the Jews would help them as allies with all their heart, as the need arose. They would give the enemies of Rome no supplies: no food, weapons, money or ships. That was Rome’s decision. And they would keep these rules and take nothing in return.
In the same way, if war broke out first against the nation of the Jews, the Romans would willingly help them as allies, as the need arose. Those fighting against the Jews would be given no food, weapons, money or ships. That too was Rome’s decision. These rules would be kept, and kept without any trickery.
On these terms the Romans made a treaty with the Jewish people. If the two sides later decided to add anything or take anything away, they could do so as they chose, and the changes would count.
The writing ended with a word about the king. “As for the harm King is doing to them, we have written to him: ‘Why have you put such a heavy yoke on our friends and allies, the Jews? If they bring any more complaints against you, we will see that they get justice, and we will fight against you on sea and on land.’”
When King Demetrius heard that and his forces had fallen in battle, he sent and back into the land of a second time, with the right wing of his army.
Bacchides was one of the king’s friends. He ruled the country beyond the river, and he was an important man in the kingdom and loyal to the king. The first time, the king had sent him with Alcimus, the ungodly man he had made , and ordered him to take revenge on the people of Israel.
This time they took the road that leads to Gilgal and camped outside Mesaloth, a town in Arbela. They captured it and killed many people.
They camped outside Jerusalem during the first month of the one hundred fifty-second year. Then they set off for Berea with twenty thousand men on foot and two thousand on horseback.
Judas was camped at with three thousand chosen men. When his men saw how huge the enemy’s army was, they were terrified. Many slipped away from the army, and no more than eight hundred men were left.
Judas saw that his army was slipping away and that the battle was pressing in on him. He was deeply troubled, because he had no time to gather his men together, and he grew faint.
He said to the men who were left, “Come on, let’s go up against our enemies, and see if we can fight them.”
They tried to change his mind. “We can’t,” they said. “Let’s save our lives for now, and come back with our own people and fight them. There are too few of us.”
“Never!” said Judas. “I won’t do it. I won’t run away from them. If our time has come, let’s die like men for our people’s sake, and give no one a reason to speak against our honor.”
The army marched out of its camp and took its stand to meet Judas and his men. Its horsemen were divided into two companies. The slingers and the archers went in front of the army, along with all the strongest fighters, the men who fought in the front line.
Bacchides was on the right wing. The phalanx, the solid block of foot soldiers, moved forward on both sides, and they blew their trumpets.
The men on Judas’ side blew their trumpets too. The earth shook with the shouting of the armies. The battle began, and it went on from morning until evening.
Judas saw that Bacchides and the strongest part of his army were on the right. All the brave-hearted men went with Judas, and they broke the right wing. He chased them as far as Mount Azotus.
The men on the left wing saw that the right wing was beaten. They turned and came after Judas and the men with him, right on their heels.
The fighting grew desperate. Many on both sides fell, wounded to death. Judas fell, killed in the battle, and the rest of his men fled.
and took the body of their brother Judas and buried him in his ancestors’ tomb at .
They wept for him. All Israel cried aloud in grief for him and mourned for many days. And this is what they said:
“How the mighty one has fallen,the savior of Israel!”
The rest of what Judas did has not been written down: his wars, his brave deeds and his greatness. There was so very much of it.